It’s six in the morning on the first full day of the new Circuit Season and I am mixing a few berries into my and Gligar’s breakfast. My newest Pokémon is sitting on the table as my family is still fully asleep. Dad and Rob, that is. Mum is probably starting on her hike to Eterna City today. I don’t know how far she’ll make it but the trip isn’t too hard besides the part through the forest itself. I’ve got Mes ready to Teleport me to Eterna City today but the little bundle of joy is still napping in my bed. Not that I’m very surprised with all the excitement of planning this battle last night which she insisted on staying awake for.
I set down breakfast, two portions for my little brother and Dad in the fridge, and start eating. Gligar happily digs in as well. I go through my plans again, even bare bones as they are with half a day of preparation. Lili completely stomped Roark’s team yesterday but it wasn’t completely free. We had luck with him starting off with weaker members of his team which let her set up. Though if Gardenia watched my match and tries to counter that, she’ll have a hard time dealing with Lulu.
Today it’s time for my oversized lightning-kitten to come out and play. Between Ice Fang, Fire Fang, and her aggressive nature she’ll easily trounce at least our first few opponents. I’m much less worried than I was about Roark.
A soft click comes from my bag and I blink. That’s not a sound I recognize. I reach for it and see if something fell over. That would mean the spatial or temporal distortion is starting to break and I have to find Palkia and Dialga and make them fix it. They did claim it would hold for the rest of my life, after all.
When I open the flap, I can immediately tell everything is fine. The inside looks very strange from this perspective but I’m used to the eye-watering distortions and quickly noticed the change. The Reveal Glass shifted a little, hitting an Ultra Ball lying next to it. Only, I didn’t put it next to an Ultra Ball, and especially not this particular one.
With a sigh, I fish the two items out of my bag. The Reveal Glass shows the face of Giratina covered in deep shadows while the Ultra Ball I once used to catch them pops open in my hand. It’s empty, luckily.
“Hey, friend. What’s up?” I ask.
“Friend,” Giratina smiles, “I have an offer for you.”
I simply raise an eyebrow. Giratina looks on unfazed.
“I will be another member of your team if you need it.”
Just as I thought.
“You just want to hang out, don’t you?”
“I wish to help you.”
“Yep. Thanks, Giratina. Hmm… Do you want to battle one of the gyms? Or do you just want to be a bit closer to the action?”
That manages to make them stop to think for a moment. I keep shovelling berries and cereal into my mouth, quickly wiping a small spill from Gligar’s bowl and petting his claw. He smiles at me between bites.
“I will be your reserve. But… if you do not need me until the end, I would like to face Volkner.”
“Alright. We’ll do it like that,” I agree.
With a sudden lurch of reality, the Reveal Glass shifts and Giratina touches their Ultra Ball, getting recalled instantly. Gligar cries out and I hold him soothingly as the Ball closes.
“No worries, buddy. That was an old friend of mine. You know, the one from the mirror?”
He nods slowly and starts to calm down.
“They’re going to be there with me for this Circuit to help out. Though it might be a little tough to let them out of the Ball. Their presence is a little… on the nose.”
“Gligar gli?”
“No,” I laugh, “There’s no need for them to train. They’re even stronger than Lili, at least at the start of a battle.”
He stares with his jaw dropped and only snaps out of it when I place a piece of berry in it. Reflexively, he starts chewing and I grin as he slowly reboots. I put away the Ultra Ball with Lili’s and Lulu’s Balls in my bag’s side pocket as my Grass-Type turns the corner into the kitchen. She’s managed to dry herself properly after her shower and gives us a happy chirp as she stands next to the window to enjoy breakfast in the form of sun rays. I throw her an Oran berry which she starts sucking on happily.
Lulu gets her breakfast a few minutes later in the living room as we go over the Pokémon Gardenia is likely to use once again. We’re less scared of her ace, Roserade, than of the Pokémon we know less well like Jumpluff or Bellossom. Hopefully she sticks with ones that were present in Hisui…
Mes only barely wakes up in time to get a quick snack before we have to Teleport to Eterna City. I pinch her cheeks for oversleeping as she complains about being too tired which quickly wakes her up and we are off.
