“Okay,” the guy nodded, still giving me that amused look. “One entrance for Derek Tracy.”
When he said it, there was a small tilt back of his head and he raised his voice just a little bit. He was announcing it to anyone who hadn’t somehow noticed me walking up. Apparently, whether he knew who I was or not, he thought that my participation in today’s battles were going to be at least entertaining.
He handed me a small piece of paper with five little boxes, each numbered one through five, and then he looked past me at Amy, as if I’d stopped existing. That was a way more comforting treatment than the looks that were still staring daggers into my back. As soon as Amy was signed up, I led them back through the crowd and a ways away until the challenges started. We shared a glance of mutual understanding but chose to remain in silence for the time being.
After everyone else finished signing up, the guy who seemed to be in charge of everything got everyone’s attention. “Alright, everybody!” He held up his piece of paper. “I’m Casey, and I’ll be running the Nugget Bridge challenge today. If you’re not familiar with how this works, I’m going to call out the first series of battles that are going to take place and you’ll all spread out, and do a one-on-one with whoever I pair you up with using standard challenge rules. No swapping partners or complaining, and if you get caught cheating, you will be D.Q.’d and I’ll report you to the authorities. Got it? Good. Once you finish your battle, both trainers need to come and report the match results. I’ll assign you as quickly as I can to the next available trainer. We’re a little weird on our numbers today, so if you get out in the first round we might have you stick around as the final battle in another person’s gauntlet. You will be compensated if you do so. Any questions?”
A couple of hands went up, but the questions were pretty mundane, like asking about item use or moves that the League limited. As Casey spoke, I actually found myself getting a little hyped up for this. The initial wave of negative emotions pointed at me had faded, mostly, and people started to focus in as Casey read off his list of names. Not only were we all here to train, but there were more stakes than normal to these battles. We would be running a marathon of battles with our Pokemon, all to win a prize that would potentially multiply the funds we put in.
Amy’s name was called and they gave me an eager little nod. I rubbed the top of their head and they were off to battle. Gong paused in front of me, giving me a little buzz of sound like they were wishing me luck, before also departing.
Finally, my name was called. “Derek Tracy,” Casey read out, “you’re with Ethan Bryce.”
I paused, glancing around to look for whoever had reacted to that callout as well. A hand went up from across the crowd and I saw another young guy dressed in green giving me an unpleasant look. He jerked his head toward an unoccupied field and we were off. The guy didn’t say anything to me on our walk over, so I respected that and kept my mouth shut. That didn’t stop him from shooting me annoyed glances, his brows furrowed underneath the brim of a green flat cap that he had pulled down over his head.
I took the initiative and walked to the farther spot in the field. At some point a long time ago, someone had taken the time to mark the boundaries of a clear battlefield with paint, but that had since been permanently etched into the hillside by the raw dirt and mud that made a vaguely rectangular shape within its bounds. Both of the trainer’s boxes had also drawn in by the stomped flat squares of grass on either end of the pitch, no doubt caused by trainers getting stressed while making callouts.
Ethan lifted the edge of his jacket, pulling his only Pokeball from his waist and presenting it in front of him: the standard sign of a Pokemon challenge. He did so without so much as a whisper in my direction.
Frustration, tempered by the expectations that I’d already had, bubbled in my chest and I was mostly able to ignore it. He might’ve been giving me the silent treatment, but I was here to show that I didn’t need to return that aggression, as much as I wanted to.
“I accept your challenge,” I said, keeping my voice level. “Good luck, and have fun.”
If anything, Ethan’s dour expression tightened a little more after that. He tossed his Pokeball with a grunt and I did the same without as much fanfare. Artis burst onto the field, his expression quickly swapping from tongue-lolling happiness to an excited fierceness as he noticed that we were in a battle. A Mankey flashed into existence across the field, raising two tiny balled fists in front of its pig nose in a fighting stance. The round little monkey looked incredibly aggressive, as you’d expect from a Pokemon of its line.
Since we had no ref, Ethan did what challenge rules technically require you to do, which was toss a coin. The winner would count us in, which disadvantaged some and helped out others. I won the coin flip.
As I counted us in, I gave Ethan’s Mankey an honest look over. After observing the master of fighting types himself, Yuji, I knew that this little guy was nothing compared to Achilles, and Artis could go toe-to-toe with him on a good day. I wouldn’t need to use any of our complex strategies to win this, just to be wary of any hidden techniques and to end this quickly.
“Three, two, one, start!” Unlike what Misty had done yesterday, I gave half a second’s breath before shouting my order to Artis. When I won this fight, I didn’t want to give this trainer any reason to cry foul over an unexpected start.
“Mankey,” Ethan shouted aggressively, “Low Kick, go!”
“Artis, get moving then AB! Use your best instincts!” I gave him general orders instead of making callouts move-for-move. I hoped this would help him learn what he should do on the battlefield, not just follow orders.
Artis rolled forward, bringing his shoulders to the ground and flipping into the same motion of a Rollout as Mankey sped across the field, barely tapping its three-toed feet across the ground as it struck forward and glided with the strength behind each step. It was nimble, but Artis had been almost exclusively training his Aurora Beam for speed. The multi-colored beam of cold-toned light that burst forward from his mouth was way more concentrated and defined than it had been against Misty.
“Dodge it!” Ethan yelled. My endeavor to be respectful was the only reason I didn’t make a face when he said it. Even though I’d also been at that point once, it felt so obvious now that Pokemon didn’t want to get hit by stuff and would try not to get hit on their own.
