An Age of Valour
by the Lady of the Mists
Chapter Eighteen: Battle Between Rivals
Lydia was half-stunned as she stared at the eleven-year-old who stood before them, her green eyes glittering dangerously as she stared down Alicia, who was shocked at her sudden appearance. Her blonde hair, which had been long when Lydia had seen her on the video, had been trimmed short, right above her shoulders.
"Jennie!" Jesse exclaimed, looking enthralled to see his sister. He rushed forward and she leaped into his arms, letting him swing her around. Alicia looked bewildered and exasperated as he let her down. "I don't believe this! What are you doing here? I thought Mom—"
"Long story," she replied with a smirk. Then she reconsidered. "No, actually, it's short. Mom had me in the limo when she found out what I was up to, then she went back to go tell you off, leaving me on my own. I told the driver that I needed to go to the bathroom and took off before he realised what I was doing. Then I got back here before Mom realised that I was gone and laid low until she left town. She's gone by now and is probably writing up the disowning papers as we speak."
"Honestly, Jen," Jesse sighed, shaking his head at his little sister. "You know better than to take off in the middle of a strange town, alone." Then he cocked his head, staring at her. "Hey, you cut your hair!"
"Yeah, you like it?"
"Uh, guys?" Lydia interrupted. They looked around at her. "Escape time now, catch up time later." Jesse grinned slightly at her and Jennie chuckled as her brother let go. "Okay, now back to you," she added, looking to Alicia. "I want to know what you want with me and now."
"Revenge is sweet," Alicia said with a smirk. "You didn't think that I would actually let you get away with it, did you? This country is not big enough for the both of us, Talon. And one of us is going to stop embarrassing ourselves with the worthless Pokémon training."
"Really?" Lydia asked dryly. "You're going to stop training? Oh, Alicia, that's too bad. I was really looking forward to beating you at the Silver Conference." She smiled pleasantly as Alicia glared at her. "But you know, a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do."
Alicia laughed. "For once, I agree with you," she said, nodding towards Flareon. "Now, it's time for you to see the full power of an Eevee evolution, Talon. It's time to battle and this time, you won't be running away from me."
Lydia was about to reply when Eevee jumped from her arms, growling at Alicia and talking to Flareon. Whatever he said, Flareon didn't appreciate it. She snarled and blew a flame thrower towards Eevee, who dodged it. "Eevee!" Lydia called. "You don't have to do this, you know."
Eevee looked at her and shook his head. "Eevee! Vee, Ee Eevee!" he exclaimed, bouncing up and down to Lydia. She understood what he was saying; he wanted to battle to prove to Alicia that un-evolved Pokémon could battle just as well as evolved ones. And he wanted to defend her honour and right to be a Pokémon trainer. Walking up to her, he nuzzled her as she hugged him tightly, unshed tears in her eyes.
"All right, Eevee," she whispered. "You win. It's your choice." She pushed away the tears in her eyes and looked up towards Alicia, who was looking at the two of them in curiosity. "Fine, Alicia," she said, standing up with Eevee in her arms. "You want to battle? Fine. But if I win, then you're going to tell me everything that I want to know about you, who you work for, and what you mean to accomplish."
"And if I win?" Alicia asked, an almost pleased look crossing her face. "What do I get if I win?"
"You won't be winning," Lydia told her. Alicia scoffed and looked away, obviously not happy with that scenario. "But in the off chance that you do, then you get me." Silence fell over the room. "You get to take me to your boss and he can do whatever he wants to me. Kill me, turn me into one of his pathetic agents, I don't care. Do we have an agreement?"
"Lydia, no!" Jesse exclaimed, grabbing her arm. "What do you think that you're doing?"
"Don't worry, Jess," she whispered to him. Her blue eyes met his green ones. "She won't be winning this round." Looking around at her best friend and Jennie, she said firmly, "If I'm ever going to prove my worth, then I am going to have to battle her. This . . ." She sighed. "This is something that I have to do."
"Jesse . . ." Jennie placed a hand on her brother's arm and he glanced at her quickly. "Let her do this. She has to prove something to herself and Alicia. Didn't you have to do that, when you left to go on your Pokémon journey?" She smiled at her brother as his shoulders sank.
He looked towards Lydia. "You're the first real friend that I've ever had," he said quietly. "I don't want to lose you."
Lydia smiled at him, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed his cheek. "You won't," she whispered. "I promise. Ice cream after the match for victory, all right?" she said with a grin. Jesse smiled and looked down as she walked towards Alicia. "Two on two, all right?"
"One on one," Alicia said calmly. "Your precious Eevee against my Flareon. It's the only way to prove to you that evolved Pokémon have much more power than un-evolved ones."
"Fine," Lydia said.
"Do you really think that she can win this?" Lydia heard Jesse ask his sister in the background.
"Don't worry, big brother," Jennie said dryly. "I think with the promise of ice cream, she'll win this match."
"I heard that!" she said, making a face towards the two siblings. Jesse chuckled and Jennie shrugged. "All right, Eevee, let's go!"
"Flareon, go!" Alicia shouted. "Flame thrower!"
