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by BloodOfPhantoms
Some things don't always go the way they're expected to. A Kalos fanfiction.
Chapter One
I continued to lay there underneath a tree, the blood from my body staining the snow around me a gory red. I could've easily lost my consciousness at that moment, but I just resumed panting, looking up at the overcast sky as my last moments were ticking away with each passing second. I should've known it was over before it began, although I still went with it in the end. A sigh escaped my mouth, even though that was all I could've uttered at that point without collapsing from the immense pain I felt. The blood stains on the snow became redder and redder as time passed. I wished that the cuts would've just stopped bleeding, but I was all out of choices. My vision began to blur drastically, and all I saw afterwards was a shadow as I turned to the left to see who or what it was. I could swear there were more shadows next to the bigger one, which I thought was a bit odd... but it didn't matter. I ran out of energy to go on, and my head fell in the snow below me, darkness filling my vision. I felt my breath leave my body one final time... and then I passed out. After that, I couldn't tell if I was still alive or not, but I highly doubted the former. If death is just eternal darkness, then death really is boring. Something seemed strange though. I could've sworn I was still breathing, but I figured it was just an illusion. All of a sudden however, I felt relief and I was finally able to open my eyes again. Around me, it looked as if I was in the exact same forest as I was in before, but I wasn't next to the tree... I shook my head as I slowly got up, not understanding any of this at all. My cuts were healed, and apparently my whole body was, too... but how? I looked up at the sky and could see that it was night time from just the moon and the black sky that was filled with a couple clouds which floated above. I'm an Umbreon, so I liked the spooky atmosphere of course... but this just seemed weird to me. Before I could think of any more thoughts, my vision faded to black again, but this time I didn't close my eyes. I felt a change in my surroundings as my paws touched something harder than the dirt that I was previously standing on. I was able to see shortly after as my eyesight became assaulted with bright lights. "Oh, my... gosh!" A girl with red, flowing hair immediately picked me up and... hugged me. "Thanks Nurse Joy!" She held me in one of her arms and waved with the other as she walked out of the strange building into an even stranger city. "Wait, what's going on-" I spoke, but then I remembered that she was human... and she probably didn't understand me at all. "I was so worried for you, Umbre... I thought you were gonna die in that forest, so I saved you." She put me down gently on the ground. Umbre?... That's not my name... and how did she save me in the first place... I thought before I remembered what had happened. The shadow. That must've been her. I shook my head to signal to her that my name was something else. "What?... Did you not want to be saved?" She looked confused and worried. I sighed, then shook my head in the other way to say yes. "Okay... so you wanted to be saved... then what were you saying no to?" I growled in frustration and looked up at her. She didn't seem to be that young, but she still didn't understand what I was saying. "Don't worry Umbre, I have a Pokemon that'll be able to help with communication, but that means we gotta go back to the hotel." I looked at the sky again, but it was night here too. I became confused once more, however, she picked me up anyway, surprising me a bit more this time. "We gotta go to the Monorail Station to get there, right over there." She pointed with her other hand at what I assumed was the station, right next to the weird building we came out of. Our eyes connected as we both stared into each others pupils. For some reason, I trusted her at that very moment. Maybe it was because we both had red eyes, or maybe she just had an aura that was like that... or maybe even both, I don't know, really. We kinda just clicked right then and there, and I knew she felt the same way too and trusted me as well. She entered into the station and talked to some lady that looked a bit older than she did, most likely an adult. How is this girl holding me and a bag at the same time... "Okay, go ahead." The lady said. "Thanks." She flashed a smile, then walked onto some sort of vehicle... or so I thought. Is this the Monorail?... She sat down on a seat and began to hum a little as a few other people got on. "Oh," She stopped humming as the vehicle or monorail began to move, "we should be there in a few minutes, Umbre." "By the way, my name's Abigail, or Abi for short." She said, stroking my fur with her hand softly. I purred in response, which made her giggle a bit. "I'm sure we'll be good friends, but first we gotta work on the communication thing." A few minutes passed and the monorail stopped to a halt. Abigail let go of me and stood up. "Okay, come on Umbre." I followed her as she walked out of another station along with the rest of the people that were in there with us and back outside again. The surroundings seemed a bit different... and then I realized what the vehicle was for. This must be another part of the same city... but didn't that lady say something... or was I just not paying attention?... I thought back for a moment while I followed her subconsciously. She said something about a Coumarine... no, that's this city's name, isn't it. I bet it is. Surprisingly, I was thinking so much that I didn't even notice we had already entered yet another building, this one different from the rest. It was most likely the hotel she had mentioned earlier. "You'll need to be careful with these," She said as she walked up some elevation structure or something of the sort, "they're called stairs, so just take it slow when you're walking up or down them, alright?" I listened to what she said and climbed up the stairs, which took a bit longer than I expected. Abigail then walked down some sort of hallway and fumbled for something in her bag. "Found it." She said as she took out something metallic from her bag and stuck it in a hole, turning it to unlock a door. Being in a forest for all my life, I had almost no idea what most of these things were, but I knew some things, that's for sure. I took a few steps inside of the room as I walked behind her after she closed the door, then froze at what I saw.
Chapter Two
"Guys, look! Umbre's back to full health!" Abigail smiled, picking me up from the floor, giving me a closer view at the three other Pokemon that were in the room on top of a bed. There was a female Meowstic, a Braixen, and what seemed to be a Luxio all on that one bed, sitting down and talking with each other until they saw Abigail... and then me. They just stared at me as Abigail rested me onto the bed with them. Why does she have Pokemon other than me?... I looked up at Abigail. Unless she's a... A Pokemon Trainer, of course. I couldn't believe that I didn't notice before, but I just didn't. "Umbre, these are my other Pokemon, so I hope you're not jealous or anything." She smiled as her Pokemon did too. The Meowstic and the Luxio walked up closer to me... to which I just sat down and didn't say anything. "Don't be shy, Umbre." The Meowstic laughed. "We're your friends." "No we aren't..." The Luxio countered. "We aren't?" "No, we don't know if this guy is dangerous or not... so we gotta stay cautious." "He's not dangerous if we found him beaten to a pulp." The Braixen snickered as she inserted herself into the conversation. "Besides, we can always handle him if he decides to fight us." These are all the Pokemon most likely... but they're all girls... "First of all, my name isn't Umbre," I stated to them, pointing at Abigail who was now on the other bed in the room next to the one I was on, lying down and taking a break. "I've been trying to tell her that for the past few minutes now, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't understand me when I speak." "Well duh, she's human," The Meowstic laughed, "that's why I'm the only one that can talk to her... because I'm a Psychic type." Wait... this is what she must've meant by a Pokemon being able to help with- okay, this is good. "I still think he seems dangerous." The Luxio muttered. "I'm not, but I need your help with something-" "Oh right! I forgot to tell him your names, my bad..." Abigail got up from the bed and looked at the Meowstic. "Thanks for reminding me, Annabelle." "See? I got this." Annabelle winked at me. "Okay, well as I just said, my Meowstic's name is Annabelle and uh... my Luxio's name is Eliana, and my Braixen's name is Akira." "So, what's your name, then? I'll tell her." Annabelle smiled. "Nova." "Really? Umbre's better, you know." I growled a little bit at her response. "Just tell her, already." "Fine, fine." Annabelle turned her head to Abigail, and Abigail turned her head to her, both of them most likely talking via telepathy. "Umbre... your name's actually Fru-Fru?..." Abigail asked. I growled at Annabelle while she and the rest of them laughed. "Hmm, lighten up a little, will you Nova?" She purred. "Tell her my actual name." I waited for a couple minutes, trying to decipher what they were saying, but their expressions didn't give much away. "Oh... it's actually Nova," Abigail looked down at Annabelle, "that was kinda mean, Anna." Annabelle shrugged. "I like Nova better than Umbre, so I'll stick with it, okay Nova?" Abigail stroked my fur again, making me smile a little. "Oh, I gotta go do something right now, so I'll be back later." She said, running over to the door and opening it, carrying her bag with her as she stepped out quietly. "Your name sucks," Akira said as soon as Abigail left, "Abi just said that to make you feel better." "You don't know that." I responded, glaring at Akira. "Well, that's what I think, anyway." She smirked. "Th- th- that's not true," Eliana stuttered a bit, "I think your name is great, Nova." "Huh? I thought you all hated me." "Nah, it's mostly just me." Akira snickered. "Me and Annabelle were kinda shocked when we saw you there under that tree, and we thought you weren't gonna live, but I guess you did after all." They must've been the other shadows, then... "Hmph, your name's okay, I suppose, but I'm glad you lived." Annabelle smiled a little. What a weird group of Pokemon... but I'm fitting in, which is even weirder, I think. I sighed, "I'm not dangerous to answer your question from before, by the way." "That's good to hear..." Eliana giggled, "Say, do you wanna go on a stroll with me outside? I can't stand being in here for a really long time." That's sudden... I'd look bad if I decline, though. "Umm, sure." I answered her after coming out of my thoughts. Eliana jumped down from the bed and walked over to the door, standing up on her hind legs to open it. The door creaked as she used her paw to open it more. "Are you guys coming?" She looked back at the others, to which they declined. "Oh, okay... we're still gonna have fun though, so you're missing out!" Eliana turned and ran out of the door and into the hallway. "Hold on, I'm coming-" I closed the door behind me and turned my head to look at her, but she was already gone. Maybe I should've thought this through more... I sighed as I facepawed, walking down the stairs to follow her.
