Chapter Two (Sally's POV)
I was proud of my cousin. Ever since she had learned of the contests, she wanted to participate. Every year before this, she had managed to get into the finals but did not emerge as the victor, saying that, I did defeat her last year – although I still believe it was an unfair match as my Pokémon at the time, were a much higher level than her own.
"Hey babe." My boyfriend, David of almost two years approached me and kissed my cheek lovingly. I glanced at him with a soft smile, looking into his light violet eyes. "Is Jasmine asleep?" He asked, hugging my shoulders. I nodded. "Bet you're proud of her."
"Ow my hair." I grabbed my long dark hair that I never brushed because I can never be bothered, was tangled around David's arm.
"Sorry." He apologized as I pulled my hair to a side so David's arm would not get caught in it.
"I am proud of her. Very! Although if I participated this year, she'd stand no chance!" I roared out laughing. David rolled his eyes. "No. She's grown since last year." I admitted.
"Your Pokémon are still stronger than any of her own though. So you are right."
"Not unless I use a different Pokémon." I pointed out. David shrugged. "I'm so excited for the Pokémon League though. Ah!" I squealed. A bright light streamed from my bracelet and out came a large Arcanine with black paws and dark blue eyes. It looked like he is wearing black socks. It was a unique trait for any Arcanine to have such markings – not to mention blue eyes. People immediately assume that my Arcanine's nickname was Sockie or Socksy… or any other spelling variations.
"Hey Blitz." David greeted my first Pokémon from when I was ten. Blitz barked at him and ran around us happily and stood up on his hind legs to lean his front paws on the balcony. David wrapped an arm over Blitz's shoulder.
"Are you looking forward to it too, baby?" I asked, smiling. Both David and Blitz nodded. I laughed. "I was talking to Blitz, David."
"Oh." He mouthed and then chuckled. I kissed him lightly on the lips and nudged his nose with my own. Blitz stuck his head in front of David and Eskimo kissed my nose as well. I grinned.
"We have to train hard, Blitz." I said seriously. He nodded and barked with determined and serious eyed. I laid a hand on his blonde fur on his head and smiled. "Training will begin tomorrow morning."
"Vitani, use water gun on Blitz!" I called out to my Gyarados who was in the Celadon City's lake, to attack Blitz. Vitani dowsed Blitz down with water. Blitz yelped and then growled, barking at me. "Well hey, I'm trying to train all of you so you will at least receive a 'normal' damage rather than super or critical with the attacks you're actually weak against. You should be happy!" I pointed at him.
"What are you doing?" A voice piped up behind me. Without turning around, I knew it was my cousin Jasmine.
"I'm trying to… increase my Pokémon's defense by attacking them with attacks that they are weak against. In a way, I'm trying to make them immune. But that's impossible." I explained.
"So basically, you're training them so they have no weaknesses?" Jasmine summed up. This time, I turned to her, baffled that she could reword my sentence in the first try when I had the ultimate trouble with explaining.
"You're good." I praised laughing. "But yes, that is exactly what I'm trying to do."
"And how's it working out?"
"Well, no matter how much I train Charcoal, water and ice will always be super effective because of her flame being exposed." I pouted. I looked over at my Charizard who was snoozing under the shade of a tree with my Rhyperior and Electivire. "With Blitz, it's gotten to the point where it's just like taking a bath with an extra push – but he still dislikes getting wet. He still gets critical damaged by Riley's earthquake and rock throws though…"
"Who wouldn't be hurt by an earthquake and having rocks thrown at them?" Jasmine asked, her eyes wide as she emphasized on it. I laughed. It was true, though. A lot of Pokémon take considerable damage from ground and rock attacks… "Well, what about Avian?" Jasmine asked of my Pidgeot. She was perching in the same tree my other Pokémon were under.
"Well, she absolutely hates being shocked, but she can tolerate it now. Not much paralysis as before we started this training." I explained. "Likewise with Vitani. Illu can't deal with Riley's earthquake either though. Riley's a big monster." I laughed.
