“Oi, stop bothering them. Shoo.” I said in the sternest tone I could manage while making a shooing motion.
Banette flew up to the small group of Driftloon and began shooing them away. The one that was trying to pull the electrician off of his ladder with its flimsy strings puffed up, annoyed that it had gotten caught. It let go of its victim and floated away with the rest of the ghosts.
The electrician smiled and waved a thanks at me before continuing his work.
I waved back and walked further into the dome to make sure no other ghosts were trying to pull “pranks” on the people repairing the dome that they had damaged.
At least the Trevenant and Gourgeist weren’t causing any trouble. The plant ghosts had taken well to the indoor forest and were pretty docile. They preferred to just sit and gossip amongst each other while they soaked up the sunlight and absorbed nutrients from the fertile ground like a bunch of old ladies gossiping over tea and cookies.
Most of the other ghosts housed here were just bored. They had recently decided that it would be hilarious to pull apart their habitat dome from the inside out. Thankfully Yamask found out about their little "prank" in time and informed Justine, but due to the damage, a few of the ghosts escaped into the city.
Since I had nothing to do besides train my team and wait for Rufflet to arrive, I volunteered to babysit the ghosts while Justine went out to retrieve the escapees. The ghost type specialist had handed me a ton of talismans to paste around the dome to prevent the ghosts from getting into the wiring again. So in between dealing with ghost shenanigans, we also had to make sure the dome’s inside was covered in talismans.
My bag now had a lot of ghost related paraphernalia in it now that we were done pasting the enchanted pieces of paper everywhere.
I guess they could come in handy in the future, but if I ever had trouble with an evil ghost it would probably be easier to just feed it to Kaiju cause I couldn’t even begin to remember half of the uses of the stuff Justine used to manage ghosts.
I sighed as I saw two Chandelure floating near the dome’s ceiling and giving each other death glares as they tried to intimidate each other.
We need to find something to occupy these guys with.
I waved a hand for Banette to take some of her crew and go deal with the angry chandelier Pokemon and watched as the voodoo puppet tried to mediate between the angry ghosts.
A “bzzt!” followed by a message notification ringing sound caught my attention as a Unovan Zoroark (Winnie in disguise) and Rotom came back from dealing with a few Rotom who were arguing about who got which machine to possess.
“someone’s calling you az.” Winnie said as Rotom zoomed over to show its screen.
Chloe and Zoe were video calling me.
I pressed the green button, and immediately got a close-up of a Meowstic’s nose and mouth. Someone picked the psychic type up and zoomed the camera out to reveal the twins and their Meowstics. They were in some sort of break room.
“Hey guys, what’s up? It’s been a while.” I greeted the twins.
“Hi Az!” The twin on the left said. The twin on the right waved as she asked, “How are you?”
“I’m good, just chilling at the Kalos Lab.” I answered, “How are you guys doing?”
“Great!” They answered together, “Sorry about going” “silent for a while.” “We were training so that Olympia would let us” “battle trainers going for their eighth badge!”
It was still kind of weird listening to them finish each other’s sentences despite having heard them do the same before.
I nodded, “How’d that go?”
“We passed!” Both girls smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Their Meowstics raised their arms and meowed, “Meow! “Stic!”
“Wow, congratulations!” I had no idea how big of a deal that was, but it sounded like a pretty big achievement considering that trainers with seven to eight badges were supposed to be pretty strong.
Chloe and Zoe nodded, “Thanks!” We heard that you were in Kalos!” “Do you wanna come visit our gym?” “Come challenge it before it gets too crowded!” “Can Justine come too?”
I shrugged, “You’ll have to ask Justine, I don’t know her schedule but she’s busier than I am. But yeah, I’m down for a gym battle. I’ll tell you when I can come over, I’m still waiting to get a new Pokemon from the Sinnoh Lab.”
I glanced to the side as I heard a bunch of commotion from the ghosts, followed by a loud slap, and the exaggerated sound of a baby crying.
“Okay!” “Make sure to tell us before you get here,” “so we can book an arena.”
“Aight,” I gave them a thumbs-up as I began to walk over to the source of the commotion. “Okay, yeah, I gotta go deal with ghosts causing trouble. See you soon.”
“Bye!” Rotom ended the call and I broke into a run to see what was going on. The commotion got louder as multiple ghosts began yelling at each other.
