Chapter 47- Results

Nexon’s Journal: Vibrava.

Vibrava: The vibration Pokemon.

Vibrava’s wings have not yet completed the process of growing. Rather than flying long distances, they are used for short-distance travel, hovering, and assisted hops. Rather than using its underdeveloped wings for prolonged flight, it violently shudders them, generating ultrasonic waves to attack its enemies. The ultrasonic waves cause severe headaches to people and some cases of fainting have been observed.

Vibrava is an interesting species and an oddity in the way of its evolution. An oddity because by evolving, Trapinch loses its one defining characteristic, its higher-than-expected strength. By evolving into Vibrava it loses part of its strength and instead gains a mobility it was sorely lacking before. No longer can they be effectively incapacitated by turning them on their back. Something Tiamat is more than pleased with.

---

When Tiamat entered the field, she immediately knew that her ‘older sister’ had been defeated. She always thought that the fact the little one thought she was older was amusing, especially for a Pokemon barely a few months old from what she knew. Not that she would break the illusions she had. She was rather fond of the little one.

Regardless, she knew that her sister had preceded her in the match. That was part of the strategy her trainer had explained to them. Another oddity she had yet to get used to. The young one who helped her then asked if she wanted to join him. Her mother had told her of trainers, of course, and encouraged her to do as she pleased. Right before kicking her out of the nest. Fond memories…

Back to the topic, since it seemed she got lost, again. The pink mist that hung low to the ground was proof enough of her presence. And the stubbornness of such a young Pokemon meant that should Nexon pull her out before she was unconscious, he would be in for a world of trouble afterward. But words her trainer shouted once she was out of her familiar capsule confirmed it.

She was the last bulwark; her two teammates having done their best. After glancing at the young boy, she gazed forward at her opponent. A towering silver frame filled her vision, but Tiamat simply watched on.

The battle went on as best as it could have had. She broke the big stones that were there and used them for cover as her trainer asked. When she began swimming, she almost lost herself to the sensation but focused once more. Her prey- no, opponent, was impossible to miss even should she want to do so. She calmly swam to it until it was in range and without hesitation, she bit down.

That was when things stopped going as she wanted. One instant she was biting with everything she had, darkness seeping out of her, the next, pain blinded her, and she was back to the ground. The world spun around her but she would not go down that easily.

“Tiamat! Use Earth Power under one leg!” the voice barely reached her but she started to act.

Earth Power. She liked that one. The feeling of the ground obeying her whims had something exhilarating about it. She would train it so that she didn’t need as much focus in the future. The familiar Ground Energy, the best one in her opinion, built up fast. Faster than last time. But still too slow.

Before she could react, her opponent was towering over her, claws coated in another type of energy. She felt a tug when she looked at it, but ignored it. Now was not the time. With a flicker of her mind, the ground in front of her burst open just like she imagined. The satisfaction she felt was short-lived and she was sent flying until a wall of energy stopped her.

Once more the world around her spun. But this time she knew she was at the end of what she could do. The situation reminded her of her failure just a few days prior. Because of her weakness, she had almost lost her new friends… her new family as the boy often called them.

She knew she was the last one in the fight, but was this the last of her opponent? Should she lose it wouldn’t really matter, would it? But even so, she was just tempted to let the unconsciousness claim her. While she loved them already, they didn’t actually know each other for that long. Surely it wasn’t a big deal. But then again…

She looked at her opponent through the pink haze that hugged the ground. Now that she looked closer, she could see some black spots. It was burned before. And the only one who could have done so is the little one. Such a young Pokemon stood against the behemoth in front of her and injured it. More than that. Judging by the mist, she gave everything she had.

Could she say the same thing about herself? Her eyes looked down at the only two marks she left on the smooth surface which was her opponent's body. Only two.

She was the oldest of their little group. Despite the insistence of the little one on the opposite. Or maybe she wasn’t anymore. The new arrival was maybe older than her. Once more, she let her thoughts wander but they were brought back by a noise.

Indistinguishable words reached her. She opened her eyes, and she now realized she had closed at some point. What she saw was the same young boy who saved her not that long ago. His gaze was unflinching as she looked at her.

There was a will behind those eyes. She wondered what he saw that gave him such hope. Yet he watched on, silent encouragement in his eyes that fixed her. Before she realized what she was doing, her limbs tried to support her frame. Then another noise.

