Two days after the battle at the Kimono Girl's theatre, Chance and Adrian finally departed from Ecruteak City to continue their adventure towards Olivine City. Both trainers offered to stay and aid the Kimono Girls in the rebuilding of their home, but they insisted that the boys continue towards their next gym battle if they wanted to complete their journey in time to compete in this year's Silver Conference. The duo relented and continued onward, venturing onto Route 38 in the early morning.
The first half of their day was largely uneventful. The trainers, and Snivy, resting across her trainer's shoulders, enjoyed being out in the open world again. The vast fields of Route 38 were dotted with wild pokémon, many of which paid no mind to the passing group. Around midday, the boys decided it would be a good time to stop for lunch and some light training. The duo found one of the larger hills in the area that overlooked a herd of tauros and miltank that casually grazed on the long grass in the valley between two hills.
"Okay, come on out, guys!" Adrian called, tossing four poké balls and a fast ball high into the air, calling forth his entire team. Nidorino stretched and let out a low groan, pleased with being out of the confines of his pokéball once more. Tentacool and Elekid both followed suit, stretching and then running to their trainer, glad to be able to run free for the time being. Quilava, on the other hand, paid more attention to Eevee than himself. He quickly trotted over to the small Evolution Pokémon to check on her wellbeing, much to the delight of his trainer. Eevee, on her part, stood very close to the side of the Volcano Pokémon and looked around for the group's other eevee.
"You guys come on out too!" Chance said with a grin, mimicking his friend and throwing three poké balls, a lure ball, and a friend ball into the air. Onix appeared first, stretching his long body to its full height and letting out a bellowing cry, much to the annoyance of the wild pokémon in the area. Staryu did a quick circle around the Rock Snake Pokémon, spinning happily through the air. Noctowl immediately took the chance to spread his wings and take to the skies, hovering a few feet above his largest teammate's head. Scyther and Eevee both immediately closed the distance between their team and the friendly team beside them. Scyther meeting up with Elekid, while Eevee ran to his female companion and checked her head to toe to make sure she was doing okay. Snivy took the chance to hop off her trainer's shoulders and casually walk over to Onix, whom she immediately climbed to sit on the rock-type's head.
"Well, looks like our teams really are becoming quite the little family." The blonde laughed as the two parties mingled.
"They sure are." The redhead replied with a smile. "I just hope Scyther opens up to his teammates as much as he has to Elekid…"
"Give it time. I mean, my eevee has already bonded with Quilava, which I didn't expect at all with how shy she is towards everyone else."
"Yeah. I think it makes my eevee a bit jealous, honestly." The boys shared a laugh at this. "But bonding with Quilava makes sense, he was the one that ran into the fire to save her."
The two trainers allowed their pokémon to relax and play while they prepared their lunch. Adrian cooked for the two trainers, while Chance, who was much less proficient at cooking, set up meals for the eleven pokémon that now accompanied them, though Onix burrowed deep into the ground to locate large boulders for his own meal.
The boys and their pokémon spent the next hour and a half eating and doing some light training, where the blonde struggled to understand why Quilava was unable to reproduce the flamethrower that he had used during their gym battle. During their training, Adrian watched as his redheaded friend's eyes continued to drift over to the herd of tauros that continued to graze down in the valley. Eventually, this distraction led the redhead to end his training session early, recalling his now full team of pokémon.
"What's up?" Adrian questioned, signaling Quilava and Nidorino to end their sparring match.
"I kinda want one." Chance replied, his eyes not leaving the herd below.
"What makes you want one? You already have six pokémon." The blonde questioned his friend.
"To be honest, they remind me of home. We have a pokémon back in Unova that looks a lot like them, but a bit bulkier." Chance explained. "They are super powerful, too." He said with a grin.
"Well… If you insist, let's go." Adrian relented, recalling all but Quilava.
