Signs that the city was growing near started hours before it actually came into view. The first, or the first that Cashe noticed, was rather obvious. The verdant plain of grass ended with an abrupt transition to paved road.
Other signs were less obvious. The wild pokemon of the plains appeared less, and fewer in number, the air lost the pure, clean quality that Cashe had grown used to, and they began to see trainers.
Emilia pointed the first out while they were still a ways away. He was sitting on a bench along the side of a road, looking bored. He was hunched over his knees, elbows on his thighs, head resting on his hands.
“That’s one of the trainers I told you about,” Emilia said quietly, “Stay here until he challenges me, you can catch up after.”
“I don’t mind being challenged,” Cashe said. The trainer did not look tough by any means. He was younger than Cashe but older than Emilia and had a look on his face that told a tale of lost hope.
“I know you don’t,” Emilia said with a grin, “But I want to battle.”
“Fine,” Cashe let her go ahead and followed a couple dozen yards behind. As Emilia approached, the man looked up, eyeing her critically. Apparently, he liked what he saw, because a second later he reached for the device around his neck and pressed the button. Emilia’s own device chirped loudly, and Cashe hurried to catch up with her.
As he drew near, Cashe got a better look at the trainer. He was in a sorry state, dirty and obviously sleep deprived. His hair was a complete mess and his clothes were worn, though not tattered to the point of needing replacement. He had a pokeball in hand and he and Emilia were already in a conversation.
“...one?” Emilia said. She was facing the trainer with one hand on her hip, the other holding her pokedex, back straight and shoulders relaxed. She didn’t look nervous at all facing the unknown trainer.
“You’re letting me choose?” The man said, a hesitant look on his face.
“It’s obvious you only have one pokemon,” Emilia continued, giving Cashe a quick glance as he approached, “I have more than one.”
The man nodded, “Thanks. One versus one, then.”
“Sounds good,” Emilia tapped a few things on her pokedex and backed up, moving away from the trainer so there were a good twenty yards between them. She grabbed a ball at her waist and tossed it into the impromptu battlefield. “Omanyte, you’re up.” The pokeball cracked open, and the tentacled mess with a shell took shape, writhing in place.
Just for a moment, the man’s face fell, but the look was quickly replaced with one of tight concentration, “Pidgeotto, go!”
The Pidgeotto looked…not unwell, Cashe decided, but not impressive. It took the shape of a large bird, with a short beak, a crown of red feathers and beige plumage. But it wasn’t impressively large, and it didn’t look as obviously healthy as Bulbasaur did, or Emilia’s Omanyte.
“Cashe, would you do the honors?” Emilia called out, not taking her eyes off her pokemon.
“Uh, sure,” Cashe looked over at the Pidgeotto trainer, “You ready?”
The trainer nodded.
“Emilia?”
She nodded.
“Okay,” Cashe raised his hand and dropped it with a swipe, “You may begin!”
Emilia wasted no time.
“Omanyte, sand attack!”
“Nyte!” Omanyte kicked up a flurry of sand in an instant, spraying the grounded Pidgeotto with a deluge of it. The Pidgeotto squawked in alarm and tried to dodge, but it was already too late.
“Rock tomb!”
“Pidgeotto, dodge,” the trainer yelled, "get in the air, now!”
Pidgeotto flared its wings, flapping hard to get in the air, but a boulder, twice the size of the Pidgeotto was forming above its head. The bird pokemon got into the air, but the rock was already falling. Pidgeotto was fast, though, and the stone only clipped its wing as it tried to fly away.
“Quick attack, Pidgeotto! Don’t give it any room!”
“Withdraw.” Omanyte’s tentacles retreated into her shell in an instant, disappearing from sight, just as the Pidgeotto began to glow with a white energy. It flashed across the battlefield, covering the distance in under a second and slamming into the shell of Omanyte.
Omanyte barely moved. She rolled a few paces back with the force of the blow, but stayed upright, barely affected at all from the attack. The Pidgeotto looked worse than it had before the attack. It was still in the air, but it was hovering in place, a wing sticking out at an odd angle after taking a blow from Omanyte’s Rock Tomb and shaking its head from the collision.
“Rollout, Omanyte! It’s stunned, take advantage!”
Already within her shell, Omanyte somehow spun to face the Pidgeotto and began to spin, slowly at first, but increasing in speed as she approached Pidgeotto.
“Pidgeotto, dodge it!” The trainer cried. Pidgeotto didn’t dodge. Confused, it turned to face its trainer instead, having heard its name called. It never saw Omanyte coming.
