Chapter 8
Obligatory Training Sequence

Thursday

Alex ducked as a Hyper Beam sliced past his ear, slamming into the curved wall of the train carriage and dissipating on its surface, just one more bang in the clattering cacophony that was the Lumiose Battle Train. Rather than using magnets to zoom between cities, the bulky electric locomotive and its series of reinforced carriages clickety-clacked directly along the rails, causing a slight but constant juddering that was only exacerbated by the fierce battles being waged up and down the train.

"Swablu, Disarming Voice! Pummel it while it's recharging!" Alex bellowed, clinging to the handholds hanging from the ceiling and doing his best not to throw up as the Kalosian countryside whizzed by outside the long, narrow windows.

Trilling excitedly, Swablu pulsed sound waves from its stubby beak, fluttering in close to its opponent, a dazed Reuniclus, in order to guarantee a solid hit. Flailing wildly, the blobby Psychic-type waved its amoeba-like arms in distress, but despite its Trainer's exhortations was unable to retaliate as Swablu's shrieks compressed the air around it, slamming into it with force that was almost physical.

"Come on! Use Recover!" Reuniclus' Trainer, a sharply dressed woman in her thirties, set her jaw and clenched a fist as she continued to bark orders. Eventually, Reuniclus seemed to shake itself out of its stupor, levitating a little higher in the carriage as a gentle green glow - almost invisible against its fluid body - limned its amorphous form, sparkling softly as it tried to counteract the damage.

"I don't think so!" Alex snapped. "Dragon Pulse!"

Repositioning itself, Swablu opened its beak again and sang out one more time - but this time, the note that came out sounded much deeper and somehow ancient, a thrumming callback in to Swablu's draconic ancestry. Accompanied by a spectacular beam of twisting, purplish-blue light, the attack slammed directly into Reuniclus, which was making no effort to protect itself - and had in fact closed its eyes to facilitate its self-healing.

"Signal Beam!" shrieked Reuniclus' Trainer, but it was too late. Swablu's continuous barrage of sonic attacks finally took its toll. Unable to sustain itself through a direct hit from Dragon Pulse, the Psychic-type withered before its much smaller opponent, making a loud squelching noise as Swablu's energy beam forced it back against the wall, where it stuck and slowly slid to the ground, its beady eyes flickering shut.

A siren blared and red lights flashed as a flat-screen monitor burst to life at the carriage's midpoint. "CHALLENGER A HAS ONE POKÉMON REMAINING!" howled an electronic voice with great excitement. "WILL YOU CONTINUE?"

"Of course!" The woman - Alex thought she might have introduced herself as Adelaide, but the swaying of the train, the noise of the battles, the flashing lights - none of which were helping his nausea - made it hard to remember exactly. Adelaide scowled as she returned Reuniclus to its Poké Ball, but she patted the capsule absently as she returned it to her purse, switching it for another. "Malamar!"

Alex blinked at the unfamiliar Pokémon that erupted from its ball before him. Even larger than the bulky Reuniclus, it was all tentacles and pulsing lights, with an undulating invertebrate body and a wicked-looking beak. Somehow, however, he didn't think that was what he needed to worry about.

As the lights flared green and a horn blasted, signalling the start of the next round, Alex took the initiative. "Swablu, Cotton Guard! Get ready for whatever's coming!"

Trilling boldly, Swablu ceased its figure-eight swooping and fluttered in place, pumping its nebulous spun-cotton wings as it focused its defense, humming in concentration.

Strangely, Adelaide seemed pleased by this. She grinned and pumped her fist, barking, "Malamar! Topsy-Turvy!"

The beaked monstrosity ululated threateningly, rotating on its axis until it floated completely upside down. The movement was slow and ponderous, but precise. Just then, the train barrelled into a tunnel, plunging the carriage into semi-darkness. Dim lights built into the walls lit the whole compartment in ghostly orange, throwing a flickering chiaroscuro across the walls. The golden lights on Malamar's torso flared brightly as it turned in place, thousand-watt bulbs that created a strobing effect, mingling with the electric cabin lights to create a spinning phantasmagoria only exacerbated by the eerie howling of the bizarre upside-down Pokémon.

