You can find more of this on by Subscribe/Star (dot adult slash KajaWilder), it's posted past Ch. 120 there. You can find the same on my new (via Discord per their ToS), under /WildErotica. The DISCORD is at h-t_t-p_s-:_/-/_discord-._g-g_/-N9yDASt6Cw (taking out hyphens and underscores, 'cause FFnet). If you prefer direct links, go to my Discord and follow the 'links in general' section to find the ones you want. All of my fics are well ahead of what I post here, often 10-30 chapters ahead.

You can also read my original fiction on Kindle, or Kindle Unlimited for free. My author page: www ._amazon ._com / stores / Kaja-Wilder/ (this time taking out underscores and spaces, but leave the one hyphen).

Enjoy!

Sorry about the long wait all, sick + whole house being sick = Not a Good Time. -45/10, do not recommend.

Chap. 84: A Look into Chaos

"I'll go," Elle replied to the unnamed blonde man's question, "I'm eager to see what I'm up against. And unlike Alex, I'll do you the favor- if it is one- of telling my opponent who I'm using. It'll be… Gobbler, my Weepinbell."

"A Grass, huh? And Poison, I guess," a pretty, freckled girl with a slim build like Elle's and short, twin light brown hair chuckled, "Well, I guess it's only fair I take you on, then, with my Pidgeotto!"

Elle snorted, "Fair, huh? I guess… if you call fair a total type advantage. But I don't care. If you're anything like your friend, here, we're still gonna win. And easily."

"Against me? Nah," the girl chuckled, "I'm better than him. Name's Lucy. One on one, you ready to go?"

"Sure am," Elle grinned. "I'll have Gobbler open up with Growth."

"Playing it safe, huh? Well, that won't help you, not against my Pidgeotto," Lucy laughed, "Pidgette- use Soar!" The brownish bird did just that: with a great flap of its wings that send grass seed and dust everywhere, the creature launched itself into the sky, a good forty or fifty feet over their heads, though Elle noticed it kept a tight circle. The rules for Flying-types and ring-out were a bit flexible, she knew, but this girl, Lucy, seemed to be taking no chances. Had she been burned from that in the past..?

Now would be a good time to find out, but she didn't have a reliable way of doing so, unfortunately. The truth was, the Type match-up was very bad, and she knew from Nike that Pidgeotto were no slouches. Gobbler's primary use for her first several levels had been a living sex-toy for Alex, though she'd gotten in a fair bit of combat experience too.

"You can't hurt me if you can't hit me," Lucy chuckled, "and I've taught Pidgette a few moves to stay way up there. What're you gonna do about that, huh? Even if you can reach me, it won't hit very hard!"

"Not sure yet," Elle shrugged, pretending nonchalance, though her mind was racing. "Growth again, Gobbler." As long as the Pidgeotto stays up there, there really isn't much in her move set that'll work. Growth will be useful if- no, I've got to be positive, when she comes down within reach. And it'll extend her reach, too. I've caught people off-guard with longer Vine Whips than they expected before.

"Feather-blades!" The petite blonde watched with just a faint hint of worry in her eyes as the Pidgeotto used an old Gen-20-something move from high in the sky that sent a barrage of feathers spiraling downward in a double-whirlwind, spine-first.

A cloud of dust and more allergens was kicked up where the rapidly-falling feather-spikes struck the earth, which seemed dead-center on Gobbler's position. The attack stirred up enough cover, in fact, that Elle was completely unable to see her own Pokémon for several seconds before the dust settled. Of course, that didn't truly matter, as this was an official Battle, not a Free Battle, where time mattered more. They had to call out attacks one at a time, and as long as she didn't, the girl's wouldn't execute even if her opponent did call one.

"Scared, yet?" the girl taunted, folding her arms across her small chest, "Pidgette is the strongest Pokémon any of the three of us have! He can take on a variety of Pokémon, and even beat these two at the same time! You shouldn't have been so arrogant, kid."

"Tch," Elle scoffed, pointing into the cloud of dust, which was starting to settle, "Arrogant? Me? I think you're talking about yourself. I was just being nice. You? You had a Type advantage, and my Pokémon is barely scratched! And you're the kid, I'm at least a few years older than you!"