Chapter Three
Walking down the stairs of the hotel, I could see that she had already opened the front door already. "Gee, what's taking you so long..." Eliana groaned, "You're not fast at all." "I'm not rushing... now stop being annoying." I walked out of the hotel right as she did. She sighed, "I'm not annoying, just impatient." "Oh sure..." I looked for her name in my head, but I had completely forgotten it. "Eliana... but my friends call me Eli, also, your memory is bad." "I know, it's a little bit off, but I try." I looked around the city some more and saw some things I didn't really pay attention to at first. There were a lot of ships on the waters, which would explain the marine part in 'Coumarine', I guess. "How did I get here, Eli?" I said, breaking the short silence between us. "Well..." She paused, "Abigail had to capture you in a Pokeball because she didn't want to risk you bleeding out I think... and then she said she was gonna carry you to a Pokemon Center once we got back to the city... and well, here you are." I remained silent. "Is that why... is that why I thought I was back in the forest?..." I had realized that I accidentally said this out loud, but I didn't mind. "Maybe, because Pokeballs in general are supposed to have an ideal place for the Pokemon that's caught, so your ideal place must be a forest... especially if that's where you came from in the first place... but it's not real, of course." We stopped walking as we arrived on top of a small hill which stood above the ocean, providing a great view of the rest of the city and the waters that surrounded it. Eliana sat down and yawned. "That's what Abigail told me, at least, but I think it's true... especially because I have a Pokeball, although Abigail thinks all Pokemon should be free most of the time." "Um... that's a bit hard to believe, but it makes sense." I replied. "Yeah, definitely," She nodded, "also, Abigail is originally from Sinnoh, if you know where that is... and that's where she got me, making me the first Pokemon on her team." She said that in a show-offy manner, which made me laugh. "What are you laughing for?" She sounded offended. "Just because you're the first doesn't mean you're the best in this case." "I didn't say that!" She retorted. "Yeah, but you meant it, and you can't lie about that." "Well I... I..." Eliana stuttered, probably knowing that I was right, "I don't care." "Besides, what do you know? You just got here... you're not so special, Nova." "I don't have to be," I stated, "I would honestly prefer to be back in the forest I came from, but I wouldn't want to disappoint Abigail after she saved my life." "Yeah, and you better not," Eliana growled, "or- or, I'll beat you up for it." I rolled my eyes. "You'll make up for it by staying in her team and doing as she says, including beating the gyms she wants to face along the way." "A... a gym?" "Yeah, a gym. Where you gotta battle the Gym Leader's Pokemon and win for your trainer." I almost laughed at what she was saying, but realized by her expression that she wasn't joking. "Oh, you're serious..." I rolled my eyes again. "That's absolutely the dumbest thing I've ever heard of in my life." I yawned. "It's not dumb!" Eliana growled once again, "it tests your speed, stamina, strength, and all those other words by battling!" "So it just makes you stronger, is what you're trying to say." Eliana calmed down. "Exactly... and it's not something to joke around about... because it means so much to Abigail, so much that we've already cleared four gyms in total." "Okay... I'll help... but how many more gyms are there to complete?" I asked. "Four more, and then there's the Elite Four and the Champion... even though when I asked Abigail through Annabelle, she said she might not go through with the Elite Four because she's proud enough of us already." "Then why does she want to do the rest of the gyms then?" "Because she wants to see some of us evolve and all of us get stronger, duh!" Eliana sighed. "She's taking her time though, so that's why we've been in this city for a while... and she's a bit unsure about certain things, but that's expected of people... and well, everyone!" I nodded, a bit happy that she was finally making more sense. "By the way, what happened with you in that forest?... Because I saw more blood from afar, and I don't think that blood was yours from the look of things." So she's not dumb, huh... "Look, I was fighting a Zoroark and things happened, and I lost... but I managed to deal a devastating blow before I did, causing us to both bleed..." I continued on, taking a deep breath before doing so. "Which most likely means that the blood you saw was from him, not me." She took a while to think of another question, which made me yawn again. "But why did you fight another Dark type in the first place..." "Because things happen." I said a bit aggravated, silencing her for a little bit. "I just wasn't strong enough to beat him, but someone else will probably do it for me... hopefully." Plus, that's the least of my problems right now... I don't even know how tough these gyms are gonna be. "So does that mean you're strong regardless of not being able to beat him? Or are you weak?..." She finally got the courage to speak again. "It's... complicated." I said. "Alright... I think I understand a little bit better," She shrugged, "we should probably get back to the hotel though before it gets too late..." She began walking back as I followed her, taking one last look at the moon that night before entering the hotel again and walking up to the room. Everyone else was asleep by then, and both of us got onto the bed as well. I fell asleep shortly afterwards, and just let relief wash over me once more.
Chapter Four
As I slept, I could feel something warm next to me, but I tried to ignore it even though it became warmer... and that didn't work in the end. "Nnnf." I grunted as I opened my eyes and stared in surprise as Eliana cozied up next to me, her right hind leg on top of my lower body as she moaned slightly and rubbed against me unconsciously. "Dude... wake up." I whispered, her ears perking up at my voice and her eyes opening slowly. "Wha... what!" She scooted away from me on the bed almost immediately, which made me feel something on my fur. I looked down at what it was, my eyes widening at what I saw. "Y-you slut!" I shouted but kept my voice as hush as possible, still trying to keep my composure. "I-I'm not a slut! And be quiet, Abigail's still sleeping!" I turned my head to look at where the other bed was. She wasn't lying... but I didn't even know Abigail was back until then. Looking back at her, I pointed at the wet spot on my fur. "Then how do you explain this, huh smart stuff?" "It was an accident, h-honest!" Eliana growled softly, "But oh my god, it felt so good..." She then rubbed herself onto the bed, staining it a bit with her liquid but moaning from delight at doing so. "You have a heat... at your age?" I got up and looked at her funny, "That's not supposed to happen, really." "We're practically the same age! I just sound young!" She continued rubbing herself onto the bed. "Well... that would make sense considering you haven't evolved into a Luxray yet." "I-I know!" Eliana stopped rubbing, "B-but it hurts sometimes, like, right now... and I'm too embarrassed to tell anyone..." I could hear a bit of movement coming from Abigail's bed, signalling that she was probably gonna wake up at any moment. "How about I help by fucking the absolute shit out of you?" I snickered, "Would that help?" "No, that'd take too long! I need something right now and- and-..." She paused in her speech, then it seemed as if she had come up with an idea. "We wouldn't have to wait for the right moment if we just go to the daily training session with Abigail this morning! There'd be tons of opportunities, because they wouldn't really miss us if we're gone, and once Anna and Akira start fighting, we're sure to have a chance!" "Daily... training session?" I said, confused. "Okay, maybe I exaggerated with the 'daily' part because Abigail does take breaks from it sometimes, but it's where we fight with each other in a friendly battle to gain experience in battling, understand?!" She shouted. "Y-yeah, I understand, but I thought we were supposed to be..." I looked over at Abigail as she had gotten up from the bed, yawning, "Silent... right." "You two are up already?..." Abigail said groggily, "Oh well, I guess that's just how things are sometimes." "By the way Nova, now that you're a part of the team, you should join us in these training sessions we have, it's really important for the whole team to get stronger-" My mind zoned out as she spoke, knowing that what she was saying was basically the exact same thing Eliana had said in a nutshell... then it zoned back in afterwards. "Also, because of this, you guys should wake Annabelle and Akira up too while I get ready, they're a bit enthusiastic about the whole fighting each other thing, but I'm not really sure why," She shrugged, going into what I assumed was the bathroom and closing the door. "I don't understand humans much..." I said before turning my attention to Eliana, who was shaking both of them to wake up. A few minutes passed and nothing interesting happened until Abigail came out of the bathroom, dressed in a white dress and shoes this time instead of the black alternative to this outfit which she was wearing earlier. "I liked the other look better... those dark stockings made her look hot." Akira commented, licking her lips. Great, another weirdo in the group... I wonder if Anna's any different... hmm. I thought more quietly this time, not sure if Annabelle could've read my thoughts or not. "Okay, we gotta get ready, so you guys can take any of the berries from my bag and eat them for breakfast... then we can head to the forest after that." Abigail said, eating some berries herself shortly after. Everyone else got on the other bed and gathered around the bag, taking some berries and following along... so I decided to do that as well. The walk to the forest didn't take so long, but it sure did bring back some memories. I never would've expected someone like Abigail to figure out a path to a place like it, but she did, and she must've been used to it by now from how much berries she had stored in her bag, unless they were from somewhere else. It also explained how she found me too... which I had previously thought was just a coincidence... but I could've still been right, because I really didn't know how she found me in that exact spot. However, I just went with it. I had no choice in the matter at that time, anyway. "Hmmph..." Eliana groaned a bit as she walked, and I would've laughed, but at that point, I somehow felt sorry for her a little. No one else noticed her groaning, or at least they didn't say anything about it. Before I knew it, we had arrived at a clearing. "See, Nova? This is where we train currently, but sometimes we switch the location depending on the city we're in and stuff." Abigail told me. "Uh-huh." I nodded in response. "To start off and show Nova what you guys have been practicing, how about two of you battle to show him some moves you've learned?" "I volunteer." Annabelle took a few steps over to the middle of the clearing. "Ha, you're on, bitch." Akira walked over to the middle of it too as they began to stare at each other. "Thanks guys! Now let the battle... begin!" Abigail shouted. The two of them started to square off, moving around the clearing and using the space around them to their advantage. I became interested in the battle surprisingly, but my focus got interrupted as Eliana poked me on the right side of my body. "Nova... please, we gotta go now, I can't hold it any longer..." She shook a little as she begged. "Fine... there should be another clearing around here anyway, as that's usually the case with areas like these." I began walking to the left of the forest as Eliana ran ahead of me.
