Pokémon: Blizzard [IC]

A flock of Starly soared over the houses in Crystalshore Town. Pellipers cawed and crowed at the lapping white beaches of Norue's south coast.

The hiss of steam. A train rolled into Crystalshore Station, blowing off its whistle and grinding to a halt. A crowd of people surged off the cars, crowding onto the platform and meeting their relatives or partners in business, or whoever was present to recieve them.

One of these people was a boy named Knox Thomas.

NOW ARRIVING: CRYSTALSHORE STATION.

The voice boomed over the loudspeaker as Knox adjusted his tool belt and set foot on the platform with a cumbersome thud. He turned the Poké Ball in his hand over and over. The red-lidded capsule held in its clear casing a Pokémon consisting of two sentient gray cogwheels with bulbous teal noses and blank expressions.

When Knox's father had sent him on his way, this Klink--christened Ford, after the automobile manufacturer--was given to Knox along with the tool belt as a parting gift. Knox was supposed to meet a professor to obtain his Pokédex and Trainer's Card.

Knox's stoic expression softened marginally at the thought of his dear father; the Black boy latched the Poké Ball onto his belt and strode off towards a large, shining-white concrete laboratory across the dirt path.

------------------------------------------------------

A girl's lanky frame lay sprawled on the bed, her dark hair in a tangled mess. She was snoring like a Slaking (gold-digging habits aside, thankfully). Suddenly, a flash illuminates the room and a small green Pokémon joyfully plants itself on the girls' bosom, jolting her awake.

Laura found herself staring face-to-face with a happy Petilil. She sat bolt upright, the shock from Petilil's "gentle" landing jolting her awake. Her mother stood by her bedside, smiling, wearing a red cardigan. "Happy birthday, sweetie!" she said, giving the tall a kiss on each cheek.

"Mom? Wait, what... Hey..." Laura said, not fully awake.

"It's your sixteenth birthday, remember? I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this; I wanted it to be a surprise!"

"No, Mom, it's okay," Laura said, looking back at the diminutive Pokémon on her lap. The Petilil raised its stubby green arms and winked at the girl. Laura picked up the Pokémon under its armpits (wherever those were) and leaped out of bed, spinning in a circle and giving her new Pokémon a big hug. "I love her!"

Laura already knew that Petilil was a female-only species. When she lived in Unova, she would frequently take walks with her mom in Pinwheel Forest. She got to know the various species in that forest, from Pansage to Venipede.

Laura put the Pokémon down and strode over to the window. She stood on her toes and stretched, tightly shutting her eyes before looking out to the white sand.

"Laura," her mother said, "there's something else I want to show you."

The girl turned around and approached her mother, who presented her with a small black box. Laura opened the box and found inside a steel analog wristwatch with exposed clockwork. However, the most intriguing part of it was the small, rainbow-colored gemstone embedded in the hands' axle. In that gemstone was engraved a curved symbol. It was only faintly visible due to its small size, but somehow, it stood out on the watch.

“This watch came from a family friend in Kalos,” Laura’s mother explained, as Laura strapped the watch on and set it based on the clock in her room.

“It’s great, Mom,” Laura said. “Thanks.”

Her mom gave her a smile. “Well, you’d better get dressed if you want to pick up your Pokédex and Trainer Card from Professor Palm,” she said.

—————————————————————

Knox knocked on the laboratory’s door. “Hello?” he asked.

“Oh, sorry,” said a voice behind him. Knox turned around to face a lean man wearing a pair of spectacles and a white lab coat. His hair was a tangled mess (probably from spending more time researching that combing), and he had the disheveled look of a man who spent a lot of his time for the sake of science. He had a twinkling smile and a somewhat apologetic expression. A male Combee buzzed by his side, its antennae quivering in the air as its wings beat like a helicopter’s blades.

“Professor Palm,” the man said, sticking out his hand to Knox. “I’m expecting two people today to pick up Pokédexes. And you are…”

“Knox Thomas, sir,” Knox replied, grabbing the Professor’s hand and giving it a firm shake. Palm winced at the power of Knox’s grip.

“Pleased to meat you, Knox,” Palm said, before looking towards the distance. “And I think the other should be arriving just about…”

———————————————————————

“You didn’t forget your glasses, did you?” Laura’s mom asked as Laura opened the door of her mom’s car and stepped out. In response, the girl held up the gleaming black case in which she held her glasses. Her mother smiled and waved. “Have fun!”

Laura nodded and turned towards the large laboratory building.

It didn’t take very long for her to trip over something.

“What the—“ Laura started, turning around to look at whatever had tripped her. Apparently she had tripped on the hilt of a… sword? She bent over to look at it.

A blue gem was embedded in its hilt. The sword was about 2-and-a-half feet long, with a blue sash hanging from the pommel. Tied to the sash was the sword’s ornate brown sheath. There was a line-shaped indent in the center of the gem in the hilt.

Laura cocked her head and stared at the sword. She could have sworn that sword wasn’t there when she first stepped off the car.

She shrugged it off and strode towards Palm’s lab.

When Laura reached the steps of the laboratory, she accidentally bumped into a stoic black boy wearing a tool belt and a grease-stained plaid collared shirt. "Sorry, mis'sum," the boy mumbled, shying away from her gaze. Laura turned back at the boy, who hurried away quickly than his bulky frame should have allowed. Laura shrugged and entered the lab. A bell rang. She stepped out of the way of two arguing siblings, and said hello to the professor. The man turned around from his desk and said, "Oh, you're here! I've been expecting several visitors."

"My name's Laura DiCastelia," Laura said to the professor.

"Professor Palm," the professor replied, stretching out his sore hand and shaking with Laura. "I assume you're here for the Pokédex and the Trainer Card? Your mom called me in advance. Happy birthday, by the way."

"Aw, gee," Laura replied, before approaching a table with a dull gray Pokédex. "So, this is the Pokédex they use in this region, huh?"

Laura flipped off the lid and two screens blinked at her. A circular pad and a quartet of buttons flanked the bottom screen. Laura felt around the edge and pulled a stylus pen from the top of the device.

"This Pokédex has the capability to record data for the 719 known species of Pokémon," the Professor said, "though I received a few calls from a colleague that there was a 720th species recently discovered in Kalos."

"I'll keep that in mind," Laura said.

----------------------------------

Knox, with noticeable discomfort, walked stiffly from the laboratory. Contact with the opposite sex made him uncomfortable; he did not know how to act towards girls he was not related to. The fact that the girl was taller than he was only added to his discomfort. He felt much more at ease when in the company of machines.

