Me: Here we go again! This should now be easier when I have time to write it, because I finished the Monoko Info with a little help off Nathen, so yay! *is super proud of self* It's very rare I'm proud of myself so yay! Anyway, onto the chapter.
OH MY GOD THIS THING HAS BEEN LIKE 9 MONTHS OR SOMETHING WTF?-! …Yeah, sorry! I had shit to do! *flail*
Chapter 5
Gemma slowly began to stir in the morning, slowly beginning to register the warm arms wrapped around her small form, familiar comforting arms that she was plenty used to. She smiled softly to herself, cheeks going a bit pink, and nuzzled up to Nathen's torso more, deciding to wait 'til he woke up to bother moving at all. His arms tightened around her, his face nuzzling into her hair, hand softly combing his fingers through it, smoothing it out. Gemma's face grew in colour but she stayed still and content, nuzzling a little more.
"Comfy over there?" A slightly hushed voice asked her from the single bed. Gemma grew pinker and looked over at Holly, who was leaning on one of her hands, looking over at her, elbow against the bed, "Well? Are ya?"
"Sh-Shuddup…" Gemma replied, before mumbling, "And yes I definitely am…"
"Heh, thought you would be. Well, ya might wanna wake Nathen up soon; we have to get up eventually," The red haired girl said, sitting up properly and stretching, "We were gonna get in some training, remember?"
"Yeah yeah, I know," Gemma said, looking back to Nathen, and nudging him lightly, "Naaaaathen, its morning~!" She said in a sing-song voice, nudging him again and looking him in the face. Slowly his blue eyes opened, taking a moment to focus before he smiled, stretching out with a yawn – arms leaving their position around Gemma. Gemma had to suppress an urge to pout at that and move his arms back around her.
"Morning Gem, Morning Holly," He said with a smile, sitting up, "Did you get a good sleep eventually Gemma?" The girl nodded, sitting herself up too. Nathen smiled more, ruffling her hair, "Good, I don't like it when you have nightmares, it worries me," He added, giving a light frown as he smoothed the ruffled hair back down. Gemma gave a pout, hugging him around the neck.
"Naaaaathen… Don't worry, come on, you don't need to worry about silly little me…" She said, tapping his nose, making him laugh, "C'mon, I'm fine, just a dream, 'ey?"
"But it's…" Nathen began, before Gemma put a finger on his lips and shook her head, sticking her tongue out playfully, poking his mouth. Nathen chuckled, taking her hand away from his mouth and locking their fingers, Gemma grinning and locking their fingers on their other hands, lifting them up above their heads and playfully pushing, trying to make him tumble back. The blue haired boy shook his head with a laugh as he used his superior strength to push back and tumble her so her head landed by the end of the bed, and he was over her, still pushing against her hands to keep her down whilst she attempted to wrestle him off her and shove him over to fall back on the bed too. She was failing, badly.
Holly shook her head and laughed at them, and then snickering quietly, she crept off to the en suite bathroom, taking the clothes she was going to change into with her. Gemma and Nathen failed to notice this as they continued to wrestle against each other, Nathen letting her overpower him once or twice, but quickly turned the tables back again. Gemma giggled as it continued, before eventually her arms gave out when trying to push him up, and Nathen fell onto her, nearly winding the smaller girl, their faces landing inches away from each other, after bumping heads. Both grunted, and both turned differing shades of red, Gemma deep scarlet and Nathen a pale red.
"U-Uh… Oops," Nathen said, chuckling a little and pushing himself off her, but one arm slipping off the edge of the bed, making him fall again as Gem attempted to get up, winding her properly this time, letting out a sharp wheeze as Nathen panicked and quickly rolled off her onto the floor with a small thud, "Oh crap, sorry Gem! Oh crap, are you okay?-!"
"Y-Yeah… I-I'll be fine…" She coughed a bit, sitting herself up and rubbing her sternum, "M-Man you're heavy…"
"Oh thanks," Nathen said playfully, ruffling her hair and giving her a concerned look. Gemma gave him a look back, and got to her feet, "I'll go to the b-… wait, where the hell is Holly?"
"In here you two!" Holly snickered from within the bathroom, hoping Nathen and Gemma wouldn't kill her. It was harmless fun really, she wouldn't be long, so they could wait.
"…Holly you little…" Gemma coughed, growling lightly, "Where is the logic in that?-!"
"It's fun to mess with you," Holly said, giggling, still getting dressed, glancing out of the window repetitively now that there was a clear sky above the city, not the tree covering of the previous little town. It didn't change the fact that she didn't see anything, but it had become force of habit to check for the little figure she wanted to see in the sky, no matter how unlikely it was she would ever see it. If it ever passed by, knowing her luck, she'd miss it.