Chapter Five
"You were right! I found one!" She said, running into the middle of what appeared to be a smaller clearing to the one we were in before that was a bit over medium sized. I followed her and chuckled a bit. "Do you really want to do this? I mean, we're practically about to have sex-" "Yes, yes, but please don't say the s word... please." She spoke in a hurried manner. "Now, what do I do? I've never even done something like this before... but I just want the pain to end..." "I'll handle it... just relax." I slowly reached for her mouth and pulled her in for a kiss, almost as if forcing her to relax. From there, it was easy to lay her down on the ground gently. As we kissed, I could feel my shaft growing in length and rubbing against her pussy, making a squishing noise from which I could tell meant that she was still wet. We broke the kiss shortly after. "What's taking so long?" She growled impatiently as I toyed with her a little, snickering. "Alrighhht, I'll get this over with." I slowly went inside her and stopped, completely forgetting that she was a virgin. "Ugh, what now?!" "This is going to uh... probably hurt... a lot." I said right before I rammed inside of her, taking her virginity away from her as she held back a scream. "...Well, at least you remembered to be quiet." "O-o-oww..." She groaned in pain as I started to thrust. "You deserved that for being such a slut, anyway." I said as I started thrusting into her, "The pain should go away eventually..." "You better be right..." She said, moaning a little. "See? I knew you would like this..." I smirked, slowing down on purpose just to tease her more. "Pl-please go faster... I want you to... please, Nova..." Her tail swung around on the ground excitedly, making me a bit more aroused as the sides of her hind legs leaned on mine. "Alright, I'll play fair~" I went at normal speed again, except this time I was gaining momentum. She moaned more and purred attractively, making me more and more aroused. "Oh my god... you're actually making me feel..." I groaned, cumming inside of her. "Just keep going... it doesn't matter what happens, just..." She cummed back, covering my shaft entirely in her thick fluids. "H-how can you be so good if you haven't even evolved yet..." I thrusted harder into her, her walls still kind of tight as more of my seed was released into her, but she seemed to take it well. Is this what someone with a heat is like?... No, she's probably just this good... but still, how... My thoughts ceased as I groaned more, thrusting slower as I was becoming exhausted. Eliana's pussy was literally leaking more and more from every thrust, some of it spilling onto the grass below. Her walls were finally loosening around my shaft, which caused me to release once more inside of her. I used this opportunity to pull out of her, feeling relief as my shaft began to disappear underneath my fur again gradually. "W-what do I do now?" She said, panting as she sat up, looking down at herself, "I'm a sticky mess right now..." I was panting too, so much that I couldn't really say anything for a while. She stood up normally on her legs afterwards, smiling widely. "But I feel soooooo good now~" She purred with joy. "Yeah... that's expected..." I sighed, surprised that she had taken so much out of me. My shaft was finally hidden fully back in my fur again, and I smiled back at her. "I guess we're mates now, huh?" I snickered more, "Who would've thought... heh." "Yeah, heheh~" She blushed, "But seriously, I gotta clean myself up... or the others would definitely notice..." "Go find a lake or something... and then come back once you're done... I'll go back to them in the meantime." "Alright..." Eliana began walking in another direction as I did too, arriving back at the previous clearing soon after. To be honest, I admit that I wasn't really trying with this story as much as I did with the others. However, I won't let the other chapters that I'm supposed to write for this be bad at all, so I'll actually try hard when I get around to doing that. This story is supposed to be relatively shorter than the other stories I've made, but I should make another one soon to further compensate for the beginning of this one.
Chapter Six
When I got back to the clearing, I could see that Annabelle had already lost the spar. Akira stood over her as Annabelle laid on the grass, panting. The flaming stick she carried was right in Anna's face, and Akira grinned at her victory. "Not so tough now, are you?" She said before turning around and walking over to Abigail. None of them seemed to have noticed that Eliana and I were gone, which was good. You're not gonna win your 'gym battles' if you don't support everyone equally, Abigail. I thought to myself, watching her lift up Akira with excitement and give her a few typical compliments. In the meantime, I walked up to Anna and helped her up. Her fur was a bit out of place and she seemed to be still exhausted from the fight. "A-are you alright, Annabelle-" "Yeah, I'm fine," She said, interrupting me in my speech as she glared at Akira from the distance, "By the way, even though you're a Dark type, I can still predict what you're gonna say, Nova... and I can predict things like that pretty well, too." "Well, that is only natural..." My eyes followed hers as I continued to watch Abigail celebrate Akira's victory, and I could sense Annabelle's hatred surging through her as she observed them in the act. "Abigail had caught me by chance... and nothing more, but she has shown a liking to me in the past... just not as much as her, though," Annabelle sat down, crossing her legs and resting her arms on top of them, "I always wished that Abigail would treat me just like Akira, so that's why we're really competitive when it comes to sparring... but each and every time, I've lost..." Anna's face was filled with sorrow, but no tears escaped from her eyes. I figured she was one of those persons that didn't cry so much, or that she was just used to losing by now. "Well, I'm sure every trainer has their favorite Pokemon out of the batch, honestly..." I paused for a moment, realizing that I wasn't really making things better for her. "But," I continued, "I don't think Abigail's the type of trainer to abandon you either... because when I saw her for the first time, she seemed to have a really nice aura about her." Annabelle remained quiet for a few minutes, then sighed. "I really hope you're right about that, Nova," She suddenly looked at me with a curious expression on her face, "But why do you smell like if you-" My ears perked up at the sound of footsteps coming from nearby, and I immediately turned in the direction of where they were coming from as Annabelle did the same. I might've dodged a bullet there with her question... but... who the fuck could have such heavy footsteps that my ears could've picked up on?... The question remained in my head for a while, so long that I could see Akira looking in the same direction after they were done celebrating, probably a bit nervous from how she appeared to be stunned in motion. Abigail picked up on the footsteps too, but we still didn't know what was coming our way. I wasn't all too prepared to fight, although I was willing to do so if I had to protect Abigail along the way... no matter what.
