Bocchi the Pokemon Trainer!

[Belwin]

"Whismur use Icy Wind again," Hitori Gotoh muttered. She'd apologize for pushing Whismur later. Just for now she wanted, hoped, and prayed that she'd be able to avoid going to the battle café tomorrow. Who even was the one who came up with the insane idea for someone like her who can barely even talk to strangers, participate in a tournament? Hitori looked shivered as her bath continued to get colder, her Whismur lowering the temperature more and more. "Oh. Right, that was me," Hitori mentioned. Pushing herself deeper into the ice water bath "Whismur that's enough," She muttered.

Her Whismur, the only friend she could talk to let up its attack and gave her a worried look. 'Please don't give me that look Whismur, your useless, unpopular, trainer is having second thoughts' Hitori thought. "Whismur… Whismur…" She whispered while reaching and patting the bathtub. Hitori couldn't take it and suddenly stood up in the bathtub. "I'm sorry Whismur… We'll do it, I'm sorry for being a useless trainer!" She suddenly exclaimed.

The sudden noise startled the Whismur who then began to loudly cry out "Whis! Whismur! Mur mur!". Responding Hitori then apologized further which only made Whismur cry out more trying to apologize back, a feedback loop began that didn't stop for another ten minutes when Hitori's mom knocked on the bathroom door and snapped her and Whismur out of her funk.

After her bath and attempt to skip out on the tournament she herself signed up for, Hitori sat in her room with Whismur in her Pokeball and her guitar in hand. Even though Whismur loved her music, or at least Hitori hoped it was that way, the volume was too loud for her so she'd be kept in her Pokeball. She always made sure to play it back for Whismur later with the volume really quiet though! At one point she imagined herself joining a band and becoming a rockstar, one adored by everyone and where she could easily laugh off these isolated days. But when she imagined having to actually join a band, to talk to the bandmates it made her too anxious.

Eventually, it was a streamer that changed her mind, a totally popular streamer who covered Pokemon topics by the name of Gurumin. After Hitori worked up the courage she asked a question in the chat and even got an answer suggesting that she could be a rockstar Pokemon trainer! It was a great idea, she'd have her Pokemon to talk to and not at all have to worry about things like being extorted by bandmates for money or kicked out for being a gloomy loner! Then again it was that same thought that led her to sign up for a tournament she was in no way ready to face, they'd take one look at her and kick her out knowing she was a newbie or something!

Hitori finished playing and airing out her many worries and other feelings. Setting her guitar back down onto its stand she shuffled over to Whismur's pokeball and let her out. "Whismur, you want to listen?" She asked. Her partner fidgeted a bit but nodded repeatedly after a few moments. Hitori let out a small smile at the response and set out her laptop which she had been recording with. The volume was already exactly where Whismur liked it so immediately she pushed the play button and very quietly her playing began to play back.

Whismur let out a quiet giggle and seemed to bob up and down at the music. Hitori's smile grew just a touch wider as she dragged out a second laptop that was technically her father's but he let her use it for just these occasions. She plugged a bluish-purple set of headphones in with pink and black rings like the ears of a Loudred into the second laptop. A quick file transfer later and she began to silently work on editing the video she had taken. The rest of her evening passed in a familiar routine, going perhaps a bit later than she should have into the night but she was in a groove when it came to her work and around two in the morning, long after Whismur finished listening and went over to Hitori's bed and squeezed herself between two sets of pillows to sleep, Hitori finished and uploaded her cover online.

Not that she was popular or anything, with barely more than a thousand followers. Well, she had only been uploading her videos for a month or two by now. With a yawn, Hitori closed the laptop, crawled over to her bed, and let herself fall onto her bed, avoiding the pillows altogether and using a bundled-up portion of the blanket to rest her head on, and fell asleep not too long after.

Despite her best efforts, Hitori woke up feeling well-rested and perfectly fine. Even if she did sleep in by a few hours beyond what she may have intended. As she wiped the drool off her chin, she looked over to see Whismur still asleep wedged between the two pillows. "Whismur… time to wake up it's…" Hitori whispered, lightly nudging her Pokemon while she checked her phone. Ten in the morning, so she still had an hour to get to the battle café she was scheduled to participate in her first tournament. "Ahh! We'll be late Whismur!" Hitori suddenly exclaimed as the math of getting ready and traveling was run in her head. Her loud exclamation was enough to startle Whismur who responded with the sudden start to her day by crying, loud enough that Hitori was forced to cover her ears as she rushed over to the headphones that were still connected to her father's laptop.

While the noise-cancelling headphones were a boon, it still took her ten minutes to calm Whismur down. She made sure to apologize to her parents for having such a useless daughter who required them to pay to soundproof her room because she kept rudely startling Whismur. It took another fifteen minutes to get Whismur fed, brushed, and returned to her Pokeball. It was only then that Hitori could change into the pink tracksuit that she felt the most comfortable in, her blue and pink hair ornament put into her hair. Then in a hurry, she stuffed her guitar into its case, put her headphones around her neck, and fixed the Pokeball holder with its single Pokeball to her case before slinging it over her shoulder.

"I'm off…" Hitori muttered before she left her home. Despite how much time she had already spent getting ready, she wasn't exactly in a rush. Maybe if she dragged her feet enough, she'd be disqualified by default. Then she'd just have to use a new name if she ever got so stupid as to sign up for another one. Her destination was one of the commercial streets of Hammerlocke that didn't see much traffic from anyone except locals considering it was surrounded on all ends by residential area.

Even if Hitori arrived with still fifteen minutes to spare, as she looked over the café even if it looked like many others it still felt overwhelming for her. Maybe it was just the sheer size of a café, as inside was enough space to have a half-sized Pokemon battlefield set-up, but Hitori stood in front of the door. If she opened up, would she just be shooed away? How do sociable people enter such places? Five minutes passed, and Hitori was still standing at the door, her hand at her side as she half reached her hand out towards the handle before letting her hand drop. She repeated this motion several times, and each time her courage failed her at the last minute. It was only when another trainer, and it was a trainer if the belt with two Pokeballs was any indication entered. Seeing another person walk in destroyed the seemingly impossible wall as she caught the door handle as it was swinging back close and slinked into the café. She had done it! She went into a café all by herself!

-----

The inside of the Café was one of those that felt too bright and sophisticated for someone like her, a few people were sitting around, a few pausing their drinks or snacks or other certainly important business to glance at who just entered. It was almost enough to make Hitori run right out. But despite herself, she only blanched at the brief attention. Quietly she approached a counter, the woman who was sitting there looking over at her.

"U-u-um, I… For the… um," Hitori started, mumbling quietly that even the quiet ambiance of the café was drowning her out.

"Sorry I didn't catch that, could you repeat that?" The woman asked patiently.

"T-Tournament… I, I am here for it…" Hitori got out. Surprising herself with how composed she was managing to be.

"Understood, may I see your trainer ID?" The woman replied.

Wordlessly Hitori pulled her card out, already she could feel herself start to sweat as the clerk took the card and checked the number through a computer. Would they find something wrong? Would she get kicked out for lying despite her being sure it was her actual ID? Maybe they just thought she was- Hitori was snapped out of