“No! Pidgeotto!” Omanyte crashed into the bird pokemon with a brutal slam, sending it tumbling out of the air and into the road, where it lay still. Its trainer sighed and returned it to its pokeball. Emilia turned and looked at Cashe expectantly.
What did she want?
Oh, right.
“Pidgeotto is unable to continue the battle,” Cashe said, “Emilia is the winner.”
The Pidgeotto trainer didn’t even look up. Emilia returned Omanyte to her ball and grinned at Cashe. She walked over to him, signaling they should continue along the road.
“What did you think?” Emilia said, “Not too bad, right?”
“He didn’t even stand a chance,” Cashe said, “I figured you were going to win, but I didn’t think it would be that one-sided.”
“He lost before the fight even started,” Emilia said, “His confidence disappeared once he saw I had the type advantage.”
Ah, so Emilia noticed that look as well.
“What were you talking about when I walked up, and what were you doing with your pokedex?” Cashe said.
“When you get challenged, you have a big advantage,” Emilia explained, “Outside of gyms and tournaments, the challenged choose the format. I decided to go with a one-on-one battle since I could see he had one pokeball, but I didn’t know if he was hiding others away in order to trick me.”
“People do that?” Cashe said.
“Not usually, but that guy looked desperate,” Emilia said, “Trainers who hang out on routes are notorious for doing anything for a win. I didn’t want to take a chance.”
“So you could choose any format, even if your opponent didn’t have enough pokemon?” Cashe said.
Emilia nodded, “Most battles default to six versus six unless otherwise stated.”
“Huh,” Cashe frowned. He would need to get more pokemon before he challenged anyone, “And your pokedex?”
“I was checking his battle history,” Emilia said.
“You can do that?”
Once you get challenged, or challenge someone, their trainer ID and battle history will show up on your pokedex,” Emilia said, taking out her pokedex from her pocket and flipping it open, “You just have to tab over to see it. You should have your battle in yours already.”
Cashe took his pokedex out of his backpack, flipping through the pokedex functions until he came to a ‘Battles’ tab. There was only one battle there, with Pokemon Trainer Nick. Cashe thumbed the name and a profile for the trainer opened up. Nick apparently was only known for using Kakuna and Metapod, or their pre-evolutions. He had six losses and zero wins.
“Cool,” Cashe returned to the Battles screen and opened up his own profile. He was listed as a True Rookie, with one known pokemon and a perfect record of 1-0. It gave him a ranking of 7937th for Kanto and 55004th for the world. “Are these profiles only available for trainers you’ve faced or are they public?”
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“Public, anyone can see them.” Emilia said, “So if you come up with a special strategy, you want to be careful when you debut it. Once you become prominent, people will know who you are before you battle them. If you enter a tournament with a known and exploitable plan, you are going to have a hard time winning any matches.”
“How do I look up a trainer?” Cashe said. He wanted to see Emilia’s profile.
“You can’t without a computer, unless you battle them officially.”
Cashe glanced at Emilia only to find her grinning back.
“Why don’t you try it out?” Emilia said. She knew exactly what he was thinking. Yeah, no. Not happening.
“No thanks, I think I’ll lose my perfect record some other way.” Cashe said. He might be able to beat Omanyte due to Bulbasaur’s dominant type matchup, but it wouldn’t be easy, and there was no way he could beat Charmander as well.
“Not against me. Against her,” Emilia pointed down the road. A girl, maybe sixteen years old and wearing a scowl on her face, was standing in the middle of the road, legs apart. She was staring them down, tossing a pokeball in the air with one hand.
“She doesn’t look like the last guy,” Cashe said with a nervous swallow.
“I know, exciting isn’t it?” Emilia bit her lip, “If you don’t want to battle her, I will.”
“I can do it,” Cashe said, taking a few hurried steps in front of Emilia. The girl didn’t hesitate. As soon as Cashe stepped forward, she reached for the device around her neck and pressed a button. A loud chirp indicated to Cashe that he had been challenged.
“I guess you want to battle?” Cashe laughed nervously. The girl didn’t respond except to toss her pokeball. A Nidoran, more blue than purple, appeared in a flash of light. Cashe squinted at it, probably a female Nidoran, but it was hard to tell. He reached for his pokedex, pulling it out.
“Are you giving up?” The teenage girl said.
“No, just hold on,” Cashe said. He scanned the pokemon, confirming his suspicions. A female. He was about to put his pokedex away when he noticed the Battle tab blinking. He flipped over to it, instantly glad he did.
His opponent, Pokemon Trainer Ruth had four wins to her name and zero losses. More importantly she had six known pokemon.
“One versus one,” Cashe said, heart pounding in his chest. He had almost made a huge mistake.
