Wicked cackled freely as her Leaf Tornado launched her into the air. A moment later, Raider’s snapping jaws burst from the ground with a snarl that quickly morphed into a yelp as the glowing leaves tore into her. Wicked let the wind carry her away for a breath before snapping a Protect into place just in time to ward off Jaffar. Instead of the Swellow’s Aerial Ace slamming her out of the sky, it was the flying type that bounced away with an irritated squawk while the Shifty landed gently atop a stalagmite. Around her, twenty other pokemon were rushing haphazardly around the dimly lit cave in a messy, chaotic, sprawling brawl.
Wicked couldn’t stop smiling!
Bo had led them all to a large cavern within Mt. Moon. It was usually populated by Sableye, but the impish ghosts were all too happy to make room for them in exchange for a free show. Even now, she could spot over a dozen pairs of gleaming eyes watching the chaos unfold. The Shiftry could certainly respect their glee. As long as none of the gathered mons used any moves powerful enough to cause structural damage, an all-out, free-for-all brawl made for great entertainment.
The three humans had situated themselves around the edges of the cave in order to give as much direction to the fighting as they could. Theoretically, none of the humans were taking sides, but were instead just encouraging the various pokemon to adapt to surprise ambushes as quickly as possible, while practicing themselves to understand and interpret the various feelings they were getting from all the pokemon. In reality though, Wicked noticed that there were at least a few trends.
Bo for instance, was sitting casually with little Fay in his lap. Both of them were smiling cheerfully as they coached Saber through their mad pursuit of a fleeing Baron. Seeing her big brother twist and dance out of the way of the Legendary’s attacks rather than striking back, Wicked was certain that her Brother was limiting him to dodging. As she watched, Baron tried to gain some distance with Double Team only for Bo to cheerfully point out the real him for Saber to pounce on. The whole dance had Wicked snickering. BB would definitely be getting their Brother back for that afterwards.
Conversely, Wicked suspected that she wasn’t the only one who had been signaled to go easier on the new girl’s pokemon. The team wasn’t half bad and had definitely picked up some tricks from the Old Man, but none of them had the raw strength to stand up to her family, nor Carter and Dani’s teams. The teenager herself, was shifting nervously in place as her eyes darted around the dimly lit cave, trying to direct her pokemon as best she could. They tended to either fight amongst each other or pack together to try and take on one of the more experienced pokemon as a group. Only her Jynx remained next to her, most likely to make sure no stray shots hit the human.
Mind turning to the last human within the cave, Wicked’s ears naturally tuned into a series of sharp, distinctive whistles that echoed through the cave, causing her to grin. Standing seriously behind a floating Starmie, Suzu’s face gave nothing away as she finished her signal. Unfortunately for her, Wicked just loved crashing parties!
Eyes sparkling capri-ahem* benevolently in the pursuit of training opportunities for all, Wicked scanned the battlefield for Suzu’s two pokemon. The whistling was rather smart really. For whatever reason, pokemon could only instinctively understand actual words that humans, so signaling her pokemon with a whistle made for a fast way to communicate complex instructions without anyone else understanding. The only downside is that her pokemon would have to remember each sequence of notes, but that was easily manageable with enough effort.
'Now if only I had put in that effort,' Wicked mused to herself.
Finally spotting the two she was looking for, a lanky Sudowoodo and a diminutive Mimikyu, Wicked’s grin spread even larger. The two pokemon had clearly heard their trainer, and were even now moving in unison towards a lone Song, the Froslass distractedly laughing at where Honor and Sampson seemed to be re-enacting a game of Whack-a-Diglett. Being the exemplary big sister that she was, Wicked happily sprang from her perch to protect Song by mounting an ambush of her own.
Moving swift as the wind and silent as a shadow, the Shiftry appeared above the Sudowoodo a second before he reached Song. She was just about to pounce on him, when an Ice Shard slammed into her stomach, knocking her breath away. Hitting the ground with thump, Wicked instinctively rolled away from the Sudowoodo’s sudden Slam and jumped up just in time avoid the Mimiky’s Play Rough.
Leaping away, Wicked groaned at the sight of a cackling Song chasing after her, the rock type and fairy type close behind. Her own sister had led her into a trap! Wicked was so proud, she could cry.
“Ho-ho-ho. Surpriiise,” the Froslass laughed joyously.
“Yup, you got me. I’ll give you that Song-y-song. But since when can you understand Suzu’s whistle thingy?”