Speaking of which, he decided to let Ford take some air. He pulled the capsule holding his Klink from his tool belt and pressed on the white button. The red lid flipped open and the Pokémon erupted from the ball with a white flash. Ford twirled its wheels and emitted a mechanical clicking sound, like Morse code.

"You doin' okay, there, Ford?" Knox asked the pair of gears. One gear circumnavigated the other and reversed directions twice. "I'm takin' that as a yes."

----------------------------------

Laura exited the lab, putting her Trainer Card case in her pocket. "Okay, thanks a--- ACK!"

Laura tripped again. She turned back and saw that exact same sword lying on the ground next to her. "I swear I took a faceplant from that thing just ten minutes ago..." she mused. "Someone ought to have taken it..."

The gem in the sword's hilt blinked. The blade quivered, and the sword began to rise on its tip, the sash trailing behind its pommel. The gem's indentation darted left and right like an eye, before focusing on Laura. Laura stood, frozen in awe.

Laura reached for her Pokédex and snapped a photo of the Pokémon. The device connected to the Internet, though rather slowly ("Stupid 4G," Laura muttered).

"Honedge: the Sword Pokémon. Steel and Ghost type. Honedge was first born when a departed soul inhabited a sword. Using the blue cloth on its pommel, it drains the life force of those who try to grab its hilt against its will."

Laura looked uncomfortably at the blue sash on the Honedge's pommel. The girl and the Pokémon stared at each other for a little while. "I'm probably not going to touch it," Laura said.

She turned away and walked down the dirt path. She heard a metal hum behind her.

Laura turned. The sword wasn't there. She turned back around, and jumped: Honedge was floating right in front of her. Honedge nudged her arm with its hilt.

"I don't have time for this," Laura muttered, pushing past Honedge and continuing down the path. Again, the Honedge insisted on floating in front of her. It made no aggressive movements, but it did hum indignantly. "Look, Honedge, I really don't want my soul drained from my body today," Laura asserted. "So good day, and, ah, stay sharp."

Laura pushed past the floating sword again. Honedge made a metallic huff and floated after Laura. The Pokémon tapped his sash-finger on Laura's shoulder and gesticulated wildly when Laura turned around. "Geez, you don't know when to quit, do you?"

Honedge's gem gleamed innocently, as if it were batting its eyelids.

"Alright, fine, you can follow me. But no soul-stealing!"

To prove its point, Honedge wrapped itself around Laura's right arm and swung its blade around before finally hanging off her shoulder. It looked up at her and winked. Laura waited for herself to wither up and die, but that didn't happen. In fact, the sash was pleasantly cool and silky-smooth. It had an intriguing cerulean swirl design at its end. Laura actually thought Honedge to be a little endearing.

With Honedge slung over her shoulder, Laura began to tread the dirt path. She came across the black boy she had run into. "Oh, hey!" she called. "You're the one who bumped into me!"

The boy shied away and pretended not to notice. "Hey, come on, I don't bite!" she shouted, following him, Honedge bumping against her right shoulderblade.

The boy turned, and his round eyes widened at the sight of the blue sash wrapped around her arm. "You've got a--"

"Hey, if this thing was draining my soul away, don'tcha think it would have got it by now?" Laura said, cutting him off. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Knox Thomas," the boy mumbled. "M'bye."

"Wait, where are you going?" Laura asked, tagging along with Knox.

Laura acknowledged Paige as Knox shied away. Honedge swung round her back as she turned towards the shorter girl. "If you follow down that path," Laura said, pointing over towards the dirt pathway, "you should see a big white building. That's the Pokémon Lab. I'm Laura, by the way." Laura stuck out her right hand. Honedge shifted a little to keep from restraining Laura's arm.

Knox was silent, but his Klink was intrigued by the Beldum floating next to Paige. The pair of gears hummed in curiosity, turning and gazing at Dante with both of its open eyes. Ford nudged the Beldum... and accidentally found itself glued via electromagnetism to Dante. Ford panicked, trying to wrench itself free by spinning rapidly. Knox grabbed onto Ford and attempted to pry his Klink off of the Beldum. Laura turned towards the commotion.

Immediately, Honedge sprung into action, unwrapping itself from Laura's arm and slicing the area between Ford and Dante. The Pokémon separated with a nice clean cut.

"Sorry 'bout that," Knox muttered, pulling his agitated Klink away from Dante as Honedge repositioned itself on Laura's shoulder. He sighed; he had to make contact with Paige now that Ford's shenanigans had gotten the poor Klink stuck to Beldum. "If you follow the dirt path, like this girl said, you'll come up to a white building. The professor's name is Palm. He's a nice guy. Don't shake his hand too hard."

Knox turned to Laura. "I guess I owe you one for that save with your Honedge," Knox said.

"Well, it's not technically my Pokémon, but it does like to hang around me. First chance I get, though, I'll..."

Knox produced one Poké Ball and handed it to Laura. "Consider us even," he said, before turning to walk away.

"Hey, thanks," Laura called after Knox. Knox grunted and put up two fingers in a kind of salute.

Honedge curled itself around Laura's arm and looked at the Poké Ball. Suddenly, it made a sharp movement and knocked its hilt on the white button on the Poké Ball. Honedge dissolved into light and curled into the capsule, which shook three times before making a satisfying click.

Laura decided that her Petilil needed some air as well, but she rather enjoyed having Honedge at her side (literally).

Both Pokémon were soon aside her (well, Honedge was wrapped around her arm again). She looked at her Petilil. "I haven't given either of you a name yet," Laura noted. She picked up her Pokémon's Poké Balls and pulled out a Sharpie. "Alright..." Laura said, looking at her Petilil and scribbling something on the Poké Ball. "Your name's Lillian from now on."

The newly-christened Petilil--Lillian--bounced around happily and shot up Laura's blue tank top. "Ack, watch the... okay," Laura said as Lillian settled on her left shoulder. Laura pulled Honedge off her shoulder by the hilt, meeting no resistance from the sword Pokémon. Laura remembered an old tale that her grandfather used to tell her. Her grandfather was an expert on the mythologies of various regions, but one story stood out to her: the story of the cursed blade Tyrfing.

It wasn't a pleasant topic, but then again, Honedge was half-Ghost.

"You're name's Terry," Laura said to Honedge, writing just that on the Poké Ball. "It's short for Tyrfing; you like it?"

Terry hummed a pleasant hum like a perfect tuning fork.

