TEEN: Pokèmon Spectrum (An Original Journey Fic) - Weekly Short Story "Movie Time", June 8th 2017

[Jaypom]

Chapter 20:
The Rowlet Outlet​

Still in Seavaille Town and two days until the contest, Jacob is determined to fit in some more training before the contest begins!


“Okay Salamence, center stage!” Jacob shouted, and threw Salamence’s Pokeball into the air.

The Pokeball spun upwards and popped open, releasing a cloud of thick smoke and a large shadow onto the practice battlefield of the Pokemon Center.

Russo, Aries, and Kyoko were all sitting on the back porch and observing Jacob’s training.

As the smoke cleared, Salamence was revealed to be laying on the ground asleep!

Jacob gasped and ran over with his Aipom and Ralts at his side. “Salamence?” Jacob asked and shook the Dragon Pokemon awake.

Salamence peaked one eye open and looked at Jacob before rolling it and returning to its slumber.

Jacob shook Salamence again, this time with the help of Aipom and Ralts.

Salamence shot its eyes open angrily and stood up. It then growled at Jacob and grit its teeth.

Jacob backed awake timidly and smiled cautiously, “Aha, you’re up! What do you say to some training?” he asked, hoping not to get his head bitten off.

Salamence slowly calmed down and looked away. It was not interested in Jacob.

“It looks like Salamence won’t listen to Jacob. I wonder why?” Aries whispered to Russo and Kyoko.

Russo stood up and called out to Jacob, “Maybe it’s still a little tired, how about we have a practice match and wake it up?” he suggested.

Jacob and his Pokemon looked up at Russo. “I suppose that might help,” he replied and turned to Salamence, “Would you like to battle?” he asked.

Salamence continued to look away from Jacob towards the sky, not giving a response.

Jacob scratched his head nervously, “Well… I’m not sure if you want to or not, but I am your trainer. Let’s give it a shot!” he suggested cheerfully, hoping Salamence would copy his emotions.

Russo made his way down to one of the battlefield’s trainer boxes, gripping a Pokeball in his hand as Jacob made his way to the opposite trainer box with Aipom and Ralts at his feet. He held the Pokeball towards Jacob, “Alright, how about a one on one?”

Jacob nodded, “Sounds good!” he replied excitedly. It had been a while since the two had battled. “Are you ready to battle?” he asked Salamence.

Salamence turned towards Russo and glared, ignoring Jacob.

Jacob sighed and smiled awkwardly, “Right…”

Russo tossed his Pokeball onto the field, “Metang, let’s go!”

Metang’s Pokeball spun forwards and popped open, releasing Metang onto the field with a small pulse that blew through the trainers’ hair.

Russo returned his hands to his pockets, “You go first, Jacob.”

Jacob nodded and took out his Pokedex to scan Salamence for its move set.

The Pokedex beeped twice and depicted a picture of Salamence, “Salamence, the Dragon Pokemon, under the ownership of Jacob. Salamence can use the following moves: Dragon Breath, Dragon Rage, and Flamethrower.”

Jacob wondered how he should go about attacking Metang with Salamence’s move set as he returned the Pokedex to his bag. “Okay, let’s start with Dragon Rage…” Jacob ordered nervously.

Salamence looked back at Jacob and glared, not wanting to use the move or listen to Jacob for that matter. It yawned and scratched its butt with its back left foot.

Jacob stared at Salamence, confused. “Are you not going to listen to me?”

“Sala!” Salamence roared in response and flapped its wings, lifting itself into the air. It flew upwards and over the Pokemon Center out of sight!

Jacob gasped, “Wait! Come back Salamence!” Jacob shouted and ran after it with Aipom and Ralts in a hot pursuit.

Russo sighed and returned Metang to its Pokeball, disappointed at the lost chance at a battle.

“Should we go after them?” Kyoko asked subtly.

“I’m not sure. Jacob should learn to control his Pokemon without our help if he wants to be a better trainer…” Aries responded, watching Jacob and his Pokemon disappear from sight.

Jacob ran through the streets of the seaside village of Seavaille Town. He noted how the buildings resembled tropical huts and cottages of the Alola region. “Salamence, wait up!” he called out, pushing aside various people.

Salamence looked down and saw Jacob chasing after it. “Sa! Sa-lam!” it turned and grunted at Jacob. As it turned back around to continue flying, it crashed into another Pokemon! The two dropped from the air and splattered onto a sandy beach off the main path Jacob had been chasing Salamence on.

The Pokemon stood up dizzily and cooed, “Rooo-“. It looked at Salamence as gasped as Salamence was glaring angrily at the tiny bird!

Salamence was immensely larger than the Pokemon, and could easily swallow it whole.

The Pokemon imagined getting eaten and screamed out in horror as Jacob caught up to them.

Jacob blinked and looked at the small Pokemon. He took out his Pokedex and quickly scanned it.

“Rowlet, the Grass Quill Pokemon. Rowlet use their strong legs to unleash vicious attacks. It prefers to sleep during the day and becomes more active at night.” The Pokedex informed.

Jacob smiled excitedly as Aipom climbed onto his shoulder, “Wow, that’s a Pokemon from the Alola region!”

Rowlet looked worriedly at Jacob, afraid for its life as Salamence leaned forward and unleashed a small ring of smoke from its nostrils. “Rowl!” it cooed fearfully.

Jacob ran over and pulled Salamence’s head away from the poor Pokemon, “No! You weren’t looking where you were going, so don’t get mad!” he yelled at Salamence.

Salamence rolled its eyes and grunted before it stomped away across the sandy beach towards the water for a nap.

Jacob sighed and turned back down to Rowlet. “Sorry, my Salamence apparently is a mean old grump.”

Salamence turned and growled at Jacob.

Jacob looked back at Salamence, “Oh do not even start!” he shouted, already tired of Salamence’s misbehaving. He reached into his bag as Aipom hopped off of Jacob’s shoulder to greet Rowlet with Ralts.

The three Pokemon became quick friends due to Aipom’s playful nature and Ralts’ gentleness.

Rowlet smiled happily as Jacob then placed a small cup of Pokemon food down for the three to share.

“Here you go, I’m sure you’re hungry. Think of it as an apology for Salamence scaring you,” Jacob offered. He then turned to Salamence and walked over nervously. He gripped a second cup of food, hoping to give it to Salamence.

Salamence rested angrily on the beach, staring off at the slowly churning waves.

“Um… Salamence?” Jacob asked, hoping Salamence had somewhat calmed down.

Salamence didn’t move its head, but turned its eyes to look at Jacob.

Jacob stood, giving Salamence a warm-hearted smile. “Here you go, I’m sure you are hungry too from all your flying.” Jacob offered, and placed the cup in front of Salamence.

Salamence looked down at the food, surprised at the generous offer.

Jacob half smiled and walked back to Aipom, Ralts, and Rowlet, who had already gulped down the food. “Okay then, we should get back to the center.” He said, allowing Aipom to crawl up onto his shoulder.

Ralts bowed at Rowlet and ran over to Jacob’s side, then waved goodbye to Rowlet.

“Alright Salamence, time to go,” Jacob announced to Salamence, hoping it would get up to leave.

Salamence continued ignoring Jacob by staring off into the waves.

Jacob sighed once more and noticed that Salamence had also quickly gobbled down the food when he wasn’t looking. He smiled slightly as he reached into his pocket for Salamence’s Pokeball.

“HEY! THERE YOU ARE!” shouted a deep, angry voice.

Jacob jumped back, startled by the shouting. He noticed a tall, hairy man approaching him.

The man was dressed in a red flannel shirt with a green vest and black ski-cap on his head. He had on muddy, worn-out jeans and faded black, leather boots. He also had a noticeable, dirty and tangled beard that hung down a little past his neck.

Jacob placed a hand on his hip and looked at the guy up and down, “Can I help you?” he asked, confused at his shouting.

The man grit his teeth angrily and glared at Rowlet, who had managed to sneak behind Jacob for cover. “That Rowlet is mine! I’ve been chasing it for days, so give it to me!” he ordered at once.

Rowlet cooed worriedly and hid behind Jacob, scared of the man.

Ralts ran in front of Jacob and was joined by Aipom, both determined to keep Rowlet away from the man. They sensed something was off about him.

The man scoffed and tossed out a small, black and pink bird Pokemon from a Pokeball.

“Vula-vula!” it crowed.

Jacob took out his Pokedex and scanned the Pokemon, “I think that’s a Vullaby,” he murmured.

“Vullaby, the Diapered Pokemon. Vullaby bully Pokemon that are smaller than itself due to its insecurities about flying,” the Pokedex informed.

Jacob returned his Pokedex to his backpack and looked at the man. “Well if you’ve been chasing it for days, how come you haven’t caught it? If you want to train it that bad it shouldn’t be that hard to befriend it.”

The man snickered, “You think I want to train it? HA! I’m going to sell it,” he replied.

Jacob gasped as Rowlet covered its eyes with its wings. “You- You must be a- “

“Pokemon Hunter, that’s right kid.”

Jacob backed away slowly, and looked down at Rowlet, “I can see why you’re afraid of this man. Nobody wants to get caught and sold off for a quick buck.”

Rowlet nodded and flew upwards onto Jacob’s shoulder and nuzzled against his cheek, thankful that Jacob understood its issue.

Aipom and Ralts both stood at the ready to attack the hunter.

Jacob returned his attention to the man, “Obviously this Rowlet doesn’t want to go with you, so I’m going to help it.”

“Aipa!” Aipom squeaked defensively.

“Ra-ra!” Ralts shouted in agreement.

The man cackled, “Whatever. Vullaby, use Gust!”

“Vula-vula!” Vullaby chirped and flew into the air. Its wings became covered in a faint glow before it flapped them and created a gust of wind that blew Jacob and his Pokemon backwards onto the ground.

“Now use Feint Attack!” the man ordered.

Vullaby then turned downwards and flew at a high speed towards Aipom and Ralts who had begun to stand up.

Rowlet gasped and flew off of Jacob’s shoulder. It turned and flicked forward a spiral stream of leaves the knocked Vullaby’s aim off and crashed it onto the ground.

Vullaby looked up dizzily, then grew angry and annoyed with Rowlet, tired of chasing it down. It chuckled and disappeared into thin air.

Rowlet looked around worriedly but was smashed into from behind by the Vullaby’s sudden appearance! Rowlet tumbled to the ground in pain as Vullaby returned its attention to Aipom and Ralts.

“Aipom use Swift, and Ralts use Disarming Voice!” Jacob commanded as he ran forward to retrieve Rowlet.

Aipom jumped into the air and fired and arc of spinning yellow stars from its tail and Ralts unleashed a flurry of pink soundwaves from its mouth.

The attacks collided with Vullaby as Jacob picked up Rowlet.

“Are you alright?” Jacob asked worried.

Rowlet blinked and nodded, “Rowl” it cooed and smiled.

Suddenly, Vullaby had appeared before them. It smacked them hard with one of its wings, sending Rowlet flying from Jacob’s clutches and onto Salamence’s head!

Salamence opened its eyes and noticed Rowlet was sitting on its head, stunned for some reason. It looked over and noticed Jacob in the heat of battle against a rugged man.

Rowlet sat up and looked around, then realized it was on top of Salamence. “Rowl-rowl” it chirped.

“Sala?”

“Ro-rowl-rowl”

“La…mence….”

Salamence sighed and stood up, then turned its attention towards the hunter.

Jacob looked over and smiled at Salamence, “You’re up?! Are you here to help?” he asked excitedly.

Salamence stomped over and glared at the hunter.

The hunter felt his body go limp out of fear and clutched his Vullaby like a stuffed animal.

Salamence took a deep breath and fired off a stream of red and orange fire that scorched the hunter and his Pokemon.

The hunter coughed, puffing out a small cloud of smoke. He looked at himself and realized he was covered in black soot! He quickly backed away with Vullaby in his grasp, then ran off and out of sight, not wanting to deal with Salamence.

Salamence huffed and lowered its head, allowing Rowlet to hop off it and onto the ground.

Jacob smiled excitedly at Salamence, “Wow, that was really nice of you! Are you ready to listen to me now?”

Salamence looked away from Jacob, signaling that it was a no.

Jacob sighed, but then laughed to himself. He gazed down at Rowlet, who was happily celebrating with Aipom and Ralts over the defeat of the hunter, and smiled. He squatted down to look at Rowlet, “Well Rowlet, looks like you’re free.” He announced.

Rowlet stopped celebrating and looked at Jacob. It was somewhat sad and didn’t want to say goodbye to Jacob and his Pokemon. It was so thankful for the food and the protection it received. It smiled hopefully to Jacob and waddled over to nuzzle against Jacob’s leg.

Jacob stared down at Rowlet, “Wait… do you want to come along with me?” he asked.

Rowlet opened its eyes and nodded at Jacob. “Rowl!” it chirped hopefully.

Jacob grinned excitedly and immediately stood up. “That’s awesome!” he shouted giddily and reached into his bag for an empty Pokeball. “Alright then, let’s go Pokeball!” he said and tossed the Pokeball onto Rowlet.

The Pokeball bounced off Rowlet’s head and popped open. It sent out a small beam of red light that surrounded Rowlet and sucked it inside. The ball closed and fell to the ground. It slowly shook three times and beeped, then released a flurry of white stars to signal the capture was complete.

Jacob grinned from ear to ear and picked up the Pokeball. He gazed down at it excitedly, having caught a new Pokemon with quite ease. “Ok Rowlet, center stage!” he called and tossed Rowlet’s Pokeball into the air.

Rowlet’s Pokeball popped open, releasing Rowlet into the air with tiny flaps of its wings. It cooed and looked down at Jacob happily. It was ready to begin its new life under a proper trainer, instead of a Pokemon Hunter.

Spoiler: CHAPTER 21 PREVIEW

Jacob: Well look who has the same amount of Pokemon as Russo.
Russo: So what, I'm miles stronger than you'll ever be.
Kyoko: You measure your strength in miles?
Russo: Yeah, and I'll prove it to ya too!
Jacob: Well where do you want to battle?
Villa: How about at the Battle Diner?
Jacob: GAH, You're here?!
Russo: Next time, The Battle Diner of Eats and Greets !
Jacob: Lemme guess, you're here for the Seavaille Contest?
Villa: How smart of you.

 

[Jaypom]

Chapter 21:
The Battle Diner of Eats and Greets!​

With only one day left until the contest, Jacob must get in the last tidbits of training to make sure he is as prepared as possible! However, it seems a set of visitors is tying a knot in Jacob’s focus…

As the clock struck 9 o’clock AM, Jacob shot out of bed with the force of a thousand Black Friday shoppers. He quickly changed into his everyday wear of a black, button-up flannel shirt with a white undershirt underneath, a set of fading black jeans, and dimming combat boots. He noted that he should update his outfit choices within the coming days. He slipped on his backpack and rushed towards the practice battlefield.

As he made his way into the main lobby of the Pokemon Center, Jacob recognized a familiar, childish cackling. He shuddered and immediately placed the laugh to a face… Villa! Jacob felt himself grow timid of the wicked girl, knowing she was an insane, spoiled brat who seemed to get whatever she desired.

Villa slammed her fist onto the counter of the Pokemon Center reception desk, which alerted Nurse Joy. “Excuse me,” she squealed in a high pitched voice, “I’m here to check into a room for me and my friend here,” she noted and pointed to Hilda, who was standing behind her like a silent giant.

Nurse Joy typed in a few things on her computer and then stood up. “I’m afraid there isn’t a room available right now. You’ll have to check back later,” she replied calmly.

Nurse Joy’s Cinccino was standing next to her. It nodded apologetically as Villa glared at Nurse Joy.

Villa pricked her hand into a claw and slid her nails along the metal of the desk, “I don’t think you heard me…” she replied with a wide smile.

Nurse Joy looked at Villa up and down, then immediately returned to looking at her computer. “There is a room that will open at 3 PM. You are welcome to leave your bags here while you wait, otherwise you can find somewhere else.” She replied sternly yet mildly fearful.

Villa slid her claw off the desk and walked away with an accomplished grin. She stopped when she noticed Jacob, “Oh wow, what a nice surprise to see you here, Jacob! I suppose you are here for the contest?”

Jacob nodded, “Y-yeah. I got in a few days ago with my friends,” he replied nervously with his body shaking slightly.

Villa could see she made Jacob uneasy. She smirked and began to twirl one of her two curly, bright blond pigtails. “Since we last met, I’ve earned my first ribbon. After you beat me in Iridale, I whipped myself into shape to take back the ribbon that is rightfully mine.”

Jacob stopped shaking and narrowed his eyes at Villa. “Rightfully yours? I won that ribbon fair and square. You lost to Olivielle, remember?”

Villa dropped her fake smile and rolled her eyes. “I suppose that did happen. Whatever, my point is that I’m going to be the big winner tomorrow. Not you,” she teased.

Jacob turned his attention to Hilda, who had shuffled behind Villa silently. “Hi there Hilda, hope you are doing well,” Jacob said, trying to at least be friendly. He noted she had seemed bulkier than the last time they had met, and was also sporting a subtle 5 o’clock shadow.

Villa smirked and pointed her thumb back at Hilda, “He better be. His HRT shots are taking effect as the doctors had hoped,” she announced proudly.

Jacob raised his eyebrows, “Oh wow, I didn’t know Hilda was transitioning. That’s great!”

Villa momentarily dropped her fake nature towards Jacob to appreciate Hilda’s courage to transition. “Yes, he’s finally able to go about this change. He told me about this around a week ago, and it was rough at first, but I came around… ACK, Don’t throw me off topic!” she squealed, realizing that she was being polite.

Aipom came running down the hallway and jumped onto Jacob’s shoulder. “Ai-aipa!” it squeaked happily and nuzzled Jacob’s cheek as a way of saying ‘good morning’. It looked at Villa and stared coldly, still remembering when she tried to take it the day that Jacob left for his journey.

Russo, Aries, and Kyoko all joined them after having left their room. They were all surprised to see Villa in town as well.

Villa decided to brag about Hilda’s transition again with the arrival of a new audience.

As she did so, Jacob shuffled over and smiled kindly at him. “Does she do this often?” he asked.

Hilda nodded silently.

He began to answer, but was interrupted as Villa returned and began dragging him away, “C’mon! You wanted to battle at the local Battle Diner, didn’t you? Well we have the time and I don’t feel like standing here for hours and hours,” she said as she managed to pull Hilda away with ease.

Russo perked up upon hearing Villa. “Battle Diner?! It’s open?!” he shouted, surprised by his discovery.

“What’s a Battle Diner?” Aries asked.

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “They are various restaurants scattered over the Accelia region. If you attend one and battle another customer and win, you get a free meal. They are formatted similarly to the Battle Clubs of Unova, but are run by an entirely different family,” he informed.

“I’ve never heard of them,” Jacob muttered.

“That’s because you’re a coordinator. As a person taking on a gym challenge, I know all about them. Sadly, there wasn’t any in the towns we’ve passed through, but I didn’t know there was one opening here!” Russo replied, more excited than usual.

Villa grinned and closed her eyes, “Yes, one is opening today. Hilda is going to crush a bunch of trainers today and I’m going to thoroughly enjoy him pummeling people to a pulp!”

Hilda scratched his head and tried to respond, but was pulled off once again by Villa.

Russo turned to the others and clenched his fist, “I wanna go too. I’m all pent up from not battling a new trainer and I’m sure there will be tons to pick from!”

Jacob took Aipom off his shoulder and held it in his arms, “Well I’m down for it. Maybe I can get some training in with Rowlet.”

Aries placed her hands on her cheeks and swooned, “And if you win then we can get a free meal that I’m sure is delicious!”

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “Then I suggest we attend.”

The group nodded and proceeded to follow Villa and Hilda to the newly opened establishment.


The Battle Diner of Seavaille Town was a medium sized structure. It had a square front that was made out of white, stone cut blocks which were separated by dark oak wood to give a tiled appearance. It resembled a Japanese shrine from its exterior looks, but upon entering, the interior vastly juxtaposed the exterior. The inside was a large, open room with two stories. The first floor had a dirt battlefield in the center and a surrounding flooring made of shiny, blue metal. On both sides of the room, were wooden stairs that led up to a second floor where tables were set up for customers to watch the battles down below from a square balcony that was open in the center. The place was packed with people hoping to watch the various battles that were sure to take place.

A woman dressed in a black blouse and skirt with a red apron greeted Jacob and his friends. “Hello and welcome to the Battle Diner of Seavaille Town. Today is our Grand Opening event where all customers will receive a free meal, regardless of their participation in a battle. I was told to invite you all to one of our other guest’s table.”

Jacob looked around and noticed a slyly grinning Villa who was peering down at them from a table where she sat alone. “That’s… great I suppose,” he replied, allowing her to lead them up to Villa’s table, much to a lot of the waiting people’s dismay.

The woman led them up the stairs and onto the surprisingly sturdy, second floor. She glided through the rows of tables and arrived at one in the middle of the balcony that had an outstanding view of the field below.

Aries was in awe. “Wow, how did you get such an amazing table here?” she asked Villa as she took a seat.

Villa was resting her elbow smugly on the table, “I have connections. Now you all watch as my sweet Hilda crushes his opponent.”

Jacob, Russo, and Kyoko took their seats as well and looked down at the battlefield.

The waitress from before had already made her way back to the first floor to take her place as the referee.

“The waitresses at these diners are the main face, all coming from the same family. Each one is named Rosemary and they are quite skilled in foodservice, as well as the art of battling. They serve as the referee for all the battles that take place here.” Villa informed as a male waiter brought out pre-ordered drinks for her and Jacob’s group.

Aipom wedged free from Jacob’s grip and climbed onto the railing of the balcony. It sat down and eagerly awaited the first battle that would take place.

Hilda entered from one side of the battlefield while another boy entered from the other side.

The other boy was young and slightly muscular. He was wearing a blue vest and light blue jeans with black and red sneakers. His dark brown hair was slicked down and to the side, resembling a more groomed version of Russo’s.

Rosemary raised her hands into the air, “This Battle Diner match between Hilda and Declan will now get underway. Each side will use one Pokemon and the battle will be over when either sides’ Pokemon is unable to continue. Please select your Pokemon.”

Hilda quickly took a Pokeball from his overalls and tossed it onto the field, releasing a small, gray and red humanoid Pokemon that was gripping a large wooden beam.

The boy, Declan, took out his Pokeball from one of his vest pockets and tossed it onto the field, releasing a small, light blue and black kitten Pokemon.

Jacob took out his Pokedex and scanned both of the Pokemon, with Hilda’s first.

The Pokedex beeped once and began its informing process. “Timburr, the Muscular Pokemon. Timburr carry a large, wooden beam with them to prep for carrying large items as it grows,” the Pokedex informed and then paused to switch to Declan’s Pokemon, “Shinx, the Flash Pokemon. Shinx light up the furs on its body if it feels it is in danger. It then runs away while its opponent is stunned.”

Rosemary lowered both of her hands, “Let the battle begin!” she announced.

“Use Flash!” Declan commanded, taking the opportunity of the first move.

Shinx quickly charged a current of electricity throughout its body and began emitting a bright light from its fur, stunning Timburr.

Timburr covered its eyes but had already been effected pretty severely. It rubbed its eyes to try and return its vision.

Declan smirked, “Now use Spark!”

Shinx growled and darted forward, surrounding its body in blue bolts of electricity, and slammed into Timburr.

Timburr grabbed hold of Shinx as they slid backwards from the velocity of Shinx’s attack.

Hilda spoke his first words of the day, “Send it flying with Strength!”

Timburr, still blinded by Flash, coated itself in a faint white aura. It then spun around and tossed Shinx into the air, colliding with the ceiling.

Shinx shook its head to clear off the effects of the attack. It tried to move but noticed it had become lodged in the stone from the force of the throw!

“Now use Rock Smash” Hilda grunted.

Timburr opened its eyes wide, having lost the effect of the Flash. It placed its wooden beam on the ground and looked up at the stuck Shinx. It squatted twice, then jumped into the air with a clenched fist, coated in a reddish-orange glow, and sucker punched Shinx loose.

Shinx fell to the ground and cowered in pain as Timburr dropped down enough to leave minor footprints in the thick dirt of the battlefield.

Villa swooned over Hilda, “That’s my Hilda! Don’t ever doubt his Timburr’s strength.”

Russo noted Villa’s bragging before he stood up from the table with a slight snicker. “I’m going to have myself a battle,” he announced.

Jacob took a sip of his drink and looked over, “No surprise there. Any person you have in mind?”

Russo walked up to the railing and looked down, “I want to battle whoever wins the match, that way I’m battling a strong trainer either way.”

Villa scoffed, “Looks like it’ll be Hilda then.”

Shinx stood to its feet, feeling itself at half of its total health.

Declan appeared to be a little put off by how strong Hilda was. “Shinx, use Shock Wave!”

Shinx charged a current of blue electricity through its body and shot off a streak of lightning towards Timburr.

Hilda shifted his feet, “Timburr, use Strength and knock it away, and then wrap the battle up with Rock Smash.”

Timburr grabbed ahold of its wooden beam, once again glowing in a faint white aura, and swung the beam at the Shock Wave like a baseball bat, dispersing the sparks across the field.

Jacob watched in awe, “Wow, that was an amazing display of power!”