Unfortunately, even with Ethan’s best efforts, Manky wasn’t able to completely dodge the hit. Aurora Beam grazed against the fighting type’s leg, leaving a jagged chunk of ice and frost to seize up the muscles. To its credit, Mankey continued through with its original order and brought that leg up into Artis’ rolling form. Low Kick was basically designed to be used against Pokemon like Artis, given that his ice typing made him weak to fighting moves and his weight was actively used against him. Mankey’s foot skidded underneath of him, managing to pop him into the air for almost a whole second before gravity caught up to him. Artis hit the ground still spinning, so his energy sent him flying out of Mankey’s melee range within seconds.
“Follow him, then Low Kick again!” Ethan grunted, face contorted with concentration.
Artis didn’t deviate from the instructions I’d given him. He continued to build up speed and focus on just using his Aurora Beams at a distance from Mankey. The monkey had no chance at matching us in for speed, not now that Artis had built up his momentum. Chunks of ice started coating Mankey’s limbs in different patches where Artis hit him, weakening any power that he would have had if he’d even managed to get close to Artis. Ethan didn’t do much to change up his strategy, other than calling out a few other melee attacks, like Fury Swipes and Seismic Toss. Neither were shown off as Mankey would’ve had to catch up to my Pokemon. It was a shame, too, since I could see a bruise on Artis’ left shoulder where that first Low Kick had hit him.
For the first time in my life, I found myself bored during a Pokemon battle. It wasn’t a great feeling to have, and I did my best to mask it with a false expression of strained concentration, but this battle wasn’t fun. Mankey and Ethan weren’t as fast as Yuji, as strategic as Hana, or as experienced as Misty. I didn’t want that to come across to the guy, because that would have obliterated my self-confidence if an opponent did that to me, but I did hope that he could at least tell that there was a gap between us. Maybe that would inspire him to train harder, like Rhydon had done to me.
As Artis hit Mankey with his fourth Aurora Beam, the little monkey finally succumbed to the cold. The beam caught him in his left leg, sending him tumbling forth as his foot was encased in ice. He didn’t get back up.
I returned Artis and Ethan did the same to Mankey. He stared down at his Pokeball. From across the field, the strain of his shoulders and the shamed tilt of his head were unmistakable. This Ethan guy was more than embarrassed with his showing.
I stepped across the field, careful to avoid the patches of ice where Artis had frozen it over, and made my way to my opponent. Ethan flinched when I entered his line of sight, drawn away from his brooding. He gave me a scathing look but still didn’t say anything to me. There was a small tremor in his eyebrow, and I had the awful feeling that he was waiting for me to insult him.
Instead, I bowed my head in respect. “Your Mankey’s Low Kick was very powerful,” I selectively said. It was true, given that it had been used on its ideal opponent. It would be mean to say that part, though. “Thank you for the battle.”
Ethan’s angry expression faltered, stopping somewhere between confused and taken aback. He stared at me, waiting for me to admit that I was pranking him or to just leave. When I did neither, he showed more irritation before turning contemplative.
“Tsk,” he finally said, speaking directly to me for the first time. “Whatever, let’s just go report the match results.”
As he walked away, I felt a small surge of… something. I wasn’t sure if it was pride in myself or what, but it wasn’t unpleasant. I’d handily won my first match and hadn’t outright failed at my secondary goal. I’d talked to a Cerulean trainer without getting into a fight, after all.
Well, I’d avoided an unsanctioned fight, for what it was worth.
----------------------------------------
My next two opponents were almost as bad as Ethan. Okay, ‘bad’ was a mean word, but they didn’t ignite the spark in my chest that battling rivals or stronger opponents did. I was able to keep Artis to his strategy of using almost only Aurora Beam, which did give him some solid practice with his fine control and aim. I tried not to be disrespectful to my opponents, but anytime he did end up getting hit by a stray shot I would draw out the match a bit to let him heal up with Aqua Ring so he would be good for my next match. It went unnoticed as far as I could tell.
After each match, I reenacted the actions that I’d given Ethan for each of my other opponents, pointing out what I thought their best action or move had been and thanking them for the battle. Neither of them reacted more positively than Ethan had, but it didn’t look like my words were going entirely unappreciated.
From what Casey had said earlier, I’d thought that it would be normal for trainers who had lost their matches to clear out, but that wasn’t the case today. More and more trainers seemed to find their way to my battlefields, often just to cheer on my opponents. The only observers who didn’t do that happened to be my three former opponents, which made me feel a bit better.
My fourth challenge set herself apart from the other three, not only by her more advanced techniques but also by the strength of her Pokemon.
“Cut him off, Toxic Spikes!” Reli Jones called, her reddish-brown hair flaring behind her. “Then Double Kick!”
Her Nidorina’s baby-blue spines glowed a bright purple color, exploding outward into tiny little spikes that covered large swaths of the battlefield and forced Artis to reroute his spinning. They oozed a sickly poison, and we both knew that it would spell disaster for Artis to roll over them. Nidorina's attack left an open corridor of mud between the two of them, leaving my Pokemon only one direction to keep moving, and she lifted her two front legs in obvious preparation for a Double Kick. Artis had to either stop and lose his momentum, roll off into the Toxic Spikes, or take a fighting type move to the face.
The crowd around us cheered at the play, yelling their support for Nidorina and Reli with gusto. I couldn’t blame them, it was really good positioning.