----------------------------------------
Caroline is almost vibrating in her seat in the stands of the Eterna Gym. It’s still fifteen minutes before the day’s matches begin but Jenna is already fed up with her friend’s antics.
“Did you watch it? Tell me you watched it!” the hyper girl said, “I watched it like fifteen times and I still can’t believe it!”
Jenna sighs.
“The fact that Roark got swept harder than when he’s up against Cynthia or that there’s a whole new Liligant form we never knew about?”
“Yes! But Cynthia could sweep him even harder if she used her Garchomp. I think?”
Caroline shakes her head.
“Anyway, I’ve never seen a Solar Blade that terrifying and beautiful. Do you think when this Zoe comes to face Gardenia we can ask for some pointers on how to train Grass Types?”
“We don’t even know if she’s a Grass Type specialist. We’ve only seen one of her Pokémon.”
“Yes but how could she not be? That was such a gorgeous Pokémon! And so strong! The way it fought even without any Trainer input it’s like…”
Jenna tunes out her friend’s rambling. As official Gym Trainers who help out filtering potential Challengers to reduce Gardenia’s workload, they were probably the ones who had to face this Zoe first. She was hoping that duty wouldn’t fall to her. Facing a monster like that… It was almost disappointing that Zoe couldn’t get filtered straight through to the Gym Leaders. If the girl had lived in Eterna City she’d maybe get one of the week one battles which skipped that requirement but otherwise, unless she delayed her Forest Badge until after her sixth one… Yeah, a Gym Trainer was going to suffer. A lot.
“Jenna! Hey, are you listening?”
She turns to her friend and colleague with a frown.
“Nope.”
“You’re mean! As I was saying, I really hope I can ask Zoe for some pointers on how to raise Grass Types. That’d be great! Do you think I should invite her to the Endless Meadow Board?”
Jenna rolls her eyes.
“We have no idea if she is a Mono-Grass Trainer, let alone if she’s got a Battle Network account. Planning to invite her to the Mono-Grass forum before that is just stupid.”
“Oi, don’t be such a downer! Oh, it’s almost eight. The first match’ll start soon. Who do you think got the… honour…”
As Caroline trails off, Jenna follows her wide eyes only to find herself staring just as much.
“No fucking way…”
“Is that… No, it can’t be.”
The girl that just entered the Arena making her way over to the Challenger’s side of the field is clad in sturdy dark-blue clothes with white rims and thick leather sandals. Her white hair bundled into a woven braid is as unmistakable as the strange silver-and-pink Pokémon floating next to her.
“First Challenger of the day,” the referee calls, “Zoe Crones, from Oreburgh City.”
“It’s her. But how?”
Jenna stares, then smiles. She will not have to face the monster, now. That’s amazing! Unless the girl somehow manages to throw this battle and has to come back later in the season. She looks over at Gardenia who shows a sudden and intense focus. Was this a surprise to her, too? Weren’t these matches scheduled beforehand?
“This battle will be six on six, Elite Rules,” the referee continues, “One carried item per Pokémon, no duplicates. The Challenger is the first to release their Pokémon. One switch per two minutes. Are the contestants ready?”
“Elite Rules?” Caroline sputters, “Wait, does that mean…”
“Yep,” Jenna gulps, “Gardenia’s main team is gonna come out. I wonder who she’s brought.”
“Oh, yes! I can’t wait to see the boss’s Roserade in battle!”
Both Zoe and Gardenia have confirmed they’re ready and the referee nods for them to release their Pokémon. When the teenager pulls out an Ultra Ball instead of yesterday’s Poké Ball, Jenna gets a bad feeling. When the Ball opens and a large beam of light comes out of it, she gets worried. When the light only gets bigger and bigger, she starts to get scared. Then the Luxray is out in the open and roars.
Caroline shrieks and clings to her but she barely even registers it. That Luxray is somehow even worse than the strange Liligant. Jenna freezes to her core, wanting to run but unable to move. Then, the Electric Type settles down and focuses its attention on Gardenia. Finally, Jenna can breathe again. She takes a few deep gasps as she shakes the fear off her mind.
