Recommended Music: Sakura's Theme from Super Street Fighter IV. I wasn't a Street Fighter kid growing up. I've mostly played Tekken's III through V and Tag Tournament but even though I'm pretty bad at them I like to play any fighting games. They recently opened a bar in my city which has an arcade machine with around 70 different games, of which there are like 10 versions of Street Fighter and 20 versions of King of Fighters. I haven't seen an arcade machine since like 15 years ago so I got really excited. Now, whenever I go drinking with my friends, I beg them to visit that place just so I can waste more money and maybe learn how to do that helicopter kick with Chun Li.
Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 26: Erika Wars.
After hearing Red's opinion of Erika, Sumire wasn't sure if she should be happy or angry. To her, the female leader was a perfect being and she expected everyone else to think the same so the boy's statement took her by surprise. At least there was no chance that he would be her rival in love. Nevertheless, she felt that she should be offended by someone not recognizing Erika's value. Before she could gather her thoughts and give him a talk, Kanna took the initiative.
"Why would you say that? You shouldn't judge a book by its cover."
"Ah. Sorry. I didn't mean to sound rude." he responded while glancing at the other girl, realizing that Kanna's words were supposed to help him save himself from Sumire's anger "It's not how she looks. It's about... the kind of vibe she gives off... I guess. It's very possible that I think that for the same reason that you think the opposite."
"Maybe. I'm just surprised that you were able to form an opinion so quickly. At this point... You can't be sure that you're right in thinking that until you meet her and confirm it."
"That's... Yeah. What is she doing anyway? What is all this?"
"It's part of some promotional campaign for this perfume brand." she explained while pointing towards what must have been the logo of the company located on a banner hanging from the side of the stage "Erika's father is a major shareholder so he uses his power to make sure that she appears in every piece of advertisement they put out. It's not like she needs the connections. She could naturally get those jobs thanks to her looks and charisma."
"It sounds like she really has it made. I'm surprised she has enough time to be a Gym leader. Even though I would prefer her priorities to be more me oriented." the boy commented, a little sour after finding out the reason for why he had to postpone getting his next badge.
"Being a Gym leader is also partially a privilege she got because of her family." Kanna seemed to sound a little embarrassed by that fact, even though it was something she had no influence on "Don't get me wrong. She's a very strong Pokemon trainer. Much better than me or Sumire. She went through a test to get her position but her skills didn't matter to the jury. Her father somehow acquired the rights to the place where the Gym stands. If they didn't accept her, Kanto would have one Gym less."
"I suppose that can be hard..."
"What do you mean?"
"From what you said, it seems like she's good at various things and is doing her best to prove it but her family is too overbearing which makes it difficult to..."
"Shut up!" Sumire interrupted him "Don't act like you understand. Only someone as close to her as one of us two can really understand her. Saying that it's hard for her, you make it sound like you think she's weak. Like she can't handle herself."
"I didn't mean to..."
"If you talked to her... If you would allow her to show you her true self... Only then you would begin to understand who she really is!"
"That's actually a good idea." he responded while snapping fingers.
"Wait. What do you...?"
The girl didn't have a chance to finish since the boy was already gone, running towards the stage, squeezing through the crowd, with Oddish sitting on his arm. Although there was some security around the stage it didn't seem like any of them actually expected for someone to try to reach the models. He saw the moment where nobody would look directly at him and took that chance to slip past them and jump onto the stage.
"Is this thing going to take much longer?" he asked while standing face to face with the surprised Erika who was at that time walking to the front of the group so that an announcer could tell the crowd about the perfume she was holding in her hands.
Trying to understand what was going on, she looked towards the crowd and saw the worried faces of her two underlings. It seemed like she understood that they must have been somehow related to this person interrupting her but her experience was that she should simply ignore him. The people who hired her wanted for her to have a certain way of being that was sure to attract the eyes of the people watching her. If she responded to the boy's question she could risk unwanted feelings interrupting the state of the mind she put herself in for this show which could negatively affect her career. Worst case scenario would be when her father would have to cover for her mistakes.
She took a step forward, expecting the teenager's instinct to kick in and cause him to move out of her way but she found herself in shock when for the fraction of a second blinking her eyes made it impossible to notice that the boy didn't do what she expected. It was too late to stop since she was mere centimeters away from his face.
"Wait. Sto..." he tried to say but was forced to stop when her forehead hit his mouth, almost making him bite down on his tongue.
Both of them reeled backwards almost immediately. Erika was so surprised by what happened that she didn't stop to think for even a second of how she should act to try and save her image.
"Oww. What is wrong with you?" she said while massaging her forehead.
"I gue..." Red had a little trouble talking after receiving the headbutt "I guess it's my fault for getting on the stage but it was your decision to hit me with your head."
