"How long do you think I should wait until I call Maria again?"
Alec was balancing on the teeter totter with Crash, each of them on one side, carefully managing their distance between each other so that it lay level. Veronica was in the middle; she'd lifted it up to balance it while they got the hang of it themselves.
"Sza-sza," Alec chirped, concentrating.
Veronica sighed. "I don't want to bother her," she said, eyes on Alec's tail as he swished it. "She said she was busy… But I don't want to never call her again."
"Mree," Alec started, just as the teeter totter wobbled from a shift in his balance. Veronica caught it before either he or Crash could tumble off. He shook himself. "Mree fun," he finished.
"Yeah. I want to see her again, at least for a little bit."
Crash twitched his antenna toward her, mumbling, "Kssh…"
"Don't you like seeing people, Crash? Maria is nice. We're gonna meet up in Tel Despa."
He gave her a horrified look, antennae flung up and splayed.
"I know! But it'll be better, with someone who's been there before. We have to go through it anyway, to get to the next gym… After this one."
"CHA!" Alec crowed, stepping incorrectly again. Crash almost skidded off; Veronica was nearly too late to catch the teeter totter.
Crash scolded Alec, chattering and buzzing until his ears and tail drooped.
"Za," he said, apologetic, and moved forward slowly so Crash could hop down properly. He whipped around to Veronica. "Battle," he insisted, and then again, chomping the word into little kitty-cat chirps and flounces, hopping circles around her.
"So I guess you want to go to the gym?" she guessed, bemused. He butted his head against her thigh.
Muffled by her jeans, he insisted, "Mrrff."
"I need to learn more words," she sighed.
"Yes," he agreed, eyes wide, tipped up to look at her. He whipped away as she lunged for him, to catch his head in her hands and scruff through his fluffy mane and make it all staticy.
She chased him, and Crash, who had zipped ahead of them both, back to the pokémon center. From there they caught a tram to the gym.
Despite having a badge already, Veronica jittered with nerves. She'd spent a few days training, Alec had evolved, but she was still worried. Gyms were a big deal. She couldn't even sit on the tram, opting to stand next to the seat Crash and Alec were sitting on, just to have something to do. Even if that something was holding on while the tram ran over ice and leaned around curves, it was still something.
"Ksssh?" Crash ventured. She cut her gaze from the window over to him. She was getting better at reading him. He was always nervous, but the way he held his antenna told her if the anxiety was typical or something new.
"Are you worried about the gym?" she asked him. His antenna dipped–relief he hadn't had to explain?–and she thought about what to say. It'll all be okay, you'll do great? She did think those things. He'd been working hard. But… Well, those kinds of words never really helped, did they? So she admitted, "Me too."
Crash crept closer to her, sliding on the slick plastic tram seat. She set her free hand on his shell. "I'm not used to any of this stuff. And I feel like we've moved really quick. I haven't even been training a month and this'll be the second badge. But… If we're here, we may as well try." She scratched at the delicate space his scales met, where he enjoyed it. "But you know what? I'm excited anyway. What about you?"
His antennae dipped down to drape over her arm. His eyes closed. "Yes," he buzzed, the vibration of it almost lost under the tram. But she could feel the sound in her arm, where they were touching. She smiled, heart thudding as they got closer to the gym, and he didn't have to see when it strained and dropped.
The Fracturra gym was a large building, taller than it was wide. It was tower-like, with a central structure, but it had box-like constructions on it, none of them level or parallel with another. One of the top ones had a balcony on it, double-doored with several pokémon sleeping on it, ones she couldn't quite make out from below. From the bottom of one of those box rooms, which poked out from the central tower, was a big, waving flag.
"Strange place," she said. Crash, in her arms now, agreed. Alec just stared, fascinated. "Well… Time to try." She pushed in through the front door. Deep breath in, long breath out. Ready to go.
"Welcome to Fracturra's gym," the attendant said, in such a fake enthusiastic way that Veronica's nose wrinkled. "Are you a trainer? Let me alert Cora that you're here. How many badges do you have?"
"Just the one…"
"I'll put that in the message, too. Since you're coming in with one badge, you'll first be up against a junior gym trainer. Proceed into the first room, please." Already the attendant at the desk in that front room had lost interest, looking down at his phone.
"Okay…" She edged past his desk and into the first room.
There was no one in it at first, human or pokémon, but the walls were lined with what she took, at first, for shelving units. Then she noticed how they spanned entire walls in multiple levels like wide-spaced stairs, and how, where they met the wall, were openings into an entirely different room.
"This is weird, right?" she asked her pokémon, but they didn't have a chance to reply. A door on one of the walls opened and a teenager practically fell in.
"I'm here! I'm not late!" she said, breathless. "I'm a gym trainer! Hi! Let's battle! One badge? Right?"
"Right!" Veronica had reeled back, startled.
