Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Rain Dance ❯ Battle ( Chapter 9 )

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Eventually, the hunger pains in Batoy’s stomach lead him into a small café, the Wafting Wheat, nestled between an equally small bookstore and an herbal shop. Wafts of delicious smells overwhelmed his senses, and before he could control himself, he found his mouth watering. The café was bar-styled, with a row of stools before a counter that displayed all the food available. There seemed to be mostly tasty-smelling breads and pastas here, with small meats to accent. Batoy hoisted Jet to see. “Wow, look at all this… it looks so good…” The Quilava nodded, giving a whimper, subtly suggesting he share in the experience.

But before Batoy could take a seat, a hand rested gently on his shoulder. He jumped, startled, and turned around to see the girl from yesterday, Mia. “Hey, it’s you!” she exclaimed with a grin on her face. “Fancy meeting you here in a quaint place like this. I guess we think alike!”

“I… guess so,” Batoy said softly. How, in such a large place, could he come into contact with this girl in such a small restaurant? He hadn’t planned on avoiding her, but at the same time, he wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about going on a ‘date’ with her.

“Speaking of which, I’ve been looking forward to this, but you weren’t at the Pokemon Center. I figured you were trying to ditch me or something.” She gave Batoy such a look that, while friendly, threatened him not to confirm what she’d said, and so Batoy only nodded. The girl wore the same white and teal wind-jacket that she’d had the previous night, and the Natu was still firmly placed at her bosom. Jet folded his ears and growled at the little bird. Elyia paid him no mind.

“So, let’s find a seat to eat at,” Mia said as she began to scout out a pair of stools at the far end of the bar. When Batoy hesitated, she turned. “And don’t say you’re not hungry. I saw how you were ogling the food. You looked like you hadn’t eaten in days. So don’t even try to say no.”

“Erm… right….” Reluctantly, Batoy followed her to the stools on the far side of the café, and took a seat right beside her. “I was just looking… I don’t even know how much this stuff costs… I might not even be able to afford it if it’s too expensive.…”

Mia blinked and glanced at him. “Can’t afford it? Most trainers have at least some amount of money, even if they’re really bad.”

“But…” Batoy glanced down. How could he say it in a way that made sense? How could he say he wasn’t a trainer? He had Pokemon and was participating in a show. That made him a trainer, didn’t it? But he didn’t train his Pokemon, except how to do particularly illegal things. That wouldn’t be the best thing to tell her. He stumbled for an answer. “I… I don’t really know what I am… or what I’m supposed to be….”

The girl cocked an eyebrow. “What you’re supposed to be? What’s that supposed to mean? No one knows what they’re supposed to be. Maybe they think they know, and they hate it, and they’ll do anything to change it, but I don’t believe that there’s some divine fate that has already dictated how I’m going to live and die. You have dreams, right?”

“Well… yeah, I guess so…”

“So why don’t you try to live to accomplish those dreams? I think that if you do that, you’ll eventually find out what you’re gonna do.”

“But… my dreams aren’t complex like that… I don’t even have anything… uh… concrete… all I wanna do is go on an adventure with Jet.” He hugged the Quilava close to him, and Jet licked his neck. “I just wanna be some place where we can be happy.”

“That’s kind of abstract. Any idea how you’d even accomplish something like that?”

Batoy shook his head. “No… all I’ve been doing is getting Jet and the others in danger…” He shivered. “I even… lost Ollie and Manual’s sister Meta….” Batoy glanced out a nearby window, watching the people walk past. “I’m not a real trainer… I’m not good enough… I can’t even keep my own Pokemon safe….”

Mia snorted in contempt. “Then if you’re not good enough, why’re your Pokemon still with you?” She locked eyes with Jet. “If this Quilava didn’t love your or didn’t trust you, he’d probably have run away by now. I’m not gonna ask what happened to… Meta, was it? I’m not going to ask what happened to her unless you’re willing to tell me, and I already know that you don’t trust me enough for that.”

Batoy kept silent and looked out the window.

“Batoy, I’m gonna ask a question, though, and I want you to answer it honestly. Why’re you here, in this city? Why’re you in Eterna?”

“I…” Batoy hesitated. What could he say? What should he tell her? “I… was here to see my… my father…”

“Oh, he lives here?”

“No… not really… we’re from Hoenn… he dragged me here from Lavaridge Town…”

“Oh, I see.”

“But… when I got here, there was a guy that took something really important to my father from me… now my father’s really mad at me and probably won’t even talk to me until I get it back.”

