Somehow, I actually finished a chapter of this in two months. Which is surprising, considering most of my claims about updates aren't true at all. Anyways, hopefully you all enjoy the continuation of this dubious series. Thanks to the discord peeps for editing and suggesting ideas.
-SpiritOfErebus
"So… you really couldn't just stay home?" I said, looking back at Holly while reclining on the ice block that Glalie now was. It was surprisingly comfortable, if not a bit slippery. My bags hung from the horns that grew (for some reason) on the side of Glalie's head.
"W-well, why couldn't I come with you?" Holly said, scratching her head.
"You don't really, well, need to." I said, taking out a bag of chips from my bag and subtracting one from my inventory list of chips. "I mean, you already have your future pretty much secured."
"Not in some aspects." She mumbled, twiddling her thumbs. Rosalia smirked behind a leaf.
"What was that…" I half-heartedly asked, carefully inspecting the chips. They happened to be expired. How did chips expire, anyways?
"Nothing!" Holly blurted out, face blushing.
"You sure you're okay, by the way? You seem very jumpy." I remarked. "Maybe it's the heat. That dress and coat do look a little warm for June, doesn't it?"
"Well, does it look… nice?" Holly said, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Sure." I said, shrugging. "I mean, objectively speaking, it's impractical to wear a long skirt and a jacket in the summer, but whatever makes you happy."
"Hmph." Holly turned and stared in the other direction, where something green receded into the trees.
We walked in silence for a little bit, before my gaze slowly wandered back to my back of expired chips. I held it up to the sun, inspecting the green chips for shades of green.
Oh, wait…
I checked the flavoring on the package and it said that it was some green type of berry. Shrugging, I threw it in my mouth.
It tasted exactly the same as unexpired chips. At this point, I was convinced that chips could not expire. A green and red dot appeared behind one of the trees again, before disappearing once more.
"Hey." I said to Holly. "Do you know what pokemon are native to this forest again?"
"I… uh…hmm… Shroomish?" Holly said, asking me a question instead, before sighing. "I don't really know. It's been a while since I've thought about actually leaving town."
"Well, why don't you?" I asked. "I mean, with your allowance, you could probably afford bird flights to and from the big city any time you want."
"Allowance?" she smirked. "How old do you think I am, ten?"
"That is… apparently the median age for a person going on a Pokémon journey, yes." I said, slightly embarrassed. I deleted a message about my mom asking if I received my allowance behind my back.
"Really?" Holly said, now falling silent. "I… I was consistently outperformed by ten year olds?"
Rosalia looked up at her, concerned.
"Well, at least you aren't outperformed by sixty percent of the ten year old population that got at least one badge." I said, sighing.
"How do you know these statistics?"
"I was bitter after my third consecutive loss." I said, "And I had a lot of time to waste after I ended my pokémon journeys preemptively."
"How did your Pokémon journey go anyways?"
As I sighed and began to regale her of my tale, the sun slowly slipped in its position in the sky. It cycled from barely above the horizon to hanging overhead, and then back to barely above the horizon again. The early afternoon and late morning seemed almost identical as I heaped ice over myself and Holly's jacket slowly got sweatier and sweatier.
At last, I hopped off Glalie, who had fallen asleep at some point while floating forwards on the perfectly straight road (somehow) through Petalburg woods.
All this, and we weren't even partially through with the journey to the first gym.
"How did my twelve year old legs walk through this gigantic stretch of wilderness?" I pondered, walking around the clearing we were to be camping in slowly. My legs were sort of numb and finally waking up after a day's inactivity. Holly, however, was lying on the grass. Rosalia cast worried coos at the exhausted girl, occasionally spreading mild, sleep inducing aromas in the air.
Stifling a yawn, I began to look for firewood in the dim light. Glalie wandered off somewhere as I began to fiddle with matches.
What a perfectly ordinary day it was.
…
"Why are you following us?" The imposing figure of the Glalie rumbled, icy blue eyes staring into a green cap.
"I could feel the links of destiny drawing myself to your trainer." The green cap squeaked, the overdramatic words contrasting with the cheerful tones of the speaker.
"And why the sword? The wooden armor? And the eyepatch? And the strange attempt at a helmet? Are you planning… to ambush my trainer?" Glalie growled, looking at the mildly sword-like club with slight anger and mostly confusion.