"Okay! Cool!" The gym trainer plucked a ball from her belt and flung it out.
The pokémon that popped out didn't hit the ground. It flapped in front of its trainer, purple-gray, bat-winged. Her pokédex called it a woobat.
It put a slight damper on Crash's bug-typing; the woobat's flying canceled it out. But that was fine, because she had Alec!
He scampered out to meet it, and they spent a moment running and flying circles around each other.
"Oh, that's so cute," Teen Gym Trainer cooed. "So cute! Oh–I have a job, oh jeez. Jenna! Battle positions!" She struck a pose. Jenna followed her lead, wings flung out.
"Zaa!" Alec crowed, and struck a pose too. Veronica and Crash exchanged baffled looks.
An intercom system buzzed gently to life. "Two on two battle," the voice of the bored attendant said.
"Jeez," Teen Gym Trainer said, wind going out of her sails. "He can't even be bothered to come in…?"
"Challenger versus, uh… whatever her name is."
"I am totally reporting him."
"And… battle."
The battle did not begin immediately. Teen Gym Trainer had her eyes closed, head tipped up. She breathed in deep, like Veronica did to calm herself. "Right," she said. "Okay! Jenna! Gust!"
The battle was not quick like they usually were. Teen Gym Trainer, despite first appearances, was a professional. She knew what she was doing.
Alec charged on Veronica's command, and he audibly crackled as he did, all that static building up. Jenna's gust pushed him back, cut lines through his fur, but he remained steadfast.
"Oh, dangit! Not on my watch! Jenna–attract!"
The woobat's wings came together in front of her. She flung them out, a dim purple glow around them. Alec, who had been watching her intently, suddenly blinked and relaxed.
"Chaa?" His head dipped.
"Chee," she returned in a titter. His fur crackled and fluffed out even more.
"What the heck." Where was Veronica's tough, ready to tussle luxio? Why was he scuffing a paw on the floor, and almost giggling? "Alec! Thundershock!"
"No use, kiddo," Teen Gym Trainer gloated. "He thinks she's way too cute to shock. Right, kitty cat?"
Alec kind of shook himself, uncertain. "Zaa," he said, and Jenna tittered again. "Zaa..?"
"Allie," Veronica pleaded, and finally, Alec made a decision. His fur crackled again; he scraped his claws on the ground, and Jenna's titter turned into a shriek as he flung electricity out at her.
Jenna, fluff as puffed out as Alec's now, flapped unstably in the air. "Waah," she said, hurt and sad. Alec winced.
"Oh, how rude! Jen, air cutter!"
She crossed her wings again, but instead of a purple glow, air sharp as a knife flung out at Alec. It slammed hard into him, but didn't knock him down. The battle began in earnest then, Alec chasing after his flying foe and occasionally getting overcome by how cute he thought she was, unable to follow Veronica's instructions.
It was frustrating. She was used to Alec obeying her without a second thought. He'd always wanted to listen to her. Now it was like he couldn't, much as he wanted to. It was a bad feeling, like being on a too-fast tram, rocking under her feet, out of control. She hated it, hated it, that out of control feeling.
But it wasn't like it was unfair, was it, that move? It had to be legal, normal, natural for the woobat to use. That made her feel better, and grounded her feet to the floor. All she had to do was outlast it, get past what Alec couldn't do and find what he could.
He was fine using charge. It didn't hurt the woobat. And even if he couldn't hit her with a thunder shock, if he didn't just miss, then he kept that charge for a next chance.
"Strategy," she hissed to Crash, who was huddled next to her, watching in rapt attention. And maybe it wasn't the most intricate strategy, it didn't need to be–especially if she switched it up.
The woobat spiraled out of the way of a thundershock. Alec hadn't put too much power into it, she knew; he still really didn't want to hurt the woobat, opponent or not. She had to order another charge, letting Alec take a staggering air cutter as he did so.
Thundershock wasn't a move that needed Alec to touch her to hit. In fact, the closer she got, the more flustered Alec became, and the more likely he was to miss. Veronica noticed this late, the second time she swooped up to him to coo and make chirping noises and the electricity hit a wall instead of her. But it gave her an idea, if she could pull it off.
"Charge!" she ordered, the built-up electricity worn off after another failed shock.
"Keep trying, kiddo," Teen Gym Trainer taunted. "Jenna, get up close! Why don't you give him a little smooch? Then you can toss him away with a confusion!"
Jenna spiraled in, spinning around to catch Alec's wobbly attention. His eyes briefly swirled, but he shook himself out. She was right there. He crackled with static that had nowhere to go, that wouldn't have anywhere to go, because the woobat was right there.
It wasn't thundershock she told Alec to use. He expected that; so did Jenna and Jenna's trainer. Instead, Veronica snapped out, "Bite!" and the new order pierced right through Alec's infatuation with the woobat.