Chapter Seven
"What..." I said, squinting as my vision began to blur, but I was able to make out someone tall, on four legs, and... blue? The realization hit me immediately when they fully stepped out of the dense undergrowth, and then I was... shocked. Maybe not the best choice of words unless I wanted to make puns, but I really was shocked. Eliana had evolved into a... a Luxray. In her mouth was a Magikarp, and everyone else looked pretty surprised, too. It'd explain why they didn't move, so I decided to be the first, walking up to her slowly but cautiously, still not sure if it was really her or not, but by the odds, it seemed possible. "Hey... uh, Eli," I faked a smile, looking up at her from the new height. She was a lot taller than I was now... although it did make me respect her more. "N-Nova, I washed off like you said I should've..." She quietly announced to me, dropping the Magikarp from her mouth. Her voice was... a lot more mature now, to say the least. She didn't sound like she was squeaking 24/7 like before, and it sounded more adult-like... in a teenage sort of way. "Oh, that's good... and you've... caught a fish." I sighed. "It sprang up on me, okay?" Eliana looked away, then realizing that everyone was still watching her in shock. Abigail was the second to snap out of it, running over to Eliana in excitement and hugging her tightly, as much as she could due to Eliana's new size. "Eliana, you've finally evolved! That's so great! If you were smaller, I would hug you to death right now, but this hug'll do for now." Abigail smiled, squeezing her tighter and nuzzling her fur. Eliana blushed slightly, but purred in pleasure. Looking over at Akira, she seemed pretty pissed that her attention from Abigail was over... and Annabelle... just stared. Her stare was so blank that I couldn't see a smidgen of emotion on her face, even when I tried to squint my eyes to see her better... nothing. It creeped me out. Abigail stopped hugging Eliana and looked down on the ground. "You've caught a Magikarp too... so that must be why you evolved, huh..." Abigail said, picking up the Magikarp and examining it in her hands. "I-it's already dead? But I barely even touched it..." Eliana whispered, a bit too loud if she was trying to talk to herself, though. "It's a Magikarp, of course it's already dead," Akira walked over, butting into the conversation, "just because you caught one and you evolved doesn't mean you're special, Eliana." Eli growled back in response, to which Akira smirked. "I'm getting really tired of you." I stated bitterly, glaring at Akira. "I agree," Annabelle replied, joining in, "she's becoming a pest even more than she was before." "WHO ASKED YOU, DIPSHIT?!" Akira glared at Annabelle, "Oh wait, that's right, no one... now shut. up." "Make me, bitch." Annabelle responded as they both raised their paws to attack. "Guys, guys, guys!" Abigail shouted, breaking up the fight just in time, "No fighting between us, other than spars! Plus, can't you see that Eliana's evolved? This is a great occasion, so you shouldn't be fighting..." Annabelle and Akira continued glaring at each other. "Please," Abigail begged. After a while, they eventually broke their stares with each other. Abigail sighed, putting the Magikarp back down on the grass and going into her bag for something. "If you guys can't get along, for the safety of both of you, you leave me no choice." She said, taking out two Pokeballs and pressing each button in the center as the devices released a red ray of energy, taking both Annabelle and Akira inside each of them in mere seconds. A wave of quietness came down on me as I sighed in relief, knowing that those two were finally gone for now... especially that annoying Braixen. Abigail looked a bit sad, but she seemed serious, too. "Eliana, do me a favor and carry the Magikarp back with us to the city, okay?" Eliana nodded to her request and grabbed the fish with her mouth again. We all began walking after that, finally going back home to rest after a... really odd morning. I walked up a little bit closer to her and she looked down at me while walking. "I-I'm really sorry you had to see that Nova... with me going all authoritative and stuff... but I had to if I wanted to avoid any casualties with them." I nodded in understanding, hoping she understood what it meant. It seemed so, because took the response just fine and continued walking. "By the way... tomorrow's gonna be the big day, just so you know." I stopped in my tracks as we arrived at the city and she noticed, turning around to look at me. "The others told you by now, didn't they?..." There was a long pause in the air. "We're gonna battle the Coumarine Gym Leader... and win."
Chapter Eight
We arrived back at Coumarine City rather early, and I hardly even noticed with all my the thoughts that circulated in my head. I knew Abigail was a good trainer, yet I didn't know what gyms were like... and if I was the reason she failed, I wouldn't know what to do with myself after. Then again, it could've also been one of the easiest things ever, but I highly doubted it. I was surprised I hadn't seen the building already if it was in the same city... although remembering that there were two parts to this one place made sense. It must've been on the other side for me to have not seen it, or so I thought. That seemed like the most logical explanation, anyway, because I am really observant for an Umbreon. I stopped in my tracks when I finally looked up to see Abigail missing and Eliana the only one with me. I took a sniff of the air, and it was still salty from the sea as usual... I honestly don't know why I expected it to change, to be honest. "Where's Abigail?" I asked. "You weren't paying attention, were you?" I shook my head left to right. Eliana sighed, "She said that she was gonna get some guy she knew to make some sort of soup out of the Magikarp I caught, so she took it and carried it to get him to prepare it." "Oh right..." I said, completely forgetting about that fish up until then. Looking around, I could tell that we were by the hotel again, only after taking a better look at my surroundings, however. I can't believe I almost forgot how this place looked. "So... she just left us here, outside of a hotel where we can get shot by hunters or the like? Are you joking?" I sighed, thinking that Abigail must not have been the brightest star in the sky. "It's called trust, Nova, and who'd wanna attack me or you anyway? We'd mess them up, am I right?" Eliana playfully pushed me, but it resulted in me almost falling down from her sudden boost of strength. "W-woops, sorry... I didn't know I was that powerful now... I didn't even try to push you much." "I know," I growled under my breath, getting back up fully from the ground and walking over to the side of the hotel atop the hill where we were the other night, Eliana following me along the way. "I did say I was sorry..." She sighed, trying to stare at me with her sparkling yellow eyes, but I looked away and instead watched the ocean below us, and observed the ships moving up and down from the unbalanced waters while they were docked. "I can make it up to you if you want..." She purred, walking closer to me until pulling me into a sudden kiss as I glanced at her. She was a bit small for a Luxray, and I've seen Luxrays before, so our height wasn't really that big of a difference, but... she was a good kisser, I admit. I held the kiss for a couple more minutes, savoring every moment of it before she broke it. "No one's around to see us right now, so we can do it again, right?..." She whispered seductively right before pushing me gently back onto the ground, her scent becoming more apparent in this position. "But what if Abigail comes back and sees us? It could mean trouble, so we shouldn't really be doing this right now..." I suggested. "Oh... that is true." She groaned in boredom, sitting down as I got back up. "Maybe some other time, though?... You're a Luxray now, so everything about you should be somewhat different... and I wouldn't mind finding out those differences myself." I smirked, then winked at her and began to walk off. "Where are you going?" Eliana asked, beginning to follow me again like if she was my pet. "Go back," I replied, "I'm just going for a little solo stroll, that's all." "Okay, b-but be careful..." She sighed, then walked back up the hill and sat down, allowing me to walk off on my own at last. I hadn't felt that free since I lived in the forest, walking around on my own and such. I could still feel Eliana's eyes on me from the hill, and well, other people that walked by stared at me a bit weirdly too, probably just because it's off to find a lone Umbreon roaming around a city. I didn't let them bother me, however, and continued to explored on my own. The city smelled like salt all the time, sure, but in all fairness, I thought it was pretty beautiful sometimes, especially in the afternoon, which was the current time when I began my stroll. I took a closer look at the ships that lined up and moved on the small waves of the ocean, which was nice. I also saw the Monorail Station again when I was walking down the path of the hotel... it never really interested me that much. I didn't really like my experience with the Monorail simply because it's a bit loud for my ears, crowded with people and moves to be fast to ever be considered comfortable. With the ranting out of the way, I guess the only thing it's good for is it's purpose to get from one place to another, so putting aside the little flops here and there is maybe the best way to go. Walking more though, I found something a bit... interesting to say the least. Two abandoned stands... a bit odd, just because in a sort of busy-ish place like this, people should be using the stands to sell things. Pokemon in the forest always told me people had greed in them, so why didn't they? I entered one of the stands and examined it, playing around a little and not really paying much attention to what I was doing. It was my fault when my heart skipped. Underneath one of the little areas under the stand, presumably to rest the stand owner's legs under, was a message. It read: The Night Watchers See All. The message was scratched, and the handwriting was a bit ragged, but recognizable. I panicked when seeing this and hit my head on the side of the stand while trying to run off and back away, falling down to calm down a few minutes later. I... I didn't understand what a message like that meant, or what it signified... I don't know. It's just... really odd to find that in a stand. After coming out of the one with the message, I reluctantly- at first, checked the other one to make sure it didn't have a secret message too. Nothing. Crawling out of the last stand, I was literally spooked. So spooked that I went back to where Eliana was... and then I noticed that Abigail was back. "Nova," Abigail said in a child-like manner, almost as if she was mocking me, "where have you been off to, huh, huh?" I was in too much of a daze to notice that she picked me up until I was actually put back down. If she had nuzzled me, I didn't feel it. It was almost like I was in a total state of shock and uneasiness, even more than when Eli evolved. "Oof, I should be a bit more careful when handling stuff like this..." Abigail had a bowl in one of her hands that was a bit large for me, and most likely medium size for her. She held it carefully in her grip, re-adjusting how she held it to be more careful. Eliana was going crazy over what she had in the bowl, going closer to Abigail, staring it down and moving her tail like a clock on steroids. "I want some- I want some- don't you Nova? I know you want some..." She did a small jump, which made me laugh a bit due to how funny it looked. "Eliana, be careful! I don't want it to spill!" Abigail retreated inside the hotel and pushed the door open while Eliana ran after the bowl. I stood there outside for a while and thought. So many thoughts. They were... oddly peculiar this time around, though. They were unsynchronized... and unbalanced. Almost chaotic if I were to go that far. They could've driven me mad in mere seconds... I chose to resist it and shook my head, groaning at the sudden headache. I walked inside the hotel and went up the stairs, the door to Abigail's room already opened... widely too. 'She's so irresponsible', I would say if that didn't sound like it came from my parents... the lame-o's. I tried to close the door behind me and succeeded, then turned around to see... them. And by them I mean, them. "So we're back at the hotel... and you're still a slut," Akira peeked at Eliana then yawned, covering her mouth with her paw, "boring." Eliana growled, tackling Akira onto the bed and holding her down in her strength, the Braixen struggling to get up. "G-get off me," Akira got one of her hands out of Eliana's grip and punched her right in the cheek, sending her collapsing off of the bed and onto the floor. Eliana growled again and got up, "Fuck off!" "..." Abigail just watched, and so did Annabelle. She then put the bowl down and took a deep breath in and out. "As soon as you come out of your Pokeball, you begin to cause fights..." She got up close in Akira's face and pointed her finger at her. "You better watch it, Akira... because you're starting to split my team apart, and even though I chose you as a starter, I can easily take you out of my party in one-two- and three. So watch it." ... Akira paused still. The most silent of all silences spread after that, engulfing the whole room in quietness. Abigail got back to taking care of the bowl soon after... but she was fuming with anger. I'm pretty sure by the reaction of everyone else that this was the angriest she had gotten before, or it at least had to be in the Top 3. She had been so cheerful when Akira won... and now this. A total 360 in just a few hours. What fun.
