1: Personal Foul
The Pokécenter room that Calvin booked was too small for everyone to rest in outside their Pokéballs, and it was cramped even before he hooked up that dogeared silver cube he played video games on to the boxy TV wedged in its corner. Not that Marl was particularly motivated to share the room to begin with. She recalled herself to her Pokéball shortly after leaving the Pokécenter lobby and didn't feel like coming back out for most of the evening afterwards. When she finally did, she made a point of ignoring her trainer and keeping to herself.
Yes, it was petty, but it was still better than what Calvin deserved. She'd heard the explanations and excuses that everyone gave for how he managed to miss her evolution, but surely he could've done more to try and not miss the most important day in the world for her.
He could've called home sooner. Or paid for that phone service during the ferry ride. Or something.
When Marl roused from her sleep the following morning, she woke up to the simulated mountains that had been inside her Pokéball since she was a little Bagon. She stretched and groggily brushed her face against a wing, when she noticed dark shapes in her Pokéball's simulated sky:
Of people and Pokémon all around in some sort of line outside. It went ahead a little ways before clearing out for some sort of platform that she couldn't get a good view of. There was a translucent outline of a red flash and then Roy materializing with his shell blocking out the view of the outside world. Marl wasn't sure what the occasion was since the already muted noise from outside the Pokéball was muddled with overlapping chatter, when she noticed the Blastoise lumbering off outside her field of view and then another red flash following afterwards.
This time, it was Aries, with the Ampharos' body filling her Pokéball's field of view before he too went along. Then the same thing happened with Eira, and then Jaki, as like her teammates before, the Marowak and Honchkrow headed off to somewhere she couldn't see.
"... What on earth are they doing out there?"
Marl finally saw her trainer's hand come down and grasp the top of her Pokéball, when her surroundings melted away in a flash of light. She blinked and was about to recall herself back to it, only to notice that there were a lot of voices all around her. Human and Pokémon alike. The Salamence hesitated and let her eyes adjust as she saw she was in some sort of space covered by a concrete awning that had colorful banners on its side.
Right, those were probably for that tournament they were all supposed to join.
"Next!"
Marl turned her head rightwards and saw something that looked like a low-slung stage with a lined background. In front of it, there were some of those human 'computers' set up on a folding table, where a Farfetch'd stood alongside a human in a sporting uniform and looked up at her as his trainer fiddled around with a handheld device. She felt a prod at her wing and saw Calvin, with his strangely hard-to-place face, motioning forward and saying something. She traded confused glances for a moment, but it finally dawned on her that he wanted her on that stage.
She frowned and at first thought of just going back into her Pokéball to fly around in its simulated sky, but everyone else was already on the other side of the stage and Calvin already handed off her Pokéball to one of the humans at the desk. She supposed that was a sign that she wasn't getting out of this one. Marl grumbled a little under her breath and made her way forward, pacing onto the stage when the human motioned for a stop and the Farfetch'd suddenly piped up.
"That's far enough," the Farfetch'd said. "Just stay there and stand as upright as you normally would for a moment."
What on earth was this, a yearly checkup at a Pokécenter? Marl stopped and waited as the Farfetch'd's trainer went about her with the handheld device that scanned a strobing light whenever he clicked it. All the while, the humans at the computers punched a few keys and looked down at cube-like monitors whose images she couldn't see at her present angle. After a moment, they motioned back at the Farfetch'd and her trainer as the pair went up and circled around. They seemed to linger a bit and eye her weirdly closely, before the Farfetch'd trainer motioned forward.
"You're good, you can get off the scale now," the Farfetch'd said. "Next!"
… A scale? Like that little pad thing that Calvin's parents kept back home in their house? Was this really a checkup after all? Marl made her way off the platform and down a small ramp on the opposite side of the platform, stealing curious glances back the entire time when she felt a hand brushing at her shoulder. It was Calvin, tugging at her to come along. She brushed her trainer away and let out a sour huff, before heading towards her teammates.
He got the message and backed off, which was fine by her. She still wasn't happy over him missing her evolution, even if she was more curious about what on earth he'd put them up to.
"What on earth was that about?"
"It's an inspection to make sure that there's no obvious discrepancies with the information logged by your Pokéball," a yipping voice said from behind. "You know, to make sure that you're not secretly hiding anything that would give you an unfair advantage in battle."