“Oh, I can’t," Song laughed just in time for Wicked to feel the slightest movement in the air behind her. "But she can.”
Without a moment to lose, Wicked whipped up a Whirlwind around herself, knocking away the Flamethrower that had nearly engulfed her. Turning towards where it had come from, Wicked dodged once more out of the way of a keen Slash.
“Oh, hey Zuzu,” Wicked greeted her other sister before cackling at the cold glare in the Zoroark’s eyes. “You’re still a little pissed about the drinking contest, huh?”
“No, not at all,” Zuzu answered her warmly, but Wicked had already pulled up another Protect. Not a moment later, Zuzu’s illusion fell apart, revealing her attempt to ruthlessly roast Wicked once more .
“I’ll take that as a yes,” the Shiftry laughed as she leapt away amidst another Whirlwind of air.
The group of pokemon raced after her, but the Shiftry was as hard to catch as the wind itself. Carried by gusts of air, she led her pursuers on a merry chase through a maze of stalgmites and brawling pokemon. She nearly stumbled when Gizmo had paused in the middle of her fight with Alice’s entire team to fling a Thunder Wave at her, but Wicked managed to avoid it.
Ultimately, the chase came to a suitably hilarious end when Wicked led the single-minded group past Baron and smack into charging Saber. Watching all five of them tumble into a sprawling ball of limbs, the Shiftry whooped heartily. Flying to the top of another stalagmite, Wicked stood over the battlefield with pride.
She might lose to quite a few of her siblings in one-on-one cage matches, but here, amidst the chaos, Wicked was queen of all. She was untouchable. She was invincible. She was-
A tiny change in the air above her had her reaching instinctively up before she even realized it. Instead of forming an attack though, her fans gently cradled the small form that landed on her shoulders and settled in for a piggyback.
“Hey sis!” Fay squealed in Wicked’s ears. “Daddy said you wanted more of a challenge, so I’m going to ride on your shoulders for the rest of the battle to help!”
“Uh, no, no, no,” Wicked responded while trying to reach back and lift the younger grass type off. “No extra challenge needed. Now let’s get you down and somewhere safer.”
Her efforts were futile though, as Fay refused to move, clutching to Wicked’s hair and pouting. “Noooo. You already left me behind to go play with the others last night. I want to play and help the family toooo!”
‘Gah. Curse you sky-llama-mon,’ Wicked wailed internally at her baby sister’s teary plea. Perhaps because they were both grass types, Fay had attached herself to Wicked of all siblings as her favorite big sister, much to the Shiftry’s ecstatic consternation. Forget fire or bug types, Wicked had quickly found that a pouting Fay was her one true weakness.
“Ok, ok, you can help,” Wicked hurriedly assured the young cat.
“Really?” Fay asked with a voice full of hope.
“Oh yes,” a voice responded, but it wasn’t Wicked’s. Turning around, the Shiftry found that an angry Zuzu had appeared(!) while she was distracted. “You just stay right there where Wicked can keep you safe, and you’ll be a huge help.”
“Hah-ha,” Wicked laughed weakly as Fay perked up happily behind her and clutched to her hair even tighter. “Well, at least this should be interesting.”
*
“We end this now, knave,” Storm’s nemesis and dreadful rival snarled as he raised his blade. A slow moving stream split and bent around his feet as he stood tall and prepared. “Before this day ends, I will prove myself victorious once and for all, and you will lay bleeding out on the ground.”
“Pah,” Storm spat back derisively, readying his own blades in his grip. A few smooth pebbles shifted under his limbs as he drifted slowly to the side, keeping his own stance low to the ground. “Save your dreaming for when your dead, weakling.”
“Pah,” Warrior spat back at him with as much derision of his own as he could, which was still not as much as Storm could.
“Hah,” Storm laughed back in response, just to highlight his superiority.
“Hah.”
“Bah.”
“Ah-hah-ha.”
“Pfft.”
“Grrr.”
…
……
………
CLANG*
Whether it was a shift in the wind or the slightest quiver in a step, the two Samurott leapt forward in unison, Aqua Jets propelling them at breakneck pace and their seamitars clashing harshly together in the middle of their battlefield. Storm grumbled within himself as he noted that he had moved forward faster, inching in on his nemesis’ reach, but that Warrior’s own grip had still held firm, pushing his blade back and away.