Villa smirked again, “Well, I taught him that deflection move after all.”

Timburr tossed its beam aside and charged at Shinx once again with a red, clenched fist.

“Use Flash quickly!” Declan ordered, but it was too late.

Shinx began to emit a bright flash of light, but was interrupted by a second punch from Timburr, knocking Shinx onto the ground and out of the battle.

Rosemary smiled and held her hand out towards Hilda, “Halt! Shinx is no longer able to battle, therefore the winners are Timburr and Hilda!”

Timburr returned to its trainer and smiled confidently.

Hilda smiled slightly before returning it to its Pokeball for a rest.

Declan sighed and scratched the back of his neck, “Damn, I was close too. Good match out there, man” he said to Hilda as he walked over to shake hands.

Villa stood up from her chair and shouted from the balcony angrily, “HANDS OFF!”

Declan looked up at Villa, annoyed by her shouting. “What? I was trying to be a good sport!” he replied.

Rosemary stood in between Declan and Villa, “Please don’t shout. You are both welcome to finish your conversation on the second floor.”

Declan nodded and followed Hilda up to where Jacob, Villa, and the others were sitting.

Waiters had already brought out plates of various foods for the trainers to eat.

Declan shoved his hands into his pockets and took a seat at the table between Jacob and Villa, who gave him a defensive glare. He smiled awkwardly, “My name is Declan, mind if I join you?”

“You already did,” muttered Russo as he took a bite out of a steak. He looked down and was thoroughly surprised at how flavorful the meat was.

Aries poked at her food, trying to decide which piece would be her first. “So Declan, what kind of trainer are you?” she asked.

Declan picked up a knife and began driving it into the table out of boredom from waiting for a plate of food. “I’m a gym battler. Just got my second badge from Breezeville and decided to stop here for a little bit of training before my next match.”

Villa laughed snobbishly, “Wow, two badges and you lost to my Hilda who only has one. Guess that means Hilda is a shoo-in to win the league tournament.”

Russo rolled his eyes, not caring for Villa in the slightest. “How was your match there?” he asked, hoping to receive more insight to the leader there.

Declan licked his lips as a plate with a juicy, steaming steak arrived for him. “Well, it’s a three on three match with a girl named Skye. She specializes in Flying-Type Pokemon, which are all pretty agile. My Shinx managed to wipe through most of them with a few Shock Waves,” he answered and reached into his Pocket to reveal a silver badge case. He opened it to show his two badges, the Blaze badge and another one that looked like a swirling gust of wind. “Breezeville gives out the Breeze badge. Skye is a tough trainer so I’d say not to let your guard down.”

Russo nodded and returned to silently eating his steak.

Villa giggled, “Can we please return to how my sweet, sweet Hilda won that match without issue? Honestly, there was no contest.”

Everyone rolled their eyes and ignored her as they continued eating.

“So Hilda, Villa said you got your first badge?” Aries asked.

Hilda nodded and took out his shining red badge case, revealing a Blaze Badge tucked inside. “After the contest, we’re heading to Darkton City to challenge the gym there.”

“Darkton City is south of Criss-Cross Cavern. The city itself is known for its battle tournaments thanks to its century old Colosseum. They used to hold the Accelia League there up until a few years ago when they had to move due to advancements in technology unfit for the building,” Kyoko informed as he picked at a pile of peas on his plate.

Aipom stood on its tip-toes to look onto the table. It snuck a few fries off Jacob’s plate and snuck away to nibble on it.

Villa poked her lips out, not enjoying the ignoring. “Yes, well Hilda doesn’t want to challenge the gym in Breezeville right now. Darkton is much stronger and normally takes challenges from people with at least two badges.”

“Since when do gyms have badge limits?” Jacob asked, noticing Aipom had taken some of his food. He picked up a handful of fries and placed them on a smaller plate that he gave to Aipom.

Russo swallowed a piece of his steak and sipped his glass of water. “Some gyms have requirements to battle. Solarus only allowed challengers to battle if they had three Pokemon, while some require badges. It’s different for each town.”

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “Accelia’s League prefers for trainers to all go about similar paths to reach eight badges. It’s supposed to encourage rivalries and growth in people.”

Aries tsked, “What a bunch of bologna. I doubt it does anything except make people more competitive than they already are.”

Declan noticed Jacob feeding his Aipom some of his food. “So what’s your story?” he asked as he leaned his elbow on the table.

Jacob turned and looked at him. “Me? I’m a coordinator. We’re here so I can participate in the contest tomorrow and win my second ribbon.”

“More like fail to win,” Villa slyly muttered.

Jacob glared at Villa for a moment before finishing talking to Declan. “Me, Russo, Aries, and Kyoko are all traveling together,” he informed and pointed at each of his friends, identifying them for Declan.

Declan nodded and looked at each of them before returning his gaze back to Jacob.

Jacob felt weird, getting stared down by Declan before he turned back to Aipom.

Russo wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, “What are you looking at?” he asked Declan.

Declan smirked and shook his head, “Nothing. So what about you two?” he replied to Russo and then asked Aries and Kyoko.

Aries pointed at herself. “Well I’m mostly just along for the ride I guess…”

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “And I was kicked out of my village by my aunt, but I am going to challenge the Battle Frontier.”

“Well, a Frontiersman. Haven’t met one of those yet,” he chuckled.

Rosemary returned to their table to check up on the meal. “So trainers, how is your food?” she asked kindly.

“It’s delicious!” Jacob answered.

Everyone continued eating their food while nodding.

Russo burped and stood up, “Alright, now it’s my turn. Rosemary, I’d like to have a battle!”

Rosemary nodded, “Alright then, who would you like to have a match with?”

Russo began to answer, but was interrupted as Declan stood up.

“I’d also like to battle agin. I’ll be challenging Russo, if that’s fine.” Declan announced.

Everyone looked at Declan, surprised at his challenge!

“Russo, you’re obviously a gym challenger, so I want to battle you. I may have lost to Hilda, but I doubt you’ll beat me,” he taunted Russo.

Russo wasn’t sure why Declan thought he’d win and shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever. I wanted to battle Hilda, but I guess this works too.”

Rosemary nodded and escorted the two trainers down to the battlefield.

Everyone finished their food and scooted their chairs over to the balcony to make sure they had a good view for the battle.

“So, Jacob, are you going to have a battle after them?” Aries asked.

“I’m not sure. It depends how I’m feeling. I originally wanted to practice with Rowlet, but I’ll worry about that after the contest,” Jacob answered.

Rosemary reached the referee’s box as Russo and Declan reached their trainer’s boxes. She held both of her hands into the air towards Russo and Declan, “Alright, this battle between Russo and Declan will now begin. Each side will use one Pokemon each and the battle will end when either side is unable to battle. Choose your Pokemon and let the battle begin!”

Russo quickly grabbed a Pokeball from his pocket and tossed it forward, “Metang, let’s go!” he shouted.

The Pokeball spun forward and popped open, releasing Metang on the field with a sharp pulse of air.

Declan felt the pulse push through his loose hair, “Now Turtwig, you’re up!”

Declan’s Pokeball spun into the air and popped open, sending out a small, green turtle Pokemon.

“Turt!” it grunted.

Jacob took out his Pokedex and quickly scanned his Pokemon, “That’s a starter Pokemon from the Sinnoh region… I think?”

The Pokedex beeped once and flickered on, then began feeding information on Declan’s Turtwig. “Turtwig, the Tiny Leaf Pokemon. Turtwig snap at their foes with their sharp mouth. Their shell is made out of dirt which can be analyzed to tell how healthy it is.”

“You’re welcome to attack first, Russo.” Declan called out, glancing up at Jacob for a tiny moment.

“He keeps looking at you,” Aries noted to Jacob.

“Yeah, but I’m not sure why,” Jacob replied as he picked up Aipom and to hold on his lap.

“Metang, use Metal Claw,” Russo ordered.

Metang charged its claws with steel energy and clanged them together, creating white sparks that flowed along them. It shot forward and swiped at Turtwig.

Turtwig took the aattck head on and stumbled backwards. It stood up and shook away the pain, and then looked determinedly at Metang, faking how hurt it actually was.

“Wow, it didn’t seem to do all that much,” Russo muttered. “Now use Zen Headbutt!”

Metang charged its skull full of psychic power, causing it to glow a bright blue aura. It shot forward once again to headbutt Turtwig.

“Dodge and use Leech Seed!” Declan called.

Turtwig jumped into the air as Metang flew under it. It then turned and shot out a tiny seed from the twig on its head, enveloping Metang in health-sapping vines.

Metang glowed a dark red and began to have its energy drained by Turtwig.

Turtwig hued a faint, white light and regained a bit of its health that was lost by Metal Claw. “Turt-twig!” it grunted.

“I’ll have to wrap this battle up quickly, before Metang loses anymore health,” Russo thought to himself. He shoved his hands into his pockets, “Use Confusion!”

Metang’s eyes glowed blue as it shot out three blue rings from its claws at Turtwig.

“Use Razor Leaf,” Declan ordered.

Turtwig slid backwards from the Confusion pulses and shook its head from side to side, releasing a flurry of sharp leaves that slashed across Metang.

Metang felt its body take more damage from Leech Seed and fell to the ground, feeling like it had begun to reach its limit.

“Just remember this battle!” Declan called out to Jacob before giving his final order to Turtwig. “Use Tackle!”

Turtwig darted forward at an immensely high speed and crashed into Metang, knocking Metang across the ground.

Metang’s body felt the rest of its health become sapped by Leech Seed as it fainted, symbolizing the end of the battle.

Rosemary held her hand into the air, “Battle over. Metang is unable to battle, therefore the winners are Turtwig and Declan.”

Declan crossed his arms and smiled victoriously at a shocked Russo, “Well, well. Looks like I was stronger after all,” he chuckled. He pulled out Turtwig’s Pokeball and returned it for some rest.

Russo looked down at Metang with his mouth slightly dropped, “I… I lost,” he murmured to himself. He silently returned Metang to its Pokeball and walked forward to shake hands with Declan.

“I did not expect Russo to lose,” Aries whispered to the others.

“By simple laws of math, it would seem Russo is weaker than Hilda as well. He most likely would have lost if he originally had gotten a battle with him,” Kyoko informed as he cocked his glasses.

Villa scoffed, “Well of course. Hilda won’t ever be beaten.”

Declan shook hands with Russo and turned to depart from the diner, getting one last glance up at Jacob as he left for his next destination.

Jacob slightly tightened his grip on Aipom, “Why does he keep looking at me like that…” he muttered to himself.

Aipom looked up at Jacob, wondering why as well.

Russo returned to his friends on the balcony. “Well that was a bust,” he said as he scratched his head.

“Sorry you lost. That Turtwig was a lot stronger than it looked,” Aries replied, hoping to cheer him up.

“I just lost track of things I guess. It’s fine,” Russo replied as he returned his hands to his pockets. His friends couldn’t see, but his hands were clenched into angry fists.

Villa grabbed ahold of Jacob’s arm and gasped. “Do you know what time it is?!” she shouted.

Jacob screamed and tried to back away, “NO?! LET GO OF ME!”

“The contest registration has begun and I completely forgot! We need to head over right now,” she announced and dragged Jacob away by his shirt sleeve.

“Someone save me!” Jacob called out in horror, as his friends watched him get dragged away by a determined Villa.

Spoiler: CHAPTER 22 PREVIEW

Jacob: You guys are just going to let Villa take me away? She's a psycho!
Russo: I'm just gonna think about some stuff after battling Declan.
Aries: Do not tell me you are getting in a mood again! Why are you so emo?
Villa: Are you guys talking about me?
Jacob: Next time, Babying a Baby Coordinator !
???: Um hello... could you... possibly... help me enter the contest?
Jacob: You're so... tiny?
???: Please?!

 

[Jaypom]

Chapter 22:
Babying a Baby Coordinator
Realizing that registration for the Seavaille Contest would be closing soon, Villa has taken Jacob away in order to make it in the nick of time.​

“Villa, quit dragging me! You’re gonna strangle m-” Jacob managed to choke out before being dropped on his face.

Villa looked down at him and cocked her head, “I was only trying to be friendly,” she replied innocently.

“Nothing about you is friendly,” Jacob replied as he stood up and brushed himself off. He looked above Villa’s head and noticed that she had dragged him all the way to the contest hall.

The building was about the size of a small baseball stadium. Inside, the structure mimicked the theme of Seavaille town’s Kanto-esque wooden beams and stone blocks.

Villa made her way to the registration counter and plopped down her Trainer ID. “I’d like to register,” she snapped.

The woman appeared to be tired of registering people and rolled her eyes. She slid the ID over to her and slowly typed on her computer, annoying Villa with her Slugma-ish speed.

Jacob held Aipom in his arms, glad he managed to grip it tightly. “Well, we’re here now. I was hoping to train a little more, but I’m glad we got to see Russo battle someone… even if he lost.”

“But Dad, I want to participate!” shouted a voice.

Jacob looked over and saw a short, brown haired girl arguing with an older man. He guessed the man was in his late 40’s, with the girl a couple years younger than Jacob. He wondered why the man wouldn’t let, whom Jacob assumed to be, his daughter do what she wanted. He debated walking over before Aipom jumped out of Jacob’s grasp and ran over to see what the commotion was about.

“I’m old enough to take part in the contest so why can’t you let me?” the girl pleaded.

Aipom crawled up to them and began watching.

“Because I do not want you out there in this cruel world! Don’t you know how dangerous it is to travel alone?” the man replied gruffly.

Jacob managed to sneak up and grab Aipom, who squeaked and caused attention to fall on the two. Jacob backed away awkwardly, “Aha, sorry! I didn’t mean to barge in. I’ll be going back to register now.”

The girl realized Jacob was a coordinator and ran up to him, then looked back at her father. “See, this boy is a coordinator. He can tell you how safe it is to be out there in the world!”

“To-gi!” agreed a small, egg-like Pokemon in the girls arms.

Jacob didn’t even notice the girl was carrying it. He looked at the man and thought about the time he was attacked by a Pokemon hunter for his Rowlet, and also when Team Element attacked them in Criss-Cross Cavern. “Well, it’s not so bad. Everywhere is dangerous if you think about it.”

The girl puffed her cheeks out, “I’m 16! I’m old enough to go out on a journey and I’m going to do it. I can win five contests and then become Top Coordinator!”

Her father gazed down at her sternly. He didn’t seem to want to budge and let her have her way.

Jacob wondered why he wouldn’t even let her be in a contest, considering they were already in town. “Well, if you are so against her entering, I can watch her if you want?”

The girl gasped and looked up at Jacob, “I’m not a child! I don’t need a babysitter.”

The father scratched his chin, “I suppose… but it’s not like I can have someone watching over her when I’m not around.”

“Attention, attention. Only five minutes until the Seavaille Contest registration closes. Please make your way to the counter immediately if you have yet to do so,” announced the woman at the front desk over the loud speakers.

The girl looked up at her father, “Listen here Dad, I’m old enough for this. I’ve trained so hard, and a contest is happening right here in our hometown. This is my chance to prove to you how much I’ve grown. Please, let me prove to you I can win.”

Her father looked down upon his daughter, not even confident in her abilities as a trainer. He sighed, “Fine. In fact, I want you to prove to me how much you have grown by winning this contest. If you win, I’ll let you go.”

The girl smiled brightly, “Really? Oh thank you daddy!” she cheered and hugged him.

Jacob was moderately surprised that her defensive demeanor had changed to be so kind and loving towards the man who clearly doubted her skill.

The girl backed away and glanced at Jacob before running off towards the registration line.

The girl’s father looked at Jacob and huffed before leaving him alone with Aipom.

Jacob looked down at Aipom and shrugged as they walked back towards the line where the girl had managed to finish her registration.

The girl turned and looked back at Jacob as he walked up towards the receptionist and handed him his Trainer ID. “I don’t need a babysitter,” she muttered.

Jacob looked away, “I’m not planning on it, shrimp.”

“Don’t call me that!” she shouted back.

“To-gi! To-pi!” the Pokemon in her clutches agreed.

Aipom waved towards the girl’s Pokemon, trying to be friendly, but was met with a defensive stare. Aipom backed its head into Jacob’s chest, not flattered by the response.

“Sorry, that was rude of me I guess. I’m Jacob, glad you can enter the contest.” Jacob apologized.

The girl smiled slightly, “Well… I accept your apology. I’ve gotten teased about my height for all my life so I’m kind of used to it… except when strangers do it right off the bat. My name is Minnie.”

Jacob thought about how fitting her name was and chuckled to himself before noticing the receptionist woman was holding out his ID. He took it and switched it with his Pokedex to scan her Pokemon.

Jacob’s Pokedex clicked on and scanned Minnie’s partner. “Togepi, the Spike Ball Pokemon. Togepi emit happiness from their egg-shell body, which can act as a protective shield from attacks.”

Jacob closed his Pokedex and returned it to his bag. “Neat Pokemon, is it your partner?”

Minnie nodded, “Yeah, I’ve raised it from an egg myself. My mother gave it to me before she passed away, so it’s sort of her memento.”

Jacob ran his hands along the necklace his mother gave him, “Yeah, I can understand that to some extent.”

Minnie clenched her fist, “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow in the contest. I hope we get to battle each other,” she replied and quickly ran off to pursue a last-minute training session.

Jacob watched her leave before looking around for Villa, or any other returning coordinators he might have to deal with. She seemed to have snuck out without even saying goodbye, much to his happiness. He smiled and left the contest hall, greeting Kyoko as he made his way outside.

Kyoko had walked over after parting with Aries and Russo. He cocked his classes and greeted Jacob, “Hello. Aries and Russo went back to the Pokemon Center, so I came here to meet you. Would you like to head back as well?”

Jacob nodded and walked with him. He realized he never had any alone time with Kyoko before and wanted to make some conversation. “So, Kyoko, how’s training for the Battle Frontier?”

Kyoko began to cock his glasses but stopped himself. “It’s… coming along. I don’t expect to do as well as Izzy, but I will give it my best shot. Are you ready for your contest tomorrow?”

Jacob smiled, “Yeah, I think so,” he replied and returned to walking silently alongside him. After a few more moments, “Kyoko, have you spoken to your aunt recently?”

Kyoko stopped, causing the light from the afternoon sun to glare over his glasses. “No, why do you ask?”

“Well you are her nephew, and you used to live with her. I’m sure she’d love to hear from you,” Jacob replied, grasping on to his drowsy Aipom.

“I suppose I can give her a call. I did not really talk to anyone in my village all that much. I mainly kept to myself.” He replied blankly, resuming his walk with Jacob.

The sun had gotten lower as they continued their walk, now peeking through the treetops with a subtle orange light.

They arrived at the Pokemon Center and found Russo lying in the lobby on a couch while Aries rested against a column.

Jacob noticed Kyoko glance at a Video Call Booth and wondered if he’d take his advice.

Russo sat up once he realized that Jacob and Kyoko had returned. He stayed silent, however, with the thought of losing to Declan still on his mind.

Aries wondered why her friends weren’t speaking. She opened her mouth to break the silence, but hesitated and leaned back against the column.

The sun lowered below the trees and allowed the sky to turn black with night.

The group quietly marched to their room and went to sleep, not saying a word due to each having their own looming thoughts over their minds.



The next day, Jacob silently put on his contest outfit once again. He ran his fingers over his mother’s necklace and wondered how she was holding up. He hadn’t called her in a while, so he assumed she must be worried.

Russo sat up in his bed and ruffled his bedhead hair. He rubbed his eyes and noticed how early it was, “It’s not even 8 AM, what are you doing up?” he asked.

Jacob stopped rubbing his hands over the necklace. “I couldn’t sleep all that much.”

Aries sat up in her bed as well, already dressed for the day. “I was the same way. I got ready hours ago,”

Kyoko spun around in the lounge chair of their room, “Me as well.”

“Why couldn’t you guys sleep?” Jacob asked.

Russo lowered his head, “Well, my loss against Declan was pretty shocking for me. I haven’t lost a battle in a while, so it took me by surprise. I’m just not sure what I could have done differently.”

“I’m just worried that my village doesn’t miss me. I haven’t spoken to them in so long, and I never spoke to them all that much in the first place,” Kyoko added.

“I’m worried I won’t win my contest, with not having done as much training I could ,” Jacob added on as well.

Aries got out of her bed, “And I’m worried over why you all were so quiet last night. It’s the first night we didn’t really talk to one another, and I was scared there was something wrong between us all.”

Russo rolled his eyes, “But we didn’t get in a fight or anything. We all just had things on our mind.”

“It seems our group silence led us all to fall into a minor depression and worrying state. Perhaps, if we talked more about was bothering us, we wouldn’t have an issue like this in the future,” Kyoko suggested, as he stood up and cocked his glasses.

Aries rolled out of bed and nodded, “We are friends, so we should be comfortable to talk about what worries us and ask for help when we need it.”

Aipom hopped off of Jacob’s bed and climbed up his shoulder.

Jacob smiled to himself, “Aries is right. Let’s just be honest with each other from now on.”

Russo leaned back in his bed and looked away. His bangs had fallen over his eyes and covered them from everyone else. He didn’t enjoy how mushy everyone was getting. “Whatever, just let me sulk and I’ll be fine in a few days.”

Aries walked over and smacked him across the back of his head, causing Russo to turn and look up at her angrily. She pointed her finger at him as though he were a Growlithe that had disobeyed its trainer. “No,” she mocked.

Russo tsked and rolled out of his bed as well, immediately heading for the bathroom in his underwear. “I’ll meet you at the contest hall,” he replied as he slammed the door and began getting ready.

Aries crossed her arms, hoping their chat back in Iridale Town was enough to snap him out of his emo phases, but it didn’t seem to do the trick. She jumped to the conclusion he was prone to depression from certain triggers, such as seeing Professor Oswald or his loss to Declan.

Kyoko stood up and cocked his glasses, “Me and Jacob can head to the Contest hall while you wait here for Russo.”

Russo immediately slammed the door open and revealed himself as fully dressed. He refused to look his friends in the eye and hid his mouth behind his upturned shirt collar as he looked away. “Its fine, we can walk together.”

They all made their way to the contest hall as Russo managed to make the whole trek as awkward as possible with his depressing silence. They made their way to a large standing area at the side of the stage where Jacob immediately took out two Pokeballs.

Jacob tossed them in the air and let Salamence, who was sleeping peacefully, and Rowlet onto the floor. He knelt down and pat Rowlet on the head. “I want you to watch everything that goes down okay? I plan to use you in my next contest,” he said cheerfully. He then looked up at Salamence and walked over.

Salamence breathed deeply, signaling it was awake and new Jacob had walked up to it.

“The same goes for you… with the idea you’ll want to listen to me.” Jacob ordered, trying to act stern towards Salamence.

Salamence huffed and turned its head away.

Aries looked out on the stage for the contest, noting it had a similar setup to Iridale Town, but the flooring for the stage was sand instead of wood. “We’ll watch over them for you. Russo can go get us some chairs since he doesn’t want to talk.”

Russo sighed and walked off in search for Aries’ desire as Jacob bowed and parted ways with his friends. On his way, Jacob was stopped by Russo. “Did you want something?” Jacob asked curiously.

Russo looked Jacob dead in the eyes and then looked away and smirked, “Good luck. Getting a second ribbon today will put you farther ahead of the other coordinators.”

Jacob smiled and nodded, glad that Russo seemed to snap out of his sulking… at least for his sake. He turned and headed for the backstage area where he found his fellow competitors.

Villa was once again seated at a large vanity to apply her make-up in the best lighting she could find.

Minnie was gazing up at the TV monitor put up for the coordinators to watch while waiting for their turn to head onstage. She was dressed in an orange sundress and had her hair curled into two thick bands in the front while the rest was pinned up into a pony tail and tied with a ribbon on top.

Jacob walked over and plopped himself next to her.

Aipom leaned over Jacob’s shoulder and waved at Minnie’s Togepi in her hands.

Togepi looked away, not intrigued by Aipom in the slightest, causing Aipom to lower its head in embarrassment.

“You all ready for the contest?” Jacob asked.

Minnie was vastly friendlier than she was yesterday. She nodded excitedly, “Definitely. I put the finishing touches on my combinations and am stoked to prove myself to my dad.”

“Is he in the stands?” Jacob asked.

Minnie pointed at the screen and noted a man sitting in the center of the front row. “He got here as quick as he could, claiming he wanted a seat to watch the train wreck,” she sighed.

“Why doesn’t he have faith in you?” Jacob asked, shocked by her father’s actions.

Minnie’s smile turned upside down. “My family has lived in Seavaille Town for generations, and not one of us had left on a journey. I just really want to explore and see what Accelia and other regions have to offer, as well as win the Grand Festival,” she replied, quickly returning to her previous cheerful manor.

Jacob smiled and nodded, hoping she would get to embark on her journey as she desired.

The lights in the contest hall dimmed and everyone inside quickly quieted down and turned their attention to the main stage.

Maxim Rhapsody made his way on stage with Chingling hanging off his neck like a scarf. He twirled his contest wand like a baton and greeted the audience. “Hello! Welcome to this year’s contest in Seavaille Town! I’m your host, Maxim Rhapsody,” he bellowed.

The audience cheered excitedly for Maxim, adoring his slightly altered color scheme from black to a sandy-white to reflect the Seavaille sands.

