*cricket noises*
Tyler: *looks at watch* He's kinda late isn't he?
Wendy: Who, Phil? *Tyler nods* Yeah... I haven't seen him in a while.
Tyler: You think he's okay?
Wendy: He's just been real busy of late. I heard work hasn't been kind to him.
Tyler: So... how exactly are we supposed to advance the story without him?
Wendy: Fuck advancing the story, I want to kick back and relax some more.
Tyler: Don't we have a tournament coming up in like a few days?
Wendy: Yeah but that day isn't today. And besides, look how gorgeous it is. I want to go swimming.
Tyler: I dunno...
Wendy: What if I told you I had a new swimsuit to show off for you?
Tyler: Then I say fuck training, let's go swim!
Wendy: Alright! I'll call everyone together and get this organized. You go get yourself ready because I'm sure our reader friend already is. Isn't that right? You want a little bit of Nomel Berry action too reader? Of course you do. But I can't give you too much or Phil will get mad at me, so you get just a little taste today okay? Is that good enough? I hope so. Anyway, let's start the fun shall we :)
*Kalosian (AKA French) Translations and team rosters will be after the end of chapter notes per usual*
"Alright gang, we're here!" Will announced as he parked the jeep next to a large pine tree. "Welcome to Lake Weiland."
"Your family 'as a lake named after zem?" Will laughed off Madison's curious question.
"Oh heavens no. We just call it that because it's so close to home. And besides, who wouldn't want to live near this lake?"
"You can say that again." Tyler remarked as he looked around the lakebed. The entire lake, which looked to stretch a mile wide further down the horizon was framed beautifully by the forest's edge with small pines and birch trees dotting the lakeshore around the glass-like water. The western edge of the shore behind them was the only way back towards the main roads they'd taken to get here. Otherwise, the wilderness completely encircled the purity of this lake.
"It's like our own private paradise." Wendy chimed in as she vaulted over the edge of the jeep's cargo bed onto the ground. "You remember the last time we were here Rose?"
"You mean the night we went skinny-dipping? I couldn't forget that night if I tried." Rose's nonchalant response almost made Jason trip as he dismounted the jeep. He landed on all fours to keep himself somewhat upright, while Madison, Alicia and everyone else turned their gaze to the two women.
"What?!" Will and Tyler both looked skeptically at them. "When did this happen?"
"Like sometime last year." Rose giggled as she shut Tyler's jaw for him. "Wendy borrowed her dad's ATV, I borrowed a couple bottles of Moscato from your parent's wine cellar, and we drove up here after sun-"
"You stole wine from my parent's wine cellar?" Will looked crossly at Rose.
"No honey, I said borrowed." Rose giggled in spite of her fiancée's annoyed look. "Don't worry, I replaced them as soon as I could… But yeah, this lake looks even better at night under the moonlight."
*sigh* "That night was amazing." Wendy hugged herself, shivering as memories of that night came back to her. "Bottle of wine and a pretty girl, not bad for a spur of the moment plan huh Rose?"
"Not bad at all," Rose added onto Wendy's hug. "Maybe we should do it again sometime."
"Girls night again, or do we add the boys this time?"
"Why choose, I say we do both." Rose and Wendy giggled impishly together as both their men shook their head in unified embarrassment.
"Right so... I'm gonna be in the lake if you guys need me." Jason lifted his tank top up over his head, a pair of silver dog tags sparkling against the sun above his well-defined body. Clearly, training to be a ranger had its advantages as even Tyler had to admit that Jason had the best six-pack he'd ever seen on a man. He tossed his tank top in the back of the jeep and then took off in a dead sprint towards the simplistic wooden dock over the lakebed.
"Yummy..." Wendy eyed up the ranger hungrily as he ran away from the group. "Hey, Jason! You're invited too okay!"
"Can't hear you, I'm in the lake!" Jason hollered back as he jumped off the end of the dock, doing a front flip and shattering the glass-like surface into a dancing array of rippling water.
"Wendy, you have a boyfriend and he's right there." Rose teasingly scolded her girlfriend, pointing at an even more embarrassed Tyler.
"Don't act like you weren't staring." Wendy sneered back at Rose. "You were drooling for a moment yourself."
"I know! I had no idea he was a total hunk!" Rose squeaked her excitement. "I mean, I've known him for a couple years, but this was my first time seeing him shirtless and mama definitely likes."
"Is it bad that I'm picturing myself riding him like a cowgirl?"
"Not at all." Rose shuddered at the thought herself. "And he's a ranger too, so you know he'll have the stamina to go all night long."
"I hadn't even thought about that!"
"I know right?! That night would be magica-AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"OH MY GOD!" Both Rose and Wendy shrieked together as ice cold water was poured over the top of their heads from a smirking giant.
"Are you two cooled off now? Or do I need to grab more water from the cooler?" Will asked halfway between playful and disappointed.
"No no, we're good." Wendy shivered as she wiped some wet hair from her eyes.
"Yeah, message received honey." Rose added on.
"You both know I don't mind you two ogling Jason," Will spoke in an almost fatherly voice. "but maybe you two should try to show some restraint around our guests today?"
"Well... he is kind of nice to look at." Alicia's gaze had also followed Jason to the lake. But as Jason's head surfaced above the water, she quickly averted it and looked at her feet.
"I've seen plenty of guys like 'im on ze beaches back 'ome." Madison looked back at Will and the two girls with a coy grin. "Just be glad 'e isn't in a speedo William. If 'e was, I doubt zey could control zemselves."
"Oh my God Rose he'd look so good in a speedo."
"He'd look even better without it."
"Okay, you two are getting ice cubed now." Will chuckled with a dark overtone as he reached up to the back of the two girls' necks and pulled them away from their shoulders.
"What are you – AHHHHHH! OH MY GOD – WILLIAM!"
"AHHHH! YOU DICK! IT'S SO COLD!" Rose and Wendy yelled together as both of them lept away as a literal cold shiver melted across their backs. Both of them flailed their arms about, trying to find the ice cubes, but their struggles only made hunting the melting intruders harder to find. With their soaked shirts clinging to them just as tightly, the cold and wet feeling continued to intensify the more they flailed about.
With everyone laughing at them, and her failures in nabbing the elusive ice cube growing, Rose grabbed the bottom of her clingy shirt and lifted it over her head. She balled the shirt up and tossed it angrily at Will, who ducked the toss and let the shirt fly into the back of the jeep. Finally free, she takes the moment to wipe some of the excess wetness from her back and rub some warmth into her as well.
"Rose! Help!" Her girlfriend whimpered as she continued to dance and flail about from her own ice cube issues. Rose quickly freed Wendy from her shirt as well and threw a second wet shirt-ball at Will to the same result. The two girls now shivered next to each other, glaring their displeasure at Will.
"You are such an ass..." The words dripped venomously from Rose's tongue, but her fiancée only seemed to laugh more and more, wiping a tear from his eye.
"What? You two needed to chill out with your public undressing of Jason. I figured a couple ice cubes could speed up the process a bit.
"We came to the lake to cool off today William, not get an ice bath!" Wendy added her anger onto Rose's with a serious scowl of her own.
But while the girls were focused on Will's laughing at them, they failed to notice the amused look on Tyler's face as he looked at them. Part of his amusement was because he found the ice bath outburst funny. But the other part was now that they had their shirts off, Tyler could now get a proper look at their choice in swimwear, something that he was more than happy to see.
His lecherous smirk first found Wendy, looking at her exposed navel and working its way up towards her bikini top. Its somewhat childish design made Tyler chuckle a bit, but he had to admit that Wendy looked damn good in it. Her top was a somewhat revealing string bikini top modeled after a pair of Poké balls covering the two Poké balls on Wendy's chest, and only just doing so. It was so tempting to Tyler to just reach out to the string tie between the two of them while she was distracted and undo the knot holding them together. Maybe he'd try that later this afternoon when it was just the two of them together and not in a mood to rip someone's head off.
His gaze shifted instead to Rose, who looked just as voluptuous as his own girlfriend. Like Wendy, she too had chosen a string-bikini for their day today, though hers was a brighter and more vibrant red, closer to the red of the Pokémon Rangers. Unlike Wendy, however, Rose's top had a golden brooch between her girls, so undoing her top would be more difficult should Tyler feel so bold as to try it. Then again, the tie around her neck could give the same desired effect.
Sure they might not approve of his juvenile perversions, but then again if what they said was true earlier, then these two had been here before in less attire than even these revealing bikinis. The thought sparked Tyler's imagination and he looked around to let his mind's eye see what kind of mischief two girls drunk on wine could pull off at this lake. He saw the two of them standing intimately together in the lake, bathed in the moonlight and lightly embracing each other with a kiss, humming their love softly into each other's lungs.
