The smokescreen overtook Hitori's side of the arena, shrouding both herself and her trainer. A second later Voltorb rushed into dark smoke, and more stone gathered up around its body as its rollout continued. "Dodge and use astonish as the voltorb starts to turn," Hitori whispered out so that only her partner would hear her.
Whismur's hearing is strong enough to pick up her words when the opposing trainer would not. More than that, her hearing was good enough to pick up the hum of electricity that powered Voltorb's attack. Hitori couldn't see what was going on, having to trust in Whismur's ability to dodge. The smoke was pushed around in different directions as it both began to dissipate and be pushed around by the two Pokemon moving around in it.
A second or two later a heavy smack echoed out through the arena and both trainers waited with bated breath to see whose Pokemon won out in the exchange. Voltorb emerged from the smoke first, rolling forward out of control and slamming into the wall on the side of the arena, the rocks it had built up falling off as the current was broken up. "Up and at 'em! You still got some fight left in you I know it!" Ball Girl cheered on and already the voltorb was rolling back up right and getting its bearings once again.
Hitori was relieved that her idea of using astonish to disrupt the attack worked out. Still, she had a major concern to deal with, which was if she should try and use something like Echoed voice. Voltorb was a Pokemon who could have sound proof making those moves useless. Doing so would do nothing more than waste her time and give away Whismur's position. "smokescreen again," She called out in the meantime to refill the amount of smoke while she thought things over once again.
"Don't bother getting in close this time, fire off thunder shock, sweep the area!" Ball Girl immediately countered. Voltorb quickly began to arc electricity into the growing field of smoke. Though not indiscriminately. Like Ball Girl had said, it was going from left to right with the idea that it'll hit eventually. Hitori didn't respond yet, instead, she trusted Whismur to dodge on her own. The rate at which the thunder shocks came out and the amount of space between attacks was large enough that Whismur should be able to handle it on her own.
It did clue Hitori into one thing, this voltorb didn't seem to be as skilled with long-ranged attacks as with its rolling. But if it was immune to Whismur's Echoed voice her own option for ranged attacks was limited, still, a plan came to mind. "Icy wind, blow the smoke towards them. T-then get close and start howling," She mumbled out not really trying to hide her intention with more whispers.
Right away Whismur began what was becoming a tried and true combination, blowing the freezing air out and carrying the smoke with it to be slow and blind her opponent. While she blew, Whismur began to walk forward. Voltorb hadn't been expecting Whismur to be where it had already cleared so for a moment it was confused, turning to its trainer for guidance.
"Rollout, spin in place, and be ready for their attack. Just fight through the ice!" Ball Girl shouted out. The freezing smoke hit the ball Pokemon just as it began to spin and charge electricity, magnetizing rocks to themselves once again. Only for Whismur to start howling at the top of her lungs, Even as both Ball Girl and Hitori flinched at the sudden noise, voltorb didn't, confirming at that moment that Hitori was right in her guess.
"Pound!" Hitori called out with a sudden burst of confidence.
"Rollout!" Ball Girl called out looking to make it a clash between the two Pokemon. Voltorb began to run small circles in place attacking everywhere around itself so that Whismur couldn't hit them from any angle. However, Whismur continued her howl as she leaped up and out of the smoke. Slamming down onto Voltorb where the spinning couldn't quite land against her. Voltorb again was sent into an uncontrolled spin. Narrowly avoiding another wall it eventually came to a stop next to Ball Girl, revealing that the last attack was enough to knock it out.
"Good job Voltorb! I'll let you eat your fill of electricity later. Good job to you as well!" Ball Girl Said as she returned her Pokemon.
Hitori could only let out a sigh of relief that she hadn't lost completely. The smokescreen continued to dissipate as Whismur stood with a rather triumphant look on her face, though that could just be the effect of the howl still running through her. "Okay, time for my next Pokemon!" Ball Girl said having already tossed out the ball containing her next Pokemon.