Taking inspiration from Misty’s Staryu, I let a grin cross my face as I had Artis make a fourth option. “AB the floor to the left! Make a ramp around!”
Artis bounced to the left of Nidorina, spraying his iridescent icy beam out in front of him. The resulting frost that coated the floor was just a bit thicker than the Toxic Spikes were tall, so it trapped them underneath a protective layer of slick ice. Artis twisted his neck forward at the apex of his jump, spraying his Aurora Beam into the air and sculpting a slab of ice off of the ground that curved back toward Nidorina.
Reli reacted quicker than I’d expected her to. “Kick the ground, Celeste!”
Celeste, her Nidorina, turned the move that she’d prepared toward the ground, slamming her two front legs into the hardpacked soil underneath her. The force propelled her up, and it was strong enough to get her two meters off of the ground, more than enough to avoid Artis’ rocketing form coming off of his ramp and blasting underneath her. It was a fantastic dodge, way better than what Ethan had been trying earlier.
Luckily, Artis was getting pretty good at dealing with enemies in the air. Without my intervention, Artis opened his jaw and blasted as strong of an Aurora Beam as I’ve seen come out of him so far at Celeste. The blue, green, purple, and pink energy all slammed into the Nidorina and carried her farther into the air. Icy frost coated her as she struggled, unable to force her way downward until enough ice had accumulated on her to weigh her down and gravity took over.
The crowd groaned as Celeste landed on the ground with a heavy thud. The Nidorina had fainted somewhere between the Aurora Beam and her impact, so Reli and I both recalled our Pokemon.
As I had with the others, I walked up to Reli after the battle. “That battle was awesome!” I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face. “Celeste was fantastic at maneuvering, that last dodge was incredible- and her field control was pretty great-”
My face fell when Reli glanced my way. I’d forgotten for a second what the crowd’s general opinion of me was. Reli’s gaze was scathing. She flipped her hair over one shoulder, walking to the edge of the battlefield where Casey was standing. She handed him her ticket and turned back to give me a pointed look.
I sighed internally, putting on a straight face. The crowd, or what was left of it after people had quickly gone to watch the only other battle that was still going, was watching me carefully and I was all too aware that I needed to stay cool.
I walked up to Casey and held out my punch ticket to him. He took it with an amused smirk and pulled out a silver hole-punch. After he marked my fourth win, he held it above his head. “Derek Tracy wins against Reli Jones!” Casey declared the results loudly across the field before lowering his voice and handing the ticket back to me. “You’re up against whoever wins that match over there,” he said with a wink.
I nodded but didn’t otherwise answer him. Instead, I turned to where Reli was still staring holes into me and bowed my head. “Thank you for the match,” I said. “It was the most enjoyable I’ve had all day. Your Celeste is really something.”
I didn’t look up to see how she reacted. Based on the fact that there had been no one cheering for me in the crowd, I knew who at least one of those two battlers was, and I was dying to see my friend battle.
Amy’s match was in full swing when I jogged up, and Pennywise was putting on a full display of his power. Vertical Barriers encased the entire battlefield, creating an airtight pink labyrinth that glowed with psychic energy. The panels shifted and moved like a living machine, drifting back and forth as Pennywise mimed with his little hands. The tiny psychic type was hovering in the center of it all, encased in a smaller version of his own Barriers. At first, I couldn’t tell what he was doing, but I quickly realized that the airtight nature of his shields was by design, as the movement of the vertical panels with the enclosed space trapped the air within, shifting and moving it in a familiar way. Through the pink glow, I could barely see the tiny purple particulates of a Poison Powder being trapped the same way he’d done it to Stun Spore within Mt. Moon.
With a flick of his wrist, Pennywise expelled the malignant powder into the air past the battlefield, careful to avoid any onlookers. It was an awe-inspiring display, once again proving that Pennywise’s control had never been the part of his battling strength in question.
I spared a thought for Gong, because Amy must have decided to use Pennywise to let them rest, and I felt a pang of regret that I hadn’t been able to see them battle. The little disk had been training hard lately, after all.
Amy’s opponent, a tall person with verdant green hair and a skin-tight white long-sleeve, swept their arm to the side. “Enough playing around, finish this!”
It was only now that I realized that I hadn’t yet seen the Pokemon fighting Pennywise. I looked at the battlefield, but I couldn’t see a single other Pokemon out there. The knee-high grass hadn’t been disturbed, and no Pokemon were flying in the sky above the arena.
Grass- I realized right as a large patch of it shifted in the corner of the battlefield, revealing a shape low to the ground. How the hell did they end up on grass?
All four of my battles had been on mud battlefields that had seen more than their fair share of wear and tear. This battlefield was pristine, a basically untouched piece of hill that the trainers using it would have had to have gone out of their way to find. I couldn’t think of a single reason for Amy to go through that effort, so the only answer could be that their opponent had chosen the battlefield.
Pennywise didn’t care about the state of the field at all. “Miiiime!” He shouted in concentration, pink patches of energy appearing across the ground on his battlefield. Chunks of dirt and small rocks were pulled from the ground by his Confusion attack, showing an incredible amount of control as he simultaneously guided over a dozen objects while only dropping a few of his Barriers. Observers crowded forward in appreciation of his technique as he maneuvered his weapons around his Barriers and slammed them all into the spot of grass that had shifted. The way that the debris tore through the plants and dirt looked like a shotgun, sending up a spray of even more debris that clattered against the Barriers.
