Attention All Current and Former Competing Trainers and their companions,

As part of the buildup for next year’s Whirl Cup the Pokémon League Committee and the Faith of the Sea have partnered in offering Whirl Cup Qualification Tournaments at all League Conferences this year.

Any trainer registered to the League Conference, or in the party of a registered trainer, may enter the Whirl Cup Qualifier Tournament held during the Top 16 round at no additional cost or requirement beyond the ownership of at least one Water-type Pokémon. Those that do not qualify under the above conditions may enter for a fee. Battles will be conducted on water stages concurrent with morning and afternoon battles of the Top 16 tournament. The winner of a Whirl Cup Qualification Tournament is automatically placed in the upcoming Whirl Cup without participation in the Whirl Cup Preliminary Rounds.

Trainers who have already placed in the league in question who sign up for the Whirl Cup Qualifier are temporarily reinstated to access to league provided services for the duration of the day.

There was a whole bunch of legalese after it defining what was and wasn’t allowed, what Pokémon were considered aquatic but not Water-type and thus unable to participate in the round, etc., etc. She glazed over it all and looked to Ash who had shown her the email he had gotten this morning.

“So what do you think?”

He was smiling, but she wasn’t sure why.

“It’s awesome, but you have your match with Otoshi from the Lavender tournament this morning. Red could go to this one no problem, but you can’t.”

He nodded while next to him on the table Pikachu was shaking his head.

“Pikachu-Pi.”

That sounded amused, but at what she wasn’t sure.

“Yeah, I can’t go, but you can. You want to win the Whirl Cup next year, and this is a perfect opportunity to get in there and get an advantage for yourself. Plus, you can see what the battles would be like and you can train for them better.”

Ash said that with a big grin on his face, but he was missing the big problem.

“It’s still your match today, and if I’m there I won’t be able to cheer…”

Before she could finish Ash stood up from the chair he was sitting at and grabbed her hands between his. Her face flushed at the sudden contact, or his smiling face looking down at her.

“Sure I have a match today, but it’s just one match. I’m going to win it, and there will be another match tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. After that I’ll be the Indigo Champion unless I’m getting my math wrong somewhere. There isn’t going to be another chance for you to enter a Whirl Cup Qualifier so it’s a no brainer. Nothing is worse than an opportunity you don’t take. If you win it all you are closer to your dream, Misty. If you don’t you’ll learn something from it and get better for the real thing. I’ll just catch up to you when we get to the Whirl Cup.”

Her face was still red, but she nodded in agreement. Ash was so confident in her it was amazing.

“You made it far at Lavender and Fuchsia. You’ll get even farther in this one.”

She nodded, confidence swelling in her more than her blushing.

“I’ll try.”

He let go of her hands, only to embrace her in a big hug. The blushing overwhelmed her confidence again as she felt his muscles press into her in his strong embrace.

“You’ll do more than that, Misty. You’ll succeed because no matter where you place you’ll get something out of it. Now got get ‘em. I can sign you up from here and get you all set up.”

The computer beeped as a message came in for him.

“I’ll check that email after you’re all set up.”

…

She was still shaking off the blush from her face as she left their shared housing: Psyduck waddling at her side and her bag loaded with the widest range of her possible team she could, and a Monodex on her person for anything she might need to know.

“I just… I’m the one who is supposed to be making him blush. When did he start doing it to me?”

She wasn’t mad or anything about it: it was actually really touching he had so much faith in her. It was just a bit of a role reversal.

It was also a bit of an additional bit of fluster onto everything after last night’s girl talk.

“Psy.” ‘Well, you have been doing it to him for a while, even if he wasn’t intentionally doing it he is bound to pick up a trick or two from you just as much as the others are. You all are getting closer to some sort of resolution so hey, maybe that’s another reason for you to win it all.’

It did make some sort of sense that Ash wasn’t intentionally teasing them the way she and Anabel teased him. Ash hugging her tightly was just him hugging her. What him intentionally teasing her would be like was something to consider after she won the qualifier.

…

The redhead was quite surprised to see the amount of people who came to sign up for the qualifier tournament. At the very least, that would make things interesting.

As she looked around, she noticed a few familiar faces, as there were quite a few current and former League competitors, though her attention was briefly drawn to Fergus. She would have greeted him if it wasn’t due to Mewtwo’s memory wipe. That was a shame, but maybe she’d get the chance to befriend him through a battle.

‘Boy, Ash seems to have rubbed off on me more than I thought.’

Of course, it wasn’t like that was a bad thing. Ash had met many friends through battle during their journey, and friendly rivalries were as motivating as hostile ones, sometimes even more so in her opinion. Maybe she could try and make one or two herself…

“Nervous much?” a female voice asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

She turned around and noticed a girl who looked a few years older smiling at her. She had blue hair and purple eyes, and was dressed dark pink sleeveless unitard, her legs covered in white stockings. One glance told Misty she was someone who had a few years under her belt, like Fergus.

“Not really, just… thinking,” she replied. “Also checking out in case I recognized someone.”

“Looks like there’s going to be quite a bit of competition here. I was very lucky; after I lost the Indigo Conference I was almost ready to go back home, but then I received the email and I figured I could stay and try for the Whirl Cup again.”

“You’ve already competed?” Misty asked with interest.

“Yeah, I was there two years ago, actually. But I was just a rookie then, so I got knocked out in the preliminaries.” She giggled as scratched the back of her neck. It was probably an embarrassing thing to recall, so Misty decided not to press on it.

“This would be my first if I manage to win this qualifier,” Misty said with determination.

“Oh yeah?” The girl’s smile turned into a smirk; she seemed to take that as a challenge. “Well, I’m not planning on losing my chance so easily.”

“Me neither,” Misty replied in kind and offered a handshake. “I’m Misty, by the way.”

“Marina, nice to meet you,” the blue-haired girl accepted the handshake. “May the best one win?”

Misty nodded, and then a voice rang out through the speakers, calling them into the stadium to begin the competition, so they quickly followed the rest inside.

Admittedly, she still felt a little guilty for missing out Ash’s match, but this was his idea so she just couldn’t refuse. Plus, she was confident he would win, so she just should make the best of it and enjoy herself. It was what he wanted for her after all.

…

She had never stood in the stadium proper. She had been a spectator but to actually be standing on the green platform, a gathered crowd coming to see the battles that were getting the overflow from the main stadium was something different to the battles she had on a stage before.

It was a different feeling somehow.

The announcer was different from the one that Ash usually had, but it still gave her the same feeling of something grander being at play this time than any battle before. Was it that more tangible victory goal than the other tournaments she had battled in?

“Greetings, newcomers and older fans alike, to the Indigo League Whirl Cup Qualifier! Today we have an exciting mixture of trainer seeking redemption for their earlier defeats battling to secure a spot for the big event next year in Johto! However, the lovely lady here today isn’t a league favorite but a companion and friend to one of those battling it out today at the main stadium. Give it up for Misty!”

The crowd cheered and she waved them back, which got even more cheers sent her way.

“Up against her in this first round matchup is a young man who got four rounds in and wants a shot back in the spotlight before he goes back to the Orange Islands to challenge Drake for a rematch! Give it up for Tad!”

A trainer about a year or so older than her and Ash was on the other end waving to the crowd. Torn jacket, headband, and a whole lot of other stuff to make him look like a tough guy and given some of the battles Ash had to get that far she supposed he might just be one.

Tad grinned her way, him flashing a smile her way.

“Well, isn’t today my lucky day. I get to actually do something productive and save a bit of money I would of have to spend while waiting for my travel day and I get to start it off battling a pretty thing like you. No hard feelings when I win, ‘k? Maybe I can take you out for a nice restaurant all on the league’s dime.”

“No.”

He was unperturbed by her blunt rejection of his offer, which was at least better than him making a big deal out of the rejection like a jerk.

“This battle is a one on one battle! Begin!”

The referee was quick on the call and Tad sent out a Poliwrath who was wearing a golden championship belt around its chest. It landed on a cement island with a strong thump and a dynamic landing pose.

“Poliwrath, the Tadpole Pokémon and the stone-based evolution of Poliwhirl. Poliwrath are adaptable to both cold and warm seas and use their hand to hand combat skills to protect themselves and others.”

The Monodex gave off a bit of pointless information and she had the right Pokémon with for this battle.

“Go Wingull!”

Her favorite anti-bug fighting bird came out and flew over the field.

“It’s a battle between a powerful fighter below the water and a skimmer of the skies above the sea here folks!”

“Use Air Cutter!”

Wingull flapped her wings and let out slices of sharp winds towards Poliwrath who didn’t move as they approached.

”Use Double Team!”

Poliwrath become one of many identical frogs all over the cement island as the attacks flew hard and fast. The space Poliwrath was in lost its dupe and Wingull fired a few more slashes into them to find the real one.

Three dupes were sliced apart but the real one remained undetected.

“Type advantage won’t get you far in battles even with when they’re all at least partly Water-types. Poliwrath dive into the water!”

A single Poliwrath among the many dove into the water and the rest of the dupes vanished.

Poliwrath popped out of the water below Wingull and fired an Ice Beam from the center of the buckle. Wingull darted out of the way of the attack before diving back into the water.

“Poliwrath has used the water to move faster and launch a sneak attack! This is going to be a problem for Misty and Wingull! Wingull may be a Water-type but it isn’t a swimmer. It’s only going to be able to attack Poliwrath when it comes up, and that will only be on Poliwrath’s own terms!”

That would have been a problem that she’d have had to think on to overcome. Maybe she’d have used Wingull as low-flying bait to lure in for an Aerial Ace or something. However she already had something more as a solution than that.

“Wingull, lock on to Poliwrath and fly straight at it!”

“Win!” ‘On it!’

Wingull scanned the water below it for a few seconds before speeding over closer to where Tad was and folding her wings up for a sharp dive towards the surf.

“Poliwrath, don’t surface! She wants you to try to counter that bird and use some sort of attack when you do! Wait for it to hit the surf and use Focus Punch!”

Poliwrath charged a glowing orange fist in the depths of the surf ready to hit Wingull when it broke through the water on the dive. However, Wingull was never going to get into the pool.

“Before you hit the water use Shock Wave then escape your freefall!”

Wingull opened her beak and shot the burst of electricity into the water right below it in a concentrated blast. She closed her beak and swerved just a foot from the water: sending up electrified waves from the displaced air she pushed aside. The electricity had hit the water and made a beeline right down for Poliwrath. While a lot of it did defuse into the water it did strike Poliwrath with a solid blow and shattered Focus Punch.

“Shock Wave!? Wingull can use an electric attack!?”

She grinned back at him, and she couldn’t resist winking at him for good measure.

“I’m not just eye candy you know. The best trainer here at Indigo is battling right now and I’m giving it my all too. Wingull and all of my Pokémon train with his to win and this is how we do it. Wingull, repeated Aerial Aces!”

While she had been declaring that she was more than Ash’s decoration Poliwrath had surfaced and crawled up onto a cement island to escape the electrified water. Wingull sped at the rising Fighting-type and blitzed it with an Aerial Ace to throw him off the cement edge, with a second one sending it fully back into the surf.

Wingull didn’t pursue with a third as Poliwrath received residual shocks from the still electrified water. However, you could never be too sure.

“Shock Wave!”

Wingull spat out another blast of electricity that flew right into Poliwrath through the water. Poliwrath floated up after that, groaning weakly and not trying to right itself.

“Poliwrath is unable to battle! The winner is Misty and Wingull!”

“Tad’s work to be ready for an attack in the air meant nothing against an unexpected technique! Shock Wave Wingull brings Misty to the second round!”

She only sort of heard the announcer and she held Wingull in both hands and cheered alongside her cawing bird.

Meanwhile Tad returned Poliwrath with an apology she could just make out about ‘not expecting electricity.’

Later…

Ash’s battle with Otoshi wasn’t on yet as the battle right before his with that Slowbro trainer from Lavender was against some guy named Pete.

Though he wasn’t the only familiar face she was up against. Her opponent was actually someone else that Ash had battled in the past, but it was the far more recent past that Solidad was.

“This is the last one on one round of the Indigo League Whirl Cup Qualifier, and this specific battle is about to begin folks! First up hot off her decisive victory with a surprising Wingull is Misty of Cerulean City! Up against her is a trainer with an eclectic collection of Pokémon who came back from the Top 128 to go for the glory once more! It’s Locke!”

Ash’s fourth round opponent was her second round opponent and his face was marked with determination.

She was sure hers was equally so, if not even more.

“This battle is a one on one battle! Begin!”

Locke sent out his Pokémon first just as Tad had, and the Pokémon he sent out was a Pokémon she faintly recognized but couldn’t put a name towards. It was a large turtle sort of like a bulkier Wartortle on all four legs. It had a big golden crest and a sharp set of jaws like a leg trap. Unlike last time, she’d like the Pokédex entry on the thing.

“Drednaw, the Bite Pokémon! They are Water and Rock Pokémon with strong tempers and even stronger jaws. They can chew up both steel and the will of weaker trainers with ease!”

A part Rock-type. She recalled Ash talking a bit about this guy’s team and she couldn’t say if he was using Drednaw because it had a typing that let it better go against Wingull or because it was his only Water-type. While a Grass-type was the best against the typing Drednaw had, she did not have a Ludicolo.

“Poliwrath I choose you!”

She did have her own Poliwrath. Even if it lacked a cool belt and was probably less powerful than Tad’s they had enough power and the right moves to win this.

“And in a reversal Misty uses the same Pokémon that she devastated in the last matchup! Can she bring the species a victory today?!”

Yes, she could and she would.

“Alright, use Rock Tomb!”

Drednaw’s horn flashed white as a large grey stone generated itself in front of the protrusion and flew at Poliwrath.

“Break it with Bubblebeam!”

Poliwrath countered with the bubble barrage which struck the stone mid-path and shattered it into falling chunks into the pool. The attacks were both cancelled out with no damage to either.

“The two Water-types match each other in ranged power!”

Poliwrath looked at the motionless turtle he was fighting with eager readiness.

“Poli!” ‘Hitting that thing with a fist will get us farther than trying to blast it. I can avoid those jaws and hit him right in that ugly mug.’

Poliwrath was confident on a direct charge to the face, but this was more something she’d prefer to go a bit smarter than a frontal charge.

“Into the water!”

Poliwrath jumped with a great splash, vanishing into the depths.

“And Misty has her own Poliwrath make the move that doomed Tad’s! Hopefully Drednaw can’t learn an electric attack!”

It couldn’t, could it?

“Negative as is currently possible.”

Thank you Monodex.

Drednaw remained unmoved as Poliwrath burst out of the water behind it: a fist glowing with the power of Dynamic Punch. It would be supereffective and Drednaw didn’t have the time to get away from it.