Marl craned her head back to the scale and the lined background with the man in the sporting gear and the Farfetch'd. It suddenly occurred to her that the background must've been a height chart. That Lucario she'd briefly seen in the Pokécenter the other day stepped up, and the pair began to do their checkup or whatever it was they put her through. 'Aoi', she was pretty sure she heard the others call her. Marl didn't remember Calvin having any additional Pokémon join his team lately, much less something as uncommon as a Lucario. After the officials dismissed the Lucario from the stage, curiosity got the better of her, as the Salamence gave her head a puzzled tilt at the approaching stranger.
"... Who are you anyways?"
"What, my species? I'm a Lucario," Aoi replied. "I get that we're not exactly common encounters in the wild in regions like Hoenn anymore, but-"
"No, no, I know that part, but who are you?" Marl replied. "Since Calvin never trained a Lucario, and I'd think I'd have noticed if he started with how long I've been with him."
… Would she have noticed, though? After all, she didn't expect that Calvin would just miss out on the most important day of her life. What if there were other things she didn't know about him, too?
Marl turned her head after some chatter from the computers and realized that from her present angle, she could briefly see some text and images flickering on the screens. It was now the Lucario's turn to give a puzzled expression back, as the Fighting-type twitched her feelers and folded her arms in reply.
"The 'Field Biology' course your trainer's in? Ring any bells?"
Marl supposed that it did. 'Field Biology' was one of the courses that Calvin took in college. Marl had always found it the most interesting of them since it was the only course that got him out of the building and into nature. And the only one that she or her teammates could reliably join in on things.
Though they really just had Pokémon to spare in that class for students to partner with? She knew that Calvin had apparently started to help teach it as some sort of 'student instructor', but she could've sworn that it wasn't supposed to be as serious of a course as the others he took…
"I was there on and off," the Salamence said. "My trainer didn't have a lot of space in his dorm room and normally rotated me and my teammates between there and his normal home."
There was a moment's blinking pause, before the Lucario sighed and pawed at the back of her head.
"... Guess we haven't met all that much, but the point is that I basically got assigned to tag along with your trainer whenever he goes out in the wilds to study the behavior of Pokémon. It's apparently part of some initiative to help set up some new 'Safari Zone' in the south of this region based on the one back in Hoenn."
Well, Marl supposed that explained where the Lucario came from, but…
"That doesn't explain why you're here," she said. "What on earth does a tournament have to do with a 'Field Biology' course?"
"You'd have to ask the sponsors for his course, since he talked them into letting me come along. Something about it helping for gathering data about other Pokémon like me," Aoi said, giving a bemused smile back in reply. "Though I'm not complaining. Calvin needed a sixth Pokémon for this tournament and I wanted a chance to get to throw down with someone other than wilds in the tall grass for once. So it wound up working out for everyone involved."
Marl cocked a brow as the Lucario walked past her with some sort of excited tinge in the air that all but rolled off the Fighting-type. Was all of that normal for human college classes? Or was this the sort of thing that only student-led classes did? Aoi gave a bemused chuckle, before brushing at the feelers on her head.
"Who knows? If I wind up having fun, I might try and hang around your team for a while," the Lucario said. "It's not that uncommon for Pokémon from my program to wind up sticking around with a trainer as part of long-term research."
Marl blinked for a moment as the rest of her teammates joined along, with Aries hailing the Lucario as she approached. So Aoi was basically a Rental Pokémon, if one that had more steps involved. It was a bit weird sharing a team with someone that she didn't really know, especially one that others on her team already seemed familiar with.
She shook her head and brushed those thoughts aside. If this tournament expected teams of six, they would be at a disadvantage showing up without someone filling the last slot. And she supposed that everyone else she knew had gone through the experience of having to get used to a new stranger at some point as part of being trained, so-
"Floatzel, what do you think you're doing?"
Marl turned her head back towards the scale as the Floatzel from the day before sauntered up in front of the Farfetch'd and the onlooking humans. He pumped an arm, and spun his tails briefly with a toothy grin.
"Getting registered as part of the team," the Floatzel replied. "Don't think that just because I'm short that I can't throw down with the best of them!"
