Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Pokemon Quest ❯ Izy's Feelings ( Chapter 46 )

Pokemon Quest

 

While the battles continued, Sampson spent the entire time trying to buff out the crack in the bottom of his partner's stone. Unfortunately, it proved ineffective as Sampson sighed, having no choice but to deal with the fact that a crack in a rock couldn't be buffed out without taking chunks off of the rock.

 

All the while Anna, Izy and Harold sat through each and every battle. There was something about watching battles with friends that made Harold feel much more confident. It was as if all his troubles were over. Unfortunately for him, they weren't. He'd still have to face Manfred again and deal with the fact that his mother was going to die.

 

They watched as Janette won her battle, defeating a blue turtle-like Pokemon called Wartortle with an electric wolf known as Luxray. Her opponent, a young boy named Johannes, sighed and shook hands with her, accepting his defeat.

 

“And that does it for our third round,” Moro stated as Nurse Boredom simply rose her arm unenthusiastically into the air letting out a weak, “Woohoo...”

 

Moro glared at her before turning back to the crowd and saying, “We're now entering the quarter-finals, folks! This means there'll be only half the number of battles we had in the first round!”

 

“WE ALREADY KNEW THAT!!!!!” shouted an obnoxious audience member as many others around him laughed, Moro fighting the urge to run into the crowd and beat said watcher senseless.

 

He then cleared his throat and said, “Due to this being the case, I figured I'd make things even more interesting!”

 

The crowd blinked, a tad confused by this as the man pressed a button. The crowd watched in shock as the ground opened up, another battle area taking its place. The new one had all kinds of rocks in it.

 

Moro grinned and explained, “This is the Earth Arena! But there's much more than that!”

 

He proceeded to show off a water arena, a volcano arena and even a cloud arena while even the bored members of the crowd had to admit that this was pretty amazing. Moro saw the excited looks and sighed thinking, 'I finally have them in the palm of my hands.'

 

“Effective tomorrow, these will be the arenas that each trainer must fight in,” the professor stated, “This will either give one's Pokemon an advantage or disadvantage, depending on which Pokemon the trainer uses. As you can see, each arena is based off of a certain environment. However, the arena changes when a Pokemon is defeated, so don't get used to the one you start with.”

 

Those watching had to admit, this did make things a tad more interesting. Anna's eyes sparkled, the girl truly amazed by this change while Izy wondered if this would be good for Jacob or not.

 

Sampson was actually feeling a tad uneasy about this. He gritted his teeth and thought, 'This might be bad for Spiritomb. He can't move around, so this gives the opponent an opportunity to sneak up on him.'

 

Nevertheless, it was late in the day and everyone was hungry for dinner. Jacob and his friends sat in the cafeteria, enjoying the free gourmet meal provided by the staff.

 

“Tomorrow's going to be tough,” Izy said as Jacob sighed, “You're right. That new arena idea sounds complicated, and the only arenas like that my Pokemon have truly prepared for is a rock terrain, a forest and a pool of water.”

 

“Don't worry about it,” Anna stated with a warm smile, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, “Just consider your Pokemon's strengths. What environment would each be best suited to?”

 

Jacob thought hard about this as Izy stated, “Let's not forget, you also need to consider who you're up against.”

 

That was true. Jacob needed to all he could about his next opponent. Said opponent was a country girl named Sally. Considering how far she'd made it, she clearly must have been a good trainer.

 

However, when the group looked at her Pokemon, they started to doubt that she belonged in the tournament. All of her Pokemon were farm animal types, and not exactly the strongest of kinds either. The only true challenge they saw on her list was three-tailed bull known as Tauros.

 

“This battle's in the bag,” Izy said with a grin as Harold said, “She makes me look like an expert.”

 

Janette was once again sitting by herself with her Pokeballs spread out. She was in a meditative state as she held up three balls and decided to use the Pokemon in them. It was quite strange and rather intriguing. She always seemed to rely on pure instinct to decide her team and always came out on top. Just who was this Janette girl?

 

Izy looked at the clock and said, “Hey, I'm gonna go explore the town while the night is young. Who wants to join me?”

 

Anna and Harold gladly agreed to come along while Lucario looked over at Jacob who didn't seem as enthusiastic. Izy turned to Jacob and asked, “Are you coming?” as Jacob waved his hand at them saying, “You guys can go do what you want. I think I'll stay here.”