"Dodge with quick attack!" Lydia yelled, using the same move that she'd used back at the Violet City Gym. Eevee disappeared, only reappearing for short moments, too fast for Flareon to see where Eevee had gone. Lydia grinned. "Good! Now, take down!"
"Leer!" Alicia shrieked.
"Sand-attack!" Lydia commanded. Eevee turned around and kicked sand into his opponent's eyes so she was unable to use the leer attack. "Good job, Eevee! Ready to give up?" she asked Alicia.
Alicia merely laughed. "Now why would I want to do a stupid thing like that?" she wanted to know. "Boys, it's time to join the fun!"
"Hey, three against one is cheating!" Lydia snapped as two more Pokémon appeared. The two trainers laughed as an Electabuzz and a Graveller glared down at the little fox Pokémon as Lydia glared at them. Putting Eevee against three Pokémon wasn't fair; it wasn't even legal! "You're not allowed to call in more Pokémon during a match!"
"Well, I'm making the rules here and what I say goes," Alicia snapped, glaring at her. "And I say that we can put in any more Pokémon that we want to, Talon. And there's nothing that you can do about it."
"Well if those are the rules," Jennie announced, "then anybody can join in, can't they? Wartortle!" she called and the turtle Pokémon was sent into the match. "Help out Eevee!"
"You, too, Ivysaur!" Jesse called, throwing the Pokéball into the air and Ivysaur emerged, glaring towards Electabuzz while Wartortle went straight for Graveller. "Razor leaf!"
"Water gun!" Jennie called.
The water soaked Graveller down, weakening him, while the leaves hit Electabuzz on the mark, sending him flying. "Eevee!" Lydia called, knowing that enough time had been spent between the two attacks. She smiled pleasantly at Alicia. "Iron tail!"
Eevee squealed as he leaped into the air, his fluffy tail glowing white before he hit the mark. Flareon shrieked in surprise as the iron tail attack hit and he was flung backwards.
"Flareon, get up!" Alicia shrieked, her eyes wide. "What do you think I'm training you for?" She had her mouth open as Flareon struggled to get up, then collapsed onto the ground.
Shaking with rage, Alicia recalled Flareon and turned towards Lydia, a furious look on her face. "You little—" she began, but stopped talking when the most incredible thing in the world happened, the very last thing that any of them were expecting, least of all Lydia.
A white light surrounded Eevee, making his entire body glow. Lydia took a step back in surprise, unable to stare at anything else, and knew that everyone was just as shocked at the events as she was. He grew bigger and stood taller than he had been a minute ago. The brown fur turned to black and yellow rings surrounded his tail, ears, forehead and legs. She stared at her Pokémon as the glowing vanished and he blinked up at her, his brown eyes having turned red.
"Umbreon," he said as Lydia dropped to her knees in a mixture of shock and wonderment. He walked over to Lydia and she hugged him tightly.
"This is unbelievable," she whispered. "Eevee . . . Umbreon, I thought that you didn't want to evolve."
"Bre! Umbreon!" Her newly evolved Pokémon began explaining that he did want to evolve, at the right time, when he was ready. And this had been the time; he just needed to prove himself that he could win a match against a Flareon, which his former trainer had wanted him to evolve into. It was just something that he needed to prove to himself. Now that he had done that, as an Eevee, then he had been ready to evolve.
Lydia smiled and nodded, kissing his forehead as she hugged him. "I'm proud of you," she whispered. "You did so good, Umbreon." He seemed pleased by this and turned around to face Alicia, standing in shock, daring her to bring on some more Pokémon.
With a sigh, Lydia stood up and looked towards Alicia, eyebrows raised. "Well?" she said softly. "We had a bargain." She had never once expected Alicia to keep her word about telling her everything that she knew, but it still would've been nice to know the truth.
"I'm not telling you anything, you worthless trainer," she snapped as Eevee returned to his trainer's side. "You may have won this round, Talon, but we will be back. And next time, it's not going to be so pretty." She tossed something down and smoke exploded around them.
Lydia coughed as the searing pain entered into her nostrils and she covered her nose and mouth to block its passage, feeling Umbreon next to her, coughing on the smoke as well. Reaching down, she stroked the fox Pokémon as she looked for Jesse and Jennie through the thick smoke.
"Guys!" she yelled, though her voice was muffled by her hand. "Jesse! Jennie! Where are you two?"
"Pidgeotto, blow this smoke away!" Jennie's voice rang out. She saw the silhouette of a bird Pokémon appear and then the flapping of wings emerged. Lydia lowered her hand as the smoke was blown away, allowing the three trainers and their Pokémon to be able to breathe.
"They're gone," Jennie said unhappily. "Dang it! I really wanted to beat up some of their Pokémon some more. Stupid trainers," she grumbled.
"Haven't changed a bit, have you, little sister?" Jesse teased, grinning at her. "Don't worry, they'll be back."
"And we'll be waiting," Lydia said cheerfully, grinning at them. "So, who's up for ice cream?"
AN: Okay, guys, I'm going to let you guys make a decision on what Jennie's status as a trainer is going to be. Is she . . .
a) a breeder, like Brock
b) a single type trainer, like Misty (you'll also get to decide which type, excluding Wartortle and Pidgeotto)
or c) a League trainer, like Ash
Vote and decide!