"Wh- What?"

Elle grinned, "I don't know why, maybe your Pokémon is sick. Maybe it's weaker than you thought. But Gobbler is one of my weakest Pokémon, and with your Type advantage, I thought she'd be at least a bit hurt, but that… it's almost sad."

"I… I don't understand," Lucy murmured, eyes high up on her Pokémon, "If that doesn't work, then charge up a Gust!"

"You know what, Gobbler? If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Just hunker down, dig your roots deep, and Growth again! Let's see if this fares any better!"

It didn't. While the high-speed wind gusts blasted against Gobbler hard enough to shake her leaves violently, it didn't seem to do much of anything.

Frantically, Lucy pulled up an older-model Pokédex and held it up, scanning Gobbler's statistics before she ordered another move. "Not holding any items… doesn't have a weird ability… why isn't it hurting it much?"

On a whim, and since she had time, Elle lifted her own wrist-mounted holo-screen 'dex, and scanned the flying Pidgeotto, too.

The result came to her, at least, very quickly.

More fun to let the kid stew a bit. It's what she gets for calling me a kid, when I'm definitely older. "More Growth, just get bigger and bigger. That's three."

Lucy frantically scanned through her moves too, before she frowned across the small space at the end of the bridge where they were fighting. "F- Fine! You still can't hurt me, I'll just wear you down, no matter what your stall-tactic is! Feather-blades!"

With a roar of wind and a patter like ten thousand raindrops, the horrific-looking attack slammed down into the evolved Bellsprout, kicking up a second, slightly smaller, cloud of detritus that once more obscured the hunched pitcher-plant creature inside it. "Wee!"

The sound was high-pitched, almost painful, and Elle wondered for a moment whether it was a child-like cry of enjoyment, or a shrill of pain from the Weepinbell.

While the cloud settled again, Elle realized what actually made the attack useful. It wasn't high damage. It was wide area, and quite likely could hit several Pokémon at once. More importantly… it's like Sand Attack was in the old-old games. It's lowering Gobbler's accuracy, making it harder to see! The damage is almost secondary! But that Gust didn't do much, either. More than this did… but not much. What's going on?

It wasn't like Yggdrassil kept a battle log. Or did it? Note to self… find that, or hack it. I'm sure GF has them, even if we don't.

For now, though, there were more urgent matters. Gobbler was about twenty percent larger, which tracked: each Growth, historically, had made the Bellsprout grow about five percent, as far as she had been able to measure. Which meant that, when it stopped working at what used to be called six 'stacks', she was thirty percent bigger than when she'd started… and the Bellsprout, cute as she was, hadn't been a small example of her specimen to begin with. That didn't give her any more defense, or any more HP, so Gobbler's resistance to the two Flying moves (at least she assumed Feather-blade was Flying, she didn't actually remember much information about it, since the move had gone out of favor before her time) was something else.

Or… maybe it's just that weak? The Battle Rank… hah… got you, little bitch. You might be stronger than those other two, maybe you were honest about taking them both on at once, even, but you're dead meat, kid.

Elle grinned. Yes, the Flying moves probably had been super-effective. It just didn't matter, because the Pidgeotto, while it had Evolved, was Rank Eighteen. Being second-stage had boosted its stats, but Gobbler was in the second of three Evolutionary stages, too, and had received a commensurately similar stat increase. Only Gobbler was not level eighteen, but twenty-five. Her Defense and Special Defense were nearly double what the Pidgeotto's likely Attack and Special Attack were! Not to mention that she had a whole bunch more HP.

Elle looked at the green HP bar on her 'Dex one more time. Three hits has taken about fifteen percent. Even if she gets a critical, I've got between four and six more hits before I need to heal her up. No one said anything about item use, after all, just one-on-one. Heh… This'll be easy, even easier than I expected. "Hah… I got this in the bag. Watch and learn, kid. Growth."

She watched Alex and Robin share a surprised look with each other. Lucy scowled, "You think so, huh? Gust!"

"Growth!"

"Gust!"

The next round went a little differently. "Hit that stupid plant with another Feather-blade, Pidgette!"

Elle cracked her neck before calling out her next attack, though she did so quietly and calmly, "Spray some Acid."

