A/N: Hey what's up guys? DrPhill26 here with another chapter of Evolution set to go for you guys to enjoy.
Wendy: 'kay, I got it. Mystic.
Tyler: Well it's a good name for sure, but don't you think that only works well with Umbreon or Espeon?
Wendy: Darn you're right. Ugh! This is too hard!
DrPhill26: Are you guys still talking about that breeding trade you guys made last chapter?
Tyler: I'm not but Wendy is. She's been trying to come up with a name for her potential Eevee ever since we agreed on our deal. It has to be really cute sounding, and apply to all of the Eevee-lutions at once. We've had zero success so far.
Wendy: Autumn! ... No, that only works well with Leafeon...
DrPhill26: Why not just wait until it evolves to come up with a name like you did?
Tyler: That's what I suggested, but then he wouldn't have one as an Eevee and apparently that's not fair to Eevee.
Wendy: Ooh! What about... no, Jolteon would hate being called Misty.
DrPhill26: Well she's stuck in Eevee-lution mode, so why don't we just leave her for a bit and get started with the chapter that the readers have been waiting for?
Tyler: Agreed.
DrPhill26: So here you go guys, a brand new chapter of -
Wendy: Jasmine?
DrPhill26: *sigh* Go read the chapter... Team summaries once again in the bottom notes.
"We finally made it. Hearthome City!" Wendy hollered over the wind as she and Tyler had reached the city limits. Both of them had been traveling since they woke up this morning, but as they rode past a sign welcoming them to the city, you could see the sun beginning to disappear behind the skyscrapers of the downtown district.
"The town where hearts touch each other huh?" Tyler read aloud as they passed it, slowing down to a more leisurely pace on the city streets. "Seems like a nice place."
"I am so happy to be back home!" Wendy chirped as she waved at the pedestrians on the sidewalk. "I haven't been back here in like forever, but it still feels the same as when I left."
"So how do we get to your place from here?" Tyler asked loudly to catch Wendy's attention. She pressed herself against Tyler's back and pointed to an intersection up ahead.
"Take a left at Walken's Market and take that all the way to the cathedral. Then we'll take a right onto the main drag for about half a-"
"Uh Wendy?" Tyler interrupted. "Did you forget I'm not a local? I have no idea what any of the things are that you're talking about."
"Right… second intersection ahead, take a left."
"Rodger that." Tyler slowed the moped again as they approached the turn, following the jeep that was in front of them down the turn and onto the side road. "You said you grew up here right?"
"Yup! I know where everything is here." Wendy pointed at buildings on both sides of the street as they went. "There's Okeer's Deli, we should totally do lunch there while we're here. Ooh! And over there is the yoga studio my friends tried to get me to go to once. That didn't go too well. I don't want to talk about it."
"Wasn't planning on asking." Tyler laughed, driving around the jeep that had now pulled off to the side of the road.
"There's a book store over there on the right. And up there ahead of course is the cathedral. We're going to take a right once we get there, which will take us to the main drag."
"Alright." Tyler looked up the street towards the massive building at the end of the road. The spires on both sides of the cathedral seemed to reach about three stories tall, with elaborate looking pieces of stained glass windows dotting the spires. There was another one, circular in shape above the main doors that really caught Tyler's eye displaying a white creature surrounded by a golden ring that arced off of it looking like sunbeams. A bell began ringing from one of the spires as Tyler turned alongside the cathedral, riding along the road with the simplistic sound.
"Don't you just love the sound of wedding bells Tyler?" Wendy asked, squeezing Tyler tighter.
"You trying to say something Wendy?" Tyler turned his neck, seeing Wendy still mesmerized by the beauty of the cathedral behind them.
"Oh nothing really; I'm just having a little fun back here." Wendy laughed sweetly, harmonizing with the ringing of the bells in pitch. Tyler turned back to face the road to hide the small band of blush under his eyes. "Besides, we're too young to get married. You and I have waaaay too much fun left to have before we settle down."
"You mean if we settle down?" Tyler quietly laughed to himself, only to feel Wendy pinching his stomach.