Chapter Nine
"Eat." That was the only word Abigail said after she gave us the food in the bowl separately by splitting it up and leaving, slamming the door as she did so. The food was actually soup, and the bowls she shared out to everyone- including myself, seemed to be bowls that were used before. Everyone's own separate bowl... except for mine, which looked new. The silence stayed deadly... but I did as she said. The Magikarp soup actually tasted... good... or let's just say, better than I expected from the looks of it. Surprisingly, I wasn't used to eating other Pokemon even though I grew up in the wild. I still did it sometimes, though, and was kinda okay with it. Most Pokemon that live in forests these days are vegetarian and only eat berries, as far as I know. It's a bit odd to me... but maybe the eating behavior of the Pokemon have some sort of explanation behind it, I dunno. "I would've been like that too if I was a trainer with Pokemon that kept fighting all the time," Eliana grumbled, jumping on the bed that Akira was now sitting down on. She was the first to finish her portion, and I was the second... but the amount of time she took was about mere seconds, which was both impressive and a bit worrying at the same time. Thank Arceus she wasn't a hunter. Annabelle sat on the bed next to Akira and stared at her with a glare, slowly drinking the soup periodically over time. Akira... didn't even touch hers, and was supposedly in a daze from what Abigail said to her. She stared down on the floor and didn't move an inch until Annabelle eventually finished her soup after some time, then got up and sighed. "I...I..." Akira growled, "I hate all of you." "We don't really like you either, you fucking diva." Annabelle countered, crossing her legs while still glaring at her. "Oh my god, the fighting..." Eliana shook her head, "can you guys like, seriously stop for once?" "Why should we if we truly hate each other on the inside?" Akira rolled her eyes, "You can't fix hate, can you, Luxray?" Eliana stopped talking and just watched her. "You're not even Eliana anymore... you're just some poser pretending to be her, because I actually liked you before, you know, but now... you're just a little bitch trapped inside a bigger bitch's body." Akira continued. "...I would comment back on that, but I'm serious about what I said," Eliana sighed, "Abigail still loves us, and we can't let her down in the gym battles, and we haven't ever done that since we've met..." "If we keep continuing like this however..." Eliana slammed her paw onto the bed, actually shaking the frame quite a bit, "we're gonna disappoint her and lose." I honestly think just listening into the conversation at that point was the best move, and both me and Eliana pretty much shared the same view on things. I didn't want to disappoint Abigail at all, especially because she saved my life, that being one of the only reasons why I care so much other than her being a really great trainer. She just had flaws like everyone else, which made her seem bad in some instances, but I could tell from her eyes that she's a good person at heart. She just made mistakes... and leaving us all alone was one of them. In the blink of an eye, Akira picked up the bowl of soup and shoved it in Eliana's face. Eliana yelped and tried to open her eyes immediately. "That's enough." Annabelle sent Akira back with a strong Psybeam as she collapsed to the floor from the impact, landing with a thud on the wooden floor. Jumping up onto the bed, I helped wipe the remains of the soup off of Eli's face, which sorta worked well even though it stained the bed more. She was still in pain however, the soup being hot enough to give first degree burns. "You okay?" I asked her. The only response I got was a slight groan and a whisper of a 'yeah'. I glared at Akira as she got up and was just about to pounce and beat the shit out of her... but she wasn't the same as before. She was... crying.
Chapter Ten
"Don't try to act all innocent," Annabelle charged up another one of her Psychic type attacks, "you know what you just did-" "So what?! I'm not trying to be innocent, I just want this to be over! You should just die, Annabelle, because you don't know everything, and you don't know me, so stop acting like you do, cause you don't!" Akira took the stick out of her tail and the the top part ignited on fire as soon as she did so like a flamethrower. They both readied their attacks at each other, yet froze when the door opened again. "Return." Abigail pressed the middle button on a Pokeball again and aimed it at Akira, putting her back inside before she could even attempt to object or make a fuss about it. I turned my attention to her, and she looked so serious. I didn't know Abigail had a serious side until she flipped out and left. Eliana opened her eyes and looked fine now. Abigail didn't notice anything off about her or at least she didn't do anything about it if she did notice her She only noticed the bed, which was covered in little bits of the soup and was a literal mess. "Now I have to inform the hotel staff about this..." She sighed, "this day keeps getting worse and worse." We all kept quiet after she came in, and eventually, the bed was fixed and everything went smoothly afterwards like it's supposed to. Not talking for long periods of time can drive people insane, but I had my thoughts to occupy me while I lied down on the bed. Eliana looked sad, glancing at me once or twice an hour as time slowly shifted to night. I slept peacefully that night, and I'm glad I did. I wasn't sure if Abigail was going to still go through with the gym battle the next day, but if she was, I certainly needed all the energy I could get. Being nervous about things wasn't really normal for me, so for me to be nervous about this was off. 'The Night Watchers See All' was enough to keep my thoughts occupied for the rest of that day. But... why? This whole Night Watchers thing must've been a joke. Although... I didn't feel like one. ...It just didn't.
Chapter Eleven
I woke up to Eliana cuddling next to me while asleep, so I felt a bit bad when I got up and pushed her away a little. I wasn't in the mood for stuff like that, anyway, and everyone else seemed to be asleep except Abigail, who was in the bathroom organizing things as I could tell from the light that shone from inside it. I wondered if all humans took this long to dress, but I don't know why she was up so early in the morning. The sun hadn't even fully come up yet, and the room was chilly as a result. I saw her walk out of the bathroom a few minutes later, dressed in a varying red dress that had different color schemes of the single color all in one. I could've easily pretended to sleep so that she didn't see me, but I didn't let my survival instincts get the better of me. She saw me, but I was fine with that. She is my friend, after all... not just my trainer. "Nova." She said silently, trying not to wake up the others. She motioned with her hand to come onto the bed she was on with Annabelle. I could sense she was in a better mood, so I proceeded to jump onto the bed without caution. Abigail took a good look at me for a couple seconds as I sat down and got comfortable. "You're... scared aren't you?" She asked, rubbing behind my ears. I purred at the feeling of it, but somehow... she knew. I didn't even need to nod at the question. This morning so far was rather relaxing, though, and made up for the stress I had to deal with the day before. "You see, I'm kind of at a loss for words here... because I've been thinking about releasing you back into the wild." I stopped purring and blinked after hearing this, staring at her surprised. "My gosh Nova, I meant only if you want to... I love your company, so I would never release you on my own terms... but maybe by yours." I disagreed and shook my head to decline the offer. "I see... so you wanna stay then." Abigail's warm smile lit up the coldness around me like a bonfire. "I'm gonna try to do the gym battle today... and win, of course, but the thing is, the gym is a Grass type one... and Akira would really be able to help with it if I let her out to battle, don't you think?" I thought for a minute, then poked her. She looked confused for a moment. "Oh, you're saying that it's me?... No, it's my choice, right? That's what you mean?" I nodded. Abigail giggled, "You're a really smart Umbreon for knowing how to communicate with me so well... it's surprising that you came from the wild." Lying down, I yawned. Abigail began to stroke my fur and made me drift off to sleep again shortly after. The next time I woke up, it seemed that everyone was ready to go, so we all walked out of the hotel and rode the monorail. Eventually, we came upon the gym... a building that didn't seem so nerve-racking to make me nervous, but I still hadn't stepped inside yet. "Ready, Nova?" Abigail asked, almost as if knowing that I was listening. With a deep breath in and out, I gathered up the strength to walk inside... and I did. Only time would tell now what would've happened next. And only time alone... with a little sprinkle of fate in there, too.