The gout was impressive, a thick, caustic-scented yellowish substance that vomited out in a jet from Gobbler's wide-open mouth. It sprayed up in an arc, and… fell short by about fifteen feet. Instead of hitting the opposing Pokémon, it landed amid the planks of the bridge near the blonde man, who yelped and jumped back, cursing about acid spray ruining his nice clothes.

The third pelting barrage of feathers made Lucy crow, "Not so confident now, are you? I told you you wouldn't be able to reach her up there!"

"Oh, no, what shall I do," Elle drawled slowly, doing her best to sound supremely unconcerned, "I am maybe defeated, woe is me. Acid again, aim a bit higher."

The second spray came a little closer, whether through dumb luck or maybe her advice, but still fell short, though it had been fired nearly straight up. This time the grass to Gobbler's left hissed and smoked audibly even over the wind of another Gust.

Half my HP. I'll have to heal after showing off like this, but it's totally worth it, Elle thought. "Oh, oh, what shall I do. I cannot hit."

She could feel Alex rolling his eyes at her 'acting', and heard Robin stifle a giggle behind her, one that her opponent didn't seem to appreciate as she sent the rosette a glare. "What're you laughing at? I've got this in the bag, no matter what she says! She can't touch me! Feather-blade again!"

"Sleep Powder."

"Please, that won't- wait, what?"

"Sleep Powder sure isn't the most accurate," Elle shrugged, "and normally even worse against moves that hide you. But you know what? Its area of effect is huge, and gets larger the stronger your Special Attack is. Didn't you know? Hells, I'm getting a little sleepy myself, and I'm thirty feet away. Just-" she yawned, "Finish it off with a V- Vine Whip, you know, once it hits the ground."

Because it was going to.

Less than six seconds after it had inhaled the first of the fine powder, the Pidgeotto faltered, missing a couple of wing-flaps. A few seconds later, it missed four. Then eight, and it dropped about fifteen feet before climbing back up desperately…

And then tanked, twisting through the air as it turned beak-downward.

"Pidgette!"

Again, Elle forced herself to stay calm and collected despite wanting to cheer, "Once it hits the ground, smack it a few times with your Vine Whip."

Despite being asleep, the impact jarred the Pidgeotto awake, and it cawed in pain as it rolled to its feet, wings spread, feathers ruffled, but nothing appeared broken. It got about three inches off the ground when both feet were encircled with vines an inch thick, which wrapped around the spindly limbs two, three times. "Pidg!"

"Bell," a soft, almost enchanting voice called from inside the cloud of dust that still hung in the air, now sparkling and obscuring both.

"Up you go," Elle said cheerfully, as Lucy's Pokémon was lifted high overhead, though nothing near where it had been before. "And what goes up…"

Lucy gasped as the ripple in the lower parts of the vines appeared, and magnified with every foot it traveled along the length of both. There was a loud crack before the Bellsprout even hit the ground as the whipping motion of the vines broke the sound barrier.

"P- Pidgette…"

"Don't take it too hard, kid," Elle mocked almost-gently, or at least she tried to, "look at our Battle Ranks. That's why it didn't work very well, I think. Not a bad tactic… but maybe add another couple 'mons to your roster, and try your other moves. If she survived."

Lucy sniffed, and nodded.

Elle was pretty sure that as the battle-lines Yggdrassil drew faded from her vision that the other girl was crying. She definitely was when she picked up the battered, broken Pokémon. "S- Sorry, Greg, I gotta- I gotta get him to the PMC."

"Go, kid, go. We'll handle it for a while. Might even get a chance to battle myself."

She nodded at the blonde man's quiet words, then took off running without a word.

The last opponent present scowled as she stepped up. She was in the middle age-wise between the three, Elle thought, and looked a little quieter, calmer, and more rational than the younger girl she had fought, or the probably twelve-year-old bug catcher Alex had gone up against.

Lass-type, probably? Cute skirt, at least. Time to see what Robin will do against someone we don't know, finally.

Sexy as she is, I really want to know what actually makes her tick.

"I'll use a Psyduck," the skirt-and-blouse-wearing girl said quietly, "And yeah, it's my only one, I know. That's why we're here at the beginning of the challenge. It gets harder. I'm used to losing, but I won't go easy on you."