Reyna Baker

The ships were smelly metal boxes filled with smelly sweaty people on top of a large expanse of water to which there is no escape, and she was stuck on one of them with those sorts of people for a good hand-full of hours - and it was crowded. The scent of body odor and moth balls were just barely diluted by the salty ocean air, and the crowd incited high tensions among the people. In fact, Reyna nearly started two fights on separate occasions, so when the city finally came into view, and the ships roared its roaring horn and came to a screeching stop alongside the Crystalshore harbor, there was little stopping Reyna from pushing and shoving her way down the departure ramp. Jogging through the busy crowd, she practically bellowed out into song! "Yooooo! I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want!"

This of course prompted a strange look from a young man nearby, whom she had of course shoved into one of the chain fences, and did not falter in her celebration of finally being on land again, "so tell me what you want, what you really really want!"

She continued down to jog down the road until she met a clear opening, and as she slowed down, began laughing and giggling her head off! Man, that guy was a riot! He should've seen the look on his face! Ya know what she really wants? To finally get into town and off that boat! So now she's here, in town. This was basically her natural habitat! She tightened the fasteners of her black military backpack and straightened her leather jacket. So this place was much cooler than Hoenn! She might have to break out an actual coat the further north she gets. What a shame though! She loved her jacket. It told so much about her and her character. You can't get much more stylish than a leather jacket. Pfft, okay, jackets aside, where was she going? Professor Palm's laboratory? Ha! Easy enough. The harbor shouldn't be too far. She took marching down the street, and only so soon did she find the pale building, to which she grinned devilishly and pursued a route along its course.

She pushed the door open and met the messy professor with a gleaming smirk, who met her with his own warm smile. "Hello," he said, "and who might you be?"

"The name's Reyna!" She told him proudly. Dude, this guy looked nuts. Was he really a scientist? "I came from Hoenn. I was told I was supposed to be retrieving the Norue Pokedex and Trainer Card here."

The scientist rubbed his glasses with a white cloth and looked at her again with a curious look. "Oh, I see. You're a long way from home. My name is Professor Palm!" He said extending his hand out for a shake. But this was responded to by Reyna's hand meeting his own with a loud slap, leaving the stinging sensation to throb through the same hand he had used to shake with the two previous boys. Reyna had met his hand with a good old high-five with some extra vigor and said to him, "Nice to meet ya, mister Palmers!"

His hand throbbed, and he had to resist the urge of yelping by the sudden impact. He looked at her, who was unfazed with but a toothy grin. "Ah, yes..." he said, now feeling the full effects of what he has wrought upon himself and was likely beginning to feel discouraged by the sudden influx of new trainers. "...so as for the Pokedex and Trainer Card. I'll be with you for right a moment."

The guy's a pretty swell dude! Reyna thought to herself. She waited patiently as a remote camera flashed a photo of her, and began revving. It wasn't long before the professor procured a Pokedex for her and returned from around the corner down the hall. He pressed a couple buttons from the machine revved from before, and a plastic identification card was produced. He handed the two items to Reyna. "Don't lose these." He said. This was likely in part largely to due with her overwhelming demeanor.

"Sure thing, Palmers! Thanks!" She said nonchalantly as she deposited it into her backpack.

"It's Professor Palm..." The man sighed.

"Got it!" Reyna replied, excited to continue on her adventure. She backed out the door waving her hand goodbye. "See you later, Palmers!"

---

Sean O'Neil

Crystalshore Town wasn't too far from Opal City, where Sean lived. In fact, it was the next town over. It was the target of train tracks and migratory civilian ships. It had a bit of hustle and bustle that Sean might find frightening, but it was also the location of the scientist Professor Palm. Sean had no reason to see him himself, as his card and Pokedex were mailed to him. But Palm's laboratory made Crystalshore a target location for starting trainers and adventurers, and it was suggested that Sean found some travelling partners before he did on his own. It truly wasn't that far, and the landscape was flat. So he was able to travel while accompanied by his two Pokemon. True, most trainers traveled with their Pokemon in their Pokeballs, but something about these two made him feel safe and happy. Secure. And he enjoyed being around them. Besides, Congress, the Slakoth, he just hung there around his neck and laying on his backpack, he was as happy as could be whereas the Solosis, Meepers, floated tirelessly alongside him.

The second day of travelling and he was already starting to feel scared about going off into the big open world like this. He wasn't even sure if he should be trusting the people he meets in Crystalshore. Of course, his father insisted that "it's all part of the experience", but something in his mind made him doubt the legitimacy of such a practice. Regardless, he managed to make it to Crystalshore on his second day. It was bustling. Where is he supposed to find other trainers? Was Sean even a trainer? He wasn't even sure what he wanted to do on his journey. Being a regular battler didn't sound super appealing and he didn't feel confident about being in contests. A journey about self discovery? Wow, whoever he ends up with is probably gonna pick on him a lot. He sounded ridiculous.

Okay. So his building was pale and it was made of concrete, was that right? Okay, simple enough. He could just wait right outside of it and meet people, right? But what would he say?! Better come up with something quick before... oh. It was right there. He really didn't have time to think it over, did he? No, of course not. He sighed in resignation as he walked feebly towards a bench. He reached behind him and lifted the Slakoth off his back - he was surprisingly heavy - and set him down in his lap. Congress was momentarily disturbed from its nap, but was content once again when he found himself still and safe on Sean's lap and dozed off once again with Sean scratching his back. The Solosis was floating above the ground on Sean's right hand side, apparently intrigued by all the sights and sounds of the city.

So who was nearby? There were these two kids who looked like teenagers. Probably siblings. They were right outside the lab, talking. The boy seemed pretty cocky the way he talked to her, the girl responding simply and cooly and seemingly not caring about whatever he was talking about. Maybe some other kids nearby, but he wasn't sure if he should be associating them with the lab. It was a little while before he saw someone else noteworthy or relating to the laboratory. A really energetic redheaded girl with a leather jacket came out the lab door, punching the air and hopping down the staircase in what he suspected to be excitement. Maybe she was nice? She was shorter than the other two kids, but looked just a little older, and she seemed kind of scary. And not from around here. Where was she from?

His chest felt stiff and achey, and he was so incredibly nervous about meeting any of these people. They were older. And scarier. Seriously, these people would probably chew him up!

Laura decided that it was time she returned home. First of all, she wanted to show her mom her Pokédex and Trainer Card. Second of all, she forgot her cell phone at home. Not that she wanted to Instagram her new Poké-swag right away; Laura sometimes forgets that she even has a cell phone.

She swiveled around the dirt path and backtracked. Thankfully, the dirt path led straight back to the lab, which wasn’t too far away from home. Laura dashed back up her house’s porch and buzzed the doorbell. “Hi, Mom,” Laura said, her hands folded behind her back, a tight-lipped grin stretching across her face.

