Chapter 7 - Swing and a Miss
Earlier that week…
"What's going down?" Said Thaddeus, sticking his head up by the staircase..
"I'm wondering about something," Said Slub, shooting a state past the VHS-TV-set-combo at which he had been staring for many hours. It was a late afternoon and he had spent the day mostly watching videos, albeit in a more traditional sense than most people these days. Magmar was sitting beside him, sleeping.
"What are you wondering about?" asked Thaddeus.
"Sunnyville, and to a surprisingly lesser degree, Stabbyville, are absolutely lethal, and I have slowly realized that I might actually need to take this a little seriously."
"Well, that's good. Good to hear you're finding something to do… Took you long enough, but hey..." He grumbled the last part beneath his breath.
"How dare you accuse me of procrastinating." Slub said, sounding serious for a moment, but quickly changing the topic before Thaddeus suddenly got ideas about tasks for him to do.
"So, I had a browse of your tapes."
"Uhuh?" Said Thaddeus.
Magmar snored itself awake, looked around for a moment, and then fell asleep again.
"Check this out. It's a tape of a battle between some trainer named Delphine versus Lorelei of the Indigo League.
"Oh she was quite something back in the day." Thaddeus chuckled.
"Delphine or Lorelei?" Slub asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," Said Thaddeus.
"Whatever," Said Slub, wanting to get to the point. "Delphine has a Magmar."
"Right," Said Thaddeus.
"Alright, watch this," said Slub.
Thaddeus spent a solid minute traversing the relatively small room as he walked around the piles of rubbish that took up 90% of the floor space. He sat down next to Slub and Magmar causing the bed to creak. They looked at the TV. Slub hit "Play" on the remote, having paused just before the part he wanted Thaddeus to see. The battle resumed, albeit with terrible quality from the tape having been recorded over, over and over, and the audio didn't fare much better.
The commentator was in the middle of a sentence.
"It's all getting a bit adversarial down here, Kato-San, I think we're seeing Delphine on her last leg here. I'm not holding out hope for a win."
On the screen the trainer named Delphine sent out Magmar. The crude in-camera stat counter showed that she had three Pokémon, as did Lorelei, as was common in ranked battles. Each of them only had one left fit to battle, though.
"Lorelei sends out… No shocker here, It's Lapras!"
"Isn't it always the way…"
The commentators did a play-by-play, back and forth.
"I don't see Magmar getting out of this…" The sound distorted, as did the image.
"Whoa, bzzzzz, hang on a, zzzzzzz, minute…" The other commentator yelled incoherently.
On screen, Delphine's Magmar shot forward, a flash of light distorting the image before suddenly Lapras tipped over on its side, before it could even do a single move. The sound distorted further, making the already incoherent commentary track even less comprehensible.
"Ahhh…" Said Thaddeus. "I see where you're going with this. Hang on, I might have a thing."
Thaddeus started digging through one of the crates that Slub hadn't gotten to yet. He pulled out what Slub first assumed was a photo album, but when he opened it it was full of compact disks.
He found a yellow one with black writing, and took it out, dropping the folder back into the crate. He held the disk between his thumb and pointing finger and carefully carried it over to Slub.
"Hey, Charcoal-for-brains, ready for some training?" Thaddeus boomed.
"Bo!" rejected Magmar and rolled over on the bed towards the wall.
"Hmm," said Slub. "I guess someone doesn't want Pokéblocks?" he sing-sang and held up a rattling zip lock baggie.
That did the trick.
Back in the present…
"All right, Magmar. Let's give this the old school try."
"Peh, that's rich coming from you!" Said Finley.
"The old part, the school part, the try part or the rich part?" Asked Slub without really expecting an answer. He didn't get one.
The immense form of the Milotic curled up to a spiral and held its ground halfway between Finley and the middle of the arena. The reaction of the audience was ecstatic. The long yellow and pink tail swerved back and forth like a fan while its light blue… things swung back and forth from its head.
"Oh, you bastard," whispered Slub. He peeked at the Pokédex that he had held at the ready since Roserate fainted, in case he needed to scan whatever came next. Milotic was famed for its beauty and strength so Slub knew about it already; he did not expect Finley to send out a shiny one, though. The Pokedex entry had the usual look with the blue tail, and the pink hair-things.
"Hang on a second, Feebas evolves into Milotic?" Slub said out loud, having scrolled rapidly through its Pokédex entry. What was it Uncle Thaddeus had said that day he arrived. He once knew a guy from around here who hunted for a shiny Feebas for weeks on end?
"We'll have words, Thaddeus," Slub whispered beneath his breath.
Slub realized he had spent way too long mulling over pointless speculation and the battle at hand was massively more important. He was brought back to reality by the shouting of Finley.
"Milotic, take that thing out! Hydro Pump!"
"Oh, Figy Berries, Magmar! Get out of the way!"
Magmar leapt sideways and threw itself to the ground several meters to the left, clumsily rolling several times before coming to a standstill, face down into the floor. There was no Hydro Pump. It raised its head, puzzled.