“Wow… that’s horrible! No parent should treat his or her own flesh and blood like that.”

Batoy winced slightly. He was so different from his father and mother, how could he even be certain? “I’m… used to it…” he said lightly. “It’s been like that ever since I was nine…” He continued to look out the window.

Elyia chirped, and Mia nodded. “Elyia says you’re acting like her when she’s in a cage, always looking out the window like that. Why don’t you stop looking out of the window?”

Turning back to her, Batoy nodded slowly. “Sorry… I just look out the window whenever I’m next to one… I don’t know why.” He paused then sighed. “So, uh… Mia… what about you? What’re you doing here?”

“Oh, um…” The girl seemed genuinely surprised that she’d be asked the same question she’d posed. “I’m just on vacation. I actually have a place I’m trying to get to, but the going’s been really slow.” She laughed. “I somehow end up getting distracted all the time. Like with this tournament. I can’t resist a battle! I just hope there are some really strong opponents for me to fight.”

Batoy couldn’t help but grin. She seemed like a female, human version of Jet. “I’m sure there will be… some… are really powerful. But, besides the tournament, where’re you heading to?”

“Well, my goal is Full Moon Island. Particularly, I wanna get there close to the full moon.”

“Why’s that?”

“Back in Saffron, there’ve been stories told about this place. Apparently, if you arrive at Full Moon Island on the full moon, you see something spectacular. So I took a vacation so I could go see. I’m worried that I might’ve been gone too long, but since my funding’s still coming, I suppose Sabrina and my parents haven’t gotten too upset with me.”

“Sabrina? Who’s that?”

“Oh, heh, you don’t know about Sabrina? She’s the most powerful psychic in the world, and the leader of the Saffron City gym. We’re really good friends, and I train under her.”

“You have psychic powers?”

“Haha, I won’t even say I wish I had them. Psychic abilities are a curse. Most of the psychics at that gym are insane, and the rest are slowly becoming. No, my parents offered funding to the gym if Sabrina would let me train under her. No Gym Leader alive would say no unless they’re just really out there.” Mia sighed. “Still, I train because of my own merits, and Sabrina’s impressed with my progress with psychic Pokemon, even though I don’t have any psychic abilities of my own.”

“Wow… your parents sound really rich…”

“Don’t be envious; I’d rather earn stuff than have them pay for it. I hate feeling like I’m in someone’s debt. But yeah, the Strause family’s always been rich. Started with my great grandfather, and the money’s just been past down through inheritance and boosted through investing. But I don’t want any of it. I mean, I’m not really even related to them by blood.”

“Huh?”

“I was adopted.”

“Oh… I see… was it… hard when you were told?” Batoy bit his lip.

“No, not really. I was old enough to remember being in the orphanage, so I always knew they weren’t my real parents. They don’t even have my hair color, anyways, so I would’ve known anyways.” She pointed towards her blue hair. “The alleles that transfer my hair color are incredibly recessive, so the odds of me coming from my parents is really, really low anyways. So I always knew that I was adopted.”

“But… that didn’t hurt you any?”

“No, why should it? They might not have given birth to me, but that doesn’t mean my parents didn’t love me. They took me in and made me their daughter. I wasn’t treated any differently than any other children. They even offered me the inheritance, but I declined it and they understood.”

Batoy nodded and looked out the window again. The sky had darkened considerably, and he could smell rain from the open café door. “Darn it… it’s gonna rain soon… I haven’t even found a good place to stay.”

Mia’s ears perked. “Oh, rain? Wait, this isn’t good! We haven’t had our battle yet!”

“But… Mia…, Jet and I haven’t eaten yet…” But Batoy didn’t have time to whine before Mia took a hold of his hand and dragged him out of the café, Jet bounding after them. They reached the middle of the street before Mia let go of him. “C’mon… do we really have to do this?”

The girl walked a few meters away before turning, a most aggressive smirk on her face. “Aww, don’t tell me you’re going to chicken out on me. I was hoping you’d give me a preliminary brawl to warm up for the big tournament. You did promise me you’d fight me. Besides…” she set Elyia down, “don’t tell me your Quilava’s afraid of a little bird.”