What a disappointment. A deep voice reached her. I had thought that since you were the last you would be the strongest like for us. But I now see that I was wrong. The pink one was infuriating but much more fun to fight.

It took her longer than she wanted to admit, but she realized that it was coming from her opponent. Mocking. That’s what it was. But… she had to recognize that he was probably right. Even she thought that she did a poor showing. Yet it irked her to hear it from someone else.

She was the oldest, yet she had been the least useful in that match. She hit the hardest yet barely managed to hit her opponent. And now her opponent mocked her. Something inside of Tiamat finally snapped.

She knew what hurt her so much. She knew where it came from, but until now she didn’t want to acknowledge it. She was hurt physically, but the part that ached more than anything wasn’t. It was her Pride.

Once the realization hit her, she felt it. She was scared because she saw what it did to her siblings and how their mother chased them away afterward. Not that it changed her fate. She also saw the gleam of pride in the eyes of the same mother when they left. So, she accepted it.

The world’s blessing.

In the corner of her mind, she shot one last thought to her mother.

You were wrong this time Mother. I am capable of it too.

The next instant, pure power coursed through her body. The sensation was intoxicating, and she reveled in it. How foolish she had been to be scared. She embraced the power and let it loose.

---

What I quickly recognized as Dragon Breath exited the moth of the now dragon and she screeched her presence. I probably had a stupid grin etched on my face as I stared at Tiamat. Her wings were laid flat against her body as she charged forward. That snapped me back to the present.

“Tia, stop! Use Bulldoze!”

Despite my protest, she ignored me a dashed forward. Straight into her own Breath. As if that wasn’t enough, even though she hit Duraludon with the same breath, she was the one taking the most damage. The steel typing playing the favor of the towering dragon. The only silver lining was that the Misty terrain counteracted some of the Dragon TE. But Tia still took a lot of self-inflicted damage.

“Duraludon, use Dragon Claw! Finish it!” Roy called over the screeches of Tia.

“Tia! Listen and use Protect!” I shouted once more.

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And once more my order went unanswered. She kept her trajectory while breathing more and more fire, only interrupted when she took in some air. It seemed she was in a fully berserk state. I watched on as the match developed into something out of my control. While Tia kept attacking it seemed she at least had enough awareness to avoid the attacks of the Duraludon. She was faster than she was as a Trapinch even if she did not, or rather, could not use her wings yet.

Watching the losing battle in front of me I reached for the safari ball at my side. There was no point in continuing a losing battle, especially with an uncontrollable Pokemon. It was better to better to at least save her from pointless injuring herself. She was so weakened that even if she evolved into a Flygon she would still lose consciousness before she could knock out that Duraludon.

‘Don’t do it. It is better this way.’

The voice I heard startled me. That was Caitlin. I tried to discreetly look around given that there were no doubts cameras filming the tournament. And just there, in the shadows of the corridor behind Roy, blue eyes met mine for an instant. Then she disappeared.

I was left frozen with my hands halfway towards my belt. Why would she want me to leave Tiamat on the field? The battle was already over, and it was clear to see for everyone. Yet I also knew that so far, nothing Caitlin did turned out to have negative consequences for me. Another point was that outside interference was prohibited during a fight, yet an Elite 4 member skirted the rule to give him that advice.

Her presence wasn’t a mystery to him since they had plans to meet later, but her acting during the match did. Yet, I hesitated. Seeing the usually calm Tia throw all caution to the wind was… hard. In the end, I put my trust in who was essentially my mentor and settled for clenching my fist.

True to what I expected, after only a few minutes, Tia was finally knocked unconscious by a surprise, and by that, I meant a completely avoidable and obvious Dragon Claw.

“Vibrava is Unable to battle! The victory for the final of the Tournament goes to Roy!”

That announcement marked the end of the Tournament as a whole. At least the beginner one given that there was still the advanced division. After returning Tia to her capsule, I headed straight to the Pokemon Center. Exiting the building proved to be even more painful than last time, but I eventually made it and approached the counter.

I deposited the three Pokeballs on the tray that the nurse presented to me and pointed at the Safari ball. “This one contains a newly evolved Vibrava and she was in a berserk state before she was knocked unconscious. I don’t know how she will react.”