Nathen let out a sigh, "Just perfect… now what?" Gemma blushed and shrugged, bringing her knees up to her chest, "We are in a bit of a rush… so… I could turn my back, and so could you… I mean I guess that'd still feel damn awkward, but…"
"Y-yeah guess th-that… th-that might be the best solution…" Gemma was deep red as she spoke, looking down. Nathen kissed her hair and ruffled it, before standing back and letting her stand to grab her clothes. Shyly she stood up and did so, hiding herself away in the corner of the room as Nathen turned his back by the bed, grabbing his clothes and pulling off his nightshirt to change.
Gemma timidly began to change from her night clothes into her normal clothes, wanting to check Nathen wasn't peeking (she knew he wasn't the type to, but she couldn't help the nervous feeling), but knowing she could catch him at any awkward moment during his time changing, she avoided doing so. With the nightclothes removed she cursed her decision not to do it one half of her body at a time, and quickly pulled on the new day's clothes.
She didn't think about what she was doing when she immediately turned around after finishing dressing, cursing her decision mentally and preparing to be faced with an embarrassing situation – letting out a relieved sigh seeing that Nathen was dressed fully apart from his shirt not being totally down. Nathen smiled at her with a light blush, pulling his shirt down to cover his abdomen, then grabbing his jacket and slipping his arms inside, soon followed by his hands into his gloves. Gemma took a moment to get over her embarrassment, before grabbing her jacket and shoes, pulling them on. Nathen followed with his own shoes, just as Holly came out of the bathroom.
"…You two got dressed in the same room anyway? Geez I was only gonna take a minute or two more!" She said, raising her eyebrows and giving the two changed implantees a look. Both had faint red on their cheeks, and they looked to opposite sides. Holly rolled her eyes, "You at least turned around right? If not, Nathen you are a perv."
"W-We turned a-around!" Gemma protested quickly, giving Holly a stern look as both she and Nathen turned redder, "G-God Holly!" Holly raised an eyebrow, smirking lightly and then just shaking her head.
"Yeah yeah, whatever ya say. C'mon lovebirds, let's go out, grab a breakfast snack from one of the stores then go get in this bit of training before the gym. Just like we planned yesterday, right?" Holly said, smirk on her face that wouldn't go away. The two blushing trainers slowly nodded, Gemma managing to get deeper red despite how she already seemed much too scarlet as it was. Nathen gave Holly a light smack upside the head for the lovebird comment, then nodded.
"Let's get going," He said, shaking his head and forcing his blush to disappear, walking out of the room, leaving the others behind. Gemma glared lightly at Holly.
"I was only messing," Holly said, hands held up defensively, "And calling you lovebirds was totally harmless!"
"Not when he obviously doesn't feel that way…" Gemma sighed, "C'mon, let's just go. I'm starved," She followed out after Nathen, jogging a little to catch up. Holly laughed softly, shaking her head, and walking out after them, soon jogging a little too.
~X~X~X~
(Budbloom City Centre – 9:00am)
"So, we do some normal training, then trying to help Gemma, with some contest practice after?" Holly said, tilting her head a little, eating a bacon sandwich that they had all bought in a small café. She was resisting the urge to comment on the fact that Gemma was seated on Nathen's lap, despite the fact they could drag a chair from another table, as both of them also ate their sandwiches.
"Yeah, depending on how long we take with normal training for the thing about the contests. We do have to fit in the gym today," Nathen said, one arm around Gemma's waist, the other feeding himself. Gemma sat happily on his lap, chomping away on her breakfast, jacket draped around her shoulders as if she were a child pretending to be a superhero.
"I need soooome help! The contest is in the next town!" She whined a little, pouting at them both, "The gym is open all day; it's not that big of a rush…" She pouted more at Nathen than she did Holly, though the effect was quickly ruined when Holly pulled her hair tie out, making all her braided hair come loose and fall in her face, spare the two dangling beside her cheeks. Nathen couldn't help but laugh, parting the hair in the middle and tapping her nose, making her blush before she quickly turned to Holly, half to glare at the said girl, and half to hide her reddening face.
"Whatcha glaring at me for?" Holly said innocently, though she was trying not to laugh. Gemma flicked ketchup at her, sticking her tongue out, and then trying to braid her hair again, but failing without a mirror.
"Here, let me do it for you," He shifted her to properly sit on his lap, looking away from him, starting to re-braid her sandy coloured hair, being careful not to pull. Gemma squirmed a few times, but let him, feeling his fingers weave through her hair easily, twisting the three pieces he had separated it to into the twists and turns of the braid. Slowly her long hair took form the way she wanted it, and Nathen twisted it into her braid-bun, clipping it up and setting her on her feet as they finished eating, "There we go."
"I think you've done better than me," Gemma smiled softly, carefully touching the bun, making sure not to make it fall out again, but lightly tracing a finger over the lumps the braid formed.
"Hair drama over, can we go get training done now?" Holly asked, putting down her share of the money as Nathen dug out both his and Gemma's, despite her saying she'd paid for herself. Nathen gave a quick 'of course' as he took up the money and went to pay, the two girls following him and then walking to the door as they all began to exit.
