Again, I'm late with updating! I don't have as many opportunities as often to write, because I have too many tasks to do for other things... and I'm watching shows that I just can't let go and they take a while to watch because it's an hour long per episode. Watching marathons of it can get tiring when you lose track of time and can't sleep properly anymore ahahah
Any way, enjoy this chapter! (The line system on this site is still not behaving correctly today... when is it going to get fixed? I'm so tired of dealing with it!)
The Blatant Disregard of a Pokémon Trainer v2
Mother a contest Champion. Father a famous photographer. What will she do to get away from all the criticizing and all the scepticism? Join the rebellion! Become a Pokémon trainer.
Everyone calls me a danger magnet—but it's not my fault. I try to stay out of trouble all the time, and yet it still manages to find and catch me. It doesn't help that my sister is somehow related to the Rocket mayhem that's been whirling around, nor does it help that my closest friend started to act suspicious. With ties made, others broken, and old scars struck, who am I anymore?
007. Learning the basics.
It was around the next morning when Ivey got fed up with me. After resting and then eating a quick snack (my snacks), we had managed to return to the correct trail to move along, but as soon as we had, we got faced with a few trainers. After forcing Ivey to cover for me and battle (where I really needed the training but refused to), she shoved me to a secluded area of the forest, forced me to call out Spyk, and then left with Tyson (the name of the cute lost boy we found yesterday) until I, and I quote, "learned to trust my pokémon." I had no idea from where she got that, since I did trust Spyk! I was simply just too scared to face him.
But now I had to.
And he was watching me.
"Hi Spyk..." I laughed awkwardly, trying to release the tension. He just watched me, little beady black eyes expectant. "I didn't mean to only let you out of your pokéball just now... no, I mean—yes! I did! I mean, I called you out here, right? But I-I actually just mean that I'm sorry for not letting you out earlier. It must be stuffy in your pokéball, right?" It was surprising how such a little Pokémon was having me talk crazy like this. The only problem was that he still wasn't reacting, just watching. It was really unnerving. Was this some sort of interview? "Hahaha..." I looked over my shoulder to Ivey, who was hiding in the bushes like I knew she would be, and mouthed for help, but she shook her head and absolutely refused. I mentally screamed at her, and I swear she mentally stuck out her tongue at me in return.
"Pi." The little pichu called my attention, and I whirled to watch him attentively.
"Yes?" I tried hesitantly.
He crossed his little paws. "Pi pi pipipi pi pipi pichu!" He started, and I nodded in understanding. I truly did a little, it was crazy how Pokémon and trainers could understand each other so well when they interacted so little, but I could tell he was posed to scold me on how irresponsible I've been lately, and that I Pokémon should be treated just like humans and the whole package my mom used to tell me when I was young. "Pichu pi pipipipi pi pipi pi pichu pi!"
"Yes, I know, I'm sorry!" I cut in, resisting the urge to burry my head into the ground like a doduo. "I was just ashamed that I was such a bad trainer!" ("And a bad friend!" Ivey chirped in the background and I quickly sent her a look to shuttheFup.)
The pichu's look softened. "Pichu... pi pipi pipi! Chu..."
"Really?" I swear I must've looked like a kid that just got an unexpected (but totally awesome) gift at Christmas, eyes bright and fully of joy. "You forgive me?" Spyk nodded and I leapt at him, arms extended and ready to hold and snuggle him.
He stopped me with a stern "Pi!" and I paused. "Piiii pi pi." He continued with his condition, a frown on his features, but looking secretly happy that he was getting what he wanted, and I grinned, nodding and swooping him in my arms. He screeched and discharged in shock, jolting me to bits. But I didn't care—Spyk was a little angel having to deal with me and my odd moods.
"See!" Ivey jumped out of the bushes and laughed at me, a hand at her mouth as if she was a villain, looking haughty. "I told you Spyk doesn't hate you! Now, remind me again, who was right?" Her hand moved to cup her ear, an exaggerated action of wanting to hear me better.
"You." I grumbled unhappily, my pride slapping me since it wasn't happy that I was bending over to Ivey of all people. She deserved it, I guess. Now Spyk and I could get better and bond and train and be cool ninjas together, all because she refused me from moving further in this forest we were lost in. I don't know if I should be thankful or worried about what she would've done in the future.