The girl smirked, “Fine. Nidoran return.”
Cashe glanced over to Emilia, “Is she allowed to do that?”
Emilia rolled her eyes, “Has the battle started?”
Great. That meant she was free to use…
Cashe checked the pokedex. Oh no.
“Beedrill, I choose you.” The girl tossed out a pokeball. No, a greatball. What a flex. Cashe hadn’t even seen one outside a pokemart.
“Jesus Christ, what is that thing?” Cashe breathed.
The red light from the greatball formed into a huge, buzzing form. It was nearly four feet tall and darted through the air erratically, its wings producing an overbearing hum with every turn. The Beedrill was bright yellow with deep, black stripes around its abdomen. It had a pair of pointed stingers instead of hands and a third, vicious stinger protruded from its abdomen, dripping with poison. Red eyes burned with barely contained fury.
Cashe swallowed and tossed out his own pokeball. Bulbasaur emerged, instantly staring down the menacing Beedrill, refusing to flinch. Cashe felt a well of emotion for the little guy. Nothing could make him back down.
“Bulbasaur, come here,” Cashe said. Bulbasaur didn’t move, unwilling to turn away from his opponent. “Bulbasaur, now.”
Bulbasaur made a croak of displeasure but turned around and wandered over to Cashe. Cashe picked him up and held him level with his face.
“Listen, buddy. This is going to be a tough one,” Cashe glanced up at the sky. The sun was just poking out from behind a few clouds, “Doesn’t look like there will be enough sun for your ability. That means that Beedrill is definitely faster than you.”
“Bulba!”
“I know you can, but this one is going to be a little different than our usual battles,” Cashe said, “In fact, this is going to be the first in a long line of battles that are going to feel tough, okay?”
“Bulba.” Bulbasaur nodded. Of course. He didn’t care about tough battles. He probably preferred them.
“You’re not going to hit as hard as him, or most other pokemon,” Cashe continued, meeting the little pokemon’s eyes. A glint of resentment was forming there. Bulbasaur didn’t want to be second in anything.
“But,” Cashe continued, “you are going to outlast them all. No matter how hard or how long a battle is, at the end of it, you are going to come out standing, ready to fight again. Nobody is going to be able to take as much or last as long as you.”
Behind him, Cashe heard Emilia snicker, but he ignored her.
“How are you feeling about your new moves, buddy?”
“Bulba.” Bulbasaur looked away.
“Well, we are probably going to have to try them anyway,” Cashe sighed putting Bulbasaur down and backing away from the road.
“Is your pep talk finally done?” Ruth asked. Beedrill buzzed impatiently at Bulbasaur, but Bulbasaur stood firm, unintimidated.
“You ready?” Emilia asked, dropping into the role of Official without needing to be asked.
Cashe nodded. Bulbasaur croaked in affirmation. Cashe’s eyes glanced around the environment. Just a road, no bushes or trees in sight. Neutral at best. He bit his lip.
“You ready?” Emilia turned to Ruth. She nodded.
Beedrill hissed.
Cashe wiped nervous sweat from his brow.
“Trainers,” Emilia raised her hand and brought it down, “Fight!”
“Beedrill, Fury Attack!”
“Dodge right, and Growl!” Cashe called.
Bublasaur dodged, a deep, gurgling growl rising from his throat, but Beedrill was quick, flying forward with a buzz of its wings and stabbing viciously at the air. Bulbasaur was able to avoid most of them, but two stabs dug painfully into the little pokemon’s side, sending him stumbling.
“Keep up the attack! Don’t give him space,” Ruth shouted, “Use String Shot to slow him down!”
“Evade with Vine Whip!”
An explosion of silk erupted from Beedrill, but Bulbasaur’s vines were already shooting from his bulb. Not towards the Beedrill, but towards the edge of the road, gripping to it like a pair of tentacles and pulling Bulbasaur out of the line of fire.
“Leech Seed!”
“Dodge and Bug Bite!”
A flurry of seed launched from Bulbasaur, but the Beedrill was too quick, dodging to the side and slamming into Bulbasaur. Beedrill latched onto Bulbasaur and bit viciously into the flesh of his bulb.
Bulbasaur screamed in pain and began to thrash back and forth.
“Keep him there Bulbasaur, tie him up!”
“Bulba?” Bulbasaur wasted a half second to glance at Cashe.
“Now! Bulbasaur!”
Bulbasaur’s vines shot out of his bulb, just as Beedrill tore a chunk from it. It bled profusely, red blood mixing with green ichor, but Bulbasaur’s vines successfully wrapped around Beedrill.
“If he wants you there then stay there!” Ruth called out, “Laser Focus and Fury Attack. We’ll out damage his Leech Seed!”