"Excellent," Robin replied with a smile, "I would hope you don't. Should I go easy on you? I'm close to the same level they are."

The girl cocked her head to the side, "Why would I? I can't get better if you don't make me work."

Robin grinned, "I like you, kid. What's your name? I'm Robin."

"Ali."

"Awesome, good to meet you. Hm, against your Psyduck, I don't really even have anything good, so that won't be a problem, but I don't want to give you too much of an advantage… but I don't think I have anything weak to Water or Psychic, either. Hm. Well, I don't want to just take forever, so I'm going to use my Rattata, Nibbler. He's a sweetie, but he's probably my strongest offensive Pokémon."

"Alright. Start with Water Gun."

This time, while the lass was fairly neutral in demeanor and tone, Robin bounced on the balls of her feet a few times after she stepped into position, "I'm excited. I haven't actually Battled for real very much, there weren't many Trainers around where I started things. You're… oh, maybe the tenth or something. Show me what you got, Ali. You're gonna Water Gun, so I'll… Hyper Fang!"

The purple-furred Rattata leaped into motion, narrowly avoiding the high-pressure Water attack both Squirt and Shooter had mastered relatively early. "Missed," Ali said quietly, "strange. Your Rattata is quite fast."

"Thanks," Robin grinned, "He's also got a collar, if you'll notice: holding a Bright Crystal in that little locket. Cost me a lot, but it's saved him a fair few hits, too, so worth it to me. And his Ability and Nature both help his Evasion, so he is really good at dodging."

"Smart."

Robin grinned at the younger girl's pronouncement, "Thanks. Next round? I'll call first, if you want, keep things fair. How about… Bite."

"Hn. Disable."

Robin frowned as her speedy Pokémon rushed in and slammed its jaws against the Psyduck's large, golden-down head. The Psyduck yelped, rather than quacked or made any kind of normal duck-like noise, and held up its feathered wings to its cranium as the smaller Pokémon's momentum carried it past.

Then the eyes, narrowed shut in pain, flashed yellow-white, and Nibbler's mouth slammed shut.

Elle could see his jaws trying to open it, but it seemed useless. Disable actually physically locks down the move, huh? That's good to know, I've only used Morpheus' against Special-type attacks so far I think. What's Robin gonna do now? I know he has all offensive moves from training with Megu and Kinta, but what's the play? Bite is really unreliable with flinching, but I don't think that's it. More my style anyway, unless she's going all-offense, which isn't really any of us.

Only it seemed that it was. For two more rounds, Robin kept up the heat with Assurance instead, which Nibbler performed by leaping onto the Psyduck's face or chest and clawing away with all four paws for several seconds.

At the start of the third round after, the Psyduck's front was bleeding from twenty or more tiny, likely-infected scratches, and it was clutching its head in pain. But it wasn't the only one. A combination of Confusion and Water Gun had lowered the bar on her 'dex displaying Nibbler's HP down to just above the red. Another good hit with either move would probably knock him out. The only saving grace was that the Psyduck was in sightly worse shape, actually in the red, 15% or less HP remaining.

"Finish with another Water Gun," Ali commanded quietly, "So we can end at least her run right here."

Robin grinned, still somehow enjoying herself even though unlike both she and Alex, this girl was actually giving her a run for her money.

She didn't understand why Robin was so confident, but the Combinant oozed the emotion as she bounced once more. "I think Elle said it pretty well. Got this in the bag. Nibbler, sweetie, my guy, my fighter? I know you're hurt. Potions are comin', baby. Just gotta end it with one more move, okay? And that move is…"

Robin waited.

So did everyone else.

The blonde man eventually called over, "You stallin'? 'Cause you can just forfeit, you know. No shame in it."

Three more seconds, then just as he drew in his breath to speak again, "Quick Attack."

Water pooled around the Psyduck's mouth, preparing to fire.

And dissipated, splashing over Ali, and her companions to a lesser degree, and certainly giving both the Psyduck and the Rattata a bit of a bath as Nibbler barreled straight through it, tackling the Psyduck head-on with a burst of speed easily twice what he had been using before. Faster, in fact, than they'd even seen him move during their earlier training.

