Ah, got back from the beach, took a shower, got a drink and a sandwich, and updated a story. Feels so good.

Enjoy!

Chapter 69
Clash

First thing in the morning, Marina woke up and gathered her belongings. Once she was sure she had everything, she went to the lobby to turn in her room key and then went to the little cafeteria for breakfast. It was all in preparation to leave Mahogany Town that very day, making way to the next city for her last Gym Badge. But she had other business to attend to before she headed east to Route 45. After finishing her food and downing a glass of milk, Marina left the Pokémon Center.

Her curiosity had latched onto Cilice; she could not stop thinking about the way they had parted ways the night previous. Perhaps she had slipped the Ruins of Alph into conversation and didn't remember doing it, but Cilice was a very knowledgeable person. Marina was eager and very curious to hear what she wanted to say to her. Maybe she even had news about her brother, as he had not sent a reply to Marina's last letter.

Marina headed to the Pokémon Gym once more at a brisk pace. She hoped that she had not arrived too early as she grabbed the door's handle and pulled. The door was surprisingly light and opened so quickly that she narrowly avoided getting hit by it, but she froze as she realized the reason for this occurrence.

Pushing the other side of the door was Silver, who managed to stop himself before running into her. He seemed as shocked as she was—yet miffed at the quirky situation they had again found themselves in. The two of them exchanged stares for a disconcerting second.

"Good morning," Marina greeted him.

He mumbled something inaudibly as he shut the door, sealing off the coldness of the gym behind him.

"I...I should've guessed you'd be here," she continued. "Did you battle the Gym Leader? I just got my badge the other day."

Silver looked away with an irritable frown, refusing to answer. She waited to see if he would tell her, but this only resulted in silence that reminded her of their last encounter. Despite this, she tried to smile as she usually did.

"You lost, didn't you?"

"Shut up," he snapped quietly. "I didn't lose."

"I don't know... If you won, you'd be bragging."

"Humph! Never mind that. Now that I think of it, we haven't had a battle in a long time. How about we fix that; six-on-six?"

"Oh. Alrighty then! Time for a rival battle!" replied Marina. She shrugged to herself as they put distance between themselves for the fight. She didn't mind the sudden challenge at all; with the Pokémon Center nearby, she could have her team easily healed afterward. It would also make for a good warm-up before heading out to Route 45, where there would no doubt be many Pokémon Trainers ready to fight.

Silver always used to ask for a battle out of the blue anyway, she thought with a grin. She plucked a ball from her belt and tossed it in the air.

"Phany, go!"

"Sneasel!"

Their Pokémon appeared within an explosion of light. Phany the Donphan lifted his trunk in the air and happily jumped to his hind legs, howling in readiness. He was much stronger than he had been the last time he fought the Ice and Dark-type Pokémon, but Silver's cunning Sneasel was unafraid. It struck an aggressive pose upon spotting Phany, sneering.

"Phany, Defense Curl!" called Marina.

"Icy Wind!" ordered Silver.

Sneasel whistled a gust of cool wind—nothing compared to the Blizzard technique of Pryce's Piloswine, but still an effective force to be reckoned with. The happy elephant, who had curled himself up tightly, flapped his ears and whined briefly in disdain of the ice.

"Good! Now Rollout, Phany!"

The Donphan charged toward Sneasel before jumping and forming into a ball again. Like a huge rolling tire, he spun around his quick opponent and slammed into it. With its weak defenses, Sneasel stumbled and failed to recover before getting hit once again.

"Get up and dodge! Icy Wind!" Silver directed.

Sneasel forced itself to its feet, but shifted nimbly as Phany approached. It leapt without a second to spare, jumping off his opponent's spine. It landed and with a tired hiss sent another gust of ice at his back. Phany was unable to stop rolling, attempting again and again to hit Sneasel before finally nailing his target. Flipping about from the force, the cat-like Pokémon fainted and skid across the dirt.

"Good job, Phany!" praised Marina.

"Don, don!" Phany managed to respond. He stopped and stomped about on his heavy feet in some sort of victory march before rolling back up again.

"Return!" Silver recalled his Pokémon, immediately sending out another. "Feraligatr!"

The blue, bipedal alligator stood tall and sturdy above Phany, who spun about in circles in wait for their fight to start. Feraligatr smacked his great spiked tail on the ground to prove his readiness. Marina waved at her old starter Pokémon before giving the command to Phany.

"Water Gun!" Silver ordered before her.

