Chapter 22

Kanto Route 15

2 Epombria, 20 Zenoheld / April 2, 20—

After the sparring match between Lars Lion, Apollonir, and Chansey, Maya gave Chansey a few Berries, then asked Volt to let Clayf battle Chansey, since they were both from the Safari Zone. In the ensuing battle, Chansey's high stamina wasn't enough of a counterpoint to its low physical defenses. In just three moves, the hard-hitting Clayf knocked Chansey out cold.

By the time the battles were over, the sun had reached its zenith, and the two Trainers decided to break for lunch.

Man, if I knew that this is what having a Trainer was like, I would have paid more attention back at the lab! As he was eating the Berry salad that Maya had prepared, Pyrus Apollonir was still giddy over his last victory. In his joy, Apollonir wolfed down his food, then bounded over to where Maya's Pokémon were eating.

"So, what did you think about our battle, Chansey? Was I cool or what?" Apollonir said.

Maya's Misdreavus floated in. "I think I saw you before…I believe it was two days ago? You're with Mistress's new partner, right?"

"That's right! Pyrus Apollonir, at your service!"

"Pyrus … Apollonir?" Misdreavus repeated. "That's a mouthful if I've ever heard one. Humans give us such funny names."

"Well, Master said that I was named after a famous hero, so there!"

"Whatever, Mr. Hero," Misdreavus replied, then yawned. "I have no idea how these humans stay up all day. Thank Arceus for these midday snacks, but I'm going back to sleep!"

"Don't you wanna hear about how I beat up Chansey?" Apollonir asked.

"I'm. Going. To. Sleep," Misdreavus replied with a pointed glare, then returned to its Poké Ball.

"Well, I'm interested," Maya's Fearow said as it glided towards Apollonir and Chansey. "So, you beat up the newbie, huh? How'd it happen? I know that that 'Janine' character had Ariados with Poison Jab, but unless I'm mistaken, you can't do that. Perhaps that vaunted Chansey stamina really isn't all it's cracked up to be?"

Chansey huffed. "I have plenty of stamina, birdbrain. What Hero Boy over here conveniently forgot was that he couldn't have defeated me without help from that Shinx." She pointed at Lars Lion for emphasis.

"Is that so?" Fearow asked.

"It was, and I was going to mention it, Chansey, so get off your high horse!" Apollonir retorted. "Anyway, from what I could hear inside the Ball, Lars Lion—that's the Shinx—was going all out before she Sang him to sleep. He's super determined and plenty strong, too; he might even have been able to beat her by himself!"

"When the Distortion World freezes over," said Chansey.

"Seems that you have a high opinion of this Lars Lion," Fearow said. "Which one of you do you think is stronger?"

"Lars Lion, of course! He'd totally wipe the floor with me!" Apollonir said.

"I'm not so sure," Chansey replied. "The only damaging attacks he knows are Quick Attack and Spark. And especially now that Polly here knows Dragon Rage —"

Apollonir spat a small cloud of smoke in her direction. "A-pol-lo-nir. Get it right."

"Sheesh, so-rry. Especially now that Apollonir knows Dragon Rage, Shinx may actually go down more quickly than you think."

"How about you two battle it out, then?" Fearow suggested.

After a few moments of thought, Apollonir replied, "Good idea!" He promptly bounded over to where Lars Lion was eating, with Chansey and Fearow following behind.

Under a nearby tree, Lars Lion was peacefully eating his lunch, watching the ever-gregarious Apollonir as he interacted with Maya's Pokémon.

I wonder what he's saying, Lars Lion thought. Probably making it seem like he did the whole thing by himself with his eyes closed and one arm tied behind his back. He smiled proudly when he noticed Chansey pointing at him. That's right, Chansey! It was a team effort.

He continued eating contentedly, but stopped when he heard footsteps rushing his way. Without thinking or looking up, he lit up his fur in a blinding Flash and ran to hide behind another tree.

"Why'd you do that, Lars? It's just us!"

Lars Lion carefully inched out from behind his hiding spot, hackles raised and fur still glittering. "Apollonir?"

