Disclaimer: Pokemon is owned by the Nintendo, Hakunon/Fate is owned by the all-powerful Mushroom(Nasu), and all that stuff.
Hakuno wasn't sure, but she had felt eyes on her since she woke up.
Elpis and Parcae couldn't detect anything malicious so it might have just been a Gym Leader's Pokemon keeping track of her before the training camp. But Hakuno couldn't shake the feeling that it was something different, but at least it shouldn't be anything to worry about now.
They had to return to the Cianwood Port to find a few more waterproof blankets and other miscellaneous items. Upon arriving back at the Pokecenter she was staying at, they moved to the back towards the deserted training fields.
Hakuno frowned as she watched Nomia's winds, still unable to defend herself properly. They could slightly redirect the attacks, but it was at most an inch or three, which while helpful, was not the full stoppage of ranged attacks that they were intending. If Nomia tried to make the winds stronger, they quickly pushed forward instead of staying around her and protecting her.
If only there were a way she could make them denser without making them stronger.
"Hrm… I wish I could help you but Fairy Energy isn't my thing, it doesn't flow through me like Psychic or Grass type energy. I could ask Mew but I would rather die than ask it for help… There are a few covens of Fairy-Types near here, but I haven't seen them in a couple of Generations…" Elpis was a little sprite on Parcae, the small 2D picture kicked up a few of her digital folders that quickly jerked back into place by Parcae.
Hmm, well that was a slight roadblock she had been hoping on Elpis's knowledge of the world and Type Energy but she should have realized that even a time-traveling Fairy wouldn't know everything.
"Maybe we can look into getting one of them as a companion?" It took Hakuno a moment to glance down as the little Tinkatink wasn't swinging her hammer and was just staring at her with her big eyes.
"Ti?"
Hakuno frowned and tilted her head as she looked down at the little Fairy, she was somewhat getting the vague interpretations that Pokemon give off, other than the painfully obvious, so she wasn't sure if Nomia was constipated or conflicted over what she just said.
"Someone who knows more about Fairy-Type energy would be good for your training wouldn't it?" Maybe another Pokemon that was also good at Steel Type energy, she did hear that most people who truly focused on Pokemon Training became specialists in one type due to training being easier, and she wondered if she would become one for Fairy or Steel. Maybe both? Being a generalist trainer did appeal to her, not having a specific weakness made Nero strong in the Holy Grail War and if she focused on one type then they would all share the same weaknesses…
Well, she will see how that plans out. At the very least she wanted at least another Pokemon to join them, more so when they start leaving for more than a few days in more hostile environments to set up a sleeping schedule.
Worse comes to training though, she was sure there was a place she could post a job ad to get someone to help Nomia.
"It's something to think about, I won't bring anyone onto the team that you don't approve of." Well, Nomia, Parcae, and Elpis even if it's a grudging approval from Elpis or Parcae at least. Nomia would have to work with whoever joined them and if she couldn't then the new Pokemon wouldn't join them.
Hakuno felt the drip of water on her nose as she glanced up, the sky was getting dark with clouds, "Come on Nomia, let's head inside and rest up." The little gremlin nodded and clamored into Hakuno's arms.
Hakuno took a mental checklist of all the items she had stored in her bag again, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything. She frowned as she saw the rain pouring down from her window, she made sure to dress up warm and was lucky the coat she bought in the mart was waterproof.
Nomia didn't like rain too much so she stayed in her Pokeball until she was needed for a fight or they started getting into the routes.
Walking into the Gym proper there was a clear division of two groups, a bunch of people wearing what appeared to be red martial artist uniforms and another group of nervous-looking teenagers one of which might be a year or two older than herself. She had a strong inkling seeing the girl Ren with the martial artists that the group Hakuno was supposed to be was the group of nervous teens so she made her way over to them and took a seat.
"WAHAHAH!" Hakuno glanced towards the backdoors leading to the Gym Proper as they slammed open and a guttural laugh echoed. The man who entered the hall was older, had a gut, and only wore the bottom portion of the martial arts uniform. He carried around a presence that honestly reminded Hakuno of Dan Blackmore.
Hakuno's eyes focused on the man, his steps seemed to be done carelessly but she could feel the power radiating off of him along with the belt of Pokeballs on his black belt, there were half a dozen of the spheres all different and clearly worn with use.
"So these are the tykes that joined up in ole Chuck's camp eh?" The man stood in front of the group of, now terrified, teens and locked eyes with each one slowly nodding before stopping at Hakuno, "Eh? Not afraid of ole Chuck?"
"Should I be?" Hakuno tilted her head, it was a strange question, while he seemed far stronger than any other Trainer she had seen he didn't radiate any malice.