 

Lucario nuzzled up to Jacob's leg as the boy petted the infant on the head and stated, “You can go with them too, Lucario. It's not like you always have to be with me.”

 

Lucario's eyes sparkled at her hugged his owner before joining the others. Jacob wished he could have gone with them, but he had other plans at the moment.

 

The boy walked over to Janette who looked up from her Pokeballs and smiled at him asking, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

 

“I just want to thank you again for last night,” Jacob said, “If it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't have made it this far.”

 

The girl simply chuckled and explained that she didn't need thanks but appreciated it all the same. Janette was truly a mystery. She was dressed like the kind of girl who attended a ball on a regular basis, and yet here she was partaking in Pokemon battles without even considering the fact that her dress could get dirty during such events. She didn't seem to really socialize with anyone, and yet she was willing to help out a complete stranger. She hardly planned out any of her battles but rather relied on her own instinct, and somehow this always resulted in an easy victory for her. She didn't even alter her strategies during battles. She always went with the Pokemon she had chosen before the battle, even if the opponent's Pokemon had an advantage over all of hers.

 

Jacob was even more surprised when Janette patted her hand on the seat next to her saying, “You can sit here and talk if you'd like.”

 

The boy simply shrugged and sat down. What else was he going to do tonight anyway? After sitting down, the two talked for an hour and learned a lot about one-another, soon developing a friendship.

 

Janette told of how she grew up in a rich environment, which didn't really surprise Jacob all that much. He could tell by the gown she was wearing. She also explained that the only reason she wore her expensive clothes to battle was because it was family tradition to always wear the fanciest of clothes for a big event, no matter what that event was. When Jacob asked if she was worried about getting her clothes dirty, the girl simply shook her head and said that her family didn't mind. Jacob had to admit, the girl was lucky. Most rich parents would have gone ballistic over something like that.

 

Jacob proceeded to tell Janette a lot of things about him. He even told the whole story of how he'd met Lucario and defeated Giratina with his help. As ridiculous as it all sounded, Janette believed his story and took a great interest in the boy.

 

“So, how do you do it?” Jacob asked as Janette blinked asking, “Do what?”

 

“How do you always pick the perfect Pokemon to use before a battle?” the boy asked as Janette nodded saying, “It's just a feeling. I feel that these Pokemon could help me the most, so I choose them.”

 

Jacob was impressed. It was clear that Janette had a lot of faith in her Pokemon. The boy understood as he also had a lot of trust in his Lucario even when the opponent had an advantage over him.

 

Meanwhile, Izy and Anna were in the local flower shop as Harold waited outside. Apparently, he found things like flower shops degrading for a male.

 

“I'm really glad Harold didn't enter,” Izy said as Anna looked at her, blinked and asked, “How come?”

 

Lucario was sniffing the roses happily until he attempted to smell a Venus fly trap, the plant clamping onto his nose, the infant throwing a fit and flailing his arms about in an attempt to get the plant away from him.

 

“Anna, I want to have a girl-on-girl talk with you,” Izy said feeling rather embarrassed, “If one of the guys heard me talking like this, they may look down on me.”

 

Anna understood perfectly what the girl meant and placed a hand on Izy's shoulder, a warm smile on her face. Izy sighed and explained these recent feelings she was having for Jacob, how it just seemed to go beyond a simple friendship for her. She also didn't feel anything similar from Jacob but she couldn't tell him because it just wasn't like her to feel this way towards anyone. It would have felt awkward to just admit that she was having romantic thoughts about him.

 

Then again, part of the reason she'd never felt this way before was because Jacob was her first human friend. Even when growing up in an orphanage, she'd never been able to make friends.

 

The other reason she didn't want Harold there was clear when she started to let down tears and pressed herself up against Anna, crying into her shirt. Anna patted her back saying, “It's okay. These feelings are normal.”

 

“BUT I DON'T WANNA BE NORMAL!!!!!” the girl cried as the shopkeeper blinked and asked, “What's wrong?”

 

Anna looked up at her and said, “It's nothing. My friend's just getting something out of her system.”

 

Both knew that Izy was being disruptive, but this was a touching moment. Besides, it wasn't like there were any other customers in there and the shopkeeper seemed to just accept this sort of thing as if conversations like these always took place inside her shop.