Turns out, there was a fight between a Mimikyu and a Haunter, who had lifted the Mimikyus’s disguise, which then prompted the disguise Pokemon to bitch slap Haunter.
Then I had to explain to the offending ghost that it was not acceptable to touch people’s clothes without permission, especially when it’s lifting people’s dresses and skirts, or in Mimikyu’s case, its disguise.
The ghost didn’t seem to know beforehand that it was wrong to do so because its previous trainer had trained it to go lift up the skirts of women he pointed out. Then the trainer was arrested and his Haunter was sent around to different places before it landed here at the Kalos Lab.
So yeah, it sure was fun dealing with the fallout of that perv’s teachings and no one explaining shit to the ghost. At least Haunter seemed genuinely sorry once I explained to it why it was unacceptable to do that.
Mimikyu even accepted its apology and they did a handshake to make up.
Once that was sorted out, Winnie and I went outside to take a break and get some fresh air. I had never noticed until I spent an entire night in an enclosed area with them, but ghost Pokemon tended to smell stale, like a musty attic. It wasn’t necessarily a bad smell, just a smell that was easy to get sick of if you smelled it too much for too long.
I curiously raised an eyebrow when I saw Professor Sycamore, Diantha, and her Gardevoir walk out of the ice habitat and back into the lab. They were probably visiting the newly revived Amauras. I heard from the people in charge of the ice-type habitat that the fossil Pokemon were adorable but very shy, so only the caretakers and researchers were allowed to interact with them at the moment.
Justine exited the lab with two Driftblim and a ghastly in tow. Yamask was floating behind the trio of ghosts to make sure none of them made a run for it. Litwick was still perched on Justine’s head, giving the escaped ghosts the meanest look a cute candle Pokemon could give.
Mii was trotting right below the trio, her head held high in importance.
I pretended to tip a hat to Justine and said in a stereotypical cowboy accent, “Howdy, I see you caught the wanted criminals. Good job sheriff.”
The ghost specialist grinned and responded in a similar bad accent, “Yep. They put up a fight but they didn’t stand a chance against us.”
“We’re the awesome police!” Litwick chirped.
She opened the door to the habitat and Yamask herded the ghosts into it before Justine closed the door.
“So, did you manage to put up all the ghost wards?” Justine asked.
I nodded, “Yeah, the repairs are almost done too.”
“Good.” Justine said as she yawned, “I’ll call someone in to watch the place. I need a break, we spent basically the entire night looking for those rascals.”
“Try babysitting them all night.” I said, “They kept trying to push the contractors off their ladders.”
“Hmph,” Yamask huffed, “those brats need more discipline.”
“Ooh!” Litwick waved its arms, “I want a tiny sandwich from the snack room!”
“I want more of that moon shaped bread!” Mii chimed in, “but it has to be warmed in the oven first.”
“You mean a croissant.” Litwick corrected Mii.
“Yeah, I know what I mean!” Mii snapped, “I want a warm croissant.”
Winnie licked his lips, “Hmm, buttered croissants sound good. I’d prefer cake though. You remember the layered crepe one with a creme brulee on top?”
I flicked the illusion fox’s ear, “You’ve had more than enough cake since we got here. Take a break or else you’ll need to go on a diet.”
Ears drooping, Winnie sighed longingly for his cake.
Cosette had gotten a big catering order delivered during lunch cause she was holding an event for a bunch of trainers who had achieved mega evolution. So we yoinked a bunch of food and went to a quiet order to eat and feed our Pokemon.
I nearly choked on my food when I saw Alain among the trainers gathered. Well that only makes sense. He’s the guy with THE Charizard X.
Thankfully we were able to avoid any interactions with the guy, I had nothing against him except for the fact that he was working for Lysandre. Best stay away. Sahara would probably love to battle his Charizard though. The landshark had been itching for a good fight for a while.
Since Justine had the rest of the day off, and neither of us were super tired, we decided to check out the battle institute. It would be a great way for my team to burn off some steam, and Justine wanted to get her Golett in a battle. It was showing signs of being ready to evolve, and usually the fastest way to trigger that was a battle.
A short taxi ride later, and we were there.
The Battle Institute was pretty crowded, there were trainers everywhere talking with each other or waiting in line for an open arena to battle in. Most of them were there to help get their teams in shape for the upcoming gym season.
The Battle Institute was massive on the inside compared to the outside. There was a large waiting area with lockers, tables, seats, and other amenities near the entrance, all separated from the battle areas by a thick pane of glass and a protective energy shield that allowed people to view the ongoing battles.