"Of course. Besides, it was you that caused the hair drama, so blame yourself there," Nathen chuckled, grunting a little as Gemma hopped onto his back again, wrapping her arms and legs around him, holding tightly, "Hey little wolf, you ever going to give me warning when you do that?"
"Nope!" She tittered, squeezing her legs tighter, making him wheeze a bit, which she quickly apologised for, "Imma gonna keep on latching onto you and sticking like a leech," She stuck her tongue out, touching his neck with it, then playfully latching onto his neck with her gums over her teeth. Nathen laughed, and even Holly laughed as she shook her head, pushing her hair behind her ears and hiding her face in her hands for a moment, "I'm crazy!"
"We know," Holly laughed.
~X~X~X~
(Forest Clearing – 9:14am)
"It's a bug type gym, so we should work with Pokémon that would be our best choice against her," Nathen said, playing with one of his Poké Balls, "So fire types, ice, etc." He threw his Poké Ball, releasing a small Pokémon from it, which shook its fur as soon as its paws touched the ground, spraying a light shower of snow everywhere, that appeared out of the inside of its fur. It appeared to be the size of a wolf cub, with ice blue fur coating most of its body, with a white underbelly. Its ice blue eyes looked around, focusing on its trainer, its fur which had appeared prickled up like icicles when it came out of the Poké Ball was now smooth and flattened, "This is a Crystolf, Solace Pokémon."
Gemma visibly tensed up at there even being a type of wolf Pokémon in front of her, resisting the urge to claw and wring her wrists as she always did, knowing how petty it would seem to be upset over a Pokémon that wasn't even the same type as what she was associating it with.
"Cool! Um… Blaze, you need the most training so c'mon out~!" Holly mused as she threw her own Poké Ball, letting out the small monkey Pokémon, who's flame ignited as he jumped, confused by the new humans, and Pokémon. Holly gave a soft giggle, "Just new friends Blaze," she told him, leaning down to pet his head. He squirmed but nodded, smiling at his trainer, "He's a newer Pokémon, only had him a couple of weeks, he's not as used to other trainers and domesticated Pokémon."
"You going to let one out too Gem?" Nathen asked after nodding at Holly, pushing his hair back into a small ponytail at the base of his neck the black strands too short to be pushed into it, falling by the sides of his face. Gemma blushed a little to herself, always liking when he had his hair back, and smiled, nodding once, throwing her coat to the side and rolling up her sleeves, grabbing a Poké Ball.
"No flying off now, crazy Pokémon, but Rylee come on out!" Gemma said, throwing her Poké Ball, letting out her substitute Pokémon starter. The large phoenix appeared, its four large wings spreading out, light orange with golden hints and tips. Its beak and talons were gold, with golden plates on the tops of its legs, with a yellow underbelly and fiery red head, with long golden feathers running from the top of its head down.
"Nix! Nixio!" The Nixiona squawked, flapping its two front wings, nuzzling its beak against Gemma's head. Gemma smiled and giggled a little.
"So how're we training?" Gemma asked, petting her Pokémon's feathers, making sure not to mess them around too much as she knew it irritated the Pokémon.
"Try out some moves; you try out combinations, unless you're not planning on Rylee for your first one. But any combination practice is good," Nathen smiled, petting his Pokémon's ice cold fur, "That's the best way for now. We may do some practice battles later."
"Alright then!" Gemma said enthusiastically, before her arms slumped, one scratched her head, and her face turned confused as she tried to think of combinations she could use. Nathen just sweatdropped before chuckling and standing, gesturing for his Pokémon to go get ready to train. Crystolf barked a nod, and stood ready to practice its moves and techniques.
"I would use Vespiking as a practice opponent, as it would no doubt be one of the leader's Pokémon, but I think it's a bit too hostile for that yet," Nathen said as he looked to Holly, Gemma still deciding her course of action. Holly nodded.
"Yeah, we may as well just practice attacks and their force, make sure they work. Practice battles wouldn't work against each other with the typing and stuff," The red haired girl said, petting her Pokémon once more before letting it go to position, "Blaze, how about we get your Flamewheel down pat?"
"Char!" The Chimchar said, nodding in agreement.
"Crystolf, we'll work on Icicle Spear, okay?" Nathen said, his Pokémon nodding at him instantly with a small bark of its name, its breath appearing as icy and clear to see. Smiling, the blue haired boy gestured to a tree and instructed his Pokémon on how he should form the attack, and what to aim for strength wise. A small ball of white-blue light formed in its mouth as it focused on the thin tree trunk it was facing, and at its first shot one think spear of ice shot out, hitting the centre of the tree, "Good aim. Now try for more icicles."
"Okay then Blaze, try not to set anything on fire, but get the wheel up and going, hit the rock over there, not the trees around us," Holly ordered, gesturing to a large rock that should withstand many hits from the small Pokémon's attack. As Blaze shot a burning hot flame from his mouth and wrapped himself in it, and Crystolf continued to fire off attacks made of ice at the tree trunk, Gemma was still coming up with what she should do.