"Is this not how it's supposed to work?" the Ralts squeaked back, "Damn. And here I was going to pledge my services like a knight or something. The magazines were wrong."
"Magazines?"
The Ralts got out a collection of various martial arts and anime magazines that were stuffed into makeshift pouches which were tied to the humanoid pokemon's 'waist'.
"These!" he shouted fervently, his hoodlike hair rising up to reveal a single, glowing red eye. "Do you not know the glory of anime?"
"…Cease." Glalie said. He missed having hands.
Because a Ralts that, instead of being the average delicate and snooty Ralts, used a club as a weapon and was a hardcore chuuni?
It was definitely a mistake coming to meet this… oddity.
If Glalie had hands, they would definitely be over his eyes to cover the gruesome and unorthodox spectacle before his eyes.
Speaking of his eyes… They had no eyelids. Unfortunately, he also had no eardrums to puncture.
As the Ralts began to ramble on and on about the latest season of Dragon Slayers or something, Glalie remarked that being evolved was both a blessing and a curse. For the love of all that was holy, why didn't he have basic organs?
Opening his mouth, he tried to formulate an excuse that would keep this… monster off the team.
…
After passing through Petalburg woods after another two days of mosquito bites and suffering, I emerged once more into the city that gave me several headaches as a kid.
"Rustboro…" I seethed. "You will not stand in the way of my college credit."
"You're not even trying to hide it, are you?" Holly said, looking at me dryly. "Now that I've been with you for more than forty five minutes at a time, I realize that you're actually… a pretty scummy person. I mean, going on a pokemon journey just for school admissions?"
"Honor has no path in the eternal pursuit for college credit." I said. "Do you see now why I referred to myself as a loose collection of character defects?"
"You still remember that?"
"I tend to use that description a lot." I said, taking off the pokemon logo beanie that I had begun to wear again. "Who thought wearing these hats was a good idea, though? I mean, it shows that you're a trainer, but it also sweats up a storm during the summer."
"Merchandising." Holly said, grinning. "Why else would so many companies invest in merch that's not directly related to their products? It's free advertising, and it also generates bonus revenue off of the fools that buy our overpriced hats."
I looked at the overpriced hat in my hands, and put it back on.
"It would be a pity to stop wearing it. I spent good money on this hat."
"The illusion of choice is presented to us once again." Holly said.
"Stop stealing my lines." I groaned, adjusting the duffle bags hanging on Glalie Horn. Together, we walked into the city. Riding on a floating rock would be a bit strange. As soon as we entered the residential area, however, we once again split paths. Holly turned left, where mansions and large, luxurious apartments with wide windows could be seen in the distance. I turned right, where the apartments got consecutively greyer and more dilapidated.
"You're not heading for the hotel?" Holly said. "My family has a partnership with one. I could get you a room for free."
"No thanks." I said, almost jumping out of my skin at the word 'free'. "Though it pains my heart to reject such an offer, It must still come at a cost for you."
"Well.. I mean… We're a major shareholder in the hotel, so it shouldn't actually cost anything." she said, scratching her chin.
I looked at the name of the hotel in the distance, before typing it into my search bar. The triple digits sent tears into my eyes.
"Wait, what's wrong?"
I ran backwards, the back of my hand over my forehead. Glalie frantically floated after me.
"If I don't run away now, I'll never leave that hotel!" I shouted.
"Wait!" a hand was stretched in my direction, but I betrayed my hopes for a clean bed, a luxurious bathtub, room service, and buffets for basic personal dignity. As the images of the hotel suites flashed through my mind, I closed the tab on my pokenav, but the thoughts and hopes still remained.
"One day." I whispered to myself, locking my dream deep into the back of my mind. "One day, I'll live in a hotel like that."
Turning rapidly, I saw something green watching me from behind. Wood clattered on wood as the creature dived into the alleyway, noticing my gaze.
"And stop following me, whatever you are!"
Some mumbling was heard in that alleyway.
…
"So, it'll be two thousand for the whole month?" I said, looking at the dinky little apartment.
"I don't set the prices, man." The thin, almost matchstick-like man said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Trust me, the owner of this apartment pays me as little as you think he does too. Everybody in this city is just a stingy bastard."
"I feel you, man." I said, handing him an extra fifty. "It must be hard working here, huh? Maintaining all these apartments?"