The arenas themselves were each separated by a waist-high black wall–transparent energy shield combo.
We paid the entry fees and got a card that we could scan on the machines outside each arena in order to indicate that we were going to have a battle there.
Each card would track how many battles you had paid to have, and how many battle points you earned from winning matches that could be exchanged for some pretty good prizes. The machines outside of each arena had different selection options for the type of battle we wanted in order to inform the referees stationed at each arena what the trainers wanted for their battle.
All of the arenas were full at the moment, so we got in line and watched whatever fight looked interesting. I felt a bit of heat radiating from Sahara’s ultra ball as the dragon got excited to finally battle a strong opponent instead of boring training.
“Wait a minute.” Justine said to herself, “Is that who I think it is?”
“Hm?” I looked at where my friend was looking.
Justine was focused on a match between a Gogoat and a Flareon. Specifically, she was squinting at a trainer in his twenties with green hair tied up in a ponytail, Gogoat’s trainer.
“Yeah, it is him.” Justine said, gesturing for me to step out of line with her.
We waited until the green haired trainer’s match was over, ending with his Gogoat demolishing its opponent with a well timed Earthquake.
“Fabian!” Justine shouted, waving at the green haired trainer as he returned Gogoat and walked back to the waiting area.
The trainer’s eyes widened in surprise and he smiled warmly, jogging over to us, “Hey Justine! It’s been a while.”
“I didn’t know that you were gonna be in Kalos! You should’ve told me, I told you I was gonna be in Lumiose.” Justine chided, punching the older trainer’s arm.
Mii, who was standing by behind Justine’s ankles, stepped forward to sniff Fabian’s shoes before wrinkling her nose and sneezing, “He smells like too much grass.”
“Hi grass man! You smell like cut grass!” Litwick waved hello.
Fabian smiled and waved back at Litwick, then scratched his head, “Yeah sorry, kinda got caught up in some stuff.”
Justine raised an eyebrow, “What? You got lost in some ruins again?”
Fabian sucked some air in through his teeth and guiltily looked away. “Yeah.”
The ghost specialist sighed before giving the older trainer a cheeky grin, “It might help if you invite my sister next time~” She nudged his arm
A bit of red rose in Fabian’s cheeks as he awkwardly spluttered, “Uh, um, uh, yeah I’ll keep that in mind. Having her ghosts around would be pretty helpful with navigating underground portions.”
“Hmmm. You’d better~” Justine said, her knowing smile getting wider.
Yamask scoffed, “Oh please, like that old hag would let a mere researcher date one of her best students.”
Fabian then nervously cleared his throat and gestured to me, “So Justine, who’s your new friend?”
I nodded and waved, “I’m Azalea, I’m one of Professor Rowan’s sponsored trainers. Nice to meet you.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Fabian nodded back at me, “I’m Fabian. I do research for Professor Juniper, explore ruins, and uh, other archeology stuff.”
Justine jumped in, proudly announcing, “He’s the one who gave me Golett, aaaand he’s my sister’s boyfriend.”
“Shhhh!” A bit panicked, Fabian put a finger on Justine’s mouth, “It’s not official okay? If Agatha finds out I’ll be dead meat.”
“Why?” I asked, “It’s not her business who her students date.”
Justine sighed and nodded, “Yeah, but she basically took my sis in as an adoptive granddaughter after our parents died, soooo, you knoooow. She has high standards for all of her students, especially my sis.”
Overprotective grandma. I see. I sagely nodded, “I see. Well, my lips are sealed.” I made a zipper motion over my mouth. Winnie grinned and copied my motion, “i didn’t hear anything.”
I slightly furrowed my eyebrows as I processed the other part of Justine’s sentence. Wait her parents are dead?! She said that so casually. Did she tell me about this before when I wasn’t paying attention? Shit.
“Thanks.” Fabian sighed.
I waved it off, “No probs. So, what do you research?”
The grass-type specialist relaxed as the topic switched to something he was more comfortable with, “I research ancient ruins with a focus on the Unown, though most of the time I just go around restoring artifacts and ruins, that tends to make the most money.”
“Ooo, what are you here to restore?” Justine asked, “Is it something from the Lumiose Museum?”
Fabian shook his head, “The owners of the Tower of Mastery want me to restore a large section of the tower that’s been damaged. I have a flight to Shalour later in the afternoon, but I wanted to get in some exercise for my team before I get too busy with the restoration.”