"Keep going, Phany! Rollout!"

Phany tackled into Feraligatr, who in return shot water in the elephant's direction. Despite being a relatively weak attack, the power of the alligator overpowered his enemy. The Donphan tumbled and slid to a stop, shaking off the water like a cumbersome dog.

"Go for a Take Down, Phany!"

With an excited huff, Phany caused the ground below him to rumble as he charged recklessly.

"Feraligatr, stand your ground! Water Gun again!"

Feraligatr stomped his feet and snarled with his arms ready as the Donphan approached. He strained on impact, attempting to keep Phany's long tusks from digging into his scaly skin. Phany fought back, but exclaimed in shock as he was pummeled by relentless jets of water coming from Feraligatr's mouth.

"Phany, use Flail!"

Phany was able to whip his opponent's bottom jaw once before being overwhelmed by the shower. Feraligatr pushed away, and the unconscious Phany dropped with a thud.

"Phany, you did good!" Marina called and returned her Pokémon back into his Poké Ball. Reaching for her next, she said, "Wani-Wani, you've gotten really strong, haven't you?"

Silver rolled his eyes, but the Feraligatr seemed to beam proudly in response.

"Okay, Muu-chan! Your turn!" Marina shouted, smiling as she sent out her Misdreavus. "Thunderbolt away!"

"Muu!" cried Muu-chan and began to form a field of electricity around her.

"Move in and use Bite!" Silver ordered quickly.

Running with his powerful legs, Feraligatr darted forward and clamped his razor sharp jaws onto Muu-chan. She wailed in pain and fired off her electric attack point blank. The alligator released her at once, and she retreated backward.

"Bite again!"

"Thunderbolt and dodge, Muu-chan!"

As Feraligatr trudged into a sprint once again, Muu-chan shot another wave of lightning that effectively shoved him away. She flew higher into the air, and her tired opponent glared up at her impatiently as it could not reach her.

"Water Gun!" shouted Silver.

Feraligatr immediately sent a round of water bullets her way, which all but evaporated as Muu-chan's Thunderbolt cut through them and struck Feraligatr. He snarled a piercing cry before collapsing, remnants of static sparking around him. His Trainer scowled.

"Humph. Return!" Silver eyed Marina. "I see you haven't been just fooling around dancing since we last battled."

"Well, yeah," she replied. "Do you know Ecruteak City's Gym Leader Morty? He had a Gengar that knew Thunderpunch. So I decided to look up any Electric-type attacks that Muu-chan can learn because she's Ghost-type too, and yup! Thunderbolt's a pretty hard TM to get a hold of, but it's really useful!"

"Really," he said, disinterested. He released his next Pokémon, the Doberman puppy look-alike known as Houndour. "Bite, Houndour!"

"Humph!" Marina mimicked him. Observing his Pokémon, she ordered, "Muu-chan, Shadow Ball!"

The dog, however, appeared tuckered out as it wearily eyed the Misdreavus from the ground. It attempted to jump in her direction, but howled as it was struck by the ball of ghastly energy Muu-chan sent its way. Silver whisked Houndour away back into its ball the moment it landed, leaving Marina puzzled.

Wow, that really was easy. Shadow Ball isn't even super-effective, she thought and made a nod to her Misdreavus for a job well done so far. His Houndour looked pretty tired. I guess it was from the fight with the Gym Leader.

As she turned to see what Pokémon her rival had sent out, she yelped and nearly jumped out of her skin. Before her was a large bat Pokémon that was almost the size of her and Silver. Unfazed by her, it wrapped its wide wings around its open mouth and darted its dark, narrow eyes toward Muu-chan. Marina could not look at it without feeling her skin crawl.

"Oh my gosh! You jerk!"

"What?" he asked loudly. "What is it?"

"That's a Golbat! You know how much I hate bats!"

"Really. I don't remember you ever saying that," said Silver. He seemed to get increasingly annoyed while Marina threw a fit.

"Geez, just look at it! It's even worse than Zubat! Look how big it is! And its mouth was like a mile wide—!"

"Stop whining and keep battling! Golbat, Supersonic!"

"But I—! Geez! Muu-chan, Psybeam!"

While Muu-chan easily struck the grounded Golbat with her Psybeam attack, the giant bat overcame her when it hit the skies. It was incredibly quick and zipped through the air with ease, cornering its opponent no matter which direction she flew. Muu-chan spun about as it struck her with invisible waves emanating from its long jaws. She hovered from side to side, unable to quite keep her balance. Their Trainers commanded their Pokémon as quickly as possible.