Aries, Kyoko, and Russo were plopped down in their chairs to the side of the stage as Salamence rested behind them and Rowlet teetered on a railing in front of them.

Maxim raised his wand, with the top popping off to reveal a beautifully decorated sandy-white ribbon with a gold center. “This is what our coordinators will be fighting for today, the Seavaille Ribbon! Now then, onto how today’s festivities will be working. As you all know, contests in Accelia are split into two rounds, the performance and the battle rounds. We have 16 coordinators today and only 4 will be moving onto the battle rounds after you, the audience, will submit votes on your favorite performance. Shall we get started?”

The audience let out a cheering “Yes!” in unison, with Russo the only one to sit out on the shouting.

Maxim bowed, “Alrighty then, let’s get this performance underway with our first contestant!” he announced and pointed towards the opening curtains where a confident Villa was standing before the crowd. “Behold, Villa of Port City!”

Villa quickly twirled out onto center stage and posed for her fans. “Yes, yes, now Glameow let’s dazzle!” she announced and tossed her Glameow’s Pokeball into the air.

Glameow popped out into a flurry of multicolored hearts that popped as each one collided with one another. It spun in the air and plopped down onto its spring-like tail.

“That girl is psycho, watch out for her,” Jacob whispered to Minnie.

“Now Glameow, use Shadow Ball and then Tail Whip,” Villa began.

Glameow formed a pulsing sphere of purple and black energy, then tossed it into the air. As the Shadow Ball made its quick ascent and descent, Glameow stuck its tail out straight and into the air, and began motioning it in a juggling motion as the Shadow Ball danced around Glameow.

The audience was thoroughly impressed with Glameow’s tail movement and the ability to keep the Shadow Ball from falling to the ground.

“Finish with Quick Attack” Villa cheered as she made her way towards Glameow.

Glameow tossed the Shadow Ball back into the air. It gathered a glowing white energy around its body, then jumped into the air at a massive speed as though it were a bullet charging towards a target. It collided with the Shadow Ball, causing the black and purple energy to be absorbed into the Quick Attack, creating a dark-star themed comet for Glameow to zoom around the stage, leaving the audience in awe as the brilliant black and purple light from the shadow ball left gorgeous sparks around the stage. Glameow finished by returning to its trainer’s side and quickly dispelling the combination with a flick of its tail.

Villa bowed before her fans graciously and returned backstage as Maxim spun his way over to the center. “Quite a stunning first performance from the always lovely, Villa! Now let’s introduce contest number two-” Maxim began as a second coordinator took the stage.

Jacob crossed his arms worriedly. He wondered about what would happen if he went up against Minnie and defeated her. If she lost, she’d be stuck from going on a journey, and he understood that when someone desires to leave, they’ll do whatever they can to do so. Jacob was so deep in his thoughts, he wasn’t aware that a majority of performers had already finished, leaving him and Minnie as the only remaining performers for the round. He gazed up at the screen and watched as she stood before the crowd.

Maxim, from the side of the stage, held his hand out towards Minnie. “And now, our 15th performer! Her name is Minnie, and is coincidently from Seavaille Town, so give a big round of applause!”

Minnie curtseyed before she took out her Pokeball. “Alright Azurill, let’s shine” she called and tossed the Pokeball into the air.

The Pokeball popped open and released a whirlpool of spinning, clear bubbles that revealed a small, blue Pokemon bouncing on a ball like tail. “Azu-azurill!” it cheered.

Jacob took out his Pokedex and scanned her Pokemon, surprised she wasn’t using her Togepi.

“Azurill, the Polka-Dot Pokemon. Azurill bounce on their ball-like tails, and can use them to fend off against larger enemies with a forceful swing,” the Pokedex informed.

Azurill joyously bounced around the stage, instantly gaining the crowd’s attention and compliments on its cuteness.

“Okay Azurill, use Bubble and then Icy Wind,” Minnie asked kindly.

Azurill laughed and opened its mouth wide. It fired off a gentle stream of blue water bubbles that combined with the clear bubbles released from its Pokeball Seal. It then breathed a gust of ice flurries that instantly froze the bubbles, allowing them to dance threw the air as Azurill bounced across each bubble.

Villa appeared silently behind Jacob, “It seems that new girl is playing with the cuteness factor.”

Jacob jumped, not expecting Villa to come out of nowhere. “What do you mean?”

“Well look at her. She’s this small girl with a small adorable Pokemon, which will of course catch the audience’s eye with its bouncing around on its tail along with the gorgeous Icy Wind-Bubble combination. It pisses me off they like her more than me!” Villa replied.

“Finish up with Hyper Voice!” Minnie chanted.

Azurill hopped off its frozen bubble flurry and released pulsating soundwaves that instantly popped the fragile, frozen bubbles and created a rain of blue and white ice flurries that gently fell across the audience and stage.

The crowd clapped loudly, amazed with Minnie’s performance and ability to show off her Azurill!

Maxim greeted Minnie on the stage, “That was quite an impressive show! I expected nonetheless from someone who would want to represent their hometown during its seasonal contest.”

Jacob turned and ran for the main stage, realizing he forgot to get to his spot to perform on time! As he made his way towards the arena, he slowed and leaned forwards, allowing Aipom to hop off his shoulder. He then picked up his run again as Aipom followed on foot. “You’ll have to wait on the side of the stage while I perform okay? Since you aren’t allowed on stage when you aren’t performing.”

Aipom nodded as the two reached the side of the stage where Maxim had already led Minnie to the exit.

Jacob took a deep, anxious breath. He knew he hadn’t practiced as much for this performance as he had for Iridale. Thoughts of utter failure filled his mind as he heard Maxim announce his name.

Aipom smacked the back of Jacob’s leg for good luck and watched as its trainer ran to the middle of the stage.

Jacob smiled brightly for the audience and gave them a huge wave before taking out Ralts’ Pokeball. “Alright Ralts, center stage!” Jacob cheered and tossed Ralts’ Pokeball into the air.

Ralts popped out of its ball and twirled as a flurry of pink cherry blossoms followed it in a hot pursuit. It landed on the ground and blushed in front of the audience, leading the audience to aww at its kind nature.

Jacob held his hand into the air, “Okay Ralts, use Magical Leaf and then Confusion.”

Ralts immediately turned serious. It suddenly began spinning like a top to unleash a flurry of rainbow colored leaves into the air to join the cherry blossoms from its Seal. It halted spinning after a few twirls and stared up at the magic salad it had created above it and its trainer. It surrounded the leaves in a blue, psychic energy, and began sending them each and every way as though a large gust of wind had blown a tree’s clothing away.

Aipom watched as Jacob’s performance somewhat mimicked Minnie’s, with the use of combining the Pokeball Seal with an attack, and then using another move to control them. It looked out into the crowd and noticed they seemed somewhat entertained. It then worried that Jacob’s performance seemed half-hearted.

Jacob noticed as well and wondered how he could spice things up. “We’ll have to try something new,” he muttered and tried his luck on his second command, “Use Teleport and Disarming Voice repeatedly.”

Ralts looked back at its trainer, unprepared to pull off a combination like that on the first try. It gulped and jumped into the air, then vanished into a white flash. It reappeared in the middle of the blossom-magical leaf air-salad and fired off a small, pink soundwave that dispersed the combination into pink sparkles. Ralts gasped as it understood what Jacob was going for. It proceeded to repeat its Teleport-Disarming Voice combo to systematically destroy the blossom-magical leaf combo until pink sparkles rained across the stage. It landed in front of Jacob and bowed with him.

Jacob looked up worriedly, hoping his change to the performance would go over well with the audience.

The audience stared up at them in amazement and took to their feet, clapping a little more intensely than they had for Villa.

Backstage, Villa angrily stomped in her place, causing other coordinators to look at her and fear for their lives!

Maxim made his final trek onto the stage and joined Jacob, “Quite an ending performance from Jacob of Ichigo Town! He showed off just how well Ralts can control its Teleport move and allow it to move about the stage so quickly.”

Jacob quickly picked up Ralts and ran to the side of the stage where Aipom sat and awaited his return. He smiled and allowed Aipom to climb up onto his shoulder before running off once again to join Russo, Aries, and Kyoko in their seats. As he made his way over, Maxim finished reading the instructions on voting for coordinators to make it onto the semi-finals.

Russo looked up as Jacob stood before them, panting and out of breath from his constant jog. “Pretty sweet performance,” he congratulated, having already casted his four votes for Jacob.

Kyoko cocked his glasses as Rowlet flew over and joined Jacob on his other shoulder, opposite of Aipom. “I’d say that your chance to move onto the semi-finals is quite high once again, despite your reckless second half of the performance.”

Rowlet nodded, impressed with Jacob’s performance and wishing it could have taken Ralts’ place.

Aries stood up and crossed her arms, disappointed that Jacob would pull a stunt like winging a performance. “Why would you risk not moving on like that?”

Jacob scratched the back of his head, embarrassed that they all knew he changed the routine. “Well, I got worried that it would look a little stale. Besides, it seems a lot of people were giving me applause?”

Maxim’s Chingling let out a chime to attract the crowd’s attention, signaling the votes had been tallied.

Jacob looked up at the stage intensely, feeling his heart begin to pound with anxiety seeping in. He realized his Pokemon were picking up on his emotions as well, with each of them looking up at him worriedly.

Salamence peeked one eye open with nobody paying attention to it, wanting to see how well Jacob ended up doing. It smirked in the fact nobody had noticed it watching his performance.

Maxim pointed upwards at a large monitor that appeared above him, “Attention ladies and gentlemen, on screen is the four coordinators who will be moving on to the next round!”

Four empty portraits appeared on screen. One was filled in to reveal Minnie as the top performing coordinator. The second portrait revealed Jacob as the second most voted performer. The third revealed Villa, and the fourth revealed a boy named Austin, who had used a Sandshrew in his performance to show off its control of sand.

Jacob breathed a sigh of relief, glad that his stunt went over well with the audience.

Salamence smiled slightly and went back to napping as Jacob turned to look at it, thinking he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

Russo reached up and patted Jacob on the back, “Nice job man, looks like you’re on to the battle rounds.”

Aries looked up at the screen and pointed, “But it doesn’t look like you’re out of the woods yet…” she informed as Jacob turned his gaze up at the monitor.

Villa suddenly joined the group with Hilda at her side. She cackled loudly. “Well, well. Looks like we finally get to battle after all,” she informed, having seen she was Jacob’s opponent for the semi-final battles.

Spoiler: CHAPTER 23 PREVIEW

Minnie: Wow, I can't believe I was the audience favorite!
Villa: Don't get used to it, with me being the true star of the show!
Jacob: Last I checked, the story revolved around me?
Villa: Don't say such a horrible thing! I'm the adorable princess of Accelia!
Jacob: You also aren't a princess!
Minnie: Is this really what its like to be in a contest?
Jacob: Next time, Sights Set on the Seavaille Ribbon !
Villa: You'll get used to it.
Jacob: But you'll never get used to Villa.

 

[Jaypom]

Chapter 23:
Sights Set on the Seavaille Ribbon
Last time on Pokemon Spectrum, Jacob entered the Seavaille Contest alongside his rival Villa with the hopes of earning his second ribbon. Jacob also met a new coordinator, named Minnie, who is determined to win after making a bet with her father. Now, Jacob has learned he’ll finally be facing Villa in battle!​

Jacob looked at Villa determinedly. He knew they would eventually be faced against each other if they kept entering the same contests, and that time was now.

Rowlet cocked its head as it waddled over and looked up at Villa, having never met her before.

Villa looked down at it and suddenly went googly-eyed! She picked it up and began hugging it tightly, “Oh wow! You just have the most adorable Pokemon,” she squealed.

Rowlet felt like it was getting strangled, so it retorted with a powerful Peck to Villa’s forehead and quickly flew away when Villa let go to rub her injury.

“Are you going to use that Rowlet in the battle round?” Villa asked, subtly wanting revenge for Rowlet attacking her during her hug.

Jacob held up his arm for Rowlet to land on, “I haven’t gotten a chance to train with Rowlet for a battle, yet, so I’m going with Aipom.”

Villa smirked, “Interesting, so that means I’ll still have the advantage.”

“What makes you say that?” Aries butted in.

Villa quickly tossed out a Pokeball, releasing a small, blade covered, humanoid Pokemon at her feet. “Because, my newest team addition is quite the powerhouse.”

“Pawn!” the Pokemon nodded.

Jacob took out his Pokedex with his free hand and scanned the Pokemon.

“Pawniard, the Sharp Blade Pokemon. Pawniard’s body is made out of sharp blades to be utilized during battles. If the blades begin to dull, it will spend hours on end to re-sharpen them,” the Pokedex informed.

“I caught this little beauty after my defeat in Iridale. It just so happens to love battling and taking out those who piss me off,” Villa bragged.

“She really enjoys switching between being overly kind and overly snobby,” Kyoko whispered to Russo, who was ignoring their conversation.

“We should get going, your battle will begin in a few minutes,” Hilda stated gruffly and escorted Villa away from the others.

Jacob watched them leave as quickly as they appeared. He wondered why she had bothered showing which Pokemon she’d be using against him, thinking it’d put her at a disadvantage if he changed his mind at the last second. He shoved the thought away and looked back at his friends with a confident grin. “Alright, only two battles until I get my second ribbon!”

Rowlet cooed lovingly and rubbed its face against Jacob’s cheek, wishing it’s trainer the best.

“You can do it, Jacob. We’ll be cheering you on from here on the sidelines!” Aries cheered with a snap of her fingers.

Jacob nodded and allowed Rowlet to fly off his arms and over to the bannister in front of Aries.

Ralts followed as well and climbed up next to Rowlet, joining it for an amazing view of the battlefield.

Jacob turned to leave, with Aipom on his shoulders, and noticed Salamence continuing to remain by itself. He walked over and rubbed his hand along Salamence’s neck, disrupting its rest and causing it to look up at Jacob. He smiled down at it, “Hope you’ll watch me too.”

Salamence rolled its eyes and went back to sleep as Jacob departed from his friends. As he left, Salamence peeked an eye open at Jacob and watched him leave, definitely planning to watch how well its trainer racked up against various foes.

“Alright, ladies and gentlemen! It’s time for Round 2 of the Seavaille Town Pokemon Contest,” Maxim announced as the lights dimmed and drew everyone’s attention to the stage. “In this round, two trainers will battle it out to prove who is the top coordinator. Trainers can win the battle in one of three ways. They can lower their opponent’s score to zero, knock out their opponent’s Pokemon, or have the higher score when the timer of 5 minutes runs out! So, let’s welcome our first two coordinators who will be battling in the semi-finals!” Maxim informed as he welcomed Villa and Jacob onto the stage.

Villa glided in confidently from the left side of the stage. She waved elegantly to the audience and blew them multiple kisses, gaining her a massive round of applause.

Jacob walked in from the right side, unsure of how he’d greet the audience so he smiled awkwardly and gave a thumbs-up… gaining him a few claps from various locations in the audience. “Glad I’m the fan favorite...” he mumbled.

As Jacob and Villa reached their trainer boxes, with Pokeballs in hand, Maxim raised his hand into the air. “Alright, five minutes on the clock… and we’re off!”

The clock began ticking as Jacob and Villa quickly sent forth their Pokemon.

“Okay Pawniard, let’s dazzle!” Villa announced, as she sent out Pawniard in an array of black and white sparks.

“Aipom, center stage!” Jacob called, as he sent out Aipom in a flurry of rainbow stars that spun around its tail like a vortex.

Both Pokemon glared at each other determinedly, not wanting to lose for the sake of their trainers.

“Now, Pawniard use Fury Cutter!” Villa began.

Pawniard quickly charged forward, creating a large blade of green and red light on its hand, and slashed at Aipom.

Aipom spun out of the way, leaving tracks in the sand of the battlefield.

Pawniard viciously followed and continued swiping at Aipom, with each swipe getting stronger and stronger as Aipom narrowly continued to dodge.

“Use Iron Tail!” Jacob countered.

Aipom quickly charged its tail full of shining, steel energy and countered Pawniard’s Fury Cutter to create a brilliant light that left the audience in awe.

Pawniard pushed Aipom off and backed away to catch its breath.

Jacob could feel Aipom gaining an upper hand after its counter attack, “Now use Iron Tail again!”

Aipom launched itself by using its tail like a slingshot towards Pawniard. It began gathering steel energy into its tail once again for another powerful swipe.

“Use Feint Attack,” Villa commanded eerily.

Jacob wondered why she’d use Feint Attack, considering it’s a full-body attack.

As Aipom swung its tail at Pawniard, Pawniard disappeared into a black smoke, causing Aipom to fall to the ground out of confusion. Pawniard then reappeared behind Aipom and slammed into it, causing Aipom to slide along the sand and strip Jacob of a large amount of points.

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “I see. So she used Feint Attack like a bait to get Aipom in close, then dodge and attack in rapid succession. That’s impressive,” he noted to Aries and Russo.

“Yeah, but she’s a hothead. Her Glameow went down in one hit last time I attacked it, so I don’t expect Pawniard to have a ton of defense,” Russo added.

Rowlet and Ralts watched worriedly as Aipom struggled to stand from such a powerful hit.

Aries watched as the clock showed only two remaining minutes for their battle, and Villa in the lead by a massive amount of points. “He just needs to find a way to beat her…”

Aipom managed to stand up, but it was breathing heavily and was pretty low on health. It looked back at its trainer, worried it wouldn’t make it through the battle.

“We can’t give in, not to Villa!” Jacob shouted determinedly at Aipom.

Minnie watched the TV from backstage. She wondered if Jacob could even pull off the fight, so she’d get her chance to fight him once she surely won her match.

“Use Double Team and then Swift!” Jacob commanded.

Aipom took a deep breath and sent out a storm of Aipom doubles that surrounded Pawniard. As it began charging all the power it could into its tail, Villa found a way to hold off.

“Iron Defense!” Villa countered.

Pawniard crossed its arms in an x-like fashion and caused its body to become coated in a shining metallic armor.

Aipom sent forth the multiple Swift attacks from each of its copies, causing all to converge on Pawniard and a dust cloud from the sand below.

As the cloud cleared away and the Swift continued, Pawniard remained unfazed with its increased defenses.

The clock ticked closer and closer to zero and Jacob still was behind Villa in points.

Aipom landed on the ground and continued its flurry of Swift attacks.

“We’ll have to combine it with our new move!” Jacob announced, causing Aipom to look back and nod.

“New move?” Aries wondered, looking at Kyoko and Russo who were both unware that Aipom new more than three moves.

“Okay, use Shock Wave!” Jacob ordered, planning to utilize Villa’s defense to his advantage.

Aipom felt a surge of electrical energy flow through its body as it unleashed two bolts of electrical energy from its tail that combined with the Swift and electrocuted Pawniard in the process.

“No way!” Villa shouted as Pawniard was zapped with tremendous power as well as struck by the hundreds of Swift stars from the Aipom copies.

Aipom grew tired and ceased its attack, dispelling the copies and the Shock Wave as Pawniard stood in its place with the energy sapped from it.

Pawniard fell to the ground as the clock stopped with five remaining seconds.

Maxim held up his hands, “What a comeback! With only five seconds remaining, Jacob and Aipom managed to make an extreme comeback on Villa and her Pawniard! With that, Jacob will be moving on to the final round.”

Jacob breathed a sigh of relief and fell to his knees as Aipom ran into his arms tiredly. The two embraced as Villa stomped her foot angrily and fled the stage in a blind rage. Jacob got to his feet and exited the stage to converse with his friends, but ran into Minnie upon his exit.

She was holding her Togepi in her arms and looking up at him determinedly. She smiled slightly, “Well fought battle.”

Jacob smirked, “Thanks! Good luck on yours, because I only won so we’d battle in the finals,” he replied and walked away.

As he left, she looked back at him. “Why?” she wondered.

As Jacob reached his friends, Minnie had entered the heat of battle with her opponent and had already gained the upper hand.

“That was an amazing comeback!” Aries applauded, assured Jacob was a goner.

Jacob laughed, “Yeah, I’m just glad she used a steel move to make her Pawniard a lightning rod.”

“Interesting that you thought of that counter so quickly, and that it was enough to knock out her Pokemon.” Kyoko added.

“Well don’t count your blessings just yet, look down there.” Russo said as he pointed towards Minnie, who had managed to defeat her opponent in less than a minute.

Jacob held Aipom tightly, glad that she managed to win against her opponent. He wondered just how well he’d do when they fought, and if he’d have to resort to a different measure depending on the progression of the battle.

“You better get back down there. We’ll be rooting for you,” Aries assured as she shuffled Jacob away.

“Right, right. I’ll see you guys after the contest,” Jacob replied and quickly hurried back to the stage, not realizing how much less time he ended up having for a break. He made his way back to the stage, but to the left entrance instead of the right. He looked out onstage towards Minnie, who grasped her Togepi’s Pokeball in her hands. Jacob looked down at his Aipom and released it onto the ground. He took out a Super Potion and began spraying its wounds to quickly heal it for their final battle. “Alright Aipom, I need you to hear me out on this…” he began as he mumbled a plan.

Maxim returned to the center stage and gazed out at the audience. “Are you all ready for the final round?!” he asked, riling the crowd into an excited frenzy.

Minnie turned her attention back to the stage and noticed Jacob rubbing his Aipom’s head before returning it to his Pokeball. She then began walking towards the battlefield as Maxim welcomed her and Jacob to the stage for the final battle of the Seavaille Contest.

Jacob stood smiling in his trainer box, “Okay Minnie, time for us to battle,” he called out to her.

Minnie nodded silently.

Maxim held his hand up towards the above clock, “On my left, we have Jacob, and on my right, we have Minnie. Five minutes on the clock, and we’re off!”

Jacob and Minnie quickly threw out their Pokeballs to get their battle underway, and win themselves a ribbon!

“Aipom, center stage!” Jacob called as Aipom appeared from its Pokeball in a flurry of rainbow stars once again, but instead entered by riding on top of one and landing on the stage using its tail as a padding.

“Togepi, let’s shine!” Minnie called as Togepi appeared from its Pokeball in a flurry of pink hearts that popped as Togepi lightly punched each one on its descent to the field. It looked at Aipom determinedly, but was surprised when Aipom’s returning expression was a smile instead of a glare.

Minnie didn’t understand why Jacob and his Aipom had a different expression towards her than he did against Villa. She thought he almost felt… sorry for her. Instead of attacking him, she held up her hand. “Hold on, don’t tell me you’re throwing this match?” she asked.

Jacob’s smile faded. He didn’t realize she’d catch on. “Uh… well…”

Minnie glared at him, “Don’t. You. DARE! I’m here to prove myself and here you are making things easy!”

Jacob and Aipom felt like they were getting yelled at for breaking one of Babs’ vases. They had assumed they were doing a nice thing, but it seems Minnie doesn’t exactly appreciate it.

Villa watched angrily with Hilda in the audience. “That jerk beat me in my match just to throw it for her? The nerve!” she shouted, seething with rage.

“How am I supposed to prove that I can defend myself against wild Pokemon and the world itself if my opponent is going easy on me! That’s not how the world works!” Minnie shouted, with a small tear forming in her eye. She was so disappointed in Jacob, hoping she’d have a fun match but now angry that Jacob would just throw away a chance at a ribbon for her to leave.

Minnie’s father was thoroughly shocked at her daughter’s outburst. He had never felt to much determination from her, even during her defense of entering the contest and setting out on a journey of her own.

The clock continued to tick as Jacob and Minnie looked at each other.

Maxim was confused, “So… are you going to battle?” he asked.

“You’ll only accept victory if you truly beat me?” Jacob asked, fine with actually battling her.

Minnie’s anger began to fade into a slight smile, “That’s right.”

Jacob held his hand out, “Then let’s stop goofing off, Aipom use Iron Tail!” Jacob replied.

Aipom shot forward and charged its tail full of steel energy.

“Use Extrasensory!” Minnie countered.

Togepi’s eyes glowed gold as it sent forth a multi-colored beam that knocked Aipom back and dissipated its Iron Tail.

“Use Swift” Jacob continued.

As Aipom landed, its swung its tail and unleashed a flurry of gold stars that hurtled towards Togepi.

“Rock Smash!” Minnie responded. She had never felt this way in a battle. She felt like they were in sync, and that each move was another step in their waltz towards the Seavaille Ribbon.

Togepi jumped up as its stubby arm turned a reddish-orange. It quickly punched each of the stars, causing them to burst into yellow sparkles that showed off the fierce determination in Togepi’s eyes. As it finished off on the last Swift star, it jumped towards Aipom to land a finishing blow.

“Double Team!” Jacob shouted. He enjoyed this battle, because he knew this was testing Minnie for when she entered more and more contests, and battled trainers she was sure to meet on the road. He knew if he didn’t try his best, then her father would have never accepted her victory. He felt like a fool for thinking he could throw this match for her.

Aipom quickly created multiple copies of itself as Togepi’s Rock Smash collided with it, realized Aipom had already escaped the attack. Aipom recombined the copies with itself and raised its tail into the air to prepare for a finishing attack.

Jacob noticed the clock was nearing zero, and the two of them were tied in points. “Okay Aipom, use Shock Wave and let’s wrap it up.” Jacob finished.