Nevertheless, Storm wouldn’t allow a temporary setback defeat him. With a whirl of force, he brought his seamitar to bear in a wave of swift, methodical Night Slashes. Warrior grunted and moved to block them with his own blade, one cloaked by highly pressurized water, but he couldn’t keep up with Storm’s speed. Storm remained patient, steadily forcing his opponent more and more out of position until he saw his opening. Feinting with a wide slash, a feral grin spread across his face as Warrior moved to block it, leaving him open. Fast as lighting, Storm whipped his other seamitar up, Slashing it towards the fool’s widening eyes.
Then those eyes sharpened, sending alarm through Storm.
Before Storm’s blades could gouge out his eyes, Warrior ducked his head, letting the blow smash into his cowardly, armored shell. The blow hurt him, but he was still able to fight. Worse, as Storm’s seamitar bit deeply into the shell, there was a single moment of vulnerability as he struggled to pull the blade free. A moment that Warrior quickly capitalized on, lowering his head further and ruthlessly spearing Storm with a Megahorn to the chest.
Storm howled in fury as the super effective blow gouged his flesh, and threw himself back in order to prevent being held skewered on Warrior’s horn. Unfortunately, as he fell backwards, Warrior was keen to press his advantage, rising his seamitar high in the air to deliver the finishing blow. A less experienced fighter might have tried to lash out at the other Samurott’s legs, but Storm knew better. Despite his dull wit and obtuse morals, Warrior’s defenses were too tough to be beaten by such a haphazard strike. Instead, as Warrior brought his blade down, Storm swept his own seamitar through the pebbly ground beneath them, masterfully flicking the loose debris up into the dullard’s eyes. Harmless an attack as it might have been, Warrior still flinched just long enough for Storm to roll away from his blow.
He wasn’t yet out of harm’s way though. Still prone to the ground, he turned just in time to see Warrior angrily snarl and unleash a powerful Hydro Pump. The densely packed stream of water couldn’t actually hurt Storm all that much, but the sheer force behind the blow still lifted him off the ground. He was sent flying across the small clearing, well out of the useful range of his seamitars. Storm quickly scrambled to his feet, but he was well and truly on the back foot now.
Warrior had planted himself firmly in a defensive stance and was rapidly slashing through the air in front of him. Before Storm could blink, he was assailed by a chorus of razor sharp Vacuum Waves. He whirled his own blades swiftly in front of him to block, but it was nearly impossible to fully block the vacuum force and he soon felt wave after wave slice painfully into him.
With a snarl, he kicked off the ground with Aqua Jet, letting the water lift and carry him into the air. He swiftly circled to his opponent’s left, but Warrior wasn’t deterred. Standing his ground, he steadily turned to follow Storm’s movements without letting up on his barrage of Vacuum Waves. Finding no openings in his opponent’s defense, Storm huffed but didn’t stop moving. It was time for something a little more out of the box.
With that in mind, he dove towards the ground. He struggled a little as it wasn’t a technique he used often, but Storm dug deep within himself and tried to remember Fang’s lessons.
‘The ground isn’t just a solid lump of dirt, dude. It bends and churns and moves like a fluid too. Become one with the ground, and you can swim through it just like water.”
Holding that image tightly in mind and marshalling what meager ground-type energy he could, Storm slammed into the ground, not with a crash, but a heavy splash as his body Dug deep into the earth. Far out of his element and clinging to the lessons Fang had taught him, he began to kick out and swim beneath the earth. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do this for long, and that every second he delayed gave Warrior another second to prepare himself, but Storm forced himself to stay patient as he moved. If he timed this just right, he would have a chance to turn the battle on its head.
Storm knew his foe. Warrior wouldn’t change his position or try to force him out of the ground. No, the clod would stay put, willing to passively accept whatever attack Storm launched, and the retaliate once Storm was out in the open, probably with something like Revenge. He was also annoyingly durable enough that taking him out in one surprise blow wouldn’t work. The trick then, would be to avoid Warrior’s counter.
Reaching within himself, he easily drew upon a sensation he was more familiar with than any in the world, something that was practically intrinsic to his entire being: the beautiful, sharp edge of a blade that cuts through all that oppose it. Drawing the sensation into the razor sharp horn atop his head and reinforcing it with the raw strength of fighting type energy, a powerful Sacred Sword was forged. Storm smirked beneath the earth’s surface. He was ready.
Gathering water around him in another Aqua Jet, Storm launched himself up through the ground, painfully scraping against some rocks as he moved faster than he could shift the earth around himself. The extra speed was worth it though. He catapulted through the earth’s surface like a missile in flight, Warrior’s vulnerable flank directly in his path. Before he could react, Storm’s Sacred Sword pierced deep into Warrior’s side with a wet thunk, the sheer force of the blow lifting him partially off his feet. Storm was positive his attack hurt like hell, but he knew better than to believe Warrior would take it lying down.
