DW Special 1

“Seeing as it is a beginner battle, why don’t you have the first move.” offered Clemont.

“Better hope you won’t regret it, now Fennekin use-,” said Marie, but she paused. Her body slumped as a realization came to her mind. “Um, actually, I don’t know any of Fennekin’s moves.” Fennekin wore a look of dissatisfaction upon hearing this.

“Huh? Did you ever take a look at Fennekin’s pokédex entry?”

Marie tugged at the collar of her jacket, “Well um-”

“We never got the chance to, because Fennekin was extremely eager to come battle here. We also left the pokédexes at the hotel we’re staying at.” explained Ceailean from the stands. Marie looked to Ceailean, who gave her a wink and a cheeky grin. Her chest felt weird from seeing this.

“Well if you just got it from Professor Sycamore, it most likely knows scratch, tail whip, and ember.” said Clemont.

Marie focused up and said, “Yeah thanks, sorry.” She pointed out to the battlefield, “Fennekin use scratch!” It ran straight ahead and lunged at Luxray as its claws glowed white.

“Luxray, dodge it.” ordered Clemont, pushing up his glasses with utmost confidence. Luxray shifted to the side as Fennekin went past.

“Fennekin, use scratch again and again!” It landed and turned around to immediately lunge again, but again it missed. Fennekin lunged and lunged, but it was unsuccessful at landing any hits. It decided to stop, but it seemed a bit worn out.

“Aren’t we aggressive.” goaded Clemont.

Marie grew slightly annoyed, “Fennekin use ember!” It shot out hot embers at Luxray.

“Hmph, Luxray, counter with swift!” Luxray’s tail glowed as it whipped towards Fennekin's attack. Stars flew out and intercepted it, causing a large explosion. Most of the stars had gone through the smoke and hit Fennekin directly.

“Oh no! Fennekin are you alright?” The smoke cleared around Fennekin to reveal it struggling to its feet. It called back to signify it wasn’t giving up. “Thank goodness, I have an idea, are you with me?”

“Fenn!” it nodded.

“Okay then, use tail whip!” shouted Marie. Fennekin turned around and wagged its tail at Luxray, looking back at it in a taunting manner. Luxray grew irritated at the sight of it.

“Don’t let it get to you, use wild charge!” Luxray then enveloped itself in electricity, with only a black outline visible with its body shape. It charged straight at them.

Marie could feel the hairs on her neck begin to stand as it got close, “We can’t let get close, use ember!” Fennekin shot more embers at Luxray, but upon its impact, did nothing but get blasted apart. “Use scratch.” Fennekin’s claws glowed once more as it charged into Luxray, slashing its body. Luxray didn’t falter and directly hit Fennekin, sending it back a whole five yards. It slid across the ground on its feet and stopped next to Marie. She focused on Luxray as the electricity dissipated off of it with crack.

“Lux!” it yelled with its head up in the air.

Marie seemed to be worried and shouted, “Fennekin use-”

“Fennekin is unable to battle.” said Clembot.

Marie looked to Fennekin at her side to see that it was fainted. “Already? So fast.” She was so shocked that she froze. That is when Ceailean made his way down to pick up Fennekin.

“Hey, I’ll take care of Fennekin for you. Show him what for with Snom alright.” said Ceailean.

Marie knocked out of her trance as she nodded in agreement. She picked up Snom from her head and placed it on the ground, “Snom, your turn!”

“Sno-*cough cough*-m!” it shouted.

Back on the stands, Ceailean took notice of Snom’s condition. “Woah, what’s going on? Snom doesn’t seem so good.”

Marie crouched down and cupped her hand next to her mouth, saying in a hushed tone, “Hey Snom, I know you’re still not feeling well, so I’m saying it doesn’t matter if we win this battle or not okay.” Snom looked back to her confused. “But you’re gonna still try your hardest right?” It gave her a determined nod. “Cool, I swear I’ll make it up to you later.”

“You ready?” called out Clemont.

Marie stood up and said, “Yeah, we’re good to go.” She threw out a thumbs up.

Ceailean was ready to see the battle go off when Fennekin began to stir in his lap. “Hey Fennekin, you’re finally awake. Look see, Marie’s about to battle again.” It looked to the battlefield, but mainly focused on Luxray. It saw that it was hardly damaged from their battle. Gritting its teeth, it left Ceailean’s lap and curled up just a few inches next to him, not even observing the battle. Ceailean watches the whole time, feeling as if he didn’t do a good enough job at comforting Fennekin.

“Oh no, Fennekin looks sad.” said Bonnie on his other side.

“I know, maybe the loss just affected it that much.”

Bonnie walked over to Fennekin and rubbed it’s head, “It’s okay Fennekin, you don’t always win battles, but there’s always a next time.” As she continued to pet Fennekin, its face grew more and more frustrated before finally snapping. It stood straight up and bit Bonnie’s hand. “OW-A!” exclaimed Bonnie.