“Honey, did you get your card and Pokédex?” her mother asked.

“Yep, and look who else I got!” Laura exposed the blue sash on her right arm, and Terry circled over her shoulder, winking at Laura’s mom.

“Oh, my!” her mother said, slightly taken aback by the sentient blade.

“Aw, come on, Mom, we had Pokémon that look like ice cream cones back in Unova,” Laura said.

“Well, I’m still proud of you. You’ve barely started on your own, and you already have two Pokémon,” her mother said. “You forgot your cell phone.”

“I know,” Laura said, as her mother produced the cell phone. Laura stuffed it in her pocket. “Hey, Mom, do you have a bag or something?”

Her mother gave her a black drawstring knapsack with two straps. Laura slung it on her shoulder, careful to give Terry enough room to hang.

“Oh, Laura, please be careful out there; you never know who you’re going to meet,” her mother cautioned.

Laura grinned at her mother. “Aw, Mom, don’t worry!” She tossed a can of pepper spray into her bag. “I’ve got a can of pepper spray, a little green dynamo, and a kickin’ sword.”

Terry hummed in agreement, and Lillian put up her nubby green dukes as if to punch an unseen enemy.

“Alright,” her mother said, smiling apologetically at Laura. The girl turned to the door and looked back at her mom.

“I love you,” she called, before turning away and running out the door.

“Laura…” her mother called. “Can you close the door behind you?”

“Whoops!” Laura ran back to the door and shut it.

———————————————————————————

It didn’t take very long for Knox to come up against another Pokémon trainer; specifically, he had locked eyes with a youngster with a Zigzagoon.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, we lock eyes, we battle,” Knox said, popping the lid on Ford’s Poké Ball and releasing his twin gears. The wheels rotated, making an aggressive motorized whir. Knox’s opponent’s Zigzagoon growled under its throat, before launching itself into attack at her Trainer’s command.

Zigzagoon used Tackle!

The shaggy raccoon Pokémon charged into the set of gears, knocking them to the ground. Ford whirled around as Knox shouted for it to attack.

Ford used Vicegrip!

The gears clamped down on Zigzagoon, meshing once before releasing the Pokémon from its vise. Zigzagoon tackled Ford once again, knocking the gears once more to the ground, before turning around and kicking sand in Ford’s faces.

Ford’s Clear Body!

The sand brushed right off of Ford’s faces, not fazing the twin gears one bit.

Ford used Vicegrip!

One more squeeze from the gears caused Zigzagoon to faint. The youngster recalled his Pokémon and dug into his pockets, producing about 340 Pokédollars. “Hey, you’re pretty good! Want to exchange phone numbers? I PROMISE I won’t pester you about my Zigzagoon like my cousin does with his freaking rat. Believe me, man, I know how that feels!”

Knox handed the younger boy his cell phone, and he put his number into the boy’s. They returned each other’s phones and went about their business. “I ought to get you all fixed up, Ford,” Knox said to Ford. The wheels quickly spun once in agreement, before returning to their normal metronomic rotation.

Knox returned Ford to its Poké Ball and entered the roadside market, buying three Potions and using one to seal Ford’s wounds. “There you go, pal,” Knox said, releasing his grip on the gears and allowing them to float next to him once more.

Knox had finally reached the bridge connecting Crystalshore Town to Route 1. The problem is that it was a mechanical drawbridge, and it was currently up. A ship blew its horn as it glided between the two halves of the bridge.

Knox noticed that the bridge didn’t reset itself, even after the boat was long gone. He approached the cabin where the bridge’s control panel stood. Ford floated ahead and searched around the cabin, looking for broken machinery. The Klink turned around and shook its head(s). Knox took a gander at the situation, and noticed that the operator was out cold. He strode up to the operator and rattled his shoulder. The operator did not respond.

Knox then peeled one of the operator’s two eyelids open. He noticed that the operator’s eyes were glowing slightly, with pupils shrunken almost to nothing. That was the moment he realized something was wrong.

Ford took a second look at the machinery, tackling a loose section of panel and revealing that half of the bridge’s mechanical workings were frozen in place. Every gear and axle in the section Ford had uncovered was encased in a layer of gleaming ice.

Knox turned around just in time to block a Powder Snow attack from an angry Snorunt. From behind that Snorunt came an emotionless Bronzor, whose eyes were rhythmically flashing blue. Knox was no idiot; he knew the extent of Bronzor’s psychic powers, and this move, Hypnosis, was among them. He averted his eyes and called his Klink back into the Poké Ball. He was outmatched; Vicegrip might take care of the Snorunt, but it’d do squat against a Bronzor.

He kicked the cabin door open, with the Snorunt and Bronzor chasing him in an attempt to stop him in his tracks. He pulled a Poké Toy from his tool belt in hopes of distracting either of them, throwing the toy off to the side. Neither Pokémon chased the toy. They’re trainer Pokémon, Knox thought, but whose?

————————————————————

Terry’s sheath made a light, metronomic crumpling sound against Laura’s knapsack as Laura walked back towards the lab. “Geez, they’ve really got to reorganize this town,” she muttered, looking through a row of trees at the dirt path where she and Knox had that little fiasco with Paige’s Beldum.

When she arrived, she found that there were other people standing in front of the lab, most notably a tough-looking redhead girl and a pale, shivering boy with a Solosis by his side and a Slakoth hanging from his back.

“Hey,” Laura said, holding up her hand in greeting. Terry curled around her shoulder and Lillian turned her head to look at the other Pokémon on the pale boy’s side. “Did you guys just get your Pokédexes and stuff?” Laura asked, approaching the pair of fellow Trainers.

Lillian hopped off Laura’s shoulder and bounced over to the pale boy’s Solosis. Her leaves rustled at the sight of the cell Pokémon. She watched intently as the nucleic body of the Psychic-type Pokémon floated around in the clear green cytoplasm. Lillian cocked her head; she had never really been in close proximity with a Solosis before.

Meanwhile, Terry just stared at the pair of humans, peeking over Laura’s shoulder with his blue, unwavering gaze.

——————————————————————————

”Did you freeze the bridge?"

“Of course, my liege,” said the grunt, kneeling on one knee and bowing his head. The grunt wore a domed metal helmet, a leather breastplate, and pleated shoulder pads. He sported dark blue pantaloons, flanked by rumpled cloth. His eyes were piercing blue, and his hair was sandy blond. “The bridge is out of commission for now.”