There was a noticeable pause, before Aoi stepped over towards the scale and looked up. Her feelers twitched and Marl briefly felt some sort of sensation roll off from the direction of the Lucario that briefly caught the Farfetch'd's attention.
First her excitedness and now this; so, weren't Lucario supposed to be able to share feelings with others through some 'aura' thing? Was that Aoi's annoyance she was feeling?
"Rako, this tournament is for teams of six."
"Yeah, and?" the Floatzel replied. "There's nothing keeping entering trainers from having extra teammates, right?"
Wait, why was the Floatzel here anyways? If Calvin only needed six Pokémon for this tournament, why did he bring along a seventh? Though from the unamused expressions Roy and a couple of her other teammates had, Marl guessed that there was a story behind this...
"Rako, you're a field service 'mon!" the Lucario snapped. "Half the Pokémon joining this tournament would probably be able to eat you for lunch!"
The Floatzel flinched briefly, before shooting an annoyed scowl back.
"Look, I'm not a pushover, alright? I can fight just fine!" he insisted, before trailing off. "Though that 'eat me' part was just figurative, right?"
"I'm sorry, he's a what now?" Marl asked.
A loud sigh turned Marl's attention off toward her other teammates, as Roy shook his head and raised a claw towards his brow.
"He's another Pokémon from the same program as Aoi. His job is to help trainers and their teams get around while going out in the field," the Blastoise explained. "So he's skilled at crossing and getting past obstacles. Even if I don't think that'd help him get far into a tournament setting like this."
A few looks went among the others, before Eira raised her bone with a disbelieving tilt of her head.
"I'm sorry, but how'd he get here again?" the Marowak asked.
"He was supposed to join us after the tournament for a field assignment on our way back home," Aries explained. "But he wound up inviting himself and sneaking his Pokéball into Calvin's bag."
"Ow! Ow! Okay! I'm going!"
Marl looked back towards the scale where there was Rako… flailing and getting dragged by his head crest towards them by Aoi. Marl fidgeted her wings and shot an askew glance back at her Blastoise teammate.
"These two bicker like this a lot, don't they?" she asked.
"Oh, you don't know the half of it," the Blastoise sighed.
Partway over, Calvin called out to the pair and the Lucario let go. The Floatzel instinctively bolted over and hid behind the trainer with the unplaceable face, pawing at his head crest as Calvin's hand went for a Pokéball on a belt.
"Gah! I sure hope those other friends your trainer has aren't a bunch of pills like you!" the Floatzel piped.
A flash of red light followed as the Floatzel was recalled into his Pokéball, and then another did the same to the Lucario that dragged him over. Calvin started to work through the other Pokémon on the team, as something about the Floatzel's whining lingered in Marl's mind.
… 'Other friends'?
"Wait, Roy? What friends was he talking about? Ones from college?"
"Not quite," Roy replied. "You remember Garrett? That Unovan exchange student from back in middle school?"
Marl blinked as her mouth briefly fell open in reply. 'Garrett'? That was a name she hadn't heard in quite a while…
"Numa and Ryuko's trainer? They're all here, too?"
A wave of memories came back to Marl in a flash. Garrett was a trainer who came from a faraway land with skin and hair that looked very different from what the humans around Hoenn usually did. The humans there apparently normally spoke a different language from the ones in Hoenn, and allegedly whenever he spoke, it carried a peculiar sound to it, even if she didn't notice anything really different about his rhythm and intonation.
Back when he was in Hoenn, Garrett had apparently picked up a Mudkip—Numa, as he'd nicknamed him—from the local starter program and gotten very far into the Hoenn League. Far enough that Marl distinctly remembered times when Calvin was quietly jealous about it.
As tough and as quickly as Numa evolved into a Swampert during those years, he had been a close friend back then. But closer still was Ryuko, the Salamence Garrett had wound up training. Marl had always looked up to her, and been more than a little envious of how quickly she'd managed to evolve. Marl remembered that Ryuko was always happy to take her out on flights and taught her little tricks here and there about how to wield her dragonfire a bit better, while Calvin had learned things like how to scratch at her chin to lift her mood from Garrett's experience.
Marl wasn't going to complain about them being here, but…
"How on earth did they get all the way out here in Johto of all places?" she asked.