The nurse gave me a small smile. “Thank you for notifying us. We will take care of everything so you can rest for now.”

I was puzzled at her comment but once I sat down in one of the couches, I understood. All my energy seemed to leave me at once and I sagged on the chair. It was ironic given that I didn’t really do much. But the emotions must have been higher than I thought.

“That was a good showing out there.” A voice and an energy bar on the table prompted me to sit back up. “Pretty intense fight so that should help,” Mathew said as he put his feet up on the table.

A glare from one of the nurses had him put them back down with a sheepish smile. I gave him the best smile I could muster and took his offer bar. We sat in silence as I ate the bar, thought racing. The loss felt bitter, but I also knew that complaining wouldn’t do anything.

The emotional part of me thought that it was unfair how the Axew evolved yet kept listening to its trainer while Tia immediately lost control. Yet the more rational side of me immediately shot that down with the fact that it failed to use any dragon TE after evolution while Tia kept shooting it like it was second nature.

I wanted to complain about having to face a Dragon like that, but I also knew that to get the Duraludon to listen to him, Roy must have worked hard too. I kept going back and forth finding something to complain about, only to realize it was a stupid point to focus on. In the end, I only let out a frustrated sigh and flopped back to the table.

“Hey Nexon, I…”

Mathew was cut short by a large group of people entering through the sliding door of the center. Nana, Pops, Sera, and Arnold came toward us as soon as they spotted us. And with all the smiles and congratulations, my mood quickly got better. None of them stayed for the final of the advanced tournament to be with me, which meant a lot more to me than they thought.

When I realized that Mathew hadn’t finished his sentence, he brushed me off and said that we could talk about it later. Suspicious but I would keep it in mind. In the end, it was Sera who broached to topic we, the younger trainers skid around. Because as it turned out the old coots were quite relaxed about it all.

“How is Tia?” she asked softly.

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “ I notified the nurses that she was out of control but nothing so far.”

“Don’t worry she is fine.” Pops literally waved the topic away before continuing once he realized we were staring at him. “ It is a common issue when a non-dragon type gains one through evolution. You really should have researched it.” he chastised me.

“Oh, hushed with you.” Nana took over. “ Don’t mind him. Either way, as you know or not, Dragon is one of the more troublesome types. And Dragon TE tends to reflect it quite well. It floods their system during the evolution, even more so than it usually is. So right after evolution, it is common for these Pokemon to lose control. Something like an evolutionary high if you want. She should be fine by now.”

We were all glued to her words as she explained the topic. And in hindsight, I really should have expected something like that. I mean, I already knew that dragons were one of the difficult types and even reasoned that catching a Flygon as a Trapinch would make it easier on me. Yet I still didn’t consider what would happen when the dragon type manifested.

“But when you say that it is known why isn’t it more talked about?” Arnold asked.

“Probably because not many Pokemon are in this situation. Apart from Trapinch, I can only think of Swablu and Seadra in the same situation.” I interjected.

“There is also Alolan Exeggutor.” Mathew added.

“Bottom line is, she should be fine. If I was you I would look forward to what is to come.” Pops concluded.

“What do you mean?” I questioned.

“Well while you will get your rewards later, you have to realize that this is just the first part. You are all semi-finalists at the very least which also means a lot of visibility from now on.” Nana tried unsuccessfully to clarify.

“I still don’t see your point,” I admitted. Maybe my brain was still fried.

“Sponsors!” Arnold elucidated. “We will more than likely have some offers soon!”

There was a lightbulb going off in my head. It completely flew over my head. Of course, sponsors would be interested in partnering with promising trainers. And I fully recognized how narcissistic that sounded.

“But I already have a sponsor though,” Sera murmured.

I looked at her, only to remember that she did mention that she was sponsored by the Genesis Society. The one she works for actually. Wait…

“Doesn’t that mean that I am the only one without a sponsor…” I spoke my realization aloud.

Arnold was sponsored by Professor Juniper so that left only me.

“Well, that’s your opportunity to catch up then. Arnold, you should be fine given that the sponsorship from the professor doesn’t come with regulatory clauses. But I would still check with her before accepting any offer if I was you. Sera, you should look through your contract to see if they prohibit you from accepting other sponsorships or talk with your representative if you have one. You can also come to use since we will likely help our naïve boy here, so he is not stuck in an exploitation.” Pops ruffled my hair.