"I tried to make you leave, you... you nincompoop!" she shouted while clenching her fists after putting her arms down.
"I'm not even sure what tha..." he stopped after noticing someone approaching him, from the corner of his eye.
He bent down and barely avoided one of the security guards who tried to tackle him and instead landed face down on the floor after flying off the stage.
"Coming up here probably isn't on the list of my best decisions." the boy said to himself, seeing another man jumping onto the stage "I definitely had worse one though."
The security guard tried to grab him but the teenager spun around in such a way that Erika was now between the two of them.
"Can you call them off?" he asked the girl while considering an escape route in case she didn't agree to his request.
"Stop that this instant!" the Gym leader ordered the man while pointing at him, since she saw that he was searching for a way to get around here and she didn't want to risk getting hurt again.
Knowing how important her family was, the security guard backed off but decided to remain on the stage to see how she would handle the situation and to be prepared to resume what he was doing if the intruder tried to do something suspicious.
"What is it that you want? I should punish you for what you just did but instead I'll allow your know to know my graciousness and hear you out. If it's not too outrageous a thing, I will grant you the thing you expected to get by interrupting the show. I want to save what remains of my pride after this humiliation, as quick as possible, and never see you again."
"There is a thing I wanted..." the boy said while thinking about wanting to challenge her to a battle "...but there's a question that came to my mind. Can I ask you that first?"
"Whatever. Let's just get this over with." she said while glancing towards the shattered bottle of perfume she dropped after headbutting the boy.
"Aren't you trying too hard?" Red spoke up.
"Wha-?" the anger immediately faded from her face since, even though she didn't consider beforehand what the boy could want to ask her, the question he posed was definitely a big surprise.
"There are easier ways to do this. It's just my assumption and I barely know you so that's probably not nice of me to say this but I think that you should take a break. I think you're stretching yourself too thin and try not to think about it since you really want the recognition. But that's just my selfish thoughts since you being busy prevented me from having a Pokemon battle with you today."
Erika remained silent for some time. She was too confused to think clearly. Her first reaction was to want to cry but she stopped herself before even one tear came out since, even though it was barely noticeable, her make-up would look bad because of it. She couldn't really be angry at the boy because contrary to what he himself said, it seemed like his words were spoken as if he cared about her wellbeing. That made her consider a thing she couldn't have thought about until she heard him trying to give her advice.
"Did they put you up to it?" she asked while pointing towards Kanna and Sumire.
The girls looked embarrassed when the crowd and the models turned towards them to see what the Gym leader's finger was directed towards.
"No one put me up to anything. I just wanted to have a fight with you and they explained your situation. I probably said too much but... As a Pokemon trainer, I feel like by trying to impress your father, you are disrespecting both your job as the Gym leader and whatever this thing right here is."
"You... Coming here and trying to change the way I live my life. You've got a nerve." she said, her voice growing angrier with each word "It's not your business whether I've got 2 jobs or a 1000!"
"Then why don't you take up tennis? Or become a miner? You think that you're going to get recognition by trying to show off in every possible way? The fact that you think you can show how independent you are while splitting up your time to do various things, just serves to prove how immature you are."
The girl never had to deal with someone besides her father doubting her actions while talking about it to her face so she wasn't exactly prepared to hold a conversation about it, nor would she enjoy having one. She grit her teeth while listening to his words, trying to stop herself from wanting to slap him for his impudence.
"It's fine to be a Pokemon trainer if you're doing it to help you further your true dream. I know a lot of people who are like that. It's also okay to have something as a hobby, but trying to show how serious you are while doing things half-heartedly... Are you trying to make a joke out of the people who put everything they can into the thing they want to be recognized for?" while saying these words, Red thought about people like Blue, Michael and Sven and got angrier than he would ever expect himself to be able to "Who the hell do you think you are?!"
It was only after hearing the gasps of the crowd that he realized he was so blinded by anger that he grabbed the girl by her clothes and lifted her up slightly. Before he could let go of her and apologize for going too far, she also got ahold of him and used that to headbutt him again, this time intentionally. The boy dropped her in order to wipe away the blood flowing from his nose. She decided to ignore the pain coming from the bruise forming on her forehead and instead focused on making sure that her kimono wasn't stretched because of Red. Oddish, who until that time kept quiet while trying to hang onto the boy's arm, began to look worried about his trainer. Meanwhile, the teenager started looking around, seeing that the people seemed to be unsure of which one of the two clashing people they should be afraid of.
"Are you searching for a way to escape?" Erika asked "I forbid you."
"You forb..."
"Shut up! Shut your damn mouth and prepare to take the full brunt of my fury! I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!"
"A Pokemon battle? Why would you..."