Chapter Twelve
The Coumarine City gym was huge, and that's with no exaggeration. A giant tree stood in front of me as I stood in awe at the grassy landscape of the entire building. "Hmm," Abigail examined the tree, then noticed that it had a pathway swirling around it almost like the tree's very own stairs. She raced up the stairs in a heartbeat while we followed. She was excited about this as far as I could tell, and that helped lift my spirits a little overall. I liked this gym so far because of the landscape reminding me of the wild. Annabelle was the only one struggling to keep up, but she kept up anyway, trying her hardest not to trip on any roots or vines. After climbing up the stairs, we arrived at the battlefield, which wasn't a joke in size, either. "Wow..." Abigail looked around, then noticed an old man looking up at one of the smaller trees, almost as if studying it. I wondered if that was the gym leader... but he seemed so... short and normal. He wasn't as intimidating as I thought he would be. "Um, hey there," Abigail called out, the man turning around and walking over to us. He wore an apricot colored scarf, a cucumber green shirt, black pants, green gloves and green shoes, as well as a hat that was a darker shade of green than his clothes were. He was also pale and had a really odd beard, one that I hadn't seen anyone else around the city have at all. "Anether young whippersnapper, eh?" The man said, "My name's Ramos, and I'm the leader of this here gym." Yikes. "It's-it's an honor to meet you, sir, my name's Abigail, and I humbly challenge you to a gym battle." She said with confidence in her voice. "A gym battle?... Oh, right, right, that's what all the young sprouts want, don't they?" "I'm not a sprout, mister." She corrected. "Well, show me what yer made of, then." Ramos said, walking over to the left side of the field and stepping into a small square. There were two on each side of the battlefield, as well as one big one and the marking of a Pokeball in the center. "Come on guys." Abigail motioned over to the right side of the field where the other square was and turned around to face Ramos while we walked and stayed behind her. "Hey Ramos, where's the ref?" Abigail shouted, smirking, "We can't battle without a referee." "I'm well aware of that, but he's on break." "On... break?" Abigail rested her face in her palm and sighed, shaking her head. Suddenly, a young boy, presumably a late teenager by the looks of it, stepped out of a small blue structure to the side of the field. "S-sorry I'm late, Ramos, I was on a stroll." He said, running over to the top side of the field and stopping at where the middle line was. "Yer not late, actually," Ramos replied, "your break just ended." I was surprised. He could tell time without a watch or a clock?... Maybe he counted the seconds in his head... but that would've been weird. Underestimating this guy could've been risky. I hoped that Abigail was aware of that, too... otherwise we were gonna be screwed. "Okay, are both sides ready-" The referee stopped talking after seeing Abigail press a button on one of her Pokeballs. Akira's Pokeball. She got out and glared at Abigail, then realized where she was. "Oh, she actually went through with the gym, huh..." She turned to Ramos, then to the referee, observing her surroundings. "Akira, listen to me for a sec, okay?" Akira turned her head to face her, looking pissed. "I know I may have been mad at you, but I know you didn't mean to act this way intentionally..." Abigail's red eyes sparkled in the sunlight, "I would really love to have you battle right now... however I'll give you a choice to just watch, too, if you want to." She looked down on the ground, then walked away from Abigail and leaned up against a tree, sighing. "...Um, miss, are you ready?" The referee asked. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot..." Abigail laughed nervously, "I'm ready." "Just note that you can only use 3 Pokemon... just like Ramos, and well, you're allowed to substitute Pokemon but he isn't." "I know the substitute thing already..." She yawned, "heard it a million times before... but three, huh..." Abigail nodded, "Eliana, you'll go first, okay?" Eli nodded and ran onto her side of the field, looking fired up for battle. Her spirit sure was something... far greater than mine, which, at the time, was excited, but also still a bit nervous and unsure of what was going to happen. "I can tell that yer confident in your Pokemon's potential, young sprout... that's good." Ramos smiled. "I told you to stop calling me that!" Abigail said, crossing her arms in a childish manner, then pointing at Ramos with her right hand, "Just because you said that twice, I'm gonna make sure I beat you, count on it!" "Heh," Ramos chuckled, "that's the spirit." "Now, let the battle begin!" The referee announced. Ramos finally revealed one of his hands that had been closed from the beginning and behind his back and what was inside of it. Three shrunken Pokeballs were there, and he moved one of them to his other hand, enlargening it by touching the button once, then activating it by touching the button once again. I took in all the details of what he was doing, just to get a feel of what was going on. Glancing at Annabelle for a moment, I could tell she was doing the exact same thing, even though she knew what Gym Battles were like already... I'm sure about that. "Go, Jumpluff!" Ramos shouted, throwing the Pokeball in the air as the ray from the opened Pokeball hit the ground, sending Jumpluff out. He then caught the Pokeball as it landed from the air without even looking at it and put the hand with the Pokeballs behind his back again in one quick motion, which was just... wow. I felt like cheering Eliana on, yet I felt as if it may have distracted her, so I chose not to. She was already pretty fired up anyway, so I figured she didn't need any more encouragement. "I wonder if that's your best Pokemon," Abigail taunted him and laughed a bit, "if so, you're really done for, Ramos." "Oh, you'll see." Ramos smirked slightly. "Hmm," Abigail took a quick look at the Jumpluff, then at Eliana. "Alright Eli, use Spark and charge at the Jumpluff directly!" Eliana's fur raised, and she became covered with blue sparks of electricity, then started running swiftly towards the Jumpluff like a speeding dart. "...I didn't know she had that much power-" I said to myself, but then watched carefully at what Ramos was going to do. "Fly up and use Grass Knot!" The Jumpluff flew into the air, almost as if gliding on it. It's eyes glowed green, and a huge knot came out of the ground, tripping Eliana in the process. She fell badly, her weight not doing her any good as it made the fall look even more painful to watch. "O-ow..." She got up weakly, leaving a small hole in the ground and growled at the Jumpluff, who had a grin on his face. "Now, Leech Seed, quick!" The Jumpluff fired seeds from it's mouth at a fast rate, and as soon as they hit the ground, they grew into vines that latched onto Eliana, raising her up from the ground and binding her in it. "Take that, ya loser!" The Jumpluff smirked more as Eliana growled louder. Leech Seed was a move that drained the target's energy, that I was well aware of, but Eliana didn't seem to be that affected by it. Abigail noticed this and smiled. "Destroy the vines with Bite and follow up with a Thunderbolt!" Eliana grabbed the vines with her teeth and ripped it to shreds, then charged herself up with more electric energy, firing it at the Jumpluff shortly after. "Jumpluff, dodge it!" The Jumpluff avoided it at first, but Eliana moved with the Jumpluff and eventually landed the Thunderbolt successfully, the Jumpluff shrieking in pain as it was electrocuted, then fell to the ground, fainted. "And that's for calling me a loser." Eliana grinned, panting a little. The Grass Knot must've done a lot of damage to her for her to be like this, but at least she had gotten one of them down. "Good job, Eli, keep at it!" Abigail cheered her on. Akira scoffed loud enough for me to hear her, then rolled her eyes. "Return." The Jumpluff was sent back to the Pokeball. "It's a good thing Eliana learned that move when she was young," Annabelle commented, "otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to pull that off." "She did?" I asked. "Well, that's what she told me, anyway. Abigail's mother helped her learn it, behind a past trainer herself. "...I see." I replied quietly, curious as to what Pokemon would be next. "Yer really are something to take down Jumpluff in one hit," Ramos said, "but let's see how you handle my Weepinbell!" He threw a Pokeball in the air again, releasing the Weepinbell. "Hmph, bring it, ugly." Eliana told the Weepinbell, who seemed a bit intimidated at the size of her, but looked ready to fight. "Weepinbell, use Grass Knot!" "Eliana, dodge it!" Eliana tried to move in time, but she managed to get caught