He flooded more fighting type energy into his body, to his limbs, to his organs, and most importantly, to his senses. The world seemed to slow around him as he Detected everything that was happening around, from the faint eddies in the air to the coiling muscles in Warrior’s body. As he’d expected, Warrior had spent the time Storm was underground to use Focus Energy, heightening his own awareness, and now that Storm was in the open, he was putting all his strength into a vicious Revenge that Storm knew would be the end of him if it hit.
As Warrior whirled and swept his seamitar towards him, Storm moved with grace and precision only possible due to his heightened perception. Forming a tiny platform of water beneath his lower foot, Storm kicked off it, flipping himself up and over Warrior’s strike, the blade passing just beneath his head as he spun through the air. Landing behind Warrior, Storm gleefully gathered enough dark type energy to end the battle with one final Sucker Punch, only for a dreadfully calm voice to enter his mind.
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‘Hooooold,’ the placid voice yawned within Storm’s head, causing him to freeze in his tracks without even meaning to. Off to the side, Dawson’s squat pink form started ambling forward, the barrier he had put up around the battle dropping as he did so. ‘Seeeeepaaaraaaaate.’
The two Samurott snarled in frustration, but both stepped away from each other as directed. Storm was cursing heavily in his mind. That was twice now that the Slowbro had halted their fight right before he had claimed victory, and he just knew that his annoying Brother had told the psychic to do so on purpose.
Walking up ponderously between them, Dawson reached out and started methodically prodding the two with psychic nudges, paying extra attention to the areas that had suffered heavy blows. After a few moments, the Slowbro yawned and began emitting small, targeted Heal Pulses. Storm held still as the minor cuts and scrapes scabbed over while the more painful wounds itched and tingled, torn muscles and veins slowly knitting back together. He’d still be sore and a little tired, but soon, the wounds would be largely superficial.
As he waited for the patch-up to finish, he couldn’t help but taunt his nemesis. “You’re lucky Dawson stepped in to save your hide. Another second and I would have won again.”
Warrior simply shook his head pityingly and responded with a mocking tone. “Oh you think so, do you? Because I’m fairly confident I still had the upper hand as it were.”
Storm’s eyes narrowed at that, something about the way he’d said that giving him a twinge of unease. For the barest, split-second, Storm entertained the idea that he might have had another trick up his shell before dismissing the thought. Clearly, his little brother was just a sore loser and was trying to play mind games with him.
“Besides,” Warrior carried on confidently. “I was the one about to win the first battle too. Another second and you’d have been nothing but a smelly blood stain upon my horn.”
Storm just barely managed to hold in a derisive cackle at that. The fool actually thought he’d been about to win the last battle! He still had no idea that Storm had been about to lure him into a perfect trap, before cutting him to ribbons. What an idiot. He briefly considered gloating about it, but ultimately decided to conceal his triumph and save it for later. His expression was a vault, nothing like the obvious smirk Warrior was trying to hide.
“Ha-ha-hah.”
“Oh-ho-ho.”
“Ha-ha-hah!”
“Oh-ho-ho!”
“HA-HA-HAH!” “OH-HO-HO!”
Watching the two not-even-remotely-subtly laughing Samurott face off from the side, Dawson just wearily shook his head. Finally done patching them up, he slowly plodded his way back toward the edge of the small clearing. Turning, he erected the barrier once again, and the two water types instantly fell deathly silent as they dropped back into ready stances.
With one final yawn, Dawson looked back and forth between the two rivals.
…
……
………
‘Beee-‘ Clang* “-eegi-‘ Crack* ‘-iii-‘ Shunk* ‘-in.’ Slash*
*
‘No pain, no gain. No pain, no gain.’
Jumbo repeated the mantra to himself over and over again as he forced his body to repeat the needed motions.
“That’s ninety-six,” Sarge counted off for him in her steely voice. Despite the ache building up, Jumbo felt another flush of warmth at her assistance. She, out of all the Chansies, was certainly overqualified for helping him keep track of his reps, but her presence filled Jumbo with a sense of honor and duty he hadn’t felt in the longest time. The fact that she was still quite the looker might have also helped a little. He was old, not dead.
“Ninety-seven. Remember, keep it slow and steady. Pushing for speed will only hurt you in the long run. Nice and slow will produce the best results.”
