I'll escape I'll survive I'll thrive

by EclipsedCat

Team Rocket a vile group known for their thievery of pokemon. Sadly the true depth of their deceit is unknown at all. One born among their ranks knows it well. After escaping she must learn to survive, laws keep her from turning to the league for help, if caught she'll lose her family, spending her life in a cell and if the Rockets catch onto her ruse she'll be dead within the day.

14. Terracotta Town Part4

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)

It was the next day and Aella was really excited to face Mary as the coin toss ended in a double battle. Of course she didn't show it all that well. Mary was one of the other two in her pool, the other was Tristan.

Almost every other sentence that came out of that guy's mouth was about his parents' dojo. That or his favorite word, bloody. It didn't have that braggy feel that Sebastian gave off but clearly he was very proud.

Aella stepped up to the green plate. Mary was already on the red plate helping preen her Wingull. Earlier Aella's keen sight and Flare had noticed a fancy anklet on the Wingull. Everyone else had been distracted by the stoic Delibird at her side. Apparently her parents insisted she had an assistant.

Surprised by Aella's sharp sight and explained the ring around her ankle was an Everstone ring. Seiche didn't really want to evolve and Mary preferred her this way. Although pokemon could resist the temptation of evolution, there was a chance of them surrendering to its pull. That forced evolution through less than legal means.

The referee and volunteers stepped up to their plate, and on the opposite side of the field there was an empty extra stand for one of the MC's bouncing around. They only had one or two MC's so they would only narrate one or a lucky two of everyone's battles.

The 'who released first' worked a touch differently in doubles. It was still the green side who released first but only one of the two. After green's first is released red must release their first then green then red.

It offered a unique chance in strategy. You may release something strong against their first but so can they release something strong against your first. Plus you may not have something strong against their second.

Since Mary had at least one bird and Pierce desperately needed aerial battle experience, the other one… Aella wasn't sure.

'Meredith maybe. Though she did have a Wingull so Galvantula would be the better option but I don't want to put both my strongest in my first fight of today,' it was a shame Mary knew how to dodge questions that would give away too much about her team.

Aella decided to prepare for a flying based team as what Mary did talk about a lot was the flying competition that was big every year in Crossgate Town.

"Lead tag team," was all she said to his ball before tapping the top. The day Aubrey accidentally tipped her off she had gone back to their home base and informed her own. Just yesterday they did one last run through on partner and tag team fights. Even Shay and Flare were brought into the secession.

"Let's go Seiche," the Wingull shifted before her long wings fluttered, and swept her up into the air.

"Follow tag team," Aella murmured to the ball before letting it fly.

"Marill! Mar Mar! ill marrr," Meredith had obviously been waiting for this and made it clear.

'Ne̵̙̐ẹ̵̎d̸̛̘ not translate,The Loud,' Aella simply tipped her hat towards the sun in agreement.

Mary held off on throwing her second pokemon long enough for the Delibird to tap her leg. She flinched, and then the last few seconds she tossed out one. The red faded to show a closed shellfish or wait no that was a clam. It was a Clamperl. She opened her shell a few inches before shutting it again and rocking, sending water spilling out of the shell.

Aella vaguely remembered when she was reading up on evolution items that obtaining a deep sea tooth or scale were particularly hard to get a hold of. In the past you could find them washed up on Hoenn's shores but due to overharvesting the only place that showed up was in, well the depths of canyons and abysses in the sea. Humans would probably harvest them off the very pokemon that created the tooth and the scale, but no one knew which pokemon they came from.

With the drop of the hands and a call for beginning the match Pierce was quick to join the sea bird in the air with a flutter and a Work Up. Meredith already received her whistled commands before the match began and blew bubbles acting positively adorable to Charm the clam.

Pierce had just begun his spiel to Captivate his aerial opponent when thick Mist spewed from her throat. Both Captivate and Charm effects disabled in the cloudy atmosphere.

"Back focus your own," Aella called as the clam opened her shell, and had formed a twinkling blue sphere. Launching it high in the air, thick dark clouds gathered and rain poured on the dry field. That was a very well done Rain Dance.

An inverted U sent him flying away from their side and cruising over Meredith's head. With the rain pouring down Meredith would have an ease in producing and empowering Water type attacks just as their opponents did. Pierce, though not a water bird, could handle a bit of water with the oils in his feathers.

"Seiche Clamperl Icy Wind, aim for the Starly!" she heard alarm bells ring. On the other hand that would pose a problem.

"Double Speed! Meredith Water Gun Clamperl," she'd have her, if her accuracy was better, hit an erratically flying bird but that wasn't happening. Right now they didn't have a way to defrost Pierce's wings.

Two similar swirling bursts of freezing wind shot out towards two of the four Agility equipped Starly. There were multiple seconds between the time the two were fired. The slowest was cut short with the sound of a slam as a water jet with enough force to crack a stone cracked into a sturdy shell, sliding it back through the mud.

Normally such an attack would hit both opponents on the field, but since Pierce was way up in the air, and Meredith was way down on the ground, it missed.

A/N: Yes there is a targeting system where some moves can hit multiple opponents and even your ally but when there 30 to 40 meters (over 100 feet apart) or the opponent is lacking the power to make an attack radius large enough to hit both plus how experienced and advanced a pokemon is at a move, it changes things. So creative library, if it doesn't make sense to hit however many I won't.

"Iron Tail," Aella spoke low, "crack its shell before it can bring its defense dangerously high."

"Again and try to add an Ice Beam Seiche–ahh Clamperl! You ok?" there was a nasty cracking sound where Meredith slammed her tail into the shelled pokemon.

She gave a high pitch whistle, and as soon as Flare felt both eyes on her she brought her hands in front of her with pointer fingers pointing forward before making a hard flick with both out to opposite sides. The Tag Team would become two separately fought battles in one arena. The she's (Aella and Flare) couldn't think of a way to make a duo battle work right now so they would turn it into two singles.

Without heavy amounts of fluff or fuzz under his feathers, Ice would do a number on him. Small jagged beams of frigid energy coasted through the Icy Wind but without knowing which one was the real him it would be up to luck if she hit anything.

Aella quickly spotted him due to his frosty breath, it was an oversight, "Pierce swarm!" The best Double Team copies, we're not perfect re-creations of the creator pokemon but ones that most closely matched the User's current state. Dirt, grime, missing scales, ruffled feathers if it was on the original, it needed to be on the copies, and that included frosted breath.

He needed to keep that tell hidden or Double Team was useless. By swarming the seabird it would be disconcerting as one that made elegant wide turns to have one buzzing round them like a Beedrill.

The seabird Seiche gave a cry and one became three before performing Mary's requested Wing Attack. He retaliated by shutting off Agility and turning four to six with his own Wing Attack.

Clamperl didn't enjoy getting smashed with an Iron Tail over and over again, even with an Iron Defense up twice and Clamp only needed to be used once (and rapidly avoided) before the mouse figured she could stand behind the clam to escape such a fate for her tail.

There was a moment of confusion after Clamperl was called to move away from the Marill with Waterfall that a second Clamperl seemed to slowly meld out of the first and float perfectly level through the air.

"No Clamperl it's obvious if you do it like that! Cancel Double Team," the airborne shell disappeared a few seconds later.

Sad to say though it was very cool and creative to move with the help of Waterfall, the clam was still slow. Meredith made this quite obvious when she chose to jog behind the clam spitting a stream of Bubble at the cracks. Clamperl was still trying to Icy Wind any of Pierce's copies.

"At this rate she's going to learn Bubble Beam," Aella let out a half of laughter at the humorous sight.

Mary, exasperated, ran a hand through her hair pulling at the strands before her leg was roughly smacked by a flipper from Delibird. "Ok Clamperl enough with the teamwork just Whirlpool the Marill."

Clamperl couldn't move very fast but apparently could spin herself around pretty quick when she wanted to. A rush of Water Gun whirled around Meredith, trapping her in its vortex. The water mouse had improved her swimming but not to this extent.

"Ahh okay this is a bit of a problem," Aella lamented. She wondered how one gets the mouse out of the Whirlpool.

'Pierce.'

She looked up. Both had forgone Double Team and had gotten into an Icy Air Cutter fight. Well Aella's had more gone for Star Slice instead of cold while Seiche had thrown up an Aqua Ring to even out the excess of successful hits. Its bubbles of liquid glittered in the light.

"Pierce!" Aella shouted, they were easy to spot with the Mist having lightened and the rain becoming a drizzle, "put her in a twist and drag Meredith out of the pool!"

A loud screech came from overhead as he stilled and flapped his wings in a rush. Swirling wind with a purple gleam spiraled around. Sea birds were meant to land during storms, not fly through them.

Pierce had some training in flying through storms but not a Whirlpool, "Meredith go high!"

Aella could catch glimpses of the mouse in the rush of water but her bird's keen eyes probably had a better view. She just hoped he grabbed her by the tail instead of tearing her flimsy earskin. There were so many veins in her ear that could bleed heavily.

She held her breath as Pierce dove. Twice his speed jumped and the sound of a high speed body hitting the waves was heard. With wings flared he braked before the wall was the next thing he hit.

Hovering over the ground letting Meredith reorientate herself before dropping her. Clamperl needed a moment to realize the mouse was not in the Whirlpool. Seiche was dived through the air over to them

"Bouncy bird," Aella hollered.

Meredith grinned, squashed herself down and launched herself straight into poor Wingull's belly. Mary winced at the noise that was ejected from her sea bird's beak.