again after the Weepinbell's eyes glowed light green, the vines holding her down instead of tripping her like last time. She struggled to get out, but didn't have enough strength to rip them in time. Plus, it wasn't like the last time with the Leech Seed. There were four knots for each of her legs that sprouted out of the ground, and they seemed to be getting tighter and tighter by the second. "Now jump up and use Poison Powder!" "Shit, shit, shit," Eliana tried harder to break the Grass Knot, but it still held her down tightly, not letting go one bit. The powder came out of it's mouth in a purplish color like a cannon, covering Eliana in it before she could do anything about it. Eliana coughed, inhaling the poison and still struggling to get out. "Stay in the air and aim for her eyes with Acid!" "Eli, try to get out of there now-" Abigail stopped talking as she noticed it was too late. The acid went directly in her eyes and made her scream in pain, while the Grass Knot grew and began making it's way up her neck, choking her. "Finish her off with another Grass Knot!" This time, it was far more powerful than the Jumpluff's own, wrapping around her chest and raising her into the air, the previous knots snapping as the bigger knot slammed her onto the middle of the battlefield, resulting in a thick cloud of dust being lifted into the air, making things hard to see. I waited there for the dust to settle, and once it did, it was clear that Eliana had fainted... leaving a hole in the center of the field where the impact was. The Weepinbell had already landed back down on the ground. I didn't see what happened, but it probably used its leaves to land safely, given that the height it jumped from was very high. "Eliana..." Abigail whispered, then seemed to get angry, returning her into her Pokeball, then putting it back in one of the pockets of her dress. Annabelle stepped up and walked onto the field, nodding at Abigail. Abigail nodded back. Annabelle formed a purple orb then fired a Psyshock at the Weepinbell without Abigail saying a word, taking Ramos by surprise as the three purple beams flew at a fast rate towards the Weepinbell. "Block it then attack with Grass Knot!" The Weepinbell's eyes glowed again and the Grass Knot came out of the ground, just in time to absorb the damage from the Psyshock. The knot was severely damaged afterwards however, and fell down as the rest of it went back into the ground. Confused, I wondered if Abigail was just letting Annabelle do her own thing, but then I remembered. Telepathy. No wonder Abigail won so many gym battles... Other than her battling skill, this was a sure-fire strategy of winning. Now Ramos couldn't predict what to do so well because there wouldn't be any commands from her, and he may not be able to react in time like he did before, at least not all the time, no matter how skilled he was. Annabelle began running around her side of the field with the orb floating around the space in front of her paw, sending more beams straight towards the Weepinbell in all directions. "Block them all with Grass Knot!" "Uhh..." The Weepinbell summoned another Grass Knot, this one the biggest of them all as it swayed around, blocking all of the attacks that came its way. Annabelle jumped to the middle of her side of the field and made the orb disappear with one paw, then moves her other paw and aims it straight at the Weepinbell, firing a multicolored ray of energy at him, causing him to panic even more. "Block it!" The Weepinbell tried to summon another Grass Knot as the other one was all holed up, but the Psybeam cut right through the existing knot before his eyes could even glow green again, and exploded. More dust covered the field after that, but I didn't need to know what happened this time. The Weepinbell fainted in one shot, just as I predicted. Ramos had a serious look on his face now and returned Weepinbell back to its Pokeball. I wondered if he knew what Abigail and Annabelle were doing, but even if he did somehow, he had to counter it... and countering a strategy like that was something I thought would be near-impossible. "Now for your signature Pokemon..." Abigail said to herself calmly. The telepathy must've required both of them to be quiet and clear their heads, because Abigail was so focused that I could actually see it on her face. She was concentrating hard on the battle. I was curious to see his signature Pokemon too, and wasn't shocked that it was last. I didn't need to wait, though, because Ramos threw another Pokeball up in the air like it was nothing, and sent out his next Pokemon. A Gogoat.
Chapter Thirteen
Ramos' Gogoat stared right at Annabelle, and Annabelle stared right back at it. Its stare was strong, and it looked almost fearless, even from the distance that I was watching the fight from. "I haven't been needed to battle in a while..." The Gogoat said, raising more dust by moving one of its front hooves on the ground, getting ready to charge, "This should be interesting." "Gogoat, tie her up with a Grass Knot!" Annabelle was just about to move, I could tell as she shifted to the left, but just as she was about to, the Grass Knot came out of the ground and wrapped her body in it, covering her arms and her chest, leaving her only to struggle by moving her legs and head frantically to try to get out. Abigail looked scared all of a sudden. This Grass Knot was by far the strongest I've seen from all of his Pokemon... even the Weepinbell's own didn't compare to this one, which constricted her faster than an Ariados would to their pray. "Now, jump and attack with Take Down!" Annabelle's eyes began to glow red, like if she was trying to do another move desperately, but it apparently had no effect on the Gogoat. It still continued to gallop and rush at Annabelle until it crossed over to her side of the field in too little of time for her to react, and leaped into the air, using Take Down. The Grass Knot couldn't even hold her at that point... and she flew right out of the field, smashing into one of the tall trees that surrounded us... and fell. I stood there, just... frozen at what power this one Pokemon had. Annabelle looked light, but the Gogoat made her fly into the tree like a fucking arrow. After coming to my senses again, I walked up to Annabelle slowly, who was still conscious... barely. "...You're next, Nova," She smirked, probably trying to hide the pain. I... I honestly didn't expect things to go like it did. My heart skipped a beat, and time felt like if it was no more. Fear overwhelmed me like it never had before, and even when I almost died, I still didn't feel fear like this. It paralyzed me. "I k-know you didn't expect yourself to fight in the end... but you must... and you'll win... t-trust me," Annabelle coughed, but smiled, "Just don't let his horns hit you... try to avoid them and him as much as possible while doing damage... and you will beat him-" Annabelle stopped talking and fainted. Abigail walked over to Annabelle and crouched down, picking her up and hugging her gently, even though she was already fainted. "R-return." Abigail had fear in her voice as she pressed the button of the Pokeball, recalling Anna back. "She deserved it, honestly," Akira yawned, "such a bi-" "Shut up." Akira blinked at my voice, and I could tell why. It sounded angry, and I was angry... fuming, even. "You're not doing anything to help, so you shouldn't say anything about people that actually try, at all." I glared at her. "And until you try, you're nothing right now. Just some spectator that deserves to be a ghost and be forgotten... and I'm shocked that Abigail even bothered with you." "No, I'm shocked that she bothered with you, some washed up Umbreon from some trashy forest... she likes me more than you, and you're the one that needs to be quiet!" Akira growled slightly. Abigail looked at me with her shining red eyes again, and we connected. Going onto the field with anger, I waited for Abigail's command, but then remembered something, turning to her quickly. "Just use your attacks that you know best, and I'll try to guide you through it." She smiled, knowing exactly what I was thinking somehow. I nodded, then looked straight at the Gogoat, just like he looked straight at me. "If you think you can win, go ahead... but don't take that as if I'm rooting for you, because I'm not." I heard Akira from behind me, but I didn't care that much. As I said, she was a ghost. An annoying one at that, though. The Gogoat... was done for. I've felt this feeling before, but only sometimes. It's almost like a flame becoming stronger when more sticks or added... or an explosion building up, waiting to burst. This... was the strongest it's ever been thus far. It must be why I survived in the forest for so long, and it must be why I've been strong in fights when I'm just a simple Umbreon. It's why I got the name. It's why I'll live up to it. It's why... It's why I'm Nova.