"Hey! Don't say it like that." Wendy pouted. "You make it sound like you don't think we'll stay together."
"I didn't mean it like that." Tyler countered. "I meant that I just don't see you as the type to ever really settle down."
"Oh… And what's that supposed to mean?" Wendy's grip on Tyler's stomach intensified again, being somewhere between ticklish and uncomfortable. "You don't think I'll still be preying on boys your age when I'm 40 do you?"
"Of course not. I mean that you're such a fun-loving, high energy girl that whoever you spend the rest of your life with is going to be going on these exotic adventures with you for the rest of your lives." Tyler explained. "You're the type who would spontaneously say 'Hey, let's go to Kalos for a week and see what kind of fun we can run into.' And your husband will just go along with the ride because that's the kind of girl you are." Wendy laughed, releasing her grip on Tyler's stomach.
"That actually sounds like a lot of fun right now… Can we go to Kalos?"
"Yeah right, I don't have that kind of money." Tyler shook his head, seeing a bus stop in the distance with a map of the city on the side of it and another poster beyond it.
"I'd love to go to Kalos again and actually explore the region instead of being stuck in Lumiose with that boring Caleb guy. I mean he just would not stop trying to go on a date with me. 'Hey, do you want to go to a café? Or maybe see the art museum? NO I don't! I told you that three times already today, take a hint jackass and stop being a pain in the-" Suddenly Wendy's head jerked forward, her helmet smacking against Tyler's with a loud clunk and leaving her with stars in her eyes. "Ow my neck! Tyler?! Why'd you stop?" She angrily looked down at Tyler who seemed unfazed by their collision.
"I want to get a closer look at that poster on the bus stop." Tyler quickly scanned the road ahead, finding a spot to park the moped and pulled to the side of the road.
"Tyler, I live here. You don't need to look at the map." Wendy complained as Tyler dismounted the moped and turned it off.
"I'm not talking about the map; I'm talking about the poster next to it." Tyler didn't bother taking off his helmet or the goggles as he jogged down the street towards the bus stop a short distance away. With an annoyed sigh of her own, Wendy got up and dismounted the moped, walking at a more leisurely pace behind Tyler's curious jog.
As Tyler got up to the bus stop he saw the poster more clearly. Four Pokémon were featured on the poster, two on each side. On one side of the poster, Tyler recognized a Magmortar and an Electivire, the former charging a fire attack of some kind in its cannon-like arm, while the latter's arm was surrounded in electricity as it punched the center of the poster. On the opposite side, a Garchomp was roaring at its two opponents with a Gallade beside it looking ready to strike at a moment's notice. In the center of the image sat a pair of male trainers wearing red jackets with yellow stripes on them raising a trophy over their heads.
"Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition?" Tyler said reading the black and gold colored words above the dynamic image.
"Tyler!" Wendy complained again having finally caught up to him. "You could have at least warned me that we were going to stop!"
"Huh? Oh sorry about that. I just got distracted by this poster and had to take a closer look at it." Wendy looked up at the poster Tyler had referred to.
"Oh, the tag tournament is coming soon? I guess it is that time of year."
"What's this tournament about?" Tyler inquired.
"It's a pretty big tournament that takes place every year here in Hearthome." Wendy paused to stretch some of the stiffness out of her back. "Trainers from all over Sinnoh come here to participate. And the best part is that almost anybody can participate, regardless of experience. It showcases the idea of our city that two people can come together and create a bond that is unbreakable."
"Interesting…" Tyler scratched his chin as he looked at the poster, then at the nearby map on the side of the bus stop. He placed his finger on the poster and started tracing out a route against the glass before heading back towards the moped. Wendy followed him, getting back on the vehicle herself as it started back up again. "Think we'll be in town long enough for the tournament to take place?"
"Well the sign said it starts in a week on Friday. It shouldn't be too hard to get tickets to see it if you wanted to watch." Wendy answered as Tyler turned left and headed towards the north side of the city. "Although I'd wait until the second weekend, that's when all the really good battles take place."