 

Lucario finally managed to pry the fly trap off of his nose when he whacked it hard with a force palm and after doing so looked over at Izy with wide eyes. He was a tad frightened seeing Izy of all people cry. Even he had grown used to her acting tough during hard times. The fly trap shook the pain off of its head and looked over at the girl as well, and if it had eyes, they would have been wide too.

 

“My insides hurt,” Izy sniffed as Anna rubbed her back saying, “You did the right thing getting it out of your system now before it could eat you up.”

 

Meanwhile, Jacob and Janette were still talking. They had shared all kinds of information with one-another and by the end, they felt as if they'd known each other their whole lives.

 

Janette smiled and said, “Well, it's getting late. I'd better go prepare for my battle tomorrow. It was nice talking to you.”

 

Jacob nodded and said, “I'll see you later, I guess.”

 

Janette simply walked back to her room as Jacob's friends returned. Harold yawned saying, “You girls take a long time to look at flowers, you know that?”

 

Izy was once again acting like her old self, setting aside her feelings for Jacob. She only wanted to help him win, and to tell him what she had just told Anna would not only feel degrading for her, it would also distract Jacob. Rather than focusing on his next battle, he would start thinking of what a life with Izy would be like. The girl didn't want that kind of pressure put down on him.

 

Luckily, Anna had promised to keep it a secret and Lucario couldn't even talk, so at the very least, her feelings would remain hidden from the boy for the time being. With everything out of the way for now, they decided to simply spend one last hour training for tomorrow's battle while the night was still young. Right now, all Izy wanted to do was help Jacob win, not start a relationship.

 

All the while, Sampson sat in his room and fiddled with the Pokeball carrying his partner saying, “Don't take this too personally, but I'm afraid I can't use you in tomorrow's battle. I need to save you for the next round. You understand, right?”

 

The man sighed and placed his Pokeballs next to his bed. For once, he was actually going to sleep in the room assigned to him. It pained him not to use his mystery Pokemon in tomorrow's battle, but he knew there was no choice in the matter.

 

Everyone slept soundly that night and soon the next arrived. It was now time for the quarter-finals. There were only three rounds left before a winner was declared. This was truly an exciting time for everyone, especially with the new arenas installed.

 

Moro stood tall and proud shouting, “I hope everyone's well rested, because today's sure to be the most exciting one yet!”

 

A random audience member threw a can at the man's head as he growled while Nurse Boredom let out a low chuckle. What was up with all this abuse the professor was receiving. He was a professor. He should have been the most beloved man there. At least that's what he figured.

 

Sampson walked into the arena to receive many cheers from the crowd. After yesterday's performance, he had gotten a lot of respect from the crowd. His opponent, a boy by the name of Russel, entered as well receiving some applause. He had earned himself a bit of a reputation during the three previous battles.

 

“The first arena shall be the Earth Arena!” Moro announced as the floor opened up, revealing a hard ground with large rocks sticking up out of it. Sampson saw this as a perfect opportunity for his first Pokemon of choice as he hurled his ball into the ring, not saying a word.

 

Out of the ball emerged a cat-like creature. She had pink fur on her head that resembled a head dress and a yellow diamond in the center of her forehead. The rest of her body was covered in gray fur and she had razor-sharp claws on the ends of her hands. She was known as Weavile. Weavile was very agile and quick, so she could take advantage of this kind of surrounding.

 

Russel simply yawned and sent out his partner, a large blue bat with a round body and a gaping mouth that almost matched his body in size. With an evil look in his eyes, this was Golbat.

 

“Who needs a rock climber when you can fly over them?” The boy asked in a smug tone while Sampson frowned. This boy was clearly too egotistical to be worth talking to.

 

The battle started as Golbat took to the sky and Weavile used her claws to latch onto the side of one of the rocks. She proceeded to leap from rock to rock until she was at the very top of one, standing right behind Golbat who just couldn't seem to keep up with her speed.

 

“GOLBAT, SHE'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!!!” Russel snapped, but Golbat wasn't able to turn around in time as Weavile leapt swiftly onto his back, her claws surrounded by a dark aura while they were jabbed into the bat's flesh.

 

A bit of blood dripped down as Golbat flew towards a rock, ramming Weavile hard into it, the cat-like creature groaning in pain while she slid down the side of the big solid. Clearly, this battle was going to be tougher than Sampson had first thought.