I was stunned. I’d never seen that amount of power out of Pennywise, and I couldn’t help but look at Amy in amazement. They were too engrossed in their battle to notice me, but their features were tight with concentration and excitement. They looked like, well… they finally wore the same face that the rest of us wore when we battled. Amy was ready to take on the world.
I revoked the thought that I’d had at Mrs. Clara’s this morning. Amy was just as much of a battler as the rest of us.
There was a beat of anticipation as the dust cleared and everyone waited to see what had happened to the Pokemon hit by that. There was a murmur of surprise as the smoke revealed nothing other than a vague mound of dirt, dead grass, and loose purple hair that had been wrecked by Pennywise’s attack. It was startlingly similar to what I’d seen in Hana’s battle against Brock.
Amy and I recognized it as a Substitute at the same time, but they were the one battling. “Pennywise!” Their yell was uncharacteristic since they’d been trying to fight entirely by their pseudo-telepathy these days, but the worry that bled through their voice told me that they’d been shaken by the ruse. “Double panes, reinforce your defenses-”
“It’s too late for that!” Amy’s opponent yelled, a grin splitting across their face. “Venoshock!”
A bullet of purple energy shot through the air, originating at the opposite side of the field from where the Substitute had been. The attack was so concentrated and fast that I had trouble tracking it with my eyes. What I didn’t miss, though, was that it was incredibly accurate, passing between Pennywise’s Barriers in a gap that was millimeters wide, only opened because he’d focused his attention on the opposite side of the field. The shot struck him in the back, throwing him forward into his Barriers and leaving a noxious green fluid where it struck.
Across the field, a purple-haired bulb with tiny white antennae popped its head from the grass, revealing two focused red compound eyes. It zig-zagged through the tall meadow as quickly as it could, focused on getting another shot in.
Pennywise was not looking good. While didn’t look like he was ‘poisoned’, that glob of poison from the Venoshock had been devastating to him. As a fairy type, he was particularly vulnerable to poison, and the pale color he’d taken on showed that he was struggling. The Mime Jr. pushed himself to his feet, stumbling as he used a tiny Barrier to prop himself up. Amy didn’t yell another order at him, so I assume they were back to using their psychic link.
“Venonat, powder-shock cycle!” The opponent called, their green hair flaring as they swiped their hand. “He’s weak!”
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what the opponent’s words meant as Venonat’s purple hair exploded with purple dust, the Poison Powder instantly filling the Barrier-covered field. Pennywise threw his hands forward, attempting to recreate his previous feat, but he’d been weakened too much to pull it off in time. The purple powder drifted between his psychic shields and Pennywise doubled over, a wracking cough bringing him back to his knees. Purple veins appeared across his skin, originating from his throat, as he was poisoned.
Every pink Barrier on the field flickered for just a moment, and that was when Venonat struck again. Another concentrated bullet of poison blasted from Venonat’s mouth, shattering the weakened Barrier in front of Pennywise and striking him just under his chin. This time the green poison that Venoshock produced seemed to bond to Pennywise, sinking into the purple veins caused by his poisoning.
The little Mime Jr. didn’t stay up after that. The Barriers vanished and Pennywise dropped to the ground, having fainted.
The crowd erupted into cheers. It caught me off guard, given that all four of my battles had ended in either silence or scattered booing. I shouldn’t have been surprised, though. This had been an exciting battle between two trainers that didn’t have negative connotations associated with them, as far as I was aware.
I stepped up next to Amy as they returned Pennywise and I placed a hand on their shoulder. They looked a little downcast, but they had a satisfied look on their face as they whispered something to Pennywise’s Pokeball. Amy turned and gave me a grin.
“Alright, everybody!” Casey called from the opposite side of the field, raising the winner’s ticket above his head. “Elsie Hartley defeats Amy Turant! That leaves us with two trainers left!”
I frowned, feeling that the name was familiar. A memory presented itself of me and Daisy lying in the park in Pewter City. I pushed down the melancholy that the thought of my girlfriend brought and focused on what we’d been talking about. Neither of us had said it, but I’d seen the name-
The rankings! That’s where I’d seen their name, when Daisy had told me to look up her brother in the rookie rankings. At the time, Elsie Hartley had been listed in the top ten for the season. I wasn’t sure where they ranked now, but that alone meant they were an opponent at least in the same tier as Mick and Portia.
“Whoa,” I said to Amy under my breath, “you did a good job there, bean. Do you know what they’re ranked?”
Amy shook their head, but their smile grew a little wider. “No, but your Presence tells me it’s pretty high.”
“Number nine,” I said, patting them on the head. “Or at least they were the last time I checked. You and Pennywise gave an awesome showing.”
Amy’s eyes went wide. “Whoa,” they echoed my realization. The grin that took their face was comically large. “Derek, I think I might be ready for the Cerulean Gym.”
I nodded. “I think so too, bean.” I stepped up in front of them, noticing that people were clearing the field and Elsie was already heading back to their trainer’s box. “It’s my turn to give it a shot, though. Wish me luck.”
Amy shook their head twice. “You don’t need it!” They quickly skipped out of the trainer’s box, popping Gong’s Pokeball so the psychic disk could join them on the sidelines.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I turned down the pitch to look over my opponent. Elsie was around my height, maybe a few centimeters shorter, and their long verdant green hair fell loosely around their shoulders. Their white long sleeve was pretty tight, showing off Elsie’s lithe build. They were kneeling next to their Venonat, talking to the small Pokemon with a grin, very obviously proud of their win. Elsie’s eyes flicked over to me and our eyes made contact.