"Hold on, Muu-chan! Use Psybeam!"

"Air Cutter!"

Muu-chan's eyes swiveled about even when she was hit by an onslaught of sharp gales summoned from under Golbat's wings. She was helplessly smacked about and began to fall closer to the ground. Marina furrowed her brow in concentration, glancing at Silver before holding up her Poké Ball.

It's no use; she's completely out of it! Marina thought.

"Mean Look, now!" Silver demanded.

"Return!" she called, and successfully removed Muu-chan from the battlefield before Golbat could make eye contact with the confused ghost. With a few seconds of hesitation as she considered who to send out next, Marina threw her cerulean-colored Poké Ball. "Lapras, go!"

Completely immobile without water to carry her, Lapras looked about. She let out a shrill cry upon spying her opponent's taunting look that was meant for Muu-chan.

"Ice Beam!"

"Golbat, Air Cutter—!" Silver was unable to finish relaying his order to his Pokémon, which was knocked out the sky from a single ray of ice fired by Marina's Lapras. He frowned further and clicked his tongue. "Return!"

"Good work, Lapras," the girl praised her Pokémon after a moment. The serious creature glanced at her, puzzled as if she were trying to figure out if the compliment was an attack or not.

I guess saying that just confuses her, Marina thought, but offered a smile and a nod anyway. Lapras stared for a while longer, but quickly turned back around as she heard the voice of Marina's rival.

"Magnemite, Thundershock!"

"Lapras, use...!" But Marina found herself unable to finish her own command. Silver's Magnemite rested on the road, unable to generate the energy it needed to lift itself into the air.

"What are you doing? Get up!" the boy scolded his Pokémon.

The timid Magnemite wiggled the magnets at its side, but beeped quietly when it couldn't muster the strength.

"It's tired! It can't battle," she told him. "Call it back!"

"It's weak is what it is," he grumbled. He thrust his Poké Ball in front of him and recalled it. With a violent throw, he sent out his last Pokémon—a small Haunter. However, it too appeared extremely tired to the point where it could barely keep itself floating in the air. Sensing the aggressive atmosphere of the Trainers, Lapras hissed as Marina again called Silver out on this, but Marina could barely contain her frustration and disappointment to care.

"Silver, this one's tired too! You shouldn't ever force a Pokémon to fight when it can't," she chided him.

"Quit nagging me and finish the battle," Silver angrily rebuked.

"At this point, children, isn't the battle already over?"

The two young Trainers turned to see Cilice, who stood at the gym's doorway with a dignified graveness.

"What's it to you?" he snapped at her. "You can't fight to save your life."

"This duel is obstructing the entrance to the Pokémon Gym," she answered calmly yet strictly. "I request that you either stop or move and finish it somewhere else."

"I'm sorry, I didn't even realize that," Marina bowed in apology and turned to her Pokémon, "Lapras, return!"

"Humph...!" Silver followed suit and recalled his Haunter. Wearing a dirty glare on his face, he walked down the road with haste. As he passed Marina, she approached and reached out to him. He avoided her eyes and swiftly pushed her hand out of the way.

"Hey, wait a second!" He stormed away, paying her no mind. Marina frowned and crossed her arms in a mild manner. "Geez, Silver. What's gotten into you lately?"

Just when I thought he was going to change the way he sees Pokémon, he starts acting like this... He better not be treating Wani-Wani or any of his other Pokémon like that all the time, or he'll never hear the end of it from me, she resolved stubbornly.

"I have seen you with that boy before. What is your connection to him?" Cilice asked as she walked over to the girl Trainer. Marina turned back to her and tried to wipe away her look of concern with a small smile.

"Oh, we're rivals."

"Is that so? How did that happen?"

"It's complicated," she replied. "We kinda got our first Pokémon mixed up when we started out, and that's how I met him. But he's not usually like this—I mean, he's kind of hard to get along with sometimes, but he's not bad. Although when it comes to Pokémon, he isn't really...Well, you saw how he is."

"I think I understand," said Cilice and accompanied her words with a light giggle. "So then, have you returned to talk to me?"

"Mm hm," Marina said and nodded. "I've got time before I leave, so I figured why not?"

"I am glad to hear that. Well then, the gym is about to open, but I can spare a few minutes. Come along now," Cilice strolled back toward the building, "We have much to discuss."