"What?" Said Slub.
"Boo?" Said Magmar. Both puzzled, now. Milotic was staring at them, but had yet to fire off any attack.
"Well, don't look a gift-Mudsdale in the mouth," Slub said, slamming his hands onto the handrail.
"Magmar, this is what we practiced. Close the distance!"
Magmar clambored to its feet and began skipping forward doing pointless ducks and dives at every other step, in order to dodge absolutely nothing.
Finley was screaming, but Slub couldn't hear anything, he was entirely focused on Magmar as it only had a few steps left before reaching the opposing water serpent.
"MAGMAR! THUNDER PUNCH!" Slub let loose and shouted as loud as he could. Highly uncharacteristic, but, also, highly satisfying.
"Bobo! Boooooo!" Magmar quacked as crackles of electricity appeared around its arm, culminating in a deafening thunder. It charged up its fist for what felt like an eternity and finally swung around, jumped and just then, its electrified hand slammed into… a bright white transparent shield that emanated from Milotic's tail. It had raised it in an instant against the electric attack, which now had all but dissipated.
"Booo?" said Magmar, opening its eyes.
A sense of pure dread shot up through Slub's spine and grabbed the back of his head like a cold hand.
"Oh, nonono! I've made a terrible mistake. We never stood a chance. It didn't even have to try, MAGMAR RETREAT!"
Panic took over, and he shouted as loud as his lungs could muster. Slub scrambled to locate Magmar's Poké Ball but he couldn't see it. He had been so intent on sweeping the Roserade that he'd failed to catch it on the rebound when he sent out Magmar.
"Figy, Figy, Figy Berries!" Slub yelled, leaning out of the podium in every direction trying to spot the ball.
"What's the matter, Slub!?" shouted Finley. He'd clearly been trying to make contact for a while, but it had fallen on deaf ears.
"I need to, do the… I withdraw... Dangit!" Slub was furiously trying to find the ball, but with no luck.
"If you wanna give up, you just have to withdraw your Pokémon… I'll give you one second… Too late! Well, then I say it's time to end this," Finley gloated.
Magmar had begun running away, but as it turned back momentarily it locked eyes with Milotic and stopped, absolutely mesmerized.
"Magmar!" Slub shouted.
"No, luck I'm afraid," said Finley. "Milotic, Aqua Tail. Throw that thing into the sea!"
"No!" Screamed Slub.
Milotic's eyes lit up and Magmar let out a content "Boooo…" as…
It sat down and looked surprisingly relaxed.
"What's going on?" said Slub and Finley, simultaneously, albeit for slightly different reasons. The relaxed expression of Magmar was baffling. It just sat there, as if enjoying the breeze, occasionally looking around at nothing in particular.
Milotic on the other hand was weaving back and forth, occasionally looking back to Finley, with an expression that was impossible to read. After a moment of calm, it turned its head from Magmar to Finley, and then back again.
Finley was clearly fed up with the disobedient Pokémon. They stared at one another for a few moments.
"Go on! Do it!" Finley rasped.
Milotic stared.
"What is it with you, you useless piece of…"
Milotic's expression went irate. It spat out a blob of water, soaking Finley completely and then leapt into the sea, almost instantly disappearing into the depths.
Finley spat and swore and tried to wipe away water and wet hair from his face. All was silent. The crowd murmured. Finley, suddenly realizing what just happened, didn't say a word.
A brief moment of quiet followed as nobody knew quite what to say. It fell to Slub to break the silence.
"Well I don't think any of us expected that," said Slub staring at the water, and back to Finley. Now more confused than worried.
About 10 agonizing seconds went by in complete silence. Then 20 seconds. Then a minute.
Everyone present were shifting uncomfortably.
Magmar was still sitting in the middle of the arena, making cute noises and occasionally blowing a ring of smoke. Slub looked around, unsure what one did in a situation like this.
Finley was immobile at his podium, mouth agape, unable to get a word out.
"I don't think it's gonna come back," said Slub, only accompanied by a few coughs and yawns in the crowd. He looked in the direction of the Umpire hoping that he could shed some light on the situation.
"We should probably give it a minute," Said the Umpire, looking a bit confused, himself.
They did.
It didn't come back.
"Sooo… do I win?" Slub asked, curiously. The awkward silence after Milotic fled was palpable.
Finley had fallen to his knees, his forehead leaning towards the railing of the podium. His face was frozen, mouth agape, eyes blank. A single droplet fell from his nose.
"Umm, Yeah, I guess you did," said the Umpire who was seemingly miles away for a moment. He closed his phone and stuck it into his jacket pocket. He put on his umpire voice again.
"Ahem! All right, that's it folks, Finley is out of usable Pokémon. 'The Slubothy' takes 'the W'."
He pointed to Slub's podium and then got an applause going.
"Sweet!" Said Slub. "That's like my… Fifth favorite letter. What do I win?"
The Umpire came over to him.