Instead of narrowing their gaze or glaring the way Reli had, Elsie gave me a wide smirk that lacked humor, instead relying on a sarcastic battle-readiness. They stood up and Venonat scampered onto the field. Elsie sent me a little wave that was less friendly and more predatory.
I waved back, though I kept my face accurate to how I was feeling, unlike my opponent. Even with the obvious malintent of my opponent, I couldn’t deny the competitiveness racing through my chest. Elsie had handily dispatched Amy right after I’d put them on my level, and their rank was the highest that I was aware of in any of my opponents so far.
Casey held his fingers to his lips and whistled to get the crowd’s attention. Even though many of the onlookers had lost their battles over an hour ago, almost the entire starting bracket had stuck around to watch the finals. My former opponents, including Ethan and Reli, were scattered among the crowd.
“Here we go, people!” Casey called out. “For the final battle of the day, we have Elsie Hartley,” he paused, giving the crowd of trainers enough time to cheer, “against Derek Tracy!”
There were a few scattered boos, which I had come to expect, and a single cheer from Amy and Gong. Surprisingly, there was far more silence than I’d thought there would be. I glanced at the crowd, and several trainers just looked uncomfortable or unsure. All of my former opponents were among them.
I smiled internally. Maybe my post-battle had done some good after all.
I tossed out Artis’ ball, letting the blubbery boy materialize onto the field. He flopped out, putting on his ‘battle face’ and letting out a fearsome growl. All things considered, he looked pretty good after four battles. Since we’d been healing during the three most recent ones, he only had a few wounds left over from his fight against Celeste. He’d used a lot of Aurora Beams today, though, and I could see him already huffing a bit. Physical wellness was great, but Pokemon couldn’t just keep using their abilities forever, they’d have to stop eventually.
Venonat’s insect form was a little too alien for me to tell if it was as tired as Artis was. Those big red compound eyes glistened like raspberry jam, and they were already carefully watching Artis; every move. Both Pokemon only barely stood taller than the grass surrounding them, and I did regret that I hadn’t had the opportunity to change battlefields as I remembered how easily Venonat had hidden among the grasses earlier.
This was not going to be a training battle like the others had been. Not with the opponent, not with this field. I made the conscious shift in my mind to pursue this as seriously as I would a gym battle. Artis was going to be doing more than shooting off Aurora Beams here.
“Three!” Casey counted us in. “Two! One! Begin!”
For once in my life, I snapped to my orders before my opponent could. “Artis, get close!” From what I’d seen, Venonat was deadly at a distance. I hoped that our speed and physical ability would be enough to take it out quickly.
Artis tucked his head down to Rollout, and-
He bellyflopped at the last moment, flattening the dirt in front of him. What the hell?
Elsie cackled and their laugh echoed from across the field. “Having a hard time there?”
Artis stood up easily enough, though he looked as baffled as I did. He made to Rollout again, Venonat clear in his sights, but he just couldn’t seem to find the right way to tuck his body and he flopped over again.
Venonat’s antennae glowed white and I realised what was happening. Venonat had done something to mess with Artis’ head. He wasn’t obviously Confused, nor did he seem to be having issues actually moving any part of his body. It was more like watching someone try to ride a bicycle for the first time, he was awkward and his weight didn’t flow naturally. He’d just forgotten how to use Rollout.
“Venonat, Poison Powder this guy. His Pokemon can’t even use his own moves,” Elsie jeered.
They were trying to get under my skin, but they weren’t wrong. Artis was a sitting duck without his ability to get around the field. His walking pace was slow at best and immobile at worst on land.
Calm down, I forced myself to start planning as a wave of purple powder began to emit from Venonat’s immobile form. How is this any different from my battle against Misty?
It wasn’t. Artis had trained for this just a few days before when he’d been forced to stay immobile on his glacier. We just needed to use some of those same strategies
“Artis! Build a wall! AB into waiting game!” I hoped that, while we couldn’t avoid the Poison Powder at this point, we could at least remove Venonat’s line of sight and do something to negate the poisoning.
It would at least buy us time to think.
Artis didn’t miss a beat; an iridescent beam of blues, greens, and pinks flew from his mouth, blasting the dirt in front of him and conjuring a wall of dirty white-brown ice that was almost twice his height. A thick purple cloud of noxious pollen slammed into it and flowed around it, covering Artis from head to tail. The air smelled acrid and metallic. He began to hack and cough as those same purple veins appeared around his throat, but a collar of lightly glowing blue water materialized around him and their progress slowed. For now, Aqua Ring would slow down the poison, but it wouldn’t last forever.
“Get around it!” Elsie called. “Venoshock on sight!”
I couldn’t see Venonat, but it couldn’t see Artis either. I had to make a judgment call based on what I thought Elsie would do. I remembered the patch of the field that Pennywise had laid bare earlier and guessed that it would stick to the grasses as much as possible.
“Powder Snow to your left!” It was a weaker move, but its cone shape was more likely to hit a Pokemon that we couldn’t see.
Venonat’s purple body hopped out of the grass to Artis’ left just in time to be blasted with a bright white cloud of snowflakes that frosted it and obscured its vision. I’d underestimated its abilities, though, as it managed to spit that same purple bullet of poison at Artis in the less than a second it had before being hit by Powder Snow.
Both Pokemon reeled from the hits that they had taken, but Artis groaned louder as Venoshock’s secondary ability took effect, binding to the poisons that were already in his system and dealing more damage to him. He flopped backward, keeping his ice wall between himself and his opponent. Venonat shook itself free of the Powder Snow and disappeared back into the grass.