“Hey, you should battle us,” I suggested, “you guys wanna get a fourth and do a double battle?”
“Yeah, that’ll be great!” Justine said, before putting a finger up, “Actually, you guys wanna do a free-for-all battle?”
“Free-for-all?” I asked.
Justine nodded, “Yeah, it’s basically a one vee one, but with four trainers. No teams, everyone for themself.”
“Hell yeah, that sounds fun.” I said.
Fabian nodded, “Of course, I bet Serperior would love a rematch. It’s been a long time since you and Golett tried your hand against us.”
"Yeah it has been a long time. Serperior's gonna get a good ass whooping this time." Justine replied with her usual Gengar-like grin.
----------------------------------------
It wasn’t too hard to get a fourth trainer to join our party. Once we had all four people required for a free-for-all, we were able to secure an arena for ourselves. Due to how many people there were, the amount of Pokemon we were allowed to use per battle was limited to make sure no battles took too long, so our free-for-all match would only allow each trainer to use one Pokemon.
That was fine by us, and because only battling Pokemon were allowed in the arena so we left Winnie and Yamask in charge of Litwick and Mii in the waiting area. The candle and fox ghosts excitedly waved at us and cheered as we entered the arena.
Once everyone was in place in their corners of the field, the referee blew their whistle, signaling us to let out our Pokemon.
Sahara would probably be a bit overkill, I'll save her for a later battle. For a chaotic free-for-all, who would be a better participant than the team wildcard himself? I grabbed the dusk ball off my belt and sent out Kaiju, the two-headed dragon roared to announce his presence before his heads found a reason to begin bickering and nipping each other.
Justine sent out Golett, Fabian sent out his Serperior, and the fourth trainer sent out a blue-lobster looking Pokemon with an enormous pincer claw literally three times the size of its main body.
“What the fuck is that?” I muttered to myself, “That’s literally just a lobster with a big ass claw.”
I heard Rotom beep as it sneakily took a picture of the lobster Pokemon from my pocket. The Pokedex spoke at a volume just loud enough for me to hear.
“Clawitzer, the Howitzer Pokemon. These aquatic Pokemon can move at a speed of 60 knots by water and gas inside its claw and expelling it from the nozzle in the back of its claw. It is powerful enough to pierce tanker hulls. Its pincer claw is a popular cooking ingredient.”
I barely remembered this Pokemon. It was either from gen six or gen nine, no idea. It looked pretty cool too, probably just got overshadowed by Pokemon I thought looked cooler at the time.
“This will be a free-for-all battle where the last Pokemon standing will be declared the winner of the match.” The referee shouted from his elevated box, “Each trainer will use only one Pokemon, and no switch-outs are allowed. Please stay in your trainer box until the battle has ended. Thank you.”
There was a hum as a domed forcefield separated us from the arena. Then the referee blew one long whistle blow to indicate the start of the match.
Serperior was the first to act, Coiling its serpentine body like a spring and using Growth in quick succession.
“Hone Claws!” Clawitzer’s trainer shouted.
There was the sound of rocks scraping as Clawitzer scraped its honed it’s pincer claw on the ground.
“Iron Defense.” Golett’s rocky body gained a metallic sheen from Iron Defense.
“Think bad thoughts Kaiju!” I said to the dragon.
Kaiju’s heads took a second to stop nipping each other. Then they both took in a deep breath and began screeching. The other three Pokemon, plus a few other Pokemon on nearby fields stopped to stare at Kaiju with a bit of concern.
What the fuck is he saying? I glanced back at the waiting area and saw Winnie shaking his head. Both he and Yamask were covering Mii and Litwick’s ears.
“Bomber run.” Fabian said.
Serperior sped into action, moving across the arena in a hypnotic pattern and leaving a trail of grass as it used Swords Dance, then Trailblaze before it slammed into Clawizter, who was the serpent’s nearest opponent.
The blue lobster instantly retaliated by snapping at Serperior with Vice Grip, but it missed, making a loud snapping sound as Serperior slithered out of the away. Then the regal Pokemon brought its tail down onto Clawitzer, slamming the lobster with Dragon Tail.
Then Golett jumped into the fray, having made its way across the arena, its arms spun and began blurring together it punched both opponents in rapid succession with Drain Punch, its ability Iron Fist visibly giving its punching attack some extra power.
Kaiju was still in his corner shouting about I dunno, whatever would correlate to his view on bad thoughts.