What came out was something Hitori had never seen before. It looked like a Voltorb, or more like a wood carving of one, with one half unpainted wood, while the other smoother. Its expression looked wrong as well, there was no perpetual scowl, if anything it looked excited or happy. Did Ball Girl dress another Voltorb up?
"Surprised ain'tcha? Well don't worry, it's for sure a genuine Pokemon," Ball Girl said. "Now if you're all ready, Voltorb Charge Beam!" Ball Girl suddenly switched to a more serious tone. The wooden Voltorb responded quickly, electricity building up and firing off much faster than the previous Voltorb, a solid beam of electrical energy rather than arcing lightning.
"D-dodge Whismur," Hitori called out as she tried to recover from her shock. If it was using an electric type move, it must have been a Voltorb like Ball Girl had called it. Whismur dove to the side, barely avoiding the attack. But even as the beam faded, electricity was still seen to spark off the odd voltorb.
"Charge beam again, and be ready to respond," Ball Girl called out. The wording about the second part was suspicious but Hitori wasn't sure how she even should respond in the first place? Did it being a weird Voltorb mean it wasn't going to have Soundproof? At least Whismur was able to recover and dodge the beam again. However, Hitori immediately realized that the attack was stronger and came out quicker this time.
'That's right! Charge beam doesn't discharge all of the electricity, keeping it around to boost the Pokemon with each use' Hitori realized. "Keep up the Charge beam," Ball Girl called out, making it abundantly clear that if Hitori couldn't make a move herself then the attack would keep coming out until Whismur wasn't able to dodge.
'if it looks like it's made of wood then,' Hitori thought before giving her command, "Icy Wind,". Whismur had to wait until the next charge beam came in, narrowly dodging once again before she counter-attacks. The frigid air made the voltorb recoil from the cold, frost coating the wooden Pokemon almost immediately.
"Nice eye! This Voltorb happens to be a grass type! Swift," Ball Girl ordered, answering the question now that Hitori could see it for herself. Voltorb let out a cry that sounded like a grainier version of the radio-like noise that the other Voltorb let out. A moment later and it was spinning in place releasing stars of energy that shot off in every direction before bending towards Whismur.
"H-Howl and get in close, T-then use astonish," Hitori ordered. Ball Girl was using Charge beam less for the attack and more for the boost it gave, preparing for Swift, Hitori could see that. So she couldn't hang back. Her hope now was to have Whismur close the distance and make use of Whismur already being bolstered by Howl. Maybe she could even get Whismur behind Voltorb and use the other Pokemon as a shield against its own attack.
The normal type began to shout and howl loudly as it ran forward, causing the stars of Swift to turn and follow after Whismur, slowing down on the turn. A small red aura began to shine around Whismur as the effect of Howl built up. As she got nearer, she stopped her howl and instead built up the ghost-type energy around her ears, unfurling them in preparation for her attack.
"Now!" Ball Girl shouted. The spinning voltorb abruptly stopped, the built-up kinetic force bouncing the Pokemon out of the way suddenly. In its place was a cloud of yellow powder that burst forth from Voltorb at the same moment. Whismur ended up charging into the powder only to seize up a second later, tripping and slamming into the ground.
"W-whismur!" Hitori cried out to her partner.
"Finish it off, Energy Ball!" Ball Girl commanded while Hitori was busy trying to think of something she could have Whismur do to avoid the upcoming attack.
Voltorb gave another cry as it slowly began to build up energy. A green aura shone around the Voltorb. It was slow to come out, taking nearly ten seconds to fully build up. Not that Hitori or Whismur could do much as Whismur struggled to pick herself up while still under the paralyzing effect of the powder.