"So it starts on Friday huh?" Tyler thought to himself, revving the engine a bit harder up the street. "How many people usually take part in this tournament?"
"Well originally the tournament was limited to 32 participants back when I was a little girl, so 16 teams. But over the years it's expanded all the way out to 64 teams and actually now takes place over two weekends."
"And anyone can participate in it right?"
"Yes, that's part of the appeal of the tournament. Anybody regardless of experience can come and take part. It's part of the… fun of…" Wendy trailed off as she saw Tyler turn back left again towards a red roofed building on the next street. "Tyler, where are we going?"
"The Pokémon Center." Tyler replied, parking in the street in front of the building.
"Okay, why exactly are we here?" Wendy's question was ignored as Tyler took his helmet off and walked briskly towards the main doors. "Tyler? … Tyler?!"
"Oh wow, this place kind of reminds me of home." Tyler said as he pushed open the glass doors and stepped into the lobby. The Pokémon Center in Hearthome seemed to have more of a cozy atmosphere to it that reminded Tyler of home, especially compared to the hospital-center back in Snowpoint. Its lobby was warm and inviting with red walls and black accents that had stenciled imagery across it. Over on the left was a lounge area with what looked like a coffee shop set up along with bookshelves of reading material. Along the right side were shelves filled with basic medical supplies along with a cashier currently scanning what looked like a pack of Poké balls for a customer. Tyler walked through the lobby and approached the front desk, standing in line behind another trainer who was talking to the nurse about something.
"TYLER!" Tyler flinched on hearing Wendy's shriek as the doors were thrust open and she marched towards him with a huff. "Why are we at the Pokémon Center? My home is on the other side of town! And didn't you already heal your Pokémon before we left Eterna this morning?"
"I'm doing something spontaneous." Tyler smiled innocently at her.
"What do you mean spontaneous?" Wendy raised an eyebrow curiously at Tyler who opened his mouth to speak when another voice got their attention.
"I can help whoever's next in line." A nurse politely smiled at Tyler as he and Wendy both made their way towards her. "Welcome to the Hearthome City Pokémon Center. How may we be of assistance today?" Tyler looked at her perplexed, shifting his gaze back and forth from the nurse beside her to the one talking to him. They looked exactly the same again, but even more worrisome was that these two looked just like the same first nurse he'd met in Snowpoint City! Furthermore, that greeting of theirs was exactly the same again! The hell was wrong with these clone like nurses and why was everyone so calm and accepting of it?
"This is seriously messing with my head. Tyler muttered beneath his breath.
"Sir?"
"Sorry, just uh… nevermind." Tyler shook his head to refocus. "I'd like to register for the tag battle tournament. You can do that here right?"
"That's correct." The nurse bowed, her loopy pink hair bouncing slightly. "Would the both of you like to register today?"
"Both…?" Wendy pointed at herself before waving her hands in front of her body. "Oh no no no, I don't want to participate."
"What? Oh come on!" Tyler turned around with a hurt look on his face. "You should totally do this with me. It'll be fun!"
"Yeah but I'm not really much of a battler. I don't get as fired up as you do."
"Oh don't be so modest. You're good!" Tyler dismissively waved his hand in front of her. "Remember that one fight we had on the cruise ship? The one where I only barely squeaked out a victory against you? That was one of the most intense battles I've ever had. Hell, I bet if we teamed up, there's no way we'd lose this tournament!"
"Well…"
"Um, I should probably point this out now sir-" The nurse began, catching Tyler's attention once more. "I'm afraid that if you and your friend entered together, there's no guarantee that you'd be paired together. The computer randomly pairs all participants together."
"Really?!" Tyler said with disappointed shock. "Oh, well that sucks. It would have been perfect for the two of us."
"Well it's not impossible, just a very slim chance, like less than one percent. I'm sorry for the inconvenience." The nurse apologized as Tyler folded his hands behind his head, looking to be in thought for a moment.
"Slim or not, I still want to do this." Tyler said after a while. "Sign me up please."
"Excellent, I'll just need your trainer's license and we can begin."