“Woah woah!” called out Ceailean, as he stood up and backed her away from Fennekin. It looked up to them in realization of what it did. Breaking eye contact, it ran to where the stands met the wall and quickly curled up, wishing to be left alone.

“Fennekin.” said Bonnie, walking towards it out of instinct.

Ceailean held her still as he said, “Stop, it certainly wants to be left alone right now.”

“Huh, how would you know?”

“It’s uh, complicated. For now, let's leave it be. It knows what it did was wrong and needs time to forgive itself.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.” she said, looking worriedly at Fennekin before sitting down again to spectate the battle.

“If you don’t mind, we’ll be making the first move this time. Luxray use thunder fang!” shouted Clemont. Out of Luxray’s mouth sparked electricity that resembled fangs and it rushed at Snom.

“Use struggle bug!” shouted Marie. A green pulse of green energy surged out of Snom and slammed into Luxray, knocking off balance and forcing it to retreat.

“Wow, I must say you’re Snom must be strong to knock back Luxray like that.” complimented Clemont.

“Really, jeez I never would’ve ever guessed.” said Marie, scratching the back of her head.

“Perhaps, but it would seem that is all you are able to do.”

“What? You don’t know about that.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Then let’s test my theory! Luxray, use swift!” Luxray swings his tail and shoots stars at Snom.

“Struggle bug!” Another green pulse from Snom stops all the stars, resulting in a large explosion.

“Swift again please!” More stars are shot, only to be intercepted by another green pulse. Clemont crossed his arms and said, “It’s just as I thought, you aren’t able to put on any offensive pressure.”

“No way, we can hit you if you would get closer!” shouted Marie, shaking her fist at him.

“That's not how a battle works, Marie. Once an opponent sees something they can exploit, they will surely exploit it. For example, Luxray, use electric terrain!” Luxray roared and rings of electricity pulsed from its feet. The battlefield once again glowed a magnificent yellow with arcs of electricity sparking from the ground. Ceailean could feel the hairs on his neck stand up as it washed over him, filling him with doubt of Marie’s ability to battle in the meantime.

“Be ready, Snom, he’s coming.” said Marie. Snom braced itself for what might happen.

“Now we’ll break through your defense with our higher offense. Luxray, thunder fang!” Electric fangs sprouted from Luxray’s mouth and it charged once again.

“Struggle bug again!” shouted Marie. At this point, Ceailean was starting to become confused. Luxray collided with the green pulse, the impact creating another explosion. But Luxray lunged forward from the smoke, catching Marie and Snom off guard, and clamped Snom between its fangs, sending it flying back.

“Oh no, Snom! Are you okay?” Snom landed on its side and was struggling to get itself up.

Ceailean stood up and shouted, “Marie, what the heck are you doing?”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Marie didn’t have time to listen to a response, as Luxray stood over Snom menacingly, like predator over prey.

“I must say I am also a little confused, you seem to only be using struggle bug for no particular reason that I can think of.” said Clemont.

“This may be because that statistically, Snom’s have never been able to naturally learn any other moves other than struggle bug and powder snow.” explained Clembot.

“Well that’s a bit of interesting information there.” said Clemont.

“Even so, why haven’t you utilized powder Snom yet? I’ve seen you battle with Snom before and it was able to get around pretty quickly using that move.” asked Ceailean.

Marie began to feel immense pressure and became nervous. She explained slowly, “I uh, still haven’t um, utilized a strategy-”

“No lies Marie, come on.” sighed Ceailean.

“He just can’t okay!” she shouted a little too loudly.

Ceailean stood there confused. “What do you mean he can’t?”

“It just means he can’t.” said Marie, sheepishly looking away.

Ceailean grew concerned, “Wh-what happened?”

Marie stiffened up. This was not a question she was prepared to answer. Instead, she ignores it completely and shouts, “S-Snom, use struggle bug!” Before Snom could fire off the move, Luxray instinctively jumped back and avoided it completely.

“Marie!” called Ceailean. This fell on deaf ears as she didn’t even acknowledge him, only facing the battle at hand. He sat back down and crossed his arms. “What’re you hiding from me?” he said to himself.

“Oh ho ho! You think you can just get the drop on Luxray like huh? We’ll retaliate with thunder fang!” Once again, electric fangs sprouted from Luxray and it charged.

Marie closed her eyes and said, “Use powder snow on the ground,” as if she didn’t want to. This relieved Ceailean a little before he noticed something. Snom launched himself up as if it was the hardest thing it has ever done, draining it heavily upon its use. More so, it had only flown up about three feet, whereas Ceailean had seen it clear large fences before.

Luxray missed its attack and tried to locate Snom, only to realize it was on top of it’s head. Snom was panting heavily as it clung onto Luxray. “Sn-Snom!” it cried out.