He looked at the crumpled fifty that had been in my allowance stockpile for over five years, before looking at me with the liveliest eyes that I had seen so far. It was like… a second coming of spring. Although, the other features of slightly ratlike proportions ruined the effects a little. Just a little.
I patted him on the shoulder.
"Be glad that you don't work in the delivery service business."
As I walked into my apartment, he shouted after me. "Don't worry, kiddo! I'll get you the best soaps and stuff!"
Somebody else peeked out of their apartment door. "Wasn't that what you promised me?"
"It goes to the highest bidder." the skinny man said, eyes suddenly ice cold. "Where the fuck are your tips?"
…
That night, I slept on a slightly lumpy mattress and a sheet that was hosed in detergent.
"Well, at least he wasn't lying." I said, looking at the soap in my hands. Maybe I could sell this for like… ten bucks.
"It's still not worth it though." I said, sighing. Glalie hovered right next to me as free air conditioning, something that I had cut out of my apartment bill just to save about ten percent of the cost.
I patted the giant ice block, and he gave his best expression of being content… however a rock could express emotion, anyways.
…
I yawned, stepping out onto the rickety balcony. The complimentary potted plant sat next to me in all its plastic glory. Numbly, I bit into my breakfast bar, filled with extra tasteless berries so as not to offend anybody with strange flavors.
Glalie, meanwhile, had to suck all the food in his bowl without touching it. Not having hands was complicated.
"Don't you guys eat frozen corpses out in the wild? How do you do that?"
Glalie's eyes glazed over.
"Okay, I probably shouldn't have asked that. Want to head to the gym today, or… what?"
There was no response.
I looked at my relatively empty wallet. "Yeah, it's time to rack up some money."
…
I stood in the plasa, hands in the pockets of my shorts. The merchandise that presented the illusion of choice was still on my head. Glalie hovered behind me, frowning and looking intimidating.
…And in front of me, all the trainers gave me a ten meter berth. Clearly, the frozen rock floating behind me was pretty intimidating.
"I think we might have to rethink our strategy." I said, sighing.
"Or your location." Holly's voice said from behind. I turned back, looking at the very expensively dressed person standing behind me.
"How long have you been there? And why didn't you do anything about it?" I said, looking at Glalie. Glalie, however, was looking at her pocket, and more specifically… at her wallet.
"Hold on, can we just talk for a second?" I said, looking at Holly. "I have to have a little chat with Glalie over here."
"Okay…?" Holly said, looking a bit confused. I flicked Glalie on the horn, and when that didn't draw the attention of the floating rock, I grabbed onto one of the grooves on his shell and physically dragged him.
"I know that we need money." I whispered, looking at Holly adjusting that… salacious wallet in her pockets. I averted my eyes, blushing. "But we're not going to do anything illegal, okay?"
Glalie whined, before turning back to staring at the wallet.
"I know it's tempting." I said, looking Glalie in the eyes. "But seeing as to how you have no arms, it's a pretty fruitless endeavor."
Glalie looked down at his recently evolved form and frowned as much as his mouth allowed him to. He dropped down onto the ground with a heavy thud, little chunks of ice flowing out of his eyes.
"But with battling, we can scam-no wait, win money from trainers!" I said, whispering quite loudly. Thankfully, since everybody was about ten meters away, they didn't hear my slipup.
"And we can also practice more to beat the gym… and get that delicious prize money!"
Glalie nodded back, serious now. Though the wallet in Holly's pocket was still tempting, I tore my eyes away from their forbidden appeal.
I promptly returned Glalie to his ball, and walked to the other end of the plaza. Instead of the middle school aged students walking around, fully fledged trainers, with intimidating pokemon, walked around and conversed lightly.
"I haven't seen you around here before." somebody said. Again, I turned to see somebody with a rather majestic Swellow perched on his arm. I stared at the bird, thinking how a normal human could support such a weight.
"Are you looking to test the waters with a trainer battle?"
"Sure." I said, looking at the pokemon Glalie had a type advantage over. "Want to do a one-on-one?"
"Well, that won't necessarily meet your purpose of testing yourself, would it?" the trainer said, adjusting his sling bag and glasses. "How many pokemon do you have?"
I looked at the number of pokeballs on everybody else's belt, who seemed to have five or six.
"...Two?" I said, almost phrasing it as a question. Then, my resolve hardened and I continued on with my lie. "Two are battle ready right now. The others are resting."