“Use Ancient Power with all you’ve got!” Minnie added.

Aipom charged its body with all the electricity it could before firing off a slim streak of yellow lightning from its tail as Togepi gathered a white aura around its body into an orb, creating a rock and firing it at the shock wave.

The resulting collision of attacks created an explosion with ensuing smoke that covered the Pokemon and stage.

Aipom quickly descended to the ground and looked at Togepi, with both Pokemon breathing heavily from their exhausting battle. Aipom and Togepi both grinned at each other as Aipom felt the exhaustion take its final toll, causing Aipom to fall to the ground with defeat.

Maxim held his hand into the air, “Well that’s it folks! With only a meager two seconds to go, Minnie and her Togepi have managed to defeat Jacob and his Aipom. With that, Minnie has earned herself the Seavaille Ribbon!” he announced as he ran over to congratulate Minnie.

Minnie could feel her heart still pounding from the extreme battle she had just had with Jacob. Her forehead was covered in sweat, and one of her dress straps had slid off her shoulder from all of her movement. She smiled excitedly and ran over to pick up her Togepi, hugging it tightly in celebration.

Jacob smiled back at her as Aipom walked up to him. He smiled down at it, assuring it he was completely fine with their loss, knowing they gave it all they could.

Rowlet and Ralts lowered their heads, sad for their trainer’s loss, as Salamence smirked, impressed with its trainer’s morale.

“I can’t believe he planned to throw the match,” Russo complained, “Even after I wished him luck!”

“When did you wish him luck?” Aries asked, thinking Russo was still in his mood from that morning.

Russo tsked, “Before he performed… its whatever. It just sucks I guess.”

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “It seems that Jacob actually did lose due to Aipom just being a tad weaker than Togepi, not by throwing. Togepi was definitely stronger, but they both have the same skill level I’d say.”

Jacob stood up with Aipom resting in his arms. He watched Minnie take her ribbon from Maxim and holding it up in the air for the photographers to get a good picture of her. “I wish you the best of luck on your journey,” he murmured before departing the stage.

Minnie looked over towards Jacob as he left before silently thanking him for his best wishes.


After about a half hour, Jacob entered the main lobby of the contest hall and greeted his friends and Pokemon. He had already changed into his normal clothes and fixed his hair back into a curly mess.

“Sorry for your loss,” Aries apologized.

Jacob held his hand up as Aipom continued resting in the other, “No need to be, it’s completely fine. There will be so many more contests, so losing this one isn’t all that much of a problem.”

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “That’s the spirit, Russo could learn a thing or two from you.”

Russo scoffed and hesitate punching Kyoko, but would feel bad if he hit a guy with glasses. He smirked at Jacob, “Good try man. Maybe next time.”

“What happened to being pissed off at him losing after you wished him luck?” Aries teased.

“You were pissed off that I lost?” Jacob asked, confused with Russo’s reasoning.

“Shut it!” Russo groaned.

Rowlet and Ralts both ran up to Jacob, happy to see its trainer but sad for his defeat, as Salamence stood silently behind Aries and the others.

Jacob was happy to see all of his Pokemon again. “Don’t worry, we’ll win the next one. And Rowlet and Salamence, I hope you’re both ready for your debuts!”

Salamence rolled its eyes, trying to act uninterested as Rowlet cheered excitedly.

“What do you mean I can’t leave? That was the deal!” Minnie shouted.

Jacob and his friends looked over and watched as Minnie had entered an argument with her father.

“You said if I won that I could go on my journey!” she cried out.

Her father stood sternly. His eyes were closed as he refused to look at her, “I said you aren’t allowed to go.”

“But you promised!” Minnie responded, with heartbreaking tears forming in her eyes.

Jacob glared at her father. He turned away from his friends and began walking towards him angrily.

Villa appeared from a hallway and saw Jacob. She jumped in front of him determined to surprise him, “You may have beat me this time, but I’ll win the next!” she snickered.

Jacob ignored her and walked passed her, continuing towards Minnie and her father.

Minnie fell to her knees, heartbroken with her father refusing to let her leave. Even after all the hard work she had put in towards the contest and even coming out as the victory.

Jacob stopped just in front of her father, “What the hell is your problem?” he asked angrily.

Aipom had jumped out of his arms to run over and cheer up Togepi, who had begun feeling its trainer’s disappointment.

Minnie’s father opened his eyes and recognized Jacob from the previous day and his battle with Minnie. “Look kid, this isn’t your business. My daughter doesn’t need to go on her journey, and since I’m her father, I have the final say!”

“No, you’re wrong. It’s her life, so SHE has the final say!” Jacob shouted back, holding his hand out and blocking Minnie from her father. “She’s leaving, despite your disapproval. This is her decision and her journey, so you either support her or risk losing your daughter!”

Minnie’s father gasped and looked down at his daughter, noticing her tears. He covered his mouth and backed away slowly, surprising Jacob and Minnie. “I-I can’t believe my actions. How could I not have considered that…” he tremored. He felt a knot in his throat, unable to consider just how unhappy he’d be if she left and never spoke to him again.

Minnie slowly got to her feet, “You didn’t think I’d leave and never speak to you again, did you?”

Her father remained silent as small tears began to form in his eyes.

Minnie smiled and began to cry too as wrapped her arms around him. “Oh dad, you’re my father. I know that you love me, so I wouldn’t live with myself if I knew you’d be heartbroken with me being gone forever and never speaking to you again.”

“So… her father wouldn’t let her go because he thought he already treated her badly so she’d never speak to him again if she left?” Russo put together.

Kyoko nodded, “Sounds correct.”

Aries lowered her eyes, wishing she’d felt the same way.

Minnie and her father dispelled their embrace and wiped away their tears.

Her father looked at Jacob and shook his hand, “Thanks kid, I only wish someone like you had said that to me a bit sooner.”

Jacob felt his whole body shake, deciding it was the manliest handshake he had ever had. “You’re welcome,” he replied dizzily.

Minnie quickly ran for the exit of the contest hall, “Alright Dad, I’ll call you when I get to the next town. You take care!” she replied and waved back at him. As she made her way through the doors, she looked at Jacob. “And you, Jacob. You better watch out, cuz next time I won’t be going easy on you,” She assured and winked before departing.

Jacob felt the confidence drain from his body, “Wait… that battle was her going easy?” he muttered before slinking to the ground. His friends ran over and quickly helped him up to his feet. As they did so, he laughed with them and watched as Minnie departed off into the sunset, happy that he was able to help her leave and start a journey of her own.

Spoiler: CHAPTER 24 PREVIEW

Aries: Sorry you lost your contest.
Jacob: Not a big deal, because now we can relax for a fun day at the beach!
Russo: Don't see why we never went to the beach before.
Kyoko: This is actually a fascinating ecosystem!
Aries: Wait... Kyoko, what are you doing with all those Pokemon?!
Kyoko: Next time, The Inevitable Beach Chapter!
Aries: You can't just keep all of these.
Kyoko: But they are just so fascinating.
???: Slowwwpooooooke

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: Jacob said that Shock Wave is a new move that Aipom had been working on. In my edits of the earlier chapters, I'm replacing the use of Shock Wave with a different move. This is supposed to be the actual first time he uses this move with Aipom.

 

[Jaypom]

Chapter 24:
The Inevitable Beach Chapter
After bidding Jacob and Russo’s rivals farewell, the group now begins their four-day journey to Breezeville City for Russo’s second gym battle! If only they had remembered the most obvious activity to take part in before their departure…​

Aries gazed out towards the Eastern Accelia Sea as she and her friends traveled across Route 1006 to Breezeville City. She smelled the ocean air and daydreamed of a relaxing day on the sands, causing her to stop in her tracks and scream out in horror!

Jacob and the others stopped and looked back at her, wondering why she had begun screaming.

“I can’t believe we were so stupid!” she cried out as she sunk to her knees and lowered her head.

“What are you talking about?” Jacob asked, confused with her sudden outburst and overemotional state.

“We were in a beach town and the entire time we were there, we didn’t go AT ALL! It’s the most obvious thing to do! I would have gotten a nice tan and seen some adorable water types… but we completely passed over the though!” Aries replied as she stared at the shoreline in awe.

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “Well, I’m sure if everyone is fine with it, we can stop here for the rest of the day and pick up our pace tomorrow?”

Aries clasped her hands thankfully, “Really?! Oh, thank god! I thought I’d have to find some other stupid way to convince you,” She immediately took off for the ocean and stopped just short of the tides. She quickly tossed out her Pokemon for a breath of fresh air and began to settle in.

The boys joined her and took spots alongside her, each releasing their Pokemon to play together.

After a few moments, they had all changed into swimsuits when taking turns behind a tree.

Jacob was dressed in red trunks with two rainbow columns on the sides, Russo was dressed in thick black trunks, Kyoko had chosen a light blue suit with a white tank top, and Aries sported a yellow, bandeau bikini thinking she could attract the most attention to herself if she were spotted. As she made her way back to the shore, she felt disappointed with none of the boys looking back at her.

Jacob and Aipom began building sandcastles with Rowlet and Ralts as Salamence rested under a tree. Rowlet cooed lovingly as it handed Jacob a twig to serve as a flagpole, Ralts gathered wet sand into a ball and rolled it over for Jacob to mold into a structure, and Aipom began patting down the sand to make it easier for building.

Russo and his Pokemon took to the waves. Metang and Totodile began floating in the water alongside him to strengthen themselves with each blow as waves continued to rush in on them. Larvesta sat cautiously on a floating log as though it were a surfboard and watched from the sidelines, fearing the thought of falling in.

Kyoko had wandered off to explore the area and left his Wingull and Farfetch’d to fly along the ocean winds and take in the beautiful sunrays.

Aries sighed and took a spot beside Jacob to lie down on a towel and tan. As she closed her eyes, Flaaffy, Sylveon and Joltik ran over and took spots beside her. Flaaffy and Joltik quickly grew bored and joined Jacob in the making of the sandcastle while Sylveon chose to remain with its trainer and sunbathe.

Rowlet waddled over and cooed as it looked Aries up and down.

She looked over at it and sat up. She gently pat its head and smiled, impressed with how friendly it was towards her. “I never realized Rowlet was so nice. It’s also pretty small, so do you think it hatched recently?”

Jacob placed a twig atop an outer tower and brushed a bead of sweat from his forehead. “Not sure, but I have noticed it’s a pretty small Pokemon and isn’t as mature when compared to Aipom.”

Rowlet waddled back over and resumed assisting Ralts as Jacob and Aipom began giving Flaaffy and Joltik instructions.

Aries brushed a strand of hair from her eyes and resumed her tanning. She closed her eyes and suddenly felt herself dozing off. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a dark area, alone. She looked around and wondered where she had ended up.

“Aries…” she heard a rusty voice call out to her.

She recognized the voice and turned towards it, but couldn’t make out the figure enough. “What’s going on? Where am I?” she asked as she covered herself, realizing she was still in her bathing suit!

The figure floated towards her and split in two. One gripped her by her chin and turned her face towards them, “Why did you run?” it asked.

Aries shook her head free and backed away. “Get your hands off me!”

The other figure floated behind her and grabbed ahold of Aries hand, then leaned in and whispered, “We only wanted what was best.”

Aries shook free and grabbed for one of her Pokeballs, but realized she didn’t possess her ball-belt. She grit her teeth and clenched a fist for a defensive stance, preparing to fight them herself. “You didn’t ask what I wanted!”

The two figures looked at each other, and then floated towards her again. They reached out to grab her as Aries punched, but missed with their bodies being made of a black fog.

Aries fell to the ground from the force of her punch and looked up as the figures gazed down upon her.

“Come with us, Aries,” they called.

Aries managed to get to her feet, then took off running down a pitch-black hallway. She tried to keep her balance, but felt she was stumbling more than running with being barefoot against the tile. She came to a dead end with two doors. She could hear the figures moaning and closing in on her, then knew she had to pick one way to go.

The two figures arrived at the dead end and reached for her as she burst through a door and over a cliff edge!

Aries screamed and fell towards crashing waves and sharp rocks awaiting her at the bottom of her fall. She closed her eyes and braced for impact, but as she hit the waves, she awoke from her odd dream and was drenched in a cloak of sweat.

Jacob looked over at her and scratched his head, “Wow, you were still for a while. Did you fall asleep?”

Aries breathed heavily and reached for her backpack. She grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it down.

Russo emerged from the waves and looked around. “Where’s Kyoko?”

Off in a small cove, Kyoko sat and gazed out as multiple water types played and interacted. He was amazed! He watched as a duo of Poliwag splashed water at each other, and five Corsola butting heads with each other as though they were sword fighting. He suddenly felt a strong desire to catch a water type, but couldn’t decide on the appropriate one. He nodded and quickly left the cove, returning to his friends silently.

Russo scrubbed his hair with his towel and looked over as Kyoko began rummaging through his pack. “What’s with you?” he asked.

Aries stood up and stretched, hearing the popping of her joints. “If you need something, just let us know.”

Kyoko found his stash of Pokeballs and quickly slung his pack over his back. “I’ll be back” he informed and held out his arm for Wingull to land on.

Wingull and Farfetch’d both noticed Kyoko and flew down to follow him back towards the cove as his friends watched him leave for his secret task.

Aries reached into her bag and checked her food, then noticed the time was nearing the mid-afternoon. “Alright, how about we start preparing lunch so we can grab dinner when we reach the Pokemon Center later tonight,” she suggested.

Jacob clapped to signal his castle had been finished. He cleared his throat for Aries and Russo to look over as he showed off his brilliant art piece.

Russo and Aries were moderately impressed, but decided they’d spend their time making the food instead of worrying over Jacob’s creation.

Jacob rolled his eyes and ran off to play in the waves with the Pokemon as Kyoko reached the secret cove.

Kyoko gazed out and noticed the entire cove was filled with various water types. He cocked his glasses and immediately got to work battling and capturing every single one. He ordered Wingull to freeze them with Icy Wind and then Farfetch’d to cut them all down with a super effective Leaf Blade, resulting in a massive knockout for him to throw the Pokeballs for capture.

All the Pokeballs popped open in unison and sucked the Pokemon inside. They shook three times and beeped, then shot out a flurry of white sparkles to signal the capture had been completed.

Kyoko smiled and cocked his glasses as the balls began shrinking and locking due to overfilling his allotted slots for Pokemon. He gathered the balls and returned to his friends. “I have returned,” he announced and dropped the Pokeballs at his feet.

Everyone stared at him for a moment before screaming in terror!

Aries covered her mouth, “You… you caught all of those?” she asked.

“There’s gotta be around 20 Pokeballs here!” Russo shouted, completely shocked with Kyoko’s actions.

Jacob ran back ashore when he heard the shouting. He gasped when he noticed Kyoko’s accomplishment. “Wow, that is a ton of Pokemon. You caught them all? Nice job!” Jacob congratulated.

Aries crossed her arms, “No, not congratulations! Kyoko, what were you thinking?”

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “I was too impressed with the cove ecosystem and wanted a water type. I figured by catching all of them in a mass defeat, I’d be able to pick them all out as I please.”

Russo had to take a seat, shocked that Kyoko was capable of defeating and capturing so many Pokemon. “You took out all of these Pokemon, in one hit?”

Kyoko remained staring blankly at them, “Actually, two. I froze them with Icy Wind then slashed them all with Leaf Blade. I’m mostly impressed with the Poliwag, but I’m sure the Corsola would be other great additions.”

Jacob wondered if he should take out his Pokedex and scan the Pokemon, but figured the current mood was enough to say it wasn’t the time.

Aries sighed and walked over to Kyoko. She reached down and began picking up the Pokeballs, then handed them all to Kyoko. “Release them,” she ordered.

Kyoko cocked his head to the side, “I’m afraid I don’t understand?”

“These Pokemon all make up the area around here. This is their home? You can’t just snatch all of them up, at least not without their consent to go with you. From your story, it sounds like you acted before thinking,” Aries replied.

Kyoko shook his head, “Actually, I thought of the mass capture strategy quite easily.”

Aries shook her head, “No Kyoko. You can keep one of these if you want, but only if it wants to come with you. Otherwise, go release them all.”

Kyoko could not understand why he couldn’t keep them, causing him to feel weird for not understanding. He nodded silent and made his journey back to the cove. As he arrived, he released the Pokemon from their Pokeballs one by one.

As they were released, they looked up at Kyoko and stared for a moment before running off to resume their lives where they had left off. It was as though they had never been captured in the first place.

Kyoko stared down at the last Pokeball. He sighed and tossed it into the air, releasing the Pokemon in a blue light to signal it was free to live its life in the world, unbound to a trainer.

The Pokemon looked up at Kyoko and cocked its head, “Slowwwww poooooooke,” it moaned.

Kyoko took a seat and gazed out at the cove. “Go on, Slowpoke, you should return to your family,” he directed.

The Slowpoke continued looking at him with its dopey eyes.

Kyoko looked around the cove for other Slowpoke, then realized it was the only one. He looked down at it. “Are you alone?” he asked.

The Slowpoke didn’t respond. It blinked and slowly walked up towards Kyoko, then took a seat next to him.

Kyoko nodded, “I see. I’m pretty much alone as well. Do you not have any parents,” he asked as he cocked his glasses?

Wingull and Farfetch’d flew down from the air and joined Kyoko in the conversation.

The Slowpoke nodded slowly, giving its first real response.

Kyoko turned to look back out at the cove. The sky was slowly turning an orange color from its typical light blue, and had begun to glare Kyoko’s lenses. “I also do not have a mother and father. My aunt says they passed away when I was younger.”

Slowpoke looked up at Kyoko, sort of understanding him on a level.

Kyoko lowered his eyes, “It’s said that poachers hunt Slowpoke for their tails, and if a Slowpoke’s tail is cut off, they can die if not healed properly. Is that was happened to your parents?”

Slowpoke remained silently gazing at Kyoko.

Kyoko realized the question was too personal, “I apologize. It seems I have been quite rude today. You should return to your cove now. I must be going,” he replied. He then stood up and walked away, leaving Slowpoke behind and alone as well. He suddenly stopped and looked back at it.

Slowpoke had already begun to slowly walk towards Kyoko. After a few minutes, it finally reached his feet and looked up at him eagerly.

Kyoko felt it was fitting that Slowpoke would like to go with him. “Would you like to come on a journey with me,” he asked?

Slowpoke nodded sluggishly and took a seat as Kyoko reached into his bag for its old Pokeball.

Kyoko then knelt down and smiled. “I’m sure we’ll make a great pair,” he informed as he held out the Pokeball towards Slowpoke.

Slowpoke nodded again before leaning forward to tap its head against the Pokeball’s button, sucking it inside.

The Pokeball shook three times before sending out a small flurry of white sparks.

Kyoko smiled serenely at the Pokeball, glad he had captured the Slowpoke. He had felt sad for it and had wished it had had a family. He stood up and returned to his friends, grasping onto Slowpoke’s Pokeball.

Aries greeted him as he returned, then noticed he still held onto a Pokeball. “Did that one decide to go with you?”

Jacob and Russo looked up from their towels on the ground. They had both begun to dig into their sandwiches as their Pokemon chowed down on Pokemon food.

Kyoko cocked his glasses. “Yes,” he replied blankly.

Aries then smiled kindly, “Well, go ahead and let it out. It’s time for lunch!” she replied excitedly.

Kyoko quickly tossed Slowpoke’s Pokeball into the air and released it onto the sandy beach, this time in a white light.

Slowpoke looked around dopily. “Slowwwwwwww,” it moaned as it began trudging towards a bowl of food.

Jacob took out his Pokedex, feeling now was the appropriate time to scan something.

The Pokedex beeped once and scanned Slowpoke. “Slowpoke, the Dopey Pokemon. Slowpoke are quite oblivious to things, due to being in a constant state of thought,” the Pokedex informed.

Jacob closed his Pokedex and crawled over towards Slowpoke, “Nice to meet you!”

Slowpoke looked up at Jacob and slowly smiled. “Slowwwwwwwww” it replied. It looked around excitedly, happy to feel like it belonged.

Kyoko walked over and squatted down, then moved a bowl closer to Slowpoke so it wouldn’t have to walk as far. “Here you are, you should eat up.”

Slowpoke began to eat at its fastest possible speed, which was still quite sluggish. It smiled happily at its trainer.

Kyoko then smiled again, glad he had captured a Pokemon in the same boat as him. He then got to his feet and returned to his towel alongside Aries for his lunch as Slowpoke continued eating and socializing with its newfound family.

Spoiler: CHAPTER 25 PREVIEW

Jacob: Do you guys keep seeing that girl?
Aries: What girl?
Kyoko: I believe he is referring to the one over there.
Aries: Over where?
Jacob: Ah! She just passed us!
Aries: I seriously don't see what you boys are talking about.
Russo: Next time, The Forest of Champions!
Aries: Oh you mean that girl! She looks kind of familiar.
Russo: Don't even get me started on how familiar she is.

 

[Jaypom]

Chapter 25:
The Forest of Champions!
Continuing towards Breezeville City for Russo’s Gym Battle and Kyoko’s Facility Test, our heroes have apparently gotten all turned around in a forest!​

Kyoko peered at his Town Map. “It would seem we should head north to reach Breezeville City, but I’m afraid the path ahead won’t take us there directly.”

Aries leaned against a tree with her arms crossed. “Well maybe if Russo didn’t try to lead the way, we would be on the right path.”

Russo groaned, “Yeah, well excuse me for trying to be the leader of the group! I just want to get over for my next gym. I’m battle hungry again and think I’m finally over losing to Declan.”

Jacob and Aipom were peering off into the thick shrubbery of the forest path. Jacob fed Aipom an apple slice and munched on another for himself. “C’mon guys, no need to get all worried. Let’s just take the path Kyoko’s map tells us and get on track,” he suggested when the snap of a twig caught his attention. Jacob looked off towards the sound and noticed a figure walking through the trees.

Aries looked over at him, “Something up?”

Jacob rubbed his eyes and found the figure had disappeared! “N-nothing. I thought I saw something, but I think I’m just dehydrated,” he replied and took out his bottle of water for a sip.

Kyoko began walking forward. “Alright, follow me. I believe this way should get us on the correct path,” he directed and led them towards a wider forest path.

Russo looked up and down the way, “Alright, which way now,” he asked as he noticed someone walking through the trees like Jacob. He rubbed his eyes and peered through the trees again, then found the figure had also disappeared. He felt a little light headed, so he took a swig of his water as well.

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “We should head to the left, since the forest path will loop around towards Breezeville and get us back on track,” he replied. He looked up and noticed the figure both Jacob and Russo had seen. He blinked and ignored them.

Aries sighed and fanned her face with her hand, “It’s just so hot out here. Maybe we should break again? Its nearly noon and the sun is baking me.”

Jacob gripped his backpack tightly, “We were at the beach all day yesterday and you were fine.”

Aries slumped forward. “Yeah, but at least yesterday I didn’t forget to fill my water bottle,” she groaned. She began to stand up, then noticed the figure as everyone else had. “What the heck… is there someone else out here,” she muttered?

Russo took another swig of water and then wiped his mouth. “You saw someone too?”

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “I too saw a figure in the woods, and if I recall, Jacob was the first person to see someone.”

Jacob looked off towards where Aries was looking and saw the figure. He could make out long, sleek, black hair billowing as they walked. Their pale skin came into the light as they passed through a sun beam, then looked directly at Jacob and the others. Jacob gasped and backed away. “They saw us!”

Kyoko cocked his head to the side, “It looks like they are coming this way.”

The figure began walking towards them, slowly making their way through the thicket of bushes and large trees blocking their path. As they emerged, they were revealed to be a tall, slender, young woman dressed in a gothic-styled, black and white, lolita dress. She was also wearing black and white converse, and boasted a white flower pinned in her hair. She looked at the group, “Excuse me,” she spoke in a metallic yet sweet voice, “I’m afraid I’ve lost my way. Do you have a map I could look at,” she asked?

The group remained frozen, not prepared to run into such a strange, emo-looking woman in the woods.

She blinked at them. Her black hair was long and tied into a large pony tail, with part of her bangs covering one of her eyes.

Nobody replied, leaving the forest to speak with its rustling, windblown leaves.

“Do you not,” she asked?

Kyoko began to speak, but Aries stopped him by covering his mouth with her hand. “Who are you,” she asked, “I’m sure you understand us asking since we thought we were alone.”

The girl blinked again and looked around. Her eyes widened, “Oh my, I didn’t introduce myself. I’m sorry,” she apologized, sweating nervously.

“Whoa, Aries, don’t be so harsh. She probably didn’t know we were here just like us,” Jacob defended.

“All of us have seen her, so she had to be following us,” Aries replied.

The girl shook her head and waved her hands in defense, “I really didn’t know anyone else was here! I come here to train sometimes, but I lost my way after a small nap and just want to get back on track.”

Aries lowered her hand from Kyoko’s mouth and motioned for him to give his answer.

Kyoko walked over to the girl and opened his town map, acting as though nothing had happened. “Here you are.”

The girl smiled kindly, “Thanks! My name is Arya by the way. Nice to meet you all.”

Jacob waved, “Nice to meet you too. I’m Jacob, and this is my Aipom,” he replied and pointed at Aipom on his shoulder, who waved as well.

Russo shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, “I’m Russo.”