There was another cry from her own bird, Pierce. He was struck by an Icy Wind from Clamperl.

He flailed in the air for a moment and before he righted himself Aella gave her orders, "Pluck the Wingull out! Meredith give him a hand!"

"Mar, ill, Mar ill, Mar, ill, Mar, ill," bright teal pom-poms appeared on her paws that interchangeably punched the sky.

Pierce's beak took on a ring of brightness and both birds went soaring across the arena at the momentum. He scrambled back into the air.

He had learned not to sit on downed prey when they hunted a group of Gloom and there were multiple. Behind the back attacks were never fun and besides, the one down didn't always stay down.

"Wingull is out! Trainer, please recall your downed pokemon!" Mary did so before the referee continued, "would you like to forfeit or continue the match with only one pokemon?"

Mary looked out into the field. Clamperl had gone back to trying to Icy Wind the Starly while the Marill ran circles around the shell with a silver tail.

"Yea," she sighed, "Clamperl's shell is going to shatter soon.

Aella hummed. Pokemon with shells were incredibly durable and can pretty easily repair their shell but if their shell shatters they have to regrow it instead. And that takes months.

All pokemon were recalled from the field as soon as the final announcement was made.

—

Her stomach ceased its rumbling as she filled it with some sort of potato vegetable mash. Both Jazz and Boris were in a match and with all the time between battles Aella was hoping to have another conversation on pokemon philosophy. Both were well read and had a whole year (or two when it came to Boris) in experience more than her. If she had only gotten two more points, she would've been in the same pool as Jazz.

Boris on the other hand didn't even need any more points to get into the Feraligatr pool by midday of the third to last day of the Swiss rounds. And here she pegged the stronger one to be Jazz. She heard rumors that his Hippopotas wrecked any field it was set on and his Gastrodon had a menace move set.

So for now she sat with Rain and Mary where the clank of her tablemates' silverware could be heard from time to time. None of them had released any of their pokemon as none of them were willing to give anything away that they didn't already know. This included conversation as well.

Instead they found other better things to talk about, "So did any of you hear about the Psyduck that flew over two arenas during the Swiss rounds."

This was not a better thing to talk about. Aella idley nodded, not really wanting to encourage Rain to continue. Mary did though.

"Really did you see it? I only heard about it from one of my opponents."

"Maybe? I know one of the people who were battling in one of the two arenas it flew over. They ended up stopping the two matches for a short period of time to figure out what was going on. Apparently the guys Psyduck did something that completely enraged their opponents pokemon and they put too much power into an attack and it threw their duck out of the arena."

Rain kept rattling on and Aella was starting to wonder if she should hunt down Boris and ask him to keep quiet on who.

Aella had Flare force a hand in the conversation. There was a silent agreement in not talking about how each other's pokemon did in battle but Tristan wasn't here so…

"So Rain, how did your battle with Tristan go?"

"It sucked," Rain said coarsely, "he brought out a Ralts and in my head I thought it was a young one so I sent out Rog–my youngest."

Rain huffed, "It was not young at all but curb stomped my youngest and then evolved! It's Psychic Fairy yet it barely used any. Loves to punch things though."

"So you essentially had a one vs two?" Rain gave a simple ah huh to Mary's sum up.

"Yea," they lamented looking to the ceiling for inspiration, "I should've realized when he kept going on and on and on about his parents dojo he's a fighting specialist. You do not stick a Rock against the fighting specialist."

"Well I'm fighting Tristan this afternoon hopefully I'll get to double battle him since he only has three"—

"Mary, if you were thinking of getting an advantage on him because one of his pokemon will be tired, let me remind you he made it to the Wartortle pool with only three pokemon! That's crazy!"

It was impressive and he was 13 years old to boot. Everyone she met or overhead that gave an age she'd make note of how many pokeball they had on their belt. It wasn't perfect but there was a pattern, one that heavily coincided with the age restrictions on numbers.

Most 10 years of age and under have 3 or 2 with a few outliers with 4. At 11 some had 2 pokemon, others had 6 again, very few having more than 6 (no one could carry over 6 so this knowledge was only due to a parent carrying the rest or because they were a boaster or yapper) though that information was hardly accurate.

13 year olds could have up to 25 yet Tristan chose to have only 3 pokemon. Or maybe he was being selective. Whatever it was it put him at a huge disadvantage in the Swiss rounds and even now it was slightly putting him out at a disadvantage.

Taking all that into account no Mary didn't have an advantage in a double whether he battled before or not. Explaining all that to Mary felt much too unnatural for a girl her age to have so Aella simply pointed out that his pokemon must have incredible stamina and endurance to make it this far at a team of three.

"Right! I've gotten to participate in the Terracotta Tournament twice before and you don't see people with under four pokemon above the Piplup pool!" Rain exclaimed, as they shoved the last of their food down.

"Ima go check out the other pool matches going on. Mary you're batting in 7 right?"

"Yeah but we're in the same pool so you can't come watch," she seem to realize something and froze before looking around earning an eyebrow raise from her other two tablemates, "Deia my assistant is here to make sure I don't do anything stupid or talk informally."

"Ahh that sounds nice and I know I can't watch, I'm double checking which arena you're in so I know which one to avoid."

Aella swallowed her sandwich, the whole rigorous control, felt a little too close to her past, "Have fun I need to check up on my own," she swept her tray from the table.

"Alright alright see you in arena 6 tomorrow," Rain called as she got up walking backwards and tossing a flimsy tray into the can.

Aella gave a wave before walking towards the sidewalk exit of the building. Her walk mostly resulted in her lapsing into thought. She needed to decide on whether to do Galvantula and Pierce or one of them plus Meredith or Tamall if it's a double again. Both have a weakness to Rock and Rain did say they had a Rock type although young didn't mean weak.

X

Aella rolled on her toes when the coin toss landed on double. Aella was releasing first but that still didn't make anything easier. Rain was going to fight tooth and nail to get a point on the board.

With a high toss a loud mouse made her announcement of arrival. Rain flinched and pulled back the ball they were going to toss. They probably expected her spider and that ball was containing yesterday's mentioned rock type. They shifted their weight to one leg.

"Okay…" they said, clearly a bit thrown off. Rain thought for a moment, tapping their fingers.

Red filled the field and a small coniferous tree groaned standing up. Aella removed Pierce from the list. He was guaranteed to have a weakness to both.

"Is he a fir or cedar?" She couldn't determine with him all the way across the field.

"What!?" Rain was again thrown for a loop.

"Your snover. Is he a fir or a ceder?"

"I–Ahh–that! How am I supposed to know!?"

"You're his trainer!" Aella countered and Rain just threw their hands up in the air in exasperation. Aella could see the grin sprouting from their face.

Rain had a Scyther and a mystery so there was, hopefully, only one option. Not a moment after Galvantula hit the field a small dotting stone stood on the opposite side.

It used its ear to turn and face the correct direction, "Roggenrola can't see they use sound and ground vibrations," Her first clicked and watched its head piece twitch.

There was a groaning roar that reminded her of the creaking of a tree as the air became thick with dark clouds and the snow began to blow. A sturdy shield kept the frosty partials and cold in the box.

Meredith was quite delighted at the falling soft powder although there was a hesitation to it. The Snorunt she battled knew Hail but didn't have the ability to make the ice chunks. Only a ludicrous amount of frigid powder.

With side steps and quick clicks Aella's first moved Meredith back and her in front. They learned through spars against Tamall that the mouse couldn't quite weather Grass attacks so well yet. She wasn't familiar on how to handle the pain from an effective attack.

Technically Galvantula's experience on handling Rock type moves wasn't great either but considering most of her youth was similar to Aella's….yeah.

Aella herself, surprisingly, did not know a lot about the small stone poke. They were very non-native. In fact Roggenrola made number 14? 15? of pokemon seen from Unova and Kalos. It was kind of hard to keep track at this point.

Rain had pulled a similar move in moving Roggenrola behind Snover. It slowly waddled to where they threw a pebble. The only thing she could determine before the match began was that they were the slowest thing on the field and were probably quite hardy.

Meredith was quick to step back and focus her attention on the storm. Until she had a clear shot at the rock, she would try to usurp the snow into rain. Electricity surged from the spider and Jolt Down struck true. The young tree's size blocked the sticky String Shot from striking its stone partner, but the electricity from Thunder Wave jumped from one to the other.

Thunder Wave was the only move she had advanced far enough to not have a percentage in striking her ally. Snover spasmed, losing control of the leaves he plucked. Frantic hand waves were thrown about to pull the slightly chard leaves back under his control.

Roggenrola stumbled into view on his right with Rain yelling something about 11 o'clock and Rock Blast. Why time was important to mention made no sense to any of Aella's or Aella herself but apparently it was. Rock Blast at least made sense.

Galvantula raised a pedipalp. She so wanted to Thunderbolt the Rock then and there, but she had a mouse behind her that would take it far worse. Besides, the spider knew that wasn't her job. The very words passed through her mind at the same time a jet of high powered water moved, just centimeters from the fur on her legs.

Shards of rock flew in both directions. A false fur ear was lost and one of her four frontal eyes closed to block the blood from seeping in. On the other side of the field bits of stone flew into Rain's barrier sheared off of her own pokemon. Roggenrola was no longer completely round.

A groaning roar and a fling of rooted arms finally sent the building leaves across the field. They glowed, edged in a pastel rainbow hue. Magical Leaf. It was one she wanted Tamall to learn.