"Come on Wendy; give her your license too. I know it'll be fun for both of us even if we don't get paired together." Tyler said as he reached into his pocket and grabbed his wallet.
"Tyler, I thought I said I didn't want to do this." Wendy kept her arms folded as the nurse took Tyler's license. He then turned back to her, this time a look of disappointment in his eyes.
"Wendy, weren't we just talking spontaneity in our lives? Excitement? Going out and finding our own fun? Isn't this exactly that?"
"Yeah but I'm not-"
"What if I told you that you and I have a real good chance of winning this tournament?"
"I'd think that you were stroking your own ego." Wendy curtly remarked as she folded her arms. "But for the sake of argument, what makes you think that if we entered that we'd win?"
"Simple, double battling is my natural element." Tyler folded his arms with an arrogant smirk. "The Orre region is the double battle capital of the world. Every battle on the coliseum circuit is a double battle as are a vast majority of unofficial battles back home in Phenac. Plus, I've studied this style of battling from the beginning of my training with Justy at the Pre Center and scored the highest ever mark in all the years he'd run a double battle aptitude test while I was there. The only reason I've spent more time with single battles in my life, is because until two years ago, I only had one Pokémon, so I couldn't do double battles."
"Well that's great for you and all, but how does that apply to me? I've never even done a double battle before." Wendy protested.
"The tournament doesn't start until Friday right? Today's… uh… today's Saturday right?" He asked the nurse who nodded a response. "Right, today's Saturday, which means I've got five full days to give you a crash course in double battling before the first round." Tyler proudly boasted, thumping his chest with his fist.
"If I may say as well ma'am," The nurse said while sliding a piece of paper across the desk for Tyler to fill out. "I've seen many trainers who came in over the years and were hesitant to participate like you come back after their first match and say it was a lot of fun and that they couldn't wait for their next match."
"You're the party type of spontaneous and that's awesome. I think that's really cool and I'd totally want to travel across the world with you, because you have this magnetism to the exotic and fun things in life." Tyler placed his hand on Wendy's shoulder. "Well, this is my kind of spontaneous. I'm the type who's addicted to battling because that's my kind of fun is and I want to share the fun I get out of battling with you."
"But you know that Sir Tyler only wants you to share in his excitement." Wendy remembered Pulse's conversation with her last night about Tyler's badge obsession.
"Besides, if nothing else Wendy, we'll be in your hometown during the two weeks this tournament runs. You must know all kinds of great clubs or something that we can cut loose at and have the kind of party-girl fun that you're looking for. I'll buy your first Strawberry Sunrise when we do. I know it's your favorite." Tyler winked and Wendy lost all restraint she had on the smile she'd been fighting against. She pinched the bridge of her nose and started giggling to herself.
"Make it two and you've got a deal." Tyler rolled his eyes and laughed.
"I hope one of those two is for me."
"Nope, both for me." Wendy laughed as well as she reached into her jean pocket and pulled out her trainer's license.
"Wonderful! Allow me to wish the both of you good luck in the tournament then." The nurse took Wendy's license and grabbed another entry form for her to fill out.
"Just so we're all on the same page here, can you explain the rules of this tournament as we go over this form?" Tyler asked, twirling the pen around in his fingers as he looked at the sheet.
"Certainly. The Hearthome City Tag Battle Championship is a double-battle based tournament where two entrants form one team with their Pokémon and are placed into one of eight blocks, which are further divided into sub blocks A and B. So you could be placed initially into block 2B or 5A or one of the other 16 sub blocks." The nurse began. "The first weekend is a round robin tournament within your sub block, with the top team advancing to the second round. The second round on the following weekend is a more traditional single elimination bracket and again is decided by random computer drawing."
"Okay. Now how does building your partner's and your team work? I doubt you'd allow potentially all twenty four Pokémon in a battle." Tyler continued.
"Oh goodness no. We'd never get out of the first round if we did that." The nurse's expression briefly turned to shock but she recovered quickly. "No, while both trainers are allowed to bring up to six Pokémon individually for the tournament; they can only choose two Pokémon themselves per battle to form a total team of four Pokémon with your partner. But you can change the Pokémon that you use between each battle. So you could use a Pikachu and a Chimchar one battle and then a Swablu and a Turtwig in the next battle for example."