Jumbo grunted in acknowledgement but continued steadfastly working through his routine. With his body feeling ready to burst, Jumbo was forced to admit to himself that, while he was nowhere near ready to be put out to pasture like Goliath feared, he might, ever so slightly, be starting to move out of his prime. It felt like just yesterday that he could rip right through two hundred of these without breaking a sweat. Three hundred even. Hell, he’d once powered his way through four hundred just to win a bet with Royal. Thinking back to that time still made Jumbo chuckle. He could never decide which was better, getting Royal’s dessert for a week or just seeing the smug feline’s shocked face when she’d lost.
“Ninety-eight. Almost there.”
Now wasn’t the time to be hung up on age though. For the first time in the longest time, the might of the Moon clan’s strongest was needed once again. Not as a deterrent or as a relic of the past, but as their home’s champions once more. Little Bo and his friends might be leading the charge, but Jumbo would be damned if he let them do so alone.
“Ninety-nine.”
Working through his trembling body and ravaged by pain, Jumbo forced himself to move with a high-pitched roar. For this challenge, for his family, he would rise to his peak once again, even if it was for just one day.
“One-hundred.”
Unwilling to rest on his laurels, the Morpeko pushed his head up to meet Sarge’s gaze. “More,” he groaned out, heedless of his body’s pleas for him to give in. Instead, he looked deep into the Chansey’s eyes, willing her to understand that he needed this. Her face was inscrutable for several long moments before a satisfied smile graced her face.
“Already have them ready for you, Jumbo.” With a few short claps, she signaled for one of her trainees to come forward. The younger Chansey looked slightly worried but followed her instructions. With a thump, a massive plate bearing one-hundred more anpan were set in front of him. As his stomach bulged to its extreme, Jumbo snatched a roll and tore into it with a savage bite.
‘No pain, no gain. Oh-ho-ho, little brat. Let’s see who’s getting skinny now.’
*
“And is it the joker…? No! It is not,” Bo called out cheerfully as he flipped over a playing card to reveal the two of hearts, only to have an angry Tyranitar roar in his face. In response, he just shrugged. “Hey now, don’t go complaining to me, Dahlia. I’ve told you dozens of times, you can’t just try to get lucky and guess. Guessing is really just making a decision based on your subconscious which in turn makes decisions based on dozens of factors your senses unknowingly pick up. Factors which I control. The only way you’re getting the right card is if you pay closer attention.”
The large rock type huffed at his rebuke, but still nodded and stepped towards the back of the gathered line, making room for King to step forward. They were standing on either side of a small table with five cards laid out between them. Bo quickly flipped them all face-side up to showcase four twos and one joker before flipping them back and lining them up once more.
On his left, Zuzu also had a similar set up with seven cards laid out on the table, and was currently squared off with a serious-looking Apollo. Leaning over his back, Noelle and Hobbes were peering at the table, observing carefully while waiting for their own turns. Bo didn’t think it would help them though. Zuzu could easily show the two of them a completely different game then what Apollo was seeing.
To Zuzu’s left, Gizmo too had a table set up between her and Sampson, Carter’s Skuntank, though she had no one else lined up behind him. Nine cards were laid out on her table that she was already moving around in a blur of motion, while Sampson calmly stared her down. The poison type was a genius at tracking through scent markers, but Gizmo wasn't going to go down easy. Out of the corner of his eye, Bo caught the briefest flash of a jack, causing him to snort in laughter. He knew for a fact that she should only have kings, aces, and a single queen on the table.
Lastly, on his right, Fay had another small table of her own, with three cards, Carter’s Vullaby, Dani’s Pancham, and most of Alice’s team; a Murkrow, Mismagius, Nidoking, Jynx, Crawdaunt, Mightyena, and even a shiny Rapidash, lined up in front of her, all watching her like hungry Spearows. Most of them wouldn’t be able to compete in the tournament, but it was still good training for them. Plus, Fay was in her element, smirking happily while flipping and twirling her cards through the air. It was a little showboat-y, but judging by the frustrated faces of the gathered pokemon, the Floragato was still managing to lead them by their noses. Bo felt a surge of pride at that, knowing how hard she had worked to get all the tricks down.
Turning back to his own challenger, Bo raised his eye questioningly towards the Obstagoon, receiving a quick nod in return. With the pokemon ready, Bo started moving the face down cards back and forth across the table, his hands quickly picking up speed as he went. While his hands flicked the cards back and forth, he kept a mask-like smile fixed firmly on King’s face. Much to his pleasure, King stared determinedly back at him, trusting in his peripheral vision to track the joker. Deciding to take a page out of Fay’s book, Bo gave a quick twist of his fingers and flicked one of the cards spinning through the air, then swiftly shuffled around three more cards while it twirled in the air.