“Hey, I resent that!” I protested.

“Duly noted and ignored.” Nana smiled. “Now go on. It seems Your Pokemon are fine now.”

I turned around and noticed the nurse waving me over. I rushed there and retrieved my Pokeballs.

“All of you Pokemon are in perfect health. We kept your Vibrava asleep during the process to avoid any accident but we gave her a Chesto Berry just before returning her so she should be awake by now.” The nurse explained. “We also checked her vitals and energy since she is freshly evolved and nothing is amiss. She has more dragon TE in her system than is the norm, but it should be fine. She is also bigger than average but from what I saw in the system that it was already the case as a Trapinch so thing to worry about.”

“Audi!” The Audino next to her patted her chest confidently.

“Thank you. And thank you too, Audino.”

With my Pokeballs back to my belt I nodded toward the others before making my way to one of the training fields in the back. Once there I released everyone except Tiamat. They all looked at me, the question obvious.

I let out a sad smile. “ I’m sorry to say that we lost this time.” They all deflated it at that, Skoll showing the most frustration. “But! There is some good news. Tiamat evolved during the battle. Which is why I need your help too.”

I explained to them that Tiamat lost herself in the evolutionary high as Nana explained earlier. They all were somber but I reassured them everyone said it should be fine. I just needed them to be ready.

The first thing we did was to have Nike set up a small Misty Terrain, just in case Tia was still not herself. Then she made her back to me, ready to snap a Protect around me. Skoll stood in front of us with Tyr at his side, ready to use Ice Punch if necessary. Ideally, Tyr would have been the one to use Protect and Nike in front ready to you a fairy type move, but well… I forgot to teach him the move.

Once our preparations were done, I released Tia on the misty field. We all eyed her, watching for any signs that she was back to her former self. Now that I looked closer, her eyes were a fascinating thing. It was reminiscent of the eyes of an insect, except it also looked like she was wearing goggles? There was a sort of dome-shaped protection that covered her actual eyes. Eyes that slowly fluttered open while we each held our breath.

“Hey Tia, how are you feeling?” I asked with a soft voice.

Already there were no bleu flames or screech-like roar so that was a good sign. She watched us as we watched her. Slowly, she cocked her head to the side, much like she did as a Trapinch. Then the realization or perhaps memories of what happened came back to her and flopped to the ground.

“Braaa…” she sounded listless.

That immediately broke the tension, and we let our shoulders, or the equivalent of shoulders, relax. Everyone was right and I was just on edge for nothing. I moved away from the others and got closer to the depressed dragon. I didn’t even need to crouch anymore, given that she reached a bit over my waist as it stood.

“Hey, girl. You gave us a big scare you know.” I patted her between her antennas, and they twitched as a reflex. That made me laugh a little. “You were awesome back there you know that?”

“Vi?” she asked while looking up at me.

“Yes really. You should see in what state you left the other one” I smirked a bit at her.

That seemed to be the signal for everyone to crowd over. Nike immediately went to claim a spot on her head and hugged it while the other two settled for patting her side. Once she was reassured by everyone, she rushed me and actually made me fall over. Her little scales were a bit rough to touch, but the ticklish sensation made me disregard it.

“You did well,” I said as hugged her.

Now that I looked at her she was really big. I mean, I would need to compare to see how much, but still. I pulled out my phone and looked for Vibrava’s entry on the Dex app. The average size was 1.1 m but it didn’t mention if it was height or length. Either way, she was visibly above that.

“Aw man, I wondered if I could for a saddle so you can fly me, but it looks like we will have to wait for a bit. It says you can’t really fly long distances. Speaking of which can you move your wings?” I asked while reaching for the new appendage.

Tia cocked her head and seemed to try and do it, but nothing happened for the first few minutes. Then the wing started to twitch, which was an issue. A persistent hum traveled through the air every time they so much as moved. It didn’t take long for everyone to clutch their ears and head.

“That explains why you can use them to hunt. Don’t worry we will figure things out later. For now, all of you can rest.”

So saying, I returned everyone sans Nike, which as usual stuck around. Once back inside, I noticed that everyone had dispersed, except Mathew who was still waiting for me it seemed. Once he spotted me, he beelined straight for me.