"Alright… combinations need to look good, when used in battle or in appeals… in battles, full on attacks aren't always best, and clever but beautiful combinations are a great advantage…" She repeated a lot of what Nathen had told her before, when he first told her about contests. She wasn't sure how he knew so much, but guessed that he had looked it up or something of the sort, or seen some on TV during his stays at inns during his escape run, "So… a stat move maybe? Combined with something damaging? That would work well in battles… I can work on appeals closer to the time, that's not quite as important I don't think…" she mused to herself, Rylee waiting impatiently by her side for her orders, "Alright, got it."
"Nixio!" Rylee said, her words probably translating into something along the lines of 'Finally!'. Gamma sweatdropped, and stood up from where she had sat at the Pokémon's feet.
"Okay, use feather dance, but light the feathers on fire too," She instructed, clambering up onto a branch. Rylee took to the air a few feet off the ground, and nodded at the orders she was given, flapping her wings as the under layer feathers began to glow, and she shot glowing feathers from the layer, the glow dissipating to reveal the yellow feathers, which suddenly burnt brightly as Rylee hit them with a small burst if inferno, setting them alight. They showered to the floor where the opponent would have been, and combusted as a pile, turning into ashes.
"Okay, that sort of worked~! We better keep working on it to get a good effect whilst keeping some power though," Gemma said, trying not to fall from the branch she was on.
(12:02pm)
"What time is it?" Gemma asked as she peeped down from a branch, hanging upside down, before feeling nauseous from looking at the height and flailing, falling to the floor, though she was quickly caught by Nathen. He half sighed, half laughed, looking at the sky.
"I'd say about twelve, miss klutzy," He told her, looking at her, shaking his head and setting her on her feet. She pouted a bit, crossing her arms.
"Think it's time to head to the gym? Or lunch and then the gym?" Holly asked, petting and then returning her Unfezant, who she had trained for one of the roughly three hours they had been training.
"Lunch first may be best, so we have energy for it," Nathen said, "I can whip us up something quick. Ramen anyone?"
"Yay Ramen!" Gemma cheered, in time with her Lumikitt, a small white cat-like Pokémon. It was about the size of a kitten, with two white tails which each held transparent spheres, which flashed with bright light as it cheered alongside its trainer. Around the top of its head, a yellow halo appears to be forming, with yellow fur on its chest, and up to its mid legs. Its eyes are bright yellow and cheerful, and its large ears are tufted with more white fur.
"Looks like you and Nadia are equally excited about the concept of Ramen," Nathen chuckled, going to his bag to get some cooking stuff out.
"Heh, she likes it too," Gemma giggled, petting her small Kitten Pokémon, giggling as it purred out its name, "And I like it toooooo much."
"Sounds fine to me too," Holly said. Nathen smiled, nodded, and started cooking.
(Berrybud City Gym – 1:00pm)
"Aw maaaan it's such a mess in 'ere…" Bea whined, looking around her chaotic gym, scratching her curl covered head. She groaned after she did so, getting more honey in her hair from her hand, her hand tangled in her red locks as she tried to pull it back out, "Ow! Man Bea you are so stupid! How did I let those Pokémon out again and let them get in here?"
"Hello?" A male voice called from the front of the gym, making Bea jump and then panic, realising again how messy her gym had become due to her escaped Pokémon, which she had only got back into the self named, self constructed Bea House (she's very clever with naming, right?) a few minutes ago. She scrambled to right the mess within about half a metre radius of her, standing up straight just as the male walked in along with two females. Their expressions immediately have away their first impressions of the disaster zone.
"Hi there everyone, y'all here to battle me?" Bea asked as the main three walked into her gym, stepping around broken Combee hives and flower pots, stepping on a few patches of honey, lifting their foot with honey hanging from it in strings, attached to the floor on the other end. Each of the three had different levels of confusion on their face. Surely this mess couldn't be a gym?
"Um, yep. Two of us are, anyway. Tallest girl and me," Nathen said, helping a flailing Gemma lift herself off a particularly sticky patch of honey, which was holding both her feet to the floor at the same time.
"Arrighty then! Y'all friend can go sit in the stands with whoever be battling second. Two Pokémon each, first to lose two sound dandy to ya?" Bea beamed, spinning a Poké Ball on her finger, before it fell off and she deadpanned and sweatdropped. Picking it up quickly, she overcompensated with a huge smile, and then gestured toward the makeshift seating made out of Combee house panels, Gemma walking over with Nathen, her sitting on his lap due to a 'honey patch' (which wasn't actually there). Holly shrugged, walking to the position for Battle, her hands on the Poké Balls she was prepared to use.
"So, two Pokémon each, right?" Holly asked, swiftly organising her belt so her three possibilities were in easy reach.