He lunged up and caught her right on a wing with his teeth, cloaked in dark energy. She shrieked in surprise and hurt, flailing, but the psychic power she'd been building fizzed out on contact with Alec's teeth. He shook her and flung her away. This time, she didn't catch herself in midair, and fell, dazed, to the ground.
"Jenna! Jenna! Can you get up?" her trainer fretted, but Jenna stayed down. "Aw, man! Return!"
The woobat vanished into her pokéball. Alec, upset at what he'd done, cried out mournfully as she vanished. He went to run across the field, but Veronica was quicker. She clicked his ball open and returned him to his, too, to get over the infatuation.
"Victory to challenger," the intercom said, a few seconds late and dripping with boredom.
Teen Gym Trainer closed her eyes and sighed. "I really don't like that guy," she said. "Well, good job! Ready for the next one?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Oh, ew. You're only like three years younger than me," the gym trainer lamented. "I am not old enough to be ma'am."
"Sorry, miss!"
"...Better."
"Second round," the intercom chimed in. "Choose your pokémon."
Teen Gym Trainer slapped at her belt and yanked off a second pokéball. This one was primarily white, with a red band around the middle. She threw out the ball, which broke open and materialized the pokémon contained inside.
Crash was already out. With a nervous murmur, he scuttled forward to take his place on the field.
"Alright, Peony! Let's squash this bug!" She and her second pokémon struck yet another pose. This time her partner was a round, pink pokémon with a purple floral pattern on it. Her pokédex told Veronica it was a munna.
It didn't have a secondary typing to protect it from Crash, which was good because Crash muttered out an offended chitter.
"That was rude," Veronica translated for him. "He didn't like that."
"It was just a taunt," Teen Gym Trainer defended. "It doesn't mean anything!"
"Still rude, though." Veronica flung out her hand. "Sand attack!"
Crash whirled around and dug into the packed dirt that made up the gym's floor. He flung sand back at the munna, who squealed in surprise and shook her head hard.
"Hey! He didn't say go!" Teen Gym Trainer squawked.
"I definitely did," the intercom buzzed in. Veronica stifled a giggle.
"Dangit! Peony, defense curl!"
"You too, Crash!"
This one was easier than the first battle. If Peony had a move like attract, she wasn't told to use it. And while she floated, it wasn't high enough to avoid Crash's attacks or get away quickly. He was definitely a lot faster than her, too, able to move into her threat range and back out before she could swing around to attack him. He barrelled around the field, skittering around the munna with movements that spoke of the agility course they'd been practicing at.
"Horrible roomba," gym trainer squealed. "Psybeam that thing!"
"You can take it, Crash!" Veronica said. "You got this! Right towards her! Struggle bug!"
Peony definitely couldn't attack and dodge at the same time. Crash could take a direct psybeam, though it left him worse for wear than Veronica had expected; she couldn't rely on him doing that just to get in close any more than that.
But right up close was where struggle bug shone. Flailing, almost like he was panicking, Crash struck the munna with glowing green energy over and over, like tiny bullets. She squealed and reeled backwards, flipping over briefly, belly-up in the air.
While she righted herself, Crash curled up to protect himself in another defense curl. It was Peony's turn to throw a fit, squealing in anger at the injustice of a bug-type move. She and Crash had been taking turns defense curling and flinging moves at each other, something that became relevant as the Teen Gym Trainer reflected her pokémon's attitude.
"Stored power!"
The munna's eyes flashed, and a wave of energy washed out from her and slammed into Crash, who shrieked in pain and skidded back, almost right to Veronica. A second later his pokéball activated; he vanished inside.
That hadn't happened before. He'd fled, sure, but he'd never put himself back in his ball. Right as the ball fell back into her hand, Alec's flashed open and released him back onto the field. That, too, was new! She never usually had them back in their balls; was that why? Was this normal?
"Aw man!" gym trainer complained. "I almost had that bug."
"He can't help it," Veronica piped up in defense. Alec looked to have recovered some; he had lost his pining uncertainty at least. "Alec– You're taking over!" Unless that wasn't allowed? No one had said anything about switching.
"We can still do this, Peony," gym trainer insisted, though she did not seem overly convinced.
"Nuh-nuh," Peony lamented, and aimed another stored power down at Veronica's pokémon.
It might have taken a weakened Alec out if it had hit. But Crash's sand attacks hadn't worn off; Peony still struggled to see through watering, blinking eyes. She missed. Alec bounded up to her and hit her with a quickly ordered bite. She made a sound not unlike a squeaky toy being stepped on, whatever power making her levitate giving out.
If Crash had lasted one more round, he would have taken her out himself. She told herself she'd tell him that, boost him up. As it was, Alec had gone two for two in the battle, and he had just enough energy to strut about it.
Veronica dropped to her knees, cuddling him in her lap, while he butted his head up under her chin and purred and purred.
