“This is humiliatin’...” Mimikyu groaned.
N glanced at the fae on his shoulder as they exited the department store. With the worn out Pikachu disguise stuffed away with his things, Mimikyu had torn apart and hollowed out the body of the doll he’d purchased.
Where before there was a light yellow fabric, now there was pink. The ragged bottom had been replaced by soft curves, with Mimikyu having torn off the legs of the doll. Instead of floppy ears, there was now a floppy dark blue hat with a fuzzy white pom pom on the tip. Similar fuzzy orbs were attached on the nose and chest, only in red. The face, instead of being crudely drawn on, was instead made up of extra materials, with two black buttons for the eyes and a half circle of maroon felt making up the gaping mouth.
N watched as Mimikyu continued to make alterations, sewing up the small holes where the arms attached before tearing the limbs off with his claws, followed by cutting out familiar holes for him to see out of from within the disguise. With their placement, the red pom pom on the chest looked like a clown nose for Mimikyu’s true face, but N figured it would be best not to mention that and act as if there was nothing amusing about it.
“I fail to see what’s so different compared to your usual disguise,” N commented as he took in his friend’s new form. “Is there a problem with… what did she call it… a Mime Jr.?”
“Yeah. There is.” Mimikyu despondently agreed as he stuffed the sewing kit and scraps back where they belonged. “It’s a baby Pokemon. Feels… infantilizin’, I s’pose… ‘n’ there’s also the fact that it’s sorta… punny.”
N was unsure of Mimikyu’s age, but he could see how being made out as younger could be upsetting to some. But on the other matter… “I’m afraid I lack enough context to understand the joke.”
Mimikyu turned his gaze towards him as the Pokemon’s shadowy arms disappeared beneath the new disguise. “Mime Jr. evolves into Mr. Mime when they learn the move Mimic,” he explained in a dry tone.
Ah. That would definitely explain it.
“Why did you choose that one then, if you have such a problem with it?” N inquired.
Mimikyu sighed, looking back out at the passersby as N walked through the streets of Veilstone. “‘Cuz it was the best of some bad options. I ‘splained the others already, but Chatot was out because I’m pretty sure they ‘ave a… reputation ‘round here.”
N frowned. “A reputation?”
“Their signature move is Chatter. I don’ know the details, but s’posedly they repeat words they hear, and uh… well, let’s jus’ say they’re known for repeatin’ words they shouldn’, an’ ‘ave been banned from participatin’ in a lot of stuff ‘cuz of that…”
N blinked. A Pokemon banned from competition because they liked to swear? That was a new one.
“Anyway,” Mimikyu continued, “once it came down ta Buizel or this… well, Mime Jr. are among the group that can become a Fairy type, so I figure this’ll deter people a bit more like my usual disguise, even if that only ends up bein’ one more person.”
“A rational decision then, even if you’re not entirely pleased with it.”
“‘Xactly. I’m jus’ hopin’ it doesn’ take us long ta get ta Pastoria so I can get into somethin’ that isn’ so… this.”
N nodded along. “Well, if that truly is our next destination I don’t imagine it will take long. The path seems straightforward enough, even if the routes are a bit lengthy.”
Mimikyu sighed. “I gotta gut feelin’ that it ain’ gonna be so simple…”
That… was probably fair.
Things rarely seemed to go as planned with the company that Mimikyu liked to keep.
N just hoped that none of them were getting into too much trouble at the moment.
----------------------------------------
Lucas was riding high on the joys of life.
He wished he had gotten a picture of the Looker’s face when his win streak really started to rack up. That went doubly so when one of the employees gave him a free technical machine for Explosion… in exchange for him politely leaving.
Lucas was fairly certain that, after having quickly figured out the secret to those slot machines, he could have stayed there for hours winning more and more coins until the Game Corner had run dry, but…
Well, first of all, there was no way he could turn down a free TM.
Secondly, the look on the Looker’s face as Lucas had promptly shown him up made him feel just the slightest bit guilty.
Thirdly, he still had a lot to do! He couldn’t become like one of those addicts, just playing away all day, hoping to win big as time passed by!