"WAHAHA!" The man doubled over laughing, "I like you kid, I can see why that old Witch recommended ya." His hand came crashing down on Hakuno's shoulder, it stung, he turned to face the now pale-faced teens, "You kids need to learn from her, being a trainer is about being Fearless, you gotta know when to move forward and keep moving forward. Every day is a learning opportunity, you might need to pull back but learn and keep moving!"
"Stop him before he runs off again!" Ren yelled as Chuck took a few steps back into the Gym proper, half the Gym Trainers stood in the doorway blocking Chuck from leaving.
"WAHAHA! Oh, I almost went back to my waterfall," Waterfall? Why does he have a Waterfall in his gym? "Alright, training camp kiddos. I wanna see what I'm working with, hmm…" He tapped his chin, "Alright, you and you face each other, you and you…" He continued until he got to the end and pointed at Hakuno, "You're going to face her." And he pointed straight at Ren.
Hakuno took stock of the field in front of her, it was muddy due to the rain and it was bare with no elevation to attempt to use or rocks to hide behind.
Her opponent was now wearing a yellow jacket over her uniform, "Alright, this will be like a trial run for your Gym Battle k? Two on Two and you get one switch alrighty?"
Ren has two? Hakuno frowned at that thought, Nomia was strong for a 'starter' Pokemon, mainly due to her unique typing, but… taking on two from a Gym Trainer might be too much and there wasn't anything they could use… maybe try and keep the Pokemon on their toes? The mud might help.
"I only have one." Nomia will have her work cut out for her, they've done multiple battles on the same day before but usually after a bit of a rest, never had to fight two Pokemon from the same trainer…
She frowned, "Well, I'm still coming at you with two, alright?" Hakuno nodded, "Sweet ok, ready in 3…2…1!"
Live or Die by the Sword
Nomia landed in the mud with a plop and her opponent stood in front of her. It was a tan and green mushroom slightly larger than Nomia. "A Tinkatink?" Ren muttered, "Weaver grow and get close and Headbutt!"
"Nomia intercept with Metal Claw."
Nomia's hammer glinted with barely perceived silvery light as she ran forward… and slipped on the mud. The Shroomish ran forward and leaped into Nomia's head as a sickening crack echoed and pushed her back from the slippery mud.
"Nomia?" The Tinkatink grunted before standing up, she shook her body as mud came flying off, "Watch your step, prepare Metal Claw when it gets close."
Ren was staring at Hakuno before nodding, "Alright… Weaver use Powder, and Mega Drain." With a plop, the Shroomish fired blobs of yellow spores in the general direction of Nomia accompanied by a sickly green energy beam that stabbed into Nomia.
"Nomia! Change tactics, use Fairy Wind, and push the spores away!" Nomia grunted as the Fairy Wind pushed up against the incoming spore cloud, green leaking out of her became more vibrant as the Fairy Wind pushed the cloud of spores back towards their opponent.
This… battle wasn't going the way she liked, the mud was causing problems and the Shroomish had a decent ability to fight at both range and up close.
"Alright, Weaver Swift Seed!" The beam connecting the two Pokemon stopped as it shook out green stars that soared straight through the Fairy Wind with little resistance.
"Nomia dodge!" The Tinkatink shook her head as she did her best to run through the mud, but the stars locked onto her and smashed into the Tinkatink before exploding in vines the vines constricted Nomia's arms and bound her to the ground they glowed a green light as energy began to slowly leak towards the Shroomish.
Hakuno didn't… really have a plan to win this. Nomia was completely locked down, all points of the battle were showing they didn't have a chance.
"You want to forfeit?" Ren's question hung in the air and Hakuno instantly felt revolted against that. She has never forfeited a battle before but…
"Nomia can you fight?" But Nomia didn't want to quit so she couldn't either.
"TI!"
"Use Fairy Wind and break through the vines!" Hakuno was sure that there was still a method of winning, it was her job to figure it out. Nomia could barely move her body but a slight twinge of pink dust covered her form and the vine's light green light barely dimmed as she dowsed herself with the pink dust.
"Weaver… end this."
Hakuno felt her heart leap out of her chest, her Starter, her friend was helpless as light brown energy covered the Shroomish's whole body as it jumped up and slammed into Nomia.
The Shroomish shook itself as it jumped off of Nomia, the vines turning to dust as Nomia was not getting up. The Shroomish only had light injuries, meanwhile… Nomia was out.
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She distantly felt the buzz of Parcae as Ren said something that she couldn't figure out. Something did shush Ren but she couldn't see what it was nor was she paying much attention to the martial artist that held her life in the palm of her hand.
She knew there was always the chance Nomia would get knocked out in a fight, there was always a chance of them losing, but… it hadn't happened before. The world grew darker as Hakuno's eyes couldn't leave Nomia's prone form.