”Good. She should be taking care of the train station by now. None shall stand in our way.”

“Of course, my liege.”

”You are dismissed.”

The grunt stood up and turned around, leaving.

If one were to look out at Crystalshore’s beach, look beyond the expanse of white sand and across the ocean, one might notice a large armored transport with a Druddigon’s head carved into the front. One, if listening over the roar of the ocean, might hear the rattle of diesel mixed with the rhythmic crunching of tank treads on ice. One, if carefully observing the climate, might notice a slight drop in temperature as a row of Piloswines froze the ocean in front of them with their Ice Beam attacks in order to make a pathway for the transport, or perhaps notice a clump of dark gray clouds forming in the distance as a group of Vanillites raised their frozen arms to the sky to summon a snowstorm, conducted by a leading Vanilluxe in the front.

However, nobody was paying attention at the time. Sure, they might notice a slight chill, or hear something other than Wingulls singing their song of the sea, but they would think little of it.

They both turned to look at the girl that had called either of them out; both Reyna and Sean, that is to say. Sean merely looked up in alarm that somebody had actually noticed him, and even going so far as to talk to him, even if there was another target to whom the call was directed. However, he didn't have much courage or strength of spirit to return the greeting, but it was too late to say anything when the girl leaving the laboratory called out to the girl with the Petilil and Honedge - the former Pokemon curiously approaching Sean's Solosis, Meepers, who had simply looked down on the plant Pokemon and floated circles around it.

Reyna looked down from the stairs at the girl who had called out some question to her and some other kid? What other kid? She turned her head over in curiosity. There was no other kid besides - oh, that kid? On the bench next to the lab wall? Oh. Whatever. Regardless, she still felt an immense amount of pride upon getting her 'dex and card. "Ha! You bet!" She replied to her in a very full-of-herself attitude. She grabbed on to the railing on the side and jumped over the side, her legs swinging over rails smoothly and landing firmly on the ground. It was easily a six foot jump down, nothing extraordinary to her, but still did nothing to impede her march towards the girl who had asked her the question. She flipped open her generic red Pokedex and flashed it at Laura, before depositing it back into the pocket of her baggy camouflage pants. "I got my Dexter and now it'll be just a matter of time until I'm outta this joint and off exploring the region. You a local?"

Well, I am. Sean thought. But gee, that girl sure is scary. Truly, there wasn't many people, or even girls, that he saw that resembled Reyna. She was boisterous, she dressed tough, her hair was styled than anything that could be considered formally. She was an interested character, and interesting to look at. She was so different. And she said she was exploring the region? So his first guess was right about how she was a foreigner. She seemed like a city person, so it could be anybody's guess as to why she was interested in exploring Norue's wilderness. Gosh... Norue was a frightening place sometimes. He never forgot about the Beartic. He looked back at his own Pokemon, and the first girl's Petilil had come by to check out Meepers who started floating circles around it. He sure hoped these little cuties wouldn't turn out to be anything as frightening as a Beartic. And Congress! He was lazy and has a cute little face and nose. Surely he wouldn't turn into anything scary once he gets stronger. But he's definitely going to miss him the way he is now...

Dang, this chick was a fast talker, with an attitude to boot. Not that that was a bad thing; Laura actually found it refreshing. Laura didn’t flinch when Reyna hurdled the railing, though she did cock her head when Reyna managed not to break both of her legs. When Reyna asked her a question, Laura straightened up, focusing her attention back on the athletic girl. “Well,” Laura started, “you can’t exactly call me a local, per se, ‘cause my mom and I moved here from the Unova region just a few months ago. There was a fiasco with these guys from Team Plasma; I still can’t believe we actually listened to those dorks.”

Laura realized that that was a pretty personal detail to let off, but she shrugged it off and smiled at Reyna. “So you got a Pokédex too, huh? Nice,” she added, holding up her own, gray Pokédex. “My name’s Laura. This is Terry,” she said, lifting her right shoulder and prompting the Honedge to curl himself fully from behind Laura’s back, “and this is… er, where’s Lillian?”

The Petilil, in fact, was intently watching Meepers the Solosis circumnavigate her. As the Solosis floated through the air, the tiny yellow coil of DNA on its forehead quavered gently in the cytoplasm. Lillian grew a little dizzy watching it, but snapped back into focus when Laura called her name. The Petilil bounced over to Laura and jumped on her waistband before plopping firmly on her left shoulder to give the Honedge some room.

“So,” Laura asked Reyna, “what’s your name?”

——————————————————

Knox did not currently have the luxury of human contact.

“Stupid Snorunt,” he grumbled, diving behind a bush and hoping that neither Snorunt nor Bronzor would notice. Snorunt ran by the bush, but Bronzor stopped and torched the bush with a Flash Cannon attack. “Aw, come on, no fair,” Knox cried, patting out the laser fire before grabbing a stick and prodding it in the Bronzor’s face. The Pokémon merely spun the stick out of Knox’s hands and used Confusion. Knox yelled out and gripped his temples. He reached for his Poké Ball and sent out Ford.

Ford used Vicegrip!

The gears clamped onto Bronzor and revved, attempting to batter the Pokémon with its gear teeth. This was enough to make Bronzor release its psychic hold on Knox. Knox grabbed the stick again and whacked Bronzor in the face with it. Ford let go of the Bronze Pokémon, and it clattered to the ground. Bronzor’s metal nose throbbed. It glared angrily at Knox and attempted to tackle him in the gut, but Ford dashed in the way and stopped Bronzor in its tracks with another Vicegrip attack. Bronzor’s yellow eyes widened as Ford began to rev up with static buildup.

Ford used Charge!

Ford began charging electricity!

Ford’s Special Defense rose!

Ford let go of the Bronzor, who was slightly fazed by the mild electric charge that the Klink was emitting, but shook its head and tried a Confusion attack on Ford. The Klink merely continued to rotate mockingly, making a clicking noise that sounded like jeering laughter.

Ford used Vicegrip!

Now, Bronzor was battered and bruised from all the punishment it had taken both from Knox and his Pokémon. With this last clamp on the face, Bronzor clattered to the floor once more, knocked out.

“Geez, I hope I never have to do anything like THAT again,” Knox said, before picking up Bronzor’s limp body and inserting it into the nearest tree.

Ford turned to Knox, spinning, clacking, staring blankly at its trainer. But then it rushed past Knox and tackled the Snorunt to the ground, trapping Bronzor’s partner-in-crime in between the gear teeth. Knox grabbed Snorunt from the back and screwed the conic Ice-type into the ground. “Stick around,” he said to the dazed Snorunt.