There was no hesitation when she stepped into the line of travel but Aella knew better, "back it's honing!" Galvantula blurred yellow at Aella's call and yanked the mouse under her sternum. Volts of electricity ran between her legs and pedipalps filling in the gaps.

Though her fur was sliced and no longer smooth, no blood was drawn. Meredith shook off the paralysis with a quick Refresh.

Galvantula cranked her agility up a second time and went for a close combat fight against the tree. She didn't hesitate when diving into the thick Mist Snover spewed. Aella could see Rain's mouth move but the crack of wood deafened any insight.

The mouse became bloated from the water gathering at the top of her gullet. With another shot of water aiming to widen the chip she couldn't help, but be amazed at the shield that formed in front of her face. Smart move teaching Roggenrola Protect.

"ill Marill ill! ill mar!" Meredith took off running and launched herself once, then again into a high Bounce over the retaliatory blinding sand.

A screech and smack was heard from the Mist Galvantula and Snover fought in so thick that neither trainer could offer any more advice, "Smack Down Roggenrola!" but they could do more than just stand there, and hope with the other.

The twisting golden orb sent the mouse back and down in her iconic face plant. A rush of cold air was brought to their side of the field when Galvantula returned in a thin layer of ice. She rubbed her pedipalps, useless due to being frozen stiff.

With her legs far thicker and more fuzzy, Aella's first could still move freely through the growing snow. Raising a front leg high for a thunderous attack, her one remaining fur ear twisted in the direction of her target, "Roggenrola knows Protect go for the tree. Meredith Helping Hand."

The 'ear' twisted again as Bullet Seeds pushed her back. Galvantula crossed her icy pedipalps to prevent and more damage to any of her eyes. A brief moment of lax and they dipped down to reveal one of her two large eyes; its hexagonal inners glinted in the clear lens.

Meredith's cheery cries were drowned out by a thunderclap that slammed the eardrums and caused so many to jump. It left many rubbing their ears like it would help with the ringing. Their fields shielding pokemon, a Clefable, hadn't quite anticipated such a decibel level. She could feel Flare shift into an even deeper state of non-existence when an Alakazam popped over to help out.

"Weather Meredith." She figured she'd try her luck at having the mouse override the Hail. She had tried at the start, but failed, and now the flurry had become pieces of solid ice. It was starting to gorge her fat and Aella had been spotting more and more of Galvantul's fur round the field.

Roggenrola gleamed across the way, her stone turning reflective from the Iron Defense. They weren't the only ones having problems with the weather. Rain bit her lip looking over to their very burnt Snover.

"Switch targets!" Rain hollered and Snover glowed a pail green before zigzagging towards a standstill Meredith. Trailblaze. That was a unique move.

Aella watched stones churn around her rocky body, 'Bad, My Liege can't chase she left wide open, to living stone,' they had to play into Rain's hands and switch targets.

Clicking her tongue, Aella was now the one hollering as orders were given "Change targets! Iron Tail! Distance Thunderbolt!"

Meredith braced herself as Snover slammed into her body. She shivered from the super effective grass type attack yet grinned as the snow turned to slush under the pattering rain. With a summersault the aquatic mouse deftly avoided a Stomp before slamming her metallic tail into his trunk.

Galvantula had redoubled her efforts to keep her speed up. Just barely keeping ahead of the sharp stones. Her duel with Snover took more out of her than Aella expected and she was favoring a side.

There was no time between shots to fire off a thunderbolt. So she'd have to make one.

"Galvantula it can't see," Aella called and stamped her foot to make a thumping sound. In other words, get off the ground.

It was a challenge to keep the snap of electricity silent when she launched herself sideways, flailing her legs like she was sliding on ice.

Roggenrola headpiece wiggled and turned a few times before sending another Rock Blast to Galvantula's previous position.

The shout of, "Six o'clock!" that came from across the field was almost drowned out by the dule cries from Snover and Marill. Burnt sharpened leaves from Leafage ruined her coat. She had bravely dove through the weekend leaves to send Snover on his back with a ruthless swing of her tail.

The tree wobbled into a sitting position. Meredith heaved, nodding in respect for his ability to tank her onslaught, "Marill…" she face planted.

"Marill is out! Aella would you l–"

"No, we're staying in," the referee leaned back when she was cut off.

There was a snap of the ball reattaching to her belt. Rays of sun broke through the clouds. Without any poke to control the rainfall it petered out. Snover raised his arm high as a desire to bring back the snow fall but huffed, dropping it back down to his side, too exhausted.

He blinked and suddenly there was a spider's skittering on magnetic air in front of him. Snover struck out with the little strength he had left. Bad move since Sucker Punch was faster.

Rain was quick to recall but didn't order anything. Something was up. She peeked over to Galvantula. Aella blinked, 'that's not right,' with a hiss of air she sucked in a breath.

"It knows Lock On!" Galvantula swiped at the side of her cephalothorax where a cross hair was glowing. As Magnet Rise was useless the irritated spider dropped back down onto the dirt. The sound of the clicking growl echoed across the field when she swiped another trickle of blood away from her shut eye.

There were rocks already circling Roggenrola. The next rock blast would guarantee a hit and Aella was doubtful she could take another one. Galvantula had the same line of thought. Rolling back to three legs, raising one high, she released a very fast Thunder in blind hope to take the stone out first.

There were no screams of pain, just the clap of thunder and the crack of stone. Roggenrola had cracks weaving down her face and ear with a piece of her headpiece missing. Galvantula's pedipalps, and face had gashes oozing blood. Neither got up.

"Double knockout! Draw! Both competitors earn a point!" The referee's voice boomed over the clapping that sounded similar to thunder. Aella hadn't even realized how large the audience had grown.

Both competitors shook hands after their pokemon had been recalled and buttons twisted to a state of deep sleep, "They've fought together haven't they," Aella looked to Rain as they walked to the center.

"Galvantula knew better than to use a Thunderbolt next to your Marill," simultaneous nods came from both of them.

"Yea yours–at least those two don't, do they?" Aella nodded again and continued, "the two we fought against Mary had two? three? similar moves and move complimented a lot."

Rain hummed, "You're very perceptive of little things and it's been passed onto your team," they threw their hands over their head and made a noise while stretching.

"You said something similar when we first met. It's really that good of a skill?" In fact Jazz had said the same same as well, just with much more exuberance.

"Arceus yes! My dad says raw strength will get you far but it's smarts that separate the best from the common."

"If I was smarter, I would've had Meredith focus on taking care of that Hail faster. I didn't think Snover would be able to create solid bits instead of just a flurry."

"Haha uh-ha," they nodded pleased, "My dad's a weather specialist, specifically hot and cold."

"Weather specialist? You can specialize in things other than types?" This was a first for Aella.

"Of course, there's weather, specific moves and even those who specialize in mega evolution," Rain suddenly got very excited, "Get this, scientists think it is possible for any pokemon to mega evolve and there's thought that it's possible without a stone! And! Some believe proof of this already exists," Rain whispered the last sentence leaning in close.

Aella would have rolled her eyes if she hadn't met Wild Light. How though? Well, that was still a question.

She stretched and her nose crinkled at the scent of cleaning chemicals that permeated from the center, "Have you seen Tristan? We're supposed to battle him tomorrow and I want to see how much I can pester him."

"Probably at his hotel or something. He and Mary don't have a match today so it looks like you're not gonna get any cheeky inside info," Rain grinned. They had watched Aella chat with Mary and deduced that one of her three remaining unknown pokemon was a Masquerain just through vague hints on his evolution.

"If you think that's cheeky, you should ask Aubrey. I may or may not have gotten him to spill the fact that they were double battles before the Swiss rounds even began. His mother is a tournament runner if you're wondering."

Rain busted out laughing, drawing the attention of a few trainers standing around in the center, "You're going to get yourself in trouble one of these days," they said between barks of laughter that ended in a big sigh.

"But yea Tristen's a bit irate that their fight ended in a draw. Ruins the valor or something," Aella's raised eyebrow just earned a shrug and an 'I don't know' sound.

They gave their pokemon to a nurse before Rain was the one stretching. Following the 'I don't know' line of thought, they actually didn't really know what to do from here, "I've already visited the festival and it's a bit small and bland. I mean for a town this size, yeah it's big but I kind of have been to one of the major League tournament events with my dad, not indigo, but one of them and that was insane like controlled chaos amounts of people, and more stuff to do then you would ever have the time to do."

Rain continuously avoided which one they exactly went to, and with no reference on what any of them looked like Aella couldn't pin one but the amount of stuff and shows and events and expositions and even a parade that happened at that one tournament was crazy. Aella had honestly considered the Terracotta Tournament a really big event, but apparently she had no sense of scale on just how big these events could get.

The only reason the Terracotta Tournament was so long was due to limited resources, room and helping hands.

"Well I was planning on doing some light training since I don't battle till tomorrow afternoon," Aella sidestepped the crowd of oblivious trainers entering the center.

"Oohh do you care if I come and join."

Aella gave them a dubious look, "There's nothing in the rules stating pool players can't train together besides. You know three of my four members and my last one only evolved recently and he really doesn't have a move set for single battles yet…

Rain somewhat embarrassingly added that Galvantula would trounce him and she couldn't help the smug pride at the power her first wielded.

"I wouldn't be against you joining me in training… but! I'd prefer to keep the rest of my team a surprise."

"You're the Skiddo owner and a bird! But! It's not a Pidgey," now Rain was the one who was smug.

