Chapter 15: Maria

I emerged from the darkness of Viridian Forest, and as soon as my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw two human forms hurtling toward me. I froze as they wrapped their arms around me, and didn't relax until I heard Ace's voice say, "I'm so glad to see you! I was really worried!"

I let them both go. "Why? You know I can take care of myself."

"Well, I was attacked by a Sith fire master who had a memory of searching for a baby princess." Oh, blunt Ace as always.

Justin drew in a breath. "You didn't tell me that!"

"I was attacked by him too." I said shakily, turning away from them. "I recognized his voice. He was the one who tried to take me and burned down the village when he couldn't. He killed them all because of me!" I sat down and cried, feeling their arms come around me as the best comfort they could give.

Our trainers let me cry for a while, but eventually, Blue had to break us up. "Hey, not that I hate you or anything, but we need to get going with your training."

Embarrassed, I wiped my eyes quickly. "Yeah, of course, Blue."

Justin and Ace stared at me. "How'd you know his name?"

"Oh, well, Ana gave me a list of things to read, or watch, depending on what it was, and the Pokémon Adventures manga was one of them. So, this is Red," I pointed at him, "Pokémon League Champion of Kanto, with a "Fighter" spirit, the best one to have fighting beside you - and the worst one against you. Blue, the runner-up in the championship, and currently the Viridian City gym leader, master of training Pokémon to higher levels and evolving them the same way. Yellow was born here, and grew up with the blessings of the forest: the ability to heal and read a Pokémon's thoughts. She defeated the Elite Four, four of the most able, but evil, trainers in the region."

Justin and Ace continued to stare at me, Red and Yellow looked embarrassed, and Blue just stood there, eyes closed. "Sheesh, you make us sound better than we are!" Red laughed.

I shrugged. "It's just how the manga said it. By the way, where's Green?"

Ace muttered something about colors and Red smiled.

"She's visiting her parents in the Sevil Islands right now. You know, after being separated for so long, she really likes being able to go home and see them again. She asked me to take her place training you guys, so she could spend a little more time there." Yellow said. "She's much better than I am, but… well, I just couldn't turn her down like that."

"Okay, so now that introductions are over, how about actually beginning training?" Blue asked, glancing over to Red and Yellow. Justin groaned, Ace sighed, but I stayed quiet. Red nodded, so Blue gave out instructions. "We're going to have a tournament between you three, and will have one every time we meet here. Two of you will battle first, then the winner will battle the last person."

Ace raised her hand. "How do we choose who we battle?"

Red fished a spoon out of his pocket. "This!" He said, triumphantly.

"The spoon of destiny, right?" I asked.

"Yeah." He seemed to have gotten used to my knowledge pretty quickly. "So we'll have you hold this spoon…" He held it out to me, and continued. "Whoever it points to is your opponent."

I watched the little spoon quiver, deciding which way to bend. Finally, it pointed towards Ace.

"The first battle will begin… in here!" Red pointed to a log cabin-like building. "The Viridian City Trainer House! You can battle your friends in here without raising any suspicion. Of course, there may be spectators, so be careful of what you say."

We walked inside to find several large battle areas. Yellow ran up to us from a desk. "We've got the one on the far end!"

Ace and I took up our places on either end in the outlined trainer's box. I pulled a Pokéball out of my pocket with my first Pokémon inside. She did the same. Blue was judging, so he explained the rules. "As soon as one of your opponent's Pokémon faints, you win. You may switch your Pokémon at any time. Oh, and no Jedi tricks on each other's Pokémon. Only your Pokémon will battle today. Good luck to both of you."

I held my hands out with the Pokéball in my usual style. "Ready?"

"Against you?" Ace laughed. "Never!"

And so the match begun. My Pokéball burst open with my cry: "Weedle!"

"Go, Mareep!" Ace shouted.

I began using my new technique: mental orders. With them, I could tell my Pokémon what to do without alerting the opponent. 'Poison Powder!' and a moment later, "Stringshot!"

Perfect timing. Mareep was wrapped in silky string and poisoned. The best thing was that Ace apparently didn't notice what I'd done. She called out "Signal beam!"

Poor Mareep got a signal beam out, but it missed. I pulled out another Pokéball. "Ralts! Psychic!" I commanded.

A very frightened Mareep rose high into the air.

"That was really your Pokémon? You're kidding, right?"

"Yes, it's all Ralts now."

"Mareep, signal beam!"

"Your Mareep can't move now because of Ralt's psychic." Blue said indifferently.

"Oh, no…" Ace groaned. "Mareep, switch!" Grabbing another Pokéball, she yelled, "Go Drowsee! Use hypnosis!"

"Dodge it!" I cried. Unfortunately, Ralts couldn't dodge it, so she fell asleep.

"Dream eater! Ace called as I pulled out a ball. I managed to get Weedle out there before Drowsee could attack. Dream eater went over harmlessly as Weedle poisoned Drowsee quickly.

"String shot!"

I was pleased to behold something like a mummy-Drowsee with its face exposed, obviously suffering from poison.