Drednaw only had the time to spin around if to face Poliwrath head on. It seemed like it was going to try and use a biting attack to block it but the way Drednaw’s head was moving didn’t really play itself up to that. The horn shimmered a bit but that could mean anything. Drednaw was calm, not trying to move or do anything to counter…

Counter…

“Poliwrath stop your attack!”

Poliwrath was clearly stunned at her command but did deactivate the powered fist and used the drop in power to fall back into the water. The faintly glowing horn turned back to a regular horn and Locke looked surprised.

“Huh, you caught that, huh?”

At just before the last moment, but she did. She caught that Drednaw knew Counter just before Poliwrath could punch it.

“And Misty narrowly avoids doing the equivalent of punching a Wobbuffet! That is to say she caught that Locke’s sturdy turtle knows Counter! If Counter goes off the attacker takes twice as much damage as they inflict on the user! With Drednaw’s Rock-typing that would surely be a devastating blow that could possibly even take Poliwrath out in a single blow! Misty is going to have to play around that move if she wants any hope of winning!”

Poliwrath had surfaced as the announcer described her predicament and looked to her for an idea.

“Bubblebeam!”

She’d have to think of one and in the meantime she’d attack from a safe distance. The bubble barrage followed once more and Drednaw couldn’t counter it with Counter.

“Rock Tomb!”

Drednaw could fire another rock into the bubbles to take the blow, explode, and leave nothing to either of them but some rock shards in the pool.

She looked at the Drednaw for any sort of clue of how to get past its attacks (let alone the two additional attacks at minimum it knew on top of Rock Tomb and Counter) as it clasped its jaw shut audibly.

‘Come on, let me at the thing already. I hate just waiting like this.’

Normally she didn’t think of her powers in battle but hearing what Water-types were saying never really turned off. If she could she’d have done it with Psyduck, if only for a minute or two. She really couldn’t do it permanently, she couldn’t deny it.

“Drednaw, you need to relax. We have the advantage right now and we need to keep it.”

Locke got the general idea of what was being said, but with the specifics she did have one crucial bit of information.

“Poliwra!” ‘Oh you can come at me, but you think you can take me on in the water, shellhead! Your bark looks as weak as your bite, and I have hundreds of offspring with more bite than you!’

Drednaw didn’t like a strategy dominated by Counter just as much as she didn’t like facing it. As an extra bonus that point was noticed by others so it was hardly cheating. It was just a bit of extra context.

After all Locke could clearly see the aggressive jaw smashing that Drednaw was doing at Poliwrath’s taunt.

“Poliwrath taunt Drednaw and makes it get its feet wet!”

“Error. Poliwrath can’t use Taunt. Taunt and Poliwrath are incompatible.”

Poliwrath swam up to just close enough to Drednaw to be really loud and not close enough to be in point blank range for a blow and began a taunt that couldn’t stop a Stun Spore.

“Wra wra wra!” ‘I guess seeing as you are a Rock-type you’d just stay up on that dry block of cement and keep your feet wet. I get it you’re too scared to fight me in the water like a real Water-type!’

It could, however, get someone really angry.

Drednaw’s neck extended out to try and bite Poliwrath but her Pokémon paddled a few motions back and had the horn just an inch away from his face. Poliwrath took an experimental swing with a Dynamic Punch but Drednaw just as quickly retracted his neck and the punch hit only empty air.

Empty air did not stop the taunts however.

“Wrraaaaarrrr!” ‘My line are the rulers of the streams and rivers while you are a simple plebian who only has our shared typing because you don’t drown as quickly as a Bellsprout would! I can stand on the bottom when I knock you in and you sink like a stone. I’m a fair fighter like that.’

“Drednaw, you need to ignore whatever that Poliwrath is saying! We have a strategy and you need to stick to it!”

Drednaw’s face almost looked red in its anger and the Rock Tomb it fired at Poliwrath certainly had the power of anger. Poliwrath didn’t destroy it mid-flight like last time but dived under water to avoid the blow and popping up a few feet away with only rippling waves a sign of the Rock attack.

“Wrar!” ‘You call that an attack!?’

“Use Bubblebeam!”

‘This is an attack!’

Bubblebeam was fired right at Drednaw who formed a Rock Tomb to block it. The rock exploded with the force of the colliding attacks as was the norm but the explosion was right in Drednaw’s face and sent the turtle flying off the platform and splashing into the drink.

“Drednaw no!”

“Drednaw’s own tactic played against it and now it is in hostile territory! Poliwrath is in hot pursuit after surely laying down the smack talk! Now it’s time for the smack!”

Indeed, Poliwrath had dived back underwater and swam at Drednaw at full throttle. Under water the action wasn’t quite as commendable as in the open air but it was visible to the both of them.

Drednaw launched its neck forward for a rapid attempt at a Crunch on Poliwrath but he avoided it and moved in for a Dynamic Punch but Drednaw retracted its neck just as quickly as it had sent it out. A second jab of the extending neck with a glowing green horn struck Poliwrath head on.

“Megahorn hits hard!”

The announcer identified the move for her, a Bug-type move at that, as Poliwrath recovered from the blow and blew out a screen of mud via Mud Shot. The mud dissolved into the water before it could hit Drednaw but the idea wasn’t for it to hit it seemed. It was to murk up the water and remove Drednaw’s visibility.

Drednaw, who was keeping itself floating in the middle lay of the pool, soon became only visible from the top as a large shadow in the dirtying waters below.

“Clear that muck away with Razor Shell!”

Locke’s call was followed by a blue-glowing horn on Drednaw and a slight clearing of the water around it. It was enough to make out Drednaw’s colors and the water column above and below Drednaw clearly.

Like Poliwrath coming up from below and striking Drednaw in the plastron. The blow from the Dynamic Punch blew Drednaw right out of the water and into the air.

“Drednaw!”

“And Misty lands the powerful Dynamic Punch! Super effective and not a Counter to be seen!”

Drednaw crashed back down on a cement island with a loud thump. The turtle stood back up on woozy legs not out of the fight yet. However…

“Dre!” ‘Merry be merry life is but a dream.’

It wasn’t quite all there.

“Drednaw! Snap out of your confusion before she can attack you!”

“Too late! Poliwrath use Superpower!”

Poliwrath’s fifth move had Poliwrath burst out of the surf behind the confused Drednaw: his entire body glowing blue and muscles emphasized for one mighty attack.

“Poli!” ‘Eat this you sinking stone of a turtle!’

“Dre.” ‘The first dream birthed all dreams that came after including those born of dreams.’

Drednaw’s mad mumblings didn’t make it hurt itself in its confusion, that was Poliwrath’s job as it body slammed with Drednaw with all the power possible. Poliwrath hopped away from the impact zone the moment the blow was finished and Drednaw lay unbabbling and unmoving.

“Dreadnaw is unable to battle! The winner is Misty!”

The crowd cheered her and Poliwrath’s victory. Poliwrath waved harder than her to the crowd happy for the acknowledgement and praise.

Locke returned Drednaw with a sad look on his face.

“My strategy was too passive, attacking more aggressively like you wanted might have actually been better. Sorry about that.”

Ash was battling now and she had missed a bit of it. Both he and Otoshi had lost a Pokémon at the point and she had no idea of what had happened. On Ash’s side she could see Golbat’s icon turned off, while Goodra was on standby. Meanwhile, Otoshi had a Tangrowth and a Politoed on standby, he had lost a Pinsir, and currently had a Dodrio active on the field.

As for moves, damage, if any Pokémon had been statused, there wasn’t anything she could recognize beyond the battle at hand. She could see the stage was a bit wet, had someone used Rain Dance?

It was a good thing the waiting room had a TV to watch the League matches ongoing, but that wasn’t much help as long as she was on the battlefield herself. It was still a bit frustrating, not being able to be on both places at once.

“I see. C'est très intéressant.”

Aside from her, there was another girl more or less her same age in that same waiting room, with short curly purple hair, and dressed in a suit that she thought would probably fit Anabel. Misty seemed to find her familiar from somewhere, but couldn’t pinpoint where exactly.

Said girl watched the TV screen with her hand on her chin, her look being one of interest, until she realized she was being glanced at.

“Oh? Don’t mind moi, it’s just that this boy continues to surprise me.” She spoke with a slight Kalosian accent that made her wonder whether she was faking it to sound fancy. “Maybe his compatibility ratio with Pokémon is wider than I assumed.”

“Compatibility?” Misty asked. “Are you talking about Ash?”

“Why of course. Oh, forgive my manners, je m’apelle Burgundy, Class A Pokémon Connoiseusse from the Unova region. And I’m very surprised at this Ketchum boy’s performance; he has completely surpassed my preliminary evaluation.”

“Pokémon Conoiseusse? Evaluation… ah, now I remember!” She hit her palm with her fist. “I thought I saw you at the S.S. Anne a few months back?”

“Oh yes, I have traveled on that ship recently. But I thought I could spend a season here in Kanto, and since an acquaintance of mine was taking part in the League, I thought I could take part in this mini-tournament. I need to keep my own battling skills honed, after all.”

“I see.” Misty nodded. At least that explained what a Pokémon Connoiseusse was doing here. Nevertheless, she had other questions for the Unovan. “So, you did a preliminary evaluation on Ash?”

“Oui, that is correct,” she replied in that (fake?) accent of hers. “I had never seen so much compatibility between a trainer and his Pokémon, especially for someone who had so relatively little time with them. If I didn’t know better, I’d assume they had known each other for a lifetime.”

“I think that’s natural in Ash, to inspire that sensation,” Misty replied, as she recalled their first meeting.

At the moment she wondered why she had that sensation, and she still did it sometimes, but after traveling so long with him, she had stopped questioning it for the most part. She assumed it had something to do with Ash’s kind nature by itself, and it also extended to his Pokémon.

She couldn’t see any other logic explanation, except maybe thinking that they met in a previous life or something, but that was going too far, so she quickly scratched that thought.

“Hmm, interesting, you might just be right.” Burgundy nodded. “In my preliminary evaluation, and judging by his personality and Pokémon, I thought he would be a trainer who favors sweeping tactics; Pokémon who are speedy and evasive, but with high-powered attacks. However, between his matches in this league and others I’ve seen, I’ve realized he seems to work well with other types of Pokémon too.”

“I think he’s willing to work with any Pokémon that ends up in his care,” Misty explained. “You wouldn’t believe how he got some of the ones he has now.”

Burgundy seemed about to say something else, but a voice called out through the room’s speakers, interrupting their conversation.

“Attention, participants Burgundy and Misty Waterflower, please head for the battlefield for the next match, through the red and green entrances respectively.”

“Wow, that was fast,” Misty said, just a little bit annoyed. “And here I wanted to keep watching Ash’s match.”

“C’est la vie.” Burgundy said, before bowing curtly as a sign of respect. “Then I guess we’ll be meeting on the battlefield. I hope we can have a good battle.”

Misty nodded, and then headed for the green entrance while Burgundy took the red one. The redhead was left thinking; since this girl came from Unova, she’d probably use Pokémon she didn’t know well. And even having the Monodex to identify them for her, she made a note to ask Iris of more Water-types found in her native region sometime.

But that could wait. For now, she had another match to attend, and win.

…

“Our third round is a two on two battle without substitutions! On one side we have a Connaisseuse from the Unova region who served on the S.S. Anne and is using her day off to evaluate her opponents! Her name is Burgundy!”

The lady in the suit waved in greeting to the crowd.

“Her opponent is a local mistress of all out offense and clever tactics! Her name is Misty!”

The crowd cheered for her, and it felt louder than the last time. It made her feel like she got a shot of energy into her system, almost like she had heard coffee be described like. And this wasn’t even a massive crowd.

She had been part of larger ones cheering Ash on against everyone, possibly with the exception of Pava.

What would it be like to be at the end of an even larger crowd?

“Alors, Panpour!

The Pokémon that Burgundy sent out first was one she vaguely remembered reading about once, though beyond that she lacked anything more concrete to her memory than ‘this is a thing that exists’. It was blue and creamish, a more friendly-looking creature than a Mankey or Primeape that had a similar look to it. It had a crest on its head made of fur that looked almost like a wavy tree. Its tail was wagging in anticipation of battle.

“Panpour, the Spray Pokémon. Panpour are forest dwellers who use their tufts of fur to produce vastly nutrient rich water to enrich the growth of plants. Panpour use this primarily to ensure a stable food supply.”

A Water-type Pokémon that didn’t seem to be particularly aquatic…

“Go!”

She was honestly a bit more on her gut on her choice here but if there was one thing watching Ash had proved was that the gut was often pretty smart. So her Pokémon of choice appeared on the stadium, much to even his own surprise.

“Psy?!” ‘Wait me!? I am not Gyarados or Blastoise.’

“Begin!”

“Water Gun!”

Both of them called for the same attack and fired them though they did so in different ways. Psyduck shot it from his mouth while Panpour pointed its tail to spray the water.

The two attacks collided mid-field, with Psyduck’s stream going farther before striking. The two attacks clashed against each other before bursting apart in a neutralized and damage free exchange.

“Incroyable! Your Psyduck was faster at picking up your intentions than my Panpour!”

”Pan.” ‘Like a frying pan well flavored with past meals.’

She didn’t know enough about cooking if she should be disgusted or not by that comparison.

“Rock Tomb!”

Panpour followed up on their first exchange by forming a white circle between its hands. The circle enlarged as the monkey shifted to holding its hands over its head, and the circle began to accumulate gray mass.

“Stop it with a Water Gun to the chest!”

Psyduck blasted out the gurgle of water once more and the attack landed squarely on Panpour’s chest. The attack pushed the monkey back and hurt it, but the attack of Rock Tomb was not halted and the monkey threw it at Psyduck.

“Use Secret Power!”

Psyduck held his own arms up, a pink aura seeping from them both as the stone came. The attack blocked the falling stone, shattering it into harmless pieces that fell into the pool below.

“Psyduck’s faster attack speed let it avoid the blunt of that Rock Tomb and inflict some damage! That Psyduck is starting this round off with skillful battling.”

“Duck.” ‘The guy’s hyping me up a bit much.’

Panpour rubbed the area he had been blasted before hopping up and down eagerly. Burgundy noted her Pokémon’s movements and grinned.

“Oh, is that what you want to try? Well I cannot resist your enthusiasm. Panpour go!”

What Panpour was going for, as it turned out, was hopping towards Psyduck island to cement island. Bounding as fast as an Aipom or a Mankey the blue Unovan Pokémon was quickly on Psyduck’s island with a wicked smirk on its face.

“Pan!” ‘I see your weakness!’

“Duck!?” ‘Where!’

“Panpour, use Bite!”

Panpour hopped onto Psyduck’s head, clinging onto it even as Psyduck flailed and tried to shake off the monkey, but to no avail. Panpour opened its mouth wide and clamped on top of Psyduck’s head.

