X - new day or 24 hour or more time jump
— - 2 to 12 hour time jump
'Internal speaking'
"External speaking"
**** Start/End Pokespeek
Galvantula (Female)
Flare/Litwick (Female)
Shay/Dratini (Female)
Pierce/Starly (Male)
Void/Shuppet (Male)
Tamall/Skiddo (Male)
Meredith/Marill (Female)
Aella should probably have paid more attention to the boy's name but when a pale purple Rattata was tossed onto the field to face Meredith and Flare blared young three times along with male, she had a fairly good idea on how this battle was going to go.
"He's young, probably on the edge on what is and isn't allowed," she had moved to crouch down behind the eager mouse.
The water mouse babbed away, not quite pleased with the likely ease of the challenge, "You get to battle more you know the longer you stay in, besides the next opponent could be just about anything," Aella reminded Meredith. It was like dangling a box with the potential for a treat in it and for Meredith, that was highly motivating.
She banged her floatation tail on the ground and it bounced her half a foot in the air on the rebound. Aella left her crouch giving final orders of, "Charm if he keeps his distance or dodge and whack the rat if he goes into close combat."
"Aella vs The Scarab from Celadon! Begin!"
Now she wasn't paying attention to the boy's first command. How could she when the referee announces a name like that? Ahhh. Flare drew up a memory of Aubrey mentioning something about trainer nicknames. Well fine, she'll just refer to him as Scarab.
The Rattata, never leaving her sight, sped across the field leaving a faint trail of white. Pierce did this but with the trail of silver instead of white. His Quick Attack was often too fast for Aella to perceive as he cut through the air. Her ghost could just barely trace him with her budding Psychic; never grab though, too fast.
The one problem with high-speed is that if you didn't rigorously practice turning, you wouldn't be able to. Speeding right towards her mouse, and right past her as she performed a bouncing somersault.
With paws dragging against the dirt he skidded to a stop and turned around, likely to have another go. Except that mouse was 7 centimeters (3 inches) in front of him.
Meredith showed her pearly whites before spinning and smashed a steel coated tail into his side. The rat feeble from age went sprawling across the soil, and came to a halt less than a meter from the barrier.
"Come on Nick! You can do it! Get up! Let's Bite back!" his nose twitched in hearing Scarab's calls, his feet were dragged back under him to stand at a grueling pace.
Meredith chose to stretch mimicking Aella's routine before training and did some Swagger practice as a show of boredom. Her aquatic mouse wasn't one for staying still or peace and quiet.
Nick the Rattata staggers before romping towards the still training mouse. He stumbles and his head sways to wonky angles due to Meredith's partially successful Swagger of giving off the red distorting energy glow.
With a shake and call from his trainer he steadied his steps letting his jaw fall open. Negative energy gathered as the Dark type attack built. Aella tilted her head. Human eyes couldn't perceive it but Flare made it so. The energy flowed oddly compared to what the Growlithe from Gardenia taught.
Her vessel couldn't give a proper answer since she had no dark type move mastered to reference. Meredith simply gave a light bounce an echo of her actually using the move Bounce and bopped Nick along the way. That small but sudden shove not only nearly knocked him off his feet but all that Dark energy built up rapidly dispersed, popping like a balloon.
Meredith was positively bored and wanted a better fight. Knowing the only way she was going to get that awas to finish this one. Rolling forward on her toes, belly expanding and released a high powered yet short Water Gun into the rat's other side.
That was match.
"Rattata is unable to battle! Winner goes to Aella," the referee gave a wave of his arms as the official signal of the end of the match.
Aella raises an eyebrow at the kid having already recalled his fainted friend and he sheepishly admits that Nick hasn't had a ton of training and is his last still standing pokemon so… yeah.
The Scarab earned 1 point. Aella earned 4. She was surprised he even earned one. She made the executive decision to recall Marill even with the protests as the mouse had been staring at the intense battle across the way.
X
Stretching a hand high into the sky before letting it land in the fluff of Galvantula. The hammock bounced just a touch as her bird and spider stirred awake. Tamall and Meredith were still completely out cold although that wasn't too surprising since they did all the battling yesterday.
Meredith had demanded a challenge and to be sent out in the next battle while they were eating lunch yesterday. She was very irritated and underwhelmed at her first fight. The next opponent had gotten the green side thus having to release first. And though she reached for Galvantula's ball, Flare stopped her.
'You promised,' Gritting her teeth, Aella had made a promise to her battle hungry mouse. She kept that promise as her vessel's words floated through her head, reminding her this wasn't a life or death battle.
The armored bird, a Skarmory, snapped his beak, as if seeing easy prey. Its polished steel body gleamed in the light and knife like talons dug into the soil.
A one sided looking battle turned into a cat and mouse scenario, or bird and mouse through the use of hit and run tactics. Meredith loved her Iron Tail but with a flying target with wicked talons it became a counter weight to throw her body out of the way.
Aella lost track after seven of the number of times the steel bird attempted to grab the mouse with its beak only to receive a crop full of water. It seems its steel throat kept it from getting a sore throat from the constant vomiting to avoid a land drowning due to her Water Gun being used at low pressure, but high contant.
Letting a short huffy laugh out when Aella remembered the gal's exclamation of, "This is the weirdest match I've had all year!" was pretty funny.
There wasn't a second after the referee announcing Skarmory inability to keep battling before Meredith flopped onto her back letting out a gleeful yet absolutely exhausted celebratory cry and passed out. The hairsbreadth win got them 3 points.
Aella watched, still sleeping mouse on a bush of green below them, wondering. After that intense match when she had shook hands with the steel bird's trainer she had said that she was surprised how strong Marill was and that it wasn't an Azumarill.
She conferred with one of her own and surmised that Meredith may be in a similar boat as her. More than enough strength to evolve, but not enough maturity. Flare's flame flickered in irritation if she had nerves, it would've grown on them too.
It was debatable though since they surmised Meredith was at least over a year old. Most wild Marill evolved in that time but she was forced to stay as an Azurill for most of a year long so, still debatable. Aella would wait till the first snow before breaching that conversation with Meredith if she didn't evolve by then.