Well, that did it. Batoy didn’t even have to look down to know that Jet had already leapt in front of him, his fires burning at the outrageous comment. The fire-type would never back down from anything, not the legendary Pokemon Groudon, not the serpentine Gyarados, and definitely not some tiny green ball with feathers. ~Quil!~ he called out, pawing the ground eagerly. Even with the rain coming, this fight would be easy. It wouldn’t be like the staring contest, oh no. Battling was Jet’s forte. It wouldn’t take more than thirty seconds.

“Hey, look over there! Those guys are about to fight!” called a young boy around twelve, and he and a collection of children gathered around the four. Even a few of the adults from the stores came to watch. Batoy felt his cheeks grow red. The position he was in was very uncompromising. He could fight, and probably embarrass himself in front of all of these people, or he could refuse, but that would be even worse. After all, even he knew that a trainer never backed downed from a challenge unless he was completely unable to compete. And unfortunately for him, he could feel the heat from Jet’s flaming quills, even from a distance. Nothing was going to stop him from fighting.

Mia grinned as she caught sight of Batoy’s red cheeks. “Now, Batoy, I don’t want you to go easy on me. After all, I may be just a girl, but I assure you that I’m pretty tough!” Batoy grew redder. “Alright, Elyia, are you ready?”

The Natu had scarcely nodded before Jet jumped forward, rushing as fast as his little paws could carry him. “Jet…!” Batoy held out his hand, but retracted it. He couldn’t call Jet back. “Alright, then,” he said, tightening his fist. “Start it off with a Flame Wheel!” He had to admit, as the adrenaline started to flow through his veins, battles were pretty exciting. Already his heart was racing, and he felt his vision start blur and focus at the same time, narrowing in on the Quilava, the Natu, and the girl standing a little ways in front of him. The cheers of the crowd as Jet’s body became covered in a swirling fire were blocked as he trained his attention on the three in front. Jet moved so swiftly, so precisely. He was trained, too. He watched careful. Every move that the Natu made, Jet saw. Were Batoy to yell commands, Jet wouldn’t need them. He already knew what to do, what to watch for. He only needed Batoy to see what he couldn’t, to direct him in the right direction. But this fight would be easy. A simple collision with this Flame Wheel should be enough. Jet poured as much energy as he could. The fires flickered even more aggressively. He watched the little bird’s legs. Any dodge would have to be telegraphed. If he could catch it, he could strike the bird in mid-dodge. He just had to watch carefully.

Jet approached.

Carefully… carefully…

He grew closer and closer.

Any movement whatsoever…

Closer…

A twitch! The bird would go left!

Elyia went right. The fires surrounding Jet’s body flickered out and the little weasel looked around with a bedazzled glance upon his muzzle. He glanced around. The Natu was nowhere to be seen. Had he really missed by such a huge amount? “Wow, if you’re gonna miss, miss spectacularly, right?” a kid nearby said, and Jet growled in frustration, and more so, humiliation. He wasn’t going to let some tiny round bird upstage him like that.

“Behind you, Jet, to your right!” Jet’s ears perked and he did an about-face to see the Natu bouncing up and down, chittering. The Quilava growled again. That swagger was beyond irritating. It was as if that bird had known what he was going to do and faked him out. Well, it wouldn’t work a second time. He leapt forward again, rushing towards the Natu.

“Alright, Natu, dodge it again!”

The words entered in Jet’s ears. So the Natu’d definitely dodge this time. It only had so many directions it could go. But if maybe… that’s it. Through his grunts, Jet grinned. He could get that bird this time. He approached, and the Natu’s legs moved. But he kicked his legs back, boosting himself into a Quick Attack, and he could feel only satisfaction as his head collided with the bird’s feathered body and it rolled over his back. He skidded to a halt to smirk, expecting to see the bird in a crumpled heap. But instead, the Natu had rolled back to her feet and was bouncing again. Jet seethed.

“Wow… your Natu’s really good…” Batoy said, feeling his heart in his throat. He’d cheered when Jet scored the hit, but Elyia hadn’t taken hardly any damage; even considering her size, she looked nary worse for the wear. “I can’t believe it’s still up after that. That was a direct hit!”

Mia huffed a bit. “Well, Quick Attack isn’t a particularly strong move. Even then, Elyia and I have trained to make sure her small size wasn’t a big disadvantage.” She then grinned. “But we’re surprised that this little Quilava here managed to hit her. I guess we’re gonna have to stop holding back!” Her comments got a bunch of taunts and jeers from the spectators, and both Batoy and Jet flushed, their temperatures skyrocketing.