"I didn't hear you!" She kept taunting.
"You are!" I growled back, face red with humiliation even though there was no one around to watch me get humiliated.
"Pichu!" Spyk jumped in, jumping on my shoulder and holding my face protectively.
I petted him with a smile, almost pushing him off since he was that small, and then jumped to my feet, matching Ivey's height even though she was clearly taller than me. "I'm only going to say this once, Ivey. Thank you."
She still had her hand to her ear, smile wide and teasing. "What was that? I can't hear you!"
"How mean!" I teased, moving over to her and pulling her down so that I could drop my hand in her hair in a noogie. She shrieked, whining about her precious hair, but she didn't really complain. We burst into giggles and she let me do it for a bit before she latched onto my hands and flipped me over her shoulder. I landed with a rough smack on my back, Spyk landing on my face afterwards and then rolling on my chest, since he had only been holding on by a hair (my precious hair that Ivey had bothered to touch up for me). I watched her in surprise, the wind knocked out of me.
"I always win." She explained with a snicker and I just stared at her like she'd gone insane, because, in her case, she already had. I just kept staring at her backwards and she grew uneasy. "W-what is it?"
"Are you a ninja?" I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, and even Spyk agreed with me: "Pi pi!"
The grin stretched on her lips. "Maybe!"
"Big sis—" Tyson came sprinting through the bushes as hard as his little feet could carry him. He went straight for Ivey as I pushed myself up, Spyk dropping into my lap with a flop. The boy looked scared out of his wits, tears leaving his eyes as he clung onto Ivey's leg, shaking hard.
"What's wrong?" She asked in surprise, automatically bending down and rubbing soothing circles on his back. He clung onto her and pointed wildly behind him. It was something we didn't understand though, because there was nothing coming for us, nothing that was supposedly chasing or scaring him.
"I don't see anything." I spoke, not bothering to stand up, since it was pretty relaxing to be sitting down on the ground for once. I had to do it more often. Spyk's ears perked up suddenly, and he turned in the direction that the kid was pointing at, on high alert, little body tense. I furrowed my eyebrows curiously at him, "What is it, Spyk?"
"Pi..." he grumbled, and I realized how stupid my question was, since I probably couldn't understand him as well as I thought I could. Okay, I lied, I can understand him pretty well for being my Pokémon, but still. I could be misinterpreting everything.
"Maia, what's that noise?" Ivey asked, slowly returning to her full height and watching me, dead serious, eyes wide. She grabbed onto Tyson and pulled him up so that he was on her hip, and she instantly ready to go.
"What noise?" I asked, dread dropping into my gut. I closed my eyes and focuses on my ears,, trying to pull out a sound that didn't belong but that both Ivey and Spyk were somehow able to hear. I started to hear it too, and it was progressively getting louder too, as if it was approaching.
"We should move!" She yelled, spinning on her heel and running in the opposite direction of the eerie noise. I grabbed Spyk with a hand so he wouldn't fall off and turned my body so that I jumped to my feet, trying to follow the sprinting Ivey.
"Why are we running?" I yelled at her, glad I had a changed into a backpack early in our journey, since my shoulder had started to hurt, so it no longer thumped awkwardly into my hipbone as I ran. Messenger bags were surprisingly painful to carry around, making it harder to run or even walk to a destination. Backpacks, though, didn't dig into one shoulder and was instead well balanced on both. It lessened the pain of carrying piles of clothes and items by so much that I no longer wanted to go anywhere without one.
Ivey looked over her shoulder at me, mouth open to answer, but she glanced up at something behind my head and paled, picking up the pace. "Look for yourself!"
So I looked.
And regretted it.
We were being chased by a herd of angry beedrills. Being chased by a bunch of angry Pokémon, let alone poison types that could surely kill us with one shot, wasn't really something I wanted to happen so soon in our journey, but I guess Tyson had done something to piss them off. I picked up the pace, trying to match Ivey's, who was running pretty fast for someone wearing heels and carrying a kid.
"Maia, you have an electric Pokémon—zap them!" She hissed at me when she realized I was next to her.