But those two had to have gone further than just that, especially if a bottle of wine was involved. Tyler looked around and saw a nice pine tree by where they'd parked. He could see Wendy pinning Rose to the tree with a kiss, one hand trapping both of Rose's hands above her head and the second groping her chest beneath her swimsuit. Or would Rose's dominant side from the other night come out instead? Perhaps she would have pulled Wendy's bottom to the side and given her a toy to play with, letting it hum about while teasingly pushing and pulling it in and out of her dripping wet depths. Either way, heat rose to his cheeks, as well as something else rising up below the belt, making the redhead slouch over to try and hide his perversions a bit better.
"Well if you have such a problem with it, then why don't you do something about it?" Will taunted with a smirk, taking a step away towards the lake.
"Maybe I will do something about it." Rose stepped forward, a longer stride than Will.
"Are you?"
"Am I?"
"You tell me."
"I am telling you."
"Well?"
"Well, what?"
"Are you gonna do something about it?"
"Yeah."
"So what are you gonna do?" Will asked again, hands on his hips as he and Rose now stood a few feet closer to the lake, both of them having taken steps towards it with each thing they'd said.
"I'm gonna tackle you into the lake."
"Really?"
"Yup."
"I'd like to see you try."
"Would you now?"
"I don't think you can."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah really."
"I'll show you."
"Gotta catch me first though." Both Will and Rose laughed as the former took off towards the lake, pulling away from his fiancé with his height and speed. He reached the dock well before Rose did, looking back over his shoulder with a laugh as she chased after him. It looked to Tyler though that he slowed down as he made his way across the dock, which let Rose catch up as she sprinted down the wooden pier. By the time Will reached the end of the dock, Rose was back to a step behind him. But like he'd planned it the whole time, Will turned around and caught Rose in his arms, letting her knock the two of them off the dock together with a heavy splash. They resurfaced next to each other a moment later, both of them laughing innocently together as if they hadn't been play-fighting a moment ago.
"My turn!" Wendy laughed with childish innocence as she shook herself out of her shorts, discarding them for the black bottom that was beneath them before she too ran towards the lake. She jumped off the dock, splashing She resurfaced with an innocent smile as she looked at her friends. Her friends, however, looked at each other with malevolence, and quickly returned the favor with their own splash attacks.
"Ack! *cough* T-Tyler! Tyler help me!" Wench cried out as Rose and Will's barrage of water.
"You brought this on yourself when you splashed us first!" Rose taunted back as Wendy tried to run away but failed, unable to escape.
"Tyler! *cough* Stop it you two!" Wendy laughed in spite of her predicament. "AHH! Tyler! Ple-*cough* Please!"
"I should probably go help her huh?" Tyler shook his head as he thought aloud. "Coming!" He called out to her as he lifted his shirt up over his head. "You two coming?"
"I suppose it is ze reason we came 'ere today no?" Madison smiled a response. "Could I borrow you for a second or two Alicia before we go swim?"
"What do you need?" Alicia asked curiously.
"I was 'oping you could undo zese braids for me." Madison turned her back to Alicia, her lengthy twin braids of sunset colored hair. "I feel like just 'aving a simple ponytail today."
"But I want to go swimming." Alicia pouted, her shorter size compared to the rest of their group making Tyler think she looked like a child.
"Please? It would only take a few minutes and I can't do it by myself." Alicia folded her arms and pouted towards the lake. "I could make it worth your while."
"And how would you do that exactly?" Alicia looked skeptically at Madison from the corner of her eyes.
"I could always let you use my lap as a pillow again." Madison sneered at Alicia, who flinched and looked away shyly at Madison's offer. "You did look like you enjoyed yourself ze last time we did it."
"Well... if you're okay with it..." Alicia turned back to Madison, rocking from side to side on her feet as she smiled back. "It is pretty relaxing."
"It is, isn't it?" Madison smiled back at her and for a moment, Tyler thought he saw a soft band of blush appear on the cheeks of both girls as they looked at each other.
"TYLER! *cough cough* Wendy wailed from the water. "Tyler I need you – wait... Will NOOO!"
"Time to fly Wendy!" Will laughed as he wrapped his arms around Wendy's waist.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" She shrieked again, being thrown by the bulky man back away from the safety of the shore.
"You keep your hands off my girl Will!" Tyler yelled jokingly as he finally turned towards the lake and ran down towards the dock. The wind sang around him as he sprinted towards the water, his eyes locked on Rose who was harassing Wendy with more splashes of lake water.
"Uh-oh, Rose you might want to look out." Will laughed as Tyler screamed on reaching the dock.
"Huh?"
"Cannonball!"
"Oh shit! Noooooooo!" Rose's scream was drowned out by Tyler launching himself into the water with a large splash. Pleased with himself, Tyler stayed underwater to hide his smirk, but also to enjoy the tingling massage of bubbles crawling up his bare skin. He finally sprang back up out of the water, standing up and wiping the water from his eyes, only to immediately get blasted with a splash of water from his right. Tyler looked in the direction of his attacker, ready to counterattack but stopped when he saw Wendy with her arms folded across her chest.
"Took you long enough." Wendy stuck her tongue out at him before splashing him a second time.
"I thought you wanted me to help you." Tyler put his hands on his hips only to receive a second splash of laughter from Wendy, who was now smiling mischievously at him. "Oh, so that was your plan huh? You didn't want to be bullied anymore so now you're gonna bully me."
"He figured it out!" Wendy recoiled in an overdramatic way while Tyler rolled his eyes, a sinister grin crossing his lips.
"Fine, game on." Wendy ran away, quickly realizing her mistake as Tyler swiftly chased her down and tackled her into the lake. He could hear her laughter from beneath the surface so he pulled up, just barely poking his eyes above the water to see Wendy smiling at back at him.
"I got you now." Her hands both found the back of Tyler's head and she briefly but forcefully shoved him under water. Tyler quickly resurfaced, hearing Wendy laugh as she ran away from him a second time, but this time Tyler just shook his head in amusement. It felt nice to just kid around like this every now and then. But given that the tournament was going to start up again, part of him was anxious to try and get back into form and prepare for the knockout rounds.
"I know that look." Will looked at Tyler with an amused grin. "You're itching for a fight, aren't you?" He added, hopping in front of him. "That's why you came racing down here, isn't it?"
"Not that kind of fight." Tyler backed away as Will raised his fists to a ready stance. Though Tyler's eyes lingered on at the necklace that Will had apparently forgotten to take off before getting in the water. Even more curious was the fact that there was a shrunken Ultra Ball attached to that necklace. "Uh, Will? You forgot to take your necklace off."
"Huh?" Will looked to where Tyler was pointing. "Oh yeah… yeah, I guess I did."
"I hope that's an empty Ultra Ball there. We wouldn't want whoever is in there to sink to the bottom of the lake, would we?"
"I don't think we'd have to worry about that." Will chuckled as he held the small black and yellow ball in his hand.
"Why's that? Is there a Water type in there?"
"No. But this guy here is actually my strongest partner." Will explained. "Well, technically my dad is the one who caught him. But he's letting me take care of him since this guy's a bit restless and dad can't afford to take him on any more adventures with his Ranger work."
"Huh… he's one of your dad's Pokémon then? What kind of Pokémon is he?" Tyler thought back to yesterday when he'd met some of Mr. Weiland's Pokémon at their ranch. You could feel their power just by standing next to them. One of them in particular, a large bipedal blue penguin called Kaiser practically stared a hole through Tyler the first time they'd met. And now Will was saying that this Pokémon on his necklace was on par with them?
"You sure you want to find out?" Will asked Tyler suspiciously. "I should warn you, he can be pretty intense the first time you meet him."
"Why not? What's the worst that could happen?"
"Alright, but I did warn you." Will sighs as he unclips the ball from his necklace and enlarges it. "Come on out Odin!"
"Wait Odin? Like the God of-" Tyler is silenced by the noise of Will's Ultra ball bursting open and a colossal spark shower begins to morph into a creature of massive size. It lands in the water with a splash, the rumbling of the ground beneath it and the resulting wave knocking Tyler on his ass as he looks up at the Pokémon in awe. Its body is covered in plate-like scales, green in color with spikes all the way from the top of his head, down his back and to the tip of his tail. A grouping of triangular black holes accented his chest and his legs, along with a steely-blue colored set of scales over his belly in a diamond shape. As the sparks recede, the Pokémon stands tall on its hind legs and looks to the sky above it.
"TYYYYYYYYYYYYY–RANITARRRRRRRRRR!" The Pokémon's cry echoed across the lake and through the nearby trees. A series of startled squawks from nearby bird Pokémon could be seen fleeing over the behemoth's head in the distance. He then turned his obsidian stare down to the red-haired boy in the lake, snorting at him with intrigue.