Day one ended in the same arena they started it in with the same goat too, opposite side, though. Both of them were less than pleased when their opponent threw out an Ekans, though they did well to hide it.
Ekans were heavily known for the close combat style of fighting yet their trainer was a timid girl who projected her emotions into her commands. Aella could see their bond and closeness through the snake, willingly staying away from Tamall then closing the gap.
An entire two minutes passed with one attempting to catch the eye of the other for Leer and Glare. She swung her lithe frame around but his eyes only once strayed from her yellow band hindering his defense and caused his muscles to twitch and freeze up.
That one successful attempt gave boldness and she slithered closer and Aella watched as Tamall shifted his weight backwards. She slammed out the order, "Stomping Tantrum!" and was followed by, "Back up and dodge!" by her opponent as shards of stone were split, hurtling across the arena.
Ekans spat out a hiss, only a few shards aimed right scraped against her scales. A "Tsk" was made by Aella's tongue, 'Even with the weakness bonus his poor aim isn't great. His training and experience with the highly skilled move is just too small.'
Getting closer would help, even so, Aella preferred a distance battle over something up close besides, she didn't spend those first two minutes idle. Tamall had been bolstering his strength with Growth. Although now, in the present looking back, she doesn't think it was quite the right move to keep the distance.
Back then Aella had nearly swore, only stopped by Flare. Ekans had opened her maw and sucked in some air, creating a ball of light to hold in her mouth. Her body seemed to grow just a little bit bigger with her thickened scales. It was Stockpile and the snake did it again.
"Again!" and he smashed his hooves back into the compressed ground to send more splintered shards at the snake before she could perform a third. This time he had better aim, but not before the third Stockpile was stored. Dang paralysis.
Spit Up could do a ton of damage and Swallow could erase all their work, they really needed to take down this snake before Poison was added into the mix. Tail Whip and Stomping Tantrum would be great if it involves him turning his back, encouraging the snake closer so…
"Round it down!" Was the order Aella gave back then. Now sitting in that hammock, she questions whether or not it was right for her to tell him not to move as well. She feared the paralysis kicking in at the wrong time bringing wasted moments in a battle, wasted moments not attacking.
The Acid raining down on his leaves wilted some destroying a layer of Growth but couldn't seep into his skin to poison. Tamall got lucky with her first use of Poison Sting but he could only do so much with Synthesis.
An act of self preservation, and without her owner's command Ekans tilted her head back and Swallowed. The once bolstered scales were Skin Shed to new fresh ones removing any form of damage to her serpentine body.
Tamall took full advantage of her lost defense of any kind. Without order he slammed his hooves into the ground, performing what he assessed did the most damage. Splinters of rock flew across the clearing tearing up her newly reformed scales. Needles of poison that managed to surpass the barrage sunk into his flesh and the purple hue stripe grew on the side of his nose.
Tamall couldn't use the earthquake till he evolved, but it sure felt like it. The poison ticked through his system, and he was too exhausted for Synthesis. Pounding of hooves and shrapnel continued, wherever the snake slithered. And whenever paralysis didn't rear its ugly head. (A/N: Pokemon can have multiple status conditions at once)
Ekans could only Stockpile once even with her girl asking to do more. The goat groaned and huffed moist air when his hooves gave out and he slammed onto his belly. Letting out one more bellow of energy to roll the snake onto its side before his head joined the floor.
The poison sapped, what remaining strength was left of the Skiddo and the onslaught had taken a toll on the snake. A holler from the referee marked the match as a tie and Aella earned the final score of 16 for yesterday.
With the de-poison pills, berries, sunlight and rest, Aella was told by Flare that the hoof's strength wasn't fully back yet but would be soon. It was a quirk of the Grass types to recover faster if you let them rest in nature. Even so Meredith was in better shape and would likely demand a battle today.
"What do you think? Should I let her battle earlier or later today?" Aella mumbled. Galvantula immediately signaled No then clicked in her dissatisfied manner before giving her best compromise.
'Battlé̷̝ first, or first goǫ̸̑d, m̶̛̱ạ̴̇ẗ̷̪́ch up,' her vessel translated and Aella could feel her wariness. She was tired after spending most of last night working with Shay.
Aella really really did not want Shay to sit in her ball all day and she firmly refused to have her ball set to unconsciousness so the Dragon had been moved to the nocturnal schedule with Flare. The ghost refused to go far from the group, only as far as a neighboring tree. Galvantula had built a second string platform near the ground.
The two had spent the night bonding over Will-O-Wisp and Safeguard for power and endurance. In the early hours of dawn they changed to Hex or Night Shade versus Light Screen. Practice with Ember on Reflect would be done at lunch since it wasn't possible to train without noise.
She stretched and scratched at an old scab, careful not to remove it, before clamoring down the tree on the not fake bush side. Two were still sleeping and two were still slamming Ghostly energy attacks into a screen of Psychic energy.
It took Aella a minute to properly register that information, "Whoa that's kind of impressive actually," she watched as a far weekend Hex was stopped dead by a Dragon covered in cracked and burned scales.
The whole scene really took a toll on her current dilemma. She wanted Shay to work on a new move while they were still here in Terracotta Town. Dragon Dance was one Aella absolutely wanted her to learn while still young and would be a huge benefit in progressing any Dragon type moves.
But with all this progress and practice on shields her Dratini would practically be in prime position to learn Protect. In so many major high level matches that one move could completely turn the tables.
Protect was infamously well known as one of the very few moves that practically required a Technical Machine even though you could learn it without. Why? Because learning it naturally took anywhere from 3 to 6 years. Years!
Aella patted her spider's abdomen, taking a deep breath. She didn't need to decide now, but she did need to decide soon. First breakfast then gather everyone then go into town and check what arenas she's battling in today.
—
"Begin!" the referee barely finished her words before both Meredith was using Charm through the shimmery Light Screen thrown up by Mot's Grumpig.
"Get up close. Iron Tail," Aella grounded out through gritted teeth. Flare and given multiple warnings the instant that thing was released from his ball.