Once the charge was complete, the attack fired off with enough force that Voltorb was pushed back by recoil. The attack was faster than Hitori expected it to be and had enough force that it was slightly tearing up the ground of the arena as it traveled. Whismur was forced to take the attack head-on, letting out a cry of pain as contact with Whismur caused the ball to explode out into a light show of green. Whismur was flung back and hit the ground hard, bruised up, and clearly knocked out.
Hitori stared at Whismur for a few seconds as her loss registered. It was a bitter feeling as she returned her partner. Once Whismur was safely back in her ball, Hitori squatted down and wrapped her arms around herself the corners of her eyes stinging a bit. Logically she knew she wouldn't go on some undefeated streak like Leon or Gloria had. If anything, she had been expecting to lose since her first battle at the café.
It didn't stop the feeling of frustration, if anything it only made it worse. She should have stayed back, it was obvious that the Voltorb was waiting for Whismur to get close. She should have lead with Whismur, Litwick would have done much better against the grass-type Voltorb. Hitori let out a strained breath as she tried to keep herself from crying over a simple, no-stakes loss.
"You did well! I certainly thought my regular ol Voltorb would have lasted longer against your Whismur," Ball Girl said having approached after returning her own Pokemon. Hitori didn't reply, only looking over at Ball Girl for a moment. The mascot hummed and reached into her bag and set down a couple of potions and a few more Pokeballs. "Well, consider this an additional thank you for helping me train my Voltorbs. Remember that a single loss isn't the end!" Ball Girl to help cheer Hitori up.
Rather than stick around Ball Girl walked off, figuring that Hitori needed some space, time that Hitori spent collecting herself. It was still frustrating, but somewhat enlightening at the same time. Because as frustrated as she was, as much as she felt like she failed, part of her wanted to try again, to prove that Whismur and Litwick could do better. Hitori didn't really expect her to have any sort of competitive streak to her, but that's what she was feeling now.
A couple more minutes passed and Hitori stood up, only to kneel right back down to pick up the potions and Pokeballs that Ball Girl left for her. Wiping away the tears that had formed Hitori made her way out from the arena and directly towards a Pokemon Center to heal her Pokemon up.
It was while she was leaving and returning to the inn she ran into Kita who was pacing around the entrance of the Inn. "Ah, Hitori! There you are! I lost track of you in the lockers. I didn't find you in any alleyways either," Kita said after running over.
"A-ah, I-I got into a Pokemon battle, with the m-mascot," Hitori admitted after looking away from Kita.
"Ha? That person you were hiding from? What's her deal with wanting to bother you so much? So how'd it go?" Kita replied as the two of them began to walk into the Inn. Kita led them over to some chairs in the lobby.
"W-well… I lost," Hitori explained.
"Really? But you did so well in that café tournament and against the Greedant! I guess the trainers participating in the Pokemon League are stronger than the others. Now I'm kind of worried about how I'd do," Kita said, surprised as well as making a bit of a self-depreciating joke.
Hitori simply nodded back not exactly sure how to reply back. Thankfully Kita was happy to continue talking for the two of them, "So, I was going to ask. Are you going to Turffield, Hulbury, or stay in Motostoke? I wanted to go to Hulbury. I mean Pikachu is an electric type, so I figure she'll have an easy time against Nessa. I don't think I'm really prepared to go up against Poison or Fire types yet so I want to have more time to prepare for them,".
"H-Huh?" Hitori asked, jolting up as she was kind of half listening.
"Oh, I mean for our first badge! I was wondering if you had a plan for where you'd be going first," Kita reiterated.
"O-oh, um… I was going to go to S-Spikemuth. T-there'd be much fewer people over there and it's not like we must go to them in any particular order. B-Besides Whismur gets rattled up over Dark-type moves so I thought I'd have an advantage there," Hitori quickly muttered out her own reasoning.
"Ah," Kita let out without realizing it. A silence came over them for a few seconds as Kita seemed to be deep in thought. "Well, I was hoping we could travel together. But I don't think Milcery will be strong enough for a gym right away, I kind of was putting my eggs in one basket with Pikachu," Kita admitted.