The pair and their starter pokémon quickly made their way down into the grassy valley below, doing their best not to alert the large herd to their presence yet. It didn't take long before the group was close enough for them to get a better look at the Wild Bull Pokémon that grazed before them.
"Any idea which one you want?" The blonde asked quietly, his eyes tracing over the edge of the herd.
"Ideally one of them that is more isolated. I don't want all of them charging us at once…" Chance replied, crouching a bit lower into the tall grass when the ears on some of the nearby tauros started to twitch.
Over the next few minutes the two trainers slowly moved to the far left of the herd, finding a single tauros that had split off a bit that was now grazing on its own. The tauros looked a little smaller and younger than the rest of the herd, making it likely an easier capture for the redheaded trainer.
"Okay, let's do this." Chance whispered, grabbing a poké ball from the pouch on his hoodie. "Noctowl, come on out." He threw the poké ball high into the air, releasing the Owl Pokémon, who cried out happily as he stretched his wings. "Noctowl, try and force it away from the herd more with air slash." He called out.
The tips of Noctowl's wings glowed a light blue and then he swiped them both down towards the unsuspecting Wild Bull, launching two blades of compressed air at the pokémon. Both blades missed their bull, striking the ground between it and the herd, spooking it and causing it to move several more yards away from the herd.
"Good job! Now hit it with another air slash!" Chance called up to his pokémon.
Noctowl did a quick loop and began to fly towards the tauros, who was now stomping his hoof into the ground and preparing to charge. Noctowl then stopped its approach and started to charge up and air slash, but before he was able to launch his attack, he was struck with a random bolt of electricity that had suddenly emerged from further up the hill. The blast of electricity was enough to prevent Noctowl from launching his attack and sent him descending towards the ground.
"Noctowl!" Chance yelled out as his pokémon fell towards the ground. "Snivy, use vine whip to catch him!" The redhead said to his starter pokémon, extending his right arm and pointing towards his injured Noctowl.
The Grass Snake bolted across her trainer's outstretched arm and leapt through the air, launching her vines as she sailed to a soft landing in the grass. Luckily, her vines were quick enough to grab on to Noctowl several feet before he smacked into the hard ground below, though now the wild tauros was charging Snivy.
"Quilava, use flame wh-" Adrian started but was cut off by a second zap landing in front of the tauros, instantly making it recoil and turn away from the earlier offenders.
The second zap was enough to get the two trainers to look up at the source of the attack. They were shocked to see a pink, fluffy pokémon riding atop a pidgeotto that was now descending towards the trainers. Behind them, running down the hill, was a woman with long, curly brown hair, who was shaking her arms at the two boys.
"Hey! You two poachers leave my tauros alone!" She yelled at them, still waving her arms. Her two pokémon descended to the ground before her, with the rider jumping off and landing several feet in front of the tauros. The pokémon was only about 2 and a half feet tall, but the sparks it was emitting in anger were enough to get the two boys to take a step back.
"Her tauros?" Adrian questioned his companion while grabbing a poké ball from his belt, just in case. The girl finally got to the bottom of the hill and stood behind her pokémon, pidgeotto circling overhead.
"What do you two rustlers think you're doing attacking my pokémon?" The brunette asked angrily. She pointed at them angrily with one hand while the other found a resting spot on her denim covered hip.
"We didn't think they belonged to anyone. Honest!" Chance stuttered out, waving his hands in front of him defensively. Snivy took this time to pull her vines back in, bringing a panting Noctowl to rest in the grass next to her trainer.
"A likely story!" The woman snarled. "Flaaffy!" She called to the pink pokémon, whose angry sparks intensified upon hearing its name.
"He is telling the truth! I promise!" Adrian said, stepping between the two other trainers. "We were just having lunch up on the hill behind us and we were watching them… My friend thought they looked so cool and strong that he thought he would try and catch one. But we swear we thought they were wild!"
"Ha! Everyone 'round these parts knows that the tauros in this valley belong to my family's ranch!" She spat angrily.