"Good job," the gym trainer said, returning her munna.
"Challenger wins," the intercom put in, late again.
"Ugh, obviously. Well, you get to move on to Cora, kiddo. Nice job. Feel free to take a break. Ain't fair to go into a gym battle without being fresh. We've got a little mini center healer here, if you want it? Only fits one ball at a time, though."
"You can go first," Veronica told her, still holding Alec.
"Aw, thanks. Nice of you." Teen Gym Trainer ducked out the same door she'd come in from. When she returned, Veronica had stood up and returned Alec to his ball as well. A quick, one at a time healing in the next room (which, disturbingly, reminded Veronica of the teacher's lounge at school, which she'd gotten to see by chance once), and then she was back in the first room, being waved forward into the actual gym area by the gym trainer.
Whatever Veronica had expected the inside of Cora's gym to be, the reality of it was stranger. The walls were covered in more of those shelves, with bridges strung between them in places, ramps up to higher-placed ones, and, underneath it all, fabric-padded towers with baskets and cushions all along the floor. The only place not covered in either a soft, fluffy bed or a wicker basket was the arena in the center of the room.
But all those baskets, beds, and shelves on the walls were occupied. Cat-like pokémon sprawled and crept around, chatting with each other, batting at toys, or sleeping. There were members of the shinx line, even less fluffy and blue ones that must be from out of the region, and several other kinds, too, ones she recognized like litleo and purrloin and their evolved forms, and others she didn't, like a bearded bipedal cat scratching intently at a tower, and a tiny green kitten curled up in a basket near the door.
Beside her, Alec gawped. One of the cats batting a ball nearby batted it too close to him; he snapped to it and moved to pounce. At the last moment he remembered himself and drew up straight, a short, embarrassed "mrrp!" escaping him.
Across the room, at a glass garden table, sat two women. One of them Veronica recognized from a Fracturra brochure; the other was a mystery. Maybe another gym trainer, or maybe not. Either way, Veronica shuffled forward slowly.
"Hey, good afternoon. Did you have a good battle with Molly?" Cora was standing up, leaving behind the other woman to stand on her side of the arena.
"Who–" Veronica started. "Oh, the gym trainer. Yeah, we did. She did a good job."
"I'm glad to hear that. You don't mind if my friend watches our battle, do you?"
"That's fine," Veronica said, fighting back a wave of instinctual shyness. "I'm, Veronica, and I'm ready whenever you are."
"I see you have a luxio." Cora had zeroed in on Alec. "He's really cute." Alec preened, nose up in the air.
"Oh, thank you. I think he's cute too."
"Do you brush him often? Or let him handle it himself?"
"I tried to brush him, but I kept getting shocked…"
Cora nodded. "You'll need to invest in a good pair of rubber gloves. When shinx evolve into luxio, then luxray, their manes get a lot longer and fluffier, and they're prone to tangling without regular maintenance. If you want, after our battle–"
"Cora," the woman still sitting at the table interrupted delicately.
"But first the battle." Cora didn't seem at all abashed at getting distracted by feline care. "How many badges do you have?"
"Just the one." Veronica stood in the box on her side of the field.
"Alright. I'll be using three pokémon. You may use as many or as few as you like." Cora raised her voice. "Sugar! Center stage, please!"
From a pile of pillows, a tiny purple-gray form popped out and rolled its way down. On stubby legs, it waddled over to the field, stopping halfway to press a tiny paw to its mouth and squeak out a yawn.
"Up and at 'em, sweetie," Cora encouraged, and Sugar finally took her place in front of her trainer. She was, of course, a feline pokémon, with floppy ears and big, wide, unblinking eyes that Veronica couldn't decide were creepy or endearing.
Veronica's pokédex told her Sugar was an espurr, a pure psychic type. She'd fought two psychic types now; she knew how to handle them, definitely.
"Nya?" Sugar said, oddly inflectionless. She was looking at Alec, who jerked when she stared at him and looked around like there'd be someone nearby she was looking at instead.
"Um." She had been going to send Crash out first, but. "Alec, do you want to go first?"
"...Mrr." He stepped out on the field, fluffed out in a way that told her he was a little unnerved. She couldn't blame him. That espurr still hadn't blinked, even when she had yawned.
"Nya." Sugar stared at him, more intently now that he was officially her opponent.
"Ready?" Cora prompted. "Then let's battle. Sugar, calm mind."
"Alec, charge!"
Sugar's fur, mussed from her nap, fluffed and smoothed itself. Her ears lifted briefly. She didn't seem phased at all from Alec's sudden crackle, and how he'd fallen into a prowling stance, creeping up on her.
"Calm mind again."
"Thundershock!"
Alec's arc of electricity hit Sugar directly. It passed through her body in a big shiver, briefly frizzing out her fur–and that was it. She otherwise seemed relatively unfazed.