“That! Was! Insane!” Caroline whispers, “I’ve never felt an Intimidate like that!”
Jenna nods numbly.
“Looks like Zoe’s not a Grass Type specialist,” Caroline mumbles.
“… right. Probably not,” Jenna agrees numbly.
Gardenia chucks her own Poké Ball to the field and Jumpluff starts floating a few steps above ground. Usually that’s enough distance to avoid any contact moves but with this particular Luxray, Jenna doubts Jumpluff can get high enough. The beast might be able to jump all the way to the ceiling. She really hopes the Alakazam and Bronzong holding up the barrier are strong enough to stop it.
The referee counts down and the entire audience, sparse as it is this early in the morning, holds their breath. On three, Jumpluff narrows her eyes. On two, a few bolts of static run over the Luxray’s back. On one, both Pokémon get ready to move.
Then Luxray explodes into motion, Jumpluff just barely managing to avoid the charge by using Acrobatics to spin above it.
“Was that a Volt Switch?” Caroline asks.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Jenna ignores her as just in that one question, Luxray attacked two more times by charging in. It almost looks like a Shinx trying to catch a bit of floating pollen. You know the pollen will be ripped apart once it succeeds.
Apparently Zoe thinks the same because she rolls her eyes and speaks up after four more moves.
“Got it out of your system, Lulu?”
The Luxray yips and stops on the spot. Jumpluff takes the momentary breather to quickly let out a Sunny Day. Jenna shakes her head. If Zoe lets out her Liligant this is only going to be a disadvantage but Gardenia needs the power to beat this Luxray.
Then Thunder strikes and Jumpluff sways in the air.
“Sleep Powder!” Gardenia shouts and her Pokémon tries to produce as much of it as it can before a second Electric Move hits her. This time Jenna can tell it’s not a Thunder but a Thundershock. The Move came from the Luxray’s body instead of the ceiling.
Jumpluff sways much harder and starts dropping and Gardenia quickly recalls her. The replacement is none other than Cherrim, one of her hardest hitters in the sunlight. But when Jenna looks at Zoe, she only sees a relieved smile.
Cherrim’s wine-red petals unfurl and reveal the pink and yellow blossom underneath only for the tiny flower to grin at the giant electric cat. Jenna goggles at the bravery in that tiny bundle of energy but she notices Gardenia being a little happier as well. The positive mood of her Pokémon is just too infectious.
The referee calls for the battle to continue and Cherrim immediately blasts a Solar Beam at her opponent. The Luxray manages to jump out of the way with a little room to spare and shoots off another Volt Switch to move past the second Solar Beam.
“Look!” Caroline says, “She’s already got two Growth’s out. This’ll be a tough battle.”
Then Luxray shoots out a wave of darkness all around it and Cherrim cries out as she’s too slow to dodge it.
“Get her!” Gardenia shouts and Cherrim shakes herself, producing a veritable storm of petals that rush towards the Luxray. The Petal Blizzard with its much wider area of attack manages to land a few hits on the cat, making the Pokémon flinch away. Another Solar Beam comes out in that very moment, just barely going past Luxray’s mane.
The electric cat rushes around Cherrim, slowly closing in while snarling. Two more Snarls come out but the still ongoing Petal Blizzard manages to disperse most of the energy of the Moves. Then the Luxray sees an opening and rushes forwards with a Quick Attack, a Fire Fang already on its teeth. Cherrim flinches and tries to desperately shoot another Solar Beam but her Move fizzles as she gets picked up by Luxray’s burning mouth.
When Cherrim’s limp body impacts the barrier next to Gardenia, the Gym is completely silent for a moment. Gardenia leans down, then sighs in relief and motions to the referee.
“Cherrim is unable to battle!” he calls out, “Please choose your next Pokémon, Gardenia.”
As she ponders what to pick, Caroline sucks in a sharp breath of air.
“That was so brutal,” she says, “That Luxray could’ve swallowed Cherrim whole.”
Jenna gulps and nods.
“But it didn’t,” she says, “It didn’t even injure her permanently. They’ve got great control over their strength.”