"Very well then." the trainer nodded. "I only see one ball on you, though."
I began to sweat. The summer sun and my pokemon league merchandise wasn't the issue.
…
Now, standing in an arena field next to many squabbling children battling their own pokemon, I stood across the trainer that had challenged me. He was standing confidently, his Swellow already on the arena.
"Well, are we going to begin, or what?" he said, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Okay, uh… go, Glalie!" I shouted, emulating all those trainers I saw on television. Glalie appeared out of the resulting light, leaving no correct explanation as to how a pokeball could be so light when so much mass was packed into it.
"An ice type, huh?" the trainer said. "Interesting choice. I'll have to switch up my matchup to face you, though. Swellow, return! Go, Loudred!"
The bird flew back to their trainer, disgruntled. Out came another pokeball, this time with something that was definitely not advantageous for my situation.
A Loudred. I took a step back. What did this pokemon do again?
It screeched.
Oh, right. Its name is literally Loudred.
"Now… let's battle! Who's going to referee this?"
A teenager wearing a tie-dyed shirt in the crowd of trainers raised their hand. The trainer across from me inspected their ID, before nodding.
"This is a match between Trainers O'Brian and…"
"Snowberry." I supplied.
"Snowberry! Let the match begin!"
For a moment there was silence. We stared at each other for a couple of seconds. Glalie snarled at the Loudred, who was a bit intimidated by the rock. O'Brian, the trainer, looked at me and smiled brightly. I took a step back.
"Want to start?" O'Brian said, crossing his arms. "I would think that you would have been a little more confident than that."
"Oh, uh… sure!" I said, looking at the crowd, my legs shaking slightly. "Glalie, use Powder Snow and mist!"
Glalie's mouth began to glow a faint blue, before a thick mist was spread over my side of the arena.
"That stuff won't work on us!" the trainer yelled. "Loudred…"
The pokemon looked back at their trainer, a slow grin stretching over their wide mouth. I saw much more teeth than I wanted to.
"Do your thing."
The resulting screech was deafening. The crowd stepped back as the Loudred howled like a wolf, an aura gathering around the Loudred. It snapped back its gaze at Glalie, not scared at all anymore. It breathed heavily, white steam coming out of its nostrils, before roaring at Glalie again.
"Oh fuck." I whimpered. "Glalie, up in the air!"
Glalie began floating higher and higher into the air, right as the Loudred began to yell short bursts that almost sent sonic waves at Glalie. The sharp air currents cut into Glalie's shell and shaved off some of the ice. Still, Glalie gained sufficient altitude and remained safe out of Loudred's range.
"Now, Glalie!" I yelled, though not as loud as the Loudred. "Use Ice Beam!"
There was a faint sound of acknowledgement, before blue rays or energy began to descend to the ground, causing great ice sheets to form on the dirt arena.
"Impressive power." O'Brian said, somehow finding a megaphone. "But you're really a bad matchup. Loudred, just… break the ice."
I looked at the Loudred, with stubby arms and legs. Was he going to… bite the ice or something?
Loudred screamed. The referees and all of the audience backed up another twenty yards. My heart sank. Without the ice's restraining power, and the casual strength that the almost feral Loudred showed, we were definitely at a disadvantage.
My ears felt like they were bleeding, but somebody reached from behind and gave me a pair of earmuffs. Looking back, I saw Holly smiling at me. She gave me a little fist pump, before walking back into the crowd.
I looked at her mesmerizing figure, her wallet almost dangling out of her pocket.
I took a breath, images flashing before my mind. The metallic smell of aged dollar bills. The jingle of change. The smell of fresh towels in a five star hotel I could never afford. I smiled. How could I forget what I was fighting for?
The disadvantage didn't matter. The inequality in training experience didn't matter. The lack of knowledge that I suffered from didn't matter.
All that I needed was money and the power of science. My mind flashing back to the various physics lessons that I suffered through during junior year, I came up with a solution.
"Glalie!" I said, grinning, "Use Powder snow!"
"Powder snow?" O'Brian questioned. "That's a much weaker move than Ice Beam."
"Don't pay attention to that! Just keep doing it! Do it until you can't do it anymore!" I shouted.
Snow began pouring from Glalie's mouth. The thick, sleety, non-newtonian substance fell from the sky, some of it melting in the summer sun, but most of it continued to fall, landing on the ground and slowly beginning to accumulate.