Alec made a strange kkkk chirping sound.
"Nya," Sugar responded, and raised a tiny paw as her trainer ordered a confusion.
Veronica thought she knew that move. She didn't expect Sugar to rip a chunk out of the floor of the field, even if that chunk was pretty small. Alec yelped as it hit him directly in the chest; he scrambled back, unease in the whip of his tail.
"Don't let her psych you out, Allie," Veronica called. He twitched an ear back at her. "Actually–return the favor! Leer!"
He crouched down, glaring fiercely at Sugar. She shivered, just barely, and flung another piece of hard packed dirt at him. This time, at Veronica's shout, he leaped out of the way; it crashed to the ground and sprayed shrapnel everywhere.
"Get her, Alec! Bite!"
"Scratch, Sugar!"
Alec raced forward, jaws open, ready to snap shut, and latched onto Sugar's arm just as she brought her paws forward and viciously clawed at him. They tusseled like that, yanking and scratching at each other, locked in a skirmish, for long enough that Veronica's heartbeat thudded in her ears.
Then Sugar squealed loudly and flung him away with a giant, bass-boosted burst of psychic energy; it thundered, on the edge of perception, through Veronica's body.
Now she finally looked hurt. So did Alec, but any progress was progress. His fur was still fluffy, but fluffed out wrong, in messy bunches. Sugar was clutching pawfuls of his pink fluff, and she shook it off.
"Oh no," Cora said, sorrow in her voice, enough to make Veronica look at her in alarm. "Oh no, Sugar!"
At that, Sugar's face fell. She sniffled, huffed a breath, and then loudly sobbed.
"Reow?!" Alec's defensive posture loosened; the fur along his back stiffened and bristled.
"Confusion." This time there wasn't any debris; Sugar's ears raised. Veronica caught a glimpse of strange yellow ring-shaped markings right under them before another wave of psychic energy billowed out from her and slammed into Alec.
It hit him hard enough to lift him off his paws and send him rolling back, completely taken off guard. He jumped quickly back to his paws, breathing heavily. "REOW!" he caterwauled, angrier than his trainer had ever heard.
"That was fake tears," Cora put in. "Sometimes it's good to have a strategy that involves a cue other than the attack name!"
That was smart! Really mean, really bad for Alec, but smart. Veronica would have to remember it.
"Nya," Sugar said, a little more weakly than before.
"Bite her, Allie." The vicious way she snapped it out was echoed by her luxio's growl as he threw himself forward, claws out and digging grooves into the field.
"Nya," Sugar said again as he pelted towards her, nervous now. "...Nya–nyah!" She had turned to run, to sprint on her stubby little legs, but Alec reached her first. His teeth fastened around her tail; he yanked her backwards so she landed on her luckily flat little face. He pinned her with a paw and latched onto her with dark-energy fangs.
She squealed and flailed, kicking her little paws, but the psychic energy around her dimmed and flickered as the dark interfered.
"Ooh, oof–Okay! Sugar is unable to battle!" Cora called quickly. Immediately Alec let her go and hopped backwards away from her. The pokémon in the gym erupted into yowls and calls, like a crowd in an actual arena. Alec spun around in place to take it all in, ears back.
Even the cats that had been sleeping had sat up to watch. Veronica's cheeks darkened as she realized there had been more than Cora's friend watching. But still. She couldn't get worked up over it, even as her heart thudded and her stomach twisted uneasily.
Cora had scrambled for, and found, Sugar's pokéball on a shelf behind the table. She recalled the sniffling espurr into it. "You'll be fine, sweetie," she promised. She kissed the ball and set it back down. "First round to the challenger," she put in. "Next up–Romie, center stage, please!" From the sidelines came another espurr, this one faux-wailing in dismay. "Chin up, baby girl, you can do this."
With her trainer's encouragement, Romie waddled onto the field. She didn't look like Sugar, not fully. She was fluffier, but she was also an entirely different color. It wasn't unusual for pokémon to come in a lighter or darker version of their 'standard' appearance, but Romie lacked the purple-gray of her species entirely. She was, instead, a lovely light pink.
"Is she supposed to be that color?" Veronica asked, feeling foolish.
"She's a shiny," Cora said, and the term jogged Veronica's memory.
"Oh, of course!" Shiny pokémon. They were a lot more rare than their standard counterparts; some kind of gene mutation, maybe? She'd forgotten. However it happened, Romie was pink instead of purple.
"Myaaa," Romie lamented, scruffing her tiny paws in her cheek fur.
"Yes, she's a shiny, and she thinks she's really special and pretty and shouldn't have to battle when it interrupts one of her daily naps." Cora's scolding tone was lighthearted and affectionate. "You'd think that means she's okay with battling sometimes, but no–she's always napping."
Veronica couldn't help a little giggle, but it was nervous at the same time.