It was over. The Psyduck reeled, tottered, and fell, unable to mount an effective defense, though its offensive strength had been on par with Robin's only real fighter.

The blonde man snorted, rolled his eyes, "Showoff. Nicely done, though, all three of you. See that group of slackers on the left, half-way up the arch? That's your next group. Everyone else is either taking the Challenge, or just passing through. You can fight them too if you want, most are Trainers, 'cause the area up past here is pretty good for wild Pokémon, but it's also really heavily hunted, so they can be hard to find. Go on, I'll radio, they'll expect you."

"Thanks," Elle nodded, and a few minutes later, they were out of earshot as the man pulled the radio off his belt and turned it on.

They were.

Loki was not, hidden nearly-invisibly between the bright sun and the dubious-looking, smarmy man. She took Alex's hand as she'd done a thousand times, and whispered, "Don't let me walk into anything, I'm closing my eyes and ears for a minute. I'll explain later."

And her world lurched, back three or four hundred feet and maybe eighty downward.

Having a psychic or spiritual, or both, link with a Pokémon was not entirely rare. Many Ghost or Psychic-type Trainers had at least a minor empathic bond with their Pokémon. More, and stronger, if the bond of friendship was stronger, too.

Loki was, above all else, a prankster at heart. If, of course, it could be said to have a heart at all, given that it was composed of spiritual energy and trace elements of various toxic gasses, most of which were too mild to inconvenience even a young human, but that if concentrated could be quite dangerous.

Yes, recently, it had discovered the joys of voyeurism, thanks to its Trainer and her love of it herself. That was fun… and a bit of a prank too, which was why it'd be interesting. It wasn't supposed to be spying on Alex and that Nurse Joy. It was societally a no-no, and all of its past memories, an amalgamation of at least a dozen lives, told it that. But Elle had told it to, and Loki had done so with glee. Now it understood more why: mortal beings, creatures of flesh and blood, quite liked sex in general.

It almost made Loki wish for a body of its own again, one that could feel and touch with more than just mental or emotional energies and wispy gas.

Elle, too, was a prankster, a tricky vixen, and a thief. They got along splendidly! Loki did not know much about the Egg-Dray-Sill she kept thinking about, the strange mega-machine that dwarfed even a Porygon-Z's abilities in comparison in her mind, but it understood she was worried about what it could and couldn't do in this world. It knew that she wanted free of it, but wanted to keep using it, too.

Knew, as well, that she was equally worried about the Ditto-Robin. She was strange, and Loki liked strange things. Her mind was so twisted, yet so… flat!

People, Loki had learned since it had first assembled as a Gastly some… uh… some number of years ago that truly meant nothing to it, were complicated.

Ditto-Robin was not. In many ways, she was as straightforward as her Pokémon half's usual nature. They wanted to mate, and mate with everything, all the time. Hated fighting in general, and even if they were okay at mimicry, generally terrible when forced to do so.

But she was also human, and that was what made her interesting. Well, part of it. But humans were convoluted, with some many desires and wants and needs and lusts and greeds and different emotions pulling them this way that way upsideinsidetwistingaroundandfunfunfun!

Ditto-Robbin wanted three things. Sex (not Mating, necessarily, Loki had figured out, though Mating was what her masters wanted, and she was okay with it in principle). Alex and Elle's success in the mysterious organization that made no sense to Loki called the Indigo League. And 'fun'. Not fun like Loki and Elle liked, but just general fun. The kind kids have. Free of restraint, of limits, of rules.

That, Loki liked a lot. A lot, a lot!

They were almost as alike as it and Elle! He couldn't wait to dive into her mind some more while she was sleeping, and figure out what made her tick some more. But he had work to do for now.

Elle's and Loki's connection was strong, so when she'd asked him to eavesdrop for a little while on the blonde man, well… eavesdropping was FUN with a capital FUCKING UNBELIEVABLY NECESSARY! Hahahaha! This would be great!

Its perfect hiding spot hurt, a bit, but with his spiritual self masked by the ball of hatefire, and the gas parts only slightly roiling with more energy because there just wasn't enough to really build up a lot of heat over and above the ambient air, Loki figured it was worth it.

And it didn't have to wait long.