…and fourthly, the Game Corner seemingly wasn’t going anywhere, so he could always come back after he dealt with everything else he needed to do in Veilstone.
Not that he would admit that to anyone. He had a feeling that N wouldn’t approve, even if Lucas was a certified born winner. Though maybe it wouldn’t hurt to brag to Looker every once in a while…
But! Putting thoughts of the Veilstone Game Corner behind him, and still riding high on his victories, he couldn’t shake the feeling that, even if he was no longer spinning the slots, he still wanted to continue his winning streak.
So of course, he went to the only other place in the city where he could get yet another win that mattered. The Veilstone Gym.
Unexpectedly, a face that he hadn’t seen in quite a while was waiting outside the building. Her name escaped him at the moment, but she was an assistant to the professor and he occasionally ran into her while she was out doing tasks for the man. She sort of reminded him of Dawn… if Dawn was taller, older, and not a moron. The girl he had grown up with didn’t exactly have a mind suited for research. Still, though, maybe they were related somehow?
“Lucas!” she called out upon spotting him. “Are you going to take the Gym challenge?” He nodded. “Gee, you keep getting tougher and tougher, don’t you?” He wasn’t sure how she could have known anything about that with how little they saw each other, and so he didn’t respond, but that didn’t stop her from continuing. “As for me, well, I went shopping at the department store, and…” A flash of guilt crossed her face. “I mean, well, of course I’ve been working on my Pokedex, but…”
Whatever excuses she had been coming up with were put to the wayside as the doors to the Gym opened up and a boisterous, very much off key voice belted out an unfamiliar song. The two of them let the newcomer steal their attention, and the man that stepped out seemed well suited to such a thing.
“The r-Ing is my ROI-ling sea! The TOW-ering waves SHA-ped me!”
He was… well, there was no other way to say it other than to just flat out admit that the man was half naked. His legs were bound by teal and black pants that looked to be made of some sort of strange leathery material, a pair of orange boots and a belt sealing them tightly to his skin, but from the waist up his skin was bare.
“CRASH! CRASH! CRASHER WAKE!”
His torso and arms were quite muscular, but the man was a bit barrel shaped, so it wasn’t the sort of body type that Lucas would expect to be shown off. The man’s black hair was cut extremely short, seemingly to cover up the fact that he was balding, and he had a short trimmed beard as well, but his hair or lack thereof was covered up a bit by the strange thing he wore on his head.
“CRASH! CRASH! CRASHER WAKE!”
Three blue straps converged over his nose, splitting his face into thirds in a manner that seemed extremely uncomfortable. On top of that, some sort of strange silvery decoration went over his eyebrows and around his head, great spikes sticking out in a way that reminded him a bit of Roark’s Cranidos.
“I’m the TI-dal wave of POW-er to wash you a-WAY!”
Lucas exchanged a glance with the professor’s assistant, and she seemed just as confused as he felt. What sort of weirdo walks out of a Gym and bursts into song?
The ear piercing “singing” went on for a little while longer before the man suddenly stopped, marching on up to them.
“Hello, dude and young lady!” He bellowed, his volume not coming down in the slightest from his “singing”. “You’re challenging the Gym Leader, are you?”
“Well, actually I-”
The man drowned out the assistant’s response. “Let me tell you now, she’s young, but she’s a born genius!”
She frowned but elected to just let him continue uninterrupted. It was odd, seeing it happen to someone else. He had almost thought that he and Barry were the only ones who had a dynamic like this.
“I tried training with her, and I was stunned by how tough she was!” Suddenly, his eyes went wide and he laughed. “Whoops! I’d better tell you who I am!” Pointing towards himself with a thumb, he smiled. “I’m the triple-threat Gym Leader in Pokemon, wrestling, and song! I’m Crasher Wake of Pastoria Gym! We’ll meet again!”
Without letting anyone get a word in, the man walked off, returning to his singing.
“Put out the FI-re, Crasher Wake! Run from elec-TRICITY, Crasher Wake….”
It took longer than it should have for the sounds of the city to drown out his voice, and Lucas found himself in an awkward silence.