She was on the cusp of asking if they had seen the fight with Mary yesterday when it hit her. Aella used Meredith and Pierce, not Tamall.

"Swiss Rounds?" Aella questioned and earned a grin from Rain

"Yea, rumors mostly," they shifted out of the way of other passersby on the street, "They caused quite a bit of type confusion and commotion earlier so I knew to keep my eyes out for one. I was surprised when I recognized you after seeing you leave on one.

"Where did"— they twitched before shaking their head, "actually never mind you have a Galvantula and I know you can't find those things anywhere in Kanto, Johto or Sinnoh."

Well as long as hers didn't do anything crazy, why not, "Sure let's find a clearing," bringing Rain to their current sleeping tree was way too much.

Sticks and cracked rocks were scattered around the clearing, they wouldn't have been the first to use this area as a practice ground. There was the distant sound of waves running up the cliffs and sand. Rain released their two remaining pokemon and Aella was taken aback by their mystery 4th pokemon. She never expected rain to have two limited pokemon.

Small triangles and circles dotted its egg-like body. Little wings kept him aloft. Togetic were incredibly elusive and picky on who was their trainer. Only cooperating with those who held a good heart.

"You've met Scyther," they gestured towards the bug that stood in perfect attention, "and Togetic. His name is Aubrette."

Rain gave heavy stress to Aubrette's gender. It took Aella a few seconds to process that that was a feminine name. It was a bit strange to her on why people attached genders to names.

She could understand preferred pronouns as it was a sort of expression of self. Aella herself, referred to herself as a she before Aella picked the name Aella.

But why the gender to name thing? Flare gave an alert that Rain was still talking and she was missing it and her ghost, with permission, moved her thoughts in a non-jarring Aubrey way. Flare quickly filled in the missed words.

'Rain sḁ̶̌id, they're two õ̶̱u̷͙͆ţ̶́, have, cause of paŗ̷͊e̵̪͘n̶͓̋t̶̞̅ offspriň̷̰g, of Rḁ̶̌in parent, family,' Made sense. One's family backing could change their chance of success in the job.

Nodding along she released her own two giving a silent apology to Shay. She was going to be miffed by being left in her ball for most of the day. At least Aella could be assured Shay, Void and their supplies wouldn't be found buried under the thick roots of their tree.

Tamall bleeted a greeting and Pierce gave a whistling chirp, "Were doing a light practice session with Rain's today. One of you will likely be batting Tristan tomorrow," Aella could feel Flare gather herself on the top of her hat.

Aella warned them that he was a Fighting type specialist and her Normal bird puffed his feathers as if reminding her of his lack of vulnerability to that type, "Will see," she simply said before turning to Rain.

She wasn't sure how to incorporate Rain's into a group practice session, or if they were all just gonna work separately. Aella brought her thoughts up to Rain and pointed out any sort of tag race would require a bigger clearing.

They hummed as they glanced around the clearing, "We could do weight training or reaction time," Aella gave a nod before signaling to Tamall who tromped over to a fallen tree for branches.

There was a sound of a zipper and Rain heaved out some very heavy but colorful objects. Aubrette grabbed one, his wings flapped hard to keep himself in the air before dropping it and being jolted higher into the sky. He fluttered down in circles near Scyther who slid a blade through the handle of a ball shaped one and lifted it with a single blade.

"Do you want to go grab your stuff and a– or you can use some of mine," Rain stumbled over her own words as she talked hastily.

Aella knew about weight loss and storage booster backpacks but she's never seen one in action. Yet what she really didn't understand was; why was Rain carrying around essentially colorful stones?

Rain looked up to see Aella's confused expression, "Yea I know, not many permit license trainers have Advant3 Poketravel bags. Aahhh It's…

"Family thing," Aella supplied. That wasn't what she was looking at but it made her think that she should probably look into trainer equipment. She may have gotten good at mimicking normal society, but interacting, that required a lot more knowledge.

"Why the…weight equipment, though," she could hear the heavy hooves of Tamall bringing back branches for training.

So our pokemon have something to lift," Rain spoke in the most obvious tone.

She just sighed and called Pierce's name. In the smuggest way possible for a bird, he glided over to the branches that had their twigs shanked off. He dug his talons into a particularly heavy one for his size and with a burst of wing was in the air.

Without missing a beat Aella made an overdramatic double hand wave towards her avian, "If you don't like branches, there's rocks down at the shoreline."

Rain was flummoxed. Their pokemon were flummoxed, "But you don't know how much that branch weighs!?"

"I guess–she paused and looked between Rain and Pierce–is it that important?"

"Well yea it's very important to know exactly how much your pokemon can lift for advanced trainers and masters," there was a pause as their brain caught up to their mouth.

"And we're barely beginner trainers… who aren't even old enough to have a full license yet."

Rain rocked back leaving her crouch and entering a sit, "Sorry."

"We have different ways of training that's not weird," at least Aella hoped her style of training wasn't too out there.

"No I'm just… my parents were big trainers, they don't compete anymore, for reasons. So they put a lot of work into teaching me with the dream that I'll get even farther than them.

"I want to live up to that dream and reach my own dream of getting to battle in one of the grand and great stadiums. I've seen those events. I've seen the pokemon and people who battle in those events. I want to be that."

Aella had sat down, this kind of conversation was not her strong suit. She listened of course but it made her wish Winnie was here.

'Then speak you, not our t̶͈̂e̶̝̕a̴̙̿ċ̴̞h̴̖̔ĕ̵̳r̶̺͑.'

"So your parents are teaching you things that an advanced trainer would need, but you're a beginner trainer who's just starting out. Yea it will probably be useful and keep you walking the right path. But we're barely beginner trainers. They are still learning things. I'm still learning things. My mother didn't teach me shit so I mean we're young."

Aella winced at her last remark; it didn't really fit the flow of the sentence. Honestly, nothing felt like it fit. At least Rain stopped ranting to think… and kind of left Aella in charge of the training session. Well, at least she was good at that.

Rain stepped back up as a trainer when they took a few minutes to eat. They took out a set of bowls. One looked like many of the generic ones she had seen dozens of other trainers use and the other had a large rim with a break in it.

There was the crinkle of a bag followed by the clattering of small brown cylinders into the generic bowl topped with a few pieces of dried berries. A more wet slop version was poured into the rimmed bowl and Scyther wasted no time grabbing it and slurping from the only spot that was missing its rim.

Now this was something Aella understood, the use of carrying food with you. She did this constantly, especially in winter. Though the kind of food looked undoubtedly different.

She leaned back and looked over at Tamall cud chewing. He glanced to his right and blinked, normally Meredith would be next to him trying to sneakily eat the less healthy plants. In the time between when she got the both of them may have been short but, Aella had taken the time to teach arboreal and botany knowledge she gained to her goat. Skiddo turned that medicinal knowledge into nutritional knowledge due in part to the long talks his old matriarch gave.

A plant may be sweet, but that doesn't mean it'll give much nor be safe in large quantities. It was something her battle hungry mouse had a tendency to do. Her goat sighed saddened.

She had spent a good few moments picking up stones and looking them over till she found one Flare approved was appropriate for telekinetic sliding properties. Without sound the Ghost slid up to condense herself on the top of Aella's sunhat.

Rain had suddenly gotten very quiet and was no longer pouring food causing her to look over. Aella could feel Rain's eyes settle on her sun hat. They were clearly curious about the unusual moment, "Ahhh your head is sort of partially moving up," they drew out the last two words.

Aella yawned unaffected by Rain's bewilderment, "That's Flare. Her lack of available movement heavily restricts her ability to battle until she evolves," she held the rock up against her gathering wax so she could transfer easily before placing her on the ground.

A trail was left in her wake as she scooted across the ground, stopping by an ant hill. As her Ghost continued to probe the ant hill to drive the workers out for sustenance they heard the beep from Rain's dex.

"Litwick… it's a Ghost," they looked up, "You have a Ghost!" Aella just sighed. It was heavily controversial for young trainers to have Ghosts and Darks so she reiterated ghost hierarchy as she'd done before.

"Okay… so she can't like control or challenge you."

"No, that is mostly Darks and Dragons and those are only mature ones who aren't completely loyal and feel they can usurp your position," they broke into momentary silence after this.

"Aren't you going to feed your Starly cause it's ahh where…" Rain trailed off her subject change as they glanced around the clearing but couldn't spot her bird.

Pierce had yet to return. He preferred bringing his live catches to one who could make use of their souls. Plus Aella suspected he didn't all like the idea of ending a life even if it was obviously a part of how things work.

"He'll bring back a Caterpie, Metapod or stray Rattata for Flare to finish off then he'll eat it," She could see Rain pull back disgusted though doing their best to hide it.

"That's a bit ahh, I mean you have a Litwick but," they were not really sure how to continue their sentence, so Aella just shrugged. She didn't know a Togetic diet fully consisted of, but she knew Scyther required meat.

"What's in Scyther's food," it was an indirect way of pointing it out, but the direct way earlier…well she didn't want Rain sitting and thinking throughout their entire session.

Rain checks their bags labeled Pokechow and Aella worried she did exactly what she just thought she didn't want Rain to do.

When they sighed and spoke Aella breathed her own sigh, "Right it's the same, sort of different but not different."

"Natural versus processed, same but not exact?" Aella tilted her head as a form flew into the clearing coupled with the sound of wings. An eerie song of departure quieted the rest.