"Not that I'd make her battle if she actually didn't want to," Cora put in, half to herself. "Okay. Round two. Are you ready?"
Veronica and Alec exchanged looks. He nodded, nose twitching. "Ready," Veronica confirmed.
"Reflect, Romie," Cora ordered.
"Charge, Allie!"
Alec bristled and buzzed. Romie raised her paws and a translucent purple barrier flickered to life around her.
"Calm mind."
"Thundershock!"
That same serene expression that Sugar had in her battle came over Romie. This time, though, his thundershock did a little more damage than it had before. Romie twitched and shuddered, a little zip of bristling fur raising on her back she had to shake out.
Alec bounced back from her, suspicious. His trainer reflected it; Veronica paced across her side of the field, trying to look at it from different angles, figure out a different strategy–she only had the one with Alec, and Cora knew it now.
"Nasty plot," Cora said, putting it forward like more of a suggestion. Romie's lax mouth spread in an abrupt, sharp grin, showing off her sharp little fangs. She giggled, dark and low, nyeh-heh-heh-heh.
"Ch-charge again," Veronica stuttered, embarrassed that the evil little laugh had genuinely unnerved her.
Alec seemed to feel the same. "Mrawr," he scolded Romie as he shuffled his paws to help build up his electricity again.
"Mya," she crooned, still showing all her teeth. He lunged at her on Veronica's order, electricity flaring and crackling, leaving singes on her pink fur. Still, despite the direct hit, Romie still didn't look too hurt, and Alec was flagging.
A bite hurt her, when he landed one, but that barrier she'd put up flickered against her and his teeth and took some of the juice from it. Up close like that, she hit him hard with another confusion. His defenses were still weak from Sugar's fake tears earlier; the attack knocked him down again. When he went to stagger to his feet, he failed halfway through and collapsed back down, raggedly panting.
"Alec is unable to battle," Veronica called hastily, heart in her throat. She pulled Alec back into his pokéball and pressed it to her chest. She minimized it to fit in her pocket, taking Crash's out right after.
She was down to her last pokémon, and Cora still had two left to fight with. But she could do it. Crash was a bug type.
"You can do it, Crash!" she said as she tossed him out, just to get him an extra bit of pep. She thought it worked; his antenna twitched hopefully.
Like with Teen Gym Trainer–Molly–she flung a move out before Cora might have been ready. Maybe it was cheating, or maybe it wasn't. When Crash spun around to fling dirt into Romie's eyes, a sand attack, Cora only grinned.
"Sneaky," she said, and it might have been approving.
"Myaarll," Romie squealed, her usual tiny mew turning garbled as she scrubbed at her eyes, which had, of course, been fully open for that hit. Now she was blinking.
"Shake it off, Romie, and listen for him instead," Cora ordered. Crash's many tiny feet made a distinctive shuffling as he moved around the field.
Now would've been a great time for a hidden move, Veronica realized, one where she'd have him make a sound elsewhere just to book it from a blinded opponent–but she didn't have one of those yet. All she had was–
"Struggle bug!"
A bombardment of tiny green bullets lifted from Crash's back and pelted Romie, who had started to move to avoid them. Too late, she staggered and tripped, throwing a brief fit on the ground, all her little paws kicking.
"Get up, baby girl," Cora urged, and with an angry hiss Romie did so, fur bristling, ears lifting to show off those yellow circles under them. She was flickering with another purple glow, this one all around her, turning her a shade almost like Sugar's.
"Get around to her back! Struggle bug again," Veronica ordered, and Crash zoomed around her, taking a couple loops to fully disorient her before he stopped.
"Calm mind, Romie, don't let him–" Cora started, but failed. Romie did not calm mind. If angry mind was a move, that was what she used instead. She bristled and squealed as he hit her with struggle bug once more, battering her once-pristine fur into disarray. With dirt still in her eyes, she flung herself towards him to claw at him with a scratch. Cora huffed in annoyance loud enough that Veronica heard it all the way on the other side of the field. "Romie! We've talked about this!"
"MYA!" she shrieked in reply, ears raised and blasting out bursts of confusion to try and hit her assailant.
Crash skid around them all, forcing Romie to turn in circles to try to hit him. The sand was working its way out of her eyes; she had locked her gaze on him just a moment before he turned so sharply he lifted up on his side and hit her directly with another sand attack.
Veronica was pretty pleased about that one. Crash had known just what to do when she'd said keep going! And now! He hadn't even gotten it confused with struggle bug, which she'd have totally understood, and would still have worked just as well.
Romie shrieked in outrage. She stomped a paw. Her voice rose, helped on by Cora's resigned, "Okay. Yell at him, then."
So she did, loudly, with enough force that it echoed out from her and sent him, still zooming around her, right into a wobbly tail spin.