“Kaiju!” I shouted to get the dragon’s attention, “Hyper Voice! Show them your beautiful voice!”
Kaiju paused and stared at me for a second before flapping his wings in joy and opening both mouths wide like muppets as he took in a deep breath.
“ZWEEEEEEI!!” “LOOOUUUUS!!”
The forcefield vibrated as it dampened the sound.
Serperior and Clawitzer recoiled, writhing in pain as the powerful soundwaves tore through them. Neither of them had appendages that could cover their ears so they could only wait for Kaiju’s dreadful screaming to end.
"Wonderful voice!" Fabian shouted from his side of the field, "It's almost as good as a Muk's singing!"
I scoffed, "You just don't have the refined hearing necessary to appreciate his style!"
"Punch them! Fire and thunder!" Justine shouted at Golett while making punching motions. Thanks to its normal type immunity, the automaton was perfectly fine. The golem couldn't hear Justine, but got the message. Both of its fists lit up, one with fire, the other with electricity as it jumped and landed a powerful Fire Punch on Serperior, and a Thunder Punch on Clawitzer, knocking them to the ground.
The dreadful screaming petered out as Kaiju ran out of breath, he began taking another breath, but Clawizter used Aqua Jet and rocketed from the other side of the field to slam into the two-headed dragon to shut him up.
Serperior dodged another Fire Punch from Golett and used Dragon Tail to simultaneously pound Golett into the ground and launch itself high into the air, whereupon it sprayed a carpet bombing of Seed Bomb all over the field.
Golett and Clawizter used Protect, shielding themselves from the grass-type explosions that followed.
“Snarl upwards!” I shouted.
Kaiju snarled, sending out a wave of dark-type energy that set off the seed bombs above him before they could reach him.
“Get to Zweilous,” Fabian ordered, “then Dragon Tail!”
“Fire Fang!” I countered.
Using Aerial Ace to propel itself through the air, Serperior landed in front of Kaiju and swung around, slamming the teen dragon with a Dragon Tail.
Kaiju groaned as he was hit with the super effective move. Fire flashed in both of his mouths as he bit down on Serperior’s tail, preventing him from being thrown. The grass type shrieked from the double super effective attack and began crazily wriggling around like a worm as Kaiju began chewing on the grass snake’s tail with Crunch.
“Ser-peeeeer!” The regal Pokemon screamed, spinning around and finally throwing Kaiju off and across the field into Golett, knocking the golem down.
“Crabhammer them both! Full power!” Clawizter’s trainer shouted. The lobster Pokemon literally Pounced on the opportunity, its giant claw glowing blue with water type energy.
Serperior let out an indignant cry about its chewed-up tail and furiously dashed in with a Leaf Blade at the ready.
“Sneak attack Serperior! You got this Golett!” Justine ordered.
Using Phantom Force, Golett melted into Kaiju’s shadow before quickly reappearing behind Serperior, both of its fists ablaze with fire.
“Behind you!” Fabian warned his Pokemon. Serperior instantly swung around and parried Golett’s Fire Punches with Leaf Blade and Bullet Seed.
Meanwhile, Clawister redirected its Crabhammer attack from Golett to Kaiju.
“Catch it with Thunder Fang!” I shouted.
Kaiju reacted quickly, his teeth sparking with electricity as both mouths caught Clawizter’s attack. The dragon dug his feet into the ground as he was pushed back a few paces, while the lobster Pokemon seized as it was shocked by Thunder Fang.
“Get away and use Dragon Pulse!” Clawizter’s trainer shouted with a bit of panic in their voice.
“Claw!” The howitzer Pokemon shot backwards using Aqua Jet in an attempt to get out of Kaiju’s grapple, but the two headed dragon dug his feet in and stubbornly refused to let go.
Then Golett crashed into them both, having been thrown due to Serperior’s Vine Whip.
The sunlight turned harsh as Serperior used Sunny Day and began charging up a powerful Solar Beam.
“Dig and reposition yourself!” Justine quickly ordered.
Golett’s feet came together and it spun like a drill, quickly burrowing into the ground with Dig. Serperior fired the attack. Clawizter panicked as it was still being held in the blast zone by Kaiju, they were both positioned to get hit.
“Show Clawister to Serperior!” I shouted.
“Hydro Pump!” Clawizter’s trainer ordered, now with even more of a panicked edge in their voice than before.