“Good, good,” Bo praised when the Obstagoon didn’t rise to the bait and glance at the airborne card. Then, feeling he a flicker of mischievous glee twinge inside of him, Bo took a tiny step to the left. “You’re going to want to dodge though.”
“Goon?” King managed to growl distractedly before yelping as a rock the size of a pineapple smacked into his head. It didn’t hit nearly hard enough to actually hurt him, but it was only the beginning. A split second later, another rock, two water-filled balloons, and what appeared to be a balloon stuffed with paint also fell onto him. To Bo’s right, a final paint balloon zipped by where he had just been standing before splattering against the ground. Hearing the loud, malicious laughter above them, King quickly swiped the paint from his eyes and whirled to snarl up at where the cackling Bombirdier was flying away.
Noticing his fur bristle and start to glow as the Obstagoon readied Pin Missile, Bo whistled to catch his attention. “Hey now, you’re supposed to be watching the cards, remember.”
Eyes popping wide as the pokemon realized Bo hadn’t stopped switching the cards around, King barked in protest. Bo just flashed his best carney smile. “Distractions happen, my man. It’s all part of the training.”
“Obstagoon!?” King responded incredulously while gesturing towards the still cackling flying type overhead.
This time, Bo had to shake his head a little bashfully. “Oh, no. Sunnyside one-hundred percent only agreed to help out in order to be a dick, but it’s still good practice.”
King growled in annoyance, but ultimately shook his head and refocused on the moving cards in front of him, a look of intense concentration forming on his face. “There you go. You can still come back from this. You lost track of the card itself, so now you have to study me. Which card am I touching the most? How long do my hands stay on each cards? Which way is my body leaning no matter how slightly? What do my eyes say? Once you figure that out, you just need to decide whether or not they’re actual tells or bait. Trust your instincts, you can do this.”
King’s eyes narrowed in concentration as Bo continued shuffling the cards for several more seconds, before finishing with a flourish. Stepping back and crossing his arms, Bo smiled wide and raised an eyebrow, signaling for the pokemon to make a decision. The dark type leaned forward, examining the cards closely. His nose even twitched a few times as he tried sniffing at the cards. Finally, he pointed towards the second card from the right with a confidant grin.
“You sure?” Bo asked. “You’re sure that’s the joker and not just the card that I bent ever so slightly while straightening out the joker card just a smidge? You’re sure that the joker isn’t on the far left, the card that used to have a small spot of paint on it before I wiped it off?”
At his words, King grimaced and paused. His eyes flashed around at the cards, looking for any indicator he might have missed. Eventually though, he huffed and adamantly pointed back towards his original choice. Keeping his grin firmly in place, Bo flipped the card over, causing King to bark a curse at the two staring up at him. Another flip showed the joker smiling up from the far left.
“Good try buddy. Just try to keep your focus next time.” King huffed, but nodded acceptingly before heading towards the back of the line. In his place, the next challenger stepped forward with an intense look in his eyes. “Ah, the venerable Mr. Tama.”
Alice’s Ace just rolled his eyes and yowled with a nod towards the cards. “I’m going, I’m going. Are you sure you want to start with me though? I really think you might be better off working with Fay for a bit before moving up to me.”
The Alolan Persian narrowed his eyes and hissed in response at his well-meaning suggestion, causing Bo to chuckle. “Alright, if you’re sure. You ready to get started?”
The cat looked like he was about to nod, when he froze in place, his eyes snapping wide with alarm. Twisting his head to look back towards where the main house lurked out of sight, he once more yowled anxiously, before whipping his head back towards Bo.
“Persian! Persian!”
Bo’s face screwed up slightly at the urgent tone in the pokemon’s cry, but he didn’t know the cat nearly well enough to understand what he was saying. Turning to look towards where the Persian had been gazing, Bo could only think of one thing over there that the cat might care about.
“Is something up with Alice? I’m sure she’s perfectly safe, if that’s what you’re worried about. She’s just playing a game of catch with Carter & Suzu.”
*
A nervous squeal split the air as the hondew-sized capsule soared towards the teenaged girl, causing Carter’s eyebrow to rise up. “You okay? I don’t think I threw it all that hard.”