"Based on your respective rankings and the calculation that the Hoenn League uses… Carry the five…"
Slub interrupted him. "You're not actually calculating anything, right, it's already there on your phone, I assume? You're just creating some tension and trying to sound important at the same time?"
"You, sir, are correct!" confirmed the umpire with a sheepish smile.
"Fair dues. I would have done the same, to be honest," affirmed Slub.
"Yeah, well, anyway, 3000 League Points. All yours. They're already transferred to your account," he said, like a disinterested game show host wanting to get home after a long day at work.
"Are those like money?" Asked Slub having never heard of them before.
"Huh, well it's money that's made just for the League. It works just like regular money, but it's, er… 'fun'." The Umpire had seemingly not needed to answer this question before.
Slub pondered for a moment.
"Do clothing stores take LP?" Slub asked.
"Of course," said the Umpire.
"Do flying taxis take League Points?" Slub followed up.
"Oh yeah!" The Umpire responded with his back turned, clearly done for the day.
"How much do you think a flying taxi to Mauville would cost?" Slub leaned forward hoping for an answer that meant he was out of here.
"Oh, goodness. Mauville is far away. If someone paid for a taxi between Mauville and here, yikes, they REALLY desperately needed it. Maybe 20k? I'm not sure to be honest."
Slub sighed. "Yeah, I figured that."
Magmar was still immobile in the middle of the arena and having failed to find its Poké Ball, Slub simply hopped off the podium. He narrowly avoided breaking his ankles and walked over to Magmar. Isla appeared just behind him as the audience scattered, keen to find something else to spend their seemingly unlimited free time on.
"You're getting the hang of this." Isla said, although, respectively sweeping your opponent with a super effective critical hit, then sweeping your opponent with a super effective critical hit and then your final, vastly overpowered, opponent leaving in the final round probably helped secure the win, to be brutally honest."
She made a little chortle that could be interpreted as camouflaging a laugh with cough. Slub ignored her unhelpful post match analysis and instead nodded in the direction of the ocean.
"Shouldn't you be worried about that? You had an absolute meltdown when Bramblin went Bramblin' down the street."
"Eehh," Isla shrugged. "Milotic are peaceful creatures. It just wanted to go home and escape its abusive trainer."
"Its home was a lake on Route 119 in North Hoenn. I don't think it's connected to the ocean. Not directly anyway," Slub waffled while gently poking Magmar to try and snap it out of whatever it was doing.
"How… on earth do you know that?" Isla said, puzzled.
"Just a hunch," said Slub. "Anyway, since you're the expert, what's wrong with Magmar," he asked whilst waving a hand before Magmar's blank eyes.
Isla scratched her chin.
"I think Milotic might have used Attract. Magmar's immobilized by infatuation."
"Huh, interesting 'combat' strategy," said Slub.
"It's very unpredictable, so it's hardly something you'd want to build your whole team around, but when it does happen it's incredibly annoying.
"Alrighty," Slub said. "How do we fix it?"
"Not sure. It usually fades away when the target loses eye contact with the opposing Pokémon. That Milotic must have been incredibly powerful for the effect to still linger.
Slub walked around Magmar and put his hands over its eyes.
Nothing happened.
"Well I'm fresh out of ideas." Slub said, after a few moments.
Isla sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"Please stand back, you… ridiculous man."
"Nobody's ever called me that before," said Slub, looking perturbed.
Isla was about to ask which part, but wisely dropped it and instead sent out Ludicolo. The chonky cactus did a little butt shake as droplets ran off the brim of its hat-like head.
"Runpa!" It cheered, looking as chipper as ever.
"Ludicolo, very gently, use Astonish!"
It rubbed its hands and turned to Slub.
"On Magmar!" she quickly added.
"Ruh!" Ludicolo cried and slapped Magmar with both hands.
"Booooobeeee!" Magmar started awake from the slaps before tipping over with a thud, finally lucid. A second later it got up in a single leap, looked around confusedly and upon not seeing Milotic, got a sad expression on its face. Then it walked slowly away with its head down.
"You're from different worlds, Magmar, it wasn't meant to be." Slub said.
It kept walking, letting out a sad "Boo."
"What was the deal with that Milotic anyway?" Asked Slub.
"I know a Pokémon that's hurting when I see one. It wasn't taken well care of. It saw an opportunity for freedom and it took it."
"Oh, Figy Berries. I almost forgot, I have to get to a Poké Center!"
Before Isla could respond, Slub shot off and grabbed Magmar's hand on the way before they both ran up the hill towards the main street. An impressive feat of exercise as far as Slub was concerned.
Isla and Ludicolo stood back on the pier and looked around. The crowd had gone and a cool breeze blew in from the ocean. In the distance a low thunder could be heard. It would probably be raining soon. She looked at Ludicolo and its perpetual smile.
"I guess that's lunch," Isla said, and clicked her tongue.
"Rururu!" Ludicolo said, raising its hands in joy.
Rain started pouring.