"Well we aren't from these parts." Chance replied angrily, stepping forward and reaching into his hoodie for another poké ball. Adrian, noticing this, put a hand up to stop the angry redhead.
"Look. We are trainers that are just passing through here on our way to Olivine City." The blonde explained, pulling out his pokédex for emphasis. "We honestly had no idea that this area was anyone's property. It's not like there was a fence or signs or anything. It was honestly just a misunderstanding and we apologize."
"Well…" The girl's face contorted slightly as she thought about what the boy was saying. "Fine. You're off the hook for now. But I had better not catch you coming after one of my pokémon again!" She addressed the latter part Chance, who she shot a glare at, much to the boy's annoyance.
"We didn't know…" Chance grumbled in reply. He then recalled Noctowl once he made sure the Owl Pokémon would be okay.
"Hmph." She grunted. "Well, if you didn't know that this area was all my property then I guess I may as well help you two get to where you need to go." She turned to head back up the hill that she had just recently descended, motioning to both boys to follow her.
"Thanks, we appreciate it." Adrian said once they caught up. "I am Adrian, by the way. This is my friend Chance." He explained, motioning to his friend who followed a few paces behind.
"Lillian." She responded with a nod. "And this the Burkett Ranch." She motioned with both arms to the surrounding land once they had reached the top of the hill. From the summit they could see a small cluster of buildings to the south that assumedly made up the family residence.
"Whoa… That is a lot of land…" Adrian said with a gasp.
"The largest ranch in the area." Lillian beamed proudly. "And the second highest grossing, after the MooMoo Ranch." She said with a smirk.
"That is really impressive." The blonde responded. "So all of the pokémon out here are yours? How do you keep them from just wandering off?"
"The pokémon here are protected and well taken care of. They aren't likely to wander off to where they have to worry about poachers or anything else like that. They like being safe and secure." Lillian explained with a smile.
"That makes sense…" Adrian replied, somewhat lost in thought. "So, what do you do with all of the pokémon then? If the MooMoo Ranch corners the market for milk then it must be hard to find a use for all of these pokémon." He gestured towards the different pens that were closer to the buildings, each pen housing different pokémon that were being raised.
"Actually, most of the pokémon we are raising right now will be sold to other farms. Tauros especially are used for labor in many of the ranches around these parts." She explained as they trudged down the hill, Chance lagging a bit behind. "But we do have a decent amount of tauros that we use to help till our fields. We also have a flock of mareep that are used for their wool. That is actually where Flaaffy is from." She smiled as her hand stroked the top of her pokémon's head.
"That is really cool. I don't think I have ever seen a place that is so integrated with their pokémon." The blonde said with a smile.
"It really is nice." Lillian replied with a big smile. "Now I just have to get my little Flaaffy to evolve so she can help take over for my pa's ampharos. We use him to help charge up the generators that run this whole place, but we would really like for him to retire and not have to use so much energy each morning and evening." As she explained this they approached a little blue house that sat on the edge of the cluster of buildings.
"What have you been doing to try and help her evolve?" The blonde asked as they stepped past the building.
"Honestly, not too much." The brunette replied with a small blush. "See, she doesn't get to battle all that much. Nobody really crosses the boundaries of our ranch that often. Aside from that, my pa's pokémon can't risk getting hurt because they all have jobs to do, so the only chance she gets to battle is when some of the other ranch kids and I get together and do a bit of sparring with our pokémon."
"Well, if you'd like, in return for you getting us back on the right track to Olivine City and being so forgiving towards us, we could have some practice matches with you and Flaaffy to try and get her some more battling experience." Adrian offered, noticing a small smile break across his companion's face for the first time since they had encountered Lillian.
"Hm…" She thought for a second. "I wouldn't mind smacking around your friend over here a bit more, and it would be rude to turn down your help, so we are in." She replied with a big grin, much to Chance's annoyance.