“Kinda have to, at that level…” Caroline mutters.
Gardenia’s next Pokémon is none other than her Tangrowth. The huge bundle of vines is one of her bulkiest team members and even has some Ground Type Moves to counter the Electric Type in front of her. Luxray only grins viciously at the sight of its new opponent.
“Resume!” the referee calls and this time, there’s no sudden motion from either side. Luxray slowly makes its way towards Tangrowth, charging up another Fire Fang in the sunlight as Tangrowth carefully observes it.
“Why isn’t she using Earthquake right away?” Caroline asks.
“No idea…” Jenna shakes her head.
The Gardenia calls out. Immediately, two things happen. Tangrowth shoots a set of sharpened rocks at her opponent in an Ancient Power, aiming high, while stomping the ground to create an Earthquake and Luxray jumps to avoid it, getting right into the way of the Ancient Power. The rocks land and it cries out in pain, or anger. Jenna can’t really tell.
Not a moment later, another Volt Switch followed by a Quick Attack propels Luxray straight into Tangrowth’s reach who lashes out with a bunch of vines, purple Poison Powder releasing from the gaps between them. Luxray bites through the Poison Powder and directly into Tangrowth and lifts the Pokémon in its maw. After only a few shakes, Tangrowth manages to steady herself with a bunch of vines on the ground and Luxray but another blast of Fire Fang burns through them as she drops to the ground. Luxray follows up with another two vicious burning bites and the battle is over.
“Calm,” Zoe calls as her Pokémon returns to her side of the battle, “You got this.”
Luxray nods its probably stinging nose, still purple from the Poison Powder, as Gardenia throws out her next Poké Ball. Jenna is surprised to see Lefeaon. She’d expect Sunflora to be much better with his Solar Beams in the still-burning sunlight, until said sunlight starts to fade just then. Has it already been that long?
The referee calls to continue and Leafeon is immediately moving to keep his distance. He’s wrapped in the white glow of Quick Attack as the monstrous Luxray chases after him. For the first time in the battle, Zoe shifts from her relaxed stance and points.
“Swords Dance, quick takedown.”
Luxray stops on the spot and starts emitting a ton of electricity all over her fur. The static is making the air hazy around her.
Gardenia clicks her tongue, then calls out, “Get ready to block.”
“Protect or Substitute,” Zoe informs her Pokémon of the options Lefeaon has.
“She’s good,” Jenna whispers to herself.
The standoff between the two Pokémon continues for another moment as the electricity covers more and more of the arena.
“Is that really the ‘quick’ takedown?” Caroline asks.
Thunder answers her. A bolt of lightning as thick as a tree smashes into Leafeon’s Protect, quickly followed by a second one. The shield breaks and Leafeon uses Quick Attack to dodge the third only to immediately turn around and narrowly avoid the fourth. The fifth Thunder goes straight into his body and he drops on the spot, three more lightning strikes hitting the ground around him in quick succession.
Jenna rubs her ringing ears and blinks the spots out of her eyes. When she manages to focus on the battlefield again, Gardenia has released her Torterra. After that display of power, sending out a Ground Type is definitely the right move.
“Owies,” Caroline complains as she rubs her ears next to Jenna, “What the heck was that? Oh, Luxray is exhausted!”
Jenna looks between the two Pokémon on the field and surely, the lightning cat is panting heavily.
“Looks like the poison is taking its toll. Question is, will it matter?”
Gardenia seems just as concerned about that as she orders Torterra to play defensive. The first Leech Seed goes wild, the second dies in Luxray’s Fire Fang. Then Luxray bites into his shell and he finally lands his first Move. Luxray roars through clenched teeth as it strains its muscles. Jenna’s jaw drops as Torterra first shifts, then gets lifted bodily. The Pokémon cries at the unexpected movement, shaking its limbs in panic. It doesn’t know what to do since it's normally the big one doing the lifting.
“Torterra, Razor Leaf! Make it let go!”