Alice was breathing heavily as she gingerly cradled the ‘ball’ she’d just caught in her hands. “No, but I don’t really think that matters when it’s a bomb you’re throwing at me!”
Her words making Carter more than a bit concerned, he hurried to correct her. “No, it really does matter, remember? The bomb’s designed to blow if it’s jostled too much, so you actually do want to think about how fast it’s going before catching it.”
Standing spread out around the two of them, several of Dani’s pokemon and Suzu also nodded in agreement. “On the other hand, if held too long, it will also eventually be triggered by body heat, so you’re going to want to-”
“EEP!”
“-oh, there you go.” Carter finished after Alice quickly hurled the bomb towards Demon, more than a little impressed that she’d managed to throw it that quickly without setting it off. Demon, in turn, carefully scooped the bomb from the air before Flinging it at a much higher speed toward Shogun.
Despite Alice’s nerves, the whole scene really made Carter smile. He’d been a bit worried at first, but Suzu hadn’t even blinked an eye when he asked if it would be possible to get padded clothes and a face shield for Alice. Apparently the Kahales kept dozens of sets on hand.
This spin-off of hot tamato he’d come up with years ago was a great way for Dani’s team to practice precision control over their own strength, plus it reminded him of when he and Reese used to play with Carter’s own team. The teen had, at some point, become too cool to play games with his dad, but getting the chance to teach the game to Alice and Suzu still filled him with nostalgia.
As he watched, Shogun smoothly cushioned the bomb's flight before flicking it towards Saint. The ice type only paused to briefly puff a breath of cold air onto the capsule before Flinging it at Raider. Carter was a bit worried that she’d have trouble with her claws, but the Krookodile seemed calm as she snatched it out of the air. She even juggled it mischievously a few times before pegging it towards Rooster.
Meanwhile, a still frantic-looking Alice was now looking back and forth between the bomb and her gloved hands. Peering closely at a stain that had appeared on her gloves, her face screwed up in confusion. “Mr. Rosen-”
“Carter’s fine, Alice.”
“Right, Carter,” she dazedly corrected, her face still locked in bewilderment. “Is that thing made out of chocolate?”
Carter couldn’t help but belly-laugh at her incredulous voice, nearly failing to react as Wrath chucked the bomb back at him. Once he’d passed it on to Rebel, he finally answered. “The outer casing is yeah. I got up early to make a batch of these this morning.”
“Why chocolate?”
“It works,” Carter shrugged. “Plus, I like baking. You’d be amazed at how much overlap there is between baking and bomb-making if you put your mind to it.”
Alice looked like she was about to ask more questions when it happened. Brute had just caught the bomb. Cradling it briefly, he feinted convincingly towards Shogun before Flinging the bomb speedily towards Brave. Caught off guard, the Urshifu did manage to catch it, but it still landed in his hands with a loud thump. Carter briefly saw the fighting type’s eyes widen with realization a split second before the capsule exploded with a loud bang and a flash of light.
Grinning as he opened his eyes back up, Carter laughed along with Brute and a few others at the sight of a slumping Brave now covered in a pudding like substance. The pokemon in question sighed, but eventually bowed good-naturedly towards Brute, who returned the gesture with a flourish. Carter was curious about the uncharacteristically playful interaction between the two, but decided to just enjoy the moment. Once he was done laughing, he went to get another pudding bomb, only to be interrupted by a loud yell.
“Pudding!?” Alice yelled with a stunned expression on her face. “It’s just a-a sugar-filled slime bomb?”
“Yeah, of course. What, did you think we were using C4 or something?” he asked jokingly, only for his smile to fade as Alice just shifted in place, not meeting his gaze.
“Alice,” Carter spoke slightly slowly. “You didn’t actually think we were throwing real bombs at each other, right?”
Finally looking up, Alice shrugged bashfully.”
“…Young lady, if you thought we were tossing around possibly lethal bombs, why in Arceus’ name are you still standing here?” Carter asked, a bit of what Bo and Dani teasingly called his dad voice edging into his tone.
“Suzu’s here too,” Alice replied in her defense.
“Yes, but Suzu knew they were basically slightly bigger firecrackers with a pudding payload,” he reasonably pointed out, only for the woman in question to look away and start whistling. Even some of the pokemon wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Oh, come on. I have's played around with real bombs in years, and I definitely wouldn't do that with two amateurs around. Explosives are highly dangerous and should only be handled by trained professionals.”
“Scrafty?” Rooster called out pointedly, his tone a touch accusatory.