Finally, Ace noticed something was up. "What's the matter, Drowsee?"
Blue said bluntly, "Your Drowsee's poisoned."

"But you never gave the command to poison it, right?"

"Didn't have to," I said, smiling at her as Drowsee toppled over, fainted.

"Drowsee can no longer battle. Weedle is the winner." Blue said as ceremoniously as before.

Ace returned Drowsee to its ball and rushed off with Yellow to revive it.

I walked toward where they were going and Justin fell into step next to me.

"I guess we're going to battle each other next." He said.

"Yeah, I guess so. Good luck!"

"Thanks, I'm going to need it against you. Same to you by the way."

"Thanks." I pulled out my Pokéballs and handed them to the nurse lady dressed in pink.

Minutes later, I faced Justin on the same battlefield. I held my Pokéball my usual way, he held his lightly with one hand. Red was the judge this time, and he seemed much more energetic and emotional than Blue. "Okay guys, remember the rules from before, and don't break them. Think you can do that?"

We both nodded, and the match began.

My Pokéball flew out of my hands and into the field, revealing Ralts. Justin threw his, and out popped a Tentacruel.

"It evolved already?" I gasped.

"Yep, and now we're going to defeat you for once." He said grinning from ear to ear. "Supersonic!"

"Ralts, dodge it!" I cried out.

He laughed. "Maria seriously, you can't expect her to dodge an auditory attack."

I gritted my teeth. Weedle wouldn't be able to poison it, I knew Tentacruel was partially a poison type, so it lived on poison. We'd only help it that way. "Ralts, switch!" I called. "Weedle!" Mentally, "don't poison it, don't poison it…"

"Okay, let's try string shot!"

Weedle jumped into action, spraying silk out of its mouth and using that to wrap around Tentacruel. Weedle was small, but it could be fast if it wanted to be, and now was a perfect example. "Great job! Switch! Use psychic!"

Ralts appeared and Tentacruel flew up. "Swing it around a little." I instructed mentally. Around and around it went until it was dizzy. "Okay, good! Now use magical leaf!"

Ralts did a superb job of it, but when Tentacruel came down, (none too lightly) it got up anyway.

"What?!" I asked disbelievingly.

"He's much stronger than you're giving him credit for, Maria. Use water pulse!"

I screamed as a large gush of water shot toward my dear Pokémon. Ralts was engulfed in water, and when it dissipated, she was also apparently confused again.

I grabbed my second Pokéball. "Weedle! String shot!" "Around its mouth!"

Weedle acted perfectly, but somehow Tentacruel anticipated it. Water shot out from its mouth straight at Weedle. "Dodge it! Quickly!" I cried.

Weedle managed to dodge most of the water, but it barely caught him on the tip of his tail. I cried out, but he seemed ok – until he started glowing. It looked pretty painful to me. "Ah! He's evolving!"

Justin looked surprised, Ace gaped, Red smiled, Blue just stood there, and Yellow looked a little… sad? I could guess why.

Weedle stopped glowing, now looking more like a yellow cocoon than the Weedle I knew, but with the same consciousness.

"Congratulations, your Weedle has evolved into a Kakuna. The match can continue!" Red declared.

"All right, ready Kakuna?" Mentally I said, "String shot around its mouth again."

Kakuna understood, and it went quickly to do so. However, Tentacreul picked Kakuna up with a tentacle and flung it aside.

Justin smiled at me. "Maria, I know what you're doing with your Pokémon. I picked that up a long time ago, so I've been listening to your mental conversations with them."

Ace gasped. "That's how you beat me! Isn't that against the rules?"

"Not if I'm only talking to my own Pokémon. You heard him, as long as I'm not doing anything to my opponent's Pokémon, it's fine." I replied.

Blue nodded. "She's right."

I made sure no one was inside my head, seeing my thoughts. Then I thought of my back-up strategy. I smiled, then nodded to Kakuna. "Well, there's no use trying to hide our communication anymore. Ready? String shot!" A Pokéball shot out of my dress pocket and Kakuna disappeared in a flash of light. In his place stood Ralts, holding Tentacruel up with psychic. Justin's poor Pokémon looked about ready to faint, I only needed a little more power. "Swing it around hard!" I called out to Ralts.

Justin returned Tentacruel before we could do anything. Out came his second Pokémon, a Swablu. "Have a taste of this, Maria."

Oh, no. That guy was a flying type, which both of my Pokémon (grass and bug types) were weak against. Maybe if I could immobilize it… I raised my arm, and pointed two fingers toward Swablu, a pre-planned signal. Swablu flew around the battlefield, but not because it wanted to.

"Come back, Swablu!" Justin yelled, switching again for poor Tentacruel. " Supersonic! Now switch! Swablu, use peck!"

I watched helplessly as Ralts was quickly overpowered.

"Ralts is unable to battle. Swablu is the winner! Congratulations!" Red smiled happily.

It was my turn to rush to the kind nurse lady in pink at the desk.