"A Tyranitar…" Tyler tried to stand back up, but the Pokémon's fierce gaze kept him rooted in the lake.
"I told you." Will chuckled at Tyler's reaction. "Odin here is unquestionably my strongest partner."
"You can say that again." Tyler flinched as Odin snorted at him, then a second time as he extended a claw towards him. A moment passed and the two looked at each other, Tyranitar's claw still extended to Tyler.
"Well, are you gonna get up or not Tyler?" Will smiled with amusement as the Tyranitar held his claw even closer to Tyler's reach.
"Huh, oh, that's what he's doing." Tyler blushed as he raised his hand and grabbed the Tyranitar's claw. The Pokémon picked him off the ground effortlessly, almost completely out of the water before landing back on his two feet and standing before the Rock type. "Uh…Thanks, I guess." Tyler received another snort and a nod from the Tyranitar as a response.
"He took that better than I thought, huh Will?" Wendy chimed in, seemingly unfazed by the Pokémon standing twice as tall as her.
"I guess so." Will nodded in agreement. "Odin, this is Tyler. Tyler is Wendy's new boyfriend."
"Hiya Odin." Wendy continued her nonchalant response, smiling at him just as warmly as if he were any other Pokémon. Odin meanwhile looked down at Wendy, and Tyler thought he saw a bit of a sparkle in the large Pokémon's eyes. He looked up and around, almost like he was looking for something as he scanned the shorelines, but after a while turned back to Wendy with what looked like a disappointed frown.
"Erm… is it just me, or does he look… sad?" Tyler asked suspiciously.
"OH! I know who you're looking for! Don't worry, she's here too." Wendy turned and started jogging through the lake and back towards the jeep. Tyler watched her curiously as she pulled a bag from the back. A moment later she laughed briefly before pulling a Poké ball from it, enlarging it and tossing it skyward.
"Am-pharos!" Tess burst out of Wendy's Poké ball and landed by her master's side. As she did, Tyler heard a soft rumble beside him and looked over to see the Tyranitar smiling as he looked at her. If he didn't know any better, it also looked to Tyler like there was a faint glimmer of pink in the Rock type's eyes.
"Is this who you're looking for?" Wendy called back to the lake and the Tyranitar rumbled again, looking at Will with a bafflingly shy look. Why on Earth was a Pokémon as naturally imposing as a Tyranitar wilting when he saw Tess?
"Ohhhhhh…" Tyler nodded slowly as the lightbulb went off in his head.
"What are you waiting for? You know you want to say hi." Will said encouragingly. The Tyranitar nodded his appreciation before wading back to shore, casting a wake behind him as he made his way towards Wendy and her Pokémon.
"So, are those two a couple?" Tyler still doubted what his brain and what he saw were telling him.
"I don't think I'd go that far." Will and Tyler watched as Odin got out of the lake and continue his trek towards Tess. "Odin's had a crush on Tess for a long time, but I don't think Tess sees him as more than just a good friend."
"Oof, I guess even Pokémon can get put in the friend zone huh."
"Odin doesn't seem to mind though." Will chuckled as Tess waved one of her paddle-like arms at him, stopping the giant dead in his tracks. "Who knows, maybe someday he'll break free of it and we'll have a bunch of little Mareep hopping about."
"That'd be kind of cute actually." Tyler laughed as he imagined all the fluffy electric sheep prancing and jumping over their Tyranitar dad.
"So, are the rest of you gonna let your Pokémon out and enjoy this day or what?" Wendy called to the four trainers in the lake as she released two more Poké balls, letting both Pulse and her Lilligant Yuri stretch their legs.
"She's got a point." Will conceded as he turned back towards the jeep. Tyler soon followed as Wendy grabbed even more Poké balls from amidst the pile of clothes in the jeep. As the four lake-soaked trainers walked back towards the shore, they all watched Wendy release more Pokémon to the sunlight. Among the group were a few familiar faces to Tyler: a Houndoom, and an Azumaril, which Tyler knew belonged to Madison. The other three Pokémon next to them must have made up the rest of her team. The first being a falcon-like bird with red-orange plumage and black tipped wings. Beneath it on the ground was a small, blobby lilac colored slug with a shell on its back and green spots on its face. And standing behind both of them was a towering, broad-shouldered beast with what looked like a spiked green, red and tan colored breastplate covering his chest and back.
"'Ello everyone." Madison smiled at the Pokémon as all five of them made their way over towards her.
"So these are your other partners?" Tyler asked, still focused on the three new faces.
"Right." She nodded and turned to the other Pokémon. "I sink you remember 'Oundie and Zuri."
"Zuri zurii!" The Azumaril spun around and struck a pose, making Madison laugh at her.
"You just want to splash in ze lake, don't you?" Again, the Azumaril bounced around like it were already splashing about in the lake. "Okay Zurii, let me introduce everyone first. So like I said, you all know 'Oundie and Zuri. Zen we 'ave Tali my Talonflame, Gooey ze Sliggoo, und Chessie my Chesnaught." Each one of her Pokémon said their names together as Madison turned addressed them together. "Feel free to take ze day off and just enjoy yourselves for a bit. You can do whatever you want today." All five Pokémon cheered in unison at their trainer's words.
"Those are some… interesting names you've given your partners Madison." Jason looked puzzled at her team. "They're all so…"
"Childish?" Madison answered for him.
"I wouldn't go that far but…"
"Well, zere's a reason for zat. I'm not ze one who named zem." Madison explained.
"You didn't?" Alicia looked at her curiously while the Kalosian shook her head.
"My baby sister Jasmine named zem all when she was first learning to speak." Madison laughed sweetly with a fond smile curling her lips. "She couldn't say full names like Azumaril or Talonflame, so she just shortened them to Zuri and Tali. And so I could teach her about my Pokémon, I started calling them zat as well and I 'aven't stopped since."
"Wait, I thought you said you had six Pokémon Maddie?" Wendy asked as she held yet another ball in her hand, but her tournament partner shook her head.
"Non. I only 'ave five Pokémon."
"Then who's this guy?" Wendy frowned at the mystery Poké ball.
"I think I know who that is." Alicia stepped forward and claimed the Poké ball for herself. "Come out and play Greer!"
The group watched as yet another monstrous Pokémon burst out of its ball and immediately dove into the lake. Its sheer size forced the largest wave yet to jump out of the water and break over the surprised humans and their jeep. Everyone became thoroughly soaked, Pokémon included as smaller secondary waves washed ashore. They all looked up, wiping the wetness from their eyes to see a towering serpent rising out of the water, with blue and white scales covering its body, and a fiercely red stare looking down at them.
"Holy shit…" Jason stood there stunned as Alicia casually walked towards the Pokémon in the lake. "You have a Gyarados?"
"Uh-huh," Alicia replied as the serpentine Pokémon lowered its head towards its master. She reached out and lightly stroked the trident-like crown on the beast's head, getting him to rumble softly in delight. "Greer is my most loyal partner. And despite his appearance, he's actually a softie. Right Greer?" If a monstrous blue sea serpent could purr like a house cat, that was the closest thing Tyler could guess that the Gyarados was doing as Alicia continued to rub the pointed crest on his head.
"Sounds a bit like Odin actually." Will looked at his towering goliath of a Pokémon, who had snuck off and was in the process of trying to court Tess with some berries from a nearby tree just outside of her reach.
"You know, we've done an awful lot of relaxing the past couple days," Jason said, thinking out loud. "Taking the time to decompress is great and all, but it's already Wednesday. The second round of the tournament starts in two days. Shouldn't we do some sort of training to try and get ready for that?"
"Tyler was just thinking the same thing earlier," Will commented as he furrowed his brow. "Alright, well how about we take another hour or so to just relax with all the Pokémon. Then we'll do some light practice tonight and hit the books for real tomorrow. Plan?"
"Works for me." Jason speaks for the group as he digs into his belongings and finds his Poké balls, releasing his quartet of partners to the field. After Tyler's embarrassed yelp at seeing Gengar again, the rest of the group who hadn't yet released their Pokémon did the same, and soon the entire field was full of Pokémon of different sizes and types.
With a booming countdown from Will, almost everyone Pokémon and human alike rushed the lake and took a dip in the cool refreshment of the water. And for the next couple hours, everyone's focus was simply on squeezing as much fun out of the day as they could. Wendy and Tyler resumed their splash war with Will and Rose until it was disrupted by Will's excitable Arcanine tackling him with a playful bark. That seemed to put an end to the war as Will went and chased after her.