I glanced down at Spyk, whom I was holding protectively against me, and he was shaken up and confused. He looked up at me, tiny hands clinging onto my sleeves, and tilted his head with wide eyes. I didn't want him to go against such a large group of scary Pokémon. There were too many and Spyk and I hadn't even battled correctly together. Spyk had to be so much weaker, even with type advantage. "I can't—"
"Don't be an idiot! We're so far from civilization that there's no way that we'll escape them safely! You're our only choice!"
"Not if Spyk can't do it!"
"He can pull through!"
"Think of the Pokémon!"
"Think of our safety!"
"Our safest bet is to jump in water!" I changed the argument, turning to the survival skills I remembered from my childhood years. "A lake or a pond or something!"
"Are you insane? I'm not going into mucky water! Think again!" She screamed at me, since our voices had been steadily rising since we had started running. She stole a glance behind us and her eyes widened again. She quickly let go of Tyson with one hand to grab my shoulder and pull me in front of her. I stumbled in confusion, but shrieked when of a beedrill whizzed past at an incredible speed, and it would've definitely hurt me if I had stayed at that place.
"This way!" Ivey continued, pointing at the thick brush to her left before going back to holding onto Tyson. "We'll have to lose them!" She hinted malice that we had no choice, since I still refused to fight.
I quickly followed along, too scared of staying behind and getting eaten by the team of bug pokémon. She zigzagged left and right through trees, and I mimicked as closely as I possibly could. I could hear the buzzing thinning out and a few thumps as the beedrills smacked into trees by accident. I laughed a few times and found it great that our small plan was working, getting confident, but before we knew it, we ended up in a clearing.
"Shit!" We paused in the center of it, and I heard the beedrills before they showed up. Ivey made to keep going through, but the spikes on their hands shot out and landed in front of her and she jolted in surprise. She dropped Tyson behind her, and I purposely turned around and backed up so that he was safely wedged between the two of us. Taking a quick look around the whole clearing, it was obvious that we were surrounded.
"Maia!" Ivey snapped at me, not wasting time since they could attack at any moment. She pulled a pokéball from her pocket and enlarged it with a click of a button. "Fight!" She tossed it in the air. With a bright flash of light, Vivian came out, her strongest Pokémon. It hissed threateningly at all the Pokémon in its sight and quickly slithered in a circle to assess its surroundings before standing strong in front of its trainer.
I clenched my fists, uneasy with fighting so many Pokémon and unwilling to let go of Spyk, to have him fight. I wasn't ready for this. I know I said I would start battling with him seriously and train and not back down, but I was a hypocrite. I didn't mean to have him train with Pokémon that were way out of his league!
"Maia, he won't die." Ivey growled at me, before turning around to jab my side. I shrieked in surprise, extremely ticklish, arms shooting to the side to block the sudden attack, and I let go of Spyk without thinking. He landed on the ground safely, running forward to stand protectively in front of me like Vivian had, and I couldn't help the scowl that stretched on my face.
"What d'you do that for?" I whipped my hand back and hit her over the head.
"You wouldn't let go of Spyk!" She returned the gesture, a hit to my head.
"I would've!" I hesitated, unsure if I was lying or not. "...Eventually!"
"Are you kidding me?" She hissed, throwing up her arms in exasperation. "Why do I even bother with you? You still don't trust your Pokémon!"
"I do so!"
"If you do—" She glanced back in time to notice one of the beedrills launch another array of their spikes at Vivian. "—Vivian, use Vine Whip on that bedrilll!—" She pointed at another one to the side. I watched on in confusion, wondering why she wouldn't call the attack against the one that was attacking her. Vivian unleashed her vines on the unsuspecting bug type on the side, wrapping them around it and pulling it in front of her, only to have it protect the servine as it took the blow of spikes instead. I gaped openly—that was totally underhanded! "—then you would let him battle! A pokémon's duty is to battle and protect their trainer, not the other way around." She looked back at me, eyes blazing. "Because there's no way in hell that you're strong enough to fight all of these pokémon yourself."
"But I—"
"Spyk, zap her!"
A bolt of electricity suddenly sizzled through my body, and I yelped in surprise. I had gotten used to getting shocked from Spyk, but when I wasn't expecting it, it hurt more than I thought it would. I shook off the electricity, though it felt like I was covered with enough static that I could easily shock someone myself with just a small graze, and glared back at Ivey, since she was the one who started the fight. "Don't conspire against me!"