"Hmmm…" Jasmine looked from each of my Pokémon as if trying to come up with another way of training them. I waited for anything she was going to say. But she just remained silent. I rolled my eyes.
"Vitani, ice beam that way." I pointed to my Pokémon that were slacking off. Vitani hesitated but complied a heartbeat later. A stream of light blue light shot towards the tree. The light crashed into the tree and ice particles as well as bark exploded in place. My Pokémon roared out of the ice and bark smog, looking angry as ever. They charged towards Vitani who backed off into the lake.
"Ahhhh!" Jasmine shouted sarcastically and hid behind me. I watched as my Pokémon collided. I was curious to see who would remain standing. There were rocks flying, water spouting, flame throwing and electric shocking. I could also make out Avian pecking my Pokémon on their heads and then disappeared as Charcoal knocked her down with her wing.
"This will take a while. Sit." I urged Jasmine to sit next to me.
"Are you just going to let them fight each other? They're getting hurt."
"I know they're getting hurt. I found that they also learn a fair bit by brawling with each other. They learn how to up their defenses without me telling them." I explained.
"…How many times have you done this?" Jasmine asked, arching her eyebrows.
"Many. At first, I didn't like seeing them fight because they always got along so well. But then I realized that they find their own defense strategies during their own fights. I let them implement them during battles as well. So, in a way, they get two types of training. One with their fellow Pokémon, and then with me."
"I should try that." Jasmine grinned. "Who wins?"
"Riley usually comes out as victor because his physical defense and attack power is extraordinary. Charcoal and Illu has their wins sometimes too." I chuckled.
"Nawww, what about Blitz? I thought Blitz was the strongest."
"Blitz is hasty and crazy with the other Pokémon. He's usually first to get wiped out." I laughed. "He's such a hard head. I love him."
"Me too! He's so cute!" Jasmine giggled. "Blitz doesn't learn anything, does he?"
"Well… Considering how he is always the first to get wiped out, not really. Although his agility is incredible. He's really good at evading." I smiled. "His physical attack is higher than his special though."
"I think your Pokémon are done." Jasmine laughed, standing up. I glanced over at my Pokémon. All of them were on the ground, huffing and puffing, but none had fainted. Who won? Who knows. I approached them.
"Who wants ice cream?!" I cheered. They all groaned. I laughed happily and laid my hand on top of Charcoal's forehead. "Come on."
Jasmine and I headed to the ice cream parlor with our Pokémon. People were watching us with interest for not many people walk around town with all their Pokémon out of their balls.
"Where's David?" Jasmine asked and she licked her Peacha flavoured ice cream cone.
"Sleeping." I informed, placing bowls of poke-block flavoured ice cream on the floor for each of my Pokémon and Jasmine's from our table. "He's always sleeping." I shrugged, taking my Oran berry ice cream from the waitress behind the bar. Our Pokémon were happily slurping and licking their ice cream and conversing with each other. Jasmine's Pokémon, compared to my own, were extremely tiny.
"Have you heard from your brother lately?" Jasmine asked, curious. I stopped eating my ice cream to meet her eyes. I shook my head. My brother and I used to travel Kanto together until one night, he suddenly disappeared. Occasionally, he would send me letters, telling me he was okay. But that was it. There was never anything on where he was, what he was doing, who he was with, or why he left. As his older sister, I will always be worried about him. I haven't heard from him in an entire year though. He disappeared over two years ago.
"Who cares about him." I forced a smile.
"Whoa! Sick Pokémon!" A skinny white man with sandy brown hair approached, praising our Pokémon.
"Thanks?" Jasmine said, feeling awkward.
"Battle with me." He said to Jasmine. I watched her with interest. Her eyes went wide and she pointed to herself.
"Me?" She gasped, surprised.
"Well yeah! Don't you own these Pokémon?"
"The Eevee and Eevee evolutions are mine." Jasmine said. "The other's are my cousin's."