“You… we’re not gonna let you make us look stupid! Go, Jet! Take that bird out with Flame Wheel!” Jet didn’t even nod before rushing towards the Natu, flames consuming his body. But like before, each attempt was easily avoided by a large margin, and even Jet’s Quick Attacks were grazing blows at best. Batoy bit his lip. Jet was doing all the attacking, and if this kept up, he wouldn’t have the energy to dodge Elyia’s attacks. The Quilava skidded after another missed Flame Wheel, panting slightly as he glowered at the Natu. He hadn’t scored any more than six hits, and only two had been direct. He just wasn’t causing enough damage. His Flame Wheels were too slow and his Quick Attacks lacked the power. Even worse, the first rain drops were beginning to fall, and he could feel the energy needed to spark his flames slowly diminishing.

“Alright, Elyia!” Mia shouted. “They look pretty worn out. Start your Future Sight!” The Natu faced towards Jet and tilted her head back, her eyes glowing a soft violet. ~Tuuuuuuu~ she crowed in a long, monotonic chime.

Jet growled and crouched, and Batoy bit his lip. Any chance they had to finish the fight victoriously was now in a rapidly closing window of opportunity. “Jet, we gotta do this now! You gotta hit that Natu as hard as you can!” Jet nodded and leapt forward, boosting into a Quick Attack. The Natu was too focused on the sky to move. But the Quick Attack, even as fast and direct as he could manage, wouldn’t be enough. He needed more power. His eyes began to glow and flames began to wrap around his body, far more intense than he’d ever managed before, wrapping into a trail that followed his every motion. Steam rose from the flames as the rain started to fall more intensely, and yet, none of the spectators ran for cover. They all watched as the speeding fireball raced towards the stationary bird.

~Phomph!~

The sound of impact was accented by a sudden flare as Jet’s fires wisped away, leaving the little weasel panting with steam hissing from the red spots on his fur. He tried to rise, but suddenly winced as a sharp pain went through his sides. His stomach cramped. Not eating was putting a severe strain on his reserves. ~Quil…~ he groaned as he forced himself to turn. Surely the Natu had to have bit it with that attack. There was no way something that small could have dealt with that rush.

But his efforts weren’t rewarded as such. The Natu slowly picked herself up, no longer bouncing, her feathers singed and pointed in awkward directions. Steam hissed from her body as the rain cooled the charred parts of her body. ~Natu…~ she chirped, glaring back at Jet with such aggression that the Quilava took a step backward. The crowd had exploded into cheers, but Jet only shuddered. The rain had decreased the power of his attack too much. He didn’t have much more to put out. Mia clapped. “That was an impressive Flare Blitz, I have to say. I can’t say we saw it coming. But I suppose we’ll have to finish this quickly! Elyia, Zen Headbutt!”

The Natu bounded forward, her body swathed in a wavering blue glow. “Jet, dodge it!” The voice came so faintly. Jet tried to pull his body forward, but his legs spasmed and he yelped and squeezed his eyes closed, bracing for the hit he didn’t have the energy to avoid. Elyia’s attack slammed into his side, sending Jet rolling and tumbling a good two meters. Batoy bit his lip. “Jet, are you okay? Can you still go on?” The Quilava forced himself up again, the fires on his back burning again, greatly diminished from how they’d been.

“Alright, Elyia! Again!” Mia wiped her wet hair out of her eyes. “Finish him with another Zen Headbutt!” Again, the little bird leapt towards Jet, and it was with sheer force of will that the weasel was able to roll out of the way. “Speed it up, Quick Attack, Elyia! Then Peck!” The Natu’s velocity skyrocketed, and Jet could only lay his paws over his head, taking each blow as it came. Elyia jumped away, her eyes glowing again, and the air around Jet began to shimmer. He cried out as sparks of psychic energy swirled around him, and as the energy faded away, he collapsed. His muscles strained to pick him back up, but he couldn’t muster the strength. The voices around him were so faint, and he could feel the fires on his back extinguish. As gentle hands scooped him into cradling arms, only one thing floated in his mind.

He lost to a little bird.

Batoy hugged the weasel to his chest, shielding him from the rain. His body was still warm and steaming from the fires earlier. “Wow… you did so well, Jet… you used it again… that… Flare Blitz, I think… that was awesome…you’re such an incredible Pokemon…” He sighed as the crowd around him dispersed. A few stopped to congratulate Mia, but none said anything to him besides the off-hand ‘good battle’, though those were usually directed at the both of them. He sighed. “I guess things just got a lot harder for us….”