"Remember, Glalie! Remember what we're fighting for!" I shouted. "Think of the glory! the convenience! The…"
I suddenly remembered that I was shouting out my rather scummy desires in public. I slowly quieted down, but a grin still sat on my face as I watched the snow fall even faster. Glalie's eyes glowed almost as bright as the sun, the snow pouring out like water out of several hoses.
"Loudred, shout the snow away!"
A roar buffeted the snowstorm, as the Loudred that was trying to shout sonic booms at the Glalie was ordered on the defensive. The shockwave shook the whole storm, but being the strange, flakey, non-newtonian fluid-esque substance that Snow was, it did not like to respond normally to forces.
The snow shook in the air, but continued to fall, with only a portion of it landing outside of the borders of the arena. The snow continued to fall, melt in the hot summer air, and rejoin its fellow snowflakes when it hit the ground. creating a slick ice. Despite the stifling heat, I began to feel a cold breeze blow into my hair, making my beanie actually comfortable for once.
Distinctly, within the curtains of snow, I could see the Loudred still howling and trying to crawl up the growing snow piles. The frequency of shouts began to decrease as the movements of the blurry figure began to grow slower and slower.
"Now!" I shouted. "Stop the snowstorm and use Ice Beam!"
Glalie paused the relentless powder snow, falling to the ground in sudden exhaustion, before sending out a much weaker Ice Beam. The ice blue energy hit the snow beside the Loudred and sent a plume of it into the air. The Loudred opened its mouth to scream, but the snow sent up by the impact began to make it choke.
"Keep going!" I said, pointing at the Loudred. "It's been weakened sufficiently! If we freeze it now, we could win!"
"Dodge!" O'Brian shouted, the first note of real panic appearing in his voice. That, however, was the wrong order to give. Coughing out the snow, the Loudred pulled at its frozen leg as it tried to escape the snowy prison, only for the appendage to be anchored to the ice and snow.
The next ice beam hit home, encapsulating the Loudred in a shell of ice. Glalie didn't let up, clearly afraid of the Loudred's shouts, and eventually turned the Loudred into an ice ball.
"Loudred! Get yourself out!" O'Brian shouted, but to no avail.
After a couple of seconds of Loudred frantically flexing his eye-stalks, a verdict was reached.
"Loudred is defeated! The victor of the first round is Glalie!"
"I guess it's your turn now, Swellow." O'Brian said.
Glalie looked at the oversized bird. The bird looked at the oversized rock. Neither gave any ground.
"Glalie, finish this. Use Freeze Dry."
Glalie looked back at me, disgruntled.
"You know, it's the move that you freeze dry corpses in the wild? That's what your pokedex entry says."
The whole arena went silent.
"What?" I said, defensively. "It's not weird that I know that. It's just his pokedex entry."
"Dude." somebody whispered. "Are you… okay? Are you hurt in any way? Freeze dried at all? Frostbite?"
"Oh, I'm fine." I said, waving off the concerns. "Pokemon food exists, remember? I mean, it's basically made of freeze dried corpses anyways."
Glalie looked like he was about to be sick.
"What, you didn't read the ingredients list?"
"W-we're still in the middle of a battle!" O'Brian shouted. "Swellow, use Sunny day!"
"Use… what?" I said, turning back to the battle.
Swellow raised their wings, and the cold air instantly dissipated. In our arena, a warmer than average glow appeared, melting the snow and ice away. Glalie shivered in discomfort as the energy washed over him, bringing his already exhausted form down.
"Damn it!" I said, thinking about the money that was slowly slipping away. "Glalie, cool down somehow!"
Glalie merely panted in the heat, as the summer sun grew uncomfortably hot.
"Let's see you freeze dry corpses now, Glalie!" O'Brian said in an attempt for banter. "Oh, god, did I just say that?"
My mind racked through the options. Ice Beam? No. Glalie was too weak for that. He could manage a powder snow at best. He wouldn't have much range on that, either. Mist would be blown away by gusts or whatever bird pokemon could do.
I looked down at my pockets. I was too poor for items. Looking at Glalie's chipped ice shell, and his slowly wobbling flight, I sighed.
Wait… Ice shell…
"Glalie!" I shouted. "Use Ice Beam… on yourself!"
"How the hell does that work?" I thought, hoping that Glalie could figure it out on his own.
Unsurprisingly, he didn't.