Aries’ defensiveness changed to kindheartedness after changing her mind about the danger of the woman. “I’m Aries,” she added.

As Arya finished finding her way to her destination and handed the town map to Kyoko, he cocked his glasses. “I’m Kyoko.”

Arya looked at each of them, “Pleasure to meet you all. Are you trainers?”

Jacob leaned forward, “Yeah! We’re on our way to Breezeville City so Russo can challenge the gym there and Kyoko can challenge the Frontier Facility. We just came from Seavaille Town where I competed in the contest.”

Arya nodded. “Interesting,” she replied and looked at Aries. “What about you?”

Aries’ face turned red from worry, “Me? I’m… well…”

Arya scratched her chin, “Come to think of it, you look a lot like someone I know. Have we met?”

Aries suddenly realized the girl’s identity. “We haven’t met in person, but I do recognize you. You’re Arya the Accelia Champion, aren’t you?”

Arya smiled, “Yes, I am actually.”

Russo’s eyes widened, “You are? Holy crap! Can we battle” he asked, excited for the chance at a match against the strongest opponent in the whole region!

Arya snapped her fingers, “I wouldn’t mind a little field practice,” she replied to Russo.

Aries sighed with relief, thinking her cover would have been blown if she had placed her face.

“Wait, so if you’re the champion, that means you won the Pokemon League, right,” Jacob asked?

Arya nodded, “I did about five years ago, and have held the title ever since.”

Kyoko was intrigued, “So that means you won the yearly league, and beat the Elite Four and Champion during that same go around?”

Arya remembered back to her challenge and smiled, “I did indeed. I almost didn’t win, but I managed to come through thanks to my strength and tactful way of battling. If you plan to enter, be aware that the Elite Four are no slouches in their battles either.”

“The Elite Four,” Jacob wondered, thinking Russo or Kyoko only had to challenge the league and then the champion if they won?

“The Elite Four are the four foes you must face before challenging the champion. If you win against one, you can at least take the spot of the one you defeated. Since I defeated the Champion, I knocked an Elite Four person out of their spot and took the place as Champion while lowering that current one to a spot on the Elite Four,” Arya informed. “If you are Elite Four, you can still challenge the champion to take their spot as well.”

“Who are the Elite Four now,” Jacob asked?

“Currently, the Elite Four are Tybolt, an Electric-Type specialist, Gahla, a Ghost-Type specialist, Penelope, a Normal-Type specialist, and Cypress, a Grass-Type specialist as well as the Champion before me,” Arya replied.

“Enough talk, can we battle,” Russo asked, hyped for a match with Arya?

Arya smirked, “Alright, if you’d like. Follow me, I saw a clearing on the map that’ll be the perfect spot for our battle,” she replied and led the group towards a large clearing that appeared to be a battlefield with boundary lines made of wildflowers!

“Whoa… this place is beautiful,” Aries exclaimed! “How is this in the wild?”

Arya made her way to a trainer box made of blue flowers while Russo made his way to a red flower box. “This is a sacred forest, known as the Forest of Champions. They say those who take part in matches here are destined to become Champion of the region. Long ago, I came here and had the battle of my life before I took part in the league and won. Now, Russo will be challenging me. Let’s see just what he’s got!”

Russo nodded and gripped a Pokeball in his hand, “How about a three on three match with no substitutions?”

Arya took out a Pokeball from a band on her thigh, “Sounds good to me. Shall I show you my Pokemon first?”

Russo shook his head, “No, we can do it on the count of three. One…”

Arya and Russo both looked at each other determinedly.

“Two…”

Aipom crawled off of Jacob’s shoulder and into his arms. It smiled excitedly and wished Russo the best of luck.

“He’s going to get creamed,” Aries muttered to Jacob and Kyoko.

“I heard that!” Russo shouted from his trainer box. He calmed down and took a deep breath to clear his thoughts, only to find the loss of Declan resonating in his mind again.

Arya could see something was on Russo’s mind, then smiled softly. “You ready?”

Russo nodded.

“Three!” they both shouted in unison as they tossed out their Pokeballs.

Russo’s Pokeball popped open and released Metang onto the battlefield with a sharp pulse of wind.

Arya’s Pokeball popped open and released a black and white, wolf like Pokemon with a sharp blade atop its head.

Jacob took out his Pokedex and scanned her Pokemon, not recognizing her partner.

“Absol, the Disaster Pokemon. When Absol’s appear in the wild, it is believed to be a sign of impending danger,” the Pokedex informed.

Arya clenched a fist to her chest, “This Absol is my partner, and my strongest. If you want to become Champion, you will inevitably have to beat it. You’re welcome to make the first move.”

Russo nodded, “Right. Metang, use Metal Claw!”

Metang shot forward and gathered as much steel energy as it could into its claws, then slashed Absol with all its might.

Absol slid backwards and shook off the attack, having taken zero damage!

Metang returned to its side of the battlefield. It looked at Absol determinedly.

Arya stood in her place, “That was quite a powerful attack. If my Absol were on your level, it would have been knocked out for sure.”

“Guess I should have expected that…” Russo muttered. He stuck his hand out towards Arya, “Now use Iron Head!”

Metang coated itself in a metallic, grey aura and shot forward once again towards Absol.

Absol prepared for Arya’s attack, knowing she’d send it into action at any moment.

As Metang nearly reached Absol, “Use Me First,” Arya commanded.

Absol quickly jumped above Metang, then unleashed an Iron Head of its own that instantly knocked out Metang. Absol stood atop Metang with a determined look at Russo.

Russo tsked, “I expected as much. You’re the champion, so of course you can defeat my Pokemon in one hit.”

Arya remained silent as she gazed towards Russo.

Russo returned Metang to its Pokeball and quickly sent out Larvesta.

“Good choice, since Larvesta is a Bug-Type, which are strong against Dark-Types,” Jacob cheered for Russo.

Aries crossed her arms, “You saw the power of that Absol, right? Type advantage and disadvantages don’t matter here when you’re dealing with an unstoppable opponent.”

“Use Ember,” Russo commanded.

Larvesta turned its torches towards Absol and unleashed a flurry of red bits of fire towards Absol.

“Razor Wind,” Arya spoke without batting an eye as Absol took the Ember attack head on.

As the Ember cleared, Absol began charging a white light into the blade on its head.

Russo knew it would take time to charge up, and quickly countered, “Use String Shot!”

Larvesta spit out a sticky string of thread that wrapped around and locked Absol to the ground.

Absol roared and shook off the thread, then unleashed two slashes from the glowing light on its sharp blade atop its head.

Larvesta could only watch as the slashes quickly collided against its body and knocked it out with one hit as well.

Russo sighed, hoping that his last attack would have at least slowed it down. He returned Larvesta to its Pokeball, then released Totodile onto the battlefield.

Totodile snapped its jaws determinedly at Absol, then looked at its trainer with high hopes.

Russo lowered his head, knowing the inevitable was going to happen. As he began to give his final attack, Arya held up her hand.

“Sorry to break it to you, but I’m going to call off the match,” she announced, then quickly returned her Absol to its Pokeball.

Russo was insulted, “Wait, you’re calling off the match without even finishing me off?!”

Arya smirked, “I’ll finish you off when you challenge me again. Right now, I need a snack.”

Russo’s jaw dropped in unison with Totodile. He wasn’t sure if he should be furious for her ending the battle so she could eat, or pleased that she thinks he’ll win the league and beat the Elite Four so he can officially challenge her.

Arya took a seat atop a nearby bolder and took out a granola bar. She took a large bite out of the bar and looked up at the sky.

Jacob and the others walked over and joined her in looking up at the sky.

“Pretty amazing right,” she asked the group?

“What are we looking at,” Jacob replied?

Arya continued gazing upward. “The beauty of the sky, and the world in general. Pokemon made this place, we get the privilege of living alongside them. Now that I’ve said that, don’t you think it’s amazing?”

They all smiled and nodded to one another, then took a seat around the boulder where Arya had taken her seat.

Jacob reached into his pack and took out a snack, but dropped a small flash drive into the dirt.

Aries looked over and pointed, “Isn’t that the drive from back in Criss-Cross Cavern, when we stole it from Team Element?”

Arya’s eyes widened as she looked at the group, “What did you say?”

Everyone was shocked over Arya’s sudden worry.

“Team Element? It’s this group that we’ve met a couple times. I honestly forgot this was even in here,” Jacob responded.

“Why don’t we crush it? They said it was useless,” Russo suggested.

Arya quickly snatched the drive off the ground, “You’ve met them?”

“What’s the big deal? They’re just a bunch of nobodies,” Aries replied.

Arya stood up from her rock, “No they aren’t. I was out here because someone told me they were spotted nearby here a few days ago. Aside from being the Champion, I’m also hunting down evil organizations around Accelia. Team Element is one of the biggest ones, with having the largest numbers in their ranks, but they aren’t the strongest.”

“What do you mean by that,” Jacob asked worriedly.

Arya gazed down at the drive in her hands, “Team Element is one of three dangerous groups that threaten Accelia, and, soon, possibly the whole world. This trio of groups is known as Hell’s Trinity and is comprised of Team Element, their main force, another organization called ZODIAC, who are twelve assassins hired by them to kill those with information that can benefit Team Element’s mission, and the last is a group called The Ten Bloodletters of Elysium. The Bloodletters are the strongest of Hell’s Trinity, and possibly the strongest trainers to have ever lived. However, the Bloodletters are said to be long dead, and Team Element is seeking their resurrection with ancient texts from the Pokemon World.”

The group stared up at Arya in shock, unaware that Team Element appeared to be the key to such a terrifying future.

Arya shook the thought from her head. “Jacob, would you mind if I kept this? I’m on my way to Breezeville City as well. I’m sure I can use one of the advanced computers at the airport to decrypt whatever is on here.”

Jacob nodded, “Go ahead. Hey, wait, if you’re on your way, how about you travel with us?”

Arya blinked, “Are you sure?”

“Of course! I think it’d be fun to have another person in our group for a while. Plus, you can help us train for whatever upcoming battles we may have,” he replied excitedly.

Arya smiled, “Well alright then. It’s settled, I’ll be traveling with you.”

Aries and Kyoko both got to their feet, ready for departure.

Jacob walked over and looked down at Russo, who remained glum about his loss to Arya. He stuck his hand out, offering to help Russo to his feet. “C’mon, it’s time to go,” he said with a cheerful smile.

Russo looked up at him and grinned determinedly. “Right,” he replied and got to his feet with the help of Jacob.

Arya pointed north of the battlefield. “Okay trainers, let’s get a move on to Breezeville City,” she announced, ready to once again travel with new friends. As they left, Arya couldn’t help but worry why Team Element was in this forest, and just where they had gone upon her arrival.

Spoiler: CHAPTER 26 PREVIEW

Jacob: Hey Aries, why don't you ever answer anyone when someone asks you about your goal?
Aries: Because it's not really their business.
Kyoko: I would conclude she does not have a goal.
Arya: Don't listen to them Aries, you don't have to make your decision right away.
Aries: Next time, A Joltik a Day Keeps the Doctor Away !
Arya: It took me a while to decide what I wanted.
Aries: Yeah okay guys, I'll tell you!

 

[Jaypom]

Chapter 26:
A Joltik a Day Keeps the Doctor Away!

Only a few days remain till their destination is reached as Jacob, Russo, Aries, and Kyoko continue their journey to Breezeville City. Now joined by the Accelian Champion, Arya, the group is seeking battle advice from the Queen of Battles, herself.​

Jacob stood across from Kyoko on a large, lush battlefield in the middle of a vast range of plains. The wind blew and swept up their hair as the two awaited Arya’s advice.

Arya was standing between the two, planning to serve as a referee for their practice match. “Alright, this is to help you both enhance your battle skills. Kyoko, you should pay much more attention with your frontier challenge coming up,” Arya ordered.

Kyoko cocked his glasses and nodded. “Understood,” he replied as he took out a Pokeball.

Jacob looked at Aipom, who was ready to pounce at the chance for a battle. He chuckled, “Ha, not today Aipom. I want to give Rowlet a chance to battle.”

Aipom sighed as it climbed down Jacob’s shoulders and onto the grassy field.

Aries and Russo were both sitting behind Arya on a large boulder, waiting to see what Arya would be teaching them.

“Now, call out your Pokemon,” Arya commanded.

“Rowlet, center stage,” Jacob cheered as he tossed Rowlet’s Pokeball into the air excitedly!

The Pokeball spun into the air and popped open to release Rowlet in a bright, white light.

Rowlet looked around and cooed out of curiosity. It saw Jacob and flew over to nuzzle against his cheek.

Jacob chuckled again and pushed Rowlet away towards the battle. “It’s time to give you some battle training, since I want to use you in our next contest.”

Rowlet landed on the field and nodded, then looked up at Kyoko.

Kyoko cleared his throat and tossed a Pokeball into the air. “Slowpoke, assistance please,” he spoke.

The Pokeball spun into the air and popped open slowly. It then released Slowpoke onto the field where it stared at Rowlet with its dopey gaze.

Rowlet felt uncomfortable with Slowpoke and Kyoko’s blank expressions and began waddling backwards slightly.

“Don’t worry, Rowlet. It’s just how they are,” Jacob cheered, hoping for Rowlet to feel more comfortable for its battle.

Russo was resting his head on his open palm. “C’mon guys, hurry it up,” he groaned.

Aries clapped her hands excitedly, “Best of luck to you both!”

Arya held her hand into the air. “Alright, you will use one attack at a time, but instead of countering, your goal is to dodge the attack. This is to improve your reaction as a trainer, as well as your Pokemon’s reactions to your dodge commands. Jacob, you attack first.”

Jacob nodded. “Right. Alright, Rowlet use Peck.”

Rowlet quickly flapped its wings and soared high above the ground. It gathered as much energy as it could into its beak before soaring back down towards Slowpoke.

Kyoko cocked his head to the side, “Slowpoke, take the attack.”

Everyone gasped, aside from Kyoko and Slowpoke, as Rowlet slammed into its foe and slid it back a few feet.

Slowpoke blinked slowly, having barely reacted to its hit.

Russo leaned forward and screamed at Kyoko. “Why didn’t you dodge like Arya told you!”

Kyoko cocked his glasses and informed the group on his reasoning. “Slowpoke has too slow a reaction time, so it would be better off to either take a hit or counter the attack as opposed to moving aside.”

Rowlet gently landed on the ground and looked up at Jacob with hopes of receiving praise.

Jacob smiled brightly. “Great hit! You managed to knock Slowpoke back, which makes you pretty powerful!”

Rowlet blushed, glad it could please its trainer as Aipom scoffed and crossed its arms, wishing it were getting praised instead.

Arya wasn’t sure how she’d proceed with the lesson, since Kyoko decided to ignore her advice. “Uhm, well…”

Kyoko took of his glasses and began rubbing them with a cloth from his pocket. “If I may suggest, can me and Jacob partake in a simple skirmish with you giving us tweaks once it has concluded?”

Arya looked away and felt embarrassment fill her face. “How could I have been so dumb? I should have done that in the first place! I’m a terrible champion,” she muttered to herself. She turned back and cleared her throat, “Alright then. Go on ahead.”

Kyoko returned his glasses to his eyes and looked intensely at Jacob. “This would be our first battle since we’ve began journeying. I look forward to the outcome.”

Jacob nodded and clenched his fist determinedly, “Right. Rowlet, use Leafage!”

Rowlet crossed its wings into an x-shape, then uncrossed them as it fired off a spiral of lush, green leaves that slashed Slowpoke.

Slowpoke once again took the attack without giving any sort of reaction towards the amount of damage it had taken.

“Use Water Gun,” Kyoko ordered.

Slowpoke took a deep breath, then fired off a thin stream of blue water that doused Rowlet and left it dripping in water.

Rowlet looked itself over before it began panicking over Slowpoke’s attack! It wasn’t prepared to be soaked and worried it’d be too heavy to fly!

“Now, Tackle,” Kyoko added.

Slowpoke nodded sluggishly before trotting off at the speed of a Slakoth. It neared Rowlet and prepared to slam into it, despite the slow force behind its movement.

“Try using Ominous Wind,” Jacob suggested, being unsure of how to direct Rowlet under its state of panic.

Rowlet teared up at the thought of never flying again, then noticed Slowpoke getting closer and closer. Rowlet chirped worriedly as it gathered purple energy into its wings.

Aries was surprised, “It knows Ominous Wind? That’s pretty strong, especially for being so young.”

As Slowpoke closed in, Rowlet’s wings flashed a bright purple before it unleashed a dark, gust of wind from its arms that knocked Slowpoke to its knees!

“Perhaps, Yawn,” Kyoko suggested.

Slowpoke stood up, appearing to have taken no damage once again! It opened its mouth wide as it unleashed a large, clear bubble that floated slowly towards Rowlet.

“Wrap up the battle with Peck,” Jacob ordered, hoping the attacks were doing more than they appeared.

Rowlet ran forward, still unable to take off with being damp, and charged energy into its beak once again. Its beak sharped to a point as it burst the Yawn bubble and slammed into Slowpoke, knocking it to the ground.

Slowpoke felt the damage sink in as it slumped to the ground in defeat.

Rowlet stood atop Slowpoke proudly, puffing out its chest as though it had slain the village giant. “Ro-rowl,” it cooed.

Jacob walked over and congratulated Rowlet, handing it a treat before its eyes glazed over with drowsiness!

Rowlet tumbled over and fell to the ground in a deep slumber, amusing everyone.

Jacob and Kyoko returned their Pokemon to their Pokeballs and shook hands.

“Your Slowpoke was really strong! I was surprised that it never showed how much damage it was actually taking,” Jacob said.

“Thank you, I was also impressed with its battle skills. Your Rowlet has also shown quite a potential to be a powerhouse,” Kyoko replied.

Arya, Aries, and Russo joined them, prepared to give their feedback.

“Well, the obvious thing that Jacob could have avoided was teaching Rowlet not to fly into a status attack, even if the hit would knock out its opponent,” Arya began. “Also, Rowlet seems to be stuck on pleasing you as opposed to taking your commands and seeking approval once the battle has concluded. That kind of lost focus can cost you a match.”

Jacob picked up Aipom and took Arya’s advice to heart. He didn’t want to lose a match due to Rowlet’s focus, and knew it would hurt Rowlet just as much if it knew that was the reason for its loss.

Arya then turned to Kyoko. “Your battle style was impressive for sure, but your Slowpoke lacked the ability to show you how it was feeling. That can be dangerous if you are unaware of your Pokemon’s health.”

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “Actually, I was aware how much damage it had taken throughout the battle. Slowpoke’s tail normally curves upwards, but as it took damage, the tail began to slump down from its lost energy. “

Arya twitched, not expecting Kyoko to have already been doing what she had suggested, especially without her knowledge. “Well… I’m impressed,” she choked out before turning to Russo and Aries, “Now then, why don’t you both have a skirmish?”

Aries looked at Russo, wondering if there would come a day that she’d be his opponent. “Well, I guess since you’ve practiced with Jacob and Kyoko, I was bound to be your foe at some point. I’m game!”

Russo smirked, hoping he’d get the chance to battle again. “Sounds like a plan.”

The two of them switched spots with Jacob and Kyoko. Russo stood across from Aries with his hands deep in his jacket pockets while Aries rummaged through her bag to decide which Pokemon she’d use.

Arya called out to them, “Are you both ready?!”

Aries managed to grab one of her Pokeballs and smiled widely, “Yeah! I just needed to find the one I had been wanting to use.”

Russo tsked and took out a Pokeball from his belt. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Alright then, remember what I told Kyoko and Jacob. Battle begin,” Arya announced.

Russo tossed his Pokeball forward, “Totodile, let’s go.”

“Joltik, come on out,” Aries responded, tossing out Joltik’s Pokeball.

Totodile appeared onto the grassy terrain and snapped its jaws as Joltik poked its head up from the thick grass. Totodile cocked its head and looked at Joltik, not realizing it was much smaller than it originally thought it was.

“Ladies first,” Russo muttered as he crossed his arms.

Aries pointed towards Russo, “How polite! Joltik, use Thunderbolt!”

Joltik stood on its front legs as it gathered electricity across its tiny body. It then shot out a streak of yellow lightning from its back legs that rained down upon Totodile.

Totodile took the full blow of the attack, wincing a bit before shaking away a few remaining sparks. “Toto” it snapped.

Russo smirked, “Time for us to show off a new move. I had wished to use it yesterday in my battle with Arya, but when she called it off I had to wait. Now seems like a perfect time! Totodile, use Ice Fang!”

Everyone turned their attention to Totodile as it opened its mouth slightly and gathered a light blue aura across its body. Its jaws suddenly began to glow blue and released out a cold mist as its teeth froze over. Totodile then darted forward and clamped down on Joltik faster than a Dragonite, managing to freeze it over in one shot.

Aries gasped and ran over to Joltik. She pried Totodile off her Pokemon ice cube and looked down at Joltik stuck inside the ice.

Russo’s eyes widened and he scratched the back of his head from embarrassment. “Whoa ok… did not expect the attack to do that much on its first use! Sorry Aries!”

Aries glared up at Russo, “You’re lucky I don’t rip out each and every one of Totodile’s teeth after that!”

“Relax Aries, it was just an attack. Joltik’ll be fine,” Jacob called to her.

Suddenly, the ice began to crack. It broke apart and released Joltik into Aries lap. It looked around in a daze as Aries picked it up in her cupped hands. Its face had a small, purple hue over its nose, and it released a small sneeze.

Aries’s eyes filled with rage as she looked up at Russo and then at Jacob, “Now it has a cold! Do we have any Aspear Berries?”

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “I believe Russo was eating them last night for dessert… so no.”

Aries stood up and hissed at Russo as he backed away slowly. “What? I like the way they sting as you eat them...” he replied as she slowly stomped towards him.

Aries held Joltik in one hand as she grabbed ahold of Russo’s shirt with another. “If my Joltik doesn’t end up okay by the end of the day, I’m murdering you in your sleep!”

“Just help her,” Jacob cried out as he and Aipom watched her fearfully.

Russo looked away, “Sheesh, there’s probably a Pokemon Center near here. We’ll take it there.”

Arya held her hand up, “That’s a negative. The closest Pokemon Center is in Breezeville City, which is still a few days away.”

Aries released Russo and looked back down at Joltik, who sneezed once again and looked up at Aries glumly. “So, there isn’t anything I can do to help it,” she asked? Suddenly, she realized where they were! “Kyoko, can you pull out your town map for the surrounding area?”

Kyoko reached into his bag and pulled out the item. He turned it towards Aries and allowed her to look it over.

Her eyes darted from side to side as she inspected the screen for the location that had popped into her head. “Aha! No need for a Pokemon Center, because I’ve found out where I can get help.”

“Well let’s head there then, so you can get over this accident already,” Russo suggested as he returned Totodile to its Pokeball.

Aries returned the town map to Kyoko and picked up a small rock beside him. She turned to Russo and crushed it in her hands, slightly cutting her palm. “No, you can stay here since I should be back by nightfall. I don’t need you causing Joltik anymore problems today.”

“Well you aren’t going alone,” Arya insisted. She looked at Jacob, “Why not take Jacob with you?”

Jacob and Aipom looked at each other worriedly, then back at Arya. “Are you sure? I mean she’s already mad as she is…”

Aries sighed, “Fine. Let’s go,” she replied and quickly took off with Joltik resting worriedly in her hand.

Jacob gulped and grabbed his and her bags, then ran off after her as Russo, Kyoko, and Arya stayed behind.


On the road, Aries and Jacob had been walking for about half an hour before anyone had spoken.

“So… are you going to be mad at Russo forever,” Jacob asked?

Aries huffed, “Probably not. I’m just really protective of my Pokemon and don’t appreciate him going overboard on Joltik when it’s so small.”

“But Joltik is, like, the smallest Pokemon out there? It’s going to battle things a lot bigger than Totodile one day,” Jacob replied as he looked up at Aipom sitting atop his head.

Aries stopped walking and sighed. “I guess you’re right… but he’s still the reason Joltik has a cold.”

Jacob grit his teeth worriedly, “I know, I know. Where are we going anyways?”

Aries turned away from him and pointed above the trees on their path, towards a large, steel coated building in the middle of the forest. “There, that’s PRIM, the Pokemon Research Institute of Medicine. It’s like a large Pokemon Center and is where they train Pokemon Doctors.”

“How did you know about it,” Jacob asked as they made their way towards the building.

“Well, before I met you and Russo, I considered coming here. I’ve been thinking of becoming a Pokemon Doctor… but I’m not so sure of myself,” she replied as they reached the entrance.

As they entered, a young man in a lab coat noticed them. He walked over and greeted them politely. “Hello, welcome to PRIM. How can I help you both,” he asked in a voice as sweet as honey.

Aries looked up at the man with her mouth open, unable to respond. She was in awe of his chiseled appearance, and somewhat muscular build. His brown hair was slicked back for a more professional look.

Jacob waited for her to respond, then nudged her after a few seconds of her creepy staring.

Aries regathered herself as she looked down at her Joltik, “Uh, my Joltik! We were having a practice battle and it got frozen. When it thawed, it seemed to have developed a cold and we’re out of Aspear Berries!”