Swablu shuddered visibly as the rattling lights barraged it with psychic energy, its movements becoming sluggish as it drifted towards the ground. Rather than having its defenses up, Alex saw its wings dropping and eyelids fluttering, evidently having trouble staying airborne. "Dragon Pulse!" he tried, but Swablu seemed too weak to hear him as the whole world seemed to sway around them.

"Finish it! Psyshock!" Adelaide's voice was clipped, controlled. Her Pokémon, despite being upside down, screeched assent as its lights switched from gold to pink, flooding the entire carriage with light.

Alex closed his eyes on reflex, bright spots dancing in his vision as he stumbled, hearing Swablu screech in pain. Psyshock… That's nasty. If that other move did something to Swablu…

He dreaded opening his eyes, but the light did not abate. When he managed to crack his lids open, he realised the train had shot out of the tunnel, returning the lighting to normal. As he rubbed his eyes to dissipate the stinging afterimage of Malamar's attack, Alex realised that the ringing in his ears was not part of the effect. A klaxon blared and the computer flared to life, proclaiming with almost unsettling glee: "CHALLENGER B HAS ONE POKÉMON REMAINING! WILL YOU CONTINUE?"

Swablu had hit the deck, hard. Little more than a feathery, fluffy bundle of clouds, it lay in a trembling heap right by Alex's feet. He ground his teeth, squatting down to gently pick up the brave little Flying-type, tapping its Poké Ball against its head to return it to stasis. "You'll be fine," he told it quietly. "Yeah, I'll continue."

A second Poké Ball, a second chance. Azumarill practically bounded from its capsule, staring down the unfamiliar Pokémon without fear. Malamar loomed tall over Alex's Pokémon, particularly as it levitated in the middle of the carriage, but Azumarill's stubby blue paws gripped the floor defiantly as it stared its enemy down.

The klaxon sounded the start of the final round, and Alex leapt into action. "Aqua Jet!" Test the waters, probe its defenses. With a flick of his finger, he sketched out an angle of attack, and Azumarill followed, surrounding its body with a cone of water and blasting off like a rocket, imitating the denoted trajectory.

Malamar seemed quite content to take the hit, forming an X shape with its two largest tentacles to cushion the brunt of the blow. Azumarill slammed into it with corkscrewing force and continued to spin as its attack failed to penetrate properly. After a moment, Malamar gave a great heave and threw Azumarill off it, leaving it dripping wet and irritated, but not particularly damaged. At its Trainer's command, it lashed out with its tentacles again, grappling Azumarill and yanking it out of the air before slamming it into the wall of the train carriage.

"Defense Curl! Get out of its grip!" Alex called out, but it was easier said than done. Azumarill tucked its limbs as best it could, rolling into a ball and attempting to slip out of Malamar's grasp. The suction cups on its tentacles, however, kept the Water-type tightly ensnared.

"Again!" Adelaide commanded. "Superpower!"

Alex's eyes grew wide even as he felt the set of his jaw involuntarily turn grim. "Defense Curl!"

Once again, Malamar hoisted Azumarill effortlessly off the ground, yanking it into the air before slinging it down again, this time aiming directly at the floor. Azumarill screeched defiantly as it reinforced its entire body, but Malamar gave no quarter as it slammed Alex's Pokémon right into the metal floor, causing the entire carriage to shudder.

Alex frowned. That was a little stronger than the first time, he noted with some concern. He didn't know what Malamar's deal was, and that was starting to look like his undoing. First the strange attack, Topsy-Turvy. Then the bizarrely powerful Psyshock, which shouldn't have been able to knock Swablu out in one hit, especially with Cotton Guard up. Now its attacks seemed to be growing in intensity as each one landed.

A spark of hope presented itself, however, as the impact of Azumarill's rotund body on the floor jarred it loose from Malamar's grip, giving it just enough purchase to shake off the tentacles and return to a safer distance. It looked slightly worse for wear after being pummelled twice, but it gamely faced down its opponent once again.