"Yep! Two Pokémon, two defeats equals a loss, got it?" Bea said, holding the Poké Ball she had dropped tightly so that she didn't drop it again. Holly nodded, "Arrighty then! On the count of three, Pokémon out! One, two, three!"
"Penelope c'mon out!"
"Amorglide! C'mon out here and show 'em ya sting!"
After seeing the Pokémon, the three couldn't help but wonder why she had mentioned 'sting', seeing as it clearly wasn't a bee Pokémon. It had a deep pink body made of two parts, as well as a slightly darker pink head, with light but deep red eyes. It had two heart shaped additions on the sides of its heart shaped head, a lighter pink, in place of antennae. It has two wings on each body section, light pink in colour with a deeper pink heart shape in the middle. Behind each pair of wings are two deeper pink mini-wings. The Pokémon fluttered its wings, letting out a coo of its name.
"That looks a lot like our new bugs…" Gemma said, holding her Poké Dex up to scan the Pokémon, hearing a beep as the information processed.
Amorglide, the Love Butterfly Pokémon, and the evolved form of Lucoon. Amorglide spend the first month of their life as their evolved form searching for a mate, who becomes their mate for life. They are caring Pokémon who have often been known to try and help trainers in distress.
"Must be the third form of your Luvbug Pokémon," Nathen said, holding Gemma tightly to keep her on his lap, resting his chin on her shoulder. Gemma nodded, glad her blush was hidden.
"Good match… both can fly…" Holly thought aloud to herself, muttering under her breath, counting her Pokémon's move set in her head. She couldn't help but sweatdrop at the fact that the person, or in this case Pokémon, holding the flags to start the match was a Combee. She wasn't even sure how exactly it was holding the flags whilst still flying, but dismissing it quickly, she faced the battle as the small honeycomb-like Pokémon raised both flags, and then dropped them, "Take to the air and give a start with Air Slash!"
The Unfezant's wings glowed light blue as it began to rapidly flap them, releasing multiple glowing blue discs that resembled saw blades at the opposing butterfly Pokémon, going at high speed that many Pokémon wouldn't be able to dodge. Amorglide waited for an order, though it looked ready to move at a moment's notice if needs be.
"Holly has an advantage, right? Bug isn't very strong against flying types, and flying is good against bug," Gemma asked, looking at Nathen. Nathen nodded.
"That Pokémon has a new type, Light. Light isn't very effective against flying though, if my memory is correct, so she definitely has a strong advantage here. That's one of her more experienced Pokémon, too," Nathen said, "But type isn't everything. Its strategy too," Nathen said, leaning his head against hers, "Gym Leaders have strategies that they use day by day, they know them better than most trainer's know their own strategies, and their Pokémon get more experience. Gym battles are more complicated than normal trainer battles," He explained, rubbing her hands, receiving only a nod from her.
"Use Light Ball and then Stun Spore!" Bea said, pointing quickly as the attack neared. Amorglide nodded, firing off a large, bright ball of light which headed straight for the spinning blades of air, breaking it into smaller sections that the Pokémon easily dodged, before it released a large burst of orange dust that slightly sparkled in the light that flowed in through a small skylight on the ceiling of the gym. The powder shot through the air in a concentrated ball before bursting out into a cloud as it hit Penelope, the bird inhaling it.
"Damn!" Holly cursed under her breath as she saw her Pokémon's wings seize up, Penelope only having enough remaining control to get her to the ground without crashing painfully, "Can you move at all?" The Unfezant let out a call to say no, twitching a little, coughing out some of the spores, "Damn…!"
"Yes! Paralyzed on the first hit!" Bea cheered, jumping in the air, before getting focused, holding up a clenched fist, other clenched at her hip, "Use Venom Spit!"
Letting out a calm coo of 'Glide', the pink Pokémon raised its wings back and flew up above the grounded Pokémon, throwing its head back before thrusting it down, expelling a sudden shot of bright white liquid at Penelope, which hit her all over her body, making the bird Pokémon let out a squawk as the venomous liquid burned the tips of some of its feathers. Holly quickly looked for the tell tale purple tinge to show poisoning, relieved to see she had not already gained a second status effect on top of the paralysis.
"Penelope, can you move yet?" The young trainer asked, sounding frantic. This was her first Monoko battle and already it wasn't going to plan. The Proud Pokémon shook its head, but when Holly saw it had at least that range of movement, she nodded to herself and decided on a plan of action.
"Go in f' Bug Bite!" The Gym Leader ordered. Amorglide's previously invisible teeth grew out and began to glow a bright white light, and she flew down at her fellow female Pokémon, head first and ready to bite and gnaw on the paralyzed Pokémon to get in as much damage as possible whilst Penelope was paralyzed. Holly's eyes focused on how close Amorglide was, and how long Penelope's neck was, waiting for just the right moment.
Right as Amorglide went to bite; Holly saw her opening and yelled out, "Penelope use Pluck now!"