"I really don't think sneak attacks count." The redhead replied, bitterness heavily lacing his voice. This was met by a smirk from Lillian, who continued to lead them through the ranch.
It didn't take long for them to reach the outskirts of the ranch, where they were led to a dirt path that continued further south.
"This would lead you right to Olivine City!" She beamed. "But first, who wants to take on me and Flaaffy first?" Flaaffy gave a small cry and flexed beside her trainer.
"Some revenge for that sneak attack earlier sounds nice." Chance mumble, taking a step forward before Adrian put a hand on his chest to stop him.
"I'll start us off." The blonde smiled, pulling a poké ball from his belt. "Don't worry, you will get your shot, hothead." He commented to his companion with a smile, which was met by rolling eyes.
"Well whoever is first, let's get this started!" Lillian trotted to the side of the road and a small distance away, providing a small battlefield for the challenge.
"Alright, let's see what you can do. Come on out, Eevee!" Adrian called, tossing out the fast ball. The Evolution Pokémon looked around her and immediately started to panic when she noticed neither Quilava nor Chance's Eevee were present. She quickly ran to her trainer and snuggled into his legs.
"Eevee…" He said softly, kneeling down next to her. "You're alright. It's just a friendly battle, but if you don't want to battle you don't have to." He reassured her. She continued to press her body into his legs. "Alright, how about you just watch this time, okay?" He said to her with a smile, which got a small nod from the frightened pokémon.
"Hey Eevee, come on out and watch with us." Chance said softly, releasing his own Eevee to stand by his feet. Adrian's Eevee quickly ran over to snuggle into her fellow Evolution Pokémon and watch the battle unfold.
"That was certainly interesting…" Lillian said with a bit of confusion.
"Don't worry, we are ready for real this time." Adrian said with a grin. "Come on out, Elekid!" He called, summoning the Electric Pokémon.
"Okay, let's get started then!" The brunette called. "Flaaffy, start us off with take down!"
"Elekid, slow it down with swift!" Adrian called to the baby pokémon.
Flaaffy charged forward, lowering her head to slam into the smaller electric-type, but she was forced to charge through a barrage of white stars that Elekid was launching at her. However, the Wool Pokémon didn't slow down much as she continued to barrel forward, slamming into Elekid and sending him rolling across the grass.
"You okay?" The blonde asked his pokémon, who slowly got back to his feet.
"Ele le le!" The small electric-type called out, twirling his arms in frustration.
"Good. Let's do this! Try a quick attack!" Adrian called, throwing his right arm out towards their foe.
"Not so fast! Flaaffy, release a discharge all around you!" Lillian commanded the Wool Pokémon as Elekid disappeared in a blur of motion.
"Flaaaaa" The pink pokémon roared as blue electricity shot out wildly from its body. One of these bolts was struck Elekid, who had approached the larger pokémon from behind. The first tendril of electricity staggered the smaller pokémon, but once it was dazed Flaaffy directed the assault to focus on its opponent. The assault didn't last long before Flaaffy allowed the attack to dissipate, leaving a slightly smoking Elekid on the ground. This was immediately followed up by Flaaffy's tail glowing a metallic gray and being slammed repeatedly into Elekid's back.
"Looks like Elekid is unable to –" Chance was cut off from declaring the battle in Lillian's favor when Elekid slowly began to rise once more. "Whoa. Elekid really is getting to be a gutsy little guy… You guys want to continue?" The redhead asked, turning to Adrian, who responded with a nod after making eye contact with Elekid. "Okay. Battle resume!"
"Elekid try thunder shock!" Chance called to his weakened pokémon. Elekid spun its arms like windmills and released a single stream of electricity towards Flaaffy, but the larger electric-type just stood and took the attack, allowing the electricity to freely flow into its body. Elekid was only able to keep up the attack for a few seconds before it dissipated and he wobbled a few times, eventually falling forward into the grass once more.