”Psyduck’s bill isn’t just cute, but it also lets agile foes stand on it to bite it right on the head! What is Psyduck going to do now!?”

“Psy!” ‘Well, win after I get you off me!’

“Psyduck, use Psychic!”

Panpour was surrounded by a blue glow and looked surprised, and promptly let out a shout of shock when it was flung off Psyduck in a telekinetic toss towards the most distant wall. Panpour screamed a bit more in shock at the turnaround but a plan flashed in its eyes. It had something up its sleeve.

“Psyduck stop Panpour in its tracks!”

Psyduck did and Panpour hovered motionless in a blue outlined glow over a distant cement island. In its arms the white outline of a Rock Tomb had started to form, which Panpour dropped into the water below in a loud splash in surprise at the foiled maneuver.

“Duck?” ‘Wait, it was going to throw another boulder at me?’

Psyduck rubbed his head a bit after letting out his surprise at the move, relieving the headache boosted power of his attack and letting Panpour drop down on the cement a bit roughly.

“And Misty spots a turnaround trick before it can be launched! Panpour was clearly going to use Rock Tomb to absorb the impact of the Psychic throw and leap back into action!”

‘Psy?!” ‘Oh, that is what was going to happen. Well I guess if you watch Ash’s every move for long enough to start to understand how Ash sees battle. I could see Ash doing that.’

“You’ve got a sharp eye for the details, but it won’t get you to the finish line. Panpour, Grass Knot!”

“Psyduck!” ‘Don’t think so!’

Panpour was going to blow into its hand to use the move but it found itself glowing blue once more and was flung into a wall with a quick telekinetic slam.

“Misty and Psyduck move in such synch they stop Panpour before it can even use a surprise super-effective attack! Can Panpour get back up after that solid blow?”

“Panpour is unable to battle!”

“Duck.” ‘It would seem Panpour can’t.’

The crowd went ecstatic with cheers at their victory. Psyduck rubbed his head, a bit pained at the noise as much as the lingering teeth marks of the chewy Panpour with a noticeable wince at a sudden rising chorus of cheers that came with Panpour’s return and praise by Burgundy.

“Duck.” ‘Well I’m not going to be lacking in a headache at this rate…’

“Is the noise too much for you? This is a bit louder than anything we’ve battled at before.”

Psyduck shrugged in an ‘I can live with it’ sort of way as Burgundy pointed at them.

“I cannot hold it off any more! I’ve seen just too much and I must speak! You and Psyduck, I am amazed. It’s clear from just seeing you two battle and interact that you are dynamically different, yet to my surprise you meld your unique flavors in a way few things can. It is like the ultimate harmony of opposites like the contrasting tastes of a flower and chocolate curry.”

A chocolate and flower…curry?

“Psy?” ‘So am I the chocolate, or the flower, or the curry? I feel like being called any of those things is a bit problematic somehow. You want to be any of them? I have no idea if you’d rather be chocolate, a flower, or curry so I’ll let you choose and avoid the accidental insult.’

She did not have a preference.

“Your bond is like the aroma of a master’s perfect cuisine! The perfect blend of opposites harmonized as one! I almost feel bad that I must defeat them today, but I don’t intend to lose. Alors, Dewott!”

With Burgundy’s praise of her and Psyduck at an end she sent out her second Pokémon: a bipedal Water-type of several blue shades. Two shells were at its side and she smiled at seeing it.

”A Dewott! That’s the Wartortle of Unova right? It evolves from Oshawott and evolves into Samurott!”

Burgundy and Dewott nodded in synchronized confirmation.

“Correct! I caught him as an Oshawott and he’s been my ‘name brand’ through and through.”

“Seeing as you pointed out the family and the status of the Dewott line I suppose I have little to add. The species dedicates themselves in mastering dual-scalchop combat. Don’t feel bad if you destroy or displace a scalchop, as the Dewott family can re-grow a new one with sufficient ingestion of calcium and minor traces of twelve other minerals.”

She didn’t really need to know more about them. While she had looked up many of the Water-types she had a goal of catching one day some just stuck with her more than others. The Oshawott family was one of them.

“Psyduck you can’t let Dewott get near you! They specialize in close combat! Use Psychic!”

“Psy.” ‘The shells and the talk of ‘dual scalwottaver combat’ sounds pretty punchy. No need to tell me twice I am not an idiot.’

Debatable comments aside Psyduck bound Dewott in a headache fueled by crowd cheers. Dewott winced but was not freaking out from his predicament.

“A recipe performed a hundred times can be mastered, but that does not prevent it becoming predictable! Ice Beam!”

Dewott’s mouth was already open when the bind was set meaning there as no hurdle to blasting the freezing beam. The ice shot fast and struck Psyduck. It was not very effective when it came to damaging her duck.

“Psy!” Cold feet cold feet!’

Though when it came to freezing his feet to the cement island and leaving his flailing his arms in an attempt to shake the ice off it was actually quite effective. It also freed Dewott who dropped from the bind and onto his own cement island.

“Superb job, Dewott!”

“The two sides exchange powerful attacks and if I’d have to hazard a guess the Psychic did more damage than the Ice Beam! A frozen pair of feet is, however, a more crucial take away from this exchange!”

“Psyduck, use Psy…”

She was going to have her duck break out of the ice with his mind but Dewott moved too quickly. An Aqua Jet sped over and put Dewott just in front of Psyduck, dropping the attack to start Razor Shell and hold the two pairs of shells right at Psyduck.

Dewott looked at her from Psyduck, an unspoken threat in his eyes.

Do you think your duck can free itself before I slash him too badly?

“Psyduck, you did great. You’re throwing in the towel.”

Psyduck did not protest her decision as she returned him, and his place on the board went black.

“Per the rules the withdrawn Psyduck is unable to return to this battle! It’s now a tied battle with this round being the one to decide it all!”

She could have probably fought that one but she didn’t feel confident.

As to what she did feel confident in, was a gut feeling. A feeling that felt right in a way that wasn’t her logical mind. That part was telling her to use Gyarados.

“Wartortle, I choose you!”

What her gut was telling her to do was match Dewott, and if it was the Unovan Wartortle one of her Wartortle was the way to do it.

He landed on the field in a confident crash, his tail wagging in anticipation. He, unlike her, was looking at the gathered stadium in excitement.

“War.” ‘When I heard about what a tournament was like from all of those other guys I thought it was just like a really big training group. But this is something else. This is amazing!’

She nodded. She hadn’t really known this Wartortle until about a month ago when she had caught some of the personal battle training that some of their Pokémon got up to. He seemed to really be getting into it so she remembered him for an event like this. Ash had noticed a Pokémon the same way and had mentioned interest in using him in his battle with Otoshi.

“He looks happy to be here. Hope he’s a good loser.”

“Begin!”

Burgundy’s trash talk only got so far before the ref shouted the match was starting, and they had to start it strong.

“Ice Beam!”

They had the same idea as both of their Pokémon shot the cold beams their way. They clashed much as the Water Guns had, but there was a difference. This time the Ice Beam that moved faster was Dewott’s.

The attacks did not hit the other and were cancelled out, but it was a clear change from earlier.

“You’re trying a new recipe today. Being bold is important, but a simple dish rarely goes wrong!”

“War.” ‘The heck is she babbling about?’

“Aqua Jet!”

The two were, as before, separated on different islands. Dewott coated himself in a watery veil to allow for faster movement, and she knew what to expect.

“Use Iron Defense right before the Dewott gets near you!”

Dewott flew across the field right at Wartortle who watched the approaching bipedal Pokémon with minor signs of nervousness. His fingers were twitching, and her nerves spiked as Dewott got closer and closer and no Iron Defense was activated. At just the last moment Wartortle withdrew into his shell and shimmered with a metallic sheen. That was the moment that Dewott struck, and he was bounced off Wartortle by the defense. It was little damage if any, but it was an opening.

“Aqua Tail!”

“Dewott, get out of the way!”

Wartortle shot out of his shell and engulfed his tail in spiraling water. He swung his tail at Dewott, but before the tail could really get swinging Dewott had already flung himself into the water below. Wartortle missed and he looked around the water in annoyance.

“Tor.” ‘Slippery little guy. He got out of there so fast you’d think he’s a Diglett.’

Not a Diglett, just a bit more in synch with his trainer. Outside of practice at Oak’s this was the first time she used this Wartortle. The first time against another team. She’d have to be smarter and quicker on her calls than with Psyduck.

She scanned the pool looking for any dark shapes.

“Wartortle’s defense proved to be a match against Dewott’s battle prowess! Is this a battle of shells at hand today folks? Is this a clash of the unstoppable spear and the unbreakable shield!?”

A flicker of shadow in the water, a shape moving up.

”Wartortle, don’t move and use Aqua Tail right behind you! Dewott’s coming in from behind!”

“Razor Shell!”

Dewott had emerged from the water before Burgundy could finish the word Razor, while Wartortle didn’t start the attack until she finished the name. However, she gave her command first, and that still meant a surge of water shooting from Wartortle’s tail and striking Dewott in the chest. He was knocked back into the drink and the crowd cheered.

“Warter!” ‘That was a good move! I’d hadn’t have thought of that, and the crowd thinks it is just as awesome!’

She smiled at the praise, and the fact she had managed it at all, as Dewott burst back out of the water near Burgundy.

“A single Aqua Tail, no matter how well performed, does not a victory make. Ice Beam!”

Dewott fired the seemingly only ranged attack it had at Wartortle, and it was too late to block with another Ice Beam. The collision would be too close.

“Dive!”

Wartortle moved before she had even finished saying the D part of dive. It was an obvious command after all. The Ice Beam crashed into the now empty island and formed several ice spikes.

Dewott was watching the water as was Burgundy. Her lips were moving, and she was whispering something to her Dewott. She could only catch bits of it.

Patience. Be. Use. Double power.

Could Dewott use Counter like Drednaw? Or did it have a different move like it at its disposal like…well she knew there were two others other than Mirror Coat and Bide. One that was Fighting-type and the other that was Ice-type. Maybe more.

She couldn’t just attack Dewott head on, especially when it was clearly tensing in anticipation for a retaliatory strike. This was not the time for Ice Beam or Aqua Tail. Iron Defense wasn’t a go either so that left the final move this Wartortle had.

A move that just might work.

“Wartortle, grab Dewott from behind!”

Dewott quickly turned around, now giving her sight of his back, in readiness to repel Wartortle. His hands were firmly on his scalchops for a quick drawn attack, but they were actually the wrong way. The dark shape of Wartortle was only approaching the island he was on now, and now Dewott had his back to them both.

“Now!”

Wartortle burst out of the surf and lunged himself at Dewott, who only just turned around to realize he’d been tricked.

“Dewott!”

Burgundy could only exclaim in shock as Wartortle grabbed Dewott under each arm, shocking him into dropping his scalchops.

“Now Seismic Toss!”

The shells bounced off the ground as Wartortle’s tail pushed down against the ground like a spring. Like any coiled spring it sprung back and sent both of them into the air with Wartortle flipping them around mid-air as to be on top and Dewott on the bottom. They then returned to the ground with Dewott being slammed into the cement island with the full weight of Wartortle and the harsh hand of gravity pushing them down.

Wartortle landed between Dewott and the scalchops as the now weaponless Pokémon stood back up with uneasy feet.

“Misty manages to turn things around with a crafty Seismic Toss! I don’t think Dewott can take many more hits and neither does Dewott himself.”

Dewott’s apparent status of being at the end of his rope came from the blue aura that surrounded him. Torrent, an ability that boosted the power of Water-attacks if activated.

“Wartortle, we need to end this now! Use Aqua Tail!”

“Aqua Jet!”

Wartortle only started to activate and swing Aqua Tail before Dewott sped at them with an even faster and stronger Aqua Jet than before. The attack slammed into Wartortle and pushed him back past the fallen scalchops and towards the water. However, the Aqua Tail never petered out despite the blow. In fact Wartortle was aiming it the entire time, and then he let it rip.

The attack slammed into the Aqua Jet clad Dewott, and probably did not actually damage it that much. It did, however, send the Aqua Jet off course and into the sky.

“Dewott, stop! You’re not a rocket!”

“Ice Beam!”

By the time that Wartortle had readied the Ice Beam for firing Dewott had entirely shed the Aqua Jet and was not gaining altitude. He had even aimed for the water below and was ready for a picture-perfect dive into the pool.

It didn’t do him any good when the Ice Beam struck, and the Dewott that fell from the sky at the end of it was not nearly as poised. The Dewott that landed in fact was fairly iced over and quite defeated.

“Dewott is unable to battle! The victory goes to Misty!”

“More like the victory goes to you Wartortle!”

The crowd cheered so loudly that she doubted anyone who wasn’t on the field heard her. Wartortle patted his shell in pride before slumping to the island in a tired pant.

“Wart.” ‘Yeah, that was pretty good. Aqua Tail pushed that stronger Aqua Jet up like a Pidgey and bam! Though that thing hit like a Tauros after that Torrent, and I know what that feels like.’

She returned him to his Net Ball, a smile on his face.

“If we can practice a bit more together, I think we’re going to do good things together. For now, and again, thanks. That win was all you; I just took advantage of your idea.”

"And with this exciting Indigo League battle having reached its intermission, we'd thought we'd continue our series on where our fan favorite trainers are now and going! With this year shaping up to be an even more amazing year than last year's stand out showing the millions watching throughout the world must be wondering where their fan favorites and new names are right now."

The television flickered to that of a pristine tropical beach where a very pretty blonde was lying on a beach chair. She noticed the camera on her and after a momentary surprise she waved. She noticed, to her shivering horror, that she had one of those little bug things that Lt. Surge used on her head. A 'Joltik', though she cared not to remember if that was its actual name.

"Last year's Top Four Vertress Conference finalist Betty Snyder, and her boyfriend Jamie Oliver, have been spotted in the tropical Alola region enjoying everything the friendly archipelago has to offer. The winner of that competition, Black Gaiman, is also on vacation but in the Orange Islands, so they won't get to meet each other off the field anytime soon! Other trainers enjoying a bit of a fun in the sun before they get back to hard tacks are last year's Top Eight finalist couple Derriack and Mack. They're enjoying a bit of fun in the crystal clear waters of Hoenn after winning their Mind Badges and qualifying for this year's Ever Grande Conference! Stay tuned to see them again, and stay tuned in general as every evidence exists that Indigo isn't the only league swelling with skilled combatants this year!"

The television changed focus again, this time to a pretty town that looked like the photos she had seen of Kalosian towns. A guy who looked like Ash and Red far too much to be anything but their brother was shopping with a guy who had Nurse Joy colored hair. They didn't seem to notice the camera that was filming them, or just didn't care.