This was not a good matchup. Malamar's reach was longer, its sphere of attack larger. Azumarill was a brawler, a compact Pokémon that specialised in getting close to its enemy and battering it down directly. If it wasn't able to get close without getting grappled, it would be futile.

Still, Alex was running out of ideas. He had trained Azumarill to be excellent at that one aspect of combat, covering for its weaknesses in double battles with the supportive specialties of Swablu and the tumbling twins - but in a one-on-one with an area control specialist with apparent hypnotic powers, it was clearly struggling.

Azumarill looked back over its shoulder and squeaked, a sound that had to be somewhere between a rebuke and a cry for help.

Alex straightened up. His Pokémon was counting on him; he couldn't afford to be indecisive. He filed away the handful of potential long-term solutions and focused on what was happening right now. Malamar was an oppressive presence in more ways than one, hovering in the middle of the carriage. It and Adelaide seemed perfectly happy to hold their position, and he couldn't blame them. Moving in to try and finish off Azumarill would only open them up to a counterattack.

The seed of an idea sprouted in his mind. "Okay, Azu," he said quietly, his voice barely audible over the clattering of train tracks beneath their feet. "I need you to build up some speed. Rollout!"

Intuiting his meaning, Azumarill gave a much more determined chirp as it began to spin again. Its body was already limber from curling into a ball before, so it took easily to the spinning as it tucked and rolled, shooting not directly towards Malamar, but aiming right past it. Azumarill rocketed like a cannonball through the air, shearing past Malamar and almost clipping the side of its bizarrely-shaped head. The larger Pokémon lashed out with its tentacles again, but Azumarill was gone before it could find purchase, zooming past Malamar and Adelaide both to impact on the wall of the carriage behind them.

Rather than commit to the impact, however, Azumarill pushed off with a subtle kick, directing itself back towards Malamar. Shooting over its other shoulder - well, what passed for a shoulder amid the wriggling crown of tentacles - it made a second glancing impact on the wall of the train carriage. Subtly, Alex directed its moves, brief, almost imperceptible movements of his eyes identifying new targets around the entire three-hundred-and-sixty-degree surface of the carriage. Azumarill ricocheted off the walls, floor, ceiling and doors - all specially reinforced, thankfully - gaining speed and momentum with each contact as it ran rings around Malamar.

The whole time, its attack never landed. It came close to clipping the waving tentacles of its opponent several times, but Alex's directions kept it on the move, never quite converting its motion into a final strike. Apparently Adelaide had realised this, because she stopped calling frantic orders and simply instructed her Pokémon to ready itself for the inevitable finale. Every student at Pokémon Trainer School knew that Rollout was a move which rapidly ramped up in power with every second it wound up, and more advanced Trainers would also know that preparing with a Defense Curl increased the aerodynamics of the Pokémon executing the move. She would be counting on her Pokémon's tentacles to arrest Azumarill's movement at the last second, just like it had done with the Aqua Jet.

Alex would be a fool to let all the setup go to waste.

Unfortunately for Adelaide - and Malamar - Alex had no illusions to the contrary. With one final twitch of his right hand, he sent Azumarill barrelling straight for Malamar's face, flying head-on with a victorious screech. No subtlety, no tricks. A full-frontal, head-on attack without a shred of deceit. Even though Azumarill had built up enough speed to be little more than a blur to the human eye, Malamar would easily be able to deflect its attack.

Breaking its almost meditative trance, Malamar let out a psychic shriek and lashed out with its suction-cupped tentacles, coiling out around the charging Azumarill and encircling it, stretching towards it, forming a fleshy white cage of rapidly tightening-

"Now!" Alex roared. "Play Rough!"

Azumarill, having cottoned on to his plan, had been expecting this command. Instantly, it unrolled itself in midair, losing all rotational momentum but continuing forwards, now diving headfirst towards Malamar. At the same time, it reached out to both sides, grabbing Malamar's tentacles even as they sought to imprison it in turn.

The trap had been sprung.