Mot's mouth moved but his voice was too low to hear what he said to his Grumpig. His paw met Meredith's tail in a karate chop of Brick Break. She used her round body to roll out of the way of a Zen Headbutt, retaliating with a Water Gun that cracked the Light Screen. A wave and those marks dissipated.
Grumpig's trainer mutters something and he starts to dance. Aella grows alarms when Meredith starts to copy him, "Meredith! Look at me!"
The mouse jumps her whole height in startelement looking back at the one who she decided will make her strong, "Get back here and don't watch that!"
Her ninja style run was wobbly but lessened by the time her feet stopped just on the box's perimeter line. Her expressive pokemon easily showed her distaste although she didn't mind getting ordered around, these were a bit rougher than normal.
"Sorry pretty sure that was Teeter Dance, you'll get confused and"–
"Mar!" Meredith didn't let her finish, only turned around and performed a Swagger to a psychic that just threw up a Reflect. Aella expected it to look away instead the pig continued to stare getting madder by the second. She could feel Flare rummaging through her brain's files.
"Aakk Own Tempo. It can't be confused," she stressed her words angrily and Meredith had nothing nice to add hearing that.
"Surf," Aella whispered after stamping a foot to get the mouse to quiet. It was one of Meredith's most powerful moves, practically perfected as Meredith said she was told, but it wasn't right.
It was powerful yes but a slog to perform. An absolute drain on her energy. When Aella compared it to Iron Tail she could practically feel the amount of work that had gone into that move. Yet it was absent from Surf.
She was brought back to that book she and Joltik, at the time, found in Celadon about downsides of using Technical Machines. Although it allows them to learn to move immediately it doesn't come without consequences. Lost information.
'I need to figure out how to re-teach an already taught move or learn whatever she didn't get from the TM,' Flare added it to the list before being prompted to add Brick Break as well.
They watched as a wave reaching the tips of the tips of the Grumpigs' ears, slammed the Light Screen with enough force to create a myriad of spiderweb cracks across the surface. Water sloshed through the cracks striking the Psychic, stumbling back. Mud covered his hooves but he seemed to delight in that fact.
A shimmering reflective coating had appeared over his skin moments before. It now gleamed even brighter and energy reminiscent of Surf rolled out sending Meredith skidding.
Aella surmised it wasn't a defensive boost, 'Probably some form of Magic, Mirror bounce back move. I'll have to look at his move list.'
"Take Down," Mot shouted, looking ready to end this. Having barely any time to react since he didn't bother with a hoof scrape before charging. Aella gave the first order that came to mind.
"Bounce!" she hoped to give Meredith and herself a chance to come up with something during or after her strike. Reflect would take the brunt and she couldn't add an Iron Tail.
'To exhausted after Surf,' Flare had said. Her vessel hadn't come up with anything either. Mot and his team just had too many years of experience on her newest. On all of her own actually.
Aella and Flare were torn from their thoughts by Mot, "Impressive! But not enough," he had thrown a hand over his eyes like a hat brim to watch the mouse.
"Igs Power Gem," an oink was perceived and the two gems between his head passed power between them. Purple hued energy shined in a beam looking like the individual layers of rock.
Meredith was only a meter away from smashing into Grumpig's Reflect before she was struck. Aella expected some sort of yell or call of indignation at the failed attempt but she said nothing only spiraled through the air.
Her gut sank and Flare was quick to confirm. Meredith was out. She didn't allow her aquatic to hit the ground and felt the button click when she twisted it downward. She didn't want Marill to reawaken in her ball before she could get treatment.
Aella could hear the referee speak but she interrupted her, not caring what the adult said, "She's out," Aella's voice was firm and hard. The lady dressed like a Zebstrika in black-and-white didn't exactly like her sudden recall but knew the young girl was right and made the call.
"Aella's is unable to continue. Winner is Mot," she raised an arm towards the winners side in a dramatic show.
In the end when the scores were announced Mot increased his by four and Aella' stayed the same. She earned Zero.
She had to be at arena 10 by high sun and arena 8 directly after. It wasn't the first time Meredith knocked herself out but people expected her to scurry off to the center.
A heavy debate with Flare on the walk over on whether or not to get her checked out. It was very busy with souls everywhere. They would easily be overlooked. Heck Aella didn't need to release Meredith, hurry in and ask for a quick check up then leave. Her ball came from a Team Rocket base.
Team Rocket uses what they call corroded pokeballs. It tricks the system into thinking the pokeball is legitimate and catch is legal. Entering the system acting all normal before hours later causing a false woops error (at least that's what Team Rocket called it) causing a self delete and it silently disappears off any record.
The League knew vaguely about these balls but had a hard time preventing them due to little evidence. Team Rocket keeped their members away from any League buildings including Pokemon Centers. Only those with 'the highest of training' as Damia put it could go in.
She took a breath, shoved her fears into the deepest releases of herself and without stopping her steps (as she would surely cave if she were to) moved right through that hissing doors threshold.
Aella wrinkled her nose at the strong scent of chemicals, adult body scent and Aspear Berry aroma in an attempt to hide the other smells. It wasn't pleasant being in such a crowded tight area. She found herself shoving her hat back, so it hung around her neck by the strap to reduce the sense of claustrophobia.
Watching everyone else her mind arts user was very quick to analyze moments and passed general directions to her Miss based on patterns. A monitored covered desk seemed to be the main go to. Distinguishing individual conversations wasn't possible without a mental tap that would most definitely be noticed by the on guard Psychics.
Aella assured her own, she'd figure it out somehow, and found herself hanging around near the edge of the desk, "Hello. Are you here to drop off or collect one of your pokemon."
Aella flicked her head over to the lady behind the desk who introduced herself as Jane having pretty green eyes and deep brown hair. She raised Meredith's ball, "Just one checked on," she hesitantly, said her voice dropping off as she was unsure what to continue with.
"Alright," she tapped away in a tablet similar to the referees, but much thicker, "Was there any sign of blood on them or a limb looking out of place or not quite right?"
"No, she just fainted in the air after a Power Gem."