He turned back towards the drawbridge. Another boat floated between the bridge’s two halves.

Now, if this were a perfect, cliché world, then Knox would have absolutely no trouble replacing two of the drawbridge’s gears with Ford’s and shutting the bridge. Knox knew he couldn’t do that; for one thing, Ford could not wedge itself into any of the slots for the gears. For another, even if Knox could somehow replace two gears with his Klink, that wouldn’t solve the problem of the frozen machinery.

He could try to break the ice.

Ford clanged against the frozen machinery in the cabin. Aside from a metallic CLANG and a small, triangular chip of frozen water, the effort didn’t produce much. Ford’s eyes shut in discomfort. Knox grabbed his Klink to slow the vibrations. “So, that didn’t work,” he said. “Maybe somebody has an ice pick… Naw, what kind of person’s got an ice pick in this kind of town?! Come on, Knox, think. People like you gotta get to the first route.”

Knox gave up; he had nothing handy to smash the ice with. He decided he should probably ask around. Closer inspection of the machinery indicated that the emergency brake had been pulled and that the system was fully mechanical, the only electrical circuits in the buttons used to operate the machinery; thankfully, those were not frozen, so Knox had all the time in the world to figure this out.

Knox ditched the cabin and backtracked, hoping to find someone with something heavy enough to bash the ice to pieces, but delicate enough not to take the machinery along with it.

Holy crap. This Laura girl. She was long winded! Sure, she tried to listen to her life story with feigned interest, but the most she could convey within realistic expectations is a glazed look over her eyes, or as if she weren't looking at Laura as a person she is having a conversation with, as opposed to a curious object. Laura received an objective glance from Reyna. Really, she just wanted to know if this girl was a local girl so that she could get some pointers on where to go. Finally Reyna said to her, "it was a yes or no question, sweetheart. But, uh, neat story there. The name's Reyna!"

Sean couldn't help but flinch at Reyna comment. The girl really was scary! Boy, it would sure be quite the journey tagging along with her. That sort of take no prisoners attitude had the tendency to rub him the wrong way. It wasn't the "I'll give them a piece of my mind" kind of way either, more like "oh goodness, here comes trouble". Still, he couldn't help but wonder about them, so he stay put. He heard some stuff about Unova, and a little about plasma folk on the news some time ago, but he was much too young to think much of it.

Reyna's interest was once more piqued, though. Laura had introduced her Pokemon! A Petilil and a Honedge, eh? She hadn't seen those in Pokemon before, being stuck on Hoenn all her life! But she knew enough about them... enough to know that Xylem would sweep the floor with the both of them! Reyna got excited at the thought of it. Two in a row, no cheating! Petilil would shrivel in a moment's notice, and Xylem had the type advantage over the ghost sword! "So..." she started devilishly, "how 'bout a good old fashioned battle between you and me before I leave this town behind me? I'll even let you make the ruu-uules...!"

Oh gosh, Sean wondered, what does she have planned? He had to be honest; if this battle started, he wouldn't know who to root for. It would be nice to see Reyna lose and see her as all talk, but if she won, she wss serious business. And that'd make her a good protector. But his main concern was for the pokemon involved.

"Well?"

Shaun and Grant

Spoiler:

"Speed up, slowpoke!" a voice cried out in the woods outside of Crystalshore town. A tall, tanned boy with a patchy beard and a fedora leapt from a small boulder and slid down a moss-covered tree branch to the bank of a tiny stream where a Poliwag lounged in the shade. The said Poliwag jumped in surprise at the boy, and sprayed a blast of water into his face. Grant laughed and crouched down on one knee in front of the Poliwag, who continued to try and use Water Gun on him unsuccessfully. It must’ve been a very young Pokemon. Grant took a pecha berry from his bag and rolled it to the Poliwag while he waited for his comrade to catch up.

Shaun Masters was not having nearly as much of a good time as Grant. Apparently the clearly-marked route wasn’t adventurous enough for Grant, and so he had to go another way. Unlike Grant, Shaun had little athletic prowess, and his lack of running shoes greatly slowed him down. Floating at Shaun’s side was a Duskull, his companion since Shaun was a boy (well, younger boy) back at Mt.Pyre. The Duskull, unlike his trainer, enjoyed exploring the outdoor world, and so rarely confined itself to the confines of its Pokeball. About a minute and a half after Grant started playing with the Poliwag (much to its discomfort), Shaun stumbled out of the woods and landed on the stream’s stony banks face-first. The Duskull laughed and grabbed Shaun by the hand, helping to pull him up. Grant sat the Poliwag back down on the shore and moseyed over to Shaun, casting a shadow over him as he struggled to his feet.

“Jeez, kid!” Grant mused “We need to get you some running shoes or something if we’re going to keep travelling together! You are slower than a Shuckle.”

“Well excuse me for not being able to swing through the jungle like a Primape!” Shaun snapped back angrily “I’m not used to this amount of physical activity!” Grant turned towards the river and lept over it with minimal effort. He turned back to Shaun, who just before jumping slipped on a rock and fell forward into the water. He landed on top of a rather angry Lombre, who grabbed Shaun by the lapels of his jacket and tossed him to shore on Grant’s side. Skully handed Shaun his glasses, and he placed them back on to see Grant leaning back against a tree, snacking on a freshly-picked Persim berry.

“I love these things!” Grant shouted with his mouth full “They have this awesome spicy kick to them. They’re great in salsa. You want one, kid?” Shaun growled at Grant animalistically, and Grant, grimacing, placed the berry in his satchel, muttering something to the effect of “not hungry, then” under his breath.

Soon, Grant and Shaun, the latter several steps behind the former, arrived in Crystalshore town, the home of Professor Palm. Grant, as usual, waited for Shaun to catch up, and then decided to open his Pokeball. Out popped Ozymandias, a well-polished Baltoy carrying a pink plate in a mesh backpack strapped tightly around it. It looked around with interest, taking in the scene of the town, and then hobbled a few steps forward on its foot. Before Grant could say anything to his partner, the Baltoy caught sight of something gleaming up ahead and ran off, spinning its body independently from its head to keep it moving quickly.

“Ozzy!” Grant yelled, running off after it. Shaun laughed and slowly walked behind Grant. He looked down at his wrist, where his Poketch was strapped, and checked the time. He stared at the watch for a few moments, taking a moment to play with the sketch app, and then headed off in a general direction, hoping to find Professor Palm’s laboratory. It didn’t take long for him to find the lab. A steady stream of people seemed to be moving from the lab and off into the town. He did not recognize any of them, but he saw a few familiar Pokemon, namely a Hondege that was clinging to one girl’s arm. Skully stayed closed to Shaun, floating by him like a second head. After a crowd of new trainers cleared (Shaun hated crowds), Shaun approached the laboratory and walked in. Professor Palm was waiting by a table with Pokedexes sitting on it. Shaun cleared his throat to get Palm’s attention. Palm looked up and smiled.