Tyler took that as a cue to just lie back and float around on the surface for a bit and let his thoughts wander around. Despite floating on the water, Tyler's mind wandered back home to the lands devoid of water and reflecting on his journey so far. He realized that it was about a month and a half since he'd first left the sandy deserts of home and traded them for the lush pastures of Sinnoh. Come to think of it, he hadn't called home in a while; in fact, the last time was back when he was still in the hospital in Snowpoint City. It dawned on Tyler that it would probably be a good idea to let mom at least know that he was out and safe. What if she'd sent care packages wanting to make sure he was okay? It's not like the Pokémon Center up there had a way to get ahold of him.
And like that two hours quickly came and went with everyone relaxing and playing together along the lake. But as the sun began to set upon the horizon, Tyler felt his desire to get a battle in today grow. He was the first one to exit the lake and dry off, Magnus quickly scampering over towards him as he did. Tyler could feel the same desire in his most loyal partner. So he jogged off towards a more open area of the lakeshore and turned back towards the group still splashing about in the water.
"Come on you guys! Hurry up! We're ready to go over here!" Tyler hollered to try and get everyone to hurry up and match his excitement. Magnus even jumped up and flipped over once, showing his own encouragement.
"I guess we have played long enough." Will called everyone towards the shore where Tyler was standing and began passing out towels.
"Don't take too long guys, I'm burning up here waiting for you."
"Keep your pants on Tyler, we're coming." Jason called back as he and the group kept their leisurely pace.
"Though if you took them off, you might get us to come faster." Wendy giggled impishly but quickly stopped when she felt Will's disapproving stare from beside her. "Please don't pour more ice water on me! I just got dry!"
"Behave yourself and I won't have to." Will sighed as Wendy laughed off her embarrassment.
"Does he always get this excited about battling?" Alicia asked.
"Oh yeah, if there's a Pokémon battle to be had, he's ready to go." Wendy sighed as she looked at her boyfriend. "He can be such a kid sometimes."
"I heard that!" Tyler pouted.
"That doesn't make it any less true." Wendy laughed back.
"I dunno, I find his energy kind of cute." Rose said with a scheming look in her eyes.
"Come on, who's ready?" Tyler punched his fists together excitedly.
"Tyler please, at least let us figure out who's pairing up first." Will shook his head and Tyler finally appeared to calm slightly. "Then again there's only seven of us since Eric isn't here."
"Given how fired up Tyler is, I sink 'e wouldn't mind going twice." Madison pointed out and Tyler nodded.
"Bring it on!" He practically barked, bouncing around on his feet.
"I swear he's like a puppy who wants to go for a walk." Rose continued. "It's infectious."
"Well if you find it so infectious Rose, maybe you should take him on first." Jason commented.
"Alright then," Rose stepped forward with a cocky grin. "I've been wanting to see my new pup in action anyway."
"Who?" Tyler asked as Rose brought her fingers to her lips and blew a loud whistling noise with them.
"Nuriel! It's go time girl!" She called in the direction of the tree where a small black dog was lying in a light slumber. But as soon as Rose called for her, the black dog jumped up and quickly rushed over towards her master. She sat down on her haunches, looking expectantly up at her, but Tyler's eyes were drawn to a lengthy scar down her right eye and through a skull-shaped mask of white on her forehead.
"Yeah, so who is this?" Tyler asked as he and Magnus looked at the Pokémon curiously.
"Her name is Nuriel," Rose answered with a smile at her partner. "She's the rescue that I adopted yesterday."
"Awww, look at ze little 'oundie." Madison cooed as she looked at the Houndour. "She reminds me of 'oundie when 'e was a little pup."
"Think I can count on you for some pointers in the future Maddie?" Rose asked the Kalosian, who nodded in response.
"Pas de souci! It would be my pleasure to play with a little 'oundie again."
"So we're ready then?" Tyler sized up his two opponents. "We're gonna fight?"
"If you're ready, we're ready too. Nuriel, use Smokescreen!" The black dog jumped forward and barked out a cloud of thick gray smoke towards Magnus.
"Whoa! Back away Magnus!" Tyler's own Fire type hops back as his back and forehead flames ignite in a soft burn. "Jeez, tell us you're ready before launching an attack."
"I thought you said you were ready Tyler." Rose taunted her opponent before barking an order. "Nasty plot Nuriel!" Piercing through the smoky grays were a pair of menacing angled yellow eyes that glared at Magnus with glowing red irises.
"Charge the eyes Magnus, Quick Attack!" With a blur of white trailing behind him, Magnus boldly charged into the cloud of smoke, only to come out the other side looking around and seeing Rose smirk at him.
"Nice try Magnus. Now use Howl Nuriel!" Magnus turned back towards the smoke cloud, where a high-pitched howl could be heard inside.
"Try again Magnus, charge that noise with Quick Attack!" Again, Magnus dives into the smoke and shortly later the howl becomes a pained yelp as both he and his opponent tumble out of the cloud, looking at each other with a fire burning in their eyes.
"Shadow Ball!"
"Counter with Flamethrower!" The black furred dog opens its mouth and charges a ball of shadowy purple energy in it as flames run up Magnus' back towards his face. Both Pokémon launched their attacks at the same time and they battle against each other until canceling out into an explosion that blows the cloud of smoke away and lets everyone see the action once more.
"Not bad you guys." Wendy calls out with an excited smile.
"We're not finished yet. Use Thunder Fang Nuriel!"
"Hold her back with Swift Magnus!" Nuriel charges forward again with her mouth crackling with electric energy as Magnus spits out a volley of shooting stars towards her. But despite taking the brunt of the attack against her, she presses on and catches Magnus, biting into his back and electrocuting him.
"Yeah! Ata girl Nurie!" Rose cheers as Magnus squirms about in the Dark type's mouth.
"Aim for the scar Magnus, use Swift again!" With a grimace, Magnus opens his mouth and looks back at the Houndour's face, firing a point-blank barrage of stars at the wound on her face. Another pained yelp from the dog and she released Magnus, who hops away and appears to shake off some of the damage from the attack.
"Nice job Magnus. Now let's steal a page from Yuki's book; Dig a hole underground!" With a quick nod, Magnus jumped up and dove into the ground, quickly digging a hole and submerging himself under the Earth.
"Keep an eye out Nuriel. He's gonna try and pop up from behind you." Nuriel began scanning the ground, looking for some sort of sign as to where her opponent might be hiding beneath the surface.
"I'm not that underhanded as to use sneak attacks. Hit her head-on Magnus!" Nuriel sees the ground beneath her crack but can't get away fast enough as Magnus slams his body and the Earth into her, knocking the pup off her feet and sending her rolling back towards her trainer with a grimace.
"Hmph, a one-time exception to the rule." Rose put her hands on her hips.
"No kidding, every battle I've seen you in, you try to use some sort of deception tactic to get an advantage," Wendy added on. "Digging holes, double team clones, speed boosts with Tailwind."
"Hey if it works, why stop doing it?" Tyler chuckled with a smirk. "Speaking of which, back underground Magnus!"
"There he goes again..." Wendy frowned as Magnus once more dug a hole underground.
"Well, it's not gonna work a second time. Follow him underground Nuriel!" Almost as soon as Magnus disappeared underground again, the Houndour jumped down the hole herself, chasing after him in hot pursuit. "Now what Tyler? Can't hit us with that move if we're underground too."
"True, but who said that we were using that attack again? Flamethrower Magnus, full power!" Tyler could barely contain the smirk on his face as he gave Magnus his command. He watched as the smoke began billowing up out of the back of the hole his partner had dove into. But for some reason, there were no flames billowing up the other side like he'd expected. Equally odd, Tyler instead heard a strange noise coming from the hole, almost like a sucking noise of some kind. He saw the ground between the holes glowing with a faint redness, so Magnus was clearly spitting fire properly. But what was going on underground?
"Something's wrong Magnus, get back above ground." The smoke quickly came to a halt as Magnus climbed back out of the ground, looking just as confused as his trainer was as to what had happened.
"And maybe Tyler, you fell into my trap. Come on and show him Nuriel." Rose giggled as her Houndour poked her head up from the hole completely covered in soot. Magnus leaned back slightly as Nuriel shook the soot from her body and looked slyly at her opponent before burping a small cloud of smoke into his face, making him recoil back even further.
"What the?" Tyler's eye quivered in disbelief. "Are you... are you telling me she at our attack just now?"
"'Fraid so hun. Now show him a real Flamethrower!" Magnus can only look on in shock as Nuriel's mouth opens and she spits out a ferocious blast of flames straight into the Fire type's face. His entire body becomes engulfed in the attack as it shoots out over the lake in an impressive display of strength before crashing into the glassy water in a large blast of steam. Back on dry land however, Nuriel's attack finishes and Magnus is left standing with a blanket of soot clinging to him and a blank expression. He blinks a few times and coughs out his own cloud of ash before falling onto his side.
"Holy shit Rose." Wendy sounded impressed as her girlfriend folded her arms over her chest.
"Now that is some top tier firepower. Guess you've got some more work to do Tyler."