“Wow, this was worth a challenge elevation from Brock?” Elsie asked loudly, pride evident on their face.
It was a struggle to keep my face even relatively impassive. I’d never had an opponent shit-talk me like this before in a battle. I wasn’t going to let it get to me, not with this crowd watching, not with all the work I’d done this week.
Artis wasn’t looking great, but he wasn’t out for the count. We needed a new strategy. Rollout was gone, at least for now, so we needed to play this smart.
“Ice wall, bud!” I called to him, ignoring Elsie’s comment. “Just like with Staryu!”
Artis groaned, but another Aurora Beam appeared in his mouth. Before he could get it off, though, Venonat appeared again on top of his initial wall.
“We’re not going to let you do that!” Elsie said with glee. “Venoshock!”
“Yes, you are!” The words ripped themselves from my mouth with a snarl. “Artis, point it up and force through!”
Venonat’s purple bullet blasted downward and I was once again baffled at that thing’s aim. Artis took the poison attack like a champ and exhaled all of the icy power he’d been building directly up at his opponent. Since he’d already had it ready, it made solid contact. The prismatic beam crashed into Venonat, sending it reeling back over the wall with a new addition of an ice chunk melding into its hair.
Artis finished his move hacking and coughing. He wasn’t doing great, not after two direct hits and the consistent damage from the poison, even if Aqua Ring was doing its best to slow it down.
“Rest, bud! While you can!” It was a bit of a gamble here, especially because I wasn’t sure what Elsie’s next play would be, nor did I know how hurt Venonat was.
Artis’ eyes flashed a familiar pink and he slumped to the ground with a grateful groan. The green patches of poison had progressed down his back and flippers, extending the purple lines the Poison Powder had infected him with. This slowly began to fade as the Rest took effect.
I paused for a moment, waiting for Elsie’s next order. We had our secret weapon Snore in our back pocket, so I was ready to use it if Venonat tried to attack us again. Elsie flashed me an amused smile and I felt my frown intensify. They were up to something.
I was nervous and I was struggling to take control of this fight. This opponent wasn’t like any I’d had before. I was sweating and it was so damn hot out here-
My eyes snapped to the air above the battlefield. It was still the middle of the day, so I hadn’t noticed when the sunlight around the battlefield had intensified because a second, tinier sun had appeared. It glowed at about half the brightness as the real thing and it was only about as large as a football.
Sunny Day, I groaned mentally. If I wasn’t already limited on options, I was now. The field-altering move could increase the power of fire type attacks and lower the effectiveness of water type attacks. It also had some weird interactions with a handful of moves and abilities, and I had no idea why Elsie was using it since I wasn’t at all familiar with Venonat as a Pokemon.
“Finally noticed, huh?” Elsie said smugly, tossing their green hair over their shoulder. They weren’t immune to the heat either. “You’re not the only one who gets to take breaks, Tracy.”
That clued me into at least the basics of Elsie’s strategy, and I groaned again. How in the hell did I manage to find two separate trainers with healing moves in three days? They’re supposed to be rare!
Whatever move Venonat was using the sun for, it was healing it. Elsie had no reason to push Artis, since they were going to get a full reset as well. It was the exact reversal of my fight against Misty. Since Venonat was off healing, it definitely wasn’t in range for Snore, so I couldn’t do much as both of our Pokemon healed up.
What options did I have? Water Gun and Brine were both out because Sunny Day made them unreasonably weak, Aqua Ring was already in use and just barely holding back Venonat’s poison, and Rollout was straight up gone. Since Artis hadn’t switched to Ice Ball on his second attempt, I figured that whatever Venonat had done was affecting it, too. That left Aurora Beam, Powder Snow, Iron Tail, and not much else in our arsenal.
We didn’t have a lot of options here.
I glanced back across the way to Elsie and their smug look fueled a fire in my stomach. I needed to find something, anything, that would turn the tide. I searched the field for options. Venonat was going to reappear any second now, fully healed and ready to go, and I couldn’t guarantee a hit on them, not with the tall grasses and their access to Substitute.
My eyes caught on a member of the audience. Reli, the girl I’d battled last, and her tactics came to mind. Only a meter to her right was Amy, and something in my brain connected the two of them.
Artis’ snoring grumbles ceased, and the battle shifted back on.
“Artis, Iron Tail your wall!” I yelled, hoping he’d pull it off like I was imagining. “Spray it as far and as hard as you can!”
Artis’ groggy form burst into action, using his sudden abundance of energy to his benefit. Barring the poison, he was probably feeling better now than he had at the start of the fight. His tail glowed a silvery color before slamming into his ice wall with as much force as he could put behind it. Given that he weighed a tenth of a ton and his tail was as hard as steel, it was a lot of force.
The ice cracked and blasted forward like a claymore, tiny ice crystals slicing through the air at unreal speeds. It scattered in all directions away from Artis, obliterating the knee-high vegetation on Elsie’s side of the field and opening up my vision to her side of the field. Those chunks of ice were jagged and sharp, and they covered the field like glittering jewels.
Venonat’s form appeared in the center of the clearing, squeaking as it was struck with dozens of tiny ice crystals. They bounced off having not done too much damage, but that wasn’t our goal.
I’d made a mistake by blocking off our vision with the wall. Venonat might have been a sniper of a Pokemon, but blow-for-blow Artis could take and deal more damage than it could, he just wasn’t as accurate. It was better to not only be able to see Venonat but to force it to be exactly where I wanted it to be.
