Monday, June 19th, 1978, 1700

Route 11

Tassia looked much less certain now that she was faced with a genuine dragon, and Ellie couldn’t help but feel satisfied seeing the previously dismissive trainer falter.

Serves her right, bullying new trainers like that.

“Are you going to send anything out, or are you just giving up? Isn’t there, like, a rule about how long you can delay? I’m pretty sure Mare mentioned something about that,” Ellie called out, with the last bit mostly under her breath.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Let’s just get this over with. I’m not going to be scared off by a pokemon I’m sure you paid big money to get,” shot back Tassia, somehow adopting a smug look as she fiddled with her belt as if deciding which pokemon to sacrifice.

An awkward second passed as Ellie and the growing crowd of trainers watched Tassia continue to stall, even as she kept up her big talk. The rude girl must have sensed the attention, and she finally whipped out a pokéball unceremoniously.

The usual flash of red light dissipated; in its place stood a diminutive tan colored pokemon. It had dark eyes, with marble white claws that looked like they were perfect for digging. Its skin had dark grooves etched in uniform patterns, making it look as if it was composed of building blocks stacked one atop another.

What the hell is that thing?

Ellie knew she had a lot to learn but was surprised that she didn’t recognize the pokemon from any of the basic classes in Johto or Fuchsia.

Maybe it’s just that inconsequential? Either way, it doesn’t matter. Willow will crush it. It’s her time to shine!

Rummaging around on the ground for a rock, she held up the first one she could find. “Match start when this hits the ground, yes? You ready?”

“Ready,” nodded Tassia with a grim look.

Ellie took a breath and tossed the stone up, already thinking of how she could improve from the first round. It wasn’t like Willow had many moves at this point in her young life, so her options were limited.

Limited, but effective.

The pebble hit the ground in a cloud of dust, and Ellie spoke softly to Willow, who was only about a meter in front of her. “Just keep hitting it with Dragon Breath until it can’t move. If it gets close, which it won’t, just wrap it up and pound it with draconic energy until it passes out.”

Without any indication she heard Ellie, Willow took in a deep breath before releasing a vibrant line of crackling blue energy toward her opponent. It wasn’t quite instantaneous, but it certainly moved faster than she herself could dodge.

After finding out Dratini knew the move, Mare made them spend most of their time practicing power and accuracy. It was paying off now.

The sand-rat, after seeing the serpent take a breath, immediately began burrowing into the soft and sandy soil.

Her initial impression had been correct: the claws were perfect for digging, and the apparent ground type was able to get its body nearly completely under the ground.

But not completely, and her target’s stubby tail blackened as the attack made contact. The pokemon let out a cry of pain that was cut off as it disappeared into dry soil. The smell of what she could only assume was charred rock permeated the air, making her crinkle her nose in distaste.

The rest of the attack passed harmlessly out of the ring and out into the grassy plains behind Tassia, but the trainer grimaced and took a step back at the blistering heat. Still, she looked undaunted, her face settling into a stoic mask.

Gotta be careful about that. Seems kind of nuts to do this without barriers, honestly. Not trying to die fighting a battle-maniac Kanto kid.

Having lost sight of their opponent, both Ellie and Willow squinted, trying to locate the injured pokemon.

“I don’t really know what it plans on doing, but if it pops out of the ground to try and grab you, just breath right into its face,” ordered Ellie. “It doesn’t look that tough. A good hit and I bet it drops.”

As if reading their mind, the ground-mouse did exactly that, exploding from beneath Willow in a spray of rock and dirt.

“Tinnni,” Willow trilled in surprise, flinching for the briefest of seconds.

The instant was enough, and their opponent was quick to capitalize on the momentary pause. It wrapped it’s stubby arms around the serpent, just barely able to encircle it entirely.

The image was almost comical, if not for the violence. Stubby mouse trying to wrestle a graceful dragon-snake certainly subverted expectations.

It squeezed tightly, its sharp claws drawing thin lines of blood as they began to penetrate through Willow’s still-developing scales.