Another buzz of Parcae and Hakuno honestly wanted to throw the Terminal before the Red Wall could appear and finally takes her to where she has sentenced the ones she has slain, the fact that the world was tinged green didn't change the fact the Moon Cell will take its vengeance and erase her existence.
"Ti?"
That noise shook Hakuno out of her spiral.
Nomia grunted as she began to try and stand up, and fell back into the mud.
Hakuno quickly picked up the mud-covered fairy. She was breathing and inured but she was alive.
"See she's fine!"
Hakuno blinked, as the little Green Fairy floated in front of her and she now saw the gobsmacked Ren.
"Fainting for Pokemon is normal in this world my child," Elpis nodded 'sagely' "But uh… please don't cry." Was she crying?
Oh, Nomia was the one who was crying. Hakuno felt as if a bucket of cold water drenched her, she had to be stronger than this.
She knew losing was a possibility she even speculated it would happen sooner than later and, thankfully she was free from the Moon Cell, a single loss wouldn't spell death.
"Shh, Child of my Child you are weak."
"Elpis…" Hakuno surprised herself with how venom-drenched that came out, "Be nice."
No Red Wall, no Blue Ocean, nothing but a wall of green energy, Ren, Elpis, and Nomia existed in this little area.
She doesn't have to worry about dying anymore. It was… hard to get used to, if this was true combat she would have died but this… wasn't that. It was a sport in a way.
"I am I am! I mean for now! You are weak right now, She won't abandon you because you lost! Hakuno's a good Egg!"
Hakuno took a deep breath, she wasn't fine but she was dealing with her first loss honestly better than she thought she was, her mind only flashed back to that place for a few moments instead of when she battled with that Ledyba all that time ago.
"I will never abandon you, that I swear on the name Hakuno Kishinami." She would swear on the only absolute she has, the one solid piece of a girl who existed in that tournament of life and death. That and the burning love she held for her beloved Rose is all she had for a memory of life.
"Tinkatink."
"She says she's sorry for being weak," Elpis translated, "She swears to figure out that move and she says it's her fault for losing."
"No… it's mine," Hakuno tilted her head slightly and looked at Ren, "Was there even a chance for us to win?"
Ren was shocked that Hakuno asked her but shrugged, "Always a chance in a battle but uh… Weaver's bout ready to evolve and Tops already evolved like years ago so…"
So a minuscule chance that Hakuno couldn't figure out huh? And there was one more afterward? There was no chance.
There was a dull thump on the other side of the green energy and Elpis lazily raised a hand as the Green Light glowed even more vibrant.
"So you see!? Neither one of you two did bad, just... Uh, Help me out, human!"
Ren nodded hurriedly, "Yes! You weren't supposed to win, you just needed to show how good you are to my Dad!"
Dad?
More thumping outside the barrier and there was a dull blue-colored fist outlined on the other side of the green energy now.
"See! Impossible fight, but uh… I got to go, I really don't want another irritating talk with Lance this week…" Elpis kissed the top of Hakuno and Nomia's heads, "Be safe, call me when you're done with training ok!? And Fighter Human, keep a good eye on them when you go out camping ok!?"
"Yes!" Ren stood at attention and saluted (?) Elpis.
And in the blink of an eye, the Guardian of the Forest disappeared and Ren collapsed onto her knees in the mud, the green energy dissipated at the same time and an angry Chuck was on the other side alongside an overly large blue humanoid thing.
Ah, a Poliwrath wasn't that his Signature Pokemon?
"My office now."
"Was that a fucking Celebi!?" Ren's voice was barely audible as Hakuno gulped.
Ah, she might be in trouble...
Author's Notes: Spoiler alert, she isn't really in trouble Chuck's a good guy.
And well, Hakuno and Nomia's first loss! And well, honestly Hakuno's little breakdown was a lot less than the last time due to exposure to it (with Ledyba) and slowly getting used to seeing people well not die from losing.
It still shook her heart though, and Parcae may or may not have overreacted in calling basically an Emergency SOS to a Time Traveling Mythical.
Elpis won't appear every time Hakuno is 'in danger' in fact their Physical Form won't appear again for a bit as they will have to endure quite a bit of scolding from Lance. (Not that Celebi couldn't deal with Lance or just ignore him but well, Pokemon Politics) There will be stakes in certain battles but in most League-Sanctioned battles she won't have a chance of actually getting injured.
Anyway long story short, Celebi won't be around forever, and Trainers grow better/faster when there are stakes, so Elpis won't be there to protect her like an overprotective parent they do have their own duties to do and stuff.
Have a Good One everyone see ya'll next time!