"Just battle this one time and I'll stop being on your case!" Her eyes glanced to something at my side, probably Spyk, but they held onto him as she followed it upwards. "Maia! Pay attention to your pokémon!"
I whipped around in surprise and realized Spyk was nowhere to be seen. I looked up, following Ivey's previous motions, and finally found him. He was held in a vice-grip between the spike-hands of a few beedrills, pressing it dangerously in its fur, trying to cut him.
Shit! No no no no no, what do I do?!
Ivey yelled at me as she battled, frustrated that I was being an idiot. "Attack!"
"Spyk, thundershock!" I responded without thinking, as it was the only electric attack I could think of that I was sure that Spyk knew. It was the most basic one, other than thunder wave, that all electric pokémon knew, so he had to as well. I was right; a bright flash of light exploded from the ball that was the pichu's little body and sounds of screeching bug types echoed along with it. I had no time to react as if I hadn't meant to demand that. It was too late—my wish to lead a peaceful life (and yet somehow manage to collect the gym badges) was thrown out the window. Violent was the way to go.
"That's the way to do it!" Ivey cheered me on as if there wasn't a problem and my mental contemplation was nothing to worry about. So I followed her lead, trying not to think about it, throwing commands of Thunder Waves, Thunder Shocks, and Tackles left and right. Ivey and I worked back to back, and for a grass trainer that was supposedly weak to bug types, she handled herself and her pokémon pretty well. She was better than me, I had to admit. That couldn't be helped though, as I was still a greenhorn with a big ego.
When the last beedrill finally collapsed, Spyk climbed into my arms for a well deserved nap. I petted him gratefully and gave him soothing, encouraging words, since I'm sure I had worked him to the bone, and that he had saved us all. I planned to buy him a treat later.
"You should return him to his pokéball," Ivey told me as she did just that with Vivian, "it's safer that way."
"Can't," I instantly replied, as if I had predicted she would say that. "I promised him I would only put him in his pokéball at night."
"You're an idiot."
"So are you!"
"Say that to my badge!"
"Say that to my face!"
"Say that to my butt!"
"Say that to my—" It was at this point that Tyson had had enough of our pointless bickering and started crying again. I had nearly forgotten about him too. He clung onto the end of Ivey's skirt until she picked him up and bounced him around as if she needed to use the toilet. I found myself having that need as I watched her trying to soothe him in her weird way. I wasn't going to pee in the woods though. I was a lady, after all. A dirty lady who nearly died due to giant hornets, but still a lady no less.
Unfortunately, due to the sudden beedrill chase, we found ourselves lost further into the forest and in dire need of rescuing. It was frustrating, since we had just found ourselves a safe trail to lead us out before Tyson came running with all the bugs. I'm assuming he's probably a danger magnet, after what had just happened. What's worse is that he doesn't even have a pokémon on him to defend himself with. He was lucky to have us with him at this time.
Another thing I found myself learning about him, though, was that he was a spoilt brat. As soon as Ivey shushed him and everything was calm again, he cooed happily into her arm and fell asleep, just like a baby. For a kid that looked to be five or six, he sure acted as if his age was less than that.
"You're spoiling him." I commented offhandedly.
She replied with a "I can't help myself!" and a "Have you seen this cute face?" and then pinching his cheeks. He grumbled at her and tried swatting her hands away, but his arms just flopped over hers and stayed there, as if there wasn't any force left in them. It was pathetic, but apparently Ivey thought it was cute.
"Where do you think his big brother is?" I asked as we stepped stealthily around the fainted bodies of the vicious pokémon with which we had just battled. "He had better find us fast."
"What's with the hate?" Ivey hissed at me, turning her head sharply in my direction.
I shrugged my shoulders. "He started this mess."
"And I'm ending it." She sent me an even glare that clearly meant business and that if I dared pursue it, she was going to fight me (that's a scary thought). She added: "Besides, he doesn't know what he's doing. He's just a kid."
"So am I!" I hissed in return. "I'm what, 10? 10 and a quarter? And I'm acting more mature than he is!"
"Oh, shut it Maia," Ivey had the audacity to roll her eyes at me. "We can't all be special snowflakes like you."
I was taken aback by her sudden bitchiness. "What's up with you?"