Chapter Fourteen
"I'm in awe to see how far you've come in this battle," Ramos said, "Yer truly do have potential... but I'm not giving up yet." "Neither am I." Abigail stated. The Gogoat and I stared at each other for quite a long duration, but he was foolish to have done this. Through his stare, I could read his whole personality. A serious, rough at times, and trusting one made it all too easy. I did say he was done for, after all. Light filled my vision at last. Now. I ran at the Gogoat with Quick Attack, boosting my speed as I stayed to the side of the battlefield, heading over to his side from the left at a dangerous rate... at least for him. "Gogoat, trap the Umbreon with Grass Knot!" I predicted that, but it was too late. The Grass Knot had already burst from the ground before I could even react. It felt like if time froze at that moment- and I wish it did. The look on his face when the attack missed was the best reaction I've ever seen to my Confuse Ray. He looked genuinely confused, and he was almost fully, or so it seemed. Regardless, I kept the momentum of the Quick Attack and leaped from the terrain below me, landing a direct Assurance on the side of his face and landing gently on the ground, then turning around immediately to attack again. I stopped in my tracks, however, upon watching him. He had actually fallen down from the attack, which I was moving at too fast of a speed to see, but was getting up from the ground with haste, looking at me as he did so. "Admitting that hurt would be an understatement..." The Gogoat started stroking the ground roughly with its hoof again over and over, "but it proves that this battle wasn't going to be as bland as I thought after all." Staring into his eyes once more, I could see that the confusion had broken. To get him in the first one took much longer than I expected, so I doubt he would've allowed me to use it again now that he was out of it. "Nova, gain some space away from the Gogoat before-" "Charge at him and use Bulldoze with each one!" Ramos interrupted. I was beginning to run when the Gogoat rushed at me, then jumped and slammed into the ground with power, cracking the ground around him as shards of rock fly into my face, one of them hitting me close to my right eye and temporarily blinded it. I used the opportunity to run at this point in time, and found that I was still unsteady from the Bulldoze. Then, a thought. "You're not running away," The Gogoat turned and tried to ram at me with his horns, the light attack being so powerful itself that I could feel the air shifting in that direction. "Look to the right, Gogoat!" The illusion of me had disappeared from the hit already, but I was in the air just in time, and landed a Faint Attack on the side of his face. Looking back at him, he was barely fazed, and quickly attacked back with his horns as I landed, sending me rolling to the side. "Take Down!" "Nova, dodge it!" I was just getting up when I heard her, and jumped back at the last moment, avoiding the Take Down in a small window of time, too small for it to have been not considered a miracle of sorts. The Gogoat turned, then stared at me, waiting for Ramos' next instruction. I wasn't panicking much, but I should've been. The Gogoat seemed to have taken no damage from the Assurance or the Faint Attack, or at least hid it in his movements so that I wouldn't pick up on it. Time slowed for me again, and all I could think about was flaws. This flaw. The battle's flaw. Flaws. The foe that stood before me had to have one, but from my view, I couldn't see it- until... I did. Ramos, even though his trainer, was the only one he'd take commands from, and react to them as follows. I don't think he would've acted on his own, and from there, the plan was formulated to then be tested out promptly. I dashed once, then twice, and hit the Gogoat in the face once more, hoping not to lose my vital stamina in the process of the plan. Another hit went by him as I landed, and another followed that one as such, continuing on in a barrage of attacks that my speed was compatible with, but my energy struggled with, instead. "Stop that..." The Gogoat muttered as he tried to dodge my attacks, but failed, most likely also noticing that he couldn't counter the attacks either. Ramos uttered something that I couldn't quite hear while attacking as I mixed in Faint Attacks here and there as well with the regular ones, those hitting harder than the rest. He footsteps were faltering with each hit, and I could tell he was finally fading with each one, but then he closed his eyes. I was surprised at this, but still continued attacking. Maybe it was something Ramos said?... I thought, but then noticed that his body became almost like a brick wall, not moving from the attacks I did as much as before... just barely. I glanced at Abigail while I sped around and barraged him, and she seemed a bit happier that I was actually winning, but still focused on the battle. Almost running out of stamina, I went in for one more Faint Attack, this one to be stronger than the others, and prepared to jump. Leaping from the air to attack the Gogoat one last time to try to end this once and for all, his eyes opened... and glowed green. Fuc- My thoughts couldn't even keep up with the speed of his Grass Knot as it wrapped around my left front paw and pulled me to the ground, slamming me onto it with a brute force. "Nova, get outta there!" Abigail shouted before the opportunity was in vain. Skidding across the field a blow from the Gogoat's horns, I coughed briefly and got up, hearing Ramos' voice in the background but not being aware of what he was saying, the attack making all my senses unstable in one mere hit. I quickly recovered and rolled from the Gogoat's Take Down, just in time for him to miss again, but curve at the right moment to not go out of the battlefield. Barely getting enough time to pant even, I was rushed at by another Take Down, then rolled again, but got caught in it mid-action. The attack was powerful, and it would've made me cough up blood if I had landed on a harder surface than the ground. I knew that if I had taken that attack in full that I was done for, surely. The Gogoat turned again, this time a bit pained, but I saw an opportunity, and I took it. His stare locked with my recent one as I used Confuse Ray on him once more, buying time so that I could get back my stamina. Again, I couldn't hear what Ramos said, although it sounded faintly like 'Bulldoze'. Shit, he must've noticed the Confuse Ray then... Confusing him would've been good for only attacks like his Grass Knot and Take Down, but not for an attack that covered a large area of the field like Bulldoze, as I soon learned, the ground shaking below me. I regretted having to use up my stamina that was only creeping back in small portions, yet I had to if I didn't want to be hit. Running in short sprints and rolling periodically between them, I avoided most of the Bulldozes, the loud noise of the ground cracking making my hearing even worse than it already was at that point. Eventually, he stopped when I least expected him to, and closed his eyes again. From there I could already tell that was some sort of strategy for him to pick up on my location without relying on using his eyes, which Ramos' must've taught him to do. He was panting more than I was after stopping, and somehow just stopped as soon as he blackened his normal vision. With time slowing again, I could rule out Take Down as a move he'd think of using, seeing as we were a bit of a distance away from each other, leaving only Grass Knot and Bulldoze as possibilities. Minutes passed, however, and the Gogoat kept its eyes closed, but I wasn't sure why. I still had to be cautious, though, and having regained my stamina almost fully, I could engage him and attack once more. I didn't want his confusion to pass by, so I acted quickly, readying a Faint Attack in case disappearing would've been enough to confuse his senses... and ran. "St-op!" Abigail shouted, but what came out of her mouth sounded jumbled up when I heard it, "T-he gro-un-d, No-va, the grou-" I looked down while running, and my eyes widened, my right paw grabbed by the vine below me, and pulled to the ground as more vines quickly gathered around that one, covering my paw and tightening its grip around it. The Gogoat opened his eyes that faded from a green glow... and smirked. I heard one last 'Take Down' from Ramos... and knew that it was over. The entire area around me blurred, and all I could do was stare into the darkness that now enveloped my vision. It reminded me of failure, and of deep regret that winning wasn't in my grasp any longer, and all of the effort I put into this fight was futile. I already knew well enough that if my strength from before wasn't strong enough to break the Grass Knot, my strength then wouldn't have been enough to even move it. The feeling of the water gathering in my eyes from staring at the incoming Gogoat that moved towards me in a warping motion of time made me close them to hide my shame of losing the fight I so desperately tried to win. And in my last attempt of fighting back, I gathered what strength I had remaining in my body, and the pain and sadness that lurked inside of me from the past... and fired one last attack at the Gogoat, still clenching my eyes from what I knew was about to strike me and finish me off once and for all. Assurance.
Chapter Fifteen
In the slowing of the moment, I heard and felt pain, as well as a loud crash and dulled out voices that came to a halt soon after, all the noises stopping simultaneously. I chuckled to myself in my mind. I must've been dead already if I didn't feel anything from the attack... but one of my natural involuntary actions took control, and a breath of air filled my lungs. I opened my eyes... I really did. Taking in the surroundings as my heart beat rapidly, too fast for it to be healthy, I was standing in the same place as I was before, and I turned around, looking for the Gogoat. And there he laid, leaving a huge streak of destruction on the field that went down to the very left white line and stopped, with a huge hole where he rested, his eyes closed... fainted. I was immediately met by a hug from Abigail then-after as she picked me up with great speed, so great that even in the blur of the moment, it was almost as if it was going by normally. I smiled briefly, but... I was overwhelmed by all the things that were happening all at once, my mind not being able to take all these things at once. My eyes closed once more because of that... and my energy dropped. How am I still alive... The thought drifted through every other thought I had previously made up earlier, and found its way to me, my voice covering it and turning it into my own. It gave my body its white glow in the darkness that was colder than an abyss, with no warmth whatsoever. The whole experience was numb, and I didn't understand it. The thought gave me the energy to walk, and looking around, I saw the past. Some events... I didn't even remember up until now. They were in random order, and they were almost like a wall of screens that were both left and right, almost like a hallway. Surprised, I found the last one, which glowed the brightest out of all the screens. I could see Abigail, and behind her, a tree, meaning that it was the most recent of them all. The screens disappeared at that point, except for the one that remained in front of me... and glowed brighter, eventually taking up the color of white, a white so bright that I could have no way of describing it in words or details. My eyes opened again to see... the Pokemon Center. I was sure of it this time, it being the first building I would've seen and been in before in my lifetime. I laid in an odd room that had a red couch which I was resting on, and saw all of them in front of me, noticing my awakening. All but Abigail, who was apparently behind me, and pulled me into another hug, this one less rough and quick as before. "Nova..." She sniffled, tears running down her face. I looked into her red shining eyes, and she looked into mine. "Please don't leave me again..." Abigail pulled me closer and nuzzled my cheek, as I nuzzled hers back in response.