“...triple threat? The only threat here is to my poor ears…” the assistant mumbled. Shaking her head she turned to address him properly. “So, uh, Lucas. Good luck on your Gym challenge. I’ve got to go, now, but see you around!”
And then he was alone outside the Gym.
…what a weird day.
----------------------------------------
Ash’s reaction to the move had Dawn on edge. Ash was… well, he was Ash, so if he was getting all tense and serious, she figured it would be best to get out of here as fast as possible.
“Let’s go investigate, then!” Zoey called out, grabbing onto Dawn’s hand and dragging her along.
As scared as she was by whatever lay ahead, Dawn was more frightened by the thought of being alone, left to spiral into her own thoughts. So she let herself be dragged.
With Ash and Brock following behind, it didn’t take long for the group to find the source of these “Aura Spheres”. There was a pink haired girl around Dawn’s age… sparring with her Pokemon? Standing opposite of her in an open field was a blue and black furry Pokemon, stood on two legs like a human with a metal spike sticking out of its chest. An Aura Sphere appeared in its hands, but when it launched it at the girl she was able to deflect it with a kick. She must be really strong to do something like that…
“A Lucario…” Ash muttered before slowly approaching.
Ash still seemed wary, but this wasn’t the reaction he’d had at Alamos. Dawn forced herself to take steady breaths, trying to calm herself down. This wasn’t going to be a repeat of that.
“Lucario? That sounds familiar, but I can’t place it…” Zoey commented as they followed Ash.
Brock sighed. “Well, you might know of them because–”
Whatever explanation he was about to give was cut off as a group of older men wearing karate outfits walked onto the field, interrupting the girl’s spar. “Maylene! You have a challenger!”
The girl, apparently Maylene, faltered. “What?! But Crasher Wake just left, I’m not ready for a challenge already!
“It is your duty as a Gym Leader to accept challenges, whether you feel ready or not!” It was then that one of them noticed Dawn’s group. “Perhaps there is another challenge to be had as well. You there! Have you come to challenge the Veilstone Gym?”
Ash hesitated for a moment. “Yeah! But if there’s another challenger lined up then I can wait until tomorrow, it’s no big deal!”
Dawn blinked. Ash was volunteering to wait for a Gym challenge? That didn’t seem normal at all. Was this Lucario really shaking him up that much?
“Very well. Come, Maylene! It is rude to keep a challenger waiting!”
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Maylene hesitated, her eyes darting between the karate guys and Ash, but the Lucario grunted at her harshly and she snapped into action, running towards what Dawn assumed was the direction of the Gym.
“Maybe we should go watch this match,” Brock suggested as he placed a hand on Ash’s free shoulder.
“Pika!” The Electric type on the other shoulder nodded.
“Sure, that sounds fun!” Zoey agreed for them.
Dawn’s stomach churned, unable to find the courage to speak up and remove herself from the situation.
“Right. Fun…”
And so the group headed towards the Gym.
----------------------------------------
The Veilstone Gym was a bit different than what she expected.
The outside looked like a traditional Sinnohian mansion, complete with the wall surrounding the grounds, well maintained gardens, and multiple structures with very outdated architecture. Inside, however, was what looked to be a gym. The other kind of gym, with punching bags and boxing rings and the like. They were led through this training area, back outside, and then into another building behind the first that housed the actual battlefield where one of the gym’s trainers was talking to the challenger.
“Lucas…?” Dawn found herself muttering. She hadn’t expected to run into him of all people. Their only interaction since the start of their journeys had been back in Hearthome, and really that wasn’t even that long ago.
Brock apparently heard her. “Do you know him, Dawn?” he asked as they were led into the stands to watch.
She shrunk in on herself. “Ah, yeah, he’s from the same town as me, so….”
“An old friend, then?” Zoey suggested. “Can you tell us what to expect? What sort of Pokemon does he have?”
Dawn floundered. “I, um, don’t really know. Lucas is pretty quiet I guess, but I don’t know anything about how he battles…”
“I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see, then!” Brock thankfully ended the inquiry as they took their seats.