"Garrett apparently knows one of Calvin's friends that lives in this region through that 'internet' thing humans have been using more often. That's how we got the invite to come and enter this tournament in the first place," the Blastoise explained. "I'm not fully sure what to expect since it's been a few years since we last met, but we were planning to meet at the square outside of the stadium after registration to catch up a bit."
Calvin abruptly called Roy's name as he and Marl turned and saw their trainer raise a Pokéball at the Blastoise. She supposed that was a sign to wrap their conversation up. There was still so much to take in all at once, but in spite of it all, Roy cracked a small smile at her.
"We'll talk more when we get there, but I'm sure that it'll be fun."
The square Roy mentioned was a mostly-paved space just west of the stadium hemmed in by a passing river passing by from the north and west where one could get a better view of its blue roof and its three golden spires, which from what her teammates said was apparently a multi-use arena which was more typically used to host something called a 'Pokéathlon'. Aside from some planters, a couple stands at the center that sold shakes of some sort, and some light poles along the edge, it didn't seem like there was a whole lot here in the plaza.
Or at least aside from the humans and Pokémon that were in it. Calvin apparently had said on the way over that the square was relatively quiet at the moment, but there was still no shortage of trainers and their partners who were milling about. As they went along, Marl noticed that a number of smaller Pokémon and even some of their trainers they passed would abruptly give her a berth after they noticed her. She wasn't really sure if she was annoyed by their reactions or relieved that she didn't need to deal with them. Maybe that lingering frustration she had over the way Calvin had missed out on her evolution had been carrying over to her body language.
It didn't take long before they came across a darker-skinned human with short, curly hair. He was taller than he remembered and wore different clothing, but that was Garrett, and sure enough, Numa was out by his side. There was also another human with lighter skin she didn't recognize who had a Nidorino beside him. She wasn't sure who those two were supposed to be and for a second, she thought it was that internet friend from Johto, only for the trainers' words to start carrying along in the air.
And at once, Aoi and Rako stiffened up and traded puzzled looks with each other.
"Wait, what's up with those humans?" the Floatzel asked. "I know that human speech is an arrhythmic mess, but I can't make sense of anything those two are saying."
Aoi flared her feelers and closed her eyes in focus briefly. Marl briefly raised a brow as the Lucario seemed to fall deep in thought, before Aoi's feelers fell and the Fighting-type opened her eyes.
"They seem to be talking about past events and getting nostalgic about it, but that's just based on the feelings I could pick up from them," the Lucario said. "I can't tell what they're saying at all from their voices."
Right, that must've been through that 'aura' thing that Lucario could sense. Marl supposed that would help Aoi get an idea of what was going on, even if there was a much simpler explanation for why the Lucario didn't recognize anything she heard of what they were saying. A cawing scoff reached her ears, as she turned and saw Jaki ruffling his feathers and giving an unimpressed frown.
"... You two don't get around much, do you?" the Honchkrow scoffed. "Those two humans are speaking Unovan."
The explanation seemed to catch the two aback and left them blinking. There was a moment's quiet, before Jaki turned his head and rolled his eyes.
"You know, a completely different human language from across the sea?" Jaki asked. "What, did you expect humans would all speak the same language everywhere in the world?"
"I mean, the humans here in Johto talk like the ones in Hoenn," Rako retorted. "They're also separated by the sea, so…"
The sound of wingbeats rang out as a Tropius along with a bespectacled young man with long hair came in and hailed the other three who were waiting. Given how she could recognize some of the words he was saying, that must've been Calvin's friend from the internet. There was some back and forth between the trainers that she didn't catch, when a low, familiar voice caught her ear.
"Wait, Marl? Is that you?"
Marl looked up and saw that Garrett and the Nidorino trainer were now much closer to her. The Swampert was ahead of the two as a moment of awed surprise lingered on his face. There was a moment of mutual, incredulous excitement as the Swampert's dumbfounded expression gave way to a growing grin, and he reared up onto his hindlegs to hold a hand out in greeting.
"Hah! You've really grown strong since we last met!" the Swampert chuckled. "You and Calvin must've been over the moon when you finally got your wings!"
And just as quick as it came, Marl's mood came crashing back down to earth. She felt her mouth curl down and turned aside with a bitter growl under her breath.
"I spent it at home with Eira and Calvin's parents. He missed it by two days and we just met each other for the first time since then yesterday."