With a bit of effort, Kaiju pivoted and swung around, basically using the lobster as a shield.
Clawizter flailed its body while making panicked bubbling noises as it tried to free itself from Kaiju's death grip. Due to the way the lobster Pokemon was positioned, its claw wasn’t pointed the right way to counter Serperior’s attack and it took on the full brunt of the grass-type energy laser.
An explosion from Solar Beam hitting knocked Clawizter out of Kaiju’s grapple and sent it flying and crashing into the ground, its eyes spinning.
The fainted lobster Pokemon was quickly returned by its trainer, who seemed rather annoyed that they got almost no action.
Time for a real bombing run. “Draco Meteor!”
Both of Kaiju’s heads opened their mouths wide to the sky. One after the other, two massive balls of condensed dragon-type energy shot up into the sky, emitting high-pitched whistling noises. Then the balls split and it began raining burning bright meteors.
“Set them off before they hit the ground!” Fabian shouted at Serperior.
“Ser!” The grass-type began spitting Bullet Seeds at the meteors that would land near it, making them explode midair. The rest of the meteors landed and exploded, peppering the battlefield with craters.
I shielded my eyes from the brightness of the explosions.
While Serperior was distracted with defending itself from the meteors, Golett’s fist punched out of the ground and grabbed the serpent’s damaged tail, making Serperior whip around with a vicious hiss that was interrupted by a Shadow Punch from Golett.
“Block!” Fabian shouted, Justine instantly countered, “Brick Break!”
A barrier appeared in front of Serperior, but Golett broke through its Protect with Brick Break and landed another Shadow Punch.
Fuck it, let’s go wild. “Jump in Kaiju! Have some fun with Outrage!” I said with a shit-eating grin.
Kaiju let out an ecstatic roar as he worked himself up into a berserker mode, a huge surge of dragon type energy massively boosting his physical strength. Then he charged at Golett and Serperior.
Fabian decided that Kaiju was the bigger threat and instantly redirected, “Dodge! Dragon Pulse on Zweilous, keep your distance!”
Justine seemed to have a similar thought process, “Don’t get hit Golett! Gravity and Mega Punch!”
Serperior disappeared in a blur before Kaiju could reach it and reappeared a good distance away where it began sniping at Kaiju with Dragon Pulses, hitting him once or twice. Despite his bulky frame, the two headed dragon was a lot faster than he looked and he was able to dodge or outspeed most of Serperior's Dragon Pulse's thanks to Outrage.
Kaiju stumbled as Golett used Gravity. The two headed dragon didn’t seem to care about the increased weight, and surprised the automaton Pokemon with his speed as he barreled into it with another Dragon Rush and sent the golem flying and crashing into the barrier with a loud crack!
Serperior shot another Dragon Pulse at Kaiju, redirecting his focus onto the grass-type.
“Gravity!” The serpent was about to move away from its spot but flinched as it felt the effects of Golett’s gravity, slowing it down just enough to let Kaiju catch it by the tail again.
“ZWEIIIIII!” Kaiju screamed as he began violently rag dolling the snake around like an energetic puppy who had just found a new toy, slamming it into the ground and creating multiple craters.
“Wait for the right moment to get free,” Fabian ordered, “then Giga Drain!”
“Drain Punch!”
Golett jumped out of Kaiju’s shadow ready to punch like the little boxer it was.
The golem landed two consecutive Drain Punches on Kaiju, dealing super effective damage while also healing itself.
Kaiju whirled around, his free head wildly snapping at Golett. Serperior took this chance to Wrap itself around Kaiju’s necks. The grass-type began glowing green as it used Giga Drain to absorb energy from Kaiju and heal itself.
Kaiju retaliated by Crunching down on Serperior while Golett landed a Fire Punch on both opponents, which made Serperior let go.
“ZWEII!!” Kaiju screamed again, each head making a grab for both opponents and pulling each other opposite ways.
Too bad Outrage was beginning to wear off. Both heads snapped at each other, angry for trying to go the other way. Then they began full on fighting and viciously biting at each other. It was a toss up of whether this was confusion or just Kaiju fighting himself like always.
Serperior dashed in while the heads were distracted and fainted Kaiju with a fast Leaf Blade.
I sighed as I returned Kaiju, it was fun while it lasted. Now it was just Serperior vs Golett, the two stared each other down like it was a standoff in an old western movie.
Serperior gave Golett a smug grin as tauntingly preened itself, "Ser serperior serp."