The Pokémon tries its best but before it can muster up the energy for its Move, Luxray rams it head-first into the ground. It cries in pain as it rolls over, only the tree on its shell preventing it from flipping all the way around which turns out to be a bad thing. Luxray pounces and bites into Torterra’s weaker underbelly with a vicious Ice Fang. On the second bite, it holds onto its opponent and lifts it again, this time throwing the continent Pokémon into the barrier.
Once again, the monster roars. Torterra is still conscious but sitting still and unmoving, trying to avoid becoming a target again. Gardenia has a weird expression on her face as she recalls him. Something Jenna has never seen on her. It’s a strange mixture of fear and a promise of violence.
Without any flourish, she throws her last Poké Ball. Roserade lands in a combat-ready stance, one flower pointed straight at Luxray, the other one held behind its back ready to blast a surprise attack as it swings around.
The referee realizes he’s supposed to do his job and stammers out a “Continue!” and immediately Roserade lets out a huge blast of purple energy from her flower. The Luxray doesn’t make it out of the way in time and gets grazed by the Venoshock, crying out in pain. Jenna is almost surprised it can feel pain with how aggressive it’s been.
Zoe simply watches as Luxray tries and fails more and more Venoshocks, though she doesn’t look too worried. True, she still has five other Pokémon to go through so she shouldn’t but at this point Jenna almost expects her to sweep Gardenia with a single Pokémon again. Then Roserade stumbles as she turns for her next attack and her Venoshock hits the ground. Against expectations, Luxray doesn’t immediately jump on the sign of weakness, instead just shooting out a Snarl.
The two Pokémon exchange blasts a few more times, Roserade becoming less and less sure in her aim, then Zoe calls out.
“Lulu is out. I’m switching.”
“Luxray is unable to battle!” the referee nods, “Choose your second Pokémon, challenger Zoe!”
There is a quick double set of energy beams and instead of an exhausted Luxray, Roserade is now faced with the beauty that is Liligant. The Pokémon does a graceful twirl as it lands and Gardenia sighs.
“Try your best, Rose!” she calls.
Pokémon and Trainer both know they can’t win this but they decide to keep fighting. Jenna feels herself tearing up, then staring as Liligant is suddenly right by Roserade’s side. It only takes a few punches and the Gym Leader’s Pokémon falls over, unable to get up. She didn’t even land a single hit.
“R-Roserade is unable to battle. Challenger Zoe is victorious!” the referee calls.
People in the stands are mumbling before slowly starting to applaud. That was a somewhat anticlimactic ending to such a violent fight. Jenna is still reeling from how vicious that Luxray had been. And how powerful. It had thrown around a Torterra with its mouth! That was… not something she’d ever expected to see. But it happened.
She returns her focus to the field just as Zoe and Gardenia are meeting up in the middle. They exchange a few words too quiet for anyone in the stands to hear, then Zoe waves to the stands. Gardenia follows suit a moment later and they start making their way to the back end of the Gym. Both of them.
“Caroline,” Jenna asks, “Why is Zoe going into the back of the Gym?”
Her friend shakes her head.
“No idea. Let’s find out!”
Before she can hold out, Caroline drags her out of the stands and into the back rooms of the Gym. There are places set up for training, relaxation, and organization, and they catch Gardenia and Zoe making their way to the garden where everyone rests between battles.
“Oh, Caroline, Jenna!” Gardenia calls out with a smile, “Good. Come with us.”
Jenna stares incredulously at her boss, then at Zoe. The girl just gives her a smile and a nod as they keep walking.
“Zoe offered to look after my Pokémon but I’ll be much more relaxed if I know you two are there as well. I fear she might’ve left an impression on them that’s not entirely favourable.”
“Lulu couldn’t have gotten that far otherwise,” the girl in question says, “But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about the violence.”
“No, no, you’re fine. That was a good match. Your Luxray has incredible control to come across as a wild monster without actually harming her opponents.”
“I’ll say!” Caroline agrees, “That was so scary! Where did you learn that? And how did she get that large?”
“Oh, we mostly lived in the wilderness for a while. That’s where I found her, too. Up on the Coronet Highlands. She’s what’s called an Alpha, a Pokémon particularly aggressive for their species and thus hoarding much more by the way of nutrients and resources. But if you beat and catch them, they can be incredibly loyal. The number one rule in the wild is the rule of the strong, after all.”