"Elekid is unable to battle! Flaaffy and Lillian are the victors!" Chance declared from the sidelines, already moving towards Elekid as he spoke, both eevee at his feet.
"Hey buddy." Adrian said as he scooped up the baby pokémon. "How ya feeling?" Elekid smiled weakly up at his trainer. "You did great bud. You are really improving, and you've definitely shown that you've got a lot of guts with this battle. I am very proud of you." Elekid's smile grew as his trainer praised him, and the smile remained as he slipped into unconsciousness in his trainer's arms, before being recalled to rest.
"That was certainly something…" Lillian said from across the field. "I didn't expect the little guy to be so spunky, but in the end he wasn't enough to get Flaaffy to evolve." Her remark made Chance bite his lip to keep from saying something before he could really think about it.
"You want a challenge? Fine, I will give you a challenge." Chance said, departing from his blonde companion to make room between him and his opponent. Once Adrian had moved to the side of the field to referee, Chance withdrew a poké ball and held it before him. "Noctowl is looking for a rematch after that sneak attack earlier. Let's go Noctowl!" Chance started to throw the ball into the air, but found his hand, and the poké ball, wrapped in vines from his shoulder.
"Snivy!" The Grass Snake barked from her trainer's shoulder. "Snivy sni!" Her voice sounded stern as she wagged her small arms at her trainer.
"You want this battle, don't you?" Chance asked his starter pokémon. Snivy gave a quick nod and loosened her grip on both her trainer's hand and Noctowl's poké ball. She then flipped off her shoulder perch and landed gracefully several feet before her trainer. She glanced over her shoulder at the redhead behind her as she confidently marched to the center of the field.
"Well, what a spirited little pokémon." Lillian said with a smirk. "Gonna let your pokémon decide that it is the one fighting me? Better put up a bit more of a fight than your friend did."
"I believe in Snivy. If she wants to battle then I trust her." Chance and Snivy locked eyes for a moment when he said this, and a large smile spread across his face, while a warmth in his chest seemed to grow. "Ready, partner?" He asked the small pokémon. In response she got into a battle stance and glared at her new foe.
"Alright! Flaaffy, show this little thing that it shouldn't underestimate you! Take down!" Lillian ordered the Wool Pokémon.
"Leaf tornado!"
Flaaffy tucked its head down and charged towards the Grass Snake, who retaliated by twirling her body and releasing a vortex of razor sharp leaves that slammed into Flaaffy. The Wool Pokémon continued to force its way through, closing its eyes and enduring the assault as it surged forward. However, where it thought it would connect with Snivy, there was nothing. Flaaffy opened its eyes to see nothing standing in front of it, however, the confusion was short lived as a green ball of energy slammed into it from above. Snivy then gave a three point landing, smirking at the Flaaffy that had been slammed into the dirt.
"So the little thing is a jumper, eh? Gotta admit I ain't never seen a grass pokémon use its vines to jump like that before, but you ain't won yet." Lillian's smirk didn't waver as her pokémon stood up and dusted itself off. "Thunderbolt, now!"
Before Snivy could react, she was struck by a powerful bolt of electricity that surged through her body. She was forced to her knee as the unrelenting attack continued to coarse through her. The moment the assault ended, she started to get back to her feet, but was met immediately by Flaaffy's glowing tail slamming into her chest, sending her sprawling across the grass.
"Snivy!" Chance called out, taking a step forward instinctively.
"Sniv…" The grass-type groaned quietly as she slowly stood to her feet.
"You've got this, Snivy!" She heard her trainer call to her.
"Finish this up, Flaaffy! Thunderbolt once more!" Lillian ordered.
Flaaffy sent another bolt of electricity through Snivy's body, causing the Grass Snake to let out a loud cry. The electricity glowed around her body as the large bolt continued to press down on her, however, the glow of the electricity was soon overpowered by a second glow from within. As the inner glow brightened and grew, the thunderbolt was overpowered and shattered from within, ending the attack.