"Yeah, it's me," the Charmander said. "And Maya's Fearow and Chansey, too."

Lars sheepishly returned to his bowl of food. "Sorry about that. I don't like getting rushed very much," he explained.

"Were you some Pokémon's favorite snack back in the wild?" said Fearow.

"No. However—"

"Whatever. We just won't rush at you from now on," the Charmander interrupted. "Anyway, when you're done eating, let's battle!"

"I'd … rather not," Lars Lion said. "That battle with Chansey took a lot out of me, and I'd much prefer to enjoy the rest of the day in peace." He stretched his back to emphasize the point, then returned to his food.

"Why? Afraid that I'm going to beat you?" Apollonir said.

"There's no reason for us to fight," Lars Lion continued. "We are both Master Volt's Pokémon, and if you want to train that badly, Maya certainly has plenty of Pokémon to choose from."

"But how can you get stronger if you run away from every battle you're challenged to?" Fearow pointed out. "And Apollonir actually thinks you'll win, but here he is asking you to battle anyway! Kid really wants to test himself against his idol."

"I'm really your idol?" Lars Lion asked skeptically.

The Charmander shrugged. "Fearow said it, not me. Also, would that seriously affect your answer?"

"It would if I were a coward," Lars Lion said resignedly. "All right, let's do this. But we've got to get the humans involved somehow."

"Leave it to me!" Apollonir said, grinning. He then sped off towards Volt and Maya.

This is a beautiful planet, Volt thought, resting comfortably on the picnic blanket. Was Vestal like this in the old days, before we got overcrowded?

In the early days of the colonization project, the Vestal areas of New Vestroia had been very similar to what he'd seen of Kanto: pockets of civilization separated by miles of roughly-charted wilderness. I wonder if the Vestals could find some way to come to this planet—

His train of thought was derailed by something poking him in the side. He turned and came face-to-face with his Charmander. "Oh, hey, Apollonir. What's up?"

Apollonir pointed to itself, then to Lars Lion. "Char!"

"Yes, what about you two?"

"Charmander!" Apollonir continued, taking a boxer's stance and punching the air a few times. "Char, charmander!"

"Oh, I see. You want to fight Lars Lion?" Volt asked.

"Charmander!" Apollonir cheered, grinning exuberantly.

"Maya!" Volt called out. His traveling companion was a few feet away, washing the dishes with help from a chubby blue alligator Pokémon that Dextra identified as a "Totodile." Apparently the little reptile (which Volt thought looked like a juvenile Aquos Hammersaur without its armor) could shoot jets of water from its mouth at will. Perfect for long journeys away from civilization.

"What's up, Volt?" she replied.

"If you don't mind having three battles in one day, Apollonir wants to battle with Lars Lion. I can't exactly command both of them at once," Volt explained.

At that, Apollonir went to bring Lars Lion closer to the Trainers.

"Sure, I can do that," said Maya. "Wanna flip a coin to decide which one I get, or play rock-paper-scissors?"

"Let's go with rock-paper-scissors. One round so we don't drag this out. Ready…"

Maya chose Rock, and Volt chose Scissors.

"Yes!" Maya cheered. "Volt, you said this was Apollonir's idea?"

"That's what it looked like." Apollonir and Lars Lion had returned, so Volt asked, "Whose idea was it?"

"Charmander," Apollonir said, pointing to itself.

"OK then. I'll be commanding you for this battle," Maya said.

"Char-char," Apollonir said, shrugging, before going to Maya's side.

"All right. Lars Lion, you ready for this?" Volt said.

"Shinx!" Lars Lion said, a determined look in his face.

After Maya and Volt finished clearing the dishes, all of both Trainers' Pokémon (sans Misdreavus, still asleep in her Poké Ball) had congregated to watch the battle between Lars Lion and Apollonir.

I've fought a Charmander before, so this'll be a lot easier than trying to wear out that pink marshmallow Chansey, thought Lars Lion. Watch me, Master Volt! I'll show you what I can really do!