Hitori blinked, the idea that someone would want to travel with her honestly not crossing her mind. It was a nice feeling if she was honest with herself. "U-um, I could g-go with yo-" She started to say only for Kita to cut her off.
"Ah no I wouldn't want to mess with your plan like that. We probably shouldn't be treating this like a vacation either… How about this? We can meet up back in Hammerlocke! Would you be going to Circhester next?" Kita suggested.
"Y-Yeah," Hitori nodded. It would work out, wouldn't it? Litwick would be strong against ice types.
"Great then I'll just have to work hard, who knows maybe I'll be able to get three badges by then?" Kita said with a chuckle. Hitori did her best to follow the social cue and chuckle along, though it was a bit awkward.
"We'll have to have a battle when we meet up again then. I don't really want to be super competitive and call you my rival or anything. But It'll be fun and we can work on strategies together after, get some food, and have a little party over it," Kita continued hyping herself up for their eventual meeting even if they haven't gone their own ways yet. Hitori couldn't help but smile at the idea.
"I should buy some of those cool glasses," Hitori whispered to herself. She could see it already, decorations, party poppers, It'd be a totally hip and trendy party. She could even use her house so she wouldn't have to book it or anything. Her smile grew a bit wider and started to giggle a little, "Hey party people yo yo…" She whispered some more.
"I don't… Well if that's what you want no reason we can't dress up for it!" Kita happily replied, overhearing Hitori's whispers.
"Eh? I mean uh, a g-get together sounds g-good. Ah, I'll give you my number so we can, wait you already have my number," Hitori stuttered.
"Great! So, did you have plans for the rest of the day? I kind of figured It'd be like 'Everyone go go!' so I was planning to head out today," Kita asked.
Hitori blinked needing a few seconds to figure out what her plan was. She was going to be heading right back on the train, so she wasn't in any particular rush. Getting some time to start training her Pokemon while she felt the fire of motivation also seemed good. "I'll use the second night they gave us. I need to train more and I can't do that on the train," Hitori explained.
"Hmm, how about we take a look around and you can see me off then? Maybe we'll find some store that has something we forgot or didn't think about, I mean with the whole Pokemon League thing starting there's probably a bunch of stuff being sold for new trainers," Kita reasoned.
"Okay," Hitori replied simply. With nothing more needing to be said, Kita went to gather her things from her room and set off to explore around a bit. Even if it was largely just Hitori following Kita with the redhead talking more than enough for the of them. Not that Hitori minded at all, the feeling of having a friend outside Whismur that she didn't have to make up was still so new to her. So she was happy to just bask in the feeling.
Not that the two of them ended up getting anything more than some snack food that was being sold. Regardless Hitori found herself impressed and equally intimidated by just how many pictures Kita could take of every little thing. More than once Kita would even let her Pokemon out to pose with her or get in on the picture of one thing or another. It was also where Hitori saw Kita's fourth Pokemon.
The two of them thought they had gotten their fill, certainly, Hitori was welcoming the idea of hiding somewhere nice and dark for a while to recharge the moment she could get away with it. That was when Kita had spotted a food truck selling ice cream. She nearly sprinted over with sparkles in her eyes mentioning something about trends and some Unova town, Cast-something. Kita bought a cone with sprinkles and whipped cream on top and then let out her Milcery and a Pokemon that looked like a living ice cream cone and had the two of them pose together for a selfie with the ice cream.
While Hitori did recognize the Pokemon because they tended to show up every winter and could be seen all over the place before streets could be plowed. She didn't actually remember what they were called. She made a mental note to look it up later.
Their time together went on longer than either of them intended but eventually, they made their way to the bridge leading to the Motostoke Outskirts, even now there were still quite several people leaving Motostoke, either returning home after coming to see the opening or new trainers participating in the league. Just from where they stood the two of them could see several battles going on. Some of them even involved people they vaguely remember being among them in the crowd of new participants.