It takes Rain a second to speak with the funeral-like atmosphere, "yeah," they rocked back, "you remind me of my dad sometimes, very grown-up. Hah, it makes me forget which one of us is the older one."

Their remark led Aella down the thinking tunnel. She'd seen some of the worst of the world, fingers landed on her chest and ran around the metal pendant under her shirt. She said getting stuck among a toxic group can cause you to do terrible things. It was the power of hype and the asch paradigm in action.

"You know you're really good at changing people's perspective of things, or opening up their mind to things," Aella looked over to Rain who looked back.

She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not but Rain seemed to read her mind, "It's a good thing yea know, opening up peoples perspective," they shrugged, "new ideas and make some have to think for a bit."

With the sounds of eating having stopped, Aella started prepping for dodging and reaction training the four would be put through against Flare.

Aella had Aubrette move up into the air joining Pierce with a word of encouragement from Rain with a height limit. Tamall and Scyther stood on opposite sides with Flare floating on her stone in the middle. Aella warned Scyther that she was not going to like this but she simply clanged her blades together.

She stepped out of the clearing taking Rain with her and swirled a finger slowly in the air, "Start it slow if Rain's can keep up, speed it up then add some altercations, on my mark."

Aella dropped her hand and the flame on Flare's head enlarged crackling and snapping. There was a huff of heat as Will-O-Wisps raced to their predetermined positions. Aella very quickly noted the amount exceeded her current considered limit of 16 by a lot.

Scyther and Aubrette anxiously looked around at the perfectly still orbs of flaming ghost energy. In a single moment, they all started moving in a slow wandering left circle.

Scyther hissed as one slid by the edge of her wing, her body jolted away from the heat and almost straight into another. Tamall screwed his jaw shut and leaned and ducked just out of range of the heat. He played this enough times to know there was no benefit from heavy movement; it only impeded.

Aubrette really didn't like it. He chirped and whistled, trying to escape the clearing. Rain snapped at him to get back and down under the height limit, "You're only struggling because you keeped shrinking your flight training."

He whined and pulled in his foot against his egg like body as another flame brushed it. There was a hard ssstut from Scyther as she brandished a claw at the Fairy before going back to dodging. Smartly she had folded her wings against her back.

"I'm impressed that Tamall didn't react when you Starly flew by so— your stretching?" Pierce had flown very low right by Tamall with little reaction from the goat.

"Their busy training, so I might as well busy myself with my own training and they're used to it," Aella had sat down and was mid toe reach when Rain asked. Rain just shook their head and joined her. Apparently one of the advanced trainer techniques they had been taught by their dad, was to not only train their pokemon, but themselves as well.

Even if training oneself was so important to advance one's career, so few new trainers did it. Instead they would do nothing but sit and strategize.

The four of them ducked, wove and swayed out of the way of Flare's Will-O-Wisps. Though it hurt Flare was careful to keep the damage minimal. Aella and Rain performed a variety of dumbbell and barbell exercises using the rocks and sticks, Rain's insistence.

They wanted to try out Aella's way. If it was a viable option for them they can earn some cash from selling their equipment and save some space in their bag.

Rain called for a ten minute break and Aubrette collapsed on the ground. He had taken the most damage, Pierce glanced at him in disdain for such behavior. Pierce had remained almost completely untouched. Tamall had simply sat down and spread his leaves, soaking in the sunlight. Scyther sharpened her blades.

"Alright, ten minutes are up everyone up," Rain clapped their hands.

"Flare, increase the speed a bit. Keep it basic and predictable for now," Aubrette sent a glare her way but was pushed into the air by a quick breeze from Pierce.

—

The sun had creeped its way across the sky. Aella had changed from alternating overhead presses to upside down sit-ups on a nearby branch when Rain decided to call it for the day.

"We don't want them too tired before our battles tomorrow. I'm surprised you even have the strength to do that," they brushed the dirt off their back from doing sit ups. Rain looked at her hanging in the tree, still thoroughly impressed at her strength.

She let her body fall back into the starting position after her 15th rep, thoroughly exhausted, "Then I'll have Pierce and Flare do one intense round and call it."

Her words were in-laid with strong breathing before gripping the branch hard, and flipping back onto her feet and she heard an exclamation from Rain. They didn't say anything, just sighed.

The merry-go-round of fire came to a sudden stop. Aubrette dropped to the ground and Flare had to move a wisp out of his way as Scyther just took a knee. Tamall looked back on hooves that shook and Aella nodded proud of his work.

She waited till the three left the clearing and Pierce was in his preferred starting position before she dropped her hand. Some went left, some went right, others straight or in jagged patterns of zig zags and corkscrews. Others above had some moving inward, while others moved outward. To an untrained eye it looked patternless.

He dove and twisted and snapped his direction of travel. He was not untouched but cared little, to the sound of sizzling on his feather tips. If a feather did catch flame, in mer moments Pierce had twisted and caught the flame in a talon or beak and quashed it. Though delicately, he wasn't so barbaric to rip out his own feathers in a simple spar.

She could hear a trilling call from the Togetic. He was transfixed by Pierce's practiced flying. Aella couldn't help but snort, lean over and ask Rain if this would be enough to get Aubrette serious about flying practice.

Rain grinds and walks over to sit next to Aubrette. They were going to capitalize on this. With Tamall sunbathing, Aella was left on her own. Being not quite ready to sit still so in lieu of that she cycled through a few basic stretches that would work her whole body.

The sun had creeped its way west and would fall into sunset soon enough. Rain would head back to the hotel and she would go back to her tree. What to do after that…she sucked on her lip and made a tsk sound, Shay. Shay would demand training and Flare would encourage her to work with Void since it has been a few days.

Well she'd just have to make sure Flare did not over do it and slept a few hours after she woke tomorrow.

X

Tristan entered what Aella could only assume was a combat starting stance from his dojo before shouting and punching a few times. With a punch and a toss a blue shelled body appeared on the other side of the field. This one was very familiar, and not in the greatest way.

Pierce was released, a very easy choice with the battle being a single and the natural advantage he had. His chirp in greeting was a touch strained. It wasn't her fault. The only one he fought had gone a bit mad. Aella started to worry that maybe she should've picked Tamall. The wax on her sunhat shifted, just in case.

"Cross hera. Heracross," she called back with a two clawed wave.

With a click of his beak he ruffled his feathers and Worked Up some energy before taking off with a quick burst of Agility, 'No Captivate? Either his ire runs too deep or he knows it's pointless with a high likelihood of a physical fight.'

Aella wondered if she should look into that and also take a breath because she stopped breathing when Heracross comboed Swords Dance and Bulk Up before launching into the air blurring with a horn glow in a beautiful blue silver.

A screaming Alarm that sounded just like the one in the facility rang through her head, "Aerial Ace incoming! Quad speed it!" A moment. A flap and suddenly there were four Starly leaving contrails above the arena.

"They're all using Agility!?" She could hear Tristan shout, "really that's amazing and really bloody annoying!"

"Whittle her down," Aella yelled after he ordered his Heracross to chase and Horn Attack all of the copies. Slicing stars honed in on her carapace every time two, three or all the doubles crossed. They may have status on the fakes but they hadn't figured out the secret to making illusionary attacks. Something heavily considered as the gateway to mastery.

At first, she relied on her nimbleness and training to slide past the glittering stars, imbued with wind. Unfortunately, their honing nature came to bite her in the butt, literally. She winced when they slammed her lower abdomen, legs and yes her rear.

"Use your Focus Blast to shatter the stars," Tristan bellowed his insight.

Aella hummed, 'Smart remove the homing and all she has to do is dodge a blade of wind once, maybe not even once.'

With Star Strike not a problem, Heracross smashed through one copy then another to which Pierce replied by replacing one. A few close passes had him swerving. Aella nearly swore when an Arm Thrust clipped his breast. His fakes fizzed out, she wouldn't lose him a second time.

Her wings buzzed the air as she struck again but Pierce's freefall prevented a third. Months of practice showed when he recovered before he even fell past her body and swung around behind her.

Strong Gusts of wind round her wings threw Heracross into a spinning freefall. With a bang that kicked up dust, she stayed down for a surprisingly short amount of time. Whirling on a clawed toe Heracross slammed her metallic and yellow coated horn (Aella processed that it was a combo of some sort) flinging him away. Pierce again recovered practically instantly but clearly felt that way more than the first one and spun back around her.

The red upon his wing tips grew deeper when he Worked Up his power to an even higher level. He dug his talons deep into her carapace protecting her wings and slammed his own wings against the shield. The super effective attack was horribly painful, but her dutiful training prevented Pierce and Aella from even knowing.

There were downsides to the League's style of battle. As such, mind walkers, outside of the battle, were banned from peeking in the minds of the opponent and telling their fighting ally.

Heracross bucked and shook and swung her body but Pierce held on with talons and beak, "Heracross! Focus Blast round! Get it off!"

Like a ball on a chain she manifested an orb of Fighting energy and swang it round her body till it made contact and wrenched him from her back. A flare of his wings allowed him to hop backwards across the ground, a better outcome than smashing into it.

Pierce looked up to Aella's shout of, "Air split!"

'Engaging in such actions and I simply become the mouse again,' stars were useless and the thought of being thrown off again, was not appealing. He felt a pang of self-anger. He underestimated and simply assumed she'd be no different than the one he danced around. She simply shrugged off something so effective that brought that one to its knees.

Another shout had him turning to see Heracross barreling towards him in a golden light, "Double-Edge!" He needed another option.