"And are you responsible only for your Pokémon during the battle?" Tyler asked.
"That's correct. You're responsible only for your two Pokémon during the battle." The nurse answered. "Of course you should try to help your partner in some way, but it's not like you have to. You could decide to do two separate and simultaneous single battles if you wanted. Though I wouldn't recommend it, it's not a very good strategy."
"So I don't have to control more than one Pokémon at a time?" Wendy clarified and the nurse nodded.
"That's perfect for you as a beginner." Tyler said encouragingly. "Plus it lets me focus on teaching you the battle theories instead of trying to teach you about commanding multiple Pokémon at once. Trust me; it's even harder than you might think."
"That's a relief." Wendy said having already finished her form and handing it to the nurse. "So, where are the various site blocks this year? Obviously we can't fit all of the battles in the first round in South Stadium, so where are the others going to be?"
"You must be a local if you know about the site blocks." The nurse commented while taking Tyler's finished entry form. "There are four site blocks, with each location hosting two of the main blocks on each day. South Stadium as you mentioned is one, as is the Contest hall in the North side of the city, Amity square is the third location, and Fantina offered the use of her Gym as the fourth site." Tyler's face paled at the mere mentioning of the Hearthome Gym, remembering what type of Pokémon the leader likes to use.
"Ghost types…" He shuddered nervously. "I better not be at that site."
"And I thought you were the confident one of the two of us." Wendy playfully slapped him on the back. "Man up Tyler, I thought you said this was your element."
"I am confident." Tyler protested. "I just… you know I'm not the biggest fan of Ghost types and that's what Fantina specializes in right? So I bet her Gym is gonna be like a haunted house or something."
"Was Candice's Gym an igloo when we went to see it?" Wendy teased placing her hands on her hips. "Was Gardenia's Gym inside of a forest?"
"Well kind of… I mean Candice's Gym was covered in ice and Gardenia had trees." Wendy rolled her eyes.
"You'll be fine. I mean, it's not a guarantee that you'll be fighting Ghost types if you were placed at the Gym."
"Yeah… yeah you're right." Tyler nodded, a bit of color returning to his face. "I probably won't run into them and if I do, I'll have a partner who can help me out if I freeze up. I just need to stay confident in my abilities and I'll be fine."
"You don't sound all that confident to me." Both Tyler and Wendy looked to their left where the man who had been in front of them in line was now looking in their direction, casting an arrogant smirk at both of them. "My opinion, you sound like a baby-backed bitch."
"Too bad I didn't ask for your opinion mate." Tyler narrowed his eyes as he looked at the man more closely. He was dark skinned, mocha colored with jet black hair in a short fade cut above his head. He leaned into the front desk on an elbow with his hand tucked into the pocket of his dark purple jacket, which he wore open with a plain black undershirt beneath it and sand colored cargo pants. His shirt hung loosely off his chest at the neckline, allowing Tyler to see the swirling patterns of a tattoo on his left pectoral muscles. Tyler also noticed his necklace, a simple silver chain braided in loops of silver and gold around his neck. He pushed himself off the table, his arms folded across his chest and the arrogance of his grin deepened.
"A cowardly and indecisive plebian like you has a lot of nerve talking back to someone clearly his superior." He pointed scornfully at Tyler and Wendy with the back of his hand. "Little Mareep like you should learn their place and run along before you agitate the alpha male of the Pyroar pack."
"Hey pal, why don't you mind your own business okay?" Wendy stepped forward, shoving the man's chest, pushing him back a step. "And keep in mind that the actual fighters of a Pyroar pack are the females, so why don't you step off before I make you learn your place."
"Ha! I'd like to see you try." He reached forward in a swift movement, grabbing Wendy's wrist. He pulled her towards him, making her shriek in surprise as he quietly chuckled with an amused grin.