"Well, guess this is where we part for now. Wish me luck Hitori! Oh, and good luck with you as well!" Kita cheered as she started to take a few steps forward, her body turned back to face Hitori.
"A-ah, g-good luck!" Hitori tried her best to raise her voice to match Kita's cheeriness. Though her voice cracked and she began to cough from how foreign it was to her. Kita chuckled a bit good-naturedly and waved as she continued to walk, slowly turning to face forward. Hitori waved back for, probably, no, certainly too long.
Once she had finally stopped, she used the open space to get some practice with Litwick and Whismur before returning to her inn room after an hour or two. Then she spent the rest of the night playing guitar, not only to entertain Whismur and Litwick but to also keep up her practice and even getting a recording of herself playing for her channel.
In another hotel room, the door swung open as two young women walked in. One was the always recognizable Marnie who let out a quiet sigh of relief as she leaped onto one of the nearest beds. The other, a younger teenager with long blonde hair tied to the side. She chuckled at Marnie's reaction. "I guess that answers how tiring being a gym leader is," the teenager commented.
"I wish Piers at least warned me about the hours of meetings that came after," Marnie blankly commented. She rolled around on the bed a bit before finally kicking her shoes off. "Thank you again for coming along to keep me company Nijika," She added.
"No worries, I mean you helped the two of us out a bunch on our first year. The least I can do is fetch you some water between those meetings y'know?" Nijika answered a bit bashfully.
"Also, so I can be the first one to beat you as your first challenger as the official gym leader," A new voice chimed in. A blue-haired teenager had been sitting on a couch holding up a wine glass filled with juice while an Alolan Persian was lounging on the backrest with the blue-haired teenager's head resting against the Persian's side.
The other two had been quietly pretending that she wasn't there until now. Hoping that it may do something to stop her from acting like that. "Well, that's true for me as well, but I'm not nearly as confident as Ryo is. But then again, she's always like that," Nijika said.
"I appreciate it. According to my brother, Spikemuth never got many challengers in the early months. I can't exactly have any concerts either since I have to be able to accept challengers at any time," Marnie replied. "Speaking of, how are you two doing with your own thing?" She added after a few seconds.
Judging by how Nijika and Ryo both immediately looked off to the side to avoid eye contact. "That bad?" Marnie asked.
"Well, I mean, because of you and your brother, Spikemuth has more musicians than audience members it feels like. That and Ryo kept chasing away anyone I tried to get to join us," Nijika explained.
"They weren't rock enough," Ryo explained with a sage nod.
"You should at least try something with just the two of you," Marnie suggested.
"Well, I mean sis let us practice at her place. But last year we got tied up with the Pokemon Gym challenge," Nijika explained a bit sheepishly.
"Maybe lower your standards, just a touch?" Marnie added, though her gaze was more on Ryo with that statement.
"They still need to be rock," Ryo reiterated.
"Better than 'Rock' As well as having at least three badges and being willing to lend Ryo money," Nijika mentioned the current criteria that Ryo was using.
"Well, keep at it either way. I got to sleep, Nijika are you flying with me or Ryo in the morning?" Marnie asked as she rolled in her bed, bringing the blanket with her to bundle up ready to fall asleep at any moment.
"Ah, well I was going to go with Ryo. Her flier has more room y'know?" Nijika explained.
"I'll give you the bandmate discount," Ryo said with a nod. Nijika sighed and gave a light chop to Ryo's head.
"Yeah yeah, let's leave Marnie to get some sleep alright?" Nijika replied.
Ryo hummed set the glass down on the table and stood up, with her Persian getting up and staying right by her side. "Okay," She replied.
"Also when we get back you're paying Marnie back for that bottle of juice you opened. Just because they're in the fridge doesn't mean they've been paid for," Nijika began to explain as the two of them left Marnie's hotel room.