"To show you! To show everyone! We have cameras recording this!" she shouted while putting her hand in the direction of the TV crew "If I beat you here, someone who fully devotes himself to Pokemon battles, fair and square, then neither you nor my father will have any right to doubt that I can do whatever I set out to do without any trouble."
"That's fair, but what do I get out of this?"
"You're obviously going to lose but if you need a reason then let's just say that this will count as an official battle for the Rainbow badge. How about it?"
"What are the rules?"
"3 Pokemon. We can both switch them out at any time."
"Alright. But... You want to fight here?"
Instead of responding to him, Erika glared at the security guard and the other models who were still on the stage. Her cold stare made all of them quickly leave. Meanwhile, Kanna and Sumire who went to the changing room hidden behind the stage, returned with something that looked like a long, silver gauntlet holding a bunch of pokeballs inside it. Sumire kneeled in front of the Gym leader while putting the contraption on her arm. Kanna took that time to look at Red who was preparing his own balls. On one hand, she felt a sense of responsibility for everything that happened, but on the other, she hoped that it could help Erika deal with her issues. After their boss was ready to fight, the two girls left the stage.
"Are you prepared?" the leader asked.
"Pretty much. It's easy to guess what type of Pokemon you use." Red responded "Which means you'll have to sit this one out, Oddish."
The Pokemon jumped down from his trainer's arm, looking a little confused why he wasn't returned to his pokeball even though he didn't need to take part in the battle.
"Stop! Stop! Wait just a gosh darn second!" they heard the voice of the plump announcer trying to climb onto the stage before settling for using a set of small stairs "Erika-sama! I came up with a great idea!"
"Tell it to me. But get on with it. I want to mop the floor with this pest as soon as possible."
The man leaned in to whisper it to hear and her frown almost immediately changed into an excited smirk. She looked at Red who was more worried about her new attitude than one she has shown him previously.
"Yes. Let's do that." she said to the announcer.
. . .
A few minutes passed. Oddish kept glancing at a Erika, who was impatiently tapping her foot, while also trying to see if Red was about to come back after being dragged away by the announcer and the two girls from Erika's Gym. Finally, the boy came back, but instead of his usual attire, he was wearing a simple, black kimono with similarly colored hakama and a red haori. Although his clothes looked like they were supposed to contrast with Erika's white kimono, the effect was offset by Red still wearing his shoes and hat. Kanna explained to the Gym leader that they wanted to get him to take these off and put on geta but he refused. As he went back on the stage, Red kept looking at himself, not sure how he felt about wearing something with so much free space. He moved his hands a bunch of times to see if his movement would be restricted but that didn't seem to be the case.
"What's the point of this?" he asked Erika after arriving on the opposite side of the stage to her.
"The announcer figured out that since our battle is going to be recorded, we can use pieces of it in a commercial. Just imagine me defeating you and then a slogan comes up... like... "Sakuramochi. Beats all the competition." Has a ring to it, doesn't it?"
"That's assuming you win." he interrupted her fantasies.
Displeased, she looked at him with a frown "Have you chosen your first Pokemon?"
"Yep. And I'm not gonna go easy on you. Go, Charmeleon!"
"I didn't expect you to. It's time to bloom, Gloom!"
The two Pokemon sized each other up after appearing on the stage.
"Metal Claw!" Red issued his first order without wasting any time.
The lizard quickly approached the opponent while changing his claws into metal but as it was about to deal a blow, it suddenly stopped a couple centimeters short of its target. Unfortunately, it looked like this situation was part of Erika's plan.
"Mega Drain!"
Gloom created two vines which grabbed Charmeleon's arm and started to suck out his energy.
"Use Flame Charge to escape!"
The fire Pokemon set itself ablaze, causing a bit of pain to his foe, before swiftly jumping back and creating a couple meters of distance between himself and Gloom.
"What did that Gloom just do? She didn't give him an order and yet... But it didn't even move..." while trying to figure out what was happening, Red decided to check the Pokedex for information.
Although the boy was quick with his thinking and action, a moment of inattention was all the Gym leader needed "Fling!"
Charmeleon saw something being thrown in his direction and instinctively tried to avoid but his tail was still grazed by whatever it was.
"Stench! It was Stench! What?! Such an ability exists?!" Red was too preoccupied with figuring Erika's first trick to realize that she already began her next strategy.
"Venoshock!"
"Venowhat?!"
Gloom shot out from its mouth a ball of purple fluid which acted as if it was a homing missile and hit the exact same spot Charmeleon was struck in right before. The lizard cried out in pain before falling down to his knees.
"It seems like you can't back up all that big talk. You should at least try or the commercial will be too boring." Erika taunted him before putting one of her open palms up to her mouth "Ohohohohoho."