“You lived in the wilderness?” Jenna scrunches her eyebrows, “Like, in the Pokémon habitats?”
“Effectively, yes. I do a ton of field research. There’s a little more to the story but that’s too much for right now.”
“I wanna hear!” Caroline immediately demands, “Tell me!”
Zoe skilfully ignores her even when she gets more pushy in her demand, holding the younger girl by both shoulders and trying to shake her. Trying being the imperative word here. Jenna can only stare as the wildly overenthusiastic nature of her friend meets the calm and sturdy rock that is Zoe Crones. She’s almost as relaxed as Bertha, the grandmother of Ground Types.
Soon, they reach the garden and Gardenia releases her team. Her beaten and battered Elite team. This close up, Jenna can tell they aren’t really hurt, at least physically, but they look somewhere between dejected and scared as they spot Zoe. The girl herself releases her Luxray and Liligant with a few steps distance as Gardenia starts looking over her team. Caroline takes a step back as the Luxray comes out but this time, the Pokémon just lays down calmly instead of the intimidating roar. In fact, the electric cat seems to be complaining about her itchy nose that’s still purple from poison and it’s kinda cute.
There’s also the pink-and-grey Pokémon that came with Zoe earlier as well as a young Gligar but those are all the Pokémon she releases. Zoe plucks a Pecha berry from the satchel on her hip and feeds it to her Luxray, gently scratching the giant Pokémon behind its ear. Then she turns to find Jenna and Caroline staring.
“Don’t be scared, come closer,” she says, “Lulu doesn’t bite.”
The Luxray opens its maw and aggressively chomps down on the berry. Zoe punches the side of its head.
“Most of the time…” she rolls her eyes.
Jenna looks over the four Pokémon, noticing the strange one she doesn’t know is already over by Gardenia’s team, gently applying something from a glass bottle to the itches and scratches.
“That’s a Potion,” Zoe says at her questioning look, “A Super Potion, handmade. I learned some old crating techniques so I could stay out longer in the wilderness.”
“Wait, is this your whole team?” Caroline suddenly asks.
“Yes and no. Mesprit isn’t part of my team, she just hangs out. And there’s one more team member that I’m not letting out here. They’re a little too… imposing? They’re taking part from inside their ball, though.”
She pats her satchel and Jenna is suddenly scared. Something that Zoe, the Trainer of that Luxray, considers too imposing?
“I’m sure we can deal,” Caroline smiles, “Just let them out!”
“I gotta go for the next match,” Gardenia calls out, “Take care of my team until I get back, girls!”
Caroline gives their boss a thumbs-up and they quickly start shuffling around to look over Gardenia’s Pokémon. Zoe pulls out a bunch of berries and starts sharing them around which quickly turns the Pokémons’ opinions of her upside down. It helps that the Luxray that demolished most of them is just lounging in the sun.
The sun that is much too bright.
She meets the eyes of Zoe’s strange Liligant and realizes the Pokémon must have used Sunny Day to help out all the injured Grass Types. She walks over to take a closer look and the Pokémon greets her with a chirp. It’s only slightly shorter than Jenna, equal in height if you include the little flower crown on the side of its head. Jenna smiles at the familiar features. She’s seen a few Liligant but mostly in pictures online. This one has a slightly more teal tone to its leaves than the vibrant green but other than that the colour scheme is nearly identical.
“You’re a beautiful one,” Jenna smiles.
The Liligant twirls and shows of how its long legs let it move around much better than the stubby little feet of the much more common form.
“She really is!” Zoe says as she hugs her Pokémon from the side. The two are pretty much identical in height. Liligant pokes Zoe’s nose with her leaf-arm and giggles.
“Yes, yes. Strong and beautiful, you muscle-brain.”
Jenna blinks.
“Muscle-brain?”
“Lili loves fighting and battling and training. Anything to do with moving around and hitting objects or other Pokémon. Sometimes even people!”
Zoe’s grin makes it clear that was a joke until Jenna hears her next words.
“She taught me a whole lot. Sometimes she’s more of a Trainer than I am.”