"Of course, some people pass the time after their league in more normal ways like you or I might. Last year's big winner Vermell Arcer's been spotted with new friends in the company of a real blast from the past in the last months, while including such names as his Top Sixteen opponent Astrid and the granddaughter of the Shalour Gym Leader! Closer to home last year's Top Eight Ringo S. Beddle's taken the year off to assist his mother and has been reported to be accompanied by a fellow competitor from last year who took this one off in Biwa! It's simply magical the way leagues can become the origin of bonds of more than rivalry and respect.”

The focus on the television became more somber as the newscaster talking was focused on once again and sadness became her dominant feature.

"Most tragic of all are the competitors we lose. Not just to the rigors of outside life, but from life itself. Names like Hoenn's John Archer, Sinnoh's Larity Salwich, Galar's Rami Hobkins, Johto's Jill Jack'n, and Hoenn's Barba Hossa are either confirmed deceased or missing and we can only pray that the missing are found alive. After all in our previous broadcast one such trainer was shown to have survived a disappearance, so we should hope they are more like Excel Biltmore and less like Larity Salwich."

"Now a word from one of our sponsors: Lysandre Labs! Technology for a beautiful, better, and brilliant world..."

“Duck.” ‘Talk about whiplash, it’s almost as much whiplash as realizing chocolate and flowers and curry stuff doesn’t commit a crime against taste like your cooking does.’

Burgundy hadn’t left as quickly as Locke or Tad had, and she had even managed to make something for the three of them. It was that strange dish she had compared themselves to and if it was what their relationship tasted like.

Well, she could live with the flavor. Live quite happily in fact.

“It’s not quite fresh, but many foods can be made quite délicieux despite their age with the right preparations. This dish fresh can form bonds. But I must confess a question: did you and your boyfriend both plan on using new Pokémon today. I caught the recap and one of his Pokémon is the same raw and bold flavor choice as your Wartortle.”

She had a spoonful of the logic-defying dish before answering.

“Neither of us knew that this was going to be a thing so it wasn’t planned. I went with my gut the same way he did, and we both had Pokémon who wanted to battle with us. They wanted to give it their all and there was no reason to say no. Also he isn’t my boyfriend, though I wish he was.”

The last part she liked to think she said quietly but the grin on Burgundy’s face made it clear it was not. She heard it all.

”Oh my, he taken? You and him not compatible? Can’t confess?”

“The latter. I can tease him all day but anything more and I’m blushing more than I can ever make him blush.”

Burgundy chuckled, though not mockingly, at her confession and she wondered why she even said that aloud. Was the chocolate curry just making her relaxed enough to not keep that to herself.

“Well, cooking, battle, and love are all the same in the end. See an opening and go for it and have no regrets. That’s how you won despite you and Wartortle still breaking in the other like a pair of new shoes. In fact, might I pass on something I noticed as a Pokémon Connaisseuse? Free of charge of course as a victory prize.”

She didn’t say no so Burgundy continued.

“Right now you are looking to find the ideal fit for yourself. You have it clear in your mind what you want and know how to get there, but it is the finer details you struggle in. Of your Pokémon I’ve seen so far Psyduck fits you like a glove but Wartortle is untested, and for all the effort you have with him Poliwrath has flaws between the two of you that will never be quite fixed. Like an odd-feeling grip on a knife you can adapt but it will never be perfect. Work with both of them and achieve your dreams but you need a core like your Psyduck backing you up to the end. Pokémon like your Poliwrath, and if I’d have to compare of what I’ve seen your ‘hope-to-be’ boyfriend’s Raichu, Exeggutor, and maybe his Primeape will help him win. Don’t quote me on that last one, it’s more of a guess than something I’d put to print. It’s Pokémon like your Psyduck, or his Pikachu, Charizard, and Bulbasaur, that will win you your battles in the end. That’s my opinion at least.”

“This Indigo League Intermission Report is brought to you by SDC Mining, a totally trustworthy company! Now an update on the weather at Indigo.”

Commercials came and went, and Ash got farther into his battle. Or at least she assumed she did: while a battle in the current Whirl round went on longer than expected the television channel had been changed to some sort of big political event somewhere that a waiting participant was just that ardent on seeing live.

As political debates were on a list of things that she could possibly learn to care about one day but did not at the moment she had taken a step outside, Monodex ready to give her a warning when her next battle was.

In the meantime, she’d go on a walk. A nice calming walk that would have nothing of interest happen at all.

*SPLASH!*

“Gah!? I thought Magikarp were easy to catch?!”

It would turn out to be a bit more interesting than just a way of passing time.

She had been walking over a bridge at the time that went over a creek. Nothing large but one where one could find a Magikarp in. The telltale sign of one swimming away downstream was visible, as was the reason it was swimming away.

Two young teens were between the bridge and where the Magikarp was swimming away to. One of them was in the water, looking soaked and likely had been pulled in by the Magikarp. She was small and a bit chubby with messy brown hair.

On the bank was a lanky boy who looked a bit thin. His black hair was a bit unkempt looking like it was a few weeks in need of a barber. The two’s clothes, wet or dry, looked well worn.

“Katty, why didn’t you let me hold the string?”

“Because it’s my string. You can get one your own way.”

“If your rod’s just string I’m not sure you are going to get anything with it, even a Magikarp.”

The two kids were startled when she spoke up, jumping to attention and looking at her as she approached. Their eyes were wary and unsure, though as she got closer sparks of recognition lit in their eyes.

“Wait, you are that girl with the Wingull and the Poliwrath right!?”

At the girl’s question she nodded.

“And the Psyduck and the Wartortle yes. My name’s Misty, and I thought I heard Katty for your name…”

“Casem. Katty and Casem from Saffron City.”

The boy gave his own name as she looked around. The kids seemed to only have soaking clothes to them and no sign of the string they apparently had on them earlier. String or a stick they presumably had their string on as a makeshift rod.

“Sorry you lost your rod.”

“Yeah we totally lost our rod. Our rod and string that was really more string than sticks or anything.”

Katty was very quick to confirm what happened and Casem was looking at her as she rattled through the explanation at a blistering pace. Odd but not really important.

“Were you trying to catch a Magikarp?”

It was obvious but she’d like to know what was exactly up.

Both kids nodded.

“Yeah, we were. Well, she was because she had the string and rod. We’ve been seeing all of these cool battles with Water-type Pokémon and they are so cool! We’re going to be fifteen soon and the coolest Pokémon was that Gyarados used by that Fergus guy! It would be so cool to start with one and we thought we could catch a Magikarp and be awesome! But it got away…”

Their earnestness and their disappointment made her smile. It sounded odd to phrase it like that, but it was what it felt like.

“I can agree. My strongest Pokémon is a Gyarados too, and he’s the best. But they are also a bit tricky. Gyarados can be really scary and can be a bit hard to train. But there are tons of other Water-type Pokémon and nothing says you can’t try again when you have your own partner. In fact, seeing as I have a bit of time….”

“Estimated time until next round an hour and seventeen minutes.”

Thank you, Monodex. She kept on despite the surprised looks of the young teens.

“…I can actually help you catch your first Pokémon. You want to start with Water-types, right?”

They both nodded excitedly and part of her wondered why she was jumping into this. A small part, and well eclipsed by the part that remembered what the smiling face of that Caterpie boy that Ash helped all those months ago looked like.

“Well, first off there are places with more than just Magikarp nearby. Let me show you.”

Five minutes of following the stream and under a few bridges led to a clear green in the midst of Indigo. An undeveloped area managed as a park for visitors and participants to stretch and prepare for their challenges for the day.

The centerpiece of the park was a pond fed by the very creek they followed to it. The water was clear at the surface but with depths that weren’t quite visible from the surface. The water was framed by a grove of trees that went on for a bit and were surely home to something crawly and creepy, but she put that out of her mind.

The young teens didn’t need convincing there were Pokémon here as a Magikarp leapt out of the water as they arrived.

She took her bag off her back and began fiddling around in it.

“Are you going to get a real rod out and fish something for us?”

At Katty’s question she shook her head and pulled out a Quick Ball. The blue and yellow ball was followed up by one of her balls which she threw out into the water to reveal her Tentacool.

The blue and red squid came out in the freshwater and splashed in it for a moment before rising up, curious as to what she was up to.

“See those lilies over there? Can you see if there are any Poliwag under them and bring one up for us?”

Tentacool dove under the water and the two kids looked at her in interest.

“Poliwag? Is it like your Poliwrath?”

She nodded.

“They actually evolve into Poliwrath or a Pokémon called Politoed. They can walk on land unlike a Magikarp, but they are a bit clumsy at first. They’re really cute.”

An irritated buzz from the Monodex suggested she interrupted it before it could give its own explanation on them. Her attention was drawn to the water around a set of lilies which rippled a bit before bursting as a blue and white round shape emerged.

A Poliwag.

She held the Quick Ball in hand, a duplication gift Ash had given her a while back to help with her dream, and threw it. The ball struck Poliwag as it just about reached the peak of its jump, sucking it and vibrating as it fell to the water below in a splash.

“Don’t you need to battle it?”

“Maybe Tentacool already did under the water first?”

Katty and Casem’s questions had showed they no knowledge of how Quick Balls worked, and she honestly didn’t get them either. But they apparently worked so that was really what mattered. A few moments later Tentacool rose up from the water with the locked ball in tentacle.

“You caught it!”

“That was so much cooler than what we were doing!”

She smiled as Tentacool swam over to them with the captured Poliwag. She was pretty sure that even when she gave the Poliwag to one of the kids it would count on the count of her captures. She’d only ‘need’ to capture a Poliwhirl and Politoed after this.

However, if it wouldn’t be staying in her possession she wasn’t sure she’d count it. If she ran into a Poliwag somewhere else…

“Bell!”

A non-aquatic Pokémon call rang out from the bushes as a vine shot out and wrapped itself around Tentacool. The kids gasped in shock as she grabbed another Pokéball from her bag. She felt one of the empty balls in it get knocked out too but she could grab it later.

“Go free Tentacool!”

She was moving so instinctively she was amazed later she didn’t just throw a Water Pulse instead. However, because she didn’t look the Pokémon she sent out was Wimpod, who used Aqua Jet to slam into the bushes and hit whatever had used a Vine Whip.

This freed Tentacool and Wimpod wasn’t trapped by it either so she didn’t need to save Wimpod afterwards. However as the Pokémon stepped out of the bushes to face them more clearly Wimpod was terrified.

“Scree!” ‘What sort of horrible smelling abomination is that thing!? How does it move with limbs like that?! Gahhhh!’

She’d hardly call a Bellsprout an abomination, but it was true the limbs of it were thin. The brown stem body held up a really large yellow head and green leaf arms. It was something that was not really her kind of cute, but she could see someone finding it cute.

“That’s an awesome… Weepinbell?”

Katty got the name of it wrong, but points for enthusiasm.

“Weepinbell is the evolved form of this Pokémon. It is called a Bellsprout, a Grass and Poison type that uses its vines and sprayed acid to capture prey. It likes warm places.”

The kids were surprised, again, at the Monodex speaking up but she didn’t have time to explain as the Bellsprout spat out an Acid attack at Wimpod.

“Mud Shot!”

Her little bug was terrified at the oncoming blast of acid, but at her words he spat out of a blast of mud. The attacks collided but the Mud Shot tore through the acid and struck the surprised Bellsprout in the face.

“Squee?” ‘I did that?’

“Good job Wimpod! Now use it again and Tentacool Poison Sting!”

The two attacks shot at the surprised Flower Pokémon but it whipped the attacks down with a Vine Whip before they could hit the Pokémon itself.

“Aqua Jet and Water Gun!”

Wimpod flew at the yellow-headed pitcher Pokémon who slapped it back with Vine Whip. However, from the side the Water Gun struck it and sent the Bellsprout tumbling. It got back up despite the blow though and looked ready to battle, but it glowed blue for a moment before being slammed into the ground face first.

“Oh wow that Water Gun really hurt it! It just took a minute to really feel it!”

Katty said that really quickly and really loudly. A lot like talking about string earlier.

A ball soared past her, a black and reddish Luxury Ball that Ash had also duplicated for her use. The ball hit the Bellsprout awkwardly and it would be no winner at a throwing contest, but Bellsprout was sucked up.

“Did I do it right? Oh, was it okay if I used that ball because it fell out of your bag, Miss Misty? It’s not a Water-type Pokémon but it is cool and right there and everything.”

The Luxury Ball helped make a Pokémon captured more friendly. That Bellsprout was probably a good call to have that boost given how it was pretty aggressive and bold.

“No problem at all, Katty.”

The ball clicked successfully in her first non-Water-type capture.

It took a few minutes to walk back to the bridge where they had first met. There she had handed the balls to each of them. Casem had Poliwag and Katty had Bellsprout.

“Is it okay to have them? Like, we turn fifteen in like a month or so but until then we can’t actually be trainers.”

She smiled.

“If you have someone who can ‘officially’ have them until then it’s no problem, and if you don’t just use my name. Everyone should have a chance to make themselves better and see the world with a partner. It lets me try towards my dream and that is the same with all sorts of other people I know. It should be with you guys too.”

“See the world...I hadn’t even thought of that. This league was the first time we got to leave Saffron City and we only got to come after the second round so we missed a lot of stuff!”

“Don’t think about what you guys missed, Casem, but what you still can see and do. I’ve been here since the start and the best thing here didn’t happen until a while in.”

”The Whirl Cup?”

She remembered to shake her head in response to Katty’s question. Her mind was off to a few days before this and to fun festival games.

“…Is there anything that can stop you from achieving what you want to do? Like something that happened and you don’t know why? Like, being an orphan or something else.”

Katty’s quiet question was more attention grabbing despite its quieter tone. She looked at the nervous girl, looking shy as if worried to say anything more.

She looked at Casem who was trying to hide nervously twiddling fingers that held onto the ball she gave him like he was worried she’d take it for him if something was said. It was something that Katty noticed and mirrored. The point about being orphans seemingly being something thrown in as almost a shield.

String and odd glows around Bellsprout. She took a look around for anyone who might be nearby and saw no one and did it.

The watery sphere shot she formed shot into the air and the two young teens were looking at her like she was amazing.

“Nothing can stop you from achieving what you want to in life. Sometimes it takes a while to find a way to make it work, and the world can even seem hard at times. But with the right effort, the right friends, and just a bit of good fortune you can do anything you set your minds to, no matter who you are born.”

The Water Pulse exploded high in the air and all of them felt the resulting burst of water droplets come down on them. The dousing did nothing to cost the kids their smiles however.

“So seeing as I still have about an hour you want to see what your Pokémon can do?”

An hour was more than sufficient for that task, and she had no problem getting back for the next battle.

A very important battle in fact.