"If the rag can do it, why not," Pierce has watched him perform it, felt its energy and seen it in action dozens, and dozens of times.

A beak tipped to the sky as his feathers puffed, droplets of golden light seeped out between them. They floated up leaving tails and an orange haze. His thoughts never left one word, survive.

Aella knew, knew Pierce was more than ready to learn something new. Pierce mimicked the formation of Twister but using energy that came more naturally to him. Whirlwind is incredibly simplistic and comes naturally to almost all aviaries, aerial bugs, and draconics. It really was only a matter of time.

She knew he always watched the others train whenever he rested. But for all the moves for him to heavily focus on… it made sense considering the origin of their meeting.

The seconds in which all view was veiled behind dust ended with Pierce still standing. A successful Endure. Heracross could only wipe off some dust before he moved.

He didn't hold back his speed. He didn't hold back his power. Pierce threw everything he had into his attack. A talon filled Revenge struck dead center and wings filled with whatever wind energy he could manifest.

He probably broke or sprained something. She was sure with the dent left in Heracross's carapace she definitely had an organ or two misplaced or ruptured.

The referee shifted and so did the volunteers. This was not a fight they had expected to escalate such a degree.

Aella let out a breath and whispered in the lightest of voices, "Of course she fucking know Endure."

An orange haze dissipated from her body as drops of gold flickered out of existence.

"BLOODY HELL! Reversal that!"

This time Aella did swear loud enough to be heard. That would kill him or worse send him to the hospital. She moved, reaching forward to intervene but her hand hit the barrier while her other ran down her thigh and grabbed air. Aella forgot she didn't have her blade.

She wedged her foot against the barrier and her shadow burned through instantly stretching across the where wisps bubbled through the shade. The shadow had only gone a meter before freezing. There was a bang and the crackle of energy. Heracross's fist had smashed into a light refracting shield millimeters in front of Pierce.

"Protected due to excessive force! That said, Reversal counts as a successful hit. Aella's is out and winner of the match is Tristan!"

Across the way there was a whoop from Tristan and he performed some form of intricate punching routine. Heracross raised a fist, one that hadn't slammed full force into a barrier. She didn't do much else though, too tired.

Pierce had sat down; a few of his feathers were arranged at odd angles. He didn't correct them, just stayed put, gutted at his loss.

A Psychic on standby scrutinized the ground in front of Aella. Flare left not a single piece of dirt moved, it was almost like she didn't even attempt to Smog and Hex Heracross at all.

There was a distant sense of Psychic touch as a Psychic attempted to communicate mentally that recoiled with posthaste. They gave her a dirty look.

Flare, minimizing her power to only what was necessary(not even revealing her carnivorous side), most Psychics and the handful of Darks looked toward them before glancing away with disinterest. A Ghost that 'weak' was hardly something to look into or eat as a snack.

Aella had come to realize that Ghosts and Psychics regularly didn't like to interact with each other. That included people who connected with them too. She had assumed with Winnie willingly and, even going out of her way, to talk with Flare that the two types had an amicable relationship but apparently not.

"That was a grand spar, bloody hell I wish we had an MC for this match they would have lost their noggin at our astounding finisher. To believe—"

Tristan had jogged over after bowing and recalling his Heracross. She simply lowered her head. Blood had slowly slipped from her mandibles and dripped onto the dirt.

Pierce glared at him. His wing was sprained but he refused to show the pain even as his eyes closed and head dipped before he snapped back awake and to attention.

Aella brushes his feathers back into place gently, "What was her ability? Guts? The rare one among the Heracross line were they get stronger with every enemy fallen? I saw no gleam from Swarm there or did it not activate?"

Tristan had taken a breath between his wordy reenactment of the fight when Aella interrupted him. He stopped, stared and made a weird noise as she had completely thrown him off before mumbling, "Guts," before shuffling awkwardly. He seemed to realize Aella hadn't been listening to his ramblings and didn't know how to proceed from here.

Aella daftly took control of the conversation by offering a simple congratulations on his win and stating she needed to head off to the pokemon center. Tristan gave a simi-awkward response, making sure to throw the word bloody in there for how well they did, and gave a respectful bow before she left.

Her thoughts were consumed by questions on how the heck does one train Endure. Void did it automatically every time a powerful attack came within half a meter from him, even if it didn't hit. Flare had mentioned he had gotten faster at enacting it so it was clearly being trained.

They couldn't question him how and why it was improving since he would just pause then agree to everything. Literally everything even if it made no sense.

The woosh of the auto-door of the center sent out a rush of cool air. It was hot and very humid, not nearly as bad as during that heat wave that came through last year but apparently it was enough to make many complain.

Some say it was due to the Castform, lent from the League, preventing a summer storm. Heavy black clouds dumped a large river's worth of water into the ocean. It was enough to leave someone knee deep. Even the sound of thunder could be heard though the lightning never left the clouds to strike the water below.

Not a single stray cloud had been allowed within a mile of the town, letting the unrelenting sun beat down. All day. It drove the temperature up leaving many spectators fanning themselves. Bottled water was everywhere and they had even set up some misting stations that felt unnecessary with the humidity.

With lots of nurses about and multiple lines separating critical from non-critical with signs giving examples of how to tell severity it wasn't a long wait. There was an area sectioned off to the side for teleportation for one of the Psychics helping run the event incase of an extreme situation, thankfully unused.

"Pierce slammed into a Heracross carapace at high speed for Revenge with an added half formed Wing Attack. I'm not sure how fast numbers wise but it was enough to create a dent about–she held her thumb and forefinger about millimeters (2 ½ inches) apart–that much."

The nurses eyebrows moved upward, "That's definitely a hard impact," he glanced over Pierce who sat on one of there special smallpoke trays for smaller pokemon brought in out of their balls.

They did a light assessment and Aella could see him twitch from a few of the prods, "Well I don't think anything's broken. That's very lucky with how hard it sounds like he impacted with his opponent. He'll definitely be sore tomorrow. I want to take him back with me run a quick scan on some of his more tender spots and give him something for the pain and any swelling okay?"

Aella nodded quietly, agreeing and placed his ball in the divot on the tray, "You can stop by this evening and he should be ready to go," nodding as she still was hesitant around adults. Instead she reminded Pierce that she was extremely proud of him.

A sidestep moved her out of the way of a tall yet very anxious boy, "I think her wing is broken, my Tropius, not Seiche but she's exhausted and was put into a sleep coma."

She knew that voice and that name. Glancing over to view a very worried Mary (and maybe making a note that she had a female Tropius), "That doesn't sound nice did you take down Rain's in the end though."

"No," she lamented, turning to look at Aella barely surprised by her sudden appearance, "I take it you and Tristan finished your match too and you beat him," Aella grimaced.

"He threw out his Heracross so I sent out Pierce, my Starly. He's fought one before that was a touch off its rocker but we underestimated what a properly trained one can do."

"That's…almost double advantage…wow what kind of training did he put his through…

"Don't know. What happened to Tropius though?"

"Uugh," Mary slouched and made a less than high class face earning a flipper slap by Deia the Delibird who had waddled over. She stood up straight, and cleared her throat, "I discovered Rain has more than one limited pokemon that excelled in using Reflect, Psych Up, Sweet Kiss and Pound.

"It seemed he was limited in moves and flight but made excellent use of what he had," Mary looked down at her family's assistant to earn a nod in approval at her behavior.

Aella felt a bit bad for her. Mary had to make sure she acted like a refined adult whenever the Delibird was around. When he wasn't around, she acted like any normal nine-year-old.

"Well that sucks. Rain said Aubrette recently evolved which is why the limited move pool. But I saw enough of him during our training session so now he's probably not easy in doubles."

"Training is—wait what," Mary earned another flipper slap. Aella moved them out of the way of the line and told of her interaction with Rain, that led to the impromptu training session.

"Oh," she straightened, "Well I was not aware of such regarding in the rules. Though I'm surprised you took up such an offer since you would lose the element of surprise."

"Yea but we met during the Swiss rounds, so we knew almost all of each other's teams and it was really beneficial for both of us."

Mary nodded (very lady-like of course), "Ahh insightful training it does sound like a very good thing," She fiddled with her fingers trying to act refined when it clearly brought her no enjoyment.

She perked up after a second, "Wait if you trained with Rain then where the heck did they get a Snover," another slap and an added quack.

She shrugged, "We didn't talk about much outside of training stuff," Aella knew how Rain got a hold of such a rare pokemon but it felt rude to spill on things so private.

"You're battling Tristan tomorrow, yes? I know we said something similar a few days ago but seriously, don't underestimate him."

"I will keep your due words of advice in mind," Mary nodded and gave a refined wave as they parted ways.

X

Aella stretched, she had walked into town to battle Rain only to walk right back out again. Apparently due to some unexpected complication, their field would not be available for the time they were supposed to have their match. They couldn't move them either because every other field was taken. So their match had been thrown to the very end where every other match that had complications went.

It was a bit of a shame since an announcer was also supposed to MC the match. It meant she just had to wait a little while longer before she experienced someone hollering and hyping up the crowd.

She hadn't spotted Rain, Jazz or Boris and Flare could only do so much sensory seeking without earning the ire of the Psychics. Every person gave off a slightly different wavelength? Energy? Sense of self? She wasn't really sure what word to describe it but simply put it was like a fingerprint but with a zero chance of two being the same.