"Stench makes approaching it dangerous... And that spot where Charmeleon was hit... I get a feeling that I should try to end this quickly." the boy said to himself before looking at the lizard who managed to get up, although still visibly in pain "Are you ready to go on?!"
The Fire Pokemon showed the trainer a thumbs up before assuming a battle stance.
"Let's try a Flamethrower!"
Charmeleon shot out a stream of flames from his mouth and although Erika ordered Gloom to dodge it, the task proved too hard and it was sent flying off the stage, although it did manage to use a vine to grab onto the lighting hanging above the battlefield.
"Another o..."
"No! Those lights were expensive!" the announcer stopped Red before he could finish his sentence.
That was enough of a distraction to lose sight of Gloom who must have jumped down. Quickly surveying the stage, Red noticed the Grass Pokemon running at his one.
"We'll have to chance it! Metal Claw!"
"Acid!"
Although Charmeleon changed his claws into steel, Gloom shot out a splash of liquid which hit the Fire Pokemon's hand and changed it back to normal, making the attack almost useless. Being at that close of a range gave the plant another opportunity.
"Venoshock!"
The attack hit the same spot yet again. Charmeleon was in so much pain that he fell down, although still trying to get through it and continue the battle. Seeing that Gloom was ready to finish him, he instincts kicked in and caused him to use Smokescreen as a defense mechanism.
Not knowing if it was a part of some plan, Erika gave her Pokemon an order "Run away!"
The Grass Pokemon managed to escape the cloud of black smoke but since their view was obscured, neither it nor its trainer knew if it was a last ditch effort or if Charmeleon was already advancing towards them. Busy with observing it, they didn't hear the quiet sound of something approaching them. Gloom suddenly found itself a couple meters above the stage and it wasn't until it cried out that its trainer noticed that the Grass Pokemon was held by his flower in Pidgeotto's feet. The girl was about to protest, thinking that she caught her opponent cheating but when she turned towards him and the disappearing cloud, she saw that Charmeleon wasn't there, having been already placed back in his ball before the boy quietly called out the bird. The biggest question at that moment was whether the lizard fainted or if Red planned to heal him up and use him again later.
"What is he going to do?" Erika thought to herself while biting her lower lip.
I'm writing this while eating banana flavored Pocky for the first time. Gotta say, I'm slightly disappointed. I've had the regular, double chocolate and the cookies and cream ones in the past and they were all better. Can anyone recommend the green tea ones? They have those and strawberry ones at my local sweet shop but after eating the banana ones I'm already suspicious of strawberry flavor. Then again, banana flavor doesn't taste like bananas(since the original bananas died out or something) so maybe I'm too cautious for my own good.
I've been kinda busy so I split this story up even further. I didn't expect the conflict between Red and Erika to come out this long and I didn't want to keep you waiting. I finally have a job. Well, an internship but still. So I probably will have to slow down with my writing but I'll still give it my best. At least, maybe I'll be able to save up and buy a Switch in preparation for Sword and Shield. If I get one of the games, I'll probably use GTS or some othe thing to get all the starters since so far I can't decide. It's the first time since gen 3 that I like all of them. I'm also in love with all the memes about the female protagonist having a thick scottish accent.
A major change in my plans was that originally Red was going to use Eevee instead of Charmeleon but then I decided that I wanted to make Erika look really strong so her Gloom is specifically prepared since she expects her opponents to use Fire types. Overall, I've given her team a lot more though than any of the other leaders and there's still a bunch of stuff to look towards.
I didn't expect the argument to get so brutal but I like how it came out where you can't really say that either of the characters is right or wrong and even though they're using the Pokemon battle to solve it, from a logical point of view it won't serve as any kind of proof. In Erika's case it's hard to tell if she actually wants to do the thing she's doing or if she just wants to impress her father. Red is more straightforward. He know the value of hard work since he spent years preparing for his journey and saw various other people putting all their strength into working towards their goals. It's basically like if you saw someone whose trying to be a basketball and a football player at the same time. Many people would be impressed, just like Erika's groupies but there would definitely be people, even on that person's team who would disaprove of them not putting their 100% into a certain thing. You can be mad at such a person but as long as their results show that they can do both things at the same time and do them well, then there's nothing to it.
The title, as well as Kanna and Sumire's names come from the video game series Sakura Taisen.
I didn't want the description of Red's japanese clothes to be too long so if you're unsure about any part, be sure to look it up. I just thought it would cool to put him in something fitting the theme of the battle. Aside from this and the suit he wore on St. Anne, I want him to have other one-time only costumes in the future.
Also a shower thought. I wonder if this story will ever get popular enough for someone to make a TV Tropes page for it. I feel like that is when you know that you've made it.
Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Oddish, Gyarados, Pidgeotto.
Badges: 3
Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, ?.
Badges: 3
Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).
Badges: 3
Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.
Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.
Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.