It only recognized a radio as a radio because Elle understood Loki well enough to send the exact mental image of the device. And sure enough, blonde man (Gregory Smallwell, of Gringy City, a Team Rocket member and closeted gay man in a world where being homosexual was no big deal, but that for some reason made him more nervous around strangers and even his family, and it was complicated and convoluted, and funny, and- Oh. Yes. Loki was supposed to be watching and listening, not mind-delving).

Blonde man.

Hah.

Blonde man picked up the Radio and kept his eyes locked on Elle, Alex, and Ditto-Robin (Why was her name also RDV? That was a weird name, but Loki needed to focus, focus, focus, not distract itself!) as he keyed the on button. "Greg here. Team coming up. Younger blonde, pink hair girl, and a tall guy with some muscle. Stomped team one, they were just toying with 'em. Spread the word before they get to you. You won't more than slow them down. Tell the boss to be ready: I think this is Vaan's target."

Loki cocked his head-body, spinning clockwise in the air in excitement. He knew that name!

"Roger," came back a crisp-sounding voice that was marred by a bit of crackle over the electronic signals, which made Loki giggle quietly. "The ones Executive A wanted an eye on?"

Gregory Smallwell nodded despite the distance making the small motions useless, and replied, "Yeah, that's them. Kinda curious to see if A or P get their paws on those three first. I'm surprised they bothered to come this way, it's for low-level Trainers usually… but the boss might need to pull out his A-game. I dunno about his full-strength team, but the trio of Pokémon I saw were all Rank nineteen to twenty-five. Blondie's was the strongest, and Pinkies' the weakest. None of my team had a chance. Good tactics, too."

"Acknowledged. We'll bring our A-game too."

"Won't matter, but that's alright. Might soften them up a bit for the later runs. Glanced at their packs when they pulled out some Potions after their matches. Two regular and one Super topped all three of theirs off, and the Super was against Ali. Between them, I think they've got more than thirty total Potions, which is more than enough to sweep the bridge if they want to. Kinda wish Chuke was still here. Bitch wasn't exactly loyal, but at least she kicked ass."

"Heh, you would say that. Some of those kids are still missing, you know? They were our friends."

"If you say so. You don't need friends weaker than you. You need friends as strong, or stronger, to keep you safe. That's what we're all about, right? Making each other stronger. Anyway, you can use your big teams if you want, but I'd recommend saving 'em. You might need backups after this, and I don't want any other teams coming up behind them and getting in the way of the party when they reach the boss, so don't slow 'em down too much. Pass that one on, too."

"Roger. Anything else?"

"Nah. Oh, I think the pink-haired girl might be one of those weird empaths they have. Not a psychic, not a medium, but something like that. Maybe a Fairy-type, whatever those're called? Fei? Whatever. Just watch for her, she was all bubbles and happiness even when they were both about to faint. Most people'd be super tense. I get she had an ace in the hole, but still. Watch for her."

"Acknowledged."

"Alright, that's it. They aren't too far off, so better get your team in gear. And try not to piss yourselves when you see their Battle Rank. These guys are not pushovers, they're going place. I just think that place needs to be the graveyard, before it gets worse."

"Heh. Gotcha, Lead One. Lead Two out."

Loki cackled silently as the radio was hitched back to the man's belt, and he turned to the kids. "Okay, I know the rules: Losing a match gets a small punishment, but per Executive Ariana's instructions, you aren't being punished for losing to those three. What did you learn?"

Loki giggled again, and moved. It wasn't supposed to listen to them, even if it wanted to. It was supposed to go back to Elle, tricky Elle, and tell her what it learned, instead! Hahah, spying and eavesdropping and warnings were fun! Let the people ahead prepare, they wouldn't be stopped, nope! Loki knew it. He was no great Psychic like an Alakazam that could reach into the future and pluck the strings of destiny free to look at from the Tapestry of Fate, no, no, that'd be just silly.

But it was pretty smart, and it knew full well that Gregory Smallwell was right: Elle, Alex, and Ditto-Robin were going places. Up. Farther. Into the heights! They were talented, smart, strong, so much stronger than Loki's had been when they were little Trainers and failed and died again and again because they weren't strong enough! No, these three, they would live and rise and rise and live and fight and fight and it would be SO MUCH FUN!