She couldn't see Numa's reaction, but just from the pregnant silence and the way he awkwardly shuffled his limbs from the corner of her vision, she supposed that she must have ruined the moment.
"Oh. Uh… That's really… Er… how on earth did that even happen?" Numa asked. "I thought that Calvin usually kept close tabs on you guys."
"It's a long story that we don't need to get into right now," Eira replied. "Though I take it that Garrett came here to enter the tournament?"
"Of course!" Numa replied. "Garrett hasn't exactly gotten less skilled as a trainer since he went back to Unova, so of course he was going to show off how far he's come!"
Marl turned back towards the Swampert. Calvin and Garrett were talking with each other and the Tropius and the Nidorino trainers. She couldn't make out what they were saying in Unovan since she hadn't picked up on much of it while Garrett was around in middle school. From what she could make out, the Tropius was 'Bushel' and her trainer was called 'Sessen'. The Nidorino trainer on the other hand, was apparently 'Alberi' and the Nidorino was 'Rinaldo'. The latter two were from some faraway land, and had come along with Garrett for some reason she didn't quite pick up.
Though if Garrett was here to show off his prowess as a trainer, then did that mean that the rest of Numa's teammates were here with him too?
"Is Ryuko here with you, Numa?" she asked. "Since it'd be nice to catch up with her a bit…"
Numa hesitated and quietly bit the inside of his cheek, before giving an apologetic shake of his head.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but she's not with us this time. I'm actually just here myself to cheer Garrett on from the sidelines since I'm his first Pokémon," the Swampert explained. "He's entering a team that he trained up after moving back to Unova. Said that he wanted to give them a chance to shine."
… Of course. Since after the whole incident with her evolution, Marl should've expected that things would just keep going wrong afterwards. The Salamence lowered her head with a disappointed sigh, when a series of red lights caught her eye. She turned and saw that all of a sudden, there was an entire group of Pokémon out alongside Garrett, which her own trainer was stopping to greet and size up.
"I think that that's our cue to go over and say hi," Eira said.
"Just as well," Numa said. "I'm sure that you'll have fun meeting the gang."
Marl made her way over alongside her teammates and at once, the thing that took her aback about this 'team from Unova' was how strong it looked. Samurott, Eelektross, Lucario, Ferrothorn, Volcarona, Hydreigon… just how far had Garrett gotten in whatever League was out there in Unova?
A brief glance revealed the others were similarly surprised, with Rako in particular staring blankly ahead, in particular at the Samurott.
"Still think you'd be cut out for the tournament, Floatzel?" Jaki scoffed.
Garrett said something to the Samurott, who let out a grunt before unsheathing a blade with an audible rattle and raising it up in the air. The foreign Pokémon left the blade up in the air to bask in a few impressed-sounding words from the other trainers present, as the color visibly drained from the Floatzel's face.
"I… uh… probably need to squeeze in a little more training before I'm ready to take them on."
"Oh hey! You've got a Lucario, too!"
Much to Marl's surprise, Aoi cut in front of her, walking up with a sauntering gait to Garrett's Lucario. She circled about the stranger, before giving a teasing prod at his side.
"So, just what are Lucario from this 'Unova' like anyways? Are they all cute-looking like you?"
The other Lucario blinked before closing his eyes and flaring his own feelers. There was a moment's pause when they fell, and his expression changed to a sheepish looking grin before he looked over at the Samurott on his team.
"Uhh… ¿eso es que le gusto, no, Miyamoto? Porque se siente como que le gusto.¹"
Aoi's eyes briefly widened and she stiffened up in surprise. Marl couldn't say she could fault her reaction, since just what sort of response was that?
"Fenris, en serio. Piensa en conocer a estos Pokémon primero, antes de hacerte el de ideas románticas.²"
After the Samurott answered with those strange words, it dawned on Marl that the pair must've been speaking a different language. She supposed that she'd heard others mention in the past that Pokémon from faraway lands often spoke in strange tongues that couldn't be understood, but it was still surprising to see Pokémon that at once looked so recognizable and yet sounded so… different.
"I… didn't quite catch that," Aoi said. "Could you repeat things?"
"Don't bother. They're speaking Unovan. Or the Unovan that Pokémon speak in that region," Jaki scoffed. "You might as well be talking to a brick wall."