"Just… shoot it upwards or something!" I said. "And watch out for Swellow!"
The bird pokemon wasn't looking the most comfortable either, slightly panting from the exertion needed to utilize a weather move, but it still awaited orders attentively.
"Stop Glalie doing… whatever that is." O'Brian said. "Quick attack!"
"Swellow!" the bird chirped, being enveloped in some gray energy before flapping up and disappearing from view. Glalie, at that moment, chose to fire a very weak ice beam upwards as well. The energy almost instantly turned back into ice shards, falling back down into Glalie's mouth. The quick attack, however, collided with these ice shards, and Swellow's high velocity charge destabilized. Circling back to where the bird had started, Swellow clawed at the ground angrily.
"That… didn't work. Glalie still is not encapsulated in ice." I muttered, scratching my now uncomfortably hot beanie and taking off the slightly stifling earmuffs.
"Swellow, use gust!"
"Glalie!" I shouted unnecessarily, with him being about ten meters away from me. "It doesn't matter how you do it! Just freeze yourself!"
Glalie opened his mouth, and a stream of powder snows came out of the endless black hole, before swirling around him in a thick mist. Slowly, the cloud gained a potent shade of blue, glowing faintly as the clouds slowly coiled and condensed back onto Glalie, who had now fallen to the floor in exhaustion.
"Swellow!" the bird chirped, rolling the gust it had been building up for a couple seconds forward with a fierce sweep of the wings.
Glalie's swirl of mist chose to condense into a ball of slush around Glalie, forming a little snow castle against the ongoing storm. The gust tore and ripped at the semi-solid slush, but with a little bit more energy from Glalie, it froze a little more, turning into very watery ice. Losing its momentum after colliding with the bastion, the winds dissipated into the surroundings, carrying bits of snow with it. I shielded my eyes against the patch that blew at me, hitting my clothes and melting almost immediately.
When I opened my eyes, Glalie was still there, along with the slush pillar. The snow around him, however, had been blown away.
I was about to celebrate when I realized that the Swellow could just keep attacking.
"Glalie, are you cooled down yet? If you are, keep attacking! Use Powder Snow!"
O'Brian, however, also wanted to attack first. "Swellow, dodge their attacks and go in with Steel Wing!"
Steel… wing?
I saw the Swellow light up with a much darker gray energy, before with noticeable effort, flew into the air and began to zip around Glalie's powder snow attacks, which were manifesting from the bits of mist still swirling around him. Glalie, however, was doing so with a noticeable decline in quality.
We couldn't drag this out for longer. However, the Sunny day was rapidly losing power, now that the Swellow was much more preoccupied with keeping Steel Wing charged, and using said wings to bat stray ice shards out of the air while flying. The situation for us was slowly recovering, though the Swellow strafing through the air with increasing velocity bore some concern.
"Glalie! Freeze yourself in with a bit more strength! We have to be able to take a Steel Wing!"
"Attack now, Swellow! While they're distracted!"
My heart sank. Steel wing was super effective against Ice types, and our shoddy defense and endurance wouldn't be enough to-
The Steel wing reached the ice… and was deflected off by it.
My mind flashed back to a young Snorunt shocking fish out of the pond, instantly lowering the temperature of a large body of water. Perhaps… through sheer, dumb luck… we had survived that attack because of that unintentional practice.
The Swellow rotated through the sky, the unsuccessful steel wing sending it off balance.
"Attack now, Glalie!" I shouted. "Think of the food! The prize! The… the… the… Money!"
With the word money, Glalie's eyes lit up. He roared, which was impressive, considering that he was still encased in ice… and absorbed it.
"Oh, right." I remembered. "Glalie has the ability Ice Body."
Seeing the momentum beginning to tilt to our side, I continued to shout.
"The money, Glalie! The money! Think about those bills! Those coins! Those chips! Everything that we can buy!"
"Are you really a pokemon trainer?" a kid asked. "A trainer is supposed to care about gyms and stuff, right?"
"Of course I am!" I shouted, snapping back. "I'm just impoverished right now! Now, Glalie! Remember the hotel! If we win, we might eventually be able to go there!"
Glalie turned back to me and snarled, his body encased in brand new, blue ice. He rose into the air, rejuvenated.
"Beat that damn bird first!" I shouted, pointing at the now recovering Swellow. "If we lose, we lose money too!"