“That battle between the Astounding Mandi and Fergus Blueman was the stuff of legends, folks! You don’t get battles that intense every day and it is an utter shame that anyone missed it! With that we have one of our two finalists in Fergus! Let us figure out which of these lovely ladies will be joining him in competing for a Whirl Cup position!

“First she’s from Cerulean City and has competed in her fair share of small tournaments this year! Can she break her Top 4 ceiling from both Lavender and Fuchsia today!? Give it up for Misty!”

The cheers went wild as she realized just who her opponent was this time. It was the girl from this morning.

“Her opponent’s battled through four rounds of not just Indigo’s finest trainers this week, but also the four Gym Leaders of her home Orange Island League and two Top Sixteen placements at the Silver Conference! Can she make it past the fourth battle she needs to win today?! Give it up for Marina!”

As the bluenette waved enthusiastically she smiled her way.

“Well, I see there was no need for you to be nervous if you got this far. Let the best of us win.”

To that she agreed.

“This will be a two on two battle with no substitutions! Begin!”

With the battle officially on Marina sent out her Pokémon first, which was a Tentacruel that landed in the pool with a big splash.

“Alright, Wooper, I choose you!”

She had her own choice as the little blue bouncy Wooper landed on the field with a happy jump. At the sight of it Marina was overjoyed.

“Oh my god I just love Wooper! I couldn’t find one while I was in Johto but they are just the cutest things! Where did you find this one?”

Wooper hopped again in appreciation of the attention.

“He was a gift.”

At that Marina looked a bit bummed.

“Dang it. Oh well, guess I just have to beat it instead. Tentacruel Sludge Bomb!”

The Tentacruel rose up from the water and shot out a lump of purple sludge towards Wooper.

“Use Ice Punch and punt it away!”

Wooper bounced up at the command, his tail glowing icy blue before he spun and slammed the oncoming sludge. The sludge was sent back at Tentacruel who shot his tentacles out and sliced the frozen goo up into harmless bits. All to the crowd’s confusion.

“That wasn’t really an Ice Punch. More of an Ice Tail really.”

“It’s called Ice Punch so it is Ice Punch.”

“Who cares, it is so cute!”

“Wooper Mud Shot!”

Wooper breathed in quickly before shooting a barrage of little brown mud attacks. She had taken Wooper out the other day to help out Wimpod’s own training in the move and the attack was still looking good regardless of who used it.

“We can block attacks just as well as you! Tentacruel, use Brutal Swing!”

The Tentacruel’s tentacles glowed a dark red as they began spinning around it like the edge of a razor top. The tentacles blocked the Mud Shot from hitting Tentacruel and sending little bits of sediment into the pool from what remained.

“Both Misty and Marina demonstrate excellent defensive tactics! However, neither is going to get past the other with their current tactics!”

The Announcer’s observation of their stalemate was something both of them knew. Neither was going to get anything just attacking the other with ranged attacks at this rate. They’d have to get creative, and that went double for her.

Tentacruel had a few more limbs to work with than Wooper.

“Wooper use Sandstorm!”

“Woop!” ‘Got it!’

Wooper coughed for a moment before spewing out a spiraling sandy wind that quickly engulfed the field in a brown wind. Tentacruel winced just before she lost direct sight of it.

“Now dive and get close.”

She gave Wooper the command quietly and the little guy nodded eagerly before slipping into the water as quietly as possible.

“I can’t see anything in this darn sand. Tentacruel wash it away with Surf!”

The sound of a loud splash was heard before she saw the result: a giant wave that swept through the sand. The sandstorm quickly vanished, the wave turning a murky brown as the wave crashed right beneath her on the stand. Plumes of dirty water blasted upwards that narrowly missed dousing her.

“A Sandstorm can blind and damage unprepared opponents, but Marina and Tentacruel were ready for the tactic! They swept it all away and possibly Wooper. But wait, where is Wooper!?”

The two opponents were looking around for Wooper, probably expecting to see him having been swept into a wall by the oncoming wave. However, they couldn’t, and it wasn’t just from lack of looking. The water itself had become murky because of all of the sand and junk sucked into it. However she had just about an idea of where her little Wooper was.

“Wooper, use Waterfall!”

A splash just below Tentacruel was all that was heard before Wooper erupted from the water, striking Tentacruel dead on center and throwing the surprised Pokémon high into the air.

“What!?”

“Tenta!?” ‘It got here that fast!?’

“All right Wooper now follow up with Mud Shot!”

Wooper broke off from the attack just as Tentacruel got a bit more air and fired the mud attack right into its underbelly. The attack pushed Tentacruel even higher into the air and by the time Wooper landed safely on a cement island Tentacruel had splashed down on the pool surface with the gentleness of a crashing plane.

The water was chaotic and murky as Tentacruel sunk into the drink.

“Tentacruel!”

Marina’s worried shout came just before the announcer had his own piece to say.

“Misty and Wooper used a stealthy approach to distract their opponents and get right up and close for two powerful attacks! Tentacruel has taken two strong hits and a harsh impact courtesy of gravity itself! Is this it?”

The water calmed a bit as Wooper peered over the edge of the island.

“Woo?” ‘Is it sinking?’

Wooper looked at the calm water calmly for a moment, before his eyes went wide and he hopped back. Before he could fully hop backwards though two tentacles had shot out and wrapped themselves around him.

“Wooo!” ‘How did those things move that quickly! The Tentacruel was far away!’

“Wooper! You can get yourself out of there if you use Ice Punch on the tentacles and quickly!”

“Giga Drain before the cutie can get away!”

Wooper’s tail glowed pale cold blue just as Tentacruel’s tentacles shone green, and the green carried over to Wooper. Wooper cried out in pain and shock as the attack quickly hit home.

“No!”

Both tentacles and tail lost their shine as the tentacles let go of Wooper and retreated into the depths. Wooper was left on the ground, eyes spinning in a daze.

“Wooper is unable to battle!”

The crowd cheered for Tentacruel’s come from behind win as the jellyfish rose up. It looked mostly recovered from the battle that had just occurred.

“Pokémon of any evolutionary level can compete in the leagues and do well! However, it is always important to remember all of the factors that come into play with that! Misty’s Wooper was more reactive and cuter than a Quagsire and in turn it took less hits to defeat than a Quagsire might!”

The announcer made his point as she had her own point. If her Wooper had been a Quagsire that would had let Tentacruel absorb more with Giga Drain.

She still had an advantage, she just had to press it quickly.

“Good job Wooper. You did great, we’ll just finish the job you started.”

She apologized to the returned Wooper as she choose her second Pokémon.

“Gyarados, I choose you!”

The water was still murky as it sprayed up in a great burst as her second Pokémon made himself known to the field. He towered to a great height, hissing in anticipation for the upcoming battle. The crowd cheered in excitement at the sight of her strongest Pokémon as Marina looked up at him in awe.

“Wow Misty, that Gyarados is pretty strong looking. You were worried and you had him?”

“Begin!”

“Still, as awesome as he looks we can take him! Tentacruel, use Sludge Bomb! “

Tentacruel started the battle as the last one had with a sludge horking.

“If you want a rematch I am happy to oblige! Gyarados, Iron Tail and slap it back!”

Gyarados’s tail flashed white before he swung himself around in the pool and swatted the sludge attack. His attack struck like a swinging batter and sent the attack flying right at Tentacruel.

“Brutal Swing!”

Marina was up for the full replay of what had happened the first time but Tentacruel didn’t get a chance to start Brutal Swing before the reflected Sludge Bomb hit hard. Tentacruel was blasted out of the water and onto an island in a hard thwack.

“Tentacruel! He’s that much stronger than Wooper!?”

“In their rematch of their opening moves Misty proves just how much more powerful her Gyarados is than Wooper! Tentacruel is feeling that pick like a Electabuzz pitch into the first base’s gut!”

The announcer got booed for the comparison but the overlap between Electabuzz fans and the audience wasn’t what mattered right now. What mattered was pressing the advantage.

“Quickly, get on that island and smack Tentacruel with a Bulldoze attack!”

She’d take a page out of Ash’s own battle at the water field.

Gyarados shot out of the drink and curled around the still stunned Tentacruel. He rose his fluked tail, which flashed an earthy orange color, before slamming it right down on Tentacruel.

The resulting attack shook the entire field and as Gyarados slithered back into the drink Tentacruel was left clearly unable to battle.

As the ref called that point Gyarados surfaced and roared in triumph. It was just a roar without any words to it, but it was followed up by a wildly cheering crowd. Marina returned her Tentacruel with a sad smile on her face.

“You did great, Tentacruel. I was just kind of dumb trying to do that Sludge Bomb again.”

She put Tentacruel’s Pokéball away as she confidently took out her second.

“That Gyarados is really strong and I hate having to beat it easily, but it’s too tough looking to do anything else. Plus, I guess you can’t really complain about this strat. Go, Starmie!”

With that honest and confident declaration, she sent out a Starmie, which spun in the air with a confident declaration before landing on an island. With what Marina said and the Pokémon she sent out there was only one strategy.

“Gyarados, get out of the water!”

He shot up just as she finished her command and landed on a cement island on the opposite end from Starmie.

“Thunderbolt!”

Starmie lit up in a yellow aura as the electrical charge started to accumulate.

“This is what they call a book-end folks! Misty started this tournament with a shockingly effective win with an electric attack, and now there is no place for Gyarados to avoid an electrical attack! She’s not officially lost yet but I’m not sure how she can hope to avoid this!”

“Oh come on announcer, she could totally have Protect!”

“Or whatever that move is that makes the barrier that blocks attacks!”

She could faintly hear Casem and Katty shouting over the buzzing crowd. She didn’t have Protect, but she did have something.

“Gyarados, use Iron Tail then Dragon Breath!”

Gyarados roared as his tail lit up and slammed into the cement. It dug itself right in as Marina’s Starmie fired Thunderbolt right at him. It hit, but the electricity quickly shot down Gyarados and into the cement island. In the midst of the re-direction Gyarados spewed up a billowing blast that shot into Starmie and hit it. The attack pushed Starmie into the water and stopped the Thunderbolt, allowing Gyarados to let off Iron Tail.

“No! Oh crud, I saw that strategy yesterday with that Charizard!” Marina exclaimed in shock.

“Grrrrr.” ‘I did the strategy with Iron Tail first. He used Metal Claw until he decided to copy me.’

Gyarados’s grumble about who owned the idea aside (and Charizard did the idea first, Metal Claw or not) she did have to grin at the stunned Marina.

“Yeah he and I both use that technique to stop Electric attacks. Pretty clever huh?”

“And apparently I jumped the gun on declaring it all over, folks! I just really wanted to use the term book-end today!”

At the announcer’s admittance Marina blushed. “A technique shared between lovers!?”

Now she was blushing and even more than Marina was. Lovers!? Why didn’t she just say Boyfriend and Girlfriend?! Lovers was just… just….

Gahhhh!

“Gyyr.” ‘Word-play embarrassment aside, you might want to look at the water.’

Gyarados’s words didn’t make her stop blushing, but it did draw her attention to the water which was sparking. Not much, but there was clear electrical charge to it.

“Can concrete conduct electricity?!” Marina was free of her blush and was now frantically searching for any sign of Starmie. A moment later Starmie shot out of the water and onto a different island from where it had started and winced.

“Fun fact I actually read somewhere a while back folks: concrete doesn’t conduct electricity while cement does! Weird I know, but that’s how it works! However, look at that cement island and you’ll see several large cracks. The electricity was directed through those cracks and into the water below! It wasn’t a full charge but that water isn’t safe to swim in it! Apologies as there will be a bit of repair and safety insurance time before the final battle!”

“Starmie must have blasted the water with more electricity than your Shock Wave. But you can’t use that trick again or Gyarados will break the cement. Starmie!”

Starmie bounced at the unspoken ‘Use Thunderbolt’ and promptly unleashed the attack again.

“We can’t use Iron Tail again….use Surf but don’t touch the water!”

Gyarados obliged the protective measure and roared as a wave formed in front of him and sped towards the Thunderbolt. The wave surged ahead as it wouldn’t have any chance of being effective close up.

“That new defense won’t work against our attack!”

The two attacks collided and at the meeting point it did indeed look like the Thunderbolt was pushing through the wave. A lot of it was being sucked away by the rest of the wave but it would be an electrical blast if she didn’t do something soon.

“Use Dragon Breath!”

Gyarados fired the draconic blast into the spot the Thunderbolt was breaking through. The attack reached it just as Starmie’s own move was breaking through. However it was weakened to the point that it didn’t do much to stop the attack and it barreled towards Starmie.

“There is nowhere for either Gyarados or Starmie to hide from these attacks! If they try to escape they will be electrocuted! Can Starmie stop Dragon Breath?!”

“Use Hydro….”

Marina started the command, but stopped. She was no mind reader, but the electrical sparks that were now running around Dragon Breath was a probably cause of the hesitation.

“Use Light Screen to take it then Hydro Pump when it’s all clear!”

Starmie’s gem flashed yellow as a barrier formed in front of it. Starmie braced for impact as the attack struck. Light Screen flashed around Starmie as the blast attack pushed Starmie back but what Starmie was actually feeling as damage was limited. However, the fact that the attack was still hitting was still having an affect, just not in the way of hurting Starmie. It was pushing Starmie back.

By the time the attack let off Starmie was right on the edge, barely holding a balance from the electrified waters below.

“This battle may be decided by the edge of a coin sort of speak! If Starmie loses its balance this may all be over!”

“Starmie, please hang on!”

“Gyrr.” ‘Want me to fire a Water Pulse at it? Should knock it over?’

She was going to oblige with the request but Starmie then suffered from something else that Light Screen couldn’t stop: the effect of Dragon Breath.

A green static covered Starmie in the form of draconic-induced paralysis. This seizing up caused Starmie to lose its balance and fall into the drink.

The Water Pulse was no longer necessary.

A barrage of bubbles and static electricity pooled above where Starmie had fallen in before the purple starfish rose up.

“Starmie, no!”

“Starmie is unable to battle! The winner is Misty!”

“Misty might have gotten off to a rough start this round but she came around up top! Marina’s own ace in the hole turned out to be her undoing this day!”

Gyarados roared in triumph and she smiled in her own, more quiet, triumph.

Just one more battle. She just had to beat Fergus and the Whirl Cup was a sure thing.

…

“I can’t believe I beat myself!?”

“Technically Gyarados beat you. I think his Dragon Breath had a bit to do with it.”

“Yeah, but it was my electricity. I mean if your Gyarados had used Thunderbolt that would be fine it was….gah!”

Marina had her head against the wall, an aura of misery and shame around her. They had to wait for the repairs and water clearing before the final round so she had time to talk to her opponent. Or to be more specific cheer her up a bit.

“I’ve seen a lot of battles in the last year and it’s not that unusual. Everyone makes mistakes and a lot of people lose because of them.”