"Disarming voice," Cora put in. "I was trying not to use it–your sand attack strat was solid–but if it works…" Romie squealed again, affronted, raging against her trainer. "Girl, I swear," Cora muttered.
It didn't seem as if Romie's yelling attack had had any chance of missing, the way it spread out around her. Veronica grimaced; Crash was shivering a few feet away from his espurr opponent. "Let's hit her again, Crash," she told him, and he, despite his scuffs and bruises, rocketed forward at her order.
At least half of Romie's tantrum was actually how tired and hurt she was, because when Crash bowled her off her feet and hit her with another bundle of struggle bugs, she did something neither trainer nor opponent expected. She lifted herself up into a sitting position, sniffled, and then sobbed out a wail.
Cora puffed out a breath that ruffled her bangs. "Fine. Romie is unable to battle. Return!" Romie dissolved into red light that filtered back into her pokéball. "Little drama queen, I swear."
"Is she going to be okay?" Veronica asked, concerned.
"Oh, sure. Perfectly fine, once she gets a little pampering. She's just dramatic, I promise."
"Okay…" She had her eyes on Crash now, who was battered and worse for wear. She told him, "It's just one on one now, Crash," and he chittered a sigh that vibrated his antenna.
Cora raised her voice again. "Lulu! Front and center!" That Veronica had expected. What she didn't expect was Cora finishing with, "Fake out!"
Her third opponent was another espurr. This wasn't a surprise, but it was kind of funny. Maybe really funny, if said espurr–a standard purple–hadn't run onto the field and slapped Crash first thing.
That was not funny. He made an aborted little sound and froze, cringing, in place. This new espurr, Lulu, had none of Romie's dramatics. She was serious. Of course she was Cora's last stand.
Veronica wrenched an oran berry from her left pocket. It was squashed and warm, staining her fingers with juice, but that didn't matter. She didn't have any potions, or anything else to help Crash out. "Look at me!" she ordered, and her poor, flinching wimpod turned reluctantly. She threw the berry at him. It landed right in front of him; his antenna sprung out to scoop it into his mouth.
"Work up, Lulu," Cora said. The espurr sucked in a big breath, all of her fur fluffing out at once, making her look twice her size. A faint purple haze began to gather at her ears.
The berry had done its job. Crash stopped shivering quite as violently, and he swung easily away from his trainer, back to Lulu.
"Ksssh," he hissed out, and she hissed right back.
"Sand attack," Veronica ordered. Lulu didn't move, even as the sand sprayed at her. When it hit her face, she was completely unaffected, like it hadn't even struck her.
"Won't work on my Lulu," Cora put in. Veronica's cheeks flushed. With part of her usual Crash strategy gone, she was going to have to figure something else out.
"Fine. Crash! Move and don't stop moving! Don't slow down for even a second!"
He could do that. He liked running away from danger. He dashed around Lulu in wide circles. She had to time his movements perfectly, wrenching up parts of the field to fling into his path. When he hit them, about half the time, he spun out just to keep going, never hesitating. Trying to track him made her dizzy; she had no choice but to stay in the middle of his circle.
He was right behind her when she cracked a piece of the ground up to throw at him. That same moment, right under the sound of splintering dirt, Veronica ordered, "Hit her!" and Crash tightened his turn to avoid her confusion altogether. He hit her in the side, bowling her over, unleashing part of the struggle bug bullets that had begun to swarm over his shell like mites, just waiting to strike.
Lulu yowled. Her claws struck him and dug long, shallow furrows through his shell. He shook her off and returned right to his nonstop circling. The field was a wreck by then, torn up from Crash's claws and the espurrs' confusions. Crash's circling was growing wobbly with less stable ground to rush through.
"Stop it," Cora scolded. "Lulu, thunder wave."
"What?" squealed Veronica. "Hey, no!"
But Lulu didn't listen to Veronica. She pressed her hands together, humming, and spread them apart in a net-like crackle of electricity. She flung it out on the ground. Veronica's next bark didn't stop Crash from running into it headlong.
The electricity raced up his body, shuddered through his antenna, and slowed him down by half, with many fits and starts Veronica absolutely hated to see. He made a sad buzzing noise, and Veronica echoed it.
"Do you have anything else?" Cora said, and Veronica didn't know if she meant another pokémon, another strategy, or another move. The answer would be the same for any of them: no.
Lulu advanced on Crash, who had frozen in paralysis. Her paws spread, pads flexed to show off her claws. She went to bring them down on Crash, and as she connected, Veronica called "Struggle bug!"
It was the only thing Crash had, without sand attack or speed. The swarm flashed out of his shell and battered Lulu, who growled and struck him again with her claws.
"Defense curl," Veronica ordered, half a beg. Crash curled up, flexing his chitin until it hardened. Lulu's claws struck him and bounced off, leaving barely a nick. One of them broke and she yelped.