Down on the field, the match was starting. Dawn zoned out as the rules were read out, having heard them enough times to know the basic gist of it.
She didn’t want to be here.
She didn’t want to be around Ash and Brock, around the reminders of some pretty horrible experiences, but trying to get out of this would have meant explaining to Zoey exactly why she had left the group, something which hadn’t exactly come up yet. She didn’t want to be watching a Gym battle, knowing that it meant she’d have to see Pokemon be brutalized.
And yet she sat there, watching as the trainers released their Pokemon.
“A Meditite and an Eevee? Interesting choices. Maylene definitely has the type advantage here…” Brock commented.
“Type matchups aren’t everything, though,” Zoey countered. “Being a Normal type doesn’t mean that Eevee can’t overcome the odds. He might have a good strategy in mind.”
Lucas… started clapping? She hadn’t been paying close attention, but whatever he did must have been a signal, because his Pokemon was overtaken by a white glow as it rocketed towards Maylene’s.
“Fake Out!” the Gym leader shouted, and just before the Eevee could land its attack, Meditite clapped its hands together with Eevee’s furry face in between them. Even from this distance, she could see that Eevee flinched from the sudden attack, recoiling back and putting a bit of distance between them once more.
More clapping from Lucas, and Eevee Growled at Meditite, a shiver running down its small frame as it cowered in fear.
“Confusion!”
At Maylene’s command, Meditite’s eyes glowed with Psychic power and Eevee froze up, held in place. The Normal type cried out as it was lifted into the air, and as it became obvious that Meditite planned to slam it into the ground, Dawn closed her eyes, not wanting to witness such a thing.
But the cry of pain that followed didn’t come from Eevee.
“Wait, what was that?” Zoey asked as Dawn opened her eyes to see Meditite sprawled out on the ground, Eevee panting a short distance away but notably unhurt.
Brock hummed. “Eevee broke out of the Confusion somehow and used the moment of surprise to land a Quick Attack, but I’m not sure how that was accomplished.”
“It sort of looked like a Bite, but… not quite.” When Ash spoke up for the first time, Dawn almost jumped in her seat. She hadn’t noticed how quiet he’d been so far until that moment.
“What do you mean?” Zoey asked as Meditite and Eevee started trying to trade blows more quickly, the Fighting type’s fist taking on an amber glow and Eevee using Quick Attack repeatedly.
“It’s like… when you’re trying to learn a new move and you kind of have an idea of how it goes, but you don’t really understand it. I’ve seen a lot of Pokemon gather the energy up correctly, but fail when it comes to executing the attack when they’re first learning. Right, Pikachu?”
“Pi-ka!”
Meditite failed to land any decisive blows, and while Eevee’s weren’t doing much damage, no obvious cuts or other wounds left behind, it was obvious that Meditite wasn’t built to tank blows like this.
“So you’re saying that the Dark energy of a Bite attack that didn’t complete was enough to disrupt the Confusion? I suppose that’s possible, but for a Psychic type to have such little control over a move like that…”
“Maylene does look pretty young for a Gym Leader,” Zoey pointed out. “Maybe Meditite is a relatively new capture.”
Brock nodded. “Now that you mention it, Meditite does look rather young.”
It also looked rather tired, and Dawn watched as a final Quick Attack knocked it out cold on the floor.
Maylene frowned, her face downcast as she returned her Pokemon, and the Eevee ran back over to Lucas, jumping up into his arms.
“See, what did I tell you?” Zoey remarked.
“He may have won, but I’m not sure I’d attribute it to a well thought out strategy,” Brock rebutted. “The non-verbal commands are an interesting touch, but he’s not using them to their fullest potential if he just has his Pokemon use the same move over and over.
Dawn let herself smile just a bit as she saw the happiness on the trainer and his partner’s faces. This wasn’t so bad, with how tame the fight had been for a Gym Battle.
The smile didn’t stay for long.
What followed was a series of rather brutal takedowns that led to Dawn hiding her eyes behind her hands for most of the match.
Meditite may have been relatively weak, but Maylene’s Machoke made quick work of Eevee, a powerful punch doing critical damage that had the Normal type yelping as it was launched across the room, slamming into a support beam with a sickening thud before falling to the ground unmoving.