"Oh. Then, I want to battle you!" He turned to me and pointed.
"Alright." I grinned. Blitz barked to argue. I looked at him. My Pokémon were not done with their ice cream yet. "After they finish their ice cream."
"Two on two alright with you?" The guy, Norman, asked. I nodded. "Is it alright if you use your Arcanine?"
"Errr… sure." I nodded. Blitz trotted into the park arena. There were a few people that had stopped to watch the match. Jasmine took the liberty to be the dictator of the match.
"Norman and Sally, two Pokémon each. First to run out of Pokémon wins. Begin!" Jasmine declared.
"Go, Luna!" Norman threw in a pink and white Pokéball and out emerged an Arcanine. This arcanine was physically smaller than Blitz. She also had pink bows tied to the blonde fur around her ankles.
"Nawwww, how cute!" Jasmine and I cooed at the same time before we giggled at our unison.
"Isn't she beautiful?" Norman asked. Luna howled with her tail wagging. Norman's Arcanine was extremely beautiful. Her coat was shiny and it appeared that he had given her a lot of beauty pokeblocks. Blitz however, was not fazed by his opponent's looks. Blitz barked at her. Luna flinched, seemingly taken back to whatever Blitz had said to her. She started growling. "Luna, extreme speed!"
"Blitz, use extreme speed also!" At once both Pokémon collided into each other and then back up to their owners in their attacking stance. One of Luna's eyes was shut. Blitz's tail was wagging insanely, showing his enthusiasm. "Use crunch."
"Evade him!" Norman shouted. Luna tried to keep up with Blitz's speed, but couldn't. Blitz brought his jaws down on Luna's back. Luna yelped loudly before trying to jump away. Blitz held on like as if she was a piece of steak. "Luna!" Norman cried, shocked and scared. "Return!" Norman withdrew his Arcanine and Blitz started to bounce around happily. "Dewgong, I choose you!"
"Blitz, come back." I said. Blitz walked back to my side and sat down as I pulled a blue great ball from my bracelet. "Illu!" My big bright yellow Electivire appeared. Norman gasped. "Come on, it isn't that surprising."
"I guess you're right. Dewgong, ice beam attack!"
"Shock wave!" I ordered. The special attack shock wave has a 100% accuracy hit, so I wasn't worried about Dewgong being able to evade it. Illu released her electric attack just as the ice beam rammed into Illu's face. It wasn't very effective though. Illu always gets vitani's ice beam in the face. Dewgong, however, was on the ground with static running through its body.
"Dewgong is unable to battle. Trainer Norman has one Pokémon left!" Jasmine shouted.
"Luna, let's go!" Luna reappeared out of her pink ball, seemingly with more HP.
"Heal ball?" I asked. Norman nodded. "Illu, thunderbolt attack."
"Luna, use dig!" the arcanine disappeared into the ground.
"Light screen, Illu." Illu used light screen to increase her defenses.
"Now, Luna!" The arcanine roared out of the ground and into Illu, the attack being super effective. However, Illu was still standing. Blitz started barking at Illu and howling. I watched as the two of them switched.
"Thanks for asking." I rolled my eyes.
"Uhh… Sally withdraws Illu and brings Blitz back in…" Jasmine said, surprised at my Pokémon. Blitz started to move on his own. He started to thrash Luna. Literally. He was using thrash.
"Luna!" Norman cried in panic, "Use giga impact!" Bad move. His Arcanine was already on the verge of fainting. Giga impact hits with recoil. Blitz's thrash subsided before Luna rammed into Blitz's side. Luna dropped to the ground, feeling the recoil. Blitz shook his body like as if he was drenched in water.
"Finish her off with return." I smiled. Blitz bounded towards Luna who struggled to stand. Before Blitz could attack, she dropped to the ground, whimpering. Norman gasped and ran to his Arcanine. Blitz sat down and howled happily.
"Luna is unable to battle. Norman is out of Pokémon, Sally and her Pokémon wins the battle!" Jasmine concluded the match happily.