"Hey, what are you doing asshole?!" Tyler yelled as he ran forward, stepping himself between Wendy and the arrogant man and shoved him with all the strength he had to get him off of Wendy. He let go, falling back a few more steps as Tyler placed an arm around Wendy's shoulder and looked down at her, seeing her holding her wrist loosely in her hand. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Wendy rolled her wrist a few times in her hand. "It hurts a little bit but it's nothing serious."
"I don't care if it's not serious, I'm seriously pissed the hell off." Tyler turned back to the man with a rage already ignited in his eyes. "The fuck do you get off doing that to my girlfriend!?"
"Hey whoa, easy little man." The man raised his arms in a mock defense. "She's the one who wanted to play in the big leagues. Besides…" He looked back at Wendy, a hungry look coming over his purple eyes. "She looks like the type who enjoys a little physical action like that now and again."
"The only physical action you'll be getting is a fist to the face if you don't back off!" Tyler roared back, hearing the murmuring of a crowd beginning to form as the rest of the lobby became aware of the confrontation at the main desk.
"Excuse me, sir?" One of the nurses interjected with a tray of Poké balls in her hand. "Your Pokémon are ready."
"Finally…" The man walked back up to the front desk and took the tray, beginning to clip each ball to his belt without taking his eyes off Wendy and Tyler.
"And sirs," she now addressed both Tyler and the other man. "If you could take your disagreement outside, that would be preferable to starting a fight in the Pokémon Center."
"No need, I'm out of here." The man grabbed his last Poké ball; a jet black colored one with a ring of gold and ruby on the top half and enlarged it. "Come on Lancelot, we're leaving."
"I wonder what kind of Pokémon this jackass uses." Tyler grumbled to himself as he saw the silvery spark shower morph into form, although he did notice that the outline looked familiar to him for some reason. He could see it was four legged, but that's about all he could tell while the silver outline was there. However when it disappeared, his jaw and Wendy's as well fell unhinged.
"Espeon." The purple furred Eevee-lution cried, stretching its back. That would explain why it looked so familiar, all Eevee-lutions look practically the same with their own defining set of traits. Espeon's of course being the lilac colored fur, which looked highly refined and almost velvet-like in its appearance. The ruby gemstone in its forehead sparkled just as radiantly and just screamed that this Espeon was proud of its looks. The man looked down at his Espeon, apparently named Lancelot and crouched slightly. His Espeon smiled back and jumped towards him, landing on his shoulder and curling its body around the back of his neck ad shoulders with the man smirking back at Wendy.
"Jealous much?" Tyler looked at Wendy and saw that she was fuming; her face becoming as red as his usually did whenever he got embarrassed. Although her fists were also tightly clenched together, so tightly in fact that both her arms were shaking as she stood there radiating her aura of jealousy. "It isn't exactly every day you get to see such a perfect Pokémon like Lancelot here, so I can't exactly blame you."
"Why you arrogant son of a whore…" Wendy muttered under her breath, her face warping further into demonic levels of anger. Tyler was starting to get the idea that if he didn't do something to intervene, she'd literally rip this guy's head off. He put his arm around Wendy's waist and pulled her towards him while the man turned his back on the two of them and headed towards the door.
"Hey," Tyler called out just as the automatic doors opened before the man. "What's your name so I can add it to the top of my shit list?" The man turned around again, chuckling to himself as he turned back around.
"You know, normally I wouldn't bother giving someone of your level the pleasure of knowing my name. But since you're going to hear it anyway when I raise the trophy in the Tag battle Championship that you'll be losing to me in, you may as well learn it so you can come up with my victory chant." Boastfully, the man pointed a thumb at his chest with one hand and pointed at Tyler with the other. "The name's Shaquille Pabst. And don't hate me because I'm better than you, hate yourself because you're not good enough to be a blue ribbon champion like me."
"Pee-on!" The Espeon around his shoulders barked in agreement, swishing its forked tail with an air of superiority.
"Yeah you tell 'em Lancelot." The man turned around again and finally left the Pokémon Center, and along with him the tension in the room dropped considerably. Although Wendy was still shivering, almost growling as she held back her tongue from the narcissistic attitude that man was displaying.