"Or, you could just tell them a thing or two in their own language," Numa countered.
Marl did a double-take at the Swampert as he walked over to the Lucario, before speaking up in that strange language with its fast and staccato rhythm. Partway through, a widening grin spread over the foreign Lucario's face, as he held out a paw and his tail began to wag back and forth.
"¡Jo! ¡Lo sabía! ¡No esperes que sea suave contigo allá en el campo de batalla, dulzura!³"
Marl's jaw flopped open as she stared at Numa. She hadn't been able to make sense of anything those two had said, but…
"Wait, Numa, you can understand them?"
"You pick up a few things while traveling around," the Swampert said, pawing at the back of his head. "The new 'mons have done a bit of the same on their end, too. I'll help introduce you all before getting to the Tropius and her teammates."
Numa helped them pass their nicknames and greetings to each other afterwards in alternating turns. Some of Garrett's Pokémon like his Samurott had names like 'Miyamoto' that felt like they'd have been right at home back in Hoenn. Others like his Lucario had names like 'Fenris' that just from their names sounded like they'd come from faraway places. Things went back and forth between both sides for a bit, and Marl couldn't help but settle in a bit, until it came time for the Hydreigon to introduce herself:
"Mi nombre es Sazandora. Un gusto de conocerte, supongo, pero ¿vamos a comer algo ya? Un gusto sería comer algo ahora mismo.⁴"
Marl tilted her head with a puzzled frown. Maybe she was just hearing things, but-
"... Wait, her name's 'Hydreigon'?" Aries asked.
"That's… uh, a bit more on the nose than I was expecting from Garrett for a nickname, really," Roy said.
"She's… not quite the only Pokémon Garret's named in that style before," Numa explained. "Though to be fair, her name doesn't mean 'Hydreigon' back in Unova and she apparently likes the sound of it quite a bit, so…"
… So Marl hadn't been hearing things. She supposed that she'd heard that some trainers didn't give nicknames to the Pokémon they partnered with, but somehow Marl doubted this Pokémon even knew what she agreed to be called in the first place.
"Tch, more like she didn't know any better," she scoffed. "She's lucky she didn't wind up agreeing to some stupid-sounding name."
The Hydreigon abruptly perked up to attention, as her eyes suddenly narrowed.
"... ¿Me acabas de llamar 'estúpida'?⁵"
Marl noticed alarmed looks come over Numa and his companions' faces as it suddenly sank in that Garrett's Hydreigon was staring at her. She blinked slowly, before curling her mouth into a sharp frown.
"Numa, what on earth is her problem?"
"I think there's been a bit of miscommunication," the Swampert said. "Give me a moment to try and clear things up."
He turned to the Hydreigon and pulled her aside, speaking up in that strange, fast language that the others on Garrett's team did.
"Sazandora, tranquila. No dijo lo que parece que dijo.⁶"
"¡Numa, sé lo que oí! ¡Bien claro escuché que dijo 'baka'! Me dijiste específicamente que es lo que los Pokémon de estas regiones dicen para llamar a otro estúpido.⁷"
'Stupid' huh? So this Hydreigon had understood a couple of the words she said and was getting bent out of shape over it? What was she, a hatchling?
"I'm sorry, are you stupid?" Marl harrumphed. "Or do Pokémon from your region just reflexively assume the worst when they don't understand what others are saying?"
Numa's eyes widened as the gathering suddenly grew quiet enough to hear a pin drop beyond hearing a faint tapping noise. Marl briefly noticed that Jaki was pecking at some loose popcorn on the pavement, when a sharp snarl filled her ears.
"¡De veras que me llamaste estúpida!⁸"
The Hydreigon fanned her wings out and flashed her fangs. That one didn't go unnoticed, as the trainers whipped their heads around from their conversation, and the Samurott and the Lucario from Garrett's team were backpedaling alongside their other teammates.
"Ay, caramba.⁹"
"Y bueno, fue un placer conocerla.¹⁰"
Marl felt her heart skip a beat. Had the Hydreigon understood her after all? Even if she had, it surely wasn't anything that was worth getting this upset about. She looked back at her own teammates who similarly appeared on-edge. Roy went up to her and hurriedly tugged at her, or at least as much as a Blastoise could.
"... Marl, I think that you should apologize to her," Roy whispered. "Now."