Holding the two wiggling tentacles tightly, Azumarill rammed headfirst into Malamar's face, driving its tough skull right beneath the monstrous creature's eyes. Reeling, Malamar tried to tighten its grip, but Azumarill had a solid hold on its main defensive weapons. Carrying on the momentum from its charge, Azumarill heaved on the tentacles, yanking the pair of them into a vertical spin like a pair of trapeze dancers - except without the safety net.

Malamar found itself completely off-balance, Azumarill holding it fast from above. The two spun a full three hundred and sixty degrees before Azumarill let go, hurling its larger opponent through the air at blistering speed and slamming it against the end of the carriage behind its Trainer with a painful thooom.

As the wind was driven from its body, Malamar opened its beak wide and screeched, a dual shriek that pierced the ears and the mind at the same time. Alex winced, but he could tell the battle was not yet won. The once-floating Pokémon, now with its lights flickering feebly, was beginning to pry itself off the wall, the tentacles on its head wriggling in pain and anger.

Azumarill seemed to be on the same page. As Alex nodded grimly, it twisted in midair, not even touching the ground before it cloaked itself in churning water again, screeching triumphantly as it corkscrewed through the air, drilling directly into Malamar's body and slamming it back against the wall once more.

Malamar croaked out one final, plaintive squawk and passed out, sliding to the floor in a rubbery tangle of tentacles. Azumarill flipped backwards, landing en pointe right in the centre of the carriage to take its bow before the imaginary audience.

For a moment, all was silent save for the rhythmic clacking of the train along the track. Then, as if it had just been reminded that it had a job to do - as if it had been stunned into awed silence by the battle in front of it - the train's computer system burst to life. "CHALLENGER B IS VICTORIOUS!" it wailed, a middle school disco's worth of flashing neon lights dancing across the carriage. Alex winced. He already had a slight headache from the Malamar's flashing lights.

Mercifully, the computer called down before continuing. "Challengers, please enjoy the rest of your trip. Prizes for the victorious battler may be collected once we arrive at Lumiose North Station. If any of your Pokémon require immediate medical attention, please place them in the healing pod." A tray slid out of the wall beside Alex with a quiet whoosh, two hemisphere-shaped depressions in its surface. After a moment's consideration, he slotted both of his Poké Balls into the tray and watched as Adelaide did the same at the other end.

The computer paused for a moment, then bleeped pleasantly as the trays slid back into their housing. "Reuniclus. Malamar. Azumarill. Swablu. Confirmed. Please collect your Pokémon from the medical car before exiting the train. Enjoy the rest of your trip."

As the Poké Ball trays disappeared, their outer edges landing flush with the wall, larger panels along the sides of the carriage folded down, turning into two parallel rows of inward-facing seats. Suddenly very glad he didn't have to swing from the handrails any longer, Alex gratefully sat, watching with only the slightest concern as Adelaide took a seat opposite him.

Behind her, Kalos whizzed past, lush and green. The car was silent, though if Alex strained his ears, he was able to faintly hear the sounds of battle from other carriages behind or ahead of them.

Just moments later, the door behind where Alex had been standing ground open, the heavy reinforced metal seeming to battle against its automated mechanism.

"Alex!" Veronique squeezed her way through from the spectator's booth, dropping into the seat next to him and throwing an arm around his shoulders and squeezing casually. "You guys nailed it! That's awesome!"

Now that the battle was over, Alex felt his adrenaline recede. Rather than feeling drained like usual, though, he found himself oddly relaxed. "Yeah," he said with a light sigh. "It was touch and go for a while there, though."

"You and your Pokémon are strong," Adelaide agreed, smiling indulgently at the two of them. There was a slight edge to her grin, but she inclined her head gracefully and continued, "There are not many who can deal with Malamar's hypnotic lights and its tentacles."

"Don't feel bad, Alex is just that good," Veronique said, matching Adelaide's grin with one of her own.

Alex elbowed her in the ribs. "Do you mind?" he muttered.

It seemed like Veronique, for one, was back to her normal self. She had once again abandoned the more conservative look she adopted during their time in Coumarine. A tight-fitting band tee, ripped jeans and dark makeup, topped with a smirk to complete the ensemble. She rolled her eyes. "Fine," she grumbled, but she kept her arm slung proudly across Alex's shoulders, grinning as if she had won the battle herself.