"Did she land on her head?"
"No, I recalled her before she hit the ground."
Jane nodded, "That's good. She's in her ball, yes? Can I take her for a minute for a quick scan?"
Aella didn't hesitate or shake, when handing Meredith over to the slim fingers of the lady. It wasn't her in control of any of the muscles in her arm. She had given full permission to Flare. The mouse's ball was snapped into a pokeball shaped indent including the button. No noise came from the handheld device as Jane's fingers danced on a screen she couldn't see.
"Well your Marill is out cold and unfortunately i'll have to mark her as unable to battle for the rest of the day but other than that she seems completely fine." The lady looked up at her, "She will be able to battle tomorrow, okay?"
Aella tipped her head in agreement before being handed back her blue bouncing ball. Meredith was not going to be too happy with that news when she woke, but Aella could placate her with the option to battle tomorrow afternoon.
She let out a breath as she left the building, yanking her hat back on, the back flap was psychically adjusted to properly cover her neck from sunburn. The two occupied themselves by standing in the middle of arenas 10 through 7 and watching the ongoing battles while they waited for their turn.
—
A bouncy tall guy with auburn hair and a patch dyed of blue, rocked on his toes on the green square. It was a big contrast compared to the cool determination or showy display many of the males participated in. Quite a human representation of a certain bird, flaunting his feathers to impress the ladies.
It didn't matter that he couldn't breed without an evolution. He took pride in the fact that he could win over some ladies and go off to please them delighted him to no end.
"Casey from Olivine vs Aella! Casey you're releasing first."
Casey seemed to take a moment to stare over the two on his belt. Running his fingers over both before grabbing and tossing one in the last five seconds. An orb of steel tinged green spun in the dirt. It was split down the middle and opened upward to show its face.
"Forretress for-tress," speaking in a jubilant voice for such a stoic species. She rocked side to side with her eyes smiling.
It was Aella's turn to release. Even though she already knew who she was using, she held back taking a few moments to assess his shell. More so the fact that it had a teal tinge similar to its predecessor Pineco.
There was a chance she could have evolved within the past month but that wouldn't take away from the fact that she was strong as heck.
There was a snap as his ball came loose and she could feel him wiggle his casing in anticipation, "Your opponent is female. Do. Not. Swagger. Her attack power is already dangerously high and physical attacks are only going to do so much against her shell."
She tossed his ball and Pierce appeared in the middle of the field instead of by her feet. He shifted his talons and chirped in greeting. The steel coated bug was happy to return his greeting, relishing the attention.
"I swear as soon as you evolve, you're already going to know Attract," as a move that infatuated the opposite gender; it could only be used by those who could reproduce.
Aella could start to feel Flare reach out with her ghostly energy to bring his ball back but one of the shielding Psychics enveloped it and brought it back to her hands. Although that was probably part of their job, Flare did not appreciate it.
They were still talking even as the referee began the match and Pierce was sly in managing to pull off a Captivate before Casey could call his Forretress, reminding her that this is a battle.
She called and rocked in agreement and flashes of light yellow in tone snapped off her bottom shell as she levitated three centimeters into the air, "No ahh okay your Magnet Rise is looking great, but we need a Tackle."
'Great… that's better than Galvantula,' Aella could feel jealousy rise. She knew those Magnemite and Magneton had tried their hardest to teach her first in return for the knowledge on Thunder, Electro Ball and the basics Winnie taught her on Light Screen. But since Magnet Rise came so intuitively it was difficult for them to explain for her spider to learn.
Pierce with his two years of training didn't waste a second building up the necessary burst of energy for Work Up, glowing ruby in the process. He had the bravado to try for a second one but aborted when a hunk of steel rolled to close.
The bird simply resorted to using a high burst of Agility before shutting it off again. Swooping dangerously low to a metal sphere still hovering just above the dirt. Forretress had to stop much to her trainer's dismay to gleam in the light of his compliments and her strength dropped even further due to her Captivation. It was a shame it would have barely an effect on most of her moves.
"Hey! Heavy Slam!" the hairs on the back of her neck and arms rose. Their weight difference was massive, like over 30 times massive. Never mind ending the match in one hit that would put him out for the entire competition and in the hospital.
"Max height! Max height! Max height!" thank Arceus they went over area height restrictions.
A silver glinting aura surrounded the steel shelled body as Forretress launched herself high into the air, and missed by five meters. She tried again and missed by seven meters. The third attempt was by three meters and Aella could no longer feel her goosebumps.
She had the height, but not the aim and Aella suddenly had a very good guess where most of her time had gone into after evolving. Through all of this Forretress still managed to keep those three centimeters off the ground.
"Stop just Swift!"
"Stars incoming. Return the favor."
He squacked and upped the power to Star Slice with two of the arms of each of the gold Swift stars' became extra long blades of white Air Cutter. He couldn't make as many at once when they were separate strikes but their power became more then just doubled.
A scratchy cry that sounded like metal grinding emulated from inside her shell. She tilted her cannons up and launched projectiles far too fast to be seen. They soured high into the sky bypassing the bird entirely before careening back towards the ground. With a bang they broke apart into fragments and sharp Spikes covered the ground.
'Well that's useless,' Aella watched the disappointment flood onto Casey's face. Looking up to Pierce didn't help when he only saw the ruby glow shine off his feathers. Looks like he got that second Work Up after all.
"Forretress use Curse then Tackle! Aim and jump!" Casey had taken a breath now sporting pensive determination as his mind whirled for a solution.
Aella whistled her bird closer as a phantom metal bar appeared above the bugs shell to be painfullyslammed in, "Keep your distance. Go for Star Slice and its separated parts. Double and triple up when she starts jumping."
He took back into the air after three passes with a highly controlled burst of Agility. She dimly realized she hadn't been paying attention towards the potential mastery of some of her family's moves. Flare made a side note to look up Agility and its known limitations but much of the ghosts mind was taken up watching their opponent perform Curse.
"It works and acts differently for Ghost types," Aella would have to assess everyone in Grampa Canyon. How long has it been since she checked how many Will-O-Wisps her vessel could create at once. Were any far enough along with their current sets to add another?