Marl's eyes widened and she found herself backing away as she felt the Hydreigon's hot breaths against her scales and saw her fangs. After a few paces backwards, she dug her claws into the pavement and stopped.
No, she was a Salamence. Even if her opponent was obviously strong, she was strong too. And after everything that had happened the past couple days, she wasn't going to just sit and take being bullied around by a complete stranger in front of her friends.
"Roy, it was just some words," she protested. "She didn't even understand most of what I said!"
"Marl, please. Just give an apology to Hydreigon and don't pick a fight with her," Numa insisted. "If you really just evolved, it's not a fight that you can-"
Marl fanned her wings out and let a low growl come from her throat. She briefly saw Alberi and Sessen duck out of the way and then movement coming from Calvin and Garrett's direction, but didn't pay much mind. She turned her attention fully towards this 'Hydreigon', locked eyes with her, and bared her fangs.
"You know what? No," she snarled. "I didn't do anything wrong, and I'm not going to be pushed around by some thin-hided-"
A trio of blue, fiery pulses cut her off and sent her tumbling back. The world spun around her as she heard her trainer and teammates crying out and hurried onto her feet as she briefly glimpsed nearby humans and Pokémon hurrying out of the way. There were scorch marks on her right flank's scales and her breaths were ragged and uneven. That must have been a Dragon Pulse, but she'd never felt one that hurt like that before.
She tightened her claws against the pavement. No, she wouldn't let this stranger push her around like this. She was a Salamence now, a Pokémon whose mere cry was supposed to send other Pokémon fleeing with their tails between their legs in the wilds.
And Spoink would fly before she just yielded and accepted being treated like this.
"Grr! Fine!" she bellowed. "You want a fight so badly? I'll give you one!"
Marl beat her wings and lunged forward. Her wingbeats weren't as steady as she imagined they'd be, and she ignored her trainer's cries in the background as dragonfire built along her claws. She threw it forward as she closed the gap with the Hydreigon, bringing it down in between the other dragon's left and center heads. The Hydreigon let out a satisfying, pained bellow as Marl tumbled back with her, just belatedly noticing the red lights that just missed the two…
Along with the dragonfire that was wreathing the Hydreigon's tail.
Something heavy and burning struck her in her underbelly and sent her flying. Marl felt something cold and hard strike her left wing about halfway between its tip and her shoulder. There was a sickening crack as it wrenched forward and she crashed to the ground on her side.
White-hot pain followed. She bellowed in agony and tried to thrash only to freeze as the pain in her wing came back worse, as a sudden, dreadful realization came over her.
She'd remembered feeling pain like this before once when she was still a little Bagon. When she'd jumped out the bedroom window and landed wrong afterwards. Except back then, that pain was in her leg.
Her breaths tightened and grew shallow. She suddenly felt much smaller, every bit as helpless as she did back then.
"Marl!"
Marl felt claws latch onto her forelegs and pull her onto her feet. She briefly saw 'Hydreigon's form vanish into red light in the background as her teammates crowded around her. Her left wing was hanging limply halfway along its length and hurt when she moved it even slightly.
Her vision started to grow bleary and she tried and failed to fight back a whine from her throat. If this pain in her wing was what she thought it was, then she wasn't going to be flying after today.
And she didn't know when she would be able to again.
"It's- It's going to be alright," Roy insisted. "You're going to be alright-"
Her trainer raised a Pokéball at her and tapped its center. Marl briefly saw the red flash overtake her, and then everything went black.
Author's Notes:
1. "Uh, this is about her liking me, right Miyamoto? Because it feels like she likes me."
2. "Fenris, really. Ponder getting to know these Pokémon before fancying yourself the romantic one."
3. "Ha! I knew it! Just don't expect me to go easy out there on the battlefield, pretty!"
4. "My name is Sazandora. Pleased to meet you I guess, but are we going to eat soon? I'd be more pleased to eat right now."
5. "Did you just call me 'stupid'?"
6. "Sazandora, easy. She did not say what it looks like she did."
7. "Numa, I know what I heard! I clearly heard she said 'baka'! You told me specifically what Pokémon from these regions say to call another stupid."
8. "You actually called me stupid!"
9. "Oh, golly."
10. "Oh well, it was nice having met her."