"Lately you're always complaining about everything when you're not even taking risks or trying to change anything!" She cried, whipping a hand in my direction so that she could point her finger in my face. "You need to learn to do more and speak less! It's a waste of time and energy!"
I was lying if I said that what she had said didn't hurt me, but I didn't want her to know that she was right. And I wasn't even going to mention the fact that when I do do something, horrible chaos ensues. Instead I huffed and tried to think of a way to silently change the situation. Tyson got chased by beedrills but he couldn't fight them because he had no Pokémon, so he had to run to us for help. In order to change that situation, so that it doesn't happen again... I got it! He just needs to find a pokémon of his own!
I slipped my backpack off my shoulders, digging in my side pockets. When I found a blank and empty pokéball, I whirled on my feet and returned to the clearing we had just left. I looked at the fallen beedrills, looking for the worthiest, before I activated then tossed the ball at the biggest I could find. The ball sucked it in and shook, and I beamed when it dinged, stating a successful capture.
I ran back to an impatiently waiting Ivey. "Where did you go?"
"You told me to do something, so I did." I held out the pokéball to her. "I caught Tyson a beedrill. Now he can fight and battle for himself and learn responsibility."
Ivey's face read impressed as she took the ball, but she couldn't help but let out a low snicker and an "unlike you" to my words.
I rolled my eyes and bumped into her with a smile, and she laughed and bumped into me back and our friendship was good again. She dropped the ball into Tyson's hands, with which he cuddled into as soon as he felt it, and we were on the road again.
Unfortunately though, the whole chase and swarm battle with the beedrills had lasted a long while and the sun was lowering in its cycle, so that meant it had to be at least 2 in the evening. We hadn't eaten all day yet, and I knew that if we didn't stop somewhere to eat, Ivey would jump into my precious granola bars again.
I glanced around as we trekked through the forest, for a place to rest. Spyk woke up along the way and bounced to the top of my head, using it as leverage so that he could see further to help me look. As we pushed through a pile of sudden thick foliage, we reached another clearing, and fortunately found a group of four trainers having a picnic.
Ivey's eyes grew hungry as she locked onto their food. "Oh Arceus, that looks good."
"You guys look terrible." One of the girls in the party, the one eating what looked like a ham and cheese sandwich—it was at this time that I realized that the group were probably having a double date—threw at us nonchalantly.
I glanced at Ivey and Tyson before looking down at myself. We were covered in branches and there was mud and some sort of syrupy—tree sap?—on certain parts of my pants and arms, but that was only because I was careless and walked into trees when I wasn't paying attention to where Ivey was headed. Ivey and Tyson were much neater than I was, even though Ivey's hair was still a mess because of the noogie I gave her. I bet mines had branches in it though.
"I know!" The guy across from the chatty girl spoke up, suddenly tossing a pokéball in the air and catching it again, as if it was there the entire time. "Let's have a pokémon battle!"
"If you guys win, then you can join us and have some food!" Girl chimed, grinning evilly.
"If you lose, then you must leave right after giving us all the food you have on you. Capiche?" Guy added with a cackle.
I glanced at Ivey, whose eyes were still locked on to the food (probably the salad on the side), and I knew that without even having to say a word, she was going to wail at me to agree and battle. Besides, at the sound of battle, Spyk started jumping on my head and I'm sure he wouldn't take no for an answer.
"We accept your challenge!" I hollered, getting pumped myself.
Tyson whined at my loud voice though, and then whined even more when Ivey laid him down next to a tree where we placed our stuff so that it wouldn't be in the way. The two that had challenged us got up and joined us some distance away, to make a makeshift battle field, and the other male got up to act as a referee for the battle. The other girl wasn't even paying attention though, and kept on eating and distractedly petting her farfetch'd.
"This is a two-on-two pokémon battle between Melanie and Vance and—" the ref glanced at us for help. We yelled our names at him and he repeated them, "—Maia and Ivey. No substitutions or items allowed!" We all nodded in agreement. "Begin!"
"You're up, Spyk!" I called as I pointed to the battle field. My pichu chirped in agreement and jumped off my head, running down my extended arm and leaping onto the field.