"Your Malamar was very impressive." Alex took the opportunity to steer the conversation into safer waters. "I've never seen a Pokémon like that before."

Adelaide preened. "It's awfully rare, even in the Kalos region," she informed him. "Getting an Inkay to evolve is… tricky."

"I keep getting caught off guard by Pokémon I've never seen before," Alex admitted. "Kalos is a long way from home."

"Well, that's easily fixed," Adelaide said, holding up a finger while she rummaged in her purse with the other hand. When she withdrew it, she was holding a small, red, cellphone-like device, sleek and compact. "You should get yourself one of these."

Veronique squinted. "A Pokédex? I thought you had to be on one of Sycamore's special research teams to get those."

"They just hit the market." Adelaide seemed to enjoy knowing something that Veronique didn't. "Sycamore and his crew finally decided to release a beta version to the public. They're expensive - mostly because of the hardware, I guess - but worth it, especially if you aren't from around here."

"I'll look into it, thanks," Alex put in before Veronique could say anything else. "I'll have to look up your Pokémon and that move you used in case I run into it again."

"Oh?" Adelaide tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear as she leaned in. "Well, seeing as you beat me already, I suppose there's no harm in sharing a little…"

The final twenty minutes of the ride to Lumiose was spent exchanging tips and strategies. Veronique grumbled and made passing comments, but for the most part she let the two Trainers carry the conversation.

She certainly seemed to be in a better mood than she had at the weekend, Alex reflected. Indeed, by the time they parted ways with Adelaide at Lumiose North Station, she was positively brimming with energy. After Alex collected his Pokémon from the medical car - in perfect health, no less - she all but dragged him to collect his prizes.

As it turned out, the prize for winning a round on the Battle Train was a refund on your tickets - which explained why she had been so eager to collect - and a punch on his membership card.

"Great," he said, stashing the card in his wallet. "If I force myself to endure that another nine times, I could win a stuffed toy."

Veronique snorted, nudging him with her hip. "Aw, c'mon! You had fun, admit it. It was a good battle!"

"I guess so."

The two of them joined the crowd passing through the arched gateway, letting the flow of people carry them through and spit them out on the sidewalk. Alex could only blink as the late afternoon sun lanced through the forest of buildings, tossing threads of gold across the streets and boulevards. Seeing Lumiose up close and in person, he was struck by how different it was from even the neighbouring city of Coumarine. Where the seaside port city had kept its old town separate, Lumiose had no qualms about cramming its two worlds together. Sparkling turrets of aluminium and glass jostled for space with low, sprawling complexes fashioned from stone. A museum, its frontage wrought from carved marble, could be seen a block or two to the west along the gently curved ring road that encircled the main body of the city.

Alex had spent some time looking over a map before boarding the Battle Train, but Lumiose had a readily apparent knack for disorienting those who were not intimately familiar with its twists and turns. Despite its entirely sensible layout - like a spoked wheel, with the ever-present Lumiose Tower at its heart - there were more side streets and alleyways and plazas than a Sudowoodo could shake at. Thankfully, Veronique seemed to keep her bearings as she guided him through the maze of streets, apparently more than happy to traverse the city on foot. She paused from time to time to consult the GPS on her phone, but she had clearly visited before - and as a result, was not overly awed by the convoluted city and its many attractions, unlike Alex and the scores of other tourists that milled around on every street, oohing and aahing without concern for such petty things as whether they were blocking an entire sidewalk.

"Where...exactly are we going?" Alex wondered aloud after fifteen minutes of this. "The Showcase Theater was supposed to be quite near the station, wasn't it?"

"Sure," Veronique agreed, "but we have two hours before anything starts, even with the backstage passes, so I thought we should eat, do some shopping, maybe drop our stuff at the hotel."

Alex hoisted his oversized pack, frowning. He had almost forgotten he was carrying it. "I suppose I'd rather not look any more like a tourist than I have to," he confessed.

Veronique clapped her hands. "Great! Let's get settled, and we can get to the Showcase by six thirty."