"Excuse me," The second nurse poked Tyler's shoulder, holding two cards in her hand and handing them to Tyler. "I have both of your completed entry forms scanned into the system. These are your entry cards."
"Oh, thank you." Tyler looked at his card, seeing the number 85 on it before placing his card in his wallet along with his license. He handed Wendy the other card, hearing her mumble something incoherent as she pocketed her card.
"Please report to South Stadium by 6pm on Thursday evening for the opening ceremony. Before the ceremony ends, you'll find out your block assignment and who your partner is. Then you have the rest of the evening to plan strategy with your partner before your battle on Friday.
"Okay, thanks for your help today. And uh, sorry about causing a scene a moment ago." The nurse rolled her eyes.
"Please, he's entirely at fault. You were just minding your business and he butted in. It's the other nurse who didn't know that as she went to grab his Pokémon." The nurse explained.
"Right, well like I said, thanks again for your help. Let's get going Wendy." Tyler tried to walk Wendy out of the Center, but she was going very slowly. "You sure you're alright? Your wrist still hurt?"
"I'm fine Tyler." Wendy replied, her voice cracking from her less than happy mood.
"You don't look fine. Look, that guy is gone now, you can cut loose." Tyler said as they both exited the center. "Let's just go find your place, I'll make you something sweet and we can-"
"I FUCKING HATE YOU SHAQUILLE YOU SON OF A WHORE!" Wendy screamed to high heaven, her face erupting into a heated red like pure magma. Even the veins above her eye became noticeable as a startled Tyler lost his balance at Wendy's unexpected explosion.
"Or you can curse him so loudly in front of the Pokémon Center that my ears start ringing, you know, whatever works for you." Tyler dryly commented as he recovered, trying to place a protective arm around Wendy's shoulder but she pushed it away.
"I am so pissed off right now that it's not even funny."
"I know you are Wendy and I'm right there with you. That guy did a lot of shit that was just completely uncalled for."
"How can someone who's so narcissistic, so brutish and muscle-headed, someone who's such a complete and utter douchebag have such a loveable and sweet Pokémon like an Espeon?! It just defies all common sense!" Wendy grabbed her hair and pulled it, shaking her head in frustration. "WHY? Why does he have one?"
"Wait, that… that's what you're mad about?" Tyler stared at Wendy in disbelief. "You're not mad that he insulted us or that he hurt you, you're mad that he has an Espeon?"
"He does not deserve such a beautiful Pokémon on his team!" Wendy cupped her hands around her mouth before yelling again. "He doesn't deserve you Espeon! You hear that? You're better than him!"
"Wendy, we just got yelled at for making a scene, do you really-"
"Get on your moped Tyler." Wendy flew past Tyler, putting her helmet on in the blink of an eye and climbed the back of Tyler's vehicle, furiously spanking the seat in front of her. "We're going to Amity Square right now. I want to start training for this tournament now!"
"Holy shit, what has gotten into you?" Tyler asked in complete shock. He'd never seen Wendy get this animated, this dangerously excited about anything in the time he'd known her. He was almost afraid to approach his moped with her sitting back there.
"That cocksucker's attitude is what's gotten into me, that's what!" Wendy roared back, making Tyler flinch from the shrillness of her voice. "I hate people like him with a passion hotter than the sun! Men with over-inflated egos like him are the WORST kind of people. I bet he fucking jacks off to the sight of his own body at night in the mirror. Fucking disgusting pig." Wendy made the same pose that Shaquille had made when he left the center, pointing at herself and Tyler while speaking in a mocking voice.
"Don't hate me because I'm better than you; hate yourself because you're not as good as me. Blow me. Okay? Just fucking blow me. I don't hate you because you're better than me, which you're not. The reason why I and anybody with half a brain hates you, is because you're a piece of shit scumbag who has his head stuck so far up his own ass that he thinks he's the center of the goddamn universe!"
"Holy shit, you're mad. You are definitely mad." Tyler nervously laughed, still unable to find the courage to approach the maelstrom of venomous hatred that was Wendy right now.