The call had worked almost exactly how I wanted it to, removing Venonat’s hiding places the same way Pennywise had with his Confusion shotgun, and leaving a massive swath of the field hard to walk on, the same way Reli’s Nidorina had with Toxic Spikes.
“Tsk,” Elsie’s jibes were notably absent. “Venonat, get to the other side of the field! Substitute and hide again!”
“Keep it over there, Artis!” I wasn’t going to let them go back into hiding. “Wall it off!”
Our Pokemon leaped to action. Venonat’s run was clumsy and slow as it tripped over the chunks of ice we’d spread. Its hair grew and drifted as it ran forward, grabbing clods of dirt and attaching patches of its hair to it. At a glance, Venonat had made a convincing dummy of itself, but now there was nowhere to make the bait and switch happen. It threw the dummy one way and sprinted the other, trying to get around my boy, but he had a grudge to hold and was locked in.
Artis blasted his Aurora Beam between Venonat and the wall of grass on our side of the field. The resulting wall was only barely shorter than the one that we’d initially made, and it was enough. Venonat skidded to a stop before it slammed into the wall, but we’d successfully trapped it.
“Get out of there!”
“Get it!”
Elsie and I yelled our orders at the same time, and it was my turn to be the smug one. Artis reared his head back and opted to repeat what we’d done earlier. Venonat had nowhere to go as a cone of Powder Snow barreled toward it. Our move connected at full power, coating the entire far side of the battlefield in white.
Though that move wasn’t strong enough to knock out Venonat in a single hit, I couldn’t help but grin as luck finally came through on our side. When the snow cleared, Venonat’s form was completely immobile and encased in ice, a potential side-effect of Powder Snow that we’d never successfully done before.
“Shit!”
“Hell yeah!”
Once again, Elsie and I yelled in sync with one another. I had the perfect opportunity here to win this match with a swift Iron Tail. Artis was rearing and ready to go, joy evident in his face as he barked at Venonat’s frozen form.
Instead of going for the knockout, I forced myself to take a breath. The tension from the fight bled out of me.
Forcing a neutral expression onto my face, I gave Elsie a look and our eyes met. I was giving them an opportunity here, doing what a respectful opponent would do. There was never any need for a Pokemon to suffer more than it needed to.
Elsie’s eyes narrowed. They understood what I was trying to get across, and they looked to their Pokemon, then to Artis, then back to me. I could tell that they were genuinely struggling with what their choice should be.
A beat passed.
“Fine,” Elsie sighed, pulling out their Pokeball. “Venonat, return. I forfeit.”
The crowd went silent.
The only noises to be heard were the rolling ocean waves in the distance, the gentle motion of the breeze, and the sound of Elsie’s Pokeball admitting their defeat.
“Woooooooooot!” Amy yelled, startling the trainers around them. “Yay, Derek!” Gong vibrated with the same energy, ecstatic that I’d won.
A murmur passed through the crowd and a few scattered boos echoed just as they had at the start of the match, but there was also a sound I hadn’t been expecting: clapping. It was slow, unsure, few, and far between, but there was no mistaking the motion that all four of my former opponents were making, joined by both Amy and Casey.
Speaking of, our organizer and amateur referee stepped onto the battlefield. “That’s a wrap, everybody!” He spoke loudly for everyone to hear. “Derek Tracy is our winner for today’s Nugget Bridge challenge! If you’re feeling unsatisfied with today’s performance, we’ll be running it back tomorrow at noon!”
Most of the crowd scattered immediately, especially those who were vocally upset by the ending of the battle. Before they left, though, Reli caught my eye. She glanced at the battlefield, eyeing the shards of ice that I’d left everywhere, and gave me a little nod. She walked away before I could grin back, but that didn’t stop the smile from splitting my face.
Amy slammed into my side, giving me a huge hug. “You did it, Derek! That’s so exciting!”
I chuckled. “I know, right? I was on the back foot for most of that fight, I really didn’t think I was going to win.”
“Well, you did,” Casey said, pulling two objects from his pocket. “Ticket, please?”
I handed it over and Casey clipped the final slot on my punch ticket, showing that I had won five battles in a row. “This and this,” Casey emphasized, sliding my ticket and the other object he’d pulled from his pocket into my hand. “Are both for your win. Feel free to post photos of the ticket on socials, because it’s kind of a big deal for a first-time challenger to win, and go ahead and sell the nugget if you want to. It’s not good for much else.”
My prize was a tiny sphere of gold, maybe half as large as my thumbnail. It glittered in the sun and was incredibly heavy for its size. I sucked in a breath as I thought about how much it was worth. These tiny prizes were standard fair as tournament winnings, as they were regulated and held a price. This was worth five thousand Poke, more money than I’d had to my name in the Viridian Forest.
“Actually, Derek-” Casey started, but my jolt of remembrance stopped him.
“Sorry, Casey,” I apologize, looking around the battlefield. “Give me just a second!”
I turned and found who I was looking for. Taking big steps, I made my way over to Elsie. They hadn’t left their trainer’s box yet, but they had stowed Venonat’s Pokeball and looked like they were contemplating leaving.
“Elsie,” I called softly, trying not to spook them. They glanced my way with a dry stare. Now that I was closer, I could see that their eyes matched their hair and were the same sort of verdant green.
They sighed. “What do want, Tracy?”