The man lowered his glasses and looked Joltik over in her hands. “Hm, would you like me to give it a full exam? Smaller Pokemon are more at risk for injuries when battling opponents, since their bodies and bones are weaker.”

Aries nodded silently as she handed Joltik to him carefully.

The man pulled over a gurney and slid Joltik onto it gently. “My name is Kelvin by the way. I should be back out in no more than ten minutes. You both are welcome to stay in the waiting lounge down the hallway,” he informed as he wheeled Joltik away.

Aries watched him exit through a set of double doors before realizing what had happened. She shook her head and looked around.

Jacob snickered to Aipom, “Someone’s got a crush.”

Aries heard him and smacked him across the back of the head, “SHUT IT! Don’t you ever tell anyone I acted like that or I’ll ripall of your contest outfits to shreds!”

Jacob crossed his arms, “Geez, I was only teasing. So yeah, the guys nice looking. No need to get all bent about me noticing.”

Aries nodded awkwardly and made her way to the waiting area with Jacob. As she took a seat, he went and bought them sodas to sip on while Joltik was examined. As he returned, she opened it and resumed telling him about her plans. “On my way here, I ended up meeting you and Russo. I noticed how you both constantly were sure about what you wanted to become and do… and then I looked at myself and wondered if being a Pokemon Doctor was something I wanted to be. I never knew what to say to people, because if I told them and then I failed… what kind of person would I be?”

Jacob sipped his soda. “Well, I don’t think anyone would care if you changed your mind. That’s what this time is all about. Your goal is to figure out what you want to do, then pursue it. No shame in not knowing.”

“But what if I don’t know until it’s too late,” she replied as she rested her chin on her palm.

“It’s only too late if you decide it is,” he answered calmly. In his head, he noted how cool it made him sound and made a mental note to use that phrase again at some point.

Aries nodded and lifted her head, “You’re right. Thanks Jacob,” she replied and smiled.

Kelvin returned with Joltik sitting happily atop the gurney. “Alright, your Joltik is all better. An Aspear Berry tea was enough to help it get over being frozen. Can I help you with anything else?”

Aries stood up and returned Joltik to its Pokeball, happy that it was all cured and wouldn’t have to suffer for a few days. “I can’t think of anything,” she replied.

Jacob picked Aipom off his shoulder and held it in his hands. He stood up and walked up to Kelvin. “Actually, I was wondering about becoming a Doctor of Pokemon. Do you suggest any way of going about that?”

Aries’ face turned red, shocked by Jacob asking Kelvin that. She wasn’t aware he wanted to be a doctor too! She grew excited for a second before realizing what he was actually doing, then felt touched by his action.

Kelvin scratched his chin, “Well, you’ll have to do two years of internship like me at various PRIM locations before becoming a nurse. Then two more years as a nurse at a Pokemon Center before becoming a full-fledged Pokemon Doctor. How soon could you start?”

Jacob was surprised at how much work would be involved, “Actually, I’d have to get back to you on that. Thanks for the info! We should get going. Thanks for your help too!”

Kelvin nodded, “Of course. You’re welcome…” he began but realized he didn’t have Jacob’s name.

“Jacob, and she’s Aries,” he informed before pointing at Aries.

Kelvin turned and looked Aries in the eyes, “Good to know. Glad I could help you, Jacob and Aries.”

Aries felt a small connection as Kelvin looked into her eyes. She could feel her cheeks turning red again, so she quickly shuffled away from Kelvin and directed Jacob out of PRIM. “Thanks again!”

Kelvin watched as the two left before he chuckled to himself and returned to his work.

As Jacob and Aries made their walk back to Russo, Kyoko, and Arya, Jacob smirked at Aries. “Well, now he knows your name.”

Aries scoffed, “Well it’s not like I’ll see him again,” she replied before she realized Jacob’s sneaky trick. She clenched a fist to hit him again but stopped when she realized Jacob had helped her as a friend, not as a teasing.

Jacob looked back at her, “Why’d you stop?”

Aries looked down at her fist and unclenched it. “Um, just thought I saw something,” she replied before she ran and caught up to him.

The two then made their way back to the others, with the sun getting ready to lower across the horizon.

Spoiler: CHAPTER 27 PREVIEW

Jacob: Hey Russo, doesn't this look beautiful?
Russo: Huh? I don't know what we are looking at?
Kyoko: Its a migration of Hoppip. They do this once a year during the later part of Summer.
Aries: It's so pretty!
Arya: Oh my, seems we have some company.
Russo: Next time, Hoppip Along the Migration Trail !
Jacob: It's so cute and friendly!
???: Hop-Hopiip
Russo: Ugh.

 

[Jaypom]

Chapter 27:
Hoppip Along the Migration Trail!
One day remains until Jacob, Russo, Aries, Kyoko, and Arya reach Breezeville City. The air is thick with excitement as Russo and Kyoko look forward to the challenges awaiting them in the coming days!​

Russo leaned back as he slumped down against a tree stump. He looked up at the sky and smiled to himself.

Jacob looked over at him as he and Aipom began setting up their breakfast for the day. “What’s with you?”

“Just thinking about my upcoming Gym Battle. I’m thinking I can pull out a win with Totodile’s new move,” he replied confidently, unlike his usual glum-self.

Aries puffed her cheeks and glared at him, still not over what happened to her Joltik. “Yeah, well considering you went overboard in our last battle, I’m sure you’ll do fine,” she scoffed.

Arya took a sip of her water bottle as she looked around for Kyoko. “I think Kyoko wandered off. Do any of you know where he went?”

“I’m up here,” called Kyoko as the branch above the group rustled. Everyone looked up and saw him sitting above them on a large branch. He cocked his glasses, “Are you not aware of what time it is?”

Arya thought to herself for a moment before she realized what he had meant. “Oh, how could I have forgotten! This time of the year is when the Hoppip make their pollination trip across Accelia. Have you seen any?”

Jacob tried to imagine what a Hoppip was, but ultimately resorted to looking it up in his Pokedex. As he pulled his Pokedex out, it made a small grunting noise. He peered at it, “Huh?”

“You were just a tad bit forceful. I’m not indestructible, so please be more gentle with me,” beeped the Pokedex.

Arya overhead him and looked over. Her eyes widened with awe as she ran over and analyzed Jacob’s Pokedex. “Oh wow, you have a Pokedex?! It even has its own A.I. system, so it must be the fanciest new model!”

Jacob laughed, “I guess? I didn’t know there were models, and I just assumed all Pokedexes had a personality like this.”

“No, I’m one of a kind,” beeped his Pokedex sarcastically, causing Arya’s eyes to fill with stars.

“I’m completely jealous! Since I’m already done with my journey, I don’t qualify for a Pokedex anymore, so I have the dumb, old model from, like, a decade ago. It has ZERO personality,” Arya informed as she sighed. She clapped her hands and returned her attention to Jacob, “Can I see it in action? It’s been so long!”

Jacob nodded as Aipom climbed up his shoulder groggily. He searched for Hoppip and awaited his Pokedex to do the rest.

The Pokedex beeped twice before showing a picture of a small, pink Pokemon with large, green weeds drooping out of its head. “Hoppip, the Cottonweed Pokemon. Hoppip are too light to stay grounded, so they’ll grab ahold of grassroots to keep from drifting away on even the slightest of breezes.”

Arya felt her body tremble at the sound of information flooding her brain. She held her hands to her cheeks and swooned, “The nostalgia fills me!”

Aries rolled her eyes at the two’s nonsense and returned to Kyoko. “Why are you up there though?”

Kyoko cocked his glasses as a wind gust gushed through his hair. “I want to be able to observe them fly over us properly. They should be arriving soon.”

Arya looked at Kyoko’s tree and thought to herself if she should attempt climbing it. “I… I would love to-“

Aries grabbed ahold of Arya’s arm and kept her from walking towards the tree. “NO! Don’t get involved with Kyoko and his stupid attempts at seeing Pokemon. He one time caught an entire community of Pokemon because he couldn’t decide which one he liked the mo- KYOKO GET DOWN HERE!”

Kyoko cocked his glasses. “No.”

Aries shoved Arya to the side and pointed up at Kyoko. “Don’t say no to me! And don’t you dare catch those Hoppip!”

Kyoko sighed, “I do not plan to capture any of them. I merely want to witness them fly above us with the best view possible.”

Jacob crossed his arms, “You should really calm down, Aries. I think you’re getting a little worked up.”

Kyoko’s eyes widened as he noticed a flurry of Hoppip quickly nearing him on the gusty winds above him.

Aries scoffed, “I may be, but we can’t seem to trust Kyoko around flocks of Pokemon after that little incident.”

The Hoppip quickly flew over Kyoko, towards central Accelia and their new homes. He gazed up at them in awe! “Wow,” he murmured as he took in the sight.

Jacob and Aries ceased their arguing when they noticed the Hoppip shadows bobbing above them. They both smiled, feeling a sense of happiness seeing the Pokemon traverse the winds towards their future.

Kyoko held his finger up, thinking he could touch one. He reached ever so slightly forward, but was met with an out of control Hoppip slamming into his finger and knocking it off its track!

The Hoppip bounced off his finger and fell downwards through the thicket of trees and branches.

Russo peeked one eye opened and screamed in shock as the Hoppip fell butt-first into Russo’s face! He shoved the Hoppip off and into the dirt, then sneered at it.

Hoppip shook the dirt from its body and looked around. “Hop…piip…” it moaned groggily.

Russo managed to calm down before going off on the Pokemon when he realized it was actually quite drowsy. He poked it and gained its attention. “Hey, I think you fell asleep while flying. You shouldn’t do that,” he teased.

Hoppip blinked and looked around. It noticed Russo’s friends, then realized it had ended up on the ground! “HOP! HOPPIP-HOP,” it panicked! It jumped to try and take off, but couldn’t seem to take flight.

Kyoko climbed down from the tree and joined Russo as the others closed in on Hoppip. “It seems it can’t take flight for whatever reason.”

Aries winced, “This is why he shouldn’t interact with wild Pokemon when we aren’t close by to stop him.”

Jacob scratched his head and laughed. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” he replied as Aipom hopped from his shoulder and crawled over to greet Hoppip.

“Aipa,” it squeaked.

Hoppip quit its jumping and looked up at Aipom. “Hop-hoppip. Hoppip-pip-pip-hop,” it replied.

Aipom looked around before cocking its head. “Pa?”

Hoppip jumped in place, trying to take off once again. It grew tired after a few hops, then fell to the ground and shut its eyes. Its stomach growled with the force of a thousand hurricanes!

“Whoa… now that’s what I call hunger,” Arya whispered, trying not to hurt Hoppip’s feelings.

Hoppip peaked an eye open and noticed Russo’s bag had fallen on its side. Its eyes focused on the small Rage Bar that peaked back towards it. Its mouth watered as it imagined munching on one the size of a skyscraper!

“Let’s see if there is any Pokemon food,” Arya suggested. “I’m sure it could use the nutrients that it has to offer.”

The group looked away for a moment to nod, but when they returned their gaze back towards Hoppip, they gasped!

Hoppip sat chubbily on the ground with the chocolate of the Rage Bar smeared over its mouth. It burped and fell to its side. “Hop-piip,” it moaned heavenly.

Russo quickly ran over to his bag and looked inside. “It… IT ATE MY RAGE BAR! THAT WAS MY LAST ONE”! Hoppip burped again, causing him to stare daggers. He gripped Hoppip by the leaves on its head and held it up to his face. “Do you have anything to say for stealing my favorite candy!”

Hoppip puffed its cheeks, then released one final, chocolatey-berry burp that sizzled against Russo’s eyeballs.

Russo covered his eyes and wiped them as Hoppip fell to the ground with a splat. “Why me,” he groaned.

“It happens to the best of us,” Kyoko murmured.

“It’s your fault! If you weren’t up in that stupid tree, I’d still have my candy bar for dessert,” Russo shouted angrily.

“Calm down. We can get you a new one,” Aries defended, hoping Russo wouldn’t go overboard on Kyoko.

“You’re one to talk! You were just complaining to Jacob about Kyoko too,” Russo replied.

Aries scoffed, “Well… I mean… It was a little different…”

Russo grabbed Hoppip and began to vigorously shake it awake, only to find it fast asleep! “Wake! Up! You! Annoying! Fat! Grass! Float! Thingy!”

“Annoying fast grass float thingy. That’s your insult,” Jacob asked, really hoping he could have done better?

“Excuse me for being heartless, but this Hoppip literally ate it in front of me,” Russo replied.

Arya rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Jeez, I didn’t know you love Rage Bars so much. Look, I have one in my bag so you’re welcome to have it.”

Russo looked up at Arya tearfully. “Y-you mean it? That’s so awesome, thank you,” Russo replied and looked at Arya’s bag, then felt his body freeze as Hoppip rolled out of it with more chocolate smeared across its face.

“Well… that is unfortunate,” Kyoko informed.

Russo’s body fittingly filled with rage. “That… Hoppip… will… PAY,” he shouted and gripped a Pokeball.

Hoppip blinked and looked at Russo sleepily. “Pip?”

“Don’t you ‘pip’ me, you know what you did! Metang, use Metal Claw,” Russo ordered as he threw Metang’s Pokeball into the air with vengeance!

Metang popped out of its Pokeball and coated its body in a grey, metallic aura. It zoomed towards Hoppip and attempted to smash into it, but missed when Hoppip speedily jumped out of the way.

Now hyped up on candy, Hoppip easily jolted threw the air with its sugar rush. It stopped above Metang, then swirled in its place like a top and released a pink, glistening gust of wind that knocked Metang to the ground.

“It’s so fast, and strong! That Fairy Wind knocked Metang to the ground with ease,” Arya noted to Russo.

Metang got back to hovering in the air and looked up at Hoppip, awaiting its next command from Russo.

Russo was thoroughly impressed with Hoppip’s power from just the one attack. “Use Metal Claw!”

Metang’s claws grew three times their normal size and filled with steel energy. It zoomed towards Hoppip, then swiped at its body, only to miss as Hoppip bounced threw the air. Metang ceased its swiping and returned to Russo’s side.

“It’s so fast, which I didn’t expect from it after it pigging out on candy and being too weak to fly when we met it,” Russo spoke to Metang. He smirked to himself, “Even though it stole my favorite candy-“ he began as Hoppip pranced through the air energetically, “I want that kind of power on my team.”

“You want to catch it,” Jacob asked?

“Go for it! I’m sure you could do a great job raising it,” Arya cheered!

Russo nodded, “Yeah, thanks,” he replied as he took out an empty Pokeball. He then beckoned to it, “Hoppip!”

Hoppip slowed down and hovered in its place as it looked down at Russo curiously. It wondered why he had stopped playing with it. “Pip?”

Russo held up a Pokeball towards it, “I plan to catch you! Are you up to finishing the battle?”

Hoppip smiled at the idea of continuing their game of tag, as well as upping the stakes if it lost. “Pip-hoppip,” it replied, confirming it was okay with the terms.

Russo nodded, “Alright then, Metang, use Zen Headbutt!”

Metang gathered psychic energy into a blue orb on its forehead, then shot off from his side towards Hoppip, who responded by slamming into Metang’s attack with an equal forced Tackle.

Hoppip pushed away and fired off another Fairy Wind, knocking Metang off balance.

“Use Iron Head to cut through,” Russo ordered.

Metang gathered steel energy across its body once again, then took off into the vortex of the Fairy Wind, making use of the Steel-Type advantage to cut through the Fairy-Type effects, and slammed into Hoppip.

Hoppip cried out in shock as it shot backwards into the trees. It began to feel tired now that the sugar rush was beginning to wear off. It bounced through the thicket of tree branches to confuse Metang.

Metang looked around curiously at each sound of a branch rustling, waiting for the appropriate moment to strike.

Hoppip then appeared on top of Metang and fired off a stream of small, yellow seeds that rained down upon Metang, slightly damaging it and giving Hoppip’s location away.

“It’s definitely got some great moves, but we can still win if we outlast its energy. Use Metal Claw,” Russo encouraged.

Metang nodded and shot into the air, then swiped at Hoppip with its steel-energy filled claws, causing Hoppip to grow sleepier and sleepier with every dodge, before finally giving in and getting swiped, knocking it to the ground.

Hoppip slept peacefully on the ground, tuckered out from its match and ready to sleep off its injuries.

Russo smiled determinedly, “Awesome! Now, let’s go Pokeball,” he announced and threw the Pokeball directly at Hoppip.

Hoppip peaked one eye open sleepily and watched as the Pokeball collided with its forehead, popped open, surrounded it with a red beam of light, then sucked it inside. It’s Pokeball then shut and fell to the ground, shook three times, then beeped loudly to signal its capture was complete.

Russo grinned from ear to ear at the sound of the complete capture. He jogged over and picked up the Pokeball happily. He smiled down at it, happy to have gained a new member in time to challenge the Breezeville Gym. He held the Pokeball into the air, “Awesome, I caught a Hoppip!”

Metang jumped to his side and held a claw in the air. “Metang,” it cheered.

Russo and Metang then returned their friends. Russo held the Pokeball out in his hands, “Well, let’s welcome our new team member. What do you say?” Everyone responded with a nod as Russo tossed the Pokeball into the air and released Hoppip.

Hoppip gently floated downwards and onto Metang’s head. It snored loudly, deep in its rest from using up all the energy it got from its two Rage Bars.

Everyone laughed at its cute, lazy nature. They were all excited that to have a new face in the group.

Russo rubbed his hand along one of Hoppip’s leave, waking it up slightly. He smiled down at it warmly, “Welcome to our team.”

Hoppip smiled brightly, happy to have itself a new home… considering that was what it was hoping to find on the day Hoppip travel across the region in search of a new one.

Spoiler: CHAPTER 28 PREVIEW

Jacob: Amazing! We're finally in Breezeville City!
Russo: First thing's first, let's head to the gym!
Aries: Sorry to break it to ya, but it looks like the gym is closed.
Russo: Well what do we do in the mean time?
Kyoko: There's the Battle Ring?
???(1): Ninjask, go for the ring!
???(2): Staravia, you get it first!
Hareta: Next time, Breezeville City, the Wind Capital of Accelia !
Jacob: Hareta?! What are you doing here?
Hareta: Oh, leave that question to be answered in the chapter.

 

[Jaypom]

I'm sorry about the delay of this chapter! I got really sidetracked from starting summer vacation and also a lets play on my YouTube channel that I really neglected this story. I do plan to finish this arc up by the middle of August though!

Chapter 28:
Breezeville City, the Wind Capital of Accelia!​

“Hurry up! We’re so close,” Russo shouted as he ran full speed ahead along a dirt path towards the top of a steep hill.

Jacob, Aries, Kyoko, and Arya followed behind him, all panting from running for such a long distance.

“You’ve been saying ‘we’re so close’ for the past hour! You better mean it,” Aries threatened through gasps for breath.

​

After days of traveling, our heroes have seemingly made it to Breezeville City! Will Russo and Kyoko emerge victorious in their challenges? Time to find out…​

Jacob began lagging behind before he eventually stopped to rest against a tree. “You guys go ahead. Leave me to die,” he moaned as he slumped to the ground.

Aipom sat atop his head and looked down at its trainer. “Aipa,” it squeaked playfully, hoping to encourage him to continue on.

Russo skidded to stop as he reached the top of their slope. He gazed down at the large city as Kyoko, Aries, and Arya joined him and looked upon their destination in awe.

Breezeville City was a wide-spread area of short, skyscrapers. To the west of the city lay an expansive airport with dozens of terminal, and planes set to take off across the region and world. The eastern lands of the city possessed a large, sandstone colosseum with two cranes installing a large, neon sign that could be seen from the onlooking hill.

Kyoko cocked his glasses, unfazed from their last-minute sprint for Russo’s sake. “I would believe that is the Battle Ring.”

“It’s huge! They must be expecting constant watchers with the size of that thing,” shouted Aries as a sudden gust of wind blew through her hair.

Jacob crawled up to them and gazed upon the city as well. “Wow, it IS huge! I don’t even think Kimpier City was as large as this one… but the buildings certainly are smaller.”

“Well, Breezeville City possesses the largest airport in all of Accelia. The buildings are small for the sake of the constant flow of planes,” Arya informed.

“On top of that, larger building creates stronger winds. By keeping low level buildings, it lowers the strength of the already strong winds blowing through here,” Kyoko added.

Another wind gust blew through the trainers’ hair, knocking Aipom from Jacob’s head and onto the ground.

“The wind is so strong here because of the mountains surrounding the city. They blow up and over, causing this place to become the Wind Capital of Accelia,” Kyoko finished.

Aipom stood up dizzily as Jacob got to his feet. It crawled up and waited for the group to make its way down so Russo could finally get his gym battle.

Russo stood determinedly looking upon the city. He felt his hands begin to clam up with worry as he felt the fear of losing another battle sink in.

Jacob patted Russo on the back. “Don’t worry! You’ll get your badge. I’m sure of it,” he encouraged.

Russo nodded, “Thanks! Let’s get going then. It’s still early in the afternoon, so we should make it in time to challenge them before closing.”

Arya crossed her arms. “Actually, the gym leader closed the gym for the day. She’s at the Battle Ring right now.”

“How do you know that,” Aries asked?

Arya began leading the group towards the city. “She’s an old friend,” she replied as she looked back and winked.



The group made their way towards the large colosseum and stared up in awe at the expansive structure.

A long line of challengers waited outside of the Battle Ring, patiently waiting to see if today was the day it would open and allow them a chance at earning their first symbol of the Battle Frontier.

Kyoko stared at the the large line, not aware he had so many other opponents going after his challenge.

From out in the line, an orange, frizzy ponytail poked up after catching eye of Kyoko. “Kyoko! You made it!”

Everyone looked over as Izzy peaked her head out from her spot in line. She waved to them and began to step out, but caught herself before she gave up her spot as ninth in line.

The group walked over and greeted her excitedly, glad to see a friendly face.

Izzy noticed Arya and whispered to Kyoko. “Who’s the new chick?”

Arya blushed, hearing Izzy’s question. “My name’s Arya. I was accompanying your friends to Breezeville City. Judging from your hair color and personality, you must be Izzy. I heard about you from Kyoko over a dinner a few times.”

Izzy blushed slightly and smirked at Kyoko, who stood next to her blankly. “You talked about me? How sweet of you,” she joked.

Kyoko ignored her statement. “You are aware the Battle Ring won’t be opening today, right?”

Izzy’s smile quickly faded to an awkward grin. “Wh-what? I’ve been waitin’ here for nearly six hours, so of course it’s going to open today… that’s why I’m here!”

Kyoko pointed at a small, picket sign that was placed outside of the doors. “It looks like the ones in the front ignored that sign stating that opening day and line numbers will begin tomorrow. It appears everyone here isn’t as intellectual as I had thought.”

Izzy’s face quickly grew pale from embarrassment. She sighed and watched as her fellow line mates overheard Kyoko and disbanded the line with disappointment.

Aries comforted her as Arya watched the trainers leave while muttering about the Frontier Brain being lazy for taking so long to open her facility. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, “None of them will be champion if they can’t be patient. It’s not about getting to instantly challenge your opponent and receiving a reward. It’s about having a battle that will make you a better and stronger trainer.”

Russo overheard Arya and wondered what she had thought of him as a trainer. He and the others then looked over as the front doors opened and two women walked out.

One woman was quite tall and somewhat bulky. Her dark-brown hair was done up into a pompadour and decorated with a red, circular pin on the right side of her hairdo. She wore navy blue, denim jumpsuit and brown, lace-up work boots. “Thank god that line is gone. I was wonderin’ when they’d notice the damn sign.”

“Hi Wanda, glad to see your facility turned out nicely,” Arya replied. She turned and introduced the two women to the trainers. “These two women are your opponent’s here in Breezeville City. The woman who just spoke is Wanda and she’s the Ringmaster of the Battle Ring,” Arya informed.

Wanda nodded to the trainers. “Greetings kiddos.”

“And the other one’s Skye, the Gym Leader of this fine city,” informed another familiar, female voice.

The group looked over again, witnessing the arrival of Hareta, Ace Reporter of Accelia!

Arya grinned excitedly and ran over to wrap her arms around Hareta for an enormous hug. “Hara! I’m so glad you’re here! I didn’t think you’d make it,” she exclaimed, embracing her old friend.

Skye walked over and gave a small hug to Hareta, happy to see her as well. She then backed away and stood silently.

Hareta smiled embarrassingly and scratched the back of her head. “Aw, I missed you too Arya. I wouldn’t have missed the grand opening of our region’s new Battle Frontier Facility when it’s such a hot story,” she replied. She turned her attention to Jacob and the others. “Glad to see you all ended up here as well. I’m assuming Russo is here to challenge Skye?”

Russo nodded. “I’m here to get my second badge,” he replied confidently.

Skye smiled sweetly, “Well I humbly accept your challenge, only you’ll have to wait a little bit. I came here to help out Wanda. She’s going to test her facility before it officially opens, so I came here to be her opponent.”

Izzy crossed her arms and lowered her head. “Wish she’d open it up quicker already,” she muttered.

Wanda turned her attention to the others. “And you all must be friends of Arya?”

Jacob nodded, “My name’s Jacob and I’m a Coordinator. I’m traveling with my partner, Aipom,” he replied and help Aipom up to Wanda, who waved politely.