'Now what to do?' Aella stared at the vast expanse of sky. It wasn't a green bin day. She could see if she could find one of those give away shelters for new shoes, hers we're getting a touch small (there were those Team Rocket boots she stole but… what were the chances that they wouldn't be at this event) and another set of clothes wouldn't hurt.

Doing a full team practice session did come with risks and the coast line was terribly busy. A brief meet up with Aubrey ended with him running off to catch his match and her learning the vast quantities of people in Terracotta won't start lessening till the very last day of Pool Play. But it wouldn't be all that dramatic of a drop in population until the day after the score announcements.

'Rest day?' Flare offered with not a hint of warping in her words.

Aella nodded, "After we're deep in Gampa Canyon I'm going to check everyone's baseline. It's been a long few weeks since Cerulean."

Large green leaves rustled in the humid air. Clearings with campsites were thick along the edge of the forest. Lots of kids and pokemon making noise and practicing. Someone was grilling meat. A rest day sounded suddenly, really nice.

Aella had gotten used to the rush, to the go go go. To the danger that would make most hesitate, to the carnage that would make most vomit. Even in the calm moments when she layed in her hammock. She was always planning for the steps ahead. Always analyzing her own's abilities and how to improve them.

Survival was always at the forefront of her mind and it was little moments like these that reminded her that wasn't life. It was a constant battle to remind herself that that wasn't living.

People took breaks, they rested. They…did a hobby and that made her think, when was the last time she did arboreal research because she injoyed it?

Before Meredith, before Tamall, before Celadon the second time, before Lavender…

Tamall unburied her bag and they found a place within hearing of the campers but not within sight. Red filled the clearing for just a moment. Everyone joined her and today they would be working on their hobbies and resting(except Void cause all he'd do is float in place and Screech from time to time).

Shay stayed in the shade. Still a touch spiteful that Pierce learned Endure before her. She pestered him all last night on how he performed it. He wasn't sure how and couldn't give a straight answer but Aella was sure by the time they leave here or leave Gampa Canyon the Dragon would know Endure.

She could hear the quiet whistles and chirps from Pierce. His dark brown plumage caused him to practically disappear in the same shade her Dragon took to. Shay was clearly not done interrogating on the intricacies of Endure.

A scuttling above let Aella estimate where Galvantula was. For a yellow spider, she blended quite well into the green canopy. Even the half finished white pillowcase she had been knitting was invisible. There was the sound of paper rustling as Aella searched through her homemade field guide on passages she had about the local fana.

Wax condensed on the very top of her hat and a flame went very still for a well-deserved rest.

Green leaves spun about with a blue ball spinning in time. Their twisting steps changed from slow to fast and back again.

None of them realized how much they really needed this till sunset rolled around. When they picked up the weight they needed to carry, it felt easier.

X

Fingers ran over worn and scratched surfaces that were once pristine pokeballs. Aella wouldn't make the same mistake twice. With a flash of red she made her loud introduction.

Out of everyone Meredith had the most resistances so if Tristan had anything that utilized electricity, poison or plant, now would be the time to release a Toxicroak or Breloom if he has it.

There was a twitch from his mouth as he hid his frown, "At least he stopped singing about restoring his honor from yesterday's loss," Flare shifted to her mutterings. His match with Mary was not rescheduled but apparently the ending was, in Tristan's words, 'quite pitiful compared to ours'.

Winning that match meant Mary was now tied with her and Rain. To be tied up with Tristan, ment she had to win this match. Aella wasn't sure whether to be wary or pleased when his Kirla took to the other side of the field. Its species, well known calm personality was missing in this one. He reminded her of a mankey ready to brawl.

Flare was quick to bring up the list of potentially troublesome moves a little Fairy Psychic could learn and added Rain's notes on its love for punching moves and not so much its own typing. She also noted its seemingly small size.

'My turn to release…' She wanted to pull out Galvantula but she was battling Mary in two days and Rain the next. Plus, there was one member who hadn't battled in the pool rounds yet. Besides, sometimes the most effective solution was not the best solution.

He bleeted and thumped a hoof as the leaves of his coat rose. Eyeing Kirlia and particularly his fists in caution. Aella had run her team through everything they knew on Tristan's. Fire and Ice in the forms of motion the little Psychic Fairy enjoyed were not lost to the goat.

Aella was also quite perceptive in noticing the shift in Tristan's actions. She expected it though she kind of wished he threw out his mystery.

It would be strange if he didn't teach her not one bug move so, "Tight fight," she directed and Meredith was quick to slide over to Tamall, close enough to brush his leaves.

Squatting down behind Tamall and poising herself on the tip of her toes so Tristan could no longer read her lips, "Meredith up. Barre each other's weaknesses and watch the roaming damage. This isn't going to be easy, but we need to win this match to catch up to the leader of the pool."

There was shouting across the field for the honor of his parents dojo before Tristan actually said something useful, "Kirlia combat the small mouse with your punches of thunder and Heracross Pounce on that big ah Skiddo."

With the combative psychic shifting his stance and the bug crouching, Aella's own chose more defensive options. Leaves rustled as they shifted and grew yet Meredith's blue waterproof skin made her stand out among the thick green.

A steady blooping sound escaped the mouse as she doused the field in Water Sport. She wasn't even finished by the time her tail glowed silver. Meredith did have a very polished Water Sport and Refresh chain so it really wasn't too much of a stretch for her to start chaining it with other moves.

Nearly 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of bug rammed into his right shoulder. The force was too much to keep him on his feet and Aella watched as he followed the momentum through into Defense Curl. He did the same thing against Galvantula's Lunge.

It wasn't bad, but he really needed a counter afterwards. At least Meredith had that covered this time when a terrible screech from Heracross came through the barrier. She had struck her carapace right at the bottom of her horn. Blood dripped from the corner of her eye as the vessels had burst.

Crackling came from the fist of the Kirlia. He had gripped the vines on Tamall's left side to reach his target. Unfortunately, a giant horn and clawed arm was in his way, "Kirlia! lia! Kirlia ki"—he smacked the horn of his ally with a staticless palm—"Kirlia! Kirlia!"

Meredith looked over at the very irate climber and locked eyes with him. She grinned and used Charm. That just ticked him off even more. He shouted even louder and swung a charged fist but there was a gap that led him to swing it pointlessly through the air.

Kirlia's feet scrabbled for perchance on Tamall's vines but Tamall didn't want the crazy Psychic on him. He couldn't shake him off because he was sitting with a bug on him so we improvised using the very vines Kirlia was trying to stand on.

Kirlia practically screamed as his impediment had moved away to perform Brick Break but now some stupid vines were in the way. His anger was so potent that Flare could feel it behind a barrier and without even touching his mind.

The way he screamed and flailed about and the sheer amount of profanity he apparently was throwing out made her wonder if he had anger issues.

"Kirlia Calm Mind and Magical Leaf target the Marill! Heracross! In the air for Aerial Ace! Let's show this world our bloody first!" He punched his fist in the air and struck a pose. Never mind the fact that none of those moves even had to be with punching.

She didn't want a change of targets just yet. Aella grinned, this time she wasn't in a bind and could prevent it, "Bounce into him Meredith! Tamall, Growth and sit on him. He'll be limited in what moves he can use."

Kirlia somehow screamed even louder as toughened vines dragged him to the ground. The glow from Calm Mind was visible so he clearly still respected and listened to Tristan but the sheer ferocity was unnerving. There was a burst of flame from the Psychic's fist as Tamall stepped over, careful not to step on, and dropped his weight and completely covered the small Fairy.

Meredith hadn't wasted a second after Aella gave her orders. Charging across the flat to put herself in front of the bug, shouting all the while. Being smart enough to get the memo instead of launching herself high into the air and onto her back, the aquatic sprang forwards cutting the time and damage to half.

The horrible buzz was overshadowed by the bray Tamall released. His chin was tucked completely against his chest and Aella could see a smear of opaque red, green and blue.

Ice and frost covered the leaves at the bottom of his coat and she can hear the popping snap fire made when it burns living plants. He used Round again and there was a sound of shattering and pink stained glass shards from the Psychics shield underneath Tamall.

Having wings gave Heracross the ability to control their landing. The Body Slam earned a squeak from under her at impact. With a backhanded Brick Break she bounced twice before crashing into Aella's barrier. Jolts and twitches worked the way down her rotund body before Refresh cleansed them away.

Aella crouched, her face millimeters from the barrier. She could hear Meredith take a breath and it didn't sound quite right, "Easy that was three hits in a row, breathe," her soft voice turns hard as she calls Tamall over.

The burns slowed him down, but his thick coat protected him from frostbite. Frozen leaves fall and shatter like glass. Heracross boldly latched onto the leaves near his tail. His response was immediate.

With it being less than two months since he first saw the sun, since he first experienced days without fear, the trauma was still there. Aella and her own had learned within the first 24 hours the leaves of and near his tail and back legs he was deeply wary and cautious of touch.

Meredith was quick to climb onto his back and offer relief from the burns only to jump off again and in the sight of an Ice Punch. Again she crashed into the barrier in front of Aella. Her breath was misty and rough as ice spread across her belly.

Tamall brayed and stomped his back off, sending shards of rock their way. With a sharp buzz Heracross ascended high out of the line of pebbles that would have barely affected him.

Odd but Aella could only focus more on the state of her own, specifically Meredith. She was clearly on her last legs. A curse slipped out under her breath, "hah we really need to win this"—she sighed, rubbing the old burn on her palm—"or at minimum tie it's either that or we're probably out of the competition."