Her candle, dragon and bird maybe. Tamall still had trauma to work through. Meredith; her aquatic mouse would also be a maybe. Galvantula… no. Most definitely not.
Her first had three and if counting Signal Beam, four more moves than everyone else. 21 to be exact. With less than half of them being improved and only three she currently considered mastered (although she had a feeling that might change with the next assessment) wasn't really ideal.
She once warned Pierce of the danger of jack of all trades saying and that was exactly the situation she was putting her spider in. Both Winnie and Wild Light gave her access to boost her spiders training and learn unique moves plus her own discoveries like Sucker Punch expanded her list drastically, far faster than Aella intended.
Other training like improving Electro Ball were shunted to the side for those opportunities and Screech were a last resort without some sort of sound protection for the group. Aella absolutely needed to spend some one-on-one time with her and sort out her training regimen.
Aella looked up, her yellow eyes blinking in the bright sunlight, at the three birds turning her opponent's battle into essentially a metronome battle, a game of luck. Aella could no longer find the real one but Flare could. Her Ghost also tapped her and reminded her of her second more broken ghost.
'Right Void what am I to do with a broken Shuppet,' Flare had only worked with him every few days although it was mostly just to feed him and figure out how to puppeteer him better.
"I don't know," Aella grumbled under her breath, "Add it to the latter pile," she sighed knowing the easiest option was to send him back to distortion. But she didn't like that option since it sounded like Team Rocket talking. If it was useless, broken or just took too long to fix, they just… got rid of it.
She didn't even comprehend the referee's words and Flare had to play it back to her, 'Casey forfeits. We win.'
A noise in surprise escaped. That was a first. Pierce landed gracefully on her shoulder and she checked his feathers before Casey made his way over. His patch of blue dyed hair now covered his left eye.
"Nicely planned. Forretress, she hasn't really been trained for flyers and he kind of completely tanked any chance of using Swift plus the Double Team so yeah, that was a good strategy," he shifted a bit, seeming a bit awkward.
She stared back up at him not offering a tilt of her head, "She would pose a real challenge towards any ground type that didn't prefer the underground."
Casey admitted that's what she was actually trained for along with Poison types and planned to have her learn Earthquake once Heavy Slam entered an improved state. They finished their chat with a shake of hands and the announcement of points.
0 for Casey due to forfeiting and 3 to Aella bringing her total to 19.
Not having long before her next match or as most would put it 'only a few minutes' for her to walk down to arena number 8. Aella's competition was already there and Aella had its first release. Having not bothered, recalling Pierce she waved him off, letting him flutter down onto the center of their side of the field.
She could see marks from previous battles. A bit of mud here, a bit of grass there and some scorched spots in the corner. The guy they were facing copies her in releasing his pokemon while walking to his box with a forceful toss of a ball.
They–she quacked and scratched her head with yellow webbed hands. Psyduck's beak opened and closed and water spilled out as she waddled in place.
"Aella v–
"Let's do this!" The guy with surprisingly long bright blue hair hollered at the top of his lungs, pumping his fists outwards with his pokemon quacking a few times.
The referee tried to start the match again, "Aella vs Boris from Pastoria! Begin match!"
"Get cute!" Psyduck gracefully spun around looking over her shoulder and placing one of her webbed hands on her face and performed an adorable Tail Whip. Her lashes fluttered before blinking at the bird. The bird was not watching.
In a glamorous display of his own, he turned his head to the side and raised his wings while performing Work Up. If she could Growl she would have. She blew a few Bubbles in front of her face before popping them with a squirt of water. The loud sudden noise had Pierce snapping his eyes open to land on her shimmering tail.
Even after he closed them, he felt a shiver go down his spine from the defense drop. He didn't appreciate that and clapped his wings closed before running at high speed towards the water bird as a silver trail was left in his tail's wake.
"Ground fight! Let's go Scratch Swipe!" the tips of all three fingers glowed white as fast talons closed the gap.
Psyduck let out an air forced quack when he slammed into her. The duck nearly lost her balance but was able to hold it and preform a slice of three. A combo of Fury Swipes mixed with Scratch. Another gut retching quack broke out when the aerial bird flung out both wings in blinding white, and rammed them into her side.
The sound of air being inhaled was followed by the woosh of air of thick cloudy mist spread fast and dissipated just as quickly. A ruby tinge that had appeared at the start of the match on the tips of his biggest boldest feathers disappeared and the loss of the defensive drop as well.
Pierce hopped away on his talons and a tick could practically be seen forming on his head at the loss of Work Up benefits when a Water Pulse foaming with bubbles and energy did throw him off his talons.
He got back up far faster than anticipated by the Psyduck. She had run close to perform another Scratch Swipe. An orange aura burns on puffed feathers. He spins fully round. Talons impact her side dragging across her stomach and sends her the flightless bird on a flight of two meters.
"Woah! That one that one! Do it on that one!"
Psyduck drops her arms and seems to go slack as her eyes glow aquarian blue. A ring of the same shade of blue appears just behind his crust. Disable. And Pierce. Is. Pissed.
Pierce enjoyed his Revenge just as much as he enjoyed Swaggering and Captivating. Forbid or prevent him and the once gentlemanly bird becomes an angry tyrant.
The high-pitched screech rattled their eardrums and he flared his wings breathing hard. Wind whipped around him and ebbed and flowed like waves. Growing stronger with every flap and breath the tinge of royal purple a signal to its powerful typing.
Psyduck had run back to her side to move away from the ever growing threat but Pierce pursued on wing. The walls of wind warbled like his cry. He let the energy slam full force into the aquatic avian yanking her off her feet and high into the air.
It wasn't enough. He wanted her higher. Pale wind of his own type swirled up the vortex to throw her higher… and out of the arena.
Aella cursed internally, knowing full well from the second match what that will cost her, 'Cos̶̟̈́t̷̻̀ what, t̵̗̀h̸̛̗ȧ̶̘t̶͎̚'s zero,' she almost wanted to tell her ghost off for that, but she was right they get zero points for this easy match.