“My names Aries, I’m tagging along to become a Pokemon Doctor… one day,” Aries added.

Wanda looked closer at Aries, “That’s strange, you look an awful lot like-“

Izzy butted in front of Wanda’s line of site. “I’m Izzy! I’m here to challenge your facility!”

Wanda backed away and caught herself from stumbling over. “Oh my, well aren’t you an excited trainer. You’ve been here in line for quite some time, just like the ones who ignored my nicely decorated sign”.

Izzy’s face twitched. “Well… I mean…”

Kyoko cocked his glasses, “My name is Kyoko. I’m here for the same reason. However, I am not in any rush. I do not mind letting Izzy challenge you and lose.”

Wanda laughed at Kyoko’s introduction, getting a funny feeling from his intellectual and indifferent side about challenging her. “Why don’t you all come inside? I’m about to have a match with Skye, and since you are all friends of Arya, you can watch as well” she informed and led everyone inside.

As they entered, Hareta slowed Arya back for a small chat. Once the others had disappeared, she revealed her information. “You know why I’m really here right?”

Arya’s cheerful feelings about her reunion turned worrisome. “They’re here… aren’t they.”

Hareta took out her notepad and handed it to Arya for reading.

Arya’s eyes darted from side to side as she quickly analyzed Hareta’s notes. “Why would they want to come here? It just doesn’t add up.”

Hareta returned her notepad to her trench coat pocket. “All I could gather is that there is something here that they want. Do you think Skye knows anything?”

Arya looked off as her companions entered the main arena. “I’m sure either she or Wanda knows. I’ll ask them after their match.”

Hareta nodded and followed Arya. They both reached the main arena and made their way into the stands to watch Skye and Wanda’s practice match.

The Battle Ring’s interior matched its exterior, being a large colosseum with a dirt battlefield in the center. Small, black lines contoured the battlefield’s outline, seeming like a strange design choice.

Wanda and Skye had taken their places in their appropriate trainer boxes while Jacob, Russo, Aries, Kyoko, Izzy, Arya, and Hareta sat eagerly in the stands to watch the show.

A female referee took to the field in a spot at the center. A small pedestal rose from the ground, allowing her to type in a passcode that caused the trainer and referee boxes to become lifted high above the ground on large columns!

“Why are they being lifted so high into the air,” Jacob asked?

“I’m sure you are aware each battle facility for the Accelian Battle Frontier has different types of matches that consist of a little more than a simple battle. Here at the Battle Ring, Wanda’s special challenge is a PokeRinger match,” Hareta informed.

“PokeRinger involves the use of two Pokemon aiming for a ring released on a balloon. The Pokemon who catches it and scores it on the goal post is declared the winner. Mostly it is played in the air with flying types, but Wanda claims she’s had the battlefield fitted with all sorts of environments for the trainers who don’t have the pleasure of owning a flying type,” Arya added.

“That’s nice of her. From the looks of it, they’ll be playing it in the traditional manor,” Aries replied as she watched Skye and Wanda take out a Pokeball from their belts.

The referee held up her hands. “This PokeRinger practice match between Wanda, the Battle Ring Ringmaster, and Skye, the Breezeville City Gym Leader, will now commence. Each side will use one Pokemon and the battle will be over when the ring is scored upon the goal post. Let the match,” she began, but briefly paused as a small balloon was released from the center of the battlefield. Once the balloon reached her eye level, “begin,” she concluded.

Wanda and Skye quickly tossed out their Pokeballs, releasing two flying-types in the air. From Wanda, a small, cicada-like Pokemon with rapidly flapping wings holding it afloat. From Skye, a typical, black and white, medium-sized bird-like Pokemon.

Jacob took out his Pokedex and scanned the two as they raced towards the balloon at top speeds.

“Ninjask, the Ninja Pokemon and an evolved form of Nincada. Ninjask’s wings flap at such high speeds, they can become impossible to see with the naked eye. Staravia, the Starling Pokemon and the evolved form of Starly. Staravia prefer to live in groups when in the wild due to feeling too weak when on their own,” the Pokedex informed.

Wanda’s Ninjask quickly grabbed ahold of the small, plastic ring and quickly buzzed down towards the battlefield where a large, coat rack-like pole stood for the goal.

“Staravia, use Quick Attack and ride along the wind current to grab the ring,” Skye spoke softly.

Staravia collapsed its wings against its body, then shot down along the wind like a rocket, allowing it to grab the wing from Ninjask with its beak. It spread its wings out to stop its descent, then flew back into the air and out of Ninjask’s grasp. It turned and looked down as Ninjask watched it glide along the now calming winds.

“So why didn’t she take advantage of being so close and score,” Jacob asked, feeling awkward about all of his questions.

“Most likely Wanda asked Skye to test out if opponents could rival the speed of her Ninjask,” Russo replied, knowing that Ninjask tend to get speedy when left in battle for a while.

“Russo is correct. He’s referring to its ability, Speed Boost, which constantly speeds up a Pokemon the longer it’s in battle,” Arya added.

“So, if we want to beat Ninjask, we should beat it quickly,” Izzy concluded as Kyoko watched the battle intently. She noticed his intense concentration and smirked, thinking back to their school days where he’d be the only one paying attention to their teacher while everyone else goofed off.

“Impressive, Skye, but can you keep up with Ninjask like I want,” Wanda teased?

Skye blushed, “Of course. My flying Pokemon are no slouches in the speed department. For instance, Staravia, use Quick Attack once again.”

Staravia coated itself in a white aura and raced downward towards Ninjask, then slammed into it with its beak and the ring, knocking Ninjask out of the way. It cooed as it sped towards the goal.

Wanda nodded to her Ninjask, who, in the blink of an eye, appeared next to Staravia and smacked it off course.

Skye gasped at Wanda’s Ninjask’s speed! She wasn’t aware at how fast it could move compared to her fastest Pokemon!

Ninjask quickly yanked the ring from Staravia and placed it atop the goal-pole, setting off two cannons of confetti to signal its victory.

Skye sighed disappointedly, but smiled to her Staravia happily. “At least we tried, take a long rest my friend,” she ordered as she returned Staravia to its Pokeball. Both columns lowered and released the trainers, with Skye heading over to Wanda. She shook hands with Wanda as she also returned her Pokemon to its Pokeball. “I’d say you’re ready to go! Not many people can go up against my flying Pokemon and their speed.”

Wanda chuckled, “Thanks a lot. I’m glad I have the approval of our town’s Gym Leader, and the region’s Champion!”

Russo stood up from his seat and leaned forwards over the railing. “Both of you have such fast Pokemon! I can’t wait to challenge you, Skye!”

Wanda thought to herself for a moment before nudging Skye on the shoulder. “Well, how about you have your gym battle right here? This field could use some breaking in, and I can mold it to your every desire. What do ya say?”

Skye looked up at Wanda. “Oh, well I suppose that would be fine. Russo?”

Russo nodded determinedly. “Hell yes,” he replied and jumped over the railing excitedly, landing on the ground and darting over to the field.

“He sure has a lot more enthusiasm than I remember,” Hareta spoked to Jacob.

Jacob held Aipom worriedly. “That goes for me as well,” he replied. He hadn’t recalled a time when Russo seemed almost as excited as himself. “Is he faking it,” he thought to himself?

Wanda nodded to her referee before taking a spot in the stands where Russo had been sitting. She looked down at Kyoko and grinned.

Kyoko’s glasses had glared over from the afternoon sun. “Is there something on my face,” he asked Wanda curiously?

Wanda shook her head, “No, no, just nice to see my field getting a good gym battle in before my challengers take me on. I’ve been looking to get a good thrill from my first battle.”

Izzy leaned across Kyoko’s lap and got into Wanda’s face. “I can give ya just that! Please, let me challenge you!”

Wanda tsked, “Now, now, you’ll need to wait in line like everyone else.”

Izzy gasped, “Oh crap! I forgot about the line,” she replied and quickly took off to take her place at the now front of the line. “I’ll see you all later,” she shouted and quickly made her exit.

Wanda sighed exhaustedly, “Man that girl can talk.”

Kyoko cocked his glasses again, “She has always been excited about trying new things.”

Wanda turned her attention back to Kyoko, “And you aren’t?”

Kyoko turned his gaze back to the battlefield and Russo stretching as he prepped for battle with Skye. “I do not prefer getting involved, as watching can be a lot more beneficial than experiencing.”

Wanda smirked, “But you’ll learn a lot from the feelings of getting involved.”

Kyoko ignored Wanda, fueling her desire to continue a conversation with him.

The referee held her hands into the air as Skye and Russo stared determinedly at each other from their spots on the dirt battlefield of the Battle Ring.

“You can do it, Russo,” Aries cheered hopefully, attempting to suppress her residual anger from him hurting her Joltik.

Arya made sure to focus her attention on Russo and how he planned to battle a flying specialist.

Jacob continued holding Aipom in his lap worriedly. “Something seems off about Russo,” he spoke to Aipom.

Aipom looked up at its trainer and then to Russo, also feeling as though something was off about its trainer’s friend.

“This gym battle between Skye, the Gym Leader of the Breezeville Gym, and Russo, of Zilonia City, is about to begin. Each side will use three Pokemon, with only the challenger being allowed to substitute Pokemon. The battle will be over when either side has run out of Pokemon,” the referee announced as it was always scripted.

Skye held a Pokeball in her hands, “Are you ready to take to the skies?”

Russo grinned. “Of course,” he replied and gripped a Pokeball tightly.

The referee lowered her arms, “Then, let the battle begin!”

Spoiler: CHAPTER 29 PREVIEW

Russo: Dammit, why is she so strong?!
Jacob: Calm down Russo!
Russo: No, I can't calm down! Metang, c'mon!
Metang: Me-Metang...
Aries: Nothing about this match is looking good...
Arya: Russo...
Russo: Next time, Winning Is No Breezeville !
Hareta: You should talk to him.
Jacob: *sighs worriedly*

 

[Jaypom]

Chapter 29:
Winning Is No Breezeville!
Previously on Pokemon Spectrum… Jacob and friends arrived in Breezeville City for Russo to challenge the gym and Kyoko to challenge the Battle Ring. Upon arrival, they met the Gym Leader, Skye, and the Battle Ring Ringmaster, Wanda. They also reunited with Kyoko’s childhood friend, Izzy, as well as Hareta, the Pokemon Reporter Jacob and the others met in Kimpier City. Now, Russo has begun his match against Skye and has his eyes set on his second badge!​

Skye tossed her Pokeball into the air, releasing a small, purple, balloon-like Pokemon into the air as Russo sent forth his Metang.

Jacob took out his Pokedex and quickly scanned Skye’s Pokemon.

“Drifloon, the Balloon Pokemon. Drifloon expand or shrink their bodies depending on their emotions,” the Pokedex began.

“Aw, it’s so cute,” Jacob replied, smiling to Aipom on his lap.

“Some Drifloon pretend to be actual balloons to lure children into grabbing ahold of them, so it can then carry them off into the afterlife,” the Pokedex finished, hoping to shatter Jacob’s spirits and ambition to reuse the Pokedex again.

Jacob gulped and slowly shut his Pokedex, then remained silent in his seat as Russo got to work on his match.

“Metang, use Iron Head,” Russo began.

Metang coated itself in a metallic, grey aura and zoomed forward, aiming for Drifloon.

Skye spoke as calm as the breeze, “Use Constrict and throw it off course.”

Drifloon quickly dodged Metang’s attack by ducking underneath it. It then grabbed ahold of Metang’s arms with its string-like hands and tossed Metang into the air.

Metang floated shakily in the sky as it looked around, unaware at the strength of the small, Balloon Pokemon.

“Damn, that thing is a lot stronger than it looks. Ok Metang, use Confusion and send it to the ground,” Russo re-ordered.

Metang nodded and looked down towards Drifloon, who had disappeared from sight. It looked around for its target, but was unaware it was hiding atop its head.

“Use Ominous Wind,” Skye ordered.

Drifloon puffed its body full of a ghostly wind before unleashing it through its yellow x-like mouth, knocking Metang onto the ground.

Metang looked up shakily, feeling the effects of the super-effective attack. It hadn’t expected its opponent to have already moved above it.

“Dammit, how the hell can it move so fast,” Russo yelled aloud, bringing attention to himself.

Metang looked over worriedly as Drifloon appeared out of nowhere again!

“Use Shadow Ball,” Skye finished.

Drifloon formed a shadowy glob of black and purple energy that immediately exploded on Metang, due to the close proximity of the Pokemon.

Metang fell to the ground, knocked out from the overwhelming force of Skye’s Drifloon.

“Flooooon,” Drifloon puffed innocently as it floated back towards Skye for a congratulatory head-pat.

Russo lowered his head and sighed, disappointed at the loss of his most powerful Pokemon right off the bat. He returned Metang to its Pokeball silently and thought to himself on how he’d proceed. “I could use Totodile’s Ice Fang… or Larvesta’s String Shot to slow it down. Hoppip is no use since it’s too hyperactive and also a grass type. What do I do,” he wondered?

“I wonder why Russo used Metang right of the bat, especially against Drifloon, who has a clear advantage over it due to type,” Aries spoke to the other spectators.

“I think he underestimated the power of her Drifloon, which is something a challenger must never do to a Gym Leader,” Arya replied.

“He’s not as well thought as I remember from Kimpier City. Is he feeling alright,” Hareta asked?

“He’s been on a losing streak against other opponents, and has been moody since we left Seavaille Town,” Jacob replied.

“He keeps saying he’s fine, but I doubt he’s telling the truth,” Aries added.

“Well, he needs to get his head out of the clouds if he wants to beat Skye. She might look bland n’ unable to strike with pure force, but her Pokemon are capable of packin’ a punch if a trainer can’t keep ‘em out of the air,” Wanda informed.

Russo quickly tossed his second Pokeball into the air, releasing Totodile onto the field.

Totodile snapped its jaws at Drifloon, hoping to strike some fear into its opponent.

Drifloon looked at Totodile, then hovered over slowly.

Totodile tensed up, waiting for Drifloon to react.

“Use Ice Fang,” Russo ordered.

Totodile took advantage of Drifloon moving closer and opened its mouth to take an icy bite out of its opponent.

“Dodge, then use Disable,” Skye commanded.

Drifloon condensed its body into a smaller balloon and dodged Totodile’s attack. It then looked Totodile in the eye before puffing forth a red X from its mouth that merged itself with Totodile.

Totodile looked around, unsure of what Drifloon had done for a counter attack.

Russo grit his teeth and stomped his foot on the ground out of frustration, “Dammit!”

Skye paused and looked at Russo. Her once cheerful expression about their battle had instantly faded. Her goal of playing with her challenger was now to teach him a lesson.

“So, with Disable, that means Totodile can’t use Ice Fang,” Jacob asked?

“Correct, which means Russo’s ace move is now out of commission until he finds a way to defeat Drifloon,” Arya confirmed. She crossed her arms and glared at Russo angrily. “However, I really don’t appreciate his attitude.”

“I thought he was all happy before,” Aries exclaimed!

“It was all clearly a rouse,” Kyoko informed.

“Use Bite back to back,” Russo shouted angrily.

Totodile felt as though its trainer wasn’t battling in the right frame of mind. It sighed and turned to Drifloon, then opened its mouth wide for a simple chomp.

Drifloon easily constricted its body and floated out of Totodile’s way. It then proceeded to dodge each attack from Totodile, managing to tire it out.

Totodile breathed heavily, feeling the toll of its rapid fire of attacks draining its stamina.

Russo clutched his head angrily, trying to find a way to defeat Drifloon, but the only thoughts that filled his mind were anger with his constant defeats from Arya, Declan, and now Skye.

“You are not going to win if you’re constantly worrying about victory or loss. If you continue to act out, I will end the battle and not accept a rematch until you’ve proved you understand the issue at hand,” Skye shouted to Russo as a breeze rushed through the arena.

Russo looked up at Skye, with tears in his eyes. “No! You can’t do that,” he shouted back!

“He’s crying,” Jacob whispered to Aipom? He was shocked to see Russo, of all people, to be having a tantrum.

“Drifloon, use Ominous Wind,” Skye spoke without a care.

Drifloon crossed, then uncrossed its arms and unleashed a current of purple and black wind that gushed past Totodile, knocking it backwards and onto the ground where it had promptly been knocked out. Drifloon expanded its body angrily. “Floon,” it puffed, mimicking its trainer’s emotions.

Russo stared at Totodile. Thoughts of a tall boy filled Russo’s mind, but he quickly shook the thought from his mind. “No…. NO,” he muttered to himself. He quickly returned Totodile to its Pokeball, then tossed out Larvesta as his last Pokemon.

Larvesta emerged from its Pokeball, ready to battle. As it turned to look at its trainer, it noticed that he was clearly not alright.

Skye remained silent. She was disappointed that Russo was letting the state of the battle affect him so seriously. She had never had a challenger throw such a harsh temper from the battle not going their way. She nodded to her Drifloon, signaling for the Balloon Pokemon to end the battle swiftly.

Drifloon quickly rushed over and grabbed ahold of Larvesta before Russo could give a command.

Larvesta winced from the Drifloon’s surprisingly powerful grip, but accepted that it was going to be defeated if Russo didn’t act quickly.

Russo’s audience remained silent as they too knew he’d been defeated.

Drifloon then unleashed a wave of black and purple wind from its x-like mouth that gushed across Larvesta’s body, inflicting massive damage from attack’s proximity.

Russo fell to his knees silently as Larvesta hung in Drifloon’s grasp.

The referee held her hand into the air. “All three of the challenger’s Pokemon are unable to continue, therefore the match goes to Skye, the gym leader,” she announced promptly, hoping Russo would be a sane enough trainer to take his Pokemon for treatment at the Pokemon Center.

Russo looked up and noticed Drifloon had floated over to him. It gently placed Larvesta into Russo’s open hands before it floated back to his trainer.

Skye looked at Russo disgustedly. “A trainer to lets the frustration of a hard battle overtake him is not worthy of challenging me. Take your Pokemon to get healed up before you even consider speaking to me again,” she commanded harshly.

Jacob stood up to defend Russo, but was stopped when Arya grabbed ahold of his arm. She looked him in the eye and shook her head, knowing he’d understand that Russo needs to learn a lesson.

Russo stood up and gazed down at Larvesta. Tears were still streaming down his face and had begun to drip onto his defeated Pokemon.

Larvesta blinked weakly and looked up at its trainer. “Lar…” it chirped.

Russo looked away and quickly fled the Battle Ring with Larvesta in his arms. As he rushed through the street, onlookers wondered why he was in such a rush and in tears.

Jacob, Aries, and Kyoko stood up to head after him and make sure he was alright. “We’re gonna go check on him,” Jacob informed.

“You coming,” Aries asked Arya?

Arya shook her head, “I have a couple of errands to see to before I turn in for the night. You all make sure Russo returns to his normal self. I would never accept a rematch from him after what I just saw, until he changes his priorities.”

Jacob, Aries, and Kyoko nodded before heading out of the Battle Ring to find Russo before the afternoon sun was well below the horizon.

After the teens were out of sight, Arya turned to her fellow battle leaders and Hareta. “Now that they’re gone, I’m going to need your help.”

“What’s the issue,” Wanda asked?

“We believe Team Element is going to do something here in the city very soon,” Hareta replied.

“What sort of something,” Skye asked?

“We aren’t sure. Those kids stole a flash drive from them a while ago and let me borrow it. If I can find out what’s on it, perhaps it’ll tell us what we need to know,” Arya answered.

“You should take it to the police headquarters then. Officer Jenny has enough high-tech technology to scan it for you,” Skye suggested.

Wanda got to her feet and hopped the railing to Skye’s side. “We’ll go search the skies for any signs of danger. You both head for the Police Headquarters in the center of town,” Wanda ordered.

Arya and Hareta nodded in agreement before they parted ways with their allies. As they left Wanda and Skye, a small cargo plane hovered above the city, with its passengers waiting to set their plan in motion.




Jacob, Aries, and Kyoko entered the Pokemon Center as the sun began to coat the sky in an orangey-red hue.

Nurse Joy greeted them as they approached her desk. “Hello and welcome to my center. How can I help you trainers,” she asked cheerfully?

“We’re looking for a trainer named Russo. Has he passed through here,” Jacob asked worriedly as he clutched Aipom in his arms?

Nurse Joy’s cheerfulness turned worrisome. “Yes, he was here a few minutes ago to drop his Pokemon off for treatment. I’m not sure where he’s run off to though. Are you friends of his?”

“Yeah, he just got beat pretty badly in a gym match. You really have no idea where he could be,” Aries replied?

Nurse Joy nodded sadly, “I’m afraid so. His Pokemon were beat up pretty roughly, and should make a full recovery, but I’ve never seen a trainer as distraught as him.”

“What do you mean by distraught,” Jacob asked? He would have never guessed Russo’s tantrum was as serious as he had made it out to be.

“I’ve met tons of trainers that were beaten pretty badly by Skye, but nothing that a trainer wasn’t capable of comprehending. Russo’s eyes… they were filled with… so much hatred,” Nurse Joy replied.

“He hates Skye,” Aries wondered?

“No, hatred for himself. Like he couldn’t live with letting himself get defeated,” Nurse Joy clarified. “Would any of you be willing to look after his Pokemon and be around in the event something happens,” Nurse Joy asked?

“You two stay here. I’ll go look for him,” Jacob spoke to Aries and Kyoko.

“Where do you plan to find him,” Aries replied as Jacob darted for the door.

Jacob clutched a Pokeball in his hand as Aipom climbed atop his shoulder. “Rowlet can look from the skies! I’ll come back with him as soon as I can,” Jacob replied before taking off out the doors. He dashed through the streets, quickly looking and analyzing his surroundings for any sign of Russo. He skidded to a stop and tossed Rowlet’s Pokeball into the air.

Rowlet popped out of its Pokeball and landed on Jacob’s other shoulder. It cooed and nuzzled Jacob’s cheek, “Roowwlll”.

“I need you to go look for Russo for me. I know it’s kind of late, so be careful,” Jacob ordered.

Rowlet nodded and took to the skies as the sun’s hue grew a darker orange with the oncoming night.

Jacob continued running and search for Russo. After around ten minutes had passed, he came upon the outskirts of town and noticed the large hill they had descended to enter the city. He noticed a figure sitting atop it as the wind blew through their shaggy hair. “Russo?!” Jacob shouted, hoping it was him.

He was met with a loud groan and the sound of someone falling onto their back into the grass.

Jacob chuckled. “Yeah, that’s him,” he joked to Aipom. He began climbing up the hill, with Rowlet joining him upon reaching the top. He looked over at Russo and saw what Nurse Joy had meant.

Russo stared sadly at the city as it began lighting up for the night. His eyes were blank, and his clothes were ragged from the constant wind. Looked down at his badge case, where his Blaze Badge sat and mocked him. “I… I keep losing,” he groaned.

Jacob cocked his head, “So what?”

Russo turned and looked at him. “What do you mean ‘so what’?”

“So what if you keep losing. You’re a trainer, it comes with the job. You don’t see me complaining whenever you beat me in a practice match, or when I lost my battle with Minnie in Seavaille,” Jacob replied.

“You don’t understand. I made a promise, and I was doing so great at keeping it until…”

“Until?”

“Until Declan,” Russo answered angrily, startling a flock of resting Pidgey in a nearby tree.

“You’re still mad about that?”

Russo gulped and turned his gaze back to the city. “He… he beat me when I clearly should have won. I don’t get it…”

Jacob continued looking at him silently. He crawled over and sat next to him. “You said you made a promise?”

Russo cringed as Jacob repeated those words to him. “I don’t want to talk-“

“Well talk about it anyways. You need to speak your mind instead of bottling things up,” Jacob replied, cutting him off.

Russo sighed. “As you know, Professor Oswald served as my parental guardian. When I was around four years old, my family disappeared. I haven’t seen, or heard from them since. I had a brother that was a couple years older than me, and my parents would constantly let us practice with their Pokemon. He’d always beat me, and no matter how hard I tried, I could never seem to figure out how to beat him. He told me I was only ever going to beat him by defeating every other trainer I came across. Once I’d have won enough battles, I’d finally be the stronger sibling.”

Jacob remained silent. He wanted to respond appropriately, but didn’t know exactly what to say.

Russo continued. “I haven’t seen or heard from them for fifteen years. Oswald said they dropped me off and went on a journey together, but felt I was far too young to be on the road.”

“So, they took your brother and not you? But, he was only a few years older than you.”

“I have no idea why, and I don’t care. I only care about proving to him that I’m stronger, and the only way to be stronger is to never lose. Oswald enrolled me in a trainer’s school once I was old enough hold my own in a match… and then I never lost a battle.”

“Not one battle?”

“Not. One. Match. The first battle I’ve lost since my brother left, was the match against Declan. Of course, I’ve lost and failed at capturing Pokemon, but not against trainers. Declan defeating me… ruined everything…”

“No it didn’t. I think you just aren’t able to accept it because you got so used to being the stronger one. That’s not how it’s always going to be when you’re on a journey. You’re constantly going to meet people on your skill level or stronger. The important thing is to just forget the difference skill and focus on your Pokemon,” Jacob replied cheerfully.

“That’s not happening,” Russo replied with a scoff.

Aipom and Rowlet sat beside the trainers and gazed off into the city, enthralled by the beauty of city lights.