But Lucas had apparently started with one of his less powerful team members just as Maylene had, following up with a fully grown Torterra.
Machoke tried, but its efforts were in vain as the giant of a Pokemon put it through a painful storm of Razor Leaf. Hundreds, maybe thousands of cuts littered its leathery skin, oozing blood that splattered all over the floor of the arena. That didn’t deter its spirit to fight, but when Lucas instructed Torterra to follow it up with what Brock explained to be a Mega Drain, there was nothing it could do but collapse.
This time, when Maylene recalled her Pokemon, the doubt and hesitation and fear were much more obvious on her face.
Or maybe it was just obvious to her, because the conversation went on around her as normal.
“Man, that Torterra is really strong, isn’t it?” Zoey whistled, impressed.
“Fully evolved Pokemon do tend to have more potential in combat,” Brock tentatively agreed, “and Machoke is only a middle stage Pokemon.”
“Well yeah, but this is a Gym Leader’s Pokemon we’re talking about. Aren’t they supposed to be the best of the best?”
Maybe Dawn was just projecting her own insecurities onto the girl, but it felt like she could understand every bit of self-doubt flowing through Maylene in that moment. This battle wasn’t going well for her, and Dawn…
Well, Dawn hadn’t exactly been doing so great in contests since joining up with Zoey. Or even before the events of Alamos had left her shaken. Her mom and N had done their best to reassure her after her utter failure in Hearthome, but even still…
“Not necessarily. I’m sure Maylene has plenty of strong Pokemon, but the goal is to give a surmountable challenge. Something to push the challenger, but still give them a reasonable shot at victory. That said though… Machoke may have won against Eevee, but I don’t think Maylene’s team is giving Lucas a proper fight.”
Zoey nodded. “Yeah, it does seem pretty one-sided if you overlook that one good hit that Machoke got in.”
Dawn didn’t know how Maylene did it, though. Gym battles, that is. When Dawn failed, the shame and embarrassment alone ate at her in her every spare moment. When Maylene failed… well, Dawn imagined it was much the same, but the Gym Leader also had to deal with the fact that her Pokemon ended up horribly injured. Battles like this were truly awful, and Dawn couldn’t help but think that maybe they shouldn’t be done at all, even if that might not be a popular opinion.
She saw Ash suddenly stiffen out of the corner of her eye as Maylene released her next Pokemon.
“Ah. The Lucario…” Brock named the Pokemon once more, something odd in his tone.
Something about this was wrong.
Not her… companions’ reaction, and not the fight itself, though she did still have her problems with those.
Rather, something was wrong with Lucario.
When it was released, it took one look at Maylene’s unsteady and unsure expression before turning off to the side of the field, its arms crossed and its eyes closed, making a show of ignoring her.
“Lucario, please. You wanted me to battle, didn’t you?” The Gym Leader pleaded with her Pokemon.
Ash let out a wavering sigh. “It’s just like Charizard, isn’t it?”
Brock slowly nodded. “It sure seems that way.”
Dawn didn’t recognize that name, but Zoey beat her to the punch. “Charizard? That’s a Pokemon, right?”
“Exactly,” Brock agreed. “Charizard is a Fire and Flying type, one of the starters available for people beginning their journey in the Kanto region. Ash has one, and when it first evolved… Long story short, it wasn’t very obedient, even during important battles.”
Ash had another Pokemon? Why hadn’t she ever seen it? Now that she thought about it, it was a little bit strange how Ash only had Pikachu with him when he came to Sinnoh if he had explored other regions.
A clap brought her out of her thoughts and the others away from their discussion. Lucas launched into a set of instructions for his Grass type, and then the field shattered.
Whether Maylene and Lucario were ready or not, the fight was continuing. The dirt beneath the field trembled and cracked into smaller pieces, some of them jolting out and sending the unprepared Lucario tumbling.
When the shaking stopped, Lucario was slowly standing back up, looking sore and battered with its fur coat having lost its luster from all the dirt and dust covering it.