"But... I don't get it, why didn't our Flamethrower do that?" Tyler frowned as Magnus tried to get back to his feet and shake the soot from his body.
"Simple, Nuriel has the Flash Fire ability," Rose smirked back at him. "She taught me that the hard way yesterday when Scarlet tried to do the same thing. I've got to say, it feels a lot better to be on the other end of that little trick of hers."
"And you were just complaining about how I use 'dirty tricks' to win." Tyler chuckled, putting the words in air quotes with his fingers. He then shook his head with a defeated sigh, looking at his partner who'd just gotten back to his feet again. "Guess we lost today Magnus."
"Lava, Lava Quil-va!" Magnus shook his head and lit his back flames, showing he was good to go still but Tyler shook his head.
"I know you're still good to go buddy, but we were just knocking the rust off today. We'll go all out again later."
"Quil-va..." Magnus' head sunk with a disappointed grumble. Nuriel meanwhile cocks her head sideways as she looks down at Magnus. She eventually leans down herself and lightly boops her nose against his with a faint growl. Magnus flinches at the surprise touch, jumping back and looking at Nuriel suspiciously. But the black furred dog just sits in front of him with her head still cocked sideways.
"Dour?" She asks him with the same faint growl.
"Va..." Magnus grumbles a response and looks away again and Nuriel's ears flatten disappointedly. She looks at him a moment before trotting forward and licking the side of his face. Again, Magnus jumps back and looks at her even more suspiciously than before.
"Dour?" She growls again before lightly booping his nose with her paw. Magnus, however, can only blink in confusion at her actions.
"I think she likes you Mags." Rose snickered, as her partner bashfully brushed her paw against the ground. She catches Magnus' eye again and once again sees his confused expression. Her ears flatten a second time, but then perk up as she hears Magnus' stomach growling. She looks around and finds a berry patch nearby and rushes off towards it, biting a low hanging branch off and bringing it and three berries back towards Magnus.
"Houndour." Nuriel leans down and bites the stem off of one of the berries before pushing it towards Magnus with her nose. Still confused, Magnus stares dumbfoundedly at the berry, making Wendy laugh.
"He's definitely your Pokémon Tyler."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tyler asked somewhat offended, but his apparent anger only made Wendy laugh louder.
"He's just as clueless around girls as you are." She teased back and Tyler's face started to glow its trademark shade of red.
"Oh shut up. He's just never had a girlfriend is all."
"You mean like you before me?"
"I had a girlfriend before you!" Tyler's voice cracked as he roared back, making everyone laugh at him and brighten his embarrassment.
"Did you now? What was she like?" Wendy probed curiously.
"Well... we weren't together that long." Tyler frowned as he remembered that one experimental month with his friend Amber back home. "I think you and I lasted longer than the two of us did."
"Yay! I'm winning!" Wendy cheered childishly.
"So why'd you break up?" Rose's probing question made Tyler turn away from her. "Ooh, bad breakup huh. Did she cheat on you?"
"What a bitch!" Wendy said in shock.
"She didn't cheat on me!" Tyler yelled back. "We just... we realized we were better friends you know? It was kind of awkward when we went out in the first place."
"Ah okay; it was more of an experiment than a relationship." Rose nodded in understanding.
"Just so you know Tyler, I would never cheat on you." Wendy smiled at him lovingly. "I hate people who cheat on others."
"Kind of hard to cheat on someone in an open relationship though Wendy." Rose teased as she wrapped her girlfriend up from behind and kissed her cheek playfully. Wendy meanwhile turned bright pink herself at Rose's unexpected advance.
"It might be a bit more open than others, but I'm closing it off today." Tyler stepped forward and pulled Wendy into his arms, kissing her other cheek a bit aggressively and locking eyes with Rose while doing it.
"Ooh, you two are fighting over me? How romantic." Wendy cooed affectionately.
"Not as romantic as those two." Will interrupted, pointing at Magnus and Nuriel, both of whom were licking berry juice off their paws when their eyes met over the remaining berry. Nuriel bit the berry free of the stem and pushed it towards Magnus with her nose, growling at him lightly as she backed away. But to Tyler's surprise, Magnus actually pushed the berry back towards her and shook his head.
"I don't believe it..." Tyler's jaw fell unhinged as Nuriel and also looked at him curiously. "Magnus is turning down food?!"
"La – Lava-la..." Magnus looked flustered as he pushed the berry even closer to Nuriel. She looked at it, then at Magnus before taking one of her claws and carefully cutting it in half, pushing the bigger half towards him.
"Yup, he's definitely your Pokémon Tyler." Wendy giggled as she sunk into her boyfriend's arms a bit deeper. "Definitely gets flustered around girls."
"Shut up." Tyler blushed like his Pokémon did as they all watch Magnus and Nuriel eat their halves of the berry together.
"Alright," Jason interrupts with a cough. "I like cute stuff sometimes, but can you two be cute elsewhere so we can get some training in?"
"Spoilsport." Rose quipped at him.
"He has a point," Alicia spoke up as Jason stepped forward. "And if you're looking for an opponent Jason, I'll-."
"I'll fight him!" Wendy interrupted, jumping out of Tyler's arms and glaring at Jason. "I'll make you pay for raining on the parade of young love."
"I feel like making it rain lightning instead. Let's go Manectric!" Jason whistles for his Electric typed partner who quickly rushes to his master's side, the yellow tufts of fur on his blue body crackling with electric energy.
"Okay, I'll play your game. Tess! It's your time to shine!" Away from the group, Tess' forehead gem sparkles as she gets up and quickly waves goodbye to the saddened Tyranitar, though he does eventually follow her to watch as Tess takes her place beside her master.
"Two Electric types huh? Guess this will be as shocking a battle as the last one was fiery." Will chuckled, only for a collective deadpan to look at him. "What?"
"Really dude?" Jason looked blankly at him. "You know how I feel about puns."
"I might like a good pun, but that one was way too easy Will." Wendy looked disappointed at him. "You can do better than that."
"I thought it was funny. Rose?"
"Sorry babe. I'm with Wendy, too easy." Rose agreed with the group.
"Eric would have found it funny..." Will muttered under his breath.
Right... so fight time Manectric, use Quick Attack!" With a curt bark, Manectric races forward with a glowing trail of white behind his feet.
"Hold him back Tess, use Power Gem!" As the Manectric charged ahead, Tess' forehead gem sparkled with white light before shooting a series of rock-shaped blasts from it in the Manectric's way.
"Use your speed and dodge Manectric!" Manectric quickly jumped to his side, dodging the incoming rocks and slammed into Tess' frontside, knocking her away. "Now Flamethrower!"
"Thunderbolt!" Both Pokémon charged up their respective attacks and they launched into each other, canceling out in a powerful blast of energy that pushed both Pokémon farther away from their opponent and back to their trainer's side.
"Keep up your speed Manectric, get in there and use Fire Fang!"
"Hold tight Tess, wait for my signal." Tess nodded at her trainer as Manectric jumped forward again, this time his mouth dripping with flames on his approach. "Now, Iron Tail!"
"Ampharos!" Just as Manectric made his last leap, Tess quickly spun around and slammed her glowing white tail into the Manectric's head, swatting him out of the sky and sending him crashing back towards his trainer.
"How about that Jay?" Wendy taunted as the Manectric stood back up on his feet, shaking the damage off him. "Not just a pretty face, am I?"
"Try it a second time and see if it still goes the same for you," Jason smirked right back. "Quick Attack again Manectric, get into her blind spot!" Another head first charge from Manectric this time branches off as he tries to quickly position himself behind her body before charging.
"Oh no you don't. Use Cotton Spore Tess!" Once Manectric begins to finish his charge, Tess again spins around and shoots a volley of puffy white spores between her and her attacker. As Manectric crashes into her a second time, he takes with him some of the spores that are now clinging to his body.
"Dammit, shake them off Manectric!" With an annoyed growl, Manectric tries to shake his body free of the fuzzy puffballs clinging to his body. But try as he like, each motion he makes only makes the spores spread and cling to more of his fur.
"Okay Tess, now use Power Gem!" Once more Tess shoots a blast of sparkling rocks from her forehead gem that crash all around the Manectric, pelting him and making his annoyed growls louder with each hit he receives.
"Grrrr, use Flamethrower!" With his trainer growling his own annoyances, Manectric scowls at Tess as his mouth catches fire again and spits a pillar of flames towards the light Pokémon. However just as his attack begins to lap at Tess' body, he cancels his own attack off as some of the cotton spores clinging to him caught fire. With an alarmed bark, Manectric cancels his own attack and starts rolling around on the dirt in an attempt to put the flames out. Something that makes Wendy laugh with glee.
"What's the matter Jason? Am I too hot for you to handle?" Wendy struck a model's pose, giggling to herself as she saw Jason's scowl thicken.