“Well,” I scratched the back of my head. This was harder than it had been with my other opponents. “I just wanted to say thank you?”
Elsie’s dry stare incorporated a look of disbelief. “The fuck did you want to do that for?”
I sputtered out a laugh at their tone. I don’t think I would’ve gotten more shock if I’d said that I was a Ditto in disguise. “That battle was awesome,” I admitted. “Probably the most challenging one I’ve had since Brock.”
Their green eyebrows furrowed as they looked me up and down distrustfully. “But…?”
I shook my head. “No ‘buts’, I just wanted to say thank you and ask if you wanted to split the winnings? I got really lucky in that battle and it could have gone either way, so I figured you kind of earned it too.”
Elsie’s eyebrows rose enough that I was afraid they’d escape their forehead. The disdain that had marked their face since the end of the battle didn’t fully disappear, but it took a backseat to the distrust and disbelief that I’d inspired in them. When I opened my palm and showed off the nugget, their face turned contemplative.
Elsie stared at me for a long moment.
Eventually, the edges of their mouth upturned back into the smug grin they’d worn for most of the battle. “I acted like an ass that whole time,” Elsie said.
“You did,” I confirmed.
“And now you want to share your winnings with me?”
“Uh-huh.”
The staring resumed, but this time it was more amused than anything else. Elsie inspected me for any sign of betrayal or trickery for several seconds, but I knew they wouldn’t find anything.
I was being honest here. Part of this, of learning how to mend the bridges I’d already burnt in Kanto, was trying to live with the fact that Kantoans were a wild and ruthless bunch. I didn’t have to like it, but it wouldn’t kill me to recognize that they were going to take any edge that they could get in a fight. Elsie obviously had talent in taunting their opponents, so for them, it was a valid strategy.
I was taken aback when Elsie started laughing. “Ha! That’s pretty good,” they chuckled “Nah, Tracy, I don’t need your pity gifts.”
I frowned. “It wasn’t because of pity-”
“Doesn’t matter,” they shrugged with a grin. “That’s what I’d feel like it was, so I’m good. I appreciate the sentiment, though.”
I went to argue but closed my mouth. Instead, I nodded and turned to walk away.
“Hey, Tracy,” Elsie’s outstretched hand stopped me. “Good battle.”
Oh, holy shit.
I hadn’t been expecting that positive of an outcome. I numbly reached out and shook Elsie’s hand. “Yeah,” I said. “Can’t wait for the next one.”
“Me neither,” Elsie said, turning their back after a second. “Don’t hesitate to reach out if you end up in the same city as me again. I’ll have to kick your ass next time.”
Without another word, Elsie walked away.
Amy stepped up next to me, putting their head on my arm. “That was nice of you,” they said.
I shrugged. “It felt like the right thing to do.” I glanced down at them. “You tired, bean?”
“I’m exhausted,” they whined. “I want to heal Pennywise, eat, nap, and eat again. In that order.”
“Well,” I gave them a wide grin and held up the nugget. “Dinner’s on me tonight.”
Amy pumped their fist into the air, instantly recovering all of their energy. “We’re ordering dessert!”
“I’ll spring for a piece of cake,” I promised them. “I already have some sweets picked out for Wisp, anyway.”
“Oh, uh,” Amy glanced around, only just now realizing that Wisp was in her ball. “Good call on keeping her put away. She would not have stood for the Tauros-shit they were slinging at you.”
“Nope.” I popped the word with my mouth, only distantly thinking about how Wisp had reacted to the guy in the Pewter City park.
Amy and I started walking off when I heard a voice behind us.
“Yo! Tracy!” I glanced back, seeing Casey casually strolling up to us. He’d tossed a black coat on and had the foldable table he’d been using earlier under one arm. “I didn’t finish talking to you after that match!”
“Oh, shoot! Sorry, man. What’s up?” I felt a pang of guilt realizing that I’d totally forgotten about him in less than five minutes. To be honest, I hadn’t enjoyed the way he’d been looking at me like a piece of entertainment all day, so I wasn’t exactly positively inclined toward him.
“It’s all good,” he said smoothly. “I just don’t often see trainers putting up with the amount of crap that you dealt with today. What’s up with that?”
“Uh,” I was a little taken aback. I wasn’t used to that. “That’s kind of a long story.”
I glanced to my side to see Amy urgently squeezing my hand. They’d grabbed the one on the opposite side of Casey, just out of his eyeline.
My levels of mistrust in this man rose drastically. Amy must’ve seen something that they didn’t like in this guy. Whether he was lying about knowing what was up with me or something else, it couldn’t be good.
“That’s totally fine, we don’t have to get into it.” Casey didn’t miss a beat and I genuinely couldn’t read any issues on his face. “I just figured that has to be super frustrating, ya know? To have to deal with that kind of crap.”
“Yeah… …super frustrating,” I echoed.
Something in my gut didn’t feel right, but not because of Amy’s distress. The line of questioning that Casey was going down felt oddly familiar, and I couldn’t help but think about a warning my dad had given me about avoiding the bad sides of the internet when I was a kid.
“Well, you definitely showed them today. I honestly think you have a lot of talent, so if you applied yourself right, you could probably avoid getting treated like that again. Heck, I doubt anybody would talk shit to you if you learned the right way of training.”
My morbid curiosity and sneaking suspicions forced me to nod along, listening intently. I was not nearly interested in Casey’s ‘solution’, but I did want to know what he was going to say, because I feared that I already knew what it was.
“Have you ever heard of Team Rocket?”