Within a few short moments, the glow began to subside. Where Snivy once stood, a slightly taller, much leaner version of her now had taken her place. The pokémon that now stood there was only about half a foot taller, but her torso had stretched and now looked much skinnier. The new form also sported two three-pronged leaves that ran along her back, as well as a small horn on the rear of her head.
"Whoa." Chance mumbled in amazement. "You evolved…"
While her trainer stood in amazement at the change in her appearance, she took the chance to take the assault back to her opponent. The Grass Snake rapid fired a small energy ball to stagger Flaaffy, and then immediately summersaulted through the air, the end of her tail glowing a bright green and becoming slightly elongated. She brought the blade that had formed from her tail down hard onto Flaaffy, smashing the electric-type into the dirt.
"Flaaffy, no! Stand up!" Lillian shouted out worriedly. Flaaffy slowly got back on its feet and stared at the newly evolved opponent. "Beat it back with iron tail!" The brunette ordered.
The two pokémon charged each other, each with their tail glowing brightly. Once they met in the middle of the battlefield a bright green tail blade collided with the gray glowing tail of Flaaffy. Each pokémon tried to push their opponent's tail back to gain the upper hand, but for several tense moments it looked like they would remain locked in a stalemate.
"Servine, knock it off balance with vine whip!" Chance called out to his starter. She immediately responded by thrusting a single vine out and slamming it into the left leg of Flaaffy, causing it to cry out in pain and lose focus. In that split second, Servine gave another surge of power into her tail and pushed past the iron tail, slamming her glowing tail blade into Flaaffy's back, sending it sliding across the grass once more.
"Flaaffy!" Lillian cried, worry evident in her voice.
"Flaaffy is unable to battle! Uhhh… Snivy? Is the winner of the battle." Adrian declared, unsure of what Snivy's evolved form was.
"Oh Flaaffy…" Lillian said softly to the Wool Pokémon as she cradled it on her lap. She looked up across the battlefield from her to see her redheaded opponent also kneeling on the ground and embracing his newly evolved pokémon. After a moment of hugging Flaaffy and watching Chance celebrate the evolution of his partner she recalled her pokémon to rest and approached the boys. "Well, I guess you win this time, but next time we battle it won't be while Flaaffy is already tired from a battle." She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she looked down at the kneeling redhead.
"Sure, Servine and I would be happy to beat you in another battle sometime." He and Servine stood up to look Lillian in the eyes. "It was a good battle. You should look at any opponent with a bit more respect." At this, Chance turned and began to walk back to the path that led further south, Servine on his heels.
"Well… It was nice to meet you." Adrian offered awkwardly, offering his hand.
"Yeah, you too." She shook the offered hand. "I hope you keep training that elekid of yours. It has a lot of potential. I would be glad to share another battle in the future." Her tone was much friendlier than it was when she had said nearly the same to his traveling companion.
"You know he isn't such a bad guy. He just didn't like being accused of stealing a pokémon."
"Yeah, well, I just call it how I see it." She retorted.
"It really was a misunderstanding… But I guess I should catch up before he leaves me behind. Catch ya later." Adrian jogged down the road to catch up with his friend, glancing back once to see a half smile on Lillian's face.
"Well, onward to Olivine City." Chance said once his companion had joined him.
"Yeah. Gotta start getting ready for our next gym battle." Adrian grinned back.
As the afternoon sun began to make its slow descent towards the horizon, the two trainers began their journey once more, now entering Route 39 and drawing ever closer to their next challenge.
Heyyyyy. I am alive! Life has been crazy busy lately. Had a career change as well as had a friend have a medical thing come up so I spent a lot of my free time taking care of her two boys rather than writing, but thankfully she is healthy and happy again and my life is settling back into a normal routine, so hopefully will be uploading more. This chapter isn't my best work, as the rust has settled in again, but hopefully it is enjoyable nonetheless. Happy readings!