Meredith was a mouse and being so she had very good hearing. Right now she didn't like what she was hearing. Despite some of the pain, Meredith was enjoying this far too much. So to hear that it might be over soon, was not something she wanted to hear.

She wasn't gonna let this end yet. Her feet scraped under her body so she could put herself back on her feet and stand tall. Only for the ice to make her shiver, unable to take a single step.

Tamall's blaring Round was cut off and his head knocked to the side when a fist coated in darkness came from the enraged Psychic. He didn't yield and stomped a hoof sending more rock flying.

Heracross practically hissed, flying higher. Tristan was shouting at the top of his lungs to bolster her confidence. Aella didn't follow except for, 'Skiddo is not a Gliscor,' and, 'it can't fly!' spoke volumes of trauma.

The little pissed off Psychic had to throw up a Reflect and stepped back. Aella who is quietly glad that its anger hadn't taken away its self preservation. Tamall rumbled and shook his leaves. He goaded with the glow of Synthesis reversing the damage his fire and ice did.

Kirlia was huffing with anger as gray energy built slowly around a held fist, 'Oh no,' Aella thought, 'that's Mega Punch.'

She opened her mouth to have him move when a woeful ballad overshadowed the battle. Meredith had started singing but it wasn't a joyful tune. It was full of dips and rises of sorrow, like being reminded of a bad dream…

Aella blinked, 'dream? Sing? It's on the list,' the Marill line had over a dozen different egg moves with multiple moves in limbo like Light Screen. It was considered both an egg move, due to some learning the move obscenely fast, and a naturally learned move, picked up at the average speed.

'If everyone but Meredith falls asleep, does that count as our win?' Aella hadn't looked into the deep technicalities of the rules. Yawn and Sing didn't remove a pokemon from the field…so no disqualification. If worse came to worse Meredith could Splash and smack Tamall till he's awake and they could Helping Hand and Round to do a large chunk of damage or take them out.

Bleak energy bled from the aquatic mouse's skin and invisible it crawled across the field. It flowed past Tamall and seeped through Kirlia's Reflect and swirled around Heracross. Only the indomitably strong barrier by the field's psychics kept it from spreading out into the audience and other fields.

The symphony ends, and no one's fallen asleep. Aella had to clamp her jaw to hold back the biggest groan and sigh. Of course any new move without practice is not going to do the greatest.

"Marill…" Meredith wobbles on her feet. Then faceplants.

"Staying in," Aella shouted, not even giving the referee time to ask.

Tamall huffes to the command, "Moving target! Stay on your hooves! Will whittle them down with Round!"

The arena wasn't huge but it had enough space for the goat to run and nearly run over a small angry Fairy. Heracross dove from the sky. Her attempts to punch out at a front leg or grapple Tamall to the ground weren't going too well when she kept recoiling with every thrown pebble.

Aella held her breath. Blood had started to drip from where ice had frozen to his pelt began to thaw, 'Tamall can Synthesis one or two more short without over exerting himself but to change this game of cat and'—

Tamall dropped. Like one of those stuffed pokeplushies that fell off of a display stand, he just dropped. Aella heard Tristan shout and a heavy crash followed moments behind. Heracross was sprawled across the ground almost in Meredith's iconic faceplant and the ever angry one was passed out on his back.

A tie was called leaving Aella and Tristan with one question, "What just happened?"

For the first time in the entire competition Aella went over to the referee to ahh complain? She'd seen other trainers do it when they disagreed with the outcome. All of her past losses and wins made sense even if it didn't to others, she unconsciously shivered remembering Sebastian's screeching, but this was a bit… sudden.

—"Bloody happened for that to bloody happen! It doesn't make any bloody sense for both of mine of fighting spirit to just drop like that!"

Ranting and pacing in circles made him both easy and a challenge to understand depending on which way he was facing. The referee stood by, waiting for him to run out of steam instead of speaking over him.

Aella didn't have the greatest amount of patience right now, "Stop ranting, I want a dang answer!"

"All pokemon in the arena had been on a timer, and that timer ran out."

"Timer?" Aella repeated.

The referee gave a blank look before realization set in, "You're Marill used Perish Song."

She didn't get to respond because Tristan found his words first, "Perish Song!? You used Perish Song! My parents would have never let such dishonorable fighting in their dojo occur," he started reciting some passage about darkness and dishonor from disgraceful moves before Aella could harshly cut him off.

"I thought it was a failed Sing! I didn't know her egg move was Perish Song."

"Pokemon can be tested for their egg moves! Every bloody trainer knows that. You should have had them test"—

"That's enough young man," a volunteer had come over and grabbed his shoulder, "Perish Song is aloud in this competition, and egg testing though is possible is also not cheep especially for those not as privileged."

Tristan tried to argue saying it shouldn't be since it was dishonorable but was quickly silenced with words that he should take his pokemon to the Pokecenter now. He sulkes and walks off into the dissipating crowd.

She could hear the volunteer then give a snigger, "You're lucky Perish Song is a fairly rare egg move."

"Now the question is, how does one train it, and what's her last egg move?"

"I have no clue on the first one but I can tell yea egg moves do somewhat naturally reveal themselves with enough time and training," the lady nodded and waved Aella off. One of the kids for the field's next match had already shown up.

Her steps back to the center were halted when her hair was whipped askew and a bang made her ears ring. The barrier flashed into existence. She couldn't see the ongoing battle through the tight crowd in the area she was passing, but the clamor from the audience told her someone was fighting with an extravagant style. She was kinda glad the pokecenter doors were semi soundproof.

The lines had gotten shorter and with only one and a half more days of battles left some of the pools were facing their last match tomorrow. Aella easily spotted Tristan's more unique hair style of having both sides of his head shaved, leaving a small strip of hair carefully groomed down the middle.

She could have just left him but a Kirlia had left curiosities in her mind. He was standing against a near a corner of the room with one foot placed on top of the other having some sort of meditation moment.

"Is that helping you calm down?" There was the slightest wobble in his balance, but he didn't open his eyes.

"I'm starting to see why my father sent me to participate in this competition," Tristan took a deep breath in, "These last few matches have shown me that the rigorous honorable arts of the fighting style does not translate into every type of battle. If I wish to succeed as a great Fighting type trainer I must understand that."

"Seems like we both have things we want to understand," Aella leaned against the wall, "Your Kirlia's wrath for instance."

"My Psy of punching wishes to become a Gallade. His bloody hate for the Fairy type isn't understood. To the point that he seemed to have forced an evolution just days ago," he opened his eyes and looked down at the palm of one of his hands, "He's not supposed to evolve for another three years.

"Father says it's rare and now he throws a tantrum because I don't have a Dawn Stone. I will likely lose him when I return home so he may be corrected from being a bloody danger, for others, and himself," he clenched his fist.

"Isn't it written somewhere that a pokemon shouldn't evolve twice within a month unless we're talking mega evolution? And secondly, how did he force it? He doesn't seem mature enough."

Tristan blinked and looked her way, "I believe father said the same thing to your last question," he gazed off for a moment, then nodded, "Bloody hell it's probably why father emphasized the 'forced' in his sentence.

"You've heard the rumors of the Celadon and the evil organization before the second round?" Aella gave a short nod. She knew where he was going, but I didn't mean she liked when people brought up Team Rocket around her.

"There is word they do such things as that, apparently it is a painful process," Tristan let out of breath, "It makes me feel like I haven't done my job as a trainer. The fact that one of my own pokemon will be willing to go through that."

He whispered under his breath, "Bloody evil they are," Aella simply closed her eyes and clenched the muscles in her neck and head, nodding felt like giving too much away.

They didn't say much after that and Aella melded away into the crowd, leaving him to his meditation and mind. She didn't have any more matches with Tristan after this so it really was an unanswered question whether or not she'd run into him again.

Aella meandered through the edge of the carnival going on in Terracotta. Little kids flung rings, or at least tried to, on too bottles. Three tossed orange striped balls into hoops, battling to see who got more through the net. A perfectly square pond constructed likely through the use of Ground types had a fishing game with fake Magikarp.

There were games that involved using one's pokemon too. Aquatic pokemon had to push a small metal ball across the sandy bottom of another long rectangular pool to a designated spot within a time limit. Another one involved breaking boards in half. Although taking a closer look it seemed like the boards were designed to break in half.

She snorted thinking Pierce would like that. It reminded her She still needed to stop by the library and look up techniques of teaching Endure or at least a different way than Flare taught it to Void. The broken ghost technically couldn't feel pain and simply used the move due to an instinctive self-preservation. A sigh broke free as she glided through the crowd.

"First Whirlwind then Endure and Perish Song within the same week… in all three years we've never had three moves learned or unlocked within such a tiny period of time, even in the beginning," she scratched her head and the small dollop of wax that hung off her hat wiggled, "and don't even get me started on chaining moves and combining moves."

Out in the wild fighting pokemon on par with her own, she rarely, if ever took on. Unless it was weaker than her own, or they had a massive advantage, they ran. Slow sometimes win the race but when they started cresting that peak, there were limitations if they didn't take risks. Stronger fights came with greater injuries, Aella either needed to step up her potions or make a better fail safe.

It irked her, questions she couldn't or didn't have answers for.

Congratulations you get a slightly longer chapter because the writer did not want to add a sixth part. Honestly, I only wanted to write a three chapter competition but after estimating word count for battles, conversations, information and the sheer scale of the event…I realized this is going to take a few more chapters.

Chapter 15 and the final part of Terracotta Town will be released on December 1 2023

Thank you for reading.