"You're not supposed to do that!" Boris's yelling reminded her she still had an angry bird flying around.
"I know!" now Aella was yelling because of this guy.
Aella adjusts her hat as a motion towards Flare, "Ground him," the words are firm and though she only intended them for her ghost she ended up speaking loud enough for both of them to hear. Aella's shadow grows, bulging and shaking as her candle snaps his primary feathers into bunches with Psychic energy cause Ghost energy doesn't work on Normal. A quick burst of Telekinesis keeps him from crashing and puts him in a Meredith style face plant.
Pierce does not appreciate his feathers being bunched up like that but he's broken from his bout of anger. Aella doesn't let him stay out after that and recalls him without warning.
Boris jogged back to his square as he had to run after his water based bird to keep his Psyduck from crashing on her first, and probably only flight. He tried to re-release her but she stayed in her ball. He became quite glum at her unwillingness.
"My apologies," Aella recognized reversed progress as Tamall did have his moments as well. For the first time she had been the one to step over to her competitor's side.
His fingers scratched at the hairline by his left ear, "I think I might have been too hastily in deciding if she was ready."
Strands of her black hair, free from her hat, swayed in the wind. The referee made their announcement but she didn't need to hear it. She sighs, at least it was lunchtime.
"So want to go get some lunch? I heard they're serving hotdogs today," Aella didn't really know how to respond at first. Never did she ever expect someone to invite her to go eat with them. Were trainers normally this friendly? Flare didn't sense anything misleading…
"I guess?"
"Great! Let's go!" he practically twirled, and started marching off with an obvious bounce in his step.
Aella simply walked a few steps behind him, doing her best not to cross her arms to look closed off.
The food was thankfully free for both pokemon, and human of those participating and though there were plenty of open tables inside the cafeteria, Aella made a subtle push for them to eat outside citing the nice weather. Boris easily agreed saying it would be easier to feed some of his pokemon outside without getting in the way of people walking by.
There were a few tables and chairs open on the patio next to an ocean side view. Along with his Psyduck that still wouldn't come out of her ball was a Lumineon, his only other female pokemon, floating on the waves by the rocks below. Gastrodon sat on the rocks, well, partially sitting on his bowl as well. His blue toned slime liquefying his lunch.
His Ambipom clung to his shoulder, trying to sneak bits of Boris's meal and Luxio, having already finished his meal, was lazing about below the table. Boris had a Hippoptas but he was recalled as soon as he finished scarfing down his meal. Apparently in Boris's words, 'he enjoys making tunnels and he didn't think the tournament runners would like that."
Aella had only released Tamall. He had wandered a few meters away to a grassy bit where he munched on the reeds and brush. Boris didn't say anything earlier but now felt the need to say something.
"You're not gonna release your Starly or others or are the others out?"
"One is still out cold and the other will refuse release, unless it's a battle," during the walk to the canteen, she had turned Meredith's ball back to the conscious state but Flare had yet to inform her of her awakening. Galvantula knew the power of surprises and would not jeopardize it.
Surprisingly Boris didn't push for an explanation, 'I guess pokemon with personality quirks aren't too strange,' and no it was not the result of her mind arts user. The Xatu on the nearby roof made her hesitate in doing anything.
Pierce's ball was picked off her belt, "Have you calmed down?" his ball stayed perfectly still for a few seconds before giving a small measly shake. Aella released him on the edge of the table and pushed the plate of meat scraps she had asked the chefs if they had any.
His feathers were still a little rumpled but other than being tired, he was fine, "Next match or no?"
The bird waved a wing and tapped a talon twice as his beak was too busy to chirp and Aella nodded, "We can look at practicing what I believe was Whirlwind another time," she subtly felt Flare add that to the list. A list that was getting quite long. At least the trek through Grampa Cannon would be long as well.
"So is it a Psychic or Ghost? It can't be both and it's not big either like a Chimecho or a shadow viable ghost."
Aella was put off by the fact that he knew it was not just a psychic that swiftly dealt with Pierce, "What makes you think it's another mind type other than Psychic?"
"It used a Psychic based move to bring your Starly down and keep them/he/she from crashing but altered your shadow and Psychics usually don't mess with shadows."
She hummed, "He Pierce is a he," before nodding and took another bite of food.
Boris waited for her to say more but when he didn't get an answer, he started stating his own opinions, "Well I don't want any of the mind users on my team. My uncle had a Bisharp but after like a year of my uncle acting weird they got the authorities involved, and it turns out it was controlling him. Got real mad too. It ahhh damaged some of his cognitive ability so now he lives in an adult caring facility."
He apologized for suddenly getting on a very dark topic. People often badgered him on why since having one of those types is really important on a team, especially if you want to go major.
"It's kind of why I have Psyduck. She can learn a lot of Psychic moves, but she can't do the whole bondy thing."
"So you're going to do the same thing with dark and ghost," both her, and her inquisitive ghost were curious. Flare guessed with the right pokemon and training it could be a way around.
"Yeah kinda I also plan on teaching a lot of my current team Ghost and Dark moves. Hippopotas knows Crunch and Lumineon is learning Confuse Ray. It's never gonna be as effective as a Ghost using it, but it does the job."
He apologized again for the dark topic that wasn't something he normally did. Aella closed her eyes and nodded but was also internally checking something. Xatu had left and Flare had done the smallest tap.
"No you're not quite wrong they can be dangerous," Aella spoke with words made for two, and a certain mind recessed, "but all three types are known to have strong hierarchy structures. One that, unlike Dragons, isn't often challenged by lessers. Although out of the three, the one most likely, though rarely, to do so is Darks."
"Psychics with just a tap can tell who's stronger and will never push, unless they're stronger. Ghosts are slightly different having a vessel system. Where if it benefits them, a weak Ghost can have a strong Ghost as a vessel. And if that benefit is big enough, that strong Ghost will never stand above the weaker."
She decided not to mention there were exceptions at times. Mind used could encourage or guide their connected to look, move or act in certain ways but never force them unless their holder commands or gives full permission for them to.