“Doesn’t mean I like losing like that. If I have to lose I’d rather be completely overwhelmed and do everything right than having messed up somehow.”

“I don’t know about that. I mean if you lose because you mess up you can learn something from it. What do you learn if you basically just try to battle a Zapdos with a Magikarp?”

“That it’s a terrible idea?”

“I don’t know, maybe with a big enough Magikarp…”

At the image of some giant Magikarp leaping right into a Zapdos and knocking it out the two of them laughed.

“Still, your Tentacruel and Starmie are pretty strong. You had me and Gyarados on the ropes more than you thought.”

“If you had stronger concrete I’d never have had a chance.”

“Still a battle where the Pokémon can’t move at all and just blast each other. Not really sure that’s all that interesting.”

“Unlike a technique shared between lovers?”

She choked on air again; face red as ever, as Marina laughed.

“Hey it’s cool. I wish any of my boyfriends ever shared anything that useful. The last one just stiffed me on a sandwich.”

“Why do you keep phrasing it like that!?” Can’t she just say boyfriend and let her be normally embarrassed!?

“Because ‘a technique shared between boyfriend and girlfriend’ isn’t that snappy sounding.”

She could almost hear Psyduck say ‘she has a point’ to that if she had let him now.

“So while we are on that topic, about your country boyfriend. Any other techniques shared between lovers?”

The blush intensified even more. Was she asking about battle techniques or…

Marina giggled. Cheering Marina up was clearly a rousing success, if at a terrible cost. She was lucky no one was listening to them or it would be even worse.

“Oh Misty dear, there you are!”

There was Ash’s mother, waving at her. Oh no…

“Well, gotta jet. Good luck against that Fergus guy, and regardless of what happens I’ll see you at the Whirl Cup.”

With that Marina left leaving her with Ash’s mother and no idea if she had overheard anything. She approached with a smile on her face and a sandwich in hand.

“I had some left over from the picnic preparations and thought you might be hungry.”

Oh yeah, the picnic: she did run a little late.

She took the sandwich and enjoyed a savory filling after all of that battling. Burgundy was a good cook but… well, she was always hungry and Delia made good sandwiches.

“I’m glad you’ve been having a good time. I asked Samuel to tape this so you and Ash can talk about them later. Same with his own battle.”

Yeah his own battle, which she had saw ended in…

“So a technique shared between lovers?”

Delia definitely timed that for when she didn’t have any sandwich to spit out. She was sure she had gotten that blush to go away but it was back and redder than ever.

“It’s not what you think!”

“Oh don’t worry dear, I saw the context. You two just bounce ideas off the other and get stronger which is so nice. It’s nice to see people help each other.”

Phew. Well she hadn’t dropped the rest of the sandwich so maybe she could finish it and not choke on her embarrassment.

“It’s a nice thing about having friends. Everyone gets better together. Ash and Gary, Ash and all of you girls. It’s really nice that you’re all helping each other. My boy’s grown up so much since he left town the first time, and I’m sure you’ve grown up too.”

She nodded absently, her mouth filled with sandwich. It would be rude to speak with her mouth full and a waste of sandwich if anything flew out.

“You know, I really can’t thank you girls enough for everything you’ve clearly done for him. I don’t know what I can do to repay you.”

Fortunately she finished her sandwich and was able to respond with all the politeness that an unstuffed mouth could give.

“You’ve done plenty. You let us stay with you and everything for months.”

Delia waved her off.

“That’s nothing, dear. I am honestly a little lonely. I don’t even get a man stiffing me on a sandwich even when Ash’s not around. I love having company and have no problem seeing you four whenever you’re around. A mother’s thankfulness never goes away and I simply need to do all I can to thank you for everything. Which is why I got you all this.”

Another sandwich? She’d gladly eat it, but the way she phrased that was a bit odd for a sandwich. Maybe it was some sort of gift? But what could Ms. Ketchum possibly give her…

She saw what the box was and her face lost all color. The blush was beyond itself and now utterly white.

“Wha…”

Somehow Delia was smiling without a blush on her face, which she didn’t know if that was better or worse.

“I know it’s a bit much, but I wanted to be sure you didn’t run out of them too quickly if you are off on errand for Samuel or on an adventure in the wilderness after the league. So I got the biggest one I could find. It even comes with instructions so you can explain them to Iris.”

“Miss Ketchum, um, well, you don’t…”

“Call me Delia, you don’t even need to wait until you use one to do that. Or Mom, you can call me too if you want. You’ve all earned it. It’s just a little something to help you girls with everything. It helps me a bit too; as I’m not sure I have enough grey hairs for anything yet.”

Could they just finish the repairs already!? She needed to hit something or order something hit and Psyduck didn’t deserve it right now.

“Now Anabel mentioned a while back that Iris got a bit of an explanation of things from a girl in Johto, not sure why you were over there of all places and I feel like I don’t want to ask, and Anabel had her uncle to explain things but I’m not sure if you ever had anything like that in your life. So if you have any questions I am happy to answer them.”

Hurry up!!!

…

The repairs took their sweet time. It was so bad she actually did ask Ash’s mo… Del…. Mom… whatever she’d decide to call her after all that some questions.

Gah…

Pain aside it was battle time. Sweet, sweet battle time.

“It’s been an exciting day here folks, and now that the repairs are done we’ve come to a grand finale! The winner will walk out of this battle with an automatic qualification for the Whirl Cup! Neither trainer can afford to give it anything but their all! Speaking of which, let’s introduce our finalists! Our first companion has no league placements to her name but she’s proven herself a dynamic and skilled combatant nonetheless! She’s weaponized and beaten electricity, triumphed over Pokémon familiar and unfamiliar with skill and ease, and looks good while doing it! It’s Cerulean City’s Misty Waterflower!”

The crowds cheered wildly for her, louder and more enthusiastically than they had before. It filled her body with enthusiasm and energy like little she had ever experienced.

“Facing her is an old league favorite who hit a bit of a rough patch this year. After a semi-final placing this year’s increased level of skill and turnout had him fall to the Top 32, but he’s here to earn redemption and see if that loss was misfortune or fate! It’s Fergus Blueman!”

"That drop in my league ranking surely hurt, but at least I could stay for this. Never thought I'd meet the youngest of the Cerulean sisters so early. This'll be a great match."

There was a hint of challenge mixed with respect in his voice, making her smile. It seemed like Mewtwo's memory wipe didn't erase Fergus' respect for her, and that felt nice.

Being acknowledged by her opponent meant she had to reply in kind.

"Well, I saw you fight in the league, and I can tell you're no pushover. I hope you don't pull any stops, because I don't plan to."

"Sure thing. Bring it on!"

“This will be three on three battle with no substitutions! The battle is over when one side’s Pokémon are all unable to battle! Begin!”

“Staryu I choose you!”

“Azumarill go!”

As both of their Pokémon landed on an individual concrete island Misty felt the Monodex rumble in her pocket.

“Azumarill, the Aqua Rabbit Pokémon. Azumarill’s body is filled with so much air that it can easily float on the surface of ponds and lakes as well as give oxygen to drowning Pokémon. They use this oxygen to make their own attacks hugely powerful.”

It was not being subtle at reminding her about one of the abilities Azumarill could have. She was ready for the bouncing rabbit, whatever it tried.

“Tri-Attack!” She started the battle with Staryu, whose core flashed a rapid red yellow and blue before firing the three-colored beam at Azumarill. The rabbit hopped out of the way of the attack.

“Make a big wave!” Fergus followed her attack with a non-attack, having Azumarill land with a hard smack of its tail into the pool which in turn rose a high wave from the water and sent it towards Staryu.

“They’re trying to blind us! Quickly use Rapid Spin!”

Staryu began spinning, building up speed as the wave harmlessly washed over Staryu. The far from harmless Azumarill came through after the wave, a glowing fist with some sort of fighting attack.

The spinning Staryu caught the punch mid-spin and the force was used to send Staryu spinning away like a top and less like a blow. Staryu sped across the field and bounced off a wall, the ricochet eating up a lot of the energy and allowing Staryu to land safely on a more distant island.

“Both sides start the match off with tactical maneuvers! Neither’s gotten a solid hit on the other yet, but how long will that status quo last?”

“Not long! Azumarill use Hydro Pump!”

The rabbit, still on the island that Staryu had started, blasted out the torrent of water towards Staryu.

“Use Bubblebeam!“

The Mystic Water on Staryu flashed as Staryu fired the bubble attack into the oncoming deluge. The two water attacks clashed, negating each other in a burst of spray and bubbles.

“Tri-Attack!”

Staryu followed up the blasts with a third, but it was one that Azumarill easily avoided without a command required.

“That’s a pretty powerful attack, too bad it can’t hit us! Azumarill dive into the water!”

As Azumarill hopped into the pool in a running jump she wished she had managed to teach Staryu Thunderbolt. She had tried but they hadn’t managed it.

That didn’t mean the two of them were helpless though.

“Ice Beam all the water around you!”

Staryu’s top limb glowed blue as her starfish spun around, spraying the water around the island in a growing block of ice. As each round of Ice Beam continued to spray the ice got thicker and larger until the island was surrounded by a solid ring of ice thicker than Azumarill was tall, and then some. It also covered any attack from behind as the ice was solid from there to the pool’s edge.

“Be ready to blast Azumarill when it comes up! They can’t get through this ice like they were planning to!”

“Hyup!” ‘The moment that waters ripples it’s a Power Gem attack to the face!’

Fergus grinned, and before she could ask what was so funny a solid white orb suddenly shot out of the ice. It took her a moment to realize it was Azumarill’s tail glowing with an Iron Tail attack. The tail, that had shot through their ice like a icebreaker mace, then shot at the stunned Staryu and wrapped around like a rope.

“Hyu!?” ‘What!?’

Yeah, what…how…!?

The crowd cheered in amazement at the trap.

“That was a pretty clever idea, but we have our own tricks too. Azumarill can extend her tail out a lot longer than you think, and it is a lot farther out than her body’s height! Plus, with her super-sensitive hearing aiming is a breeze!”

Azumarill’s tail squeezed tighter around Staryu, who struggled to break free.

“Folks, I didn’t think that you’d ever see an Azumarill use Wrap, but with some inventive thinking anything is possible! With all the air that an Azumarill has Misty won’t get out of this by a need to breath. Can she and Staryu escape without a knockout!?”

‘Can’t. Spin….”

Staryu groaned out that Rapid Spin wasn’t a go. She looked around for any bit of inspiration to get them out of this trap, and an idea came to her.

“Quickly use Bubblebeam out of your bottom limbs!”

Staryu struggled for a moment, not used to doing the attack that way, but eventually the bottom two limbs flashed before a barrage of bubbles burst out and rocketed Staryu into the air. The tail of Azumarill struggled for a moment to hold on, but it was unraveled as Staryu shot up. The sound of a thunk signaled Azumarill getting bumped into the ice by Staryu’s force, shaking the giant ice.

As the crowds cheered at her escape she pointed down the hole in the ice where Azumarill’s tail was slinking down.

“Quickly, while she’s still stunned! Use Tri-Attack!”

Staryu spun around as to be facing right down and, even as gravity brought Staryu back to earth fired Tri-Attack. The attack flew down into the hole, making it wider and striking Azumarill.

Staryu landed on the island as the ice broke up into multiple small ice blocks. She and Staryu looked around for any sign of Azumarill, when the tail shot out of the water and wrapped itself around Staryu again, though this time with a particular squeeze around Staryu’s lower limbs.

“Again!?” she exclaimed in shock.

“And Fergus goes for the binding strategy again folks!”

Azumarill, turned around a bit to be looking right at Staryu, burst out of the water. A nasty bump was on top of her head, but that wasn’t stopping the Fighting-type attack she had seen earlier from being used again.

“Yeah, again, but it’s a pretty good strategy if you ask me. Last time I was just being a bit too passive. This is us at full gear: Focus Punch!”

She had a few seconds before Staryu took a really powerful attack right in the face.

“Tri-Attack!”

The three lights flashed in Staryu’s core and fired, but Azumarill pushed through the attack with Focus Punch. The fist was going to hit Staryu and it was going to do severe damage!

The fist stopped less than an inch from Staryu’s core, static coating the cringing Azumarill.

“When did she get paralyzed!?” Fergus questioned in disbelief at the terrible timing.

“Two times in a row’s not bad, and a win is a win. Staryu, Tri-Attack!”

This time there was no Focus Punch to tear the attack part, and Staryu’s attack tore into Azumarill at full throttle. The tail lost its grip around Staryu and, while pulling Staryu a little bit forward before disentangling itself, did little more as Azumarill was thrown out and landed on the water’s surface as a motionless floating rabbit.

“Azumarill is unable to battle!”

“Great job, Staryu!” she cheered her Pokémon on as Fergus returned Azumarill with a smile on his face.

“You did great, take a good rest. I’ll make sure you didn’t lose for nothing.”

With that Fergus took out a second ball.

“That’s a pretty strong Staryu, but I’ve got a few stars on my team too! Go Kingdra!”

Fergus announced his second Pokémon via a pun, and the draconic seahorse landed in the pool with an eager snort.

“Kingdra, the Dragon Pokémon and the final evolution of Horsea. Kingdra live deep underwater where they create whirlpools. When the scales of a Kingdra surface, they are treasured like precious metals for jewelers and high-ranked members of society.”

With the Monodex entry given it was battle time.

“Staryu, that Kingdra might be powerful, but you are too! Use Tri-Attack!”

Staryu fired the multi-color beam towards Kingdra, who ducked into the water to avoid the attack. The attack harmlessly slammed into the wall as Kingdra vanished from sight.

“Use Ice Beam on the water behind you!”

Staryu quickly turned around and blasted the surface of the water with a sheet of ice. Not thick enough to be a wall, but if Kingdra did come from behind they’d get a early warning via the sound of cracking ice.

Staryu turned back to facing Fergus, and the tension was thick. Where was Kingdra, and how would Fergus attack?

“Alright Kingdra, it’s time! Hurricane!”

Hurricane.

“Staryu, get out of there….”

Too late.

The water around Staryu’s island began to rise up, the ice between her and Staryu cracking. Then a great mixture of wind and water gained the chunks of ice from Staryu’s Ice Beam and Staryu itself as a great funnel of wind and water formed that towered higher than even the stadium.

“WOW! Fergus attacked with both wind and water with an underwater Hurricane attack! The attack’s eaten up all of Staryu’s left over ice and Staryu itself! And Staryu is feeling that like a hailstorm right now!”

In the vortex Staryu was being spun around by the winds, but so were the chunks of ice in the water and broken up by Hurricane just seconds earlier. Many of the ice blocks were being spun right into Staryu, striking and causing even more damage.