"Hey, Lars! I know that this is supposed to be a friendly match, but don't go easy on me!" said Apollonir. "Give me all you've got!"

"Then you'd better not hold back either!" Lars Lion replied.

"Ready when you are, Maya," said Volt.

"Great! Then let the battle begin!" Maya replied. "Apollonir, Smokescreen!"

A huge cloud of smoke billowed around Apollonir.

"Lars Lion, Quick Attack!"

Quick Attack? If you say so… Lars Lion sped off toward the cloud of smoke—only to pass through it without hitting Charmander, as he'd expected.

"Missed me!" Charmander taunted from inside the smoke.

"Stay quiet, Polly!" Maya commanded.

"Quick Attack again!" Volt commanded.

As Lars Lion sped towards the cloud of smoke again, he heard Apollonir mutter, "You're lucky that I'm battling right now, huma—whoa there, almost got hit!"

Lars Lion growled as his opponent easily dodged his second attack. But as he returned to Volt, he wondered, The smoke used to be thicker, didn't it?

"One more time, Lars Lion: Quick Attack!"

I think I know what Master Volt might be planning here, Lars Lion thought. He took a deep breath and raced towards the cloud a third time.

"Aww, missed me by that much!" Apollonir said.

But when Lars Lion turned around, he noticed that the Smokescreen cloud was once again less dense than it was before.

Volt must have seen the same thing, since his next command was, "Lars Lion, use Spark!"

Gladly. Lars Lion sped towards what he believed was a silhouette of Apollonir.

"Whoa!" Apollonir said, barely dodging Lars Lion's electrified charge at the last second.

Not so cocky now, are you, Apollonir? Lars Lion thought.

"Apollonir, Dragon Rage!" Maya commanded.

Dragon Rage? When did Apollonir learn that?! Lars Lion thought before he got smacked in the face by the yellow ball of energy.

Ow. He must've picked that one up during our fight with Chansey, he thought as he slowly got to his feet. Then he noticed something: Wait a second. I can actually get to my feet this time.

"One more Dragon Rage and you'll win!" Maya commanded.

"Dodge, and use Thunder Wave!" Volt countered.

Lars Lion jumped to the right of Apollonir's latest attack, then sent a thin jolt of electricity directly to his opponent's knee. Since the Smokescreen had long since dissipated, paralyzing him was no trouble at all.

"…nice shot, Lars," Apollonir gasped.

"Same to you, Apollonir," said Lars Lion. "But this battle's only just begun."

"Charmander, use Scratch!" Maya commanded.

What's Maya thinking? Lars Lion thought. Apollonir is paralyzed! Wouldn't a long-range move like Ember be a better choice?

"So you want to come in close, do you?" Volt said. "Lars Lion, use Spark!"

Lars Lion cloaked himself in electricity again and sped towards Apollonir, who made a valiant effort to match the Shinx's speed as he moved in for the Scratch. Unfortunately, his paralyzed leg buckled at the worst possible moment, and Lars slammed into him. "Gotcha!"

"Gotcha," Maya said.

Huh? Lars Lion thought.

"What?" Volt said at the same time.

Apollonir had slid a few paces back from the impact. When he recovered, he looked down at Lars Lion and smirked.

"Dragon Rage."

Lars Lion's eyes widened as the Charmander prepared the attack. He scrambled to get out of point-blank range as fast as he could, paws scrabbling for a few heart-stopping moments. Once he found purchase, he ran for Volt. Please miss, please miss, dear Arceus please miss…

The ball of energy hit Lars right in the back.

"Lars Lion is unable to battle! The winner is Apollonir!" said Maya.

Forgive me, Master. I wasn't strong enough.

A/N: If you have been following me on DeviantArt, you know that my beta had obligations IRL that kept her from going over this chapter earlier. However, I can say that she had passed her classes last semester, and I thank her for the work that she has done to make this chapter so much better than it was originally.

Furthermore, if you want to keep up with any progress on the Vexos Chronicles, as well as other blog posts that I put up from time to time, please make sure to follow me on my DeviantArt page; I go by the same username there (son-of-heaven176).