And there was only ever one exception to all these rules. Broken mind users. Just like Void.
Boris was pretty quiet for a while, "You know a lot about mind users," broke his silence, speaking smoothly.
"Background can have benefits," it was a bit of a white lie but it wasn't really a lie.
They threw their paper trays into one of the many large covered green bins that were found all around the area. Recycling bins as he called them.
She called out for Tamall and there were some screams. Apparently people don't normally expect the bush they set their picnic up next to to grow legs and start walking.
'Fi̵͇̓nis̵̛̞h̶͔̒ed e̴̪͘a̷͇̽t̶̜́i̶̢͛n̸͉͂g̷͙̒, was sunb̵̢̀a̸̝͋t̷̫́ḩ̶͐ing,' Aella chuckled and was glad his stealth was improving. There was a lot more interference in her words. Aella hadn't asked how demanding her training session with Shay had gone and didn't recall her being in absent sleep for long after they woke.
They said their goodbyes and Boris half jokingly asked again if it was a Psychic or Ghost well awere he probably wasn't going to get an answer. Aella just shrugged. Honestly she was surprised at how chilled the guy was. She thought he'd be a bit more wild like his battle persona.
It wasn't long after that she finally got the notification from Flare on Meredith rousing. She'd talk with the mouse during the break between this match and the last one. Tamall had already asked to take the last match, and since Meredith kind of saw him as her student she would be unwilling to take that from him. It did make it far easier than explaining she couldn't battle for the rest of the day.
Whatever Pierce fought was going to be a climb. The silly bird had completely overdone the amount of power needed for Twister, "You're going to have to fight strategically you know."
He clapped his beak, he wasn't foolish, he had simply forgotten the goal of this unique style of battle. It wasn't like hunting or training or fighting for your life but something in-between. He would learn quickly to avoid any more pitiful defeats.
Aella found herself on green and going first again. She found herself facing not one, not two or three, but five guys in the red box. After an actual solid minute the referee managed to get the four buddies out of the staging zone.
They all seemed to have been congregating around the one she was battling and he in turn seemed to be laying up the attention. She snorted. He was like a Swanna, their leader was always in the center of any dance.
"Aella vs Sebastian from Petalburg! Aella releases first," Pierce took that as his queue and fluttered down onto the dirt.
There was a bit of laughter and cheering from the other side of the field. Their eyes reminded of upper grunts looking down on her. One set of eyes even made chills run down her spine.
"Whether you beat them or not," she muttered low, "make him a fool and the match quite a nuisance for whatever he throws."
Pierce had not appreciated this flocks' uncultured behavior towards the ladies behind him. He would love to decorate their shirts as he'd done before but he couldn't leave the field. It was a shame their most mentally tactical couldn't lash their minds in warning.
If he had eyebrows one would be raised at the unnecessary vain words he used and the outlandish featherless wing flailing his pokemon did. It was lucky it wasn't a bird or he would never win over any madams with that display.
He relayed this to the ape creature, "Tis a pity I can't gain an insight on your kin from the flame to insult you appropriately."
"Babes like strength. I'm strong Vigoroth and you're tiny tiny tiny," the snow colored limb swinger proudly proclaimed. He shifted on his two clawed feet as if he was physically incapable of keeping still.
Words from his trainer ended the conversation, "Jagger! Low Kick!," he slapped his hands together and bounded on all fours in a style similar to the Mankey when Galvantula prevented them from accessing their trees.
His lady Aella gave her own insightful ones, "Heft based ignore it. Beak Bite," the inertia gained from a momentary Agility allowed Pierce to glide across the ground without wings and only a leg hop here and there.
They met near the middle of the field and a grin appeared as he swung his short stubby legs out. He knocked Pierce's leg hop to the side shifting his trajectory but a flick of a wing sent him cruising back on course straight into the primates big red nose.
Since the monkey had to swing his lower body forward to perform a Low Kick, a high strike to his head sent him straight onto his back. He reached with his long clawed arms for the bird but found nothing but air. Pierce had already crossed the line arriving on his adversaries side.
Blood dampened the ground as he screamed in pain and anger. Aella had once said she broke her nose on the training mats. A very common injury. It was never pleasant to hear the crunch of ones own bones. The ground was torn up from a mix of Earthquake and Bulldoze that could only stir the soil below a pair of wings.
"Jump and knock it out of the sky!" commands from the monkeys trainer rings clear and he has nigh a second to swoop out of the way of a vertical Take Down.
His keen eyes watch him fall, fumbling and grasping at the air but without any grasp of aerial energy he falls to the same place that he went up. Pink fairy energy coats his arms when he makes a leaping grab, yelling, "Come play with me! I won't be too rough!"
A shining karate chop that could shatter barriers went by his wings and a pair of claws reached out with the energy of steel radiating from them. Yet they had no show of any move.
As graceful and elegant of a bird he was, he could only dip and weave. Sending slicing cuts of air back through the bouncing snow white fur. He didn't have the reserves in place for a Star Slice and to stay aloft.
Pierce could hear the lady Aella ask how many Technical machines he taught the Vigoroth and why he hasn't spent more time on them. More words were exchanged and the displeasure in her voice at the waste, indicating how poorly each move is done. The respite from the jumping monkey didn't last as long as he wished. Pierce's wings were strained from the constant flapping.
It only took one wrong turn. One fault from fatigue and he received a punch to the side that even clipped his wing. The fire burned hot and singed his feathers. Burning right down to his skin. This wouldn't be enough to ground him but the toll of tiredness would.
Taunts and jeers from the falling ape made Pierce's anger boil as hot as the burn did and he would make full use of all of it. With a clear head, he dug deep into his reserves. A spiraling twist, he turned with a Quick Attack that rendered him a blur, as he opted for added power over Agility's breathtaking speed.
Jagger the Vigoroth never moved, "For never considering what this tiny body can do!" Pierce screamed. Ramming full force into a snow fured covered back with the energy of Revenge moving like liquid fire across his talons.
Another moment of respite from the competitors before the avian heard the call for Focus Blast. The burn ticked away, slanting his vision, "Silly Feet!"