“Wait, you…” Jenna shakes her head, “Nope. You’re insane.”
“Maybe a little bit…? I mean, when you live out in the wilderness, you gotta be able to run or fight. I chose the latter.”
“Yep. Clinically insane,” Jenna nods, “How can you even keep up?”
Zoe grins.
“I’m cheating, obviously!”
Jenna holds her glare for a moment, then shakes her head. Torterra steps up to nudge Zoe’s hand and the girl starts petting him. He grumbles happily, then points over at something.
“Terra,” he says.
“Oh, they’re getting along great!” Zoe smiles.
Jenna turns to see, of all things, Cherrim and the monstrous Luxray that almost swallowed her whole earlier sitting together and chatting. The smiling flower makes it seem like there was never any animosity between the two and after thinking about it for a moment, Jenna realizes there probably wasn’t. The sweet little Pokémon is just too friendly and they only fought in a preconcerted battle. A competition. No matter how violent it had looked, there was no reason to be angry with each other.
“Come on, Lulu wants to get to know you, too. Join them!” Zoe says.
The Luxray looks up and Torterra almost tries to hide behind its Trainer before realizing how futile of an effort that would be. With an encouraging chirp from Liligant, he shyly starts making his way over, greeting the only Pokémon in the room that is larger than him by pure mass. Tangrowth might be taller but there’s a lot of air between those vines.
Speaking of, Gardenia’s Tangrowth is playing with Zoe’s Gligar over in an open space a little away from the group. The Grass-Type throws the other Pokémon into the air with her vines who then tries its best to ram into her while dodging all of the vines that now swing to stop it. Over in another corner, Lefeaon and Jumpluff are chatting with the strange Pokémon. Mesprit, Zoe called it, right?
“What’s that one’s typing?” Jenna asks before she can stop herself.
“Oh, Mes? She’s a Psychic-Type. She’s the one who teleported us to Eterna City this morning.”
“So, like a Kadabra or…” Caroline trails off. The woman knows way too few non-Grass-Types in Jenna's opinion.
“Much more powerful but yes, the Moves she can use are comparable. Mostly. She’s also a lot sturdier, even if she doesn’t look it.”
“… could she take the others on your team?”
“Lulu, yes, definitely. Lili… sometimes. They’re pretty evenly matched despite the Type advantage.”
At Jenna and Caroline’s confused looks Zoe adds, “Lili is Grass-Fighting. She’s what you’d call a regional variant, only that Sinnoh barely has any of them anymore. I’ll have to go look where they moved to…”
“Grass-Fighting is so interesting!” Caroline says, “I only know about Breloom and Chesnaught and they don’t exist in Sinnoh naturally. Sometimes a Trainer brings them when they come from a different region so I’ve seen some… How does she deal with Flying-Types?”
“Ice Spinner, if she has to. Usually Lulu takes care of them. And Lili takes care of any Ground-Types that threaten Lulu. They’re a great team.”
“I can see that,” Jenna nods, “It’s almost like you’re a Ranger. You’re not a Ranger, are you?”
“No, I’m not,” Zoe shakes her head, “I’m actually a Lab Trainer. Still in training, gotta get my six badges first, then I’ll be an official field researcher. Or something like that. I haven’t talked about it with Professor Rowan too much.”
Jenna doesn’t know what to say to that. If she wants to be a researcher, all the power to her. It only means she’ll never have to face Zoe in a battle.
“So, about that last Pokémon of yours?” Caroline asks and Jenna sputters.
“We don’t need to know about that!” she chides her friend, “If Zoe says it’s scary, then I don’t want to see it anyways!”
The girl grins.
“Just keep watching my matches. 8 a.m. every day. If I don’t have to use them before Volkner, they get to face him on their own.”
“Can you at least tell us what Type they are?” Caroline begs.
Zoe gives her a long glance before sighing.
“… They’re Ghost-Dragon. Now let’s make sure everyone had enough Potions and Berries before Gardenia comes back and complains.”
Jenna can get behind that. Work is a great distraction from the enigma that is Zoe. Though over the course of the day, she almost starts to like the girl. Her Luxray is still way too scary though…