"You're always too hot for us to handle Wendy." Rose laughed along with her girlfriend.
"Just focus on getting those flames out Manectric!" Jason continued to grumble his displeasure.
"Here Jay, I'll give you a hand, or should I say tail. Use Iron Tail Tess!" For the second time, Tess' tail glows with silver energy and she rushes forward, jumping up and whipping her tail towards the Manectric's head.
"Just what I wanted. Bite onto her tail with Fire Fang!" The Manectric quickly rolled away from the attack that slammed to the ground beside it. And before Tess could pull back, Manectric quickly lunged at her, sinking his burning fangs into her tail and making the Pokémon cry out in pain. "Told you it wouldn't work a second time."
"Hang in there Tess! Shake him off you!"
"Don't let go Manectric!" Despite Wendy's encouraging calls, Manectric tightens his grip on her tail, staying attached to the frantic swings of her tail.
"Use Signal Beam and blast him away!" A white ball of energy forms above the jewel on Tess' forehead before a rainbow-colored beam of energy shoots out of it, hitting Manectric on the side of the head and finally knocking him off her. Tess frowns as she looks at her now freed tail, seeing a noticeable mark of singed fur.
"Ampharos..." Tess frowns as she looks at her tail.
"That wasn't very nice Jason. You hurt Tess." Wendy pointed at him with an angry scowl. "Apologize for that!"
"I'll only apologize if you beat us!" Jason fired back with an annoyed expression. "Manectric, use Crunch on her tail!" Jason's electrified partner barks once as he bolts towards his opponent.
"Cotton Guard Tess!" For the second time, Tess shoots a blast of fluffy spores from her but this time the spores solidify into a barrier in front of the charging Manectric, who harmlessly bounces off the wall of floating fluff.
"Get around her wall, use Quick Attack and charge once you see an opening!"
"Keep him in front of you Tess, and keep using Cotton Guard!" As the Manectric darts to the left of the wall, Tess tracks him and spits out another volley of spores that add onto the wall. This time Manectric jumps right, and again Tess follows him as the wall gets thicker as it lengthens on all sides.
"Fine, if we can't find an opening, we'll make one! Burn a hole through it with Flamethrower!" Arching his back, Manectric barks again and spits out a spiraling blast of flames towards the cottony wall in front of it. The white puffs ignite instantly, and the flames quickly spread all the way across it.
"One way or another we're ending this Tess, Use Hyper Beam!" With a cry of her name and a look of determination sparkling in her eyes, Tess' body freezes as she throws her paddle-like arms out, and a ball of orange light forms in its mouth. As the fire spreads and burns away the wall, Tess' ball grows in size and intensity. After another moment of buildup, the flames finally punch a molten hole through the barrier, heading straight towards Tess.
"Fire!" Tess lowers her head as the flames begin to engulf her body, but just as quickly a vicious orange blast blows them away from her. The raw power of the blast obliterates the remaining spores and pushes Jason's attack right back towards him effortlessly.
"Protect! Hurry!" Quickly Manectric ceases his attack and lies low to the ground as Wendy's attack crashes against a turquoise barrier before the Manectric and disperses around it. Yet even with the barrier absorbing some of the attack, its raw power still manages to push the Manectric back a short distance, dirt piling up behind his hind legs.
"Hang in there Manectric!" Jason calls out over the storm of energy rippling through the air. But Tess' attack is relentless, continuing to pummel against the barrier as a small crack begins to form in the center of it. Manectric proudly stands up with an intense glare in his eyes as he howls at the crack. Another crack fractures off from the first in the barrier, followed by another and yet another soon after that. Still, the Manectric stood tall even against the immense pressure of Tess' attack.
And then the barrier fell, shattering to pieces in front of the Manectric. But at the same time, Tess' body slackened and her attack began to falter as the remaining bits of her own energy were drained away by her efforts. Both Pokémon stood slouched over, breathing heavily with their trainers standing behind them and breathing a collective sigh of relief.
"That was fun." Wendy perked up as she skipped over to her partner and put her arm around her. "You did great Tess. Just a bit more and we'd have had him."
"Pharos... Am-pha..." Tess smiled at Wendy.
*phew* "We would have been goners if that was a second longer. Nice job Manectric; way to hang in there till the end."
"Tric..." Jason's partner growled softly at his partner's praise.
"Hehe-hee. Two battles and two wins for the girls." Rose sneered with glee as Wendy gave her a victory pose. "Girl power rules!"
"I think you guys are in trouble next round if this all keeps up Ty." Wendy teasingly stuck her tongue out at him.
"Bah, there's no need for us to go all out when we're just training." Tyler dismissed her remark but could feel Wendy sneering at him.
"You're just saying that because you boys are losing to us girls."
"Today maybe; but come this weekend when it actually matters, we'll show you what us guys are capable of."
*Ahem* Will cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Now now Tyler, we haven't lost to them yet. I still haven't battled yet."
"I dunno babe. You might be able to pick up a win, but we've already won today." Rose spoke up. "You might get a win on either Madison or Alicia, but whoever's left over will surely win against Ty or Jay."
"So I'll just take them both on." Will grinned as he looked at both the girls who had yet to battle. "How about it? You two against me. You win and it's a shutout, girls over boys."
"Two against one?" Madison looked curiously at Will. "You sink you can 'andle ze two of us by yourself?"
"The only way I'll know for sure is if we battle." Will smiled warmly, but with a hint of seriousness dotting his eyes.
"Hmph..." Madison pouted with a single hand on her cocked hip. "I sink 'e sinks 'e is better zan us Alicia."
"Is that so?" Alicia stretched her arms up over her head, then mirrored Madison's stance next to her. "You might be a Mr. Perfect, but even you would be wise to not underestimate your opponents just because you're on a hot streak."
"Uh-oh Will, sounds like you lit a fire under them." Rose giggled as the two girls took a battle-ready stance.
"Good." Will grinned himself, punching his fist into his hand. "It wouldn't feel right to blow two little girls away if they weren't ready for… a fight?" Will trailed off as he saw Alicia's confident pose falter. Her hands fell to her sides and she stood there a moment before her hands curled into fists and she looked at Will with an intense anger.
"Who are you calling a little girl?!" Alicia exploded at him, catching everyone off guard with the shrillness of her voice. "I'm not little! I'm twenty years old!"
"A-Alicia, calm down." Madison tried to reassure her now fully fired up partner. "I don't sink 'e meant it like zat."
"Yeah, I mean you're not exactly short. It's just that-"
"Oh, so I'm short now am I?" Alicia cut Will off, her rage continuing to burn.
"No! That's not what I meant!"
"That's what you said though."
"But I didn't mean it like that! You know, I was just trying to rile you up a bit. I didn't know you had a short fuse about your- oops."
"That's it! Mercury, I need your help silencing someone!" The wrath in Alicia's voice was quickly answered by a red blur descending from above into a knightly pose before his queen. His red body sparkled with a metallic sheen as he stood up and took a combative stance, clacking the red pincers on each of his hands that too shared the piercing amber scowl in their owner's eyes.
"Scizor." The Pokémon coldly spoke its name.
"You know Alicia, I sink I like zis fiery side of you." Madison's praise brought a band of blush to her partner's cheeks, breaking her façade. "Now let's channel your fire into William's demise. Let's go Gooey!" A short moment later another blur, this time lilac in color plopped back down from above and morphed back into the shape of a slug with a shell on its back.
"Will, maybe you should start battling before you put your foot any deeper into your mouth." Wendy spoke up and Will simply let out a defeated sigh.
"Alright. So, are we still going two on one?" Will asked the two girls.
"Your damn right it is." Alicia pointed at him aggressively. "You brought this on yourself."
"Alright alright. I guess I'll get serious too. Let's show them true sight Kamex." Stepping out from the crowd behind his apparent master emerged a Pokémon that made Tyler do a double take on seeing it. He recognized the Pokémon as a Wartortle from its blue turtle-like body and the tail that looked like a crashing wave and its large bluish-white ears. But what surprised Tyler on seeing him was the neckerchief wrapped around his eyes with white waves crashing against a red background. Tyler couldn't help but stare and watch this turtle walk forward and stand before his master.
"Um... Will?" Tyler pointed at the Wartortle. "Is that supposed to be a neckerchief or something?"
"Not really." Will chuckled as the Wartortle turned and looked in... er... faced the direction of his opponents. "Kamex here is actually blind."
"He's blind?!" Tyler and Madison both shrieked together in disbelief, but Will just continued chuckling.
"It's been a while since we got that reaction huh Kamex." The Wartortle turned back to his master and nodded. "Right, well these two look like fun opponent's, don't they?" The Wartortle nodded again, even flashing a thumbs-up gesture with one of its claws. Though despite Will's apparent confidence in the Pokémon, his opponents didn't seem so sure.