Golett was as stoic and silent as ever, unmoving until its trainer gave it a new directive.
Fabian wasn’t gonna let Justine seize the momentum of the fight, “Leaf Storm!”
Serperior took the lead by sending a Leaf Storm at Golett, who with a shout from Justine, dodged the move with Dig. The regal Pokemon had grown wise to Golett’s tactics by now and it quickly moved out of the way and swung at the ground beneath it with Leaf Blade.
A fiery fist punched out of Serperior’s shadow, effectively countering the grass-type’s move. Serperior slithered back with dizzying speed, readying another Leaf Storm as Golett jumped out of its shadow and ran at its opponent.
“Let’s do this! Activate No-Guard!” Justine ordered. Golett’s eyes burned brighter and its body language changed.
Serperior let out a cry as the ghost Pokemon seemingly teleported right in front of it and landed a Mega Punch, sending the regal Pokemon flying. Serperior righted itself midair and used Aerial Ace to propel itself back at Golett, who was readying another Mega Punch.
“Burrito drain!” Fabian shouted a command. I sharply looked at the older trainer with a raise eyebrow. Burrito? What, is Serperior's held item a tortilla?
Instead of meeting Golett’s punch head-on, Serperior nimbly adjusted its angle so that Mega Punch would only be a glancing blow. Then the serpent speedily Wrapped its body around Golett, constricting the automaton.
Serperior began glowing green as it sapped energy from its opponent with Giga Drain. Golett creaked and struggled to get free, it was unable to phase through the grass type to escape for some reason.
Dang, looks like Serperior is gonna win. Well, unless Golett evolves.
Golett suddenly glowed a bright white. I shielded my eyes from the light.
“YES! YES! You did it!” Justine shouted as she jumped in excitement. I could hear Litwick and Mii loudly cheering for Golett before the two began negotiating with each other on who would get to sit on Golurk's head first.
Called it. I loudly whistled and waved, "Yoooo! Get em Golurk! Get em!"
Serperior’s eyes widened and it loosened its grip as it tried to make a getaway.
There was an explosion of energy that kicked up a cloud of dust and smoke. After a few seconds, a pair of glowing yellow eyes pierced through the smoke. Then a bunch of glowing runes flickered and began to glow. That's a badass entrance there.
“Shadow Punch! Show them how strong you've become Golurk!” Justine shouted.
Now towering at over nine feet tall, Golurk's massive frame loomed over Serperior, who the automaton Pokemon now had gripped tightly in its massive hand. Serperior tried to wriggle free of the golem’s hand, but its grip was too tight.
“Solar Beam!” Fabian shouted to Serperior, “It can’t dodge your attacks!”
“Ser!” Serperior charged up a Solar Beam and shot it in Golurk’s face. The golem didn’t even flinch and quickly flung Serperior to the ground before punching it with Shadow Punch and embedding the grass serpent into a crater in the ground.
“Mega Punch! Full power!” Justine shouted, punching the air.
“Leaf Storm! You’re almost there!”
Serperior sent a raging Leaf Storm right as Golurk was about to punch again. Again, Golurk didn’t seem phased by the storm of leaves, but it slowly creaked to a halt mid-punch. Golurk’s glowing eyes flickered and went dim as the golem’s joints locked up. It had fainted.
I sighed in disapointment, "Aiyaaaa." Damn, I was rooting for you Golurk.
The shrill blow of a whistle indicated the end of the match. “Fabian and Serperior are the winners!” The referee shouted, “You may now leave the trainer boxes. As a reminder, you can heal your Pokemon at the restoration station near the front desk.”
The Clawizter trainer quickly left to heal their Pokemon.
Justine and Fabian returned Golurk and Serperior, both saying words of praise to their Pokemon.
We talked about the battle a bit before Fabian realized he was gonna be late and left in a hurry to catch his flight. Then Justine and I got Kaiju and Golurk healed before we went back to battling.
Sahara ended up hogging most of the battles. Her being a Garchomp, and a massive one at that attracted a lot of attention, which in turn, attracted a lot of challengers. So the landshark had the time of her life going up against a variety of strong opponents, and I indulged the battle junkie. Hopefully this would keep her satisfied until we eventually got to the Battle Chateau.
After a while, people began betting on who would be able to beat the monster Garchomp. Justine took advantage of that and began earning a pretty penny betting with other trainers, and just betting on Sahara every time.