Beedrill’s eyes narrowed. It pulled an arm back, ready to stab at Bulbasaur’s exposed flesh.
“Bulbasaur, use Sleep Powder!”
“Bulba!” Bulbasur shook in place, kicking up a cloud of spores from its bulb.
Ruth’s eyes went wide as she realized her mistake. “Get out of there Beedrill, attack his vines!”
Beedrill changed his focus to the vines, but it was too late, he was already covered in a layer of powder, its Fury Attack poked weakly against Bulbasaur’s vines.
“Bulbasaur, Leech Seed,” Cashe said.
Bulbasaur dropped the Beedrill to the ground and peppered it with seeds. The Beedrill tried to bat them away, but its movements were already too sluggish. Seeds burrowed into its head, arms, abdomen, even its wings.
“Good work. Bulbasaur, Poison Powder.” Cashe said as golden light began to stream from the Beedrill. He didn’t know how long the Sleep Powder was going to last, and he wasn’t taking any chances against the Beedrill. Plus he wanted to see if poison types could be poisoned.
Bulbasaur shook his bulb again and a deep purple powder settled on the Beedrill. It didn’t seem to have much effect, but Cashe spotted the small wounds caused by Leech Seed starting to weep with a tiny amount of dark ichor.
It turned out, he didn’t need to worry. Even with Ruth’s shouting, Beedrill only just managed to struggle back to its feet before it collapsed again from the accumulated damage of Leech Seed and maybe Poison Powder. Cashe wasn't sure it did anything. Ruth was staring daggers at him the entire time, and he was reminded of Emilia’s prediction of his own brutality.
He glanced at Beedrill, shifting in discomfort. She was right. Even if Beedrill had woken up and managed to win the battle, it wouldn’t be in fighting shape any time soon. Meanwhile, Bulbasaur was looking better and better. The energy from the Leech Seed hadn’t let him recover completely, but the hole in his bulb had stopped bleeding and was already starting to close up.
“Beedrill is unable to battle,” Emilia announced, Cashe is the winner.”
“You did it buddy!” Cashe cried, “That was amazing!”
“Bulbasaur,” Bulbasaur lifted his head proudly, and took a few steps towards Cashe on wobbly legs, “Bul-ba.”
“Whoa there, take it easy. You have a hole in your bulb,” Cashe said, rushing up to the little pokemon and giving his head a scratch, “I’m going to return you to your ball so you can rest and heal up, okay?”
“Bulba.”
Cashe returned Bulbasaur to his ball and reached into his backpack, taking out a potion. He pressed the nozzle to the pokeball and the ball flashed once, indicating that the potion had been applied.
“There you go, little buddy, feel better.”
“Good job, Cashe,” Emilia said, walking up to him, “Bulbasaur really held his own.”
“Good job?” Cashe looked up at Ruth, who had just snorted in derision. She was hunched over her Beedrill, taking out a potion of her own, “Poisoning tactics are for cowards and losers too afraid of a direct confrontation.”
“Ignore her, Cashe,” Emilia said, helping him to his feet, "She's saying that with a Beedrill and a Nidoran."
“I hope you like being a pariah,” Ruth continued, “Because wherever you go, nobody likes a poisoner.”
“You could have won if not for poison right? It wasn't that you got out maneuvered by a better trainer, but the tiny amount of poison damage Beedrill took,” Emilia shot back, “Lets go, Cashe. She’s just being a sore loser.”
Cashe nodded, taking one last glance at the Beedrill. Ruth was still hunched over it, carefully administering the potion. She had put on gloves, but even still, was refusing to actually touch the Beedrill. Instead of looking better, Beedrill was looking worse and worse. It was twitching in pain with every spray of the potion and its wounds were still weeping black ichor.
“Right,” Cashe said, “Only a sore loser.”
Emilia pulled him away from the distraught trainer, gripping him tightly by the arm, “Sometimes battles end that way, it’s just the way it is,” she said, “Every trainer knows how tough pokemon are, and we’re all prepared to face the worst.”
“And is poisoning the worst?” Cashe said. He tried to look back at Beedrill again, but Emilia gave a sharp yank on his arm.
“How much was her reward?” She said, “I bet it was more than mine. Doug was only worth two hundred pokedollars.”
“Three fifty,” Cashe said, checking his pokedex. His record was now 2-0 and his rankings had improved by a few hundred spots.
“That’s pretty good for only your second battle.”
Cashe took one more look back over his shoulder. Beedrill was in its ball now and Ruth had returned to her spot in the middle of the road. The scowl was back on her face, but he could tell she was crying.
*****