"Are you really sure it is okay to battle 'im?" Madison expressed doubt.
"You're not still looking down on me, are you?" Alicia meanwhile expressed annoyed suspicion while Will continued to chuckle at their responses.
"I'll tell you what Alicia. If you doubt my decision to use Kamex, then I'll give you one chance to prove me wrong in trusting him to battle."
"Alright, but don't blame me if anything goes wrong. Use Metal Claw Mercury!"
"Scizor!" Alicia's Steel typed partner flew forward with both of his claws glowing with a metallic silver sheen. Tyler and Madison both looked on in concern as the Bug/Steel type approached the seemingly defenseless Wartortle, rearing back his clenched pincers and aiming to strike a massive blow in spite of his foe's disability."
"Ice Punch." With the smallest of nods from his partner, the Wartortle let the Scizor get as close as possible before moving. In the same instant that the Scizor threw its claws forward, the Wartortle tucked into his shell and was able to duck beneath the attack as if he could see it plain as day. And before anyone watching could react, he re-emerged from his shell with frost condensing around his fist and threw it into the Scizor's thorax. Instantly the red bug's movements came to a halt, his eyes appeared to briefly haze over and he let out a pained grunt that sounded like the air was knocked out of him.
"Wha – What was zat just now?!" Madison appeared shocked, as did her partner and everyone not named Will watching them. "If zat was Ice Punch, zat should 'ave done nothing to a Scizor... But 'e looks like 'es about to keel over."
"Now Skull Bash!" Once again Will's Wartortle ducked into his shell and then rocketed forward, striking the same spot as he'd hit earlier. This time the Scizor was knocked away, dragging behind a healthy gash in the ground where his legs had been standing earlier as the force pushes him all the way back to his partner's side.
"Man, this Wartortle's shell might be tougher to crack than I'd thought. You gonna help me out Maddie?" Alicia looked at her partner who had yet to move in this brief skirmish.
"Huh? Erm yes. Gooey, use Body Slam!"
"Keep up your attack Mercury, use Double Hit!" The Scizor once again charged ahead, flying low to the ground with his claws both glowing with purple energy. His partner meanwhile lept into the air and began to fall towards where the Wartortle was standing.
"Same thing Kamex, but this time attack Sliggoo instead." Another brief nod from the blindfolded turtle and he once more seemed to stare down the Scizor. This time as he approached, he jumped up over him with a nimble leap and somehow jumped right towards the falling Dragon. As their gap closed, once more the Water type froze the air around his fist and prepared to throw it forward.
"Protect Gooey, hurry!" Unable to dodge, the Sliggoo tucked itself into its shell, which glowed green as the Wartortle knocked him out of the sky and back towards his trainer.
"He can't dodge this time Mercury, Double Hit again!" Alicia continued her attack as her partner looped up and straight towards the falling turtle.
"Use Rapid Spin!" But again, the Wartortle tucked into his shell and began spinning around, deflecting the Scizor's attack away from him as he tried to hit him.
"Knock him out of the sky, use Knock Off!" Still undeterred, Mercury tried again, this time slamming both his claws into the top of the Wartortle's spinning shell and knocking him back towards his master. However, with impressive agility, the Wartortle flipped out of his descent and landed on his feet as Mercury landed before his partner, who'd finally exited the safety of his shell.
"Magnifique..." Madison said clearly stunned. "Zat Wartortle is moving around as if 'e can see clear as day. I can't believe 'e is actually blind."
"I told you two before, Kamex is a very capable fighter." Will grinned proudly at his Pokémon. "Though I'm sure you're wondering the secret to his agility." Alicia and Madison both nodded together. "Perhaps this can clue you in. Kamex, use Dragon Pulse!"
"What?!" Both girls watched as Kamex opened his mouth and spat a bright blue beam of energy from it that morphed into a dragon's head as it approached its target. Neither girl could believe what they were seeing with this Wartortle unleashing one surprise after another on them.
"Mercury protect Sliggoo!" Alicia unfroze from her shock first and her Scizor swiftly flew in front of the attack, crossing his pincers as a green barrier formed in the nick of time to deflect the attack away from them.
"Now use Aura Sphere!" Kamex halted his attack and took a different stance entirely, molding a small ball of blue energy in between his hands before throwing it at the Scizor.
"Counter with Dragonbreath Gooey!" Now it was Sliggoo's turn to defend, jumping between the Scizor and the attack as it spat its own blue beam of energy at the oncoming sphere, forcing it to explode into a cloud of dust and smoke that echoed around the lakebed. All three Pokémon stared each other down fiercely as the dust settled, but the girls and their partners already appeared winded, where their turtle foe had hardly broken a sweat.
"Okay William. I sink you 'ave some explaining to do." Madison frowned at the battle before her.
"Yeah, how can an allegedly blind Wartortle fight like that?" Alicia added with a frustrated pout. Tyler also wondered just what was going on with this Wartortle. It couldn't all have just been from Will's ability as a trainer; Kamex had to have something special about him.
"Do you want to explain it to them all Kamex?" Will asked his partner.
"I suppose I can." A foreign voice played in Tyler's head. He flinched and looked around, though saw Pulse was nowhere near the group of battlers. It looked as though Alicia and Madison shared the same reaction, as they too were looking around as if they'd heard a voice. "You all needn't panic; the source of the voice is right in front of you." The three of them each looked ahead of them and saw Kamex wave at them as if he could see their confusion plain as day.
"You can talk?!" All three of them said in unison, and again the Wartortle nodded at them.
"I can, yes." The voice replied.
"Figure it out now?" Will asked them together.
"Wait, Kamex can..." Tyler trailed off still in disbelief of his own thought."
"I can do what Tyler?" The voice asked him directly.
"You... you can use Aura?"
"Correct," Will confirmed Tyler's question. "Kamex here and all his brothers and sisters are actually the results of a research study my mother did with her own Blastoise Rickward. She wanted to learn how the inheritance of egg moves in Pokémon could affect a Pokémon's Aura. Kamex here, despite being the runt of his clutch actually had one of the strongest connections to Aura out of any of the Pokémon in her experiment."
"Unfortunately, that power came with a bit of a cost." The voice that was apparently Kamex's spoke a bit solemnly as he pointed at the blindfold.
"The power of his Aura stunted his growth in the egg, and because of its instability during development, Kamex was born without the ability to see." Will continued Kamex's explanation.
"But, because of my training under Master William, I've been able to use the power of aura to compensate for my lack of sight." Kamex finished his own explanation, leaving Tyler, Madison and Alicia stunned. A blind Pokémon, who could still fight much like the rest of his peers, if not better than them thanks to his abilities.
"Hmph... perhaps we are ze ones who underestimated our opponent Alicia, no?" Madison looked at her partner, but only saw the edges of an annoyed pout aimed clearly at Will.
"Either way, he still called me small. I want to beat him."
"Okay okay. We'll do exactly zat." Madison giggled at her partner's determination... or was it stubbornness? Either way, she thought it was cute. "Shall we continue William?"
"I think we should. Kamex, use Scald!" Another short nod from Kamex and he opened his mouth again, this time spitting out a steaming hot blast of water from his mouth.
"Dodge it and use Aerial Ace Mercury!"
"Fight off zat attack with Sludge Bomb Gooey!" As the Scizor took to the sky, Gooey stayed put and spat a blob of brownish-black sludge into the oncoming steaming attack. The attacks briefly collide before exploding against each other, sending superheated sludge everywhere that steams and bubbles up on top of the sandy surface. The Scizor meanwhile, has gotten alongside Kamex and charges him with streaks of white surrounding his body.
"Ice Punch!" Once again, ice condenses around the turtle's fist as he turns towards the charging bug.
"That's not gonna work this time. Dodge and use Bullet Punch!" However, this time when Kamex swung, the Scizor saw it coming and briefly flew away from the attack. Now with his side exposed, Mercury finished his charge with a glowing blue pincer and repeatedly punched Kamex's underbelly.
"Keep 'em busy Alicia, now Gooey you use Dragonbreath!" As Mercury continued his attacks, the Sliggoo's body briefly surrounded itself with wisps of blue energy before firing a blast of the same blue energy from its mouth towards the Turtle Pokémon.
"Dragon Pulse Kamex!"
"Use Agility and get out of there Mercury!" On his partner's call, the Scizor quickly flew up away from the oncoming attack. His foe, however, faced Sliggoo's blast head on and spat out another blue beam of energy himself that again morphed into a dragon's head. This time the energy dragon's jaw unhinged and clamped down on the real dragon's attack, canceling both of them out in a powerful explosion that left both grounded battlers feeling winded as the dust began to settle. Mercury meanwhile flew above the damage, observing the two fighters from above.