Ellie tightened her fists in worry as she watched her pokemon struggle to free herself of the hold.

“Get out of there! See if you can get your head far enough out to hit it with a point-blank DB!”

Across from her, Tassia called out her own orders, “Try not to let it get out! Dig your claws in and keep scratching as much as you can. If it gets another attack in, you’re done for!”

Both girls watched anxiously as their pokemon did their best to live up to their orders. Blood continued to flow as more and more of Willow’s scales were either flicked off or cut through entirely, but the dragon only seemed to gain strength as the damage increased.

Ellie pumped her fist as she watched Willow use her sinuous shape to finally slip out of the tight embrace.

The dragon twisted her head around, landing a close-range breath attack that made short work of her opponent’s face. Tassia recalled the now critically injured pokemon, her own face white with worry at the mass of blistered and cracking skin weeping fluids onto the dry ground underfoot.

The sudden change was shocking and anticlimactic at the same time. What was once a close match was over in an instant, and Willow slithered excitedly over to Ellie, climbing her body to assume her usual position around Ellie’s shoulders.

Between scales and blood and dirt, the sensation made Ellie shiver in disgust, but she did her best to not let it show, choosing to put on a smile for her proud pokemon.

Now I’m covered in fucking blood. Mare is gonna’ be so pissed. This is SO something he would do, though.

“Good match,” a reluctant voice called out.

Right. I won money! Yay.

As if displaying a bloody prize around her neck, Ellie marched up to the center of the makeshift arena to meet Tassia, who was pulling out a few wadded bills with a dark glower.

“Thanks for the good match! I hope your sand-rat or whatever he is doesn’t suffer any permanent damage!”

Tassia scoffed. “It’s Sand SHREW, dummy. And he’ll be fine. The center is just a few minutes away. Take your cash and get out of here. You better join the tournament. I want a rematch. I won’t be caught off guard again—you’ll see!”

Ellie took the bills, stuffing them into a pocket to examine later. She didn’t even really have money, relying entirely on the Seiichi’s good graces for financing. What a chill setup.

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She caught Tassia’s gaze, making sure to use her kindest eyes. “Sure thing! I’ll talk to my other companions and see if the tournament is something they think would be a good idea. They know a lot more than I do! Anyway, thanks for a good first match! It must be good luck to start on a win like this! See you around!”

With a wave, Ellie trotted off to find Dani, choosing to intentionally ignore the stares that ranged from admiring, to hostile, to green with envy. Her smile faltered as she saw some of the looks.

Okay. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought out Willow so soon. But what’s done is done!

----------------------------------------

A few short minutes later, Ellie managed to find Dani. The trainer looked to be collecting some cash in the middle of another makeshift arena. Chausette, looking entirely untouched, hovered just behind her like usual.

There was a small crowd, but nothing like the one earlier. Ellie took up a position on the edge to observe the interaction.

Dani maintained her usual impassive look, but the trainer she was fleecing looked to be doing their best to put up a brave face. It wasn’t working; tears leaked, and they sniffled loudly as they packed up their downed pokemon, which looked to be a Poliwag. The fat blue blob laid unconsciously on the ground, its eyes staring dully into the sky.

Poor little thing! Dani’s scary!

Ellie couldn’t quite hear what they were talking about from her position, but her jaw dropped as she watched the unfamiliar trainer fully break out in tears and run off, clutching their injured pokemon.

Dani’s subsequent sigh, though, was audible even twenty meters away. The newly scarred trainer simply started walking towards her, as if she knew Ellie had arrived without even looking around.

Creepy.

Seeing that she was already found, Ellie decided to go and greet her friend with a big high five. Prancing to the center of the arena, she held up her hand in the universal signal every human knew instinctively.

Dani didn’t react, instead giving her a look of skepticism. Even in the heat, Ellie noticed the blue haired girl wasn’t sweating. Which was weird, since she was wearing her trademark collared shirt and dark hiking pants, by no means a cool outfit.

“High five!” clarified Ellie, shaking her hand for emphasis.