This grabbed Marie’s attention. She observed the situation and got an idea. “Use struggle bug! And don’t stop for any reason!” she shouted. Luxray was visibly shocked as Snom charged up and released a ton of green energy, encapsulating them both in a sphere of that energy. Luxray reeled back, shaking its head violently trying to get Snom off. Snom held on for dear life and eventually, Luxray began struggling to stand.

“AHH! Luxray, if you can hear me, use wild charge!” shouted Clemont with his hands. Luxray opened its eyes and focused. Electricity enveloped its body as it charged forward and slammed its head on a wall. A huge explosion sent dust all around the battlefield, causing everyone to shield their eyes.

“Snom!” called out Marie. As the dust cleared, Luxray is seen still holding its head on the wall, panting heavily. It slowly backed off the fractured wall and down fell Snom, its eyes were swirled.

“Snom is unable to battle, which means the battle goes to Clemont the Gym Leader!” announced Clembot.

Both trainers ran to their Pokémon to check up on them.

“Luxray! Are you okay?” said Clemont, reaching his arm around its mane. It gave him an endearing nod to show it was fine. “Okay good, return. You did good today.”

Marie picked up Snom with both her hands and looked at it worriedly. “Snom?” Snom stirred and looked away, disappointed in itself. “No no Snom, it’s okay. You tried your hardest that’s all that matters.” It then looked back teary eyed, seeing Marie smiling down on it. It leapt to her face and nuzzled her lovingly. Marie started laughing and held Snom to nuzzle it back. They ended their embrace and Marie placed Snom back on her head. “You get a good rest now, you deserve it.” Snom was already asleep and Marie put back on her beanie.

Ceailean leaned back on his arms, relieved to see the battle was over. He looked to Fennekin and said to himself, “Now how am I going to explain that?”

“I can help.” said Bonnie behind him.

“Are you sure? I can’t guarantee that it won't act up again.”

“That’s alright, it will be my fault if I’m too insistent.”

“Go right ahead.”

Bonnie nodded and walked over to Fennekin, who was still curled up by the wall. She sat down next to it and said, “Fennekin, it's alright. The bite didn’t hurt that bad.” It remained motionless. Dedenne then crawled out of the bag and stood next to Bonnie, wanting to support Fennekin also. “Their battle is over now, they’re gonna want you to come with them. It would be best if you don’t keep them worrying.” Fennekin curled up tighter. Dedenne chattered after Bonnie finished in a comforting way.

“She’s right you know.” said Ceailean walking over. Bonnie and Dedenne looked at him and let him continue. He sat down on the stand facing it and said, “Look, what happened happened. There is no need to beat yourself up over a moment of frustration. You were mad, we get it. Our mistake was not considering how you felt a little harder, but you shouldn’t let your friends worry about you too long.” Fennekin loosened up a bit. “We all feel a little insecure at times, but our friends will always be there to help you with your problems and to help you become strong. They’re the ones that will show us how to move forward, no matter the situation. So what do you say, will you accept us as your friends?” Fennekin finally raised its head and looked at Ceailean. He smiled and held out his hand. It slowly got up and after many moments of it pondering what to do, it finally rubbed its head on his hand.

“Awwww.” squealed Bonnie quietly beside him.

Ceailean scratched Fennekin and stood up, “Alright, ready to go?” It nodded slightly as it was still sad. He picked up Fennekin and they went down to the battlefield, Bonnie and Dedenne following close behind.

“You battled well for your first time Marie.” complimented Clemont.

“I mean technically it wasn’t my first time, but thanks anyway.” thanked Marie.

Clemont held out his hand, “Yeah, you actually caught us off guard for a second. I can tell you would make a great trainer and I can’t wait for you and your Pokémon to grow and get stronger.”

Marie shook hands with him, “I’ll try my hardest, you can count on it.”

“Hey Marie, that was a pretty good battle.” Marie looked to see Ceailean walking towards her.

She blushed slightly, “Y-You really think so?”

“Yeah, Fennekin thought it was great too, right?” He raised his arms so that Fennekin could give its answer. Instead, it jumped into Marie’s arms and curled to rest.

“I guess it still likes me more.”

“Hey, I’m her friend too. Cut me some slack here.”

Clemont chuckled, “I must thank you guys, things have been pretty boring these days. For some reason, not many trainers have been visiting the gym lately. I’ve been having to dwell in my lab not doing anything.”

“Well you could’ve taken me shopping with you.” said Bonnie.

“Bonnie, you may shop but you always end up not getting anything.”

Bonnie pouted and stomped her foot, “I do not!”

Clemont chuckled again, “Like I said, thank you guys for coming.”

“No problem, we’ll be seeing you.” said Ceailean.

“Yeah, see you guys.” waved Clemont as they exited the sliding doors.

When the doors closed, Clembot rang like a phone and said, “Incoming call!”

“Who’s it from, Clembot?” asked Clemont.

“It is from Professor Sycamore. It is tagged as an urgent call.” answered Clembot.

“The professor? I wonder what could be the problem.”