"Well, since this my first double battle, I might as well practice with my new baby." She plucked the third ball from her belt and expanded it. She tossed it in her hand, mimicking the guy—Vance?—when he had challenged us, before tossing it out. The tiny scaredy cat bulbasaur appeared out of the bright red light, and our opponents followed suit and called their own pokémon out as well, a phanpy and koffing. As soon as they appeared though, Momo shrieked and ran to hide behind Ivey. Ivey denied her though, so instead, Momo wailed and hid behind Spyk, who looked really conflicted about having her there.
After a wait of three seconds, things got real.
"Rio, use smokescreen!" The koffing expelled a strong breath of gas and, before we knew it, their half the field was hidden with dark smoke.
"I got an idea," Ivey told me before she called to her pokémon. "Momo, ready a strong poison powder for that smoke!"
"Bulba!" The little plant tucked itself in and started to suck in air, to create the powder.
The girl, Melanie, must've understood what was going on, that Ivey wanted to poison their hiding spot, so she tried to protect it. "Don't let them, Anna! Rollout!"
Momo was almost ready to unleash its powder, but the phanpy was heading straight for it. With Spyk standing in front of the bulbasaur, I couldn't think of much else than to have him stay there and take on the attack so that Momo would stay unharmed.
"Spyk, thundershock it as hard as you can!" Without a moment's delay, electricity ran up Spyk's little body and he waited less than a second to charge it up. He released it in a flash of light and it flew straight to the rolling ball of blue, striking it in the face.
"Maia, phanpy is a ground type!" Ivey hissed to me, low enough so that the other two didn't hear me.
"Sorry, but Anna is a ground type!" Melanie laughed.
It was funny how people were immediately on you when they think you've made a mistake.
"That's not it though!" I replied to both at the same time, and they turned to look at the phanpy with narrowed eyes. It spun closer and closer, and instead of hitting Ivey and I's pokémon like we all thought it would, it touched the ground sooner than expected and bounced in the air, out of control.
"What?" Melanie gasped.
"Now, Momo!" Ivey didn't try to understand and instead rolled with it. The little bulbasaur cried in answer and released a purple mist from the bulb plant on its back. It shot straight up, do to the pressure built up, and hit Anna in the gut.
As soon as the little elephant creature landed again, it stopped rolling and tried to shake off the powder, but instead ended up breathing it in and sneezing, which ultimately poisoned it. It wailed pathetically and flopped on the ground in pain. It wasn't out just yet though.
"Rio, use sludge!" Vance, who'd been quiet until now, suddenly piped up. Out of the thick fog suddenly came a stream of black, mucky water. It was too sudden to avoid though, and it struck both Spyk and Momo in the face, staining them.
Spyk clawed at his face and ended up releasing a sudden shock of electrify due to his surprise, which hurt Momo, who was next to him. The little pokémon shrieked but couldn't do anything else to defend herself from the sudden act of betrayal. I gave a sheepish grin to Ivey, who shot me an evil look.
"Momo, use vine whip to destroy the smokescreen!"
"Spyk, tackle phanpy!" The little Pichu ran like no other pokémon ever ran before, towards the weak little phanpy.
Momo expanded its vines and started spanking the smoke. I let out a snort at my own thoughts. Ivey rolled her eyes at me and whispered a "you're so immature."
"Shut up," I wheezed between giggles. It was also at that time that Spyk successfully tackled Anna, who squealed like a swinub before tumbling away with swirling eyes. I let out a victory cheer at the sight and Ivey smacked me for doing it right in her ear.
"Rio, don't let it find you!" Vance was getting anxious, but apparently refusing to give up. "Tackle it as well!"
Ivey got serious too though. "Stay on your toes, Momo!"
"That would be hard, considering she doesn't have toes," I snickered.
"Stop getting cocky, Maia!" She shoved me good-naturedly. She quickly got serious though, searching the fog for hints.
I realized I should help her too, as the fight wasn't over. If Momo's out, then Spyk and I'd have to face the koffing! "Get ready Spyk!"
We watched, eyes squinting, before a rolling ball of purple came rushing out at an impossible angle. Ivey realized it a second too late though, and before she could call out to dodge, the pokémon slammed its poison body right into her, also successfully knocking it out.
Now there was only two left.
I wasn't going to let him take a break though, and before Ivey could even think about returning her pokémon, I called out a sharp; "Spyk, thundershock!"