In the center of town, Arya and Hareta entered the Breezeville Police Station and greeted Officer Jenny, who had already been briefed on the situation. Officer Jenny silently greeted and led the two girls to a control room in the back of the station.

Arya gripped the flash drive in her hands and stared intently at the massive computer monitors hanging on the wall. “You have cameras set up all around town,” she asked?

“It helps us to keep an eye on the citizens. We can distribute emergency signals and direct people more easily by keeping an eye on them from here,” Officer Jenny answered. She held her hand out for the flash drive, to which Arya cautiously handed over, then looked over the small device. “I can’t identify anything out of the ordinary. We’ll have our computer specialist have a look and scan it,” she replied, then handed over the device to her assistant.

The computer specialist, wearing a handy nameplate with “Rick” messily scribbled on it, took the device and looked it over as well. He sighed and wondered why a small drive would be so important to Team Element.

Hareta rested her hands in her trench coat pockets as she looked at each of the monitors on the wall. “There’s so many,” she said in awe.

“Well, this is a large city. We need to make sure we have an eye in every corner,” Office Jenny replied.

Hareta squinted at one of the monitors that depicted a picture of the outskirts of a corner of the airport. “How often do the helicopters fly,” she asked as she noted a dark black aircraft waiting far off in the sky.

Arya and Officer Jenny quickly shuffled over to look as Rick inserted the flash drive into their scanning device on the computer. “That Helicopter doesn’t belong to any companies that I’m aware of…” Officer Jenny informed worriedly. As she reached for one of her walkie talkies, the monitors quickly went out one by one, entering a static state!

Rick looked at his main monitor, horrified, as he watched a small, pixelated Bronzor appear and wipe the screen clear of any data. “They… This was a trap,” he exclaimed! He quickly typed on his keyboard to shut down the virus, but was met with a shock anytime he pressed a key. He stood up and ran to a nearby switch on the wall.

“What are you doing?! You can’t do a Power Purge right now,” Officer Jenny warned!

“What’s a Power Purge? Can it stop whatever is happening to your security program of the city,” Arya asked as she gripped her Absol’s Pokeball.

“A Power Purge is what’s used to shut off all electricity in the city immediately. It’s only used when the city needs a mass reset after a power outage, or in times when the city has been evacuated. If he shuts the power off and something happens, there’ll be no way to warn any of the citizens,” Officer Jenny replied.

Rick looked at his boss worriedly. “If we don’t shut the power off, our security program will be wiped for good. This can keep the virus from working until we can boot up our systems into a backed-up version, but we can’t do that if their program wipes everything on our computer clean!”

Officer Jenny bit her lip, having never been faced with a tough challenge before. She sighed and nodded to Rick.

“What if this is what they want though,” Arya suggested?

“It’s our only option,” Rick replied, looking back at his computer monitor fearfully.

“Just do it! We’ll handle what we can once it happens,” Hareta added in.

Officer Jenny quickly motioned for Arya and Hareta to exit the building. “You two need to go and head into the streets. Order the citizens to head for our airport terminals for lockdown protocols and have Wanda and Skye check on that helicopter.”

Hareta and Arya nodded, then quickly darted from the building as multiple station workers watched curiously, unaware off the situation at hand. Once they exited the building, Rick then quickly flipped the switch and sent the whole city instantly into darkness.



Up on the hill, Jacob and Russo’s attention was immediately drawn towards the now pitch black city. Aipom and Rowlet climbed onto Jacob’s shoulder as both he and Russo rose to their feet. “What’s going on,” Jacob asked, hoping Russo possibly knew the answer?

Russo peered into the sky and noticed the lights of a black aircraft descending from the clouds. “I’m not sure, but there is something coming out of the sky over by the airport,” he replied and pointed at the aircraft.

Jacob noticed what he was talking about. He then turned back to Russo and spoke to him more seriously than he had before. “Look, I know you losing all your battles is tough on you, but you need to stop acting like a child. Your Pokemon were extremely hurt, and you really offended trainers who have gone through much greater defeats than you. It’s okay to be mad, but shove it down until you can let it out and not be judged for it. Right now, there obviously is something wrong with the city and I want to go find out. You can stay here and mope if you want, or you can come with me and find out what the problem is. What’s your choice?”

Russo looked back at Jacob. He was used to his lighthearted and cheerful side, not this sudden change to a serious trainer who seemed to know more about journeying than he was willing to let on. He began to answer, but was interrupted as the ground beneath them began to crack and shake.

“How about I pick for you,” answered a familiar, earthy voice.

Jacob and Russo managed to regain their footing and looked to find a man dressed in a brown, leisure suit and dirt brown hair slicked upwards. They recognized him, but couldn’t place his name. Behind him, sat a Hippowdon releasing off an Earthquake attack, helping to further identify him except for his name.

The man waited for them to respond, but quickly grew impatient with their silence. “Did you hear me? I thought that was quite an entrance,” he scoffed.

“We recognize you, but I don’t think either of us really remember that well,” Jacob replied embarrassingly as Aipom and Rowlet nodded in agreement.

The man tsked. “I’m the Team Element Admin you humiliated back in Criss-Cross Cavern! Dierk?”

“OH,” Jacob and Russo exclaimed in unison. “Sounds really similar to dirt, because you look like you use ground types,” Jacob added. He paused for a moment before he realized what Dierk had said. “Wait! Team Element?! Arya was right when she told us, in the forest, that Team Element was lurking around these parts,” he exclaimed to Russo.

“What do you want,” Russo asked angrily. He stepped in front of Jacob and attempted to act like a shield.

Dierk rolled his eyes at the trainers. “We’re just here to pick up a package. However, I really got chewed out for letting you steal that drive… OH WAIT, no I didn’t. It honestly saved us the trouble of breaking in and shutting down the city’s security on our own.”

“So, you’re the one’s responsible for the city turning pitch black,” Jacob concluded angrily.

Dierk nodded snobbishly. “I’ll give our scientist, Tesla, credit for creating such a nice program. But now, my fellow admins and I have orders. Mine are truly the most special though, considering I wasn’t able to fulfil them back in the cavern.”

“And that is,” Russo asked?

Dierk laughed and snapped his fingers at his Hippowdon.

His Hippowdon quickly charged at the trainer and knocked them backwards, sending them rolling down the hill and into the hard, rocky terrain at the bottom.

“To kill anyone who interferes,” Dierk replied, gazing darkly down at his targets as they looked up at him painfully.

Spoiler: CHAPTER 30 PREVIEW

Jacob: I didn't think we'd actually be risking our lives in this story!
Russo: Team Element really has some psychos running the show.
Dierk: That's pretty rude of you to say to someone in charge of your life right now.
Aries: Sounds like you boys are having way more fun than me and Kyoko right now.
Jacob: Next time, A City In Darkness ! We better get ready, because it looks like more admins are on the way!
Aipom: Aipa!

 

[Jaypom]

Chapter 30:
A City In Darkness!​

Previously on Pokemon Spectrum, Russo challenged Skye to a gym challenge and lost pretty badly. When he fled the scene out of hatred for himself, Jacob went to console him. Arya and Hareta met with the Officer Jenny stationed in Breezeville City to investigate the mysterious flash drive Jacob and Russo found prior to Seavaille Town, but after scanning it, a virus infected Breezeville City’s security program and forced the city into a blackout, trapping all citizens inside of their buildings as Team Element makes their way to the Breezeville Airport to set their plans in motion.​

A pitch-black helicopter with a rainbow-colored, cursive-E painted on its side landed on the runway of the expansive Breezeville Airport. Its passengers, a tall man, a modestly-tall woman, and short child emerged from the aircraft and looked around the empty airport.

The woman looked at her long, shining, forest green nails. “Have any of you heard from Dierk yet? My nails are still drying so I can’t check our communications,” she spoke with a droning voice. Her hair was dyed green to match her nails, and was tied up into a fluffy, wide ponytail that draped down her back. She donned a tight, dark green sundress with fishnet tights and brown leather riding boots as well. She turned to watch as another aircraft descended onto the runway.

The second aircraft was much larger than the first, but looked stylistically the same. It possessed a large, drop-down door for unloading its passengers in a timely manner on its rear. As its doors opened, hundreds of grunts dressed in green and yellow suits emerged.

The green suited grunts stood at the woman’s attention, saluting her as she waved them away with a flick of her wrist.

The yellow suited grunts saluted the tall man and awaited his orders.

The man looked at them for a moment. He nodded to them and pointed towards the terminal where the airport guests were evacuating to, due to the blackout. He was dressed in a bright yellow suit, with a white lightning bolt running up his sleeves. His bright blonde hair was styled in a spikey-manner, mimicking the look of wild electric attacks.

The young girl beside them held a small Pokemon in her hands. She whispered something to it gently, directing the Pokemon to follow the grunts sent away by her colleagues. The small girl was dressed similar to the woman, but her dress was colored light grey. She donned black flats and had her brown hair braided into two pigtails draping down her shoulders.

The woman looked down at the small girl. “Wendy, you better go with your Minior. Haven’t you learned a damn thing,” she scolded.

The girl, Wendy, looked away fearfully. She nodded silently and ran off with her Pokemon.

“You better not fail! Take command if you don’t want to be punished,” the man in yellow ordered. He sighed and took out a small communication device from his pocket. “Voltaire and Leefah here, Dierk come in,” he spoke. He paused for a few moments, waiting for a response before he eventually sighed and turned off the device.

“Looks like we can’t trust Dierk to go off on his own, eh Voltaire,” the woman asked?

“Shut it, Leefah. This mission is to retrieve what our boss desires. If Dierk screws up, it’ll be him who gets the punishment. Not us,” he replied.





In the Pokemon Center, Aries banged her fist against the glass doors, hoping to break them open. “Dammit, dammit! We’re stuck in here,” she cried as she backed away to survey her bruised hand.

Kyoko cocked his glasses and looked around at the worried citizens trapped inside the center with them. “I wonder what caused the blackout,” he muttered to her.

Aries wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead, having tired herself out from trying to break free. “I wonder why I’m the only one trying to get out,” she replied, annoyed by the calmness of her fellow trapped trainers.

Nurse Joy emerged from her backroom with a small, suction cup device. She stuck it to the wall beside the door and flipped a switch, sending a small spark of electricity across the door and opening it for the trainers to leave.

Aries’ eye twitched at the sight, realizing all the other trainers were aware that Nurse Joy would know what to do. She and Kyoko walked up to Nurse Joy as she directed the trainers to head for the airport for safety. “What’s going on Nurse Joy?”

Nurse Joy watched as the last of the trainers fled the building. “Our Pokemon Center and the whole city has entered a Power Purge. Breezeville City uses this only in the state of an emergency, with evacuation routes all leading to the airport for safety. You two should head there as well,” she informed.

“But what about all the Pokemon here,” Aries replied?

Suddenly, Nurse Joy’s Cinccino emerged from the backroom as well with a sack of Pokeballs slung over its shoulder. “Cin-Cin,” it squeaked as it ran through the doors.

“We have another Pokemon Center stationed there with the power still on. We’ve already put your friend’s and all other trainers’ Pokemon in their Pokeballs for easier transport. Now let’s go,” Nurse Joy directed as the three exited the center and ran into Arya and Hareta on the pitch-black street.

“What are you all doing out here,” Hareta asked, noticing Nurse Joy and her Cinccino with Aries and Kyoko.

“It appears there is an emergency and all citizens are required to evacuate to the airport,” Kyoko informed as he cocked his glasses.

Arya and Hareta looked at each other nervously, realizing they were the only ones who knew the whole story.

“Run away everyone,” Izzy shouted as she ran through the streets and skidded to a stop when she recognized her friends looking at her like she was a lunatic.

“What are you screaming about,” Nurse Joy asked as her Cinccino tried to calm Izzy’s breathing.

Izzy breathed deeply and pointed down the dark street. “These people dressed in snazzy suits attacked me outta nowhere,” she replied.

As the group gazed down where Izzy had pointed, an army of grunts dressed in brown suits entered with multiple Pokemon at their feet.

“Who are those people,” Aries questioned as she backed away cautiously.

Arya quickly gripped her Absol’s Pokeball. “Those are grunts from Team Element,” she replied. She knew the grunts were under the command of Team Element’s Admin, Dierk. “What are you all here for,” her voice boomed across the now crowded street towards the grunts.

The grunts came to a halt and whispered to each other over what their response should be.

One grunt stepped forward and commanded their Pokemon to attack. “Sandile, use Mud Slap!”

Three small, black and brown crocodile Pokemon jumped into the air and opened their mouths wide. They then fired off dark brown globs of mud that rained down upon the trainers.

Nurse Joy’s Cinccino jumped into action as the Mud Slap attacks ceased. It quickly rubbed itself over each of the trainers at the speed of light, managing to wipe away any trace of the mud.

“Thank you Cinccino, now you and your trainer head off for the airport. We’ll deal with these lackeys,” Arya replied thankfully.

Cinccino saluted the champion and ran off with Nurse Joy and the others, except for Aries.

Aries looked at Arya, debating if she should stay and help her, or run off with Nurse Joy to safety.

Arya looked back at her and smiled. “You should go too. There’s going to be many more grunts than these where you’re all going. Put together a defense force,” she ordered and turned back to the Sandiles, sending out her Absol for assistance.

Aries nodded and ran off, speeding ahead of a slow Kyoko, grabbing ahold of his shirt and dragging him in her grip and Izzy in a panic beside her.

“Use Razor Wind,” Arya ordered.

Absol jumped high into the air and gathered all the power it could into the blade atop its head. It then sliced through the air, sending forth a crescent of white energy into the Sandiles and grunts, knocking some of them onto the ground.




At the base of the hill outside of town where Jacob and Russo were pitted against Dierk, Jacob and Russo got to their feet and held their aching bodies.

Aipom and Rowlet blinked and looked around, already accustomed to taking damage from falls. The two ran to Jacob’s side defensively and looked up the tanky Hippowdon.

Russo held his hand out and shielded Jacob. “You need to get out of here. I’ll distract him for you.”

“You’re crazy! I’m not leaving you here when someone clearly said they intend to kill you,” Jacob replied angrily.

Russo felt a sudden irk from deep within his mind. He felt as though he had already experienced this before, but he couldn’t quite place when he had experienced it. Could it have been a dream?

Suddenly, Dierk’s Hippowdon jumped and slammed onto the ground, releasing a shockwave that knocked Jacob and Russo back onto the ground as Aipom and Rowlet stood their ground.

“There’s no use fighting. Ever since that whole debacle at Criss-Cross Cavern, I’ve been preparing to prove a point. Team Element is not someone you should cross,” he cackled as his Hippowdon puffed a small cloud of sand from its nose.

Russo reached for his Pokeballs and grit his teeth when he realized all his Pokemon were still with Nurse Joy! All he had was Hoppip, and there was no way it could take on Hippowdon… but he didn’t want to risk losing another battle and his friend as well.

“Rowlet use Leafage and Aipom use Swift,” Jacob ordered, blocking Russo from Dierk’s menacing gaze.

Rowlet flew high into the air and fired off a flurry of bright green leaves from its wings as Aipom swung its tail in a crescent shape and released a storm of yellow stars.

Hippowdon took the attacks head on, causing a small explosion and cloud of dust to envelop it and its trainer. As the dust cleared, both appeared unharmed.

Rowlet landed on the ground next to Russo as Aipom landed next to Jacob.

Russo picked up Rowlet and looked it in the eyes. “Listen to me, Rowlet. Jacob doesn’t want to abandon me here, but he needs to get out of here if he wants to live. You need to take him safety.”

Rowlet cooed worriedly and looked at its trainer as he commanded Aipom to unleash another ineffective Swift attack. It nodded to Russo and escaped his grip.

Aipom climbed atop Jacob’s shoulder for a better view of Hippowdon when Rowlet grabbed ahold of its trainer.

Jacob looked up at Rowlet as he was lifted off the ground with all Rowlet’s strength. “What are you doing?! Let me go! I need to help Russo,” he shouted angrily.

Rowlet knew it was making its trainer angry, but it didn’t want to lose three friends to the stranger who suddenly attacked them during a heartwarming chat.

Jacob tried to shake free, but Rowlet kept a tight grip. He looked down at Russo, “You did this? Why won’t you let me help you?!”

Russo remained silent as he watched Rowlet carry Jacob and Aipom off towards the city. He turned and looked at Dierk determinedly, “You’ll have to try harder if you want to kill me or my friends. Hoppip, let’s go,” he shouted and threw Hoppip’s Pokeball into the air, releasing the groggy Pokemon onto the gently night breeze.

Hoppip yawned sleepily and looked around. “Hoooop,” it moaned as it landed atop Russo’s head.

Dierk held his stomach and burst into laughter. “That puny thing is going to defend you?”

Hoppip frowned and felt anger fill its tiny body. It didn’t appreciate being insulted by some human dressed like a pile of shit. It flew off of Russo’s head and slammed into Hippowdon, surprisingly knocking it into the air and onto Dierk.

Dierk gasped for air as the Heavyweight Pokemon stumbled to its feet as to un-crush its trainer. “That- that was a dirty shot,” he managed to speak.

Hoppip landed on Russo’s shoulder angrily, joining its trainer in a determined gaze at Dierk.

Dierk smirked, “Well then, this is getting a lot more interesting when the prey fights back.”



Rowlet continued flying as tears streamed from its eyes as its trainer ordered it to return to Russo. It managed to clear its eyes and noticed Aries, Kyoko, and two other females heading in the direction of the airport. It cooed sadly and flew down to join them, gently releasing Jacob onto the ground in front of them.

Aries, Kyoko, Izzy, and Nurse Joy skidded to a stop as Jacob shouted at his Rowlet. “Why didn’t you listen to me! Russo’s back there all alone,” he screamed angrily.

“Where did you come from? Where’s Russo,” Aries asked as she helped Jacob to his feet.

“We got attacked by that Team Element guy from Criss-Cross Cavern! He said he wanted to kill me and Russo and attacked us brutally when Russo told Rowlet to fucking carry me away and leave him there,” Jacob said, slightly tearing up at the thought of Russo’s demise.

“Calm down! Russo may be alone, but we all know he’s stronger than all of us. He’ll figure out something,” Aries replied as she gripped Jacob’s shoulders once he began to sob.

Izzy looked around and noticed Wanda and Skye heading towards them at the sound of Jacob’s crying. She went googly eyed and darted for Wanda, hoping to continue impressing her. “Wanda, glad you’re here. Ya see-” she began but was ignored as Wanda and Skye passed her to see what was wrong with Jacob.

“Are you all alright?” Skye asked worriedly as she and Wanda joined them.

“We just finished evacuatin’ the rest of Breezeville’s citizens when we heard cryin’. Is Jacob alright,” Wanda informed and ask as she rested her hand on Jacob’s shoulder.

“Did you all run into Team Element,” Skye asked, already aware they knew the situation at hand.

“It appears that Jacob found Russo, but the two were attacked by one of Team Element’s Admins with the intent to kill them. Jacob’s Rowlet carried him to safety after Russo ordered it to, but Russo stayed behind… most likely to keep the admin at bay or busy,” Kyoko informed.

Jacob stood up shakily and began trudging off in the direction of Russo when Wanda grabbed ahold of him in a bear hug-like fashion. “Let me go! I need to help him!”

“Not when you’re like this. You’ll only be in his way,” Wanda replied, managing to subdue him with her impressive strength.

Skye looked in the direction where Jacob had planned to go. “I’ll go instead. You all head to the airport for safety,” she ordered. She turned and ran off, having a feeling she knew where the trainers were clashing.

Jacob tried to head after her, but couldn’t escape Wanda’s grasp.

Aipom sighed and looked at Rowlet, feeling bad that Jacob didn’t understand Rowlet’s motivation.

Aries knelt down and pat Rowlet on the head, causing it to look up at her glumly. “It’s alright, you did what you thought was right for your trainer. Jacob doesn’t hate you,” she consoled.

Wanda began carrying Jacob and leading the group towards the terminal where the rest of the evacuees resided. “C’mon, y’all need to get to safety too. We’ll discuss the game plan there, and gather the help of other trainers. Nurse Joy’s goin’ to have her hands full too, thanks to some trainers and Pokemon hurt by the panckin’ citizens.”

Nurse Joy, Kyoko, and Izzy followed Wanda silently, hoping they’d manage to escape the situation unharmed.

Aries picked up Rowlet and Aipom as Jacob continued to struggle to break free, then followed Wanda and the others towards Breezeville’s makeshift sanctuary.



Arya’s Absol landed on the ground. It looked at the dozens of defeated grunts and Pokemon it had managed to wipe out singlehandedly.

Hareta crossed her arms and smiled. “You certainly haven’t lost any spunk.”

Arya laughed, “Well they weren’t exactly the toughest opponents.”

A grunt crawled on the ground weakly, hoping to get a sneak attack off on Arya.

Arya’s gaze quickly turned to the pitiful grunt as she slammed her foot down on their hand, stopping them in their tracks. “Now what were you planning to do if you did manage to hit me?”

The grunt gulped and shook in place, fearing the worst after seeing the wrath of the Accelia Champion. “I…I…”

“Enough. What is Team Element planning to do here,” Arya asked, expecting an answer.

“Th-The boss wa-wants s-something f-from the a-airport,” they replied.

Arya glared angrily and continued pressing her foot onto their hand, surely cracking a bone or two.

The grunt winced in pain. “Ah! I do-don’t know! P-please!”

Arya sighed and picked her foot off the grunt, with them sighing relief as she turned her back.

The grunt then snickered and attempted to resume the attack, but was met with Absol sinking its sharp fangs into their leg.

Absol rolled its eyes, thinking the grunt had no intelligence after they thought they could get the jump on a woman such as Arya. It spun and tossed the grunt far into the air and onto the pile of defeated grunt. “Ab,” it puffed and trotted to Arya’s side.

“So, what could they possibly want here,” Arya wondered aloud.

“We’ll have to check the airport,” Hareta replied, “That grunt said their boss wants something from there.”

Arya nodded to Hareta. “Then let’s head over,” she replied.




Wanda finally released an exhausted Jacob onto the floor of the airport terminal.

Jacob breathed deeply, hoping to catch his breath after tiring himself out to try and escape to help Russo.

Nurse Joy quickly ran about to various trainers resting painfully against the walls, seeing if they or their Pokemon needed any medical assistance.

Aries looked around the airport at the hundreds of citizens huddled together, with a few whimpering from missing family and friends. She noticed an elderly woman curled up and leaning against a wall. She walked over slowly to check on her, feeling bad that she appeared to be all alone. “Are you alright ma’am?”

The woman looked up shakily. She had a dark, wrinkled face, with eyes glazed over from fear. “Do you know what’s going to happen, child,” she asked in a creaking voice?

Aries shook her head, not expecting the woman to have a creepier atmosphere.

The woman sighed and returned her head to her knees, resting and mumbling to herself.

Aries wondered if she should bother talking to anyone, fearing they’d be the same way as this apparently terrified woman.

Small footsteps were heard as a short girl slowly approached the huddled citizens.

Wanda looked over and saw the girl approaching. “Are you one of the evacuees? Are you injured,” she asked worriedly as she walked over and knelt down to look at the girl.

The girl’s mouth trembled as a small ring shocked her finger, sending electricity through her body, going unnoticed by Wanda. “I… I don’t want to be here,” she begged.

Wanda looked back at Jacob to make sure he hadn’t run off, then to Aries for some assistance.

Aries nodded and ran over to check on the girl. She guessed she was around twelve years old, and must have gotten separated from her parents. “Are you lost,” she asked?

The girl felt another twinge of electricity fill her body, knocking her to the ground in pain.

Aries and Wanda got on their knees and tried to help her up. They didn’t understand why she had fallen, or where she had come from. As Wanda helped the girl stand again, Aries called out to the citizens. “Does anyone know who’s kid this is?”

The citizens turned and looked at Aries. They didn’t recognize the girl either!

Aries huffed and crossed her arms. “Her parents may still be out in town,” she said to Wanda.

“She belongs to us,” announced a female voice from above.

Everyone looked up and saw two people standing in the bannisters of the high ceiling in the terminal. One was a man dressed in yellow, with the other being a woman dressed in green. The two gazed down at the whimpering, pained girl. “Wendy! Do as you were told,” ordered the woman viciously.

The girl, Wendy, looked up in a daze. “P-please, it’ll hurt everyone here!”

Aries and Wanda looked at the girl and then the two people, then realized they must be associated with Team Element! They gripped Pokeballs in their hands, ready to defend the citizens as best they could.

Wendy noticed they were about to attack her and backed away slowly. “Mi-Minior! Explosion!”

Suddenly, a small, floating, rock Pokemon descended from the bannisters into the crowd of people. “Mi-or,” it shouted and felt its body swell with explosive energy.

“Everyone get away,” Wanda shouted… but it was too late!

Minior expelled the energy from its body, feeling the blast knock itself out as smoke and fire filled the packed terminal.

Spoiler: CHAPTER 31 PREVIEW

Aries: *Coughing* Where the hell is everyone?
*Silence*
Aries: Wanda? *Cough*
*Silence*
Aries: Kyoko? Jacob? *Cough*
*Silence*
Aries: Next time *Cough*, Aries vs. Voltaire ! I have to find everyone!