Glalie's mouth opened, and a torrent of Powder Snow covered the arena. Swellow was forced to take flight, their wingbeats slow and sluggish.
Sadly, the ice absorption didn't actually do that much for Glalie, who immediately began to slow down after his brief burst of power. Powder Snow, despite being a weak move for Ice types, was now turning into a challenge, and fighting in the summer sun, despite the lack of interference from Sunny Day, was now beginning to take its toll.
It was still an endurance match, but one that we were winning.
"Swellow! Fly up and warm up your wings!"
Oh god damn it.
"Glalie, fly up and don't let Swellow rest!"
Glalie glared back at me before flying upwards slowly. Sadly, we were no match for the flying type pokemon in the air.
"Quick attack!"
The Swellow turned once more into a white blur, smacking Glalie with their soft, bird body. Glalie was spun around and around by those impacts as I watched in worry. When Glalie finally reoriented himself, I saw the Swellow gliding in circles around Glalie. I almost cursed when I saw Glalie's wobbly hovering, but when I looked at Swellow, my mood instantly improved.
Turns out, Quick Attack does not work very well on ice rocks. The Swellow was flying awkwardly, as if one wing was heavily bruised or something. The bird was only flying in circles probably because of the dizziness.
"Glalie, reorient yourself! Swellow's almost done!"
"Focus energy, Swellow!" O'Brian shouted. "Then, use Sky Attack and Steel Wing at the same time!"
Oh, crap. As Glalie slowly shook itself out of his stupor, the Swellow's eyes cleared. Its wings flashed gray as its whole body glowed blue, before, with a single, powerful beat of its wings, it flew high into the sky, before crashing down into Glalie's hovering form.
The resulting dust cloud made me shield my eyes, and I opened them to see Glalie… fainted. His eye sockets were blank, and his blue ice shell was cracked. Swellow, however, wasn't conscious either.
"A double knockout…?" the teenager who was refereeing said. "Both Swellow and Glalie are eliminated!"
I sighed. I guess it wasn't meant to be…
"And Trainer Snowberry wins!"
I looked up to see O'Brian's sheepish, smiling face. I had… won? I looked down at my belt and saw… the empty pokeball that was hanging from my belt.
Oh, right. This was a two on two.
I looked up into the sky, and I smiled.
"That was a great match!" O'Brian exlaimed. "I have three badges myself this season, but I've never had such an intense match yet. Sorry about the finisher, by the way."
"No problem." I said. "Healthcare's free, anyways. So…" I held out my hand.
"Yeah. good match." O'Brian said, taking my hand in a firm handshake.
"I was talking about money, you idiot!" I growled under my breath, enduring his vice-like grip.
In the end, I walked away with a hundred bucks. Glalie was back in my pokeball, still unconscious, as I walked back to the pokemon center.
"Nice match!" Holly said, patting me on the shoulder. I looked back at her smiling face and… began to sweat. My hands tightened over the expensive earmuffs in my pocket.
"Yeah… thanks." I said. I really wanted to keep those earmuffs.
"Why did you agree to a two on two anyways?" Holly asked, one eyebrow raised. "I didn't know you had a second pokemon."
"I didn't." I said, handing her the empty pokeball. She pressed the button in the center, but nothing came out. With a click, the empty ball was opened like a walnut, revealing the complex inner workings that violated the laws of physics.
"...You really are morally dubious. Pretending to have two pokemon just to not seem suspicious? And for what, a little bit of pocket change?"
I began to cough at her definition of pocket change. It was one hundred dollars! It could buy twenty five boxes of instant noodles, each with twenty four packages! that was two hundred day's worth of food, right in my hand!
"And you really do live in another world." I said cryptically, walking towards a Pokemon center. "Anyways, do you know about another battling center somewhere else? I kind of want to get in another battle today."
"For practice, right?"
I didn't respond.
"It's for practice, right?"
"One can only eat just instant noodles for so long." I muttered, thinking about what I could do with another hundred. Maybe… some frozen peas? That would add some vegetables to my diet.
Well, that was an unnecessarily long battle. I wonder if it'll happen again in future chapters…
The truth is, probably not. A lot of Pokemon fics just become a blur of battling, and although that's fun and all, isn't exactly the most cohesive to read. Hopefully, next time I can pad my word count/give you guys cool fight scenes AND give it plot significance.
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-SpiritOfErebus