'Clever girl. Clever Ghost,' he stood on talons that tapped against the dirt. Pierce needed the ape's eyes so he opened his beak.
"Where are you looking? How do you ever expect to aim it when you don't know where your target is?" His words were course as the burn had a ripped away precious liquid to slickin his tongue.
"You right there! How can I miss!?" The Vigoroth was strong enough to still have the power to create an orb of energy that mimicked the sun. Strong but stupid.
The intense pain from the burn whittled away his vision and spots appeared. Pierce was forced to sit but kept his head high. The ape wobbled on his feet and his trainer called his name Jagger over and over again. To bring him to his senses, or to correct his aim.
Jagger's legs crossed and he tipped forward onto what remained of his Focus Blast. Pierce could no longer keep his head up. Darkness blinked in and out of his vision. Fur of snow white didn't move. His eyes slid shut.
"Double K.O. Both sides get 2 points!"
Sebastians lanky's rejoined with their lead. None of them acted in what society determined to be a decent person and she just got a side eye or was completely ignored. And Aella even had decided to be the better person and thank them for the match before they did.
Instead, they chose to fret over and console Sebastian for the unmerited loss. One had even been chatting with a volunteer as soon as the match ended, clearly upset but they were waved away with few words.
—
It was only half a full sun movement before the sun touched the horizon. Later than she would've liked, but at least with the large gap she was able to stay in the center while Pierce was treated and subsequently returned.
Although it was bothersome that her sun hat was useless to block out a sun so low. At least they were facing south. Jazz, her final opponent of the day, shook her hand and wished for a good match.
"Aella vs Jazz from Brackish! Aella releases first," as the referee spoke she had already unclipped Tamall's ball. He bleeted when his hooves thumped the ground. He had woken by the second match and was ready for another round.
"Wow I heard the rumors but I didn't think there actually was a Skiddo in the competition," she laughed and was cheerful at the surprise.
"You know," Aella felt her hackles raise and had a pretty good theory on what of the types he was going to face.
"Yea Kalos is my homeland," she said, tossing a ball out and letting the poke take form, "I'm here visiting my cousins for a few months who are participating as well."
Hot smoke blew from a shell that for their species doubled as a home. The furnace in her shell glowed and there was the scent of soot in the air.
"Torkoal koal torkoal!" white smoke bellowed out her maw with her words and Tamall returned the greeting.
'D̷̹̍istą̷͊nce, fą̷͊st,' Flare was right. Growth, Round, Grass Knot and maybe Stomping Tantrum although to chew through that defense, maybe not. Tail Whip might help and Synthesis could keep him up but not for long.
She didn't have a good feeling on how this fight was going to go, but she wasn't going to tell Tamall that. Only recently he no longer flinched around fire.
They were three minutes into the fight and she was very right on that feeling. Having White Smoke as her ability explained the lack of dry air and the lack of anything from Tail Whip but a Sunny Day rectified that well enough.
The very nice double Sunny Day Growth bonus was almost completely lost when Heat Wave turned most of his leaves black. And the Smokescreen Smog was not helping.
Flare could give her no advice as she was distracted by the cogs in her brain on why the tortoise was immune to Stomping Tantrum, sorta. The rock still hit but she was unfazed by the shaking.
Air rushed from Aella's nose when Torkoal left the pedestal of Rock Tomb. She had been sitting on her belly with just the tips of her feet reaching the ground. One strong Body Slam and her goat was knocked into the unconsciousness.
"Aella's is out! Winner is Jazz!" the referee pulled up her tablet to determine how many points both of them would earn, if they even earned a point at all.
She felt the button of his ball twist in her hands, 'Looks like I won't be in bed before twilight,' Aella looked up as steps approached. Jazz had come over. Probably to offer encouragement after such a tough loss.
"I'm surprised he could keep going after Torch's Heat Wave; most Grass types fall pretty fast after. You did really well. Using Grass Knot to seek her out through the Smoke Smog and guarantee Round hits dead center was very creative."
"I know but I can't figure out why she was immune to Stomping Tantrum's shakes," Aella had tried to use the ground shaking effect of the move to alter Torch's aim. it only partially worked the first time, and she retaliated by putting herself on a pedestal.
"You actua—wow really! Most people miss that!" Jazz looked ready to continue, but the referee interrupted them by announcing the scores. Jazz got 4 new points and Aella ended her day with a max of 21 with no new points gained in her final match.
Jazz waved and thanked the referee before suggesting they get off the field to continue their conversation. Walking in step towards the pokemon center Jazz kept babbling away on how impressed she was on spotting that.
"—and most just continue to use Earthquake not realizing it's worse than using a Fire type move on a Fire type!"
"It did work partially at the start, but then she got on that pedestal, and it completely stopped"—
"You saw that too!" her voice went up an octave, "Holy Molteau! Yes, the pedestal is part of the reason. Torch's shell is really heavy so she can't tap her feet fast enough so by putting herself on a pedestal she can."
"Can do what?"
Jazz grinned at her, "Shake the ground at specific frequencies to cancel out incoming seismic waves. I normally don't tell anyone this but you even managed to figure out the pedestal played a part of it."
Aella sucked in a breath, "Destructive interference. Just like crests and troughs in water crashing into each other," or hopefully, mind art energies.
"Did you just study that in school or something," well she wasn't exactly wrong and Jazz giggled at Aella's glance away reaction.
"Hey it's good timing though and I'd love a rematch if we end up in the same pool," she reached out her hand as they had arrived at Aella's destination. Aella shook it with little hesitation. She would love to send Galvantula against Torch, never mind that she was weak to fire; her electrical attacks couldn't be stopped by a simple shell.
Today was not a great day for battles, but it was a great day for meeting some good people and making fools of the prideful. Tomorrow will be an even better day.
Thank you for reading. And no I will not be making every chapter a single day from here. This is just how it turned out as I wanted to write the first battle all four of her pokemon participated in. (Yes will do Galvantula's next chapter but after that will move a lot faster and even end on the pool rounds.)
Chapter 13 will be released on October 1 2023