Her beak glowing, Penelope thrust her neck out and sharply pecked the bug Pokémon on the head, taking the leader and the Pokémon by surprise, and causing super effective damage. Amorglide swiftly backed off, barely staying in the air, head now throbbing and super effective damage taken. Holly gave a silent cheer; glad she could fight back even a little as she waited for her Pokémon to be able to move again.
"Aw damnit..." Bea whined, "Amorglide ya arright?"
"Amore..." Amorglide said weakly, nodding, stretching its wings wide and positioning itself in a ready stance. Penelope did the same, with what little movement she was regaining.
"Silver Wind!" The gym leader ordered, muttering under her breath after, "Damn do I hate flying types..."
"Brace and take it Penelope," Holly ordered, clenching her fists a little. She watched closely as Amorglide flapped its heart shaped wings rapidly, making them begin to shine brightly, gradually going faster and faster, the white energy soon transforming into sharply shaped arches of light that flew on a powerful gust of air made by Amorglide's wings toward Penelope.
Penelope squawked and flinched as she was pushed back by the attack, it doing minimal damage but damage nonetheless.
As the barrage continued, Penelope raised her wings over her head to shield her, realisation taking a moment to hit her and her trainer. The paralysation has faded!
"Hell yes! Start with quick attack, get your body moving again!" Holly commanded, Penelope hastily taking to the air and following through with the order, shooting through the air at the Love Butterfly Pokémon, a white streak following her path as she slammed full force into Amorglide. The bug was knocked back, but stayed in the air, though this quickly changed as Holly's next order for Aerial Ace was shouted, and Penelope jerked back and then flew at Amorglide at full speed, white streaks surrounding her, the bird suddenly invisible just before it slammed into Amorglide with the super effective attack, throwing her to the ground, "Yes!"
The Combee referee raised the flag to show that Holly had taken the battle, making Holly cheer again and Bea whine, returning her Pokémon and thanking it for its 'buzzing' effort, telling her she would make sure she was healed and got a treat later. Bea then grabbed another of her Poké Balls, throwing it.
This time, her battle call fit: "Spitreeze! C'mon out and show 'em ya sting!"
The wasp Pokémon that the group had spotted and looked up out in the city the previous day appeared on the battle ground, soon hovering with an eerie silence in the air, its fast beating wings somehow causing no sound with the air around them unlike the previous Pokémon. Its sharp red eyes focused on its opponent, showing it wasn't going to accept going down to some super effective Pokémon's attacks easily, no matter the odds.
Combee raised and dropped the two flags again, letting out a small cry of its name to signal the start of the second battle.
Bea acted instantly, "Start wit' Toxic Spikes an' then Poison Sting!"
Forming a dark purple energy between its arm spikes, Spitreeze shot of a number of sharp objects from the energy that landed all around the Unfezant's feet, though Penelope quickly hovered above them before she took any damage. As the spikes began to give off a purple poisoned mist, the wasp shot off a number of purple spines at Penelope, bundled together in a group, each giving off a small light and mist from the poison they contained.
"Blow them back with gust and go for Sky Attack!" Holly ordered, watching her Pokémon rapidly flap its wings to create a large gust of wind which knocked the poisoned spines away from the Pokémon, sending them to the ground where they quickly disappeared. Following this, Penelope became coated in a white light that was harsh on the human eyes in the room as she swooped up into the air, preparing to attack.
"Take it, Spitreeze!"
"Take it…? But that's super effective… god knows the damage that'll do," Gemma said on the sidelines, looking upside down at Nathen, confused.
"She must have some reason. Let's just watch," The boy said, kissing her head making her blush as she turned back to the battle to see the outcome of the confusing move.
Going at full speed, the Proud Pokémon slammed into the poison type, causing immense damage and throwing it to the floor. As Penelope back away, Spitreeze barely managed to get up until he was thrown the one allowed item, a large Oran berry which restored enough health for him to move around a bit more. Penelope was confused by the whole point of the stunt, as were the other trainers in the room, before everything became apparent as the slow working effects of the opposing Pokémon's ability came into effect.
They all saw the hundreds of sharp prickles sink back into Spitreeze's body as Penelope began to writhe around, irritated by some unknown substance, and she looked in pain as damage took effect on her health.
"And that, y'all, was my Pokémon's special lil' ability Irritate! When its thr'atened by a Pokémon with an advantage in type or strength, it uses those little invisible spikes as defence. Good luck gettin' ya Pokémon to cooperate and concantrate now!" Bea grinned, accent chipper as usual and making her sound that much more happy but rather maniacal at the way she was saying what she did, "Arright! Poison Jab!"
"Penelope, prepare to dodge it!"
Spitreeze's arm spikes began to glow a blotchy purple, growing a little in thickness and size as it shot at speed at its opponent, striking her with the poison attack over and over, with very little defence from Penelope. Her skin was irritating her too much, affecting her concentration and not letting her listen to her trainer's orders to dodge or attack. Even her own self preservation instincts didn't break through the pure irritation, and soon enough Penelope crashed from the sky, eyes swirly, covered in spots of poison that would need treatment at the Pokémon Centre.