“Hello there.” he said “You must be one of the young gentlemen coming to receive his Pokedex today.”

“Y-yes sir.” Shaun said meekly “I’m Shaun Masters.”

“Excellent. Welcome to the world of Pokemon, Shaun.” A few minutes later, Shaun left the laboratory, ready to begin his adventure. Now if only he could find that moron Grant. The two of them were travelling together because Shaun’s mother didn’t trust him alone on an adventure. The two left Ironwood Town together a few days before. The sole redeeming quality of Grant was his cooking skills; if you gave him a pot and a few berries, he could make a masterpiece. Shaun felt rather incomplete, however, as he saw the other trainers with their bags and backpacks. He needed something to carry his travelling supplies in. Heck, he needed travelling supplies. The last few nights, the duo had slept out under the stars, filled with gratification that it didn’t rain. Shaun opened his wallet and took a peek inside. His mother gave him 3500 pokedollars before leaving. He figured that might be enough to get himself some supplies. Shaun looked around to see where the mart was, but found nothing. A group of trainers were nearby; a girl with a Hondege on her arm (Shaun recognized it from a Pokemon TV show he watched), a young boy with a Solosis, and a tough-looking older girl wearing camo pants and looking generally tough. Shaun approached cautiously, his cheeks beginning to flush as he got near. Shaun was bad with new people, especially with groups. Skully placed a reassuring paw on Shaun’s shoulder and nodded to him, as if saying “it’ll all be okay.’ Shaun took a deep breath and approached the group.

“Um...hello.” he said awkwardly “I’m...um Shaun. I’m a new trainer here and I’m kind of...of lost. D-does anyone here know where the nearest Pokemart is?” Damned speech impediment Shaun thought to himself. The stuttering had been there all his life, ever since he was a child. When he was young, it was so bad that he could hardly speak, though with age and some speech therapy, he reduced it greatly. Still though, he occasionally slipped on his words, and his nerves when approaching this group did not help.

Wow.

Already challenged to a battle.

Laura shrugged, saying, “Oh, what the heck, why not?”

Laura eyed Reyna worriedly, however. The girl seemed way confident, and Laura had a feeling that Reyna wouldn’t bluff. Watch her have some monster like Druddigon or something, she thought.

She strode out to the middle of the dirt path. “Alright, stand across from me. We’ll do this ‘till either side has no more Pokémon…”

Laura turned towards the boy who addressed the group. “Oh, hey! Shaun, huh? Nice name. I’m Laura,” Laura said, approaching Shaun and giving the younger boy a firm handshake. Terry unwrapped himself to get a closer look at Skully; the Honedge was interested in the sight of a fellow Ghost-type Pokémon. “I think the nearest Pokémart,” continued Laura, “should be along that path. I really prefer the way it’s done in Unova, where the Pokémart is actually in the Pokémon Center, but we really don’t have a Pokémon Center in this town.”

She turned back towards Reyna. “Okay, sorry about that. Where were we?"

———————————————

Knox turned to face Paige. He loosened his collar and folded his arms. “Yeah, just got back from the bridge,” he said quietly. “Works’re frozen. Literally. Half the machinery in that cabin,” he continued, jabbing a thumb at the operation cabin for emphasis, “is iced over. Plus, the operator’s out cold.”

He figured the girl ought to know his name. “Paige, right?” he asked. “My name’s Knox Thomas. This is Ford.” Knox gestured to his Klink. "I might’ve seemed a bit inward when you talked to that other girl, Laura… I’ll admit, I get a bit nervous ‘round girls.”

Knox looked back over to the cabin. “Well, I gotta find something to break up the ice in that cabin. I can tell: there’s going to be trouble if that bridge doesn’t go down. I might know who did it, too: the perpetrator had a Bronzor to K-O the operator, and a Snorunt to ice the gears.”

Ford once again floated towards Dante (but not close enough to have a repeat of the magnetism fiasco) and motioned towards the cabin, clicking sequentially as if speaking Morse code. The Klink whirred before floating back off towards the cabin, motioning for the Beldum to follow it.

Caroline had never been so excited in her entire, short, life. She was off on the biggest and best adventure the world can offer her, a Pokemon journey. Ever since she had been little Caroline wanted to travel with her Pokemon, but her parents had been reluctant to send their young daughter into the world to travel. However, she had also been training for as long as she could remember. Her whole life Caroline had been surrounded by Pokemon. He parents worked as assistants to the professor, a job Caroline herself hoped to have eventually. And it had been one of the professors that urged her parents to let Caroline go.

And go she shall. Her worried parents had packed her to the breaking point. In her backpack were all of the things her parents deemed important for a journey, things like food and water as well as a sleeping bag and changes of clothes. And money. Caroline now had more money then her young self had ever seen. While, in reality, it wasn't that much it was will pretty exciting for Caroline. She decided the first thing she would buy is a big bag of candy for her and her Togepi. Friendship was an important thing between the young trainer and Pokemon.

Caroline stood in the lab, as she had for many years, watching as the new trainers came alone to receive their trainer ids and pokedexs. Caroline, as a training assistant professor, had already had a pokedex and trainer id for quite some time. It was mostly due to the young girl begging the professor for one so she would feel like a real professor. She stood timidly behind one of the desks, watching each trainer carefully. They each had such different personalities, she silently wished them luck on their journeys. During a particularly wide break between trainers coming and going Caroline stepped out from behind her desk, hefting her backpack, and walked up to Professor Palm.

After a brief exchange between the two, Caroline began to walk towards the door, excited and nervous beyond belief to be starting her new journey. She touched her hand against the doorknob, only to suddenly run back to the professor, give him a tight hug and a thank you for teaching me, before hurrying out the door.

She closed the door softly behind her, pausing a moment to face it. She had just left the safety of her learning and was about to go on a journey. Maybe when she got back she would be ready to be a professor. She nervously patted the pokeball on her belt, containing the starter and friend she had since it hatched. Caroline slowly, and timidly, turned herself around. There were several trainers hanging around outside the lab, most likely trying to figure out what to do next. Caroline was in a similar boat, and was about to move to pull up a map, when a pokemon caught her eye.