Spyk, who was waiting for my command, erupted in bright light, a flying bolt of electricity flying to the floating koffing. Rio refused to take it sitting down—or uh floating up?—and wiggled to the side, and the attack barely grazed past.
"How in the world?" I exclaimed, face contorting with shock.
A smile crept on Vance's face. "Sludge Rio!"
"Dodge it!" And Spyk did do try indeed, but somehow the koffing's speed was still better than Spyk, and he still got another hit of horrid black sludge in his poor face. Like last time, Spyk released a jolt of electricity due to his surprise (or maybe he just doesn't like sudden impacts), but even that missed the koffing, as the mucky attack was done from a distance.
"Tackle!" Vance wasn't letting up and I swear the koffing was laughing manically to its inflated ego. Either way, it was shortening the distance and fast. I had to do something before it hit.
"Thundersh—" I tried the final attack, but yet again the speed wasn't what I had expected and Rio hit Spyk before I could even finish my words. The two rolled together in a ball of flying dust and it was hard to see for a few seconds. I could hear Ivey praying for victory next to us, but you could tell by the two opponent's faces that it was going to be their victory, no trace of doubt on their faces.
The dust cleared and we could all clearly see Spyk fainted under a floating, still laughing, koffing.
"Anna, Momo, and Spyk are unable to battle, Rio and Vance are the winners!" The second picnic male confirmed the end of the battle. Melanie leapt in the air with a cheer and joined her hands with Vance's for high fives. Not wanting to see their celebrating, I took out my pokéball and recalled my pokémon.
"Sorry Spyk. We'll do better next time." I spoke to my ball, as if he could miraculously hear me although he was unconscious.
"I thought you said you would only put him in his ball at night?" Ivey instantly noticed my mistake.
"Yeah, but now that he's fainted, he can tell nor complain." I easily made up on the spot, and Ivey burst into a giggle at my answer.
"Make him faint more often then." She nudged me, and it was my turn to laugh.
"Hey now!" Vance turned to us, hissing like a snake, eyes narrowed. "Why are you two so happy? You lost!"
"We're not allowed to be happy?" I immediately responded without thinking.
He didn't like that though, because as soon as it registered in his mind, he started threateningly at us. Melanie saved us though, quickly clinging onto his arm. Her face held no victory joy though, completely seriousness.
"Just give us your food and go," said she sharply, eyes colder than ice.
I couldn't refuse her though, as we had lost and I had to abide by the food rules, so I pulled off my bag and started digging through it. I eventually found my last box of granola, as Ivey still didn't buy me new ones, and after arguing and letting them search through my bag because they didn't believe that was all we had, we left the safe (but not really safe) little clearing.
"You better control your boyfriend!" Ivey threw at them when we were almost out of sight, still-sleeping Tyson surprisingly still out like a light and on her hip again, even through the battle and our bickering and moving him around.
As soon as we heard a yell of frustration from Vance in the party, we burst into a run as fast as we could, snorts escaping us. We made it past a few more empty clearings before we deemed it was fine to stop running.
"What a sore winner!" Ivey immediately snickered behind a hand.
"I know, right?" I answered with a full blown laugh. "He was so upset that we didn't get our egos bruised!"
"Who would? We're still newbie trainers!"
"What are you talking about—you have a badge! That's not newbie!"
"Yeah, but that was only pure luck! Besides, the gym was rock type! Too easy!"
I let out a low grumble. "Rub it in, why don't you!"
"Sorry, forgot you were bad at battling," she petted my head like I was a kid.
"Hey! I lasted longer than you this time!"
"Momo is way weaker though!"
I couldn't continue the argument though, because there was only one thing on my mind. "Did you see his face?" I asked through repressed giggles.
"You mean this?" And she tried to repeat it, completely exaggerated, and it was so good that I had curled over due to my stomach hurting. After a few more sessions of mocking and laughing and being totally mean, Tyson got fed up with us and started crying.
"Maybe we should stay here the night?" Ivey asked between bouncing Tyson and shushing him. "It's already getting late."
"Yeah but during the night," a laugh escaped my lips, "they might come find us!"
Ivey, though laughing along, nodded that we should probably go.
So until we found a better place to hide from the scary picnickers, we kept adventuring.