Combee's flags raised the appropriate way again, signalling the defeat of the flying type. Cursing, Holly returned her Pokémon and held the Poké Ball close, thanking her loyal flying type and putting the ball back on her belt, on the side that she used for Pokémon that needed healing. Hovering her hands over her other Poké Balls, she grabbed one of her other two choices, and threw it quickly, letting out her Glaceon, Icelady.
"Glace!" Icelady yelped, damaged by the Toxic Spikes, poisoning the Pokémon. Holly wished she had a Pecha berry with her, but realised she would just have to end the battle quickly so that the poison didn't decide the battle for her. As the flags were moved, Holly made sure to get in the first shot.
"Start it off with Blizzard!"
Thick snow pellets shot at the bug type with an icy wind surrounding them, going at the full force of a natural blizzard in the northern parts of each region, especially places such as Sinnoh and the two ice covered towns at the top of Monoko itself. Spreading out to make sure the Pokémon could barely avoid the attack, Spitreeze was soon taking the forceful damage of the icy move as the damage took effect instantly. With so much damage from Sky Attack, the Pokémon was already weak, and Holly hoped that would make finishing this battle easy.
"Retaliate wit' Venom Spit!" Bea countered, hoping her Pokémon could withstand the damage and find a way to win despite the fact the moves it had weren't all that strong in her Pokémon's condition, and that they couldn't cause super effective damage she was sure she would need. She had to just hope.
"Try that new move, Flash Freeze!" Holly said. It was a gamble, but it caused heavy damage to any Pokémon if it worked, and she had been practicing it earlier. As the venom shot at Icelady, she took it and hissed at the damage it caused combined with her already poisoned body, but used her focus to form the attack she had been ordered to use.
A small beam of ice formed in her mouth, soon firing off in a highly concentrated and powerful attack that struck the opponent dead on the chest, suddenly completely freezing it as well as causing damage. It fell to the floor, cracking some ice, but still leaving it frozen.
"Aw no fair! I'm the one who causes status issues!" Bea whined.
"Go for Iron Tail and end this!" Holly ordered finally, grinning as her Pokémon's tail slammed into the wasp, quickly ending the battle.
"Aw damn you gotta be kiddin'!" Bea whined louder, throwing a bit of a tantrum in childish manner, throwing her other full Poké Ball in her silly rage. Holly and the others sweatdropped as she did so, but seeing a large Vespiking appear, everyone quickly fell silent as the annoyed Pokémon glared at its trainer, "Eep! I'm sorry Vespiking! I… uh…!"
Without warning, the Pokémon suddenly let out a sharp explosion of sticky honey, completely coating everyone in the room. The angry Pokémon then hissed something in its own language, before shaking its head and returning itself, leaving everyone standing there dripping in honey.
"…Okay, what just happened?" Gemma squeaked, squirming.
"Vespiking's Honey Shot…" Bea said, wiping honey away, "It's not tha' damagin'… just annoyin'… ugh…" Slowly, pushing through the broken boxes for Combee and the honey just left by their male evolution, she dug something from her pocket, and gave it to Holly, "The Honeycomb badge…"
The small badge was made up of three hexagons, two yellow and one orange. Inside the two yellow ones were smaller orange hexagons, making up the badge's shape.
"Thank you," Holly said, holding the badge in her hand tightly.
"Ya, uh, might wanna come back tomorra' or later to do yar badge, boy… this place is way too messy now… and so are all of ya…" Bea said, deep red, clearly embarrassed by what she had caused, "I'm so sorry."
"Its fine, no one likes losing…" Nathen said, wiping his face of honey, "We really better go get changed or something though…"
"This stuff is ruined!" One of the girls whined. Nathen sweatdropped, scratching his head.
"Looks like we need to go shopping…"
~X~X~X~
(Clothing Store – 2:30 pm)
"You wanna keep these despite the state they're in?" Nathen asked from outside the changing rooms, packing Gemma's old clothes away into her bag, which she had managed to clean, already dressed in his own clothes.
"Of course! You got them for me!" Gemma said from within her cubicle, currently sorting out her hairstyle as she looked her new outfit over, "I'm not getting rid of 'em!" Nathen chuckled, finishing packing them away and putting her other belongings away too.
Standing after he did so, he looked in one of the mirrors outside the cubicles and smoothed down the newly bought clothes, smoothing his new dark blue baggy jeans, running his finger along the black tribal patterns down both leg sides. He adjusted his black leather gloves, and tugged on his leather jacket, adjusting its sleeves which had blue ends, and its blue collar. Beneath this, he tugged down a black hoody a little, its collar high and its zip, diagonal from the centre of the collar to one arm, was left open to reveal the blue collar of the shirt beneath, white with grey following the buttons down. The leather jacket was short sleeved, with white wings on the back, and the hoody only three quarter sleeved with the shirt long sleeved. His silver chain still hung around his neck, and he still had his bag on.