Caroline gasped softly, her hand covering her mouth in surprise. There, right in front of her, was a fossil pokemon, fully alive and moving around. Caroline, in her training, had been able to see and learn about all sorts of fossil pokemon but had never gotten the chance to be so close to one. "Wow" Caroline spoke, her voice soft, "A Tyrunt." Caroline had always been fascinated by fossil pokemon. She moved forward, with a hand extended, and seemed to have the intent of petting it. Not only was this a super cool fossil pokemon, but it also seemed to have another pokemon in its mouth, a Honedge.

A-haha! Perfect! This seems like a good a challenge as any! And what should Reyna have to be worried about? Xylem was pretty quick for a blind dragon, and sharp scent and hearing. If her Pokemon moved as fast as shown here, there'd be no trouble at all working around those two! Two one-hit knock outs coming up! She stuck her hand into her bag and tossed vertically up into the air a Pokeball she had withdrawn. Cracking open, a flash of red light deposited a shape onto the ground where her Deino had materialized. Reyna caught the Pokeball as it came down, fully confident in Xylem's abilities. Power right through them just as they always had!

A shame though, how Laura had to go and get herself distracted by these other kids. Sean noticed them too. He wasn't quite sure what questions they were asking, but he was interested in Reyna's Pokemon. He had never seen that one before... it looked really rare! But he was also surprised that a battle was starting so soon. Eh. Suppose that is what happens when a bunch of trainers concentrate in one place. Sean flashed his Pokedex at Reyna's Pokemon. "Deino, the Irate Pokemon. Lacking sight, it's unaware of its surroundings, so it bumps into things and eats anything that moves."

Well crap.

Reyna heard the electronic voice from behind her, smiling smugly with pride in Xylem. Yep! He sure was a rare little cutey! And powerful, too. Perhaps all these try-hards would like to see that in person! Laura, finally putting her head back in the game, said something about where were they. Reyna was unable to keep herself from silently giggling to herself. This was exciting! Sure, she had an audience back in Hoenn, but this was Norue! It is time to show this new region what she was made of.

"You were just about to get your ass kicked!" Reyna laughed. She stood where she was hopping from one foot to the other as though she were in a boxing match. "Let's get it ooonn!"

Sean laughed to himself silently. The girl was kind of funny though, how she was so amped up. The 'kick her butt' part, though, that didn't do much to deter her intimidation. His dad never wanted him to say those kinds of words. Apparently they were bad. Did that make Reyna a bad person, or what?

“Right then,” Laura said to her Pokémon, ignoring Reyna’s colorful language. “Which one of you wants to take it first?”

Lillian responded by jumping off and landing with a light thud, facing the blind blue quadruped in front of her. The Petilil knew that this was probably a REALLY bad idea; however, she wanted to give the Deino a run for its money.

Laura held up her Pokédex and logged the Deino. Deino. The Irate Pokémon. It gets its bearings by bumping into and snapping at its surroundings.

Lillian used Leech Seed!

Lillian got really close to the Deino and rammed into it, while planting Leech Seeds into the Irate Pokémon’s chest. The Petilil rebounded with a flip and skidded backwards.

———————————————

Knox nodded at Paige, running into the cabin as Ford was showing Dante the iced machinery. The Klink tried again to chip away at the ice.

Ford used Vicegrip!

It’s not very effective…

The Klink huffed a mechanical huff and rolled its eyes, as if to say, ”See?”

Knox bent over and peered into the machinery. It appeared that the electronics were safe, but the actual gears were halted by the ice. The bridge operator was still out cold, and the machinery was frozen. The most ice seemed to concentrate around the largest gear, which would have been a primary target for that Snorunt’s Powder Snow attack. “It’s frozen shut, probably by a Powder Snow attack concentrated over a long period of time. Two Pokémon, working in tandem, did this.” Knox got rather talkative when speaking in terms of machinery and systems. “It was a Snorunt and a Bronzor, both who Ford and I put out of commission for now. They were intelligent enough to not need orders from a trainer.

“It looks like the Bronzor used a Hypnosis attack to lights-out the operator (it tried the same thing on me) and used Confusion for good measure; this guy was out cold. This allowed the Snorunt to use Powder Snow on the machinery before shutting the panel, preventing detection. Some of these gears are pretty small, so if we’re going to smash this stuff, we’re going to have to be careful not to displace anything. Otherwise we’ll be convicted for vandalism and property damage."

Okay, Reyna thought, let's see how fast this little flower bud moves! So the Petilil charged after Xylem. It was fairly fast for what it is worth - at least, it was fairly fast as far as its species. But it wasn't anything that Xylem couldn't outpace! The Bulb Pokemon proceeded towards her Deino and Rammed forward to use Leech Seed. We'll take it. Let their guard down a little before they are utterly annihilated! It'd take something like a Chansey not to fall in a single blow. Xylem held his ground and withstood the Petilil's ramming. It lacked the physical strength and size to even budge it! Still, the stinging sensation on its chest was an annoyance. He absentmindedly bit at it, but it wouldn't go.

Reyna smiled. "Alright! Use Dragon Rage as it lands!"

That was just as Deino did. As Lillian landed and skidded backwards, Xylem's mouth was already charged with a crackling blue fire and released it in a huge blue pillar of flame and static, engulfing the Petilil where it had stood. Reyna looked as smug as ever! Defenses? Ha! There were no defenses that could mitigate this attack! It was an easy one-way ticket to victory. That isn't to undermine her skill as a trainer of course, but sheer power always won through the end!

Sean, off to the sidelines, was watching the whole spectacle. The Petilil sure looked pretty good!   It planted a Leech Seed on... Deino, was it? It planted a Leech Seed on Deino with practiced movements, as though it were a routine it followed regularly. Only problem with that, Sean pondered, is what if they become too comfortable with that move? What if they get stuck in that routine? And if they forget to adapt? But Sean wasn't even secure in his own thoughts. What did he know about battling, after all? Very little, if any, but he did wonder why Reyna let her Pokemon take the attack. What was even her strategy? He watched her give out a Dragon Rage command - he had never seen that before - and the Deino started charging up a powerful blast from its mouth as the Petilil started to land. Maybe she wanted to land a hit instead of maybe missing?

Granted, when the Deino finally released its Dragon Rage, there didn't seem to be much room for missing. It was a huge vortex of blue fire and electricity and engulfed almost the whole battlefield. It was terrifying - but captivating. It was actually very beautiful! Sean quickly went into his backpack to see if he could grab his camera in time, but by the time he had procured it, the flames were already beginning to die down. Sean frowned. What a pity.