“I said trained professional, not certified professional,” Carter replied without missing a beat, only to be met with several dubious looks. “…Which is not to say that I encourage building such a device without a license or have any such devices in my possession. That would be wrong and illegal. Apparently.”
Alice was back to looking at his with a stunned expression. “Is there any chance Miss Maven needs help with anything?”
“Hah,” Carter snorted with laughter at the probably, at least, semi-serious question. “Nice try. In all seriousness though, you are far safer here than with Dani at the moment.”
*
Dani grunted as she leaned away from a searing burst of flame while drilling her elbow down into the pokemon pinned beneath her. They’d been at this for a while now, sweat building on her brow as Dani pounded down with all her strength, both physical and spiritual, while the pokemon bucked and snarled under her. Sliding up slightly, she found the cluster of nerves she was looking for and pressed down even harder. In response, a bone rattling growl cut through the air. To anyone else, it would be a warning of imminent danger, a sign that they should immediately flee the area or be destroyed.
In other words, business as usual.
“Oh, pipe down, Princess. Bloody hell, you have a lot of knots,” Dani groaned as she kept giving the dragon her massage.
“Hydreii!” Princess protested reflexively beneath her, another puff of fire escaping her main mouth.
“You want me to stop then?”
“…Drei,” came the slightly more subdued response, causing Dani to roll her eyes.
“I thought so,” she said as she resumed giving Princess her massage, working out some tight muscles the dragon had built up over time. “What have you been up to, getting this knotted up.”
“Drei-drei-gon-drei-drei-gon-dreigon-hydrei-hydreigon-drei.”
“Mhmm, yeah I got maybe half of that.”
“Dreii!”
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Considering Skittles would still be breathing into a paper bag if delving into someone’s hidden chasm was a euphemism, I take it you lot were exploring again.”
“Dreigon?”
“Eh, don’t worry about it girl. Just focus on staying loose, I’m about to start in on your wing joints.”
“…Hy…dreigon.”
Pfft* “Wow, that sounded like it hurt. You’re welcome though. I know Bo tries, but he massages people like he’s trying to force state secrets out of them.”
Even Princess laughed at that, though she immediately looked away guiltily, making Dani smile. If Princess ever took someone else’s side over Bo’s, you just knew it was true. Honestly, it was almost impressive how Bo’s hands naturally gravitated towards the most sensitive and painful cluster of nerves and how painfully his nails dug into people, no matter how short he trimmed them. Even his handshakes were an exercise in pain tolerance if you weren’t used to them.
In comparison, Dani massaged her own team after their workouts often, having practiced for several years in order to effectively work on a pokemon's denser musculature. It had been years though, since she and Princess had spent time together like this. In the past, when receiving a massage was practically the only time that the spoiled dragon would co-exist peacefully with her. Well, that and…
“Hey, Princess?” she mused wryly, not really expecting to get an answer. “You remember that old story I used to tell you about the dragon and the knight?”
“…Hy.”
Slightly taken back by the cautious agreement, Dani cocked her head, taking in the sudden tension that had run through the dragon. Huh. “Any chance you want me to tell it to you again while we’re here?”
For several seconds, she was greeted with silence. Just once she accepted that she wasn’t going to get a response though.
“………Hy.”
A soft smile found its way onto Dani’s face at the quiet voice. Idly thinking to herself that she supposed the dragon could actually be cute sometimes, Dani started speaking in a low voice as Princess began to relax again. “Once upon a time, there was a magical kingdom full of candy, but it was plagued by a cruel and terrible knight. The whole kingdom lived in fear of his dastardly, duplicitous deeds, until one day, a very kind, very good, and very hungry dragon appeared.”
*
It was late in the evening when Astra had telepathically called for the entire group to gather once again, the haze just starting to fall while the local murder started to rise into the sky once again. Bo looked proudly over the gathered humans and pokemon, each sweating and still drawing in deep breathes from their efforts. Throughout the day, he’d frequently checked in with Astra and knew through her that each and every one of them had given the training their all.
Smiling wide, he stepped forward. “Good work out there, everyone. It’s only day one, but I can already tell we’re in a good place and will only make more progress from here on out.”
Pausing so he could take in the proud smiles and affirming nods of the crowd, Bo raised his voice once more. “So, now that we’re done with the warm-up, is everyone ready to get into the real deal with some full contact battles?!”
This time, thankfully, he was ecstatic to see his rallying cry met with a symphony of enthusiastic, bloodthirsty roars.
‘Ah, now that's more like it.'