"Pick him up," Cora said. "Confusion."
Lulu raised her paws, and her ears, and with it raised Crash. He twitched and scrambled, searching for purchase that wasn't there, flat little body beached in the air.
"Struggle bug," was Veronica's last hail mary. Lulu hadn't yet been told to throw him away from her. He was close enough, even slow, even being reeled back to toss, to get off a final round of bug bullets.
They struck, but so did Lulu. Crash hit the ground, purple glow leaving his body, and skidded. Lulu wavered on her feet, the fading green shine of the struggle bug visible where it had burrowed into her fluffed-out fur.
Crash didn't move. Veronica called for him, repeating his name. "Get up, Crash!" she said, heart sinking, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. His name left her mouth again and Lulu's wavering turned into a tumble; she fell onto her side and her fur finally lay flat. She, too, didn't move.
"Lulu?" Cora questioned. When her espurr didn't respond, she brought out her pokéball. "Uh, Lulu? ...Well, I mean, they both fainted, but…"
But Crash had fainted first. Veronica's heart sank lower. He'd be so sad when he woke up. She'd been telling him for days how good he'd be in this fight, how perfect he was for it, and he had been, really, he had been. She'd tell him it was her fault, and she was sorry, and they could absolutely try again. His antennae would twitch like they always did, just like–
Just like they were doing now.
"Crash?"
Crash had stirred, shuddering full-bodied. "Ksssh," he lamented.
"Oh, dang." Cora rocked up on her toes to peer at him. "He must not have been able to move from the paralysis. But Lulu is definitely out. Er–Lulu is unable to battle. Challenger is the winner!"
"Oh my gosh," Veronica whispered, unable to move for a second. Then she broke away from her square on the field and rushed over to him. "Crash! You did it! You're incredible!" His antenna touched her wrist. He squinted at her in what might have been a smile, or might have been pain. "Oh gosh, oh, oh man, I'll tell you how great you are when you feel better, okay?" His eyes closed. She clicked the button on his pokéball and he vanished inside. She clutched it to her chest.
"Come on over," Cora invited, already heading back to her table. When Veronica crept over, Cora's friend smiled widely at her. Veronica flushed and jerked her gaze away.
Cora rooted in a box for a moment, finally pulling a badge from it. "I bestow upon you the Pawprint badge," she said, and presented it in her palm. Veronica took it with shaky fingers. It was shaped like a soft kitty paw, bean side up, just the barest bit of claws visible. It was really cute, and really shiny. She scrambled for her badge case while Cora found her last reward, a TM. "And this. It's calm mind. It focuses a pokémon's thoughts and raises their special attack and special defense."
"Thank you," Veronica said, earnestly.
"Was that your whole team, by the way?" she asked. "The luxio and the wimpod?"
"Um… yeah…"
"Huh. Well, good job for not running away after hearing it was a three-on-two." She wrinkled her nose and pushed her glasses up her nose; the frames were a bright, pleasant orange. "Speaking of TMs, you might want to invest in more of them, if you can. Your wimpod's not going to learn any more moves until it evolves, and you're good at improvising with what he has, but more variety will definitely help."
"Okay. Thank you, ma'–miss." She corrected herself, remembering Molly's reaction to ma'am. Cora smiled at her, like she'd caught it.
"That was a good battle. You really put up a fight. I hope to see you go further. Make it to the fourth gym, alright? Lockridge, in the traditional circuit. The gym leader there's my best friend." Her smile turned into a grin. "Give him a real beat down for me."
"I'll try," Veronica said, shuffling backwards. She accidentally caught Cora's friend's eye as she turned, and flushed at the interest in her face.
"Before you leave," she ventured, "I was wondering if you'd be up for a chat?"
"Poaching my opponents, Aubrey?" Cora quipped.
"My career's not going to get off the ground if I don't take opportunities when they practically fall into my lap," Aubrey said back. She stood up, smoothing out the skirt of her dress. She was taller than Veronica, and shorter than Cora, with gently curling, long brown hair. She was quite pretty, and she had a nice smile, despite the words Veronica almost took ominously.
"You can talk out in the front room," Cora suggested. "While Veronica here heals up her partners."
"An excellent idea. If you don't mind, miss Veronica?" Aubrey gave her another smile. Veronica flushed and darted her gaze away.
"Okay," she said, and let Aubrey lead her out of the main gym, back into the gym trainer room and its mini healing machine.
She set Alec's ball in first and hit the start button. As it whirred to life, Aubrey said, "My name's Aubrey Ophelia. I'm an agent with the Isnalt Trainer's Association. And if you don't mind, and don't have one already, I'd like to represent you as your agent."
"Um." Veronica set her hand on the healing machine's return slot as Alec's ball came out. "Sorry, what?"
deepest thanks to my darling beta, acavatica, who always makes sure my prepositions are correct