"I'm ready!" Holly said, walking out of her changing room following the clicking noise of the lock. She twirled once, holding the ends of her white jacket, pulling them out a bit revealing the majority of her red and white stripped long sleeved t-shirt, all the top half to her black cargo pants and brown shoes, bag changed for a white one also, filled with all her old stuff. Her wrist bands had not changed, refusing to discard her precious gift, the same with her pendant.
"Nice," Nathen said, smiling.
"It's good of Bea to pay for us, she didn't have to," Holly said, giggling as she smoothed her clothes down.
"Yeah, but at least we don't have to waste what little money we have," Nathen said, picking Gemma's bag up as he waited for her to exit, hearing her door click. He focused his eyes on her as she stepped out, smiling widely at her.
"Whatcha think?" Gemma giggled, doing a playfully over exaggerated spin. She finished twisting her hair up into a low bun, and adjusted the black beanie on her head, pushing the same glasses she had had before up her nose. Her black skinny jeans had a white music stave up one leg, and her heavy black boots came up just over the bottom of them. She let her baggy white polo shirt fly out a bit, the hem at the bottom red, with a rose on the side of the shirt that stretched from the bottom to just below the arm, some on the back, front and side. Over this was a jacket like Nathen's, but without the blue additions, and with slightly differently designed white wings on the back.
"You look great Gem!" Nathen grinned, walking to her and hugging her, kissing her forehead making her blush, slipping her bag onto her back, "You look perfect."
"Ah shuddup!" She pouted. Nathen chuckled, then grabbing something from his pocket, he slipped two items around her wrists, "Huh?" Looking at them, Gemma saw two silver bracelets, made of interlocking hearts that wrapped around her wrists, covering her burns fairly well.
"They do the same as your wrists bands. I had them specially made of special silver to do it, had them a while, I was saving them for your birthday but this is a better time," Nathen smiled, adjusting them to fit perfectly, then slipping her Poké Dex back on her arm, "There. Complete."
"Heh, thanks," Gemma smiled shyly.
"What now you two?" Holly asked, "More training for Gemma, or something else?"
"Let's just explore, have some fun. Oh, and Gemma has to call her parents." Nathen suggested.
"Oh, right!" Gemma said, snapping her fingers, "Almost forgot!"
"Let's go do that first," Nathen chuckled, shaking his head.
~X~X~X~
(Pourvale Coast)
"You know we now have to backtrack to other contests if you want to get in as many as you can to get your ribbons, Arial," A young boy said, no older than thirteen. He sat on a fold out chair on a beach, watching a younger girl swimming in the water off the coast of the small town, thoroughly enjoying herself in the clear salt waters. He had to work a bit harder than normal to compose his sentence talking to the girl, finding it harder due to a budding attraction to the girl.
"I know, but I wanted to spend some time in the water here! It's supposed to be some of the best beaches in the region, and the world! I agree with that judgement too," the girl, Arial, said, giggling as she brushed her nearly white blonde hair from her face, two of the blue streaks in it escaping the main clump and dangling in her face, making her push them away, showing two triton shaped birth marks on her arms.
"I know, Arial."
"Michael lighten up!" Arial giggled, splashing at him, making him jump a bit, "We can head backwards tomorrow."
"Alright," Michael said, faking a small sigh, but really smiling. He brushed a hand through his shoulder length brunette hair, green eyes focused on a cooking pot where he was making the two some food, slipping his lab coat off and folding it up on the chair, revealing his black short sleeved shirt which he slightly undid in the heat of the beach, and rolled up dark blue pants. His shoes were removed, his large backpack and laptop bag placed beside him.
Arial giggled, dark blue eyes – too dark to be naturally human – closing as she dived under water, though she easily opened them and almost seemed to begin breathing under the water, smiling as she swam about with the abundant water Pokémon there, almost talking to them in her own way. The lengths of time she spent underwater would worry most, but Michael had come to learn that it was just part of who and what she was, and that unless it was a time that stretched over about ten to twenty minutes, she was fine.
Both of the pair had only recently started their journeys, but had began to get to know each other during the time since they had met in Budbloom, where Arial came in on a boat and Michael lived. Arial had a situation much similar to Holly, being adopted by her current family and coming to Monoko as her first region as a choice, a way to hunt down her history. Michael was an orphan, with no adopted family, who had lived in the small Budbloom orphanage ever since they died, and waiting until his thirteenth birthday to leave on his journey.
Who can tell what role even these two could have in the ever building tale and cast of this story?
~X~X~X~
Okay! Finally, this damn thing is done! *phew* I can't believe how long this damn thing took, I need to get back on track! I had to do so much work on Monoko for this chapter, and just… Eep! TP is next, then SR, but I'll do this asap. Promise.
R&R!