The winds let off after a half minute, and Staryu dropped into the water with a hard splash. Staryu’s core was flashing as Kingdra’s head surfaced a few feet away.

“Staryu is unable to battle!”

As the crowd cheered at the turnaround tying of the match, she thanked Staryu as she returned the starfish to the ball.

“Great job Kingdra, two more to go!”

Against Kingdra she needed a Dragon-type attack to get anywhere, and she had just the Pokémon.

“Gyarados, I choose you!”

Her second Pokémon of the match was the first repeat of the tournament, but the wild cheers of the crowd at the sight of her Gyarados again certainly didn’t suggest that they were unhappy to see him again.

Kingdra looked over her Gyarados, who towered over the true dragon Pokémon by quite a bit, with amusement.

“Dra.” ‘You’re missing a few feet on a real Gyarados. I hope you aren’t thinking you can beat him. You won’t even beat me with your strength.’

Her Gyarados growled threateningly at the dismissal. Good thing they weren’t battling that Gyarados right now so that didn’t matter. They’d just prove the Kingdra wrong.

“Dragon Breath, then Iron Tail!”

They’d start with type advantage as the billowing dragon attack was blasted Kingdra’s way, who ducked over the water to avoid it.

However, that missed the second part of her plan, as Gyarados had thrust his tail towards the ducking Kingdra and slapped it up as it tried to dive. Kingdra was forced out of the water and into the Dragon Breath, the blast of which sent Kingdra to the other end of the pool.

“And Misty starts off strong with a combination straight out of a Goldeen scooping contest!”

On Fergus’s end Kingdra shook off the blow with no visible paralysis.

“Nice trick, I’ll have to remember that for my own Gyarados. But we’re far from done just yet! Kingdra Dragon Pulse!”

Kingdra fired off a great blast of draconic force towards Gyarados, which she had countered with two Water Pulses. The two water spheres slammed into the attack one after the other, with the first weakening the Dragon Pulse and the second destroying it.

“Now Surf!”

“Use Surf too, Kingdra!”

Two giant waves formed on either end of the pool and flew towards each other in ever-rising heights. They struck each other mid-field, canceling each other out and leaving the field a mess of tiny eddies and bubbling residue from clashing waves. Each of their Pokémon were now nowhere to be seen.

“Both Pokémon took advantage of the obscuring effects of Surf to dive under the water!”

Beneath the water neither she or Fergus could see their Pokémon, so they’d be making their own calls for moves down there. A bubbling in the corner closest to Fergus was followed by a blast of Dragon Breath shooting out of the drink.

“Yes!” she cheered as the surface broke. ”What!?”

Not with Kingdra floating to the surface from a Dragon Breath head on, but from Gyarados being forced out of the water by a surface-breaking Kingdra, whose head was glowing like iron. Kingdra had struck Gyarados and flung him out of the water!

“A bit premature, Misty, you didn’t see what that battle looked like! Gyarados missed that Dragon Breath!”

“Well, we won’t miss this! Bulldoze!”

Gyarados’s tail glowed a brownish color as Gyarados contorted his body backwards so even as Kingdra’s head was slamming into his side the tail fluke could slap Kingdra like a bug. Still in the air both Water-types were now freefalling: Gyarados straight down and Kingdra in a hard angle to the right.

“Both Pokémon have taken damage and are about to take some more from the unforgiving harshness of gravity! Is there anything their trainers can do about it?!”

“Yeah! Ice Beam!”

Kingdra, still falling, shot the icy beam from its nostrils right at Gyarados, striking him on the side and adding more speed to his fall.

Both crashed in the pool without gentleness, their impacts sending great plumes of sprays all over the field and lower audience seats.

At the mixture of distress and awe the crowds had both Gyarados and Kingdra rose up from the water. Both looked worse for wear, but neither was done just yet.

“You’re not going to beat us at this rate! Kingdra, Hurricane!”

Instead of attacking with water Kingdra blew a great typhoon from its snout. The winds came at Gyarados at a great pace and she and Gyarados had seconds to respond or they’d get hit.

“Dragon Breath!”

The draconic winds and storm winds clashed with each other, battling it out before dispersing into stray breezes harmless to anyone but a Hoppip. Kingdra had vanished from sight once more.

“Quickly use Surf to rise out of the water!”

Gyarados obliged, a massive wave forming beneath him and raising him above the water. A blue head broke the surface just below Gyarados and flew inches past him: an Iron Head attack from Kingdra missed.

“Hurricane!”

Without turning Kingdra blew out the winds, blowing itself right into Gyarados’s back in a slamming charge. Gyarados cried out in pain as he was knocked off the wave into the water as Kingdra itself landed closer to Fergus after skipping like a stone for a bit.

Her Gyarados bobbed up to the surface, unmoving and face-down.

“Gyarados!”

No way. This couldn’t be…. not now. Maybe against Fergus’s own Gyarados but before….

“Gyarados is unable to battle!”

“Way to go, Kingdra! That’s two down and one more to go and we’re off to the Whirl Cup!”

“Dew!” Kingdra panted.

‘I can handle one more like that one. It’s not weak, but it’s not strong either.’

She returned Gyarados, the crowds cheering in impending climax. She looked sadly at his ball.

“Thought we’d manage to win there, Gyarados. Guess I was wrong. But I won’t let your work go to waste. I’ll see that we win this.”

If nothing against Kingdra. Its arrogance was getting on her nerves.

The Net Ball in hand, her final Pokémon was ready to go.

“Blastoise, I choose you!”

Fergus grinned upon seeing the former island ruler, though not because he recognized it.

“Sweet! A Blastoise!”

“Misty’s final Pokémon is a Blastoise! Can it turn this all around for her?”

Blastoise, in the moment before battle, turned his head to her and nodded. He would try to do what he could to win this. She nodded back. If they won this it would be wonderful, and if they didn’t she had a goal in mind for the Whirl Cup. They’d just see what happened next.

“Dragon Pulse!”

“Hydro Pump!”

They each gave a command as the two attacks clashed. The middle of the field was awash in a collision of draconic winds and spray as Kingdra vanished once more into the water.

“This again.” Misty was starting to get really annoyed at all of the use of going underwater.

“You’re a good battle above the water, but you still got to work a bit on battling under the water.” Fergus declared as the water around Blastoise’s island began to gurgle for another underwater Hurricane.

“Thanks, I’ll take that under advisory: Blastoise use Protect!”

Blastoise retreated into his shimmer shell as the storm rose up from the depths and began spinning the withdrawn shell with the gentleness of a typhoon. Blastoise’s shell continued to get battered but the shell shimmered with protection. Eventually Blastoise was blown free of the storm and popped out of his shell ready for a crash landing into the water below, but he suddenly withdrew his cannons.

“Blas!” ‘I see it!’

He then fired off a shimmering Flash Cannon right at the target, a blue head just visible beneath the waves. The attack crashed into the spot and released a giant gush of displaced water, though it was displaced by the splashdown of Blastoise a few seconds later.

He popped out of the water headfirst with little to show for his cannonball, while Kingdra floated up to the surface.

“Draa.”

“Kingdra is unable to battle!”

“Great initiative, Blastoise!” She praised as he nodded and swam to a concrete island. The crowds cheered loudly at the turn around.

“Blastoise was able to take advantage of the great height that Kingdra had blown him to and scored Misty a tying Flash Cannon! It’s now down to Fergus and his last Pokémon to decide who’s the grand winner today!”

Fergus smiled as he returned Kingdra.

“You did awesome. Take a good rest. We’ll finish it up.”

Fergus grinned as he held up one last Pokéball.

“I’m glad that wasn’t a clean sweep, because there is one Pokémon I want to win all of my big battles with where I can. Gyarados, I choose you!”

The crowd exploded into a fresh round of cheers as Fergus’s own Gyarados appeared, towering over the field and glaring at Blastoise. He aimed his cannons at it without fear.

“Blas.” ‘You’re a pretty big Gyarados, but I lived in the oceans. I’ve seen bigger.’

Fergus’s Gyarados hissed back something to the lines of ‘bigger doesn’t mean stronger.’

“Begin!”

“Hydro Pump!” She and Fergus shouted at the same time as both blasted their water blasts. Two smaller from Blastoise clashed into the massive one from Gyarados’s mouth, and both of the attacks cancelled each other out in a mutual storm of spray.

“Skull Bash!”

The distraction from the spray was used by Blastoise to propel himself forward like a rocket into Gyarados’s body, which struck the serpent and sent him toppling back. Blastoise landed in the water, cannons still aimed at the serpent as the great Gyarados stabilized himself and glared at Blastoise.

“Nice, but try this! Stone Edge!”

A spiraling ring of stones formed around Gyarados’s head before firing at her swimming turtle.

“Use Flash Cannon to tear them apart!”

From each cannon shot the blinding white light that tore through the stones like they were nothing. In the midst of the barrage Gyarados got in close to Blastoise, his body looming over Blastoise and casting him entirely in shadow. In the distraction of the attacks he had gotten in close and was ready to strike.

“Iron Head!”

“Protect!”

Gyarados slammed his head, shimmering a metallic sheen into the retracted Blastoise. Gyarados recoiled from the deflected blow, and now she had an opening.

“Now while he’s stunned! Hydro Pump!”

Blastoise’s cannons shot out of his shell as the water was shot into Gyarados’s body. This pushed the massive Gyarados back but it didn’t topple him. In fact, Gyarados seemed determined to stay in place and she wasn’t sure why, at least until she saw his fluke under Blastoise.

“You’re going to use Aqua Tail or Iron Tail! Quickly Blastoise…”

“Nah! Power Whip!”

Power Whip!?

Gyarados’s tail glowed green and suddenly thrust upward, throwing Blastoise into the air after a super-effective Grass-attack.

“Power Whip folks! You never expect a Grass-attack from a Gyarados, but there it is and Misty’s Blastoise is certainly feeling it now!”

“Blastoise, quick, use Protect!”

Blastoise did, retreating into his shell and landing on the island with the gentle touch of a skydiving Golem, but without any visible damage. He withdrew from his shell to see Gyarados right in front of the island he had landed on, a Power Whip once more sweeping at them.

“Use Hydro Pump to launch yourself away!”

The two water blasts did their job: they hit Gyarados and propelled Blastoise out of the way of the sweeping attack.

“Misty avoided another devastating attack and did more damage to Gyarados while she was at it! This battle isn’t over folks!”

“Hyper Beam!”

Gyarados fired the powerful beam just as the announcer finished speaking, the attack flying right into Blastoise as he was still blasting Gyarados. Meaning that not only did Blastoise take the attack head on, but he was still pushing himself away and in fact made the Hyper Beam blowback move even faster.

Meaning when Blastoise slammed into the stadium wall the impact was even more powerful than it would have been otherwise and when he fell off the now very damaged wall he sunk like a rock.

She only heard the start of a ‘Blastoise is unable…’ before she dove into the water after him.

Blastoise was still unconscious so she just had to aim her ball down at him and return him. He wasn’t moving anyway but down and she didn’t want him to hit the bottom. She darted back up to the surface as the crowds continued to cheer and a hand was outstretched to her.

“That was a good match. That last Hyper Beam was maybe a bit too strong.” Fergus declared. Despite the stunning feeling of defeat and all she couldn’t help but smile too.

“Yeah, and I made it worse with that Hydro Pump. Guess I’ll just have to remember that for next time.”

She grasped his hand in a handshake as the crowd cheered over the sportsmanship.

“Next time at the Whirl Cup, I’m sure you mean. Got to say you really do seem to know how to battle in the land and air. It’s underwater you are going to have to work on, but I’m sure you will.”

Yeah, she would.

At her nod he grinned.

“Of course if you want to get some practice in that I’ve got nothing to really do between now and the Whirl Cup but train. Want to do some together, maybe with a dinner or two?”

“Sorry, but I’ve already got someone to train and get dinner with.”

Fergus laughed.

“Ah dang it. Well if I’m remembering who I saw you with earlier right I can see why. Well good luck Misty. I hope to battle you again at the Whirl Cup. I’m sure it will be the perfect way to win it all.”

“For me you mean.”

“And that concludes the Indigo League Whirl Cup Qualifier! You’ll be seeing Fergus Blueman at next year’s Whirl Cup, and likely many of the other trainer’s you’ve seen here today! Be sure to tune in to the Johto League Whirl Cup Qualifier coming soon, and may all participants who have not done so please come for your free consolation prize!”

…

The sun was beginning to set behind the mountains surrounding the Indigo Plateau. All things considered, it was a good end to a good day, Misty thought.

‘You gonna stare at that thing the whole day?’ Psyduck asked as he waddled around next to her.

The girl pouted slightly. She couldn’t help it; even if it was just a consolation prize, a commemorative badge given just for taking part in the qualifier tournament, the crystal design stylized in the shape of waves, with some Water Pokémon carved on it, was beautiful and she liked it.

“It’s a nice souvenir. And it can make good night table decoration,” she replied. The duck was unable to contest the argument.

The qualifier tournament had consumed the better part of the afternoon. A real shame she missed out on Ash’s battle against Otoshi, but she was as certain that Ash would win as he was. Besides, she couldn’t deny she had a lot of fun during all these battles.

As she headed back to the bunk house area to meet up with everyone before heading out to meet up with Yellow, her eyes looked momentarily away from her Whirl Cup badge, focusing on someone ahead of her, his arms crossed and resting his back against a lamppost.

It was Fergus, and by the looks of it, he seemed to be waiting for her.

“Yo,” he greeted her with a raised hand, and she replied in kind before he approached her. “Have a minute to spare?”

“My friends are waiting for me, but I guess I do,” she said. “By the way, congrats again on winning, that was a pretty good battle. Haven’t had many against Water specialists like me in quite a while.”

“Thanks. Same here, you sure gave me a run for my money,” he replied modestly. “I almost didn’t believe you were the sister of those three running the Cerulean Gym. You planning on retaking it one day?”

“A few years from now, when I have more experience,” Misty said, trying not to roll her eyes.

Strangely enough, the reminder of her relationship with them was no longer as annoying as before. And then again, she couldn’t blame Fergus for bringing it up since his memory had been wiped and thus didn’t remember their mutual challenge as future gym leader.

So she wasn’t surprised in the least when it came next.

“I see, that means I’m having some tough competition, huh?” he replied in an eager tone. “Well, I guess that makes us kind of rivals. You see, I’ll compete on the regular league for a few more years, but if I don’t manage to win, I figured I could settle to become leader of that gym, and maybe restore it to its former glory.”

“That’s my line,” Misty challenged back. “I guess you’re telling me we’ll meet next year for a rematch?”

He nodded. “You got it. I might have qualified already, but the victory will be greater if I can fight strong opponents. So I hope you train hard during this year and make it through the preliminaries. I’ll be looking forward to see how strong you can get until then.”