“You can’t be serious,” Dani said, but she still held up her hand hesitantly. Ellie immediately pounced, bringing her hand in as hard as she could, realizing too late she forgot all about her friend’s damaged hands.

Ellie could feel the crispy skin make contact with her own, feeling squeamish as she imagined the pain her friend must be going through to appease her impulsive request.

“The fuck,” gasped Ellie in shock as she realized that Dani’s hand was cold. Not cold like you’re nervous cold, but cold like you had your hand stuck in the freezer for hours cold.

“What?” asked Dani with a raise of her eyebrows, looking cool as a cucumber, and certainly not in pain. “Did I hurt your hand?”

“No! But what’s wrong with your hands! Did the burns somehow burn out all the warmth from them? That doesn’t even make any sense,” Ellie muttered, her brow crinkling with confusion as she attempted to figure out what was going on. “Are they always like that? What about the rest of your body? Can I feel you?”

Dani rolled her eyes, holding up a greyish hand to pause Ellie before her imagination ran too wild. “First of all, no, you can’t feel the rest of my body. And no, I don’t think the burns have anything to do with my body temperature. I didn’t realize it would feel cold if someone else touched it. This is new information for me.”

“What do you mean? Does it feel cold if you touch yourself?” Ellie asked, earning an affronted look from a pod of trainers passing by.

“Let’s get a move on before people get the wrong idea about us, please?” suggested Dani, who looked slightly embarrassed.

Oh? So that’s what gets to you?

Ellie felt a wicked grin make its way onto her face at the realization, but she quickly replaced it with her usual smile, storing away the information for later.

“Sure,” she agreed, falling in to stride with the older trainer.

“Let’s get out of the pack and towards Vermilion before Mare starts to worry. It took longer than I thought to find a match,” said Dani.

“No problem! I won a match! It’s too bad you didn’t get to see me! Willow smoked the competition; it was this stupid sand rat or something. She hit him with a Dragon Breath and he was toast” explained Ellie excitedly. “How was your match? I got here just in time to see you send that other trainer off crying. What a meanie.”

“Wait. Did you say Willow? Didn’t Mare tell you in no uncertain terms not to display your Dratini? What were you thinking?!” admonished Dani sharply with a shake of her head.

“Ah… Yeah. I forgot I wasn’t going to tell you until we got into town,” said Ellie, flinching from the intensity in her friend’s voice.

“Like that makes it better? What happened to Petal?” asked Dani. Her voice easily conveyed her disappointment, and it made Ellie whither inside.

“She lost. It was close, but Tassia had a big purple dinosaur critter that was all spiky. Honestly, we should probably get Petal checked out at the nearest Pokemon Center. She was bleeding pretty heavily,” admitted Ellie. “She was looking down on me and being a meanie, so I couldn’t help but bring Willow out!”

“And? How’d it go?”

“It was close for a second, but Willow got a direct hit from like, a few centimeters away! It was awesome!”

“At least you won… can you imagine what would have happened if you lost using a powerful Kantonian native pokemon? You might’ve sunk your elaborate plan before it even got started,” pointed out Dani with another shake of her head. “People would fixate on the fact that a Johto girl wouldn’t even be able to win with Kanto’s only dragon-type. It would have been a disaster.”

“But it wasn’t!” Ellie held up her hand cheerfully, humming a tune to distract herself from the guilt gnawing at her belly. Anabelle joined in, doing her best to hit the high notes, but mostly just succeeding at muddling the melody.

Still cute.

“Just promise you’ll be more careful next time. Once Mare gets to Vermilion I think a lot of eyes will be on us, and you, specifically. You really don’t have much leeway to lose any matches, especially not ones with Willow. You need to start taking this a bit more seriously, don’t you think? This isn’t some joy ride where you get to go on a fully financed vacation.”

Ellie huffed. “You don’t think I know that? I’m doing my best! No harm no foul, right? I’ll be more careful next time. Willow won’t lose a single match. I promise. I know I’m not as serious as you two, but I don’t want to let my dad down.”