"And then on top of all that, you have an Espeon?! NO! No no no! I refuse to accept that!"
"Well what are we supposed to do about that Wendy?" Tyler weakly pointed out.
"Simple, we're going to Amity Square right now and we're going to start training for this tournament!" Wendy thumped Tyler's seat once again then pointed at Tyler. "You're going to train me to be the best damn double battler on the planet. Then we're going to go into this tournament and humiliate that guy so badly in front of everyone that his Espeon will lose faith in him as a trainer and he'll come to me, the trainer who beat him! I'm going to liberate that innocent Espeon from him, and we're going to become an unstoppable force together!" Wendy smacked Tyler's seat yet again. "Now get your ass on this moped and take me to Amity Square so we can get started already!"
Tyler swallowed nervously. He did want to start training himself, but he was incredibly anxious about how Wendy would act if she was in this state of mind. Not to mention, it was already sunset, the skies were darkening to blues and purples as the stars began sprinkling the sky. He really didn't want to start this late at night, especially when the mechanics of double battling still needed to be taught.
"NOW TYLER!" But with Wendy screaming at him to get going, Tyler's own fear instinct kicked in and he quickly ran towards the moped, apologizing for taking so long to get moving. He turned the moped on with Wendy telling him to go back the way they'd gone down the street towards the downtown district. He shook his head, partly through fear, partly through disbelief of the whole situation, partly still from curiosity as to how dedicated Wendy was going to get with these training sessions. But a grin came to his lips nonetheless. If she was this excited, there's no doubt that he'd be able to feed off her energy and get his own team ready for the tournament as well. This was going to be a very interesting and very fun next couple of days, and Tyler couldn't wait to get started.
A/N: So that was a chapter, 28 in the books now huh? Damn, didn't think I'd ever get this far when I started sketching ideas for this story.
Wendy: Phil! We need to talk!
DrPhill26: About what, and why are you mad at me? What did I do?
Wendy: Lancelot is a terrible name for an Espeon! It doesn't suit him at all. You need to change his name!
DrPhill26: Hey, don't look at me like that. I didn't name the Espeon, Shaquille did.
Wendy: That may be, but you as the author of the story have final say on the names of characters that appear in it. So change Espeon's name to... I dunno, but change it to anything besides Lancelot!
DrPhill26: That's kind of hard for me to do when I didn't come up with the character in the first place.
Tyler: Come again?
DrPhill26: Shaquille's character isn't mine, he's an OC submitted to this story by my very good friend AOK Berserker. By the way, have a shoutout dude. You deserve it.
Tyler: So... wait what?
DrPhill26: Look it's simple, Berserker likes our story and wanted to be a part of this world that we're creating, so he sent me a message asking if he could submit an OC. I took a look at what he'd given me and liked how thought out his initial Shaquille character was and thought he'd be a good fit in the story. So we did a bit of brainstorming, made a few small tweaks here and there and bam, new character.
Tyler: Huh, so will we be seeing other submitted OCs in the future?
DrPhill26: Possibly. I suppose now that I've accepted one, that means I should open the idea up to other people who read this story. If you're interested in doing that, please send me a private message expressing interest. Then I'll send you a form that details a basic outline of what I'm looking for and we can begin with that. Of course I also want to point out however that I may say no to your character. Not that I'm trying to be mean or cruel or think that your character isn't good enough to use. I'm just looking for characters who can build the narrative that I have planned for the future of this story like Shaquille does. And if your character does fit the build that I'm looking for, then you might get to become a part of this story.
Wendy: I still think Lancelot is a stupid name...
DrPhill26: Noted, but that's out of my hands as is the time I should spend on making these notes so thank you guys for reading and enjoying this latest chapter. This is DrPhill26 signing out and I hope I'll get to hear from you guys again real soon.
Tyler's team: Magnus (Quilava, Male), Caelum (Staraptor, Male), Felix, (Gligar, Male), Yuki (Glaceon, Female)
Wendy's team: Pulse (Lucario, Male), Tess (Ampharos, Female), Yuri (Lilligant, Female)