Once Sahara was sufficiently tired out, I was able to get in one battle each with Winnie and Glados before we left for dinner.
We ended up using some of the money that Justine earned from betting to buy a fancy cake for Golurk and went to a popular pizza place that allowed large Pokemon to celebrate Golurk’s evolution. Kaiju and Sahara were not invited. One was too chaotic and guaranteed to wreck something in a crowded restaurant and the other was still sleeping off all the battling she did at the Battle Institute.
Winnie was a bit annoyed when he realized that he never got an evolution party, but took back his complaints after being given a large piece of his favorite cake. I made a mental note to up his training for the next week.
The restaurant staff were nice enough to provide us with a way-too-small party hat for Golurk. Rotom took a bunch of pictures for us and sent them to the group chat.
Kenta instantly replied and said that his team would be expecting a battle the next time they met. The others replied with a mixture of congrats, and challenging Justine and Golurk to a battle.
Once we were almost done eating, Justine decided to spill all the tea about Fabian and her sister to me. I felt kind of like she wanted an excuse to complain about Agatha essentially cockblocking the guy she would like to be her future brother-in-law.
The elite four member was known to have high standards and expectations towards the type of people her students associated with, and she was quite unpleasant towards people she didn’t approve of.
That unpleasantness would translate into her ghosts taking that as a go-ahead to prank and scare the shit out of people she disliked.
That would explain Angela and Fabian’s reluctance to announce anything.
“Hmm, too bad for them.” I hummed.
“why not hire a ghost to protect him from her ghosts then?” Winnie suggested through a mouthful of his pizza.
“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea. Why doesn’t Fabian just get a ghost-type Pokemon of his own?” I asked, “There are a few different grass-ghost type species out there, I’m sure Agatha would be just a bit nicer towards someone who can appreciate and handle a ghost Pokemon. Cause, ya know, that’s her specialty.”
I looked at Yamask who was shaking his head, “A single ghost isn’t gonna change that old hag’s mind. He’s a nice kid, but I doubt he’ll be able to live up to Agatha’s expectations. She’s got a rather traditional view on certain things.”
Justine on the other hand, was actually considering Winnie’s suggestion. “Hmmm, it won’t completely convince her but it might be a good way to get a foot in the door.”
“It will also be easier for the grass man to explore underground if he has a ghost around.” Mii added, she was edging closer to Justine’s soda to sneak a few licks of the sweet bubbly liquid.
Litwick nodded and raised a piece of Pokemon food like a trophy as it sang, “Shipmaking~ Sailing the ship! We’re equipping the ship! With a cannon for the ship! We’re gonna use the cannon for the ship~ On the evil sea witch!”
I chuckled at Litwick’s song, “Okay, where are we gonna get a ghost type for the grass man?”
Justine raised an eyebrow, “The coven on Route Six. Lol, grass man, did Litwick come up with that nickname?”
I nodded, oh yeah, that’s where she wanted to catch a Pumpkaboo.
The ghost specialist chuckled, “So, you wanna join the ghost hunting trip?”
“Yeah, why not?” I replied, tapping my chin as I reviewed any plans I had for the next week, “Chloe and Zoe invited me to a gym battle in Anistar City, but I haven’t got the date yet because I don’t know when I’m gonna get that Rufflet.”
“Yeah you can go do that first,” Justine said, taking a sip of her soda, “it’s gonna take me a while to come up with a way to convince Fabian to come along with us. Plus, I don’t know what my schedule is gonna be either. We can confirm it later.”
"Great." I nodded, “By the way, this is a pretty nice tradition. Why not do this every time someone evolves?”
Justine shrugged, "It depends on if were near a place that has nice food, but I wouldn't mind doing this more often. Next time we should invite more people to make it an actual party."
"That," I pointed at Justine, "is a great idea."
"we can get more cake!" Winnie added. Banette wordlessly nodded, she was too busy stuffing her face with french fries.
I pressed my lips together and hummed, "Uhhh, sure, just don't overdo yourself. We'll have to stop if you eat too much unhealthy stuff."
Winnie blew a raspberry and held his precious cake away from me. I rolled my eyes.
With a smile, Justine raised her soda cup. “Cheers to Pokemon.” Litwick joined in with its tiny cup of life juice.
I raised my soda and echoed Justine, "Cheers to Pokemon."
"you mean cheers to cake." Winnie raised his now empty cake plate while licking frosting off his nose, "also, i'd like another slice."