"Divebomb him Mercury, use Iron Head!"
"Meet him headfirst with Skull Bash!" As Mercury fell with head first to the ground with a glowing white forehead, Kamex too jumped up with a cone of gray energy surrounding his skull. The two Pokémon's skulls collided with a hard thud that made everyone watching cringe at the impact, which was even forceful enough to make Kamex's bandana jump off his head. The white and red cloth fell back to Earth along with the two battlers, who both grasped at their heads as they lay on the sand.
"That sounded like it hurt a lot." Tyler commented.
"I got a headache just watching that." Wendy added on, rubbing her own forehead.
"You okay Kamex?" Will asked as he and Alicia both jogged out towards their injured Pokémon.
"Can you stand Mercury?" Both Pokémon slowly nodded together as Mercury stood back up to his feet. He then extended his claw to Kamex and the turtle used him to help stand up as well.
"You want to call it a day?" Will handed Kamex his bandana and the turtle nodded as he put it back over his eyes. "Probably for the best. We certainly don't want to risk another collision like that."
"So, how do we call that battle?" Jason asked. "Seems like a draw to me."
"I think that's fair." Alicia agreed, placing her hand sympathetically on Mercury's forehead.
"Well I don't." Wendy pouted. "You two might be unable to battle, but Gooey here is still good to go. I think that means he's the winner." She added, scooping Gooey up into a hug who immediately began humming with content as Wendy nestled him close to her breast. "Awww, does that mean you like me?"
"Goooo." The Sliggoo murmured happily, making Wendy laugh with glee. Though when she tried to pull Gooey off of her, the purple dragon didn't budge.
"Okay Gooey, let go please?" Wendy tried a second time, but again Gooey didn't want to come free. "Pretty please Gooey?"
"Alright Gooey, you've 'ad your fun. You need to let go." Madison now too grabbed her Pokémon by its shell and started pulling. Yet still, the slug-like dragon refused to let go of Wendy's body.
"I guess even Pokémon find you irresistible huh Wendy?" Rose laughed at her own joke, but her girlfriend didn't seem to find it all that funny.
"Gooey, I can tell you're a real sweetie, but could you please let go of me? I don't really like being all sticky like this."
"Come on Gooey, let go!" Madison grunted as she pulled with all of her might but still failed to get her meddlesome dragon off her partner.
"Here, let me give you guys a hand." Tyler stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Wendy's waist. "On three. One, two... three!" Together, Tyler Wendy and Madison all tried to get Gooey off of Wendy's chest. The continued to struggle with the problematic snail for a while until finally, he started to let go of her. They continued their fight and with one last pull from Madison, Gooey finally came free. However, their momentum sent all three of them toppling over, Wendy falling over and landing on top of Tyler.
"Ow... That hurt." Wendy grimaced as she sat up in Tyler's lap. "You okay Tyler?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Tyler groaned himself.
"Well, I'm just glad that Gooey is off my chest." Wendy let out a sigh of relief as she started trying to wipe the slime from her body. "I like a hug as much as the next girl, but Gooey's hug left me all sticky. And of course, it's all over my chest too. Ugh, it's so... sticky?" Wendy stopped as she looked down at her chest and Tyler's gaze also followed hers. They both saw Wendy's chest covered in translucent green slime that was clinging to her hands and her breasts... which Tyler was just now noticing were bare and exposed to everyone looking at them.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Wendy screamed as she quickly smothered herself against her boyfriend's chest.
"Oh, you stupid perverted dragon." Madison frowned as she peeled Wendy's top off of Gooey's body and set him on the ground. "Zat is why you didn't want to let go of Wendy? Because you liked her chest?"
"Goooo..." The Sliggoo again hummed with contentment, making her trainer more cross with him.
"Bordel de merde Gooey..." Madison kneeled before her Pokémon with a furious scowl. " Je ne t'ai pas élevé pour être un pervers."
"Sliggoo..." Madison rolled her eyes at Gooey's lazy response.
"Vous ne pouvez pas couvrir Wendy dans la bave comme cela, ou voler son maillot de bain juste parce que vous pensez qu'elle est belle."
"Maddie. Could you please give me back my top?" Wendy pleaded with her partner.
"It is a bit sticky with Gooey's slime. Let me wash it quick for you." She stood up and jogged to the lakebed after leaving her Pokémon with a parting glare.
"So, Gooey didn't want to let go because he liked your boobs huh?" Tyler spoke up cheekily. "Can't say I blame him. I think they're pretty nice too." He started chuckling at his own joke, though stopped as Wendy glared darkly at him. "Well they are… OW!" He yelled as Wendy reared back a hand and slapped him across the cheek.
"Pervert." She pouted at him.
"Why thank you." Tyler laughed again as he saw Wendy roll her eyes in disgust. "You looked really nice in that bikini by the way."
"Oh, well then thank you." This time she smiled at him.
"I think it'd look better on the floor, but you know…" And once again the smile faded into a pout and Tyler received a second slap from his girlfriend.
"Here Wendy." Madison walked up and handed Wendy her Poké ball themed top, now cleaned of the slime.
"Thanks Maddie." Wendy smiled at her partner but frowned at her boyfriend. "Close your eyes."
"Oh okay, everyone else gets to see your chest one last time, but I can't?" Tyler fake-complained.
"William…" Rose turned to her fiancée, her hands on her hips.
"Alright alright. I'll be a gentleman." Will said with a sigh. "Jay you too."
"Fine…" Jason and Will both closed their eyes and then Tyler did the same as Wendy put her top back on.
"Alright, you guys can open your eyes again." Wendy announced to the group and the three guys opened their eyes. Now with her top back on, she finally stood out of Tyler's lap, offering her hand to him to help him up. Tyler took it and she pulled him into her arms, putting her head on his shoulder. "So… you liked how I look in my bikini?"
"Um… yes?" Tyler answered honestly.
"Well, maybe I'll let you see it again tonight." She whispered hotly into his ear. "Would you like that?"
"I think I would." Tyler answered honestly again.
"Consider it a date then Tyler." Wendy giggled as she planted a flirty peck on his cheek. His face briefly glowed a faint pink as he watched Wendy walk away back towards the lake. "So, we've still got an hour of daylight left. Anyone care to join me for one last dip in the lake?"
"Yeah, I think I will." Jason jogged ahead of her.
"Me too!"
"Me three!" Rose and Will both joined them as they all made their way back to the water of the lake. With a shrug of his shoulders, Tyler started chasing after them, hearing Madison and Alicia take off after him as all of them eyed up the inviting water before them for a sunset swim.
Wendy: *warm sigh* That was fun. We should do stuff like that more often. You have fun Ty?
Tyler: Oh yeah, today was great.
Wendy: Still, I kinda wish Phil was here so we could advance the stor- *ringing noise*
Tyler: Is that your phone?
Wendy: Yup... it's from Phil.
Tyler: Yeah, what's he saying?
Wendy: Let's see...
"Dear Readers, I apologize about the gap between this latest chapter and the one preceding it. Work has been bending me over the table these past few months, and combined with a myriad of other problems including losing large chunks of this chapter without warning and my laptop needing to be repaired slowed down my ability to work on this chapter. That and obviously with the release of Pokemon Sun and Moon back in November, I've been busy turning these games inside and out with my confidants in this story looking for potential things from these games that I can incorporate into the future of Evolution. Our research and theory crafting will still be ongoing as more and more of Alola's secrets are discovered, but I seriously doubt there will be additional lengthy gaps like this one between chapters in the future. So, I'll see you guys again for the next chapter, until then this is DrPhill26 signing out."
Tyler: Sounds like he's not gonna be back for a while longer still.
Wendy: Sounds like it... Which means we can fool around a bit more.
Tyler: You have something in mind?
Wendy: My room at midnight. All you need to do is make sure that sweet ass of yours is there by then Cutie-Ty. *Wendy spanks Tyler as she walks past him*
Tyler: *blushing* I think I can make that happen.
Tyler's team: Magnus (Quilava, Male), Caelum (Staraptor, Male), Yuki (Glaceon, female), Felix (Gligar, Male)
Wendy's team: Pulse (Lucario, Male), Tess (Ampharos, Female), Yuri (Lilligant, Female), Flynt (Aron, Male)
Translations of Kalosian (French) phrases *Translations from Google Translate/French phrase books, accuracy is not entirely guaranteed*
"Pas de souci!" - No problem!
"Bordel de merde" - For fucks sake
"Je ne t'ai pas élevé pour être un pervers." - I did not raise you to be a pervert.
"Vous ne pouvez pas couvrir Wendy dans la bave comme cela, ou voler son maillot de bain juste parce que vous pensez qu'elle est belle"
- You can't cover Wendy in slime like this or steal her swimsuit just because you think she's beautiful.