“Tin, tini,” concurred Willow from her comfortable perch around Ellie’s neck, earning a chuckle from the two girls.

“At least she’s motivated. I haven’t had the chance to battle another dragon besides Willow, so I have no way to say if she’s strong or not. I’m glad you won, Ellie,” said Dani with a reserved smile.

By this time, the two of them had managed to escape most of the milling masses of trainers, and Vermilion came into sight in the distance.

So pretty! It’s way bigger than I thought it would be.

“Woah,” exclaimed Ellie in admiration.

“I do love Vermilion,” agreed Dani as they took in the sight.

The flatlands they were currently on led to a massive bay overlooked by an ancient, tiered city. Various stone palisades were stacked atop each other, leading up to a large plateau where most of the city was located, topped by a stone citadel. At sea level, there were tons of fishing boats clustered together, looking like a tub full of bobbing pincushions.

“How many people live here?” asked Ellie curiously.

“Not sure, exactly, but I think it’s almost double the population of Fuchsia. They get a lot of travelers due to the large port. It’s the biggest bay in Kanto and is responsible for most fish harvesting in the region, and also receives most trade imports,” explained Dani as they walked ever closer. “You can find basically anything at the market if you look hard enough.”

“It’s really pretty,” breathed Ellie, her eyes wide at the sight. Fuchsia City was pretty in the traditional sense, but it didn’t invoke the same awe she felt as they approached Vermilion.

“Yes. I hope Mare found good lodgings. I imagine most of the Pokemon Centers are full this time of year. Did he say anything to you as to where we might be staying?”

Ellie laughed incredulously at the suggestion. “Hardly. I figured he would’ve said something to you, of all people. Even with our heart-to-heart after Sula’s match, I still think he views me as someone that needs taking care of. Not that I can say much, I haven’t exactly been much use when it came down to it. I didn’t even do anything when you two got hurt.”

“I think that will just go away with time. Mare is nothing if not diligent. I don’t think he means anything by it. Once you show him that you can take care of yourself, he’ll probably relax.”

“Like he did with you?” asked Ellie pointedly.

“Like he did with me,” agree Dani. “You saw how he was at the beginning, and even before we got to the inn. It wasn’t until I proved I could take care of myself, and him, that he really started to trust me.”

Ellie groaned. “And how long is that going to take for me? What do I need to do to show him I’m reliable?”

Dani rolled her eyes. “Maybe start by not ignoring his suggestions. Although he’s insufferable at times, he’s also usually correct. It was a mistake to use Willow in a match like this. Thank Arceus you won. That will probably soften the blow when you tell him what happened.”

“Alright, thank you mom. I’ll listen to dad’s suggestions,” teased Ellie with a hint of hurt in her voice.

“Come on, no need to get snippy with me! I’m just trying to help. Take it or leave it,” responded Dani. “Besides, yuck. What a weird thing to say.”

“Yuck? Yuck about what? You two definitely act parental as all hell, conferring with each other about how to handle the children, or something like that. It’s cute in a sickening sort of way,” explained Ellie.

They walked the next few minutes in thoughtful silence, Dani apparently processing her comment.

Does she seriously not know how she comes across? Maybe she and Mare are a perfect match with how perfectly dense they are. Although they’ll probably never make any progress like that.

Ellie cleared her throat, drawing Dani’s attention once more. “Now that we’re away from the crowd, would you mind explaining why your hands are freezing?”

“Ah. I was hoping you forgot,” confessed Dani. “Long story short, it seems to be a side effect from when Mare showed me how to access dark type-energy. I’ve been doing it ever since he showed me. I feel a lot better like this.”

Ellie stopped, turning to face the other trainer. Against her friend’s wishes, she put her hands on both shoulders, feeling the chill radiating through the thick fabric of her shirt. Chausette cooed a subtle warning, but she ignored the ghost.

“You’re gonna need to do some explaining here. What the fuck are you talking about? Mare has never mentioned anything like that to me. And for the record, it appears to not just be your hands that are cold. Please, enlighten me.”