She smiled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. Let’s make it clear, though; I don’t plan on losing the next time.”

“Me neither.” He offered a handshake, which she gladly accepted with a firm grip. “I’ll be looking forward to that rematch.”

Misty nodded in agreement, and Fergus then went his own way. She and Psyduck continued their own, as she felt a rush of excitement waving through her.

‘Why are you smiling like that?’

She glanced at the duck who seemed genuinely confused –more than usual, anyway. She just shrugged; she wasn’t sure why, but maybe it had to do with her having taken a nice souvenir from the tournament, and making a couple of friendly rivals on the side.

Which would only fuel even more her motivations to achieve her future goals.

In fact, now she thought about it, there was a bright side to losing the qualifier. Just like Ash could have skipped the other Kanto Gyms after Cerulean, but chose not to, going through the preliminaries meant more battles, and thus more experience for her.

‘And it’d be boring as hell to stay as a spectator,’ she thought, letting out a small giggle. ‘Especially if Ash plans on entering too when we get there.’

Yep, he was definitely rubbing off on her. And she liked it.

She might have not won first place, but in this case, being the runner-up gave her a better prize in the long run. There was no better way to conclude this day, except maybe celebrating Ash’s victory, of course.

A few hours earlier...

“No time to question my moves!I stick to the path that I choose! Me and my friends are gonna do it right!You'll never see us run away from a fight! To be a Master is my dream, All I've got to do is believe!

(And I believe!)

I've got a chance to win I'm on my way to victory! Poké…

She only stopped singing the song that had been playing everywhere earlier today when she realized she had not only gotten back to her room and spotted herself in the mirror.

Beyond making her wonder just how she had even gotten to her room in the first place (wasn’t she back at the stadium in the aftermath of the battle she was here to see today? There was catchy music playing afterwards but it was hours ago at this point) she looked like a bit of a mess. More so than usual anywhere.

She was told constantly since she got out to start seeing the world that she was actually pretty attractive.

‘Many parents call their children their own little princes and princesses, but so few of them look the part or ‘walk the walk’. Is that the appropriate term? I understand it is a term of endearment to be called a princess, but it is a bit silly to me. We all look the part of such things even before topics like truth and lies come into play. That includes you sister. A distinguished presence, distinctive features, a drive and goal towards our dreams. You have that same beauty as myself and the others, never tell yourself otherwise’.

Perhaps her older brother was just trying to be kind.

If she was to comb out the frizzled hair that seemed to be the result of sheer static from hundreds of cheering fans celebrating the end of an explosive match like nothing they’d have seen yet at the league it would still be a bushy mass of green hair that went down in something that looked both too short and too long to be ideal.

She had a big nose and glasses that made it so no one could see her eyes clearly through them. They mostly covered the marks on her cheeks too they were so thick.

Her clothes weren’t anything special. They were just clothes she valued more for having actual pockets than looking like anything. They looked like they had gotten a few stains from all of the cheering masses throwing stuff everywhere. Speaking of which...

*Ring-ring! Ring-Ring!*

She had all the pockets she could want to put things in, but when she actually needed to grab something…

”Phone phone where is it! Oh I know I put it in my pocket but which….”

She jammed her hands around the two pockets that hung in the front of her jacket but didn’t find the thing. Just a half dozen pens and some napkins. She was going to look at the pockets on her pants next when the phone floated up from behind her and hung in the air in front of her by telekinetic power.

“Thanks Ralts!”

A cheerful chirp came from bag where her friend had made a nest for herself. She took the phone in both her hands and got it on before it went to voice mail.

“It’s Ren.”

“So it looked like you enjoyed the celebrations after the battle. It was quick but I saw you here and there. Glad to see you had fun.”

She blushed horribly.

“You saw that brother? I must have been so stupid looking…”

An affectionate chuckle came over the end.

“I didn’t see any stupidity from you. If you want to hear me talk about stupidity, I can point out to at least forty-seven actual idiots doing idiotic things in the same shots I managed to see you in. You were having fun, nothing wrong with that.”

She rubbed her fingers together uneasily, a gesture that she knew he couldn’t see her do. It didn’t make her feel any less nervous.

“But I’m supposed to be doing things here. I’m not supposed to just ‘have fun’.”

“Ren Daemon.”

Her brother used her full name and that made her stop nervously running her fingers over themselves.

“I was the one who gave you a reason to go to Indigo for us. I know exactly what your job is and isn’t supposed to be. The minute the match was called you are ‘off the clock’ as they call it. You can do whatever you want then and it is no problem for me. In fact, I consider it the opposite. I want you to see the world and enjoy life the way you didn’t in that ‘focused community’ you grew up in. Experience a wider breath of life than I can right now sister.”

Her throat dried up at the honest request of her eldest brother. The reminder of where she had come from, and how he was still restrained. Though like herself there would soon be a way to get him free.

“You know I thought I saw some of the guys in the audience looking you over. You might want to make sure no one slipped you a number to call later in those pockets of yours. It would be rude to not at least text them that you are busy.”

She blushed again as she moved the hand not holding up her phone to her pockets to make sure there wasn’t anything there.

“You must have been seeing things. No guy has a reason to ask me out for anything.”

“Au contraire my sister. All in our family are beautiful and you are no exception. Ugliness is limited to the inside in our family, and you lack such wickedness. You’re too hard on what you consider shortcomings that you fail to see the rest of yourself. It doesn’t matter how a princess dresses or how she does her hair, she is still beautiful just as you are. I could go on but I do have business beyond my duties as the eldest.”

She blinked before nodding resolutely.

“Oh yes. I guess I haven’t really had a chance to talk about anything I noticed in today’s match. Which isn’t really about the match itself, well that is to say specifically about him. It’s more a pattern I’ve noticed.”

“I’ve never met a pattern I didn’t like.”

She nodded again as a notepad floated up from her bag courtesy of Ralts. It was a third set of notes she had in helping her brother.

The notes on Ash Ketchum.

“You wanted to see if there was anything that might support the declarations of a ‘Rookie Crusher’ about our brother being a ‘fake rookie’. I’ve caught as many of his battles as I’ve managed to get a seat for since and reviewed the battles I missed as well as the ones I saw live for anything I can gleam. It’s unrelated but…I am actually confused. I really didn’t know any Pokémon until Ralts and I know that they do get stronger battling, but do they like competing in tournaments like this? It all seems a bit iffy to me.”

She could almost hear her brother shrug.

“Pokémon both grow in combat and in general appreciate competition in its many forms. It’s something I’ve struggled to comprehend myself but if you need help to imagine where the lines are draw them at commercialization, abuse, and selfishness. It works for me at least.”

“It’s not so much a tournament as much as it ‘the tournament sponsored by Devon Corporation’.”

She could relate. Before she had seen a Pokémon in the flesh or known them as anything but ‘unimportant things’ she had been educated in the inner workings of corporate culture. She knew how the ‘magic’ of it all worked and it was something she could never unsee. No matter how much she’d want to.

“Back on topic about our little brother, and he really doesn’t look like either of us that much actually, I think I noticed something. While it is certainly true that none of his Pokémon seem to have been in active training for more than a year there is an oddity I noticed.”

She flipped through the notes she had took to the page where she had scribble out a spreadsheet before she realized her brother couldn’t see them via the phone. So she’d have to present her observations without visual aide.

“I noticed that alongside training to be physically stronger or tougher that the Pokémon also seem to have mental training. It’s a less obvious metric but there is an increased responsiveness among more experienced trainers than rookie ones. It’s not always a deciding factor but it does affect the outcome of battles like any other factor. I was doing the math and that is what is odd about many of his Pokémon. Now the most obvious reason for that is he had met a lot of his Pokémon before he left Pallet Town, but that wouldn’t really account for the fact I haven’t noticed any additional training. When it comes to that he’s no different from any other rookie in anything distinguishable.”

“Yet if he did have some of them at the time I’d have expected to hear that he used his Bulbasaur or Squirtle at the Pewter Gym instead of his Pikachu. I have heard of ‘self-challenges’ but it seems erroneous here.”

“That also wouldn’t explain his Tauros and Gigalith. Both of them were clearly captured in the Safari Zone later but they have that additional mental training, yet at the same time I didn’t see that in his Exeggutor or his Farfetch’d. Some of his Pokémon have it and some don’t and I can’t see a clear pattern to determine the answer.”

The sound of her brother’s ponderous humm filtered through the line as he absorbed what she had observed.

“Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, what mysteries do you hide amongst yourself and your team? When it comes time to meet you face to face, will I know what you are?”

The words hung in the air as she wracked her brain for anything else she could add. On the topic of Ash, she couldn’t think of anything relevant because she never could find him outside of battles. Indigo was too hectic for her to track someone in if they weren’t being displayed on monitors at a scheduled time. The last time she tried she had found another of their siblings and…

Oh wait!

“If you have a minute brother there is one other thing I noticed. Another of our siblings, Ritchie, has a Dream Ball.”

She had three notebooks she kept on her when doing tasks to assist her brother. The first and most filled with them were notes on the Dream World. She had begun her path to seeing the wider world because she had discovered it by chance and had been studying it for her own curiosities as well as that of her older brother.

Both her bloodlines facilitated such research: her Dominion made it easier for her to enter the Dream World reliably while the one she had inherited from her mom, whom she hoped was still enjoying retirement and freedom from that oppressive place she ended up getting a job in, was that of the Hypno species that let her better look into the dreams of others.

The third thing she had learned about the Dream World was that any Pokémon brought into reality by it, which was the second thing she had learned, were all tied to a Dream Ball.

“The two reside on different ends of the tournament bracket so you’ll have time to look into both and have some fun in between. Make sure you do, all work and no play doesn’t do anyone any good.”

She knew that from first-hand experience.

“Good luck and good work Ren. I always know I can trust you. Remember you’re free and you should enjoy life when it offers you it.”

With those words the phone call ended and she was left on those words.

Her brother was given everything that he ‘could’ want by their monster of a father. Everything except freedom to see the world and to be the one to decide what the world should become.

She had the freedom to see the world as much as she wanted now that she was free and could help her brother take the reins away from their father. She could enjoy life, though how was a bit of a question.

What did people do to enjoy life?

The door to her room opened and she left her thoughts to turn around to see who had entered her room without saying anything. She briefly imagined it could be someone following her from all of that fun she had instead of getting right back and that could be any sort of thing.

Was her brother right and some guy really did fall smitten with her?! She wouldn’t know what to do in that situation!?

However, any worry it was some stranger who had fallen smitten with her quickly left as she saw it wasn’t a stranger at all. Or strangers for that matter

“Ren! The Whirl Cup was awesome! Water Pokémon are actually so cool you should have seen them! This really nice girl even helped catch us our very own Pokémon and you won’t believe it she’s just like us! I can’t believe that the runner up is nice and a Bloodliner like us!”

“You’ve got to meet her Ren! She’s pretty and nice and a Bloodliner so she’s just like you! She could be your friend!”

Her smile was wide and genuine at the bouncing joyful charges who were bouncing and giddy.

Which was good because when she was only able to get one ticket for the Ash battle she was worried they might be disappointed to get a side tournament tickets on their own. She was happy to be wrong there.

“Oh she is?! That’s a surprise to me! I don’t know though; I am not really good with people, am I?”

As both her charges and Ralts voiced their disagreement she wondered if they picked up that she was sort of lying there. What she was truthfully saying was that she didn’t know that Misty was a nice girl who helped children.

She knew about her already because her brother had told her everything they did know about Ash and those around him when she had been given a third task for a short while.

Her first task being to study the dream world, and her second to watch over two orphans from Saffron that Hilda had stumbled on a few months ago to make sure that the King didn’t send the Executioner after them.

He had a dismal opinion on Bloodliners that gained their powers in the course of their lives as opposed to being born with them, especially boys like Casem. It was a short sighted choice made entirely for personal power, and one her brother was not going to repeat himself. Quite the opposite in fact. He had another like herself and Hilda looking into how it happened right then and now, and the feasibility of replicating the process at their own discretion.

END CHAPTER

OMAKE/EXTRA SEGMENT (CANON)

What was actually written of Ren Daemon’s story (attempt at entering Bulbagarden 2020 contest). Enjoy (maybe?)

Sleeping never came easy for her. As much as she appreciated any time she could get away from the stress of her waking life so much was always racing through her mind that she couldn’t get to sleep.

It was anxiety over tests. It was fresh words of insults still stinging. It was the feeling of disappointing those around her. It took her everything short of sleeping pills to fall asleep, and she had only not tried those for lack of access to them. If she did she would use them as religiously as she did their liquid opposite in the morning.

When she did sleep though, she always dreamed. She could always clearly remember them, and they were the relaxation she needed to continue with life.

Her dreams were like something out of a storybook: where color was bright but faded at the edge. The trees were glistening colors and the sky bright and clear with the fluffiness that reality always seemed to lack.

The ice cream she could find sometimes was also something beyond what she had tasted in life: it was always cold and didn’t start melting as she licked at it. It was also a flavor she had never found in life that her mind seemed only able to conjure in her dreams.

It was a bit of celebration to a day that, for all of the stress, had gone better than she had expected.

“Only thirty points were gambles. It’s going to be a solid pass. Thank goodness.”

She could say that aloud as much as she liked: in the storybook world of her dreams her ice cream wouldn’t leave her. Nor would anyone try to mess with it. No one would laugh at her for being happy at such a grade. Though there was something she wouldn’t be able to do here. Share ice cream.

It had been years since she and her mother had gotten out for ice cream together: and there was something missing just having it by yourself.

“Ra?”

She jolted up from the spot she had been sitting in surprise: a gnarled root of a massive tree, and dropped her ice cream.

She could only watch as the golden deliciousness fell to the unforgiving ground of her dream. Her heart felt like it was falling with it. However, before it could splat on the ground it glowed blue and stopped before. She could only stare at the defying of the rules of physics, and her eyes followed it as it floated upwards and in defiance of gravity back into her hand.

”Ra!”

Her eyes left the ice cream and peered down to the edge of a root where a little red thing popped over the top of it. The sound of something bouncing from behind it registered in her ears and she moved with a nervous, ice cream-less hand to reach and pick up whatever it was.

What she saw was something she had never seen before, and she wasn’t just talking about the specific. It was also in general.

“Are you are a Pokémon?”

It was a dumb question: it was not a person so what else could it be? The little creature was mostly white, with some sort of solid green growth with a red horn serving as something like hair. She couldn’t see its eyes, but she could see a little smile as it spoke.

“Ralts!”

It was barely over a foot tall, and it was cute. It also saved her ice cream. Whatever it was, it did deserve her thanks.

She put it down with her now empty hand before bringing the ice cream up to the little creature.

“Thank you for saving this for me. You want some?”

The little creature seemed to light up in joy.

My name is Rem Daemon. This is how my story truly began.