And despite being worse for wear, Lucario went right back to being defiant, crossing its arms and turning its nose up at Maylene once more.
“Lucario, please! You’re just going to get hurt like this!”
Lucario didn’t budge as Torterra snagged it with a Leech Seed, the vines quickly unfurling from the seeds and sapping away Lucario’s strength.
“Is it really just going to stand there and take it?” Zoey asked, dumbfounded as another Earthquake tore apart the arena, sending dust into the air and obscuring their view of the battle.
“It sure seems that way…” Brock sounded uncomfortable. “I realize that there’s a lot to consider as a Gym Leader, but at this rate Maylene should really consider-”
“I concede!” Maylene shouted as a red flash of light recalled Lucario.
The room went silent, and Dawn could see the shock on Lucas’ face.
“Congratulations on your victory,” Maylene shouted to him as she very clearly tried to hold back tears.
But that was all she could handle before biting back a sob and running out of the Gym.
“Maylene, wait!” One of the Gym’s trainers shouted after her, but she was already long gone. With a sigh, he approached Lucas, probably to ensure that he got his badge.
“She just gave up?” Zoey looked bewildered.
“Sometimes you have to put your Pokemon first,” Ash explained. “It’s not an ideal end to a Gym battle, but… well, that’s just how it is sometimes.”
“Pika….”
An idea ran through Dawn’s head in that moment. She hesitated, unsure, but ultimately she found herself standing up. “I’m going after her.”
“Now Dawn–” Brock started, but she didn’t listen, heading in the direction that Maylene had ran off in, hoping that she’d still be able to follow after the girl.
Maybe she could be for Maylene what she wanted after a failure.
Or maybe she’d just make things worse.
But it couldn’t hurt to try! Probably…
----------------------------------------
With no time set for everyone to meet back up, N had decided to take some time to explore the city, even if Mimikyu was reluctant to let people see him in his new disguise.
When he asked around for places that he should visit, two places were at the top of the list.
The first was the Game Corner. Initially, he had been interested. A name like that made him think of some fancy place for fun and games, like what one might find in Nimbasa back home. That idea had promptly gone out the window when he realized that by “game” they exclusively meant gambling.
The other was the site of several meteorites embedded into the ground which apparently were the inspiration to settle at this location in the first place. Space was interesting, even if it wasn’t something he was terribly focused on, so of course he wanted to check it out.
Mimikyu was being weird about it, though.
“It should be fine, I think… but if they’re related then… nah, ‘cuz ya had ta bring ‘em….”
Eventually N decided to interrupt Mimikyu’s muttering. “Mind filling me in on what has you so worried?” The last time the fae’s warning had gone ignored had left them in quite a predicament after all.
Mimikyu sighed. “I don’ think there’s anything ya really need ta worry about, I’m jus’ a bit nervous is all. These meteorites we’re visitin’... they may or may not be related ta some pretty powerful Pokemon, ‘n’ while I’m… let’s say pretty close ta certain that nothin’ will come of it, I’m a bit of a worrywart at heart ‘n’ can’t ‘elp but consider that we might somehow accidentally awaken one or somethin’...”
N frowned. “That sounds like something I should worry about.”
“Nah, nah, even if… even if they do show up, they’re pretty friendly supposedly, there was only one–”
Suddenly, Mimikyu stopped talking.
“Mimikyu?” N turned to look at his friend’s new pink disguise.
A shadowy hand slithered out, forming claws that pointed off into the distance. “I migh’ jus’ be imaginin’ things, but those helicopters up there. ‘Aven’t they been hoverin’ above where those meteorites are meant ta be for a good while now?”
N looked up at the helicopters. “I’m not sure, I hadn’t been paying attention to them.”
“Right. That logo, though…”
N squinted. Apparently Mimikyu’s eyesight was better than his, because he had to really focus to make it out.
On the side of one of the helicopters was the logo in question.
A big, yellow G.
“What’s the problem? Isn’t that just the logo they have on that giant building at the edge of town?”
It wasn’t so unusual for a large corporation to have their own helicopters.
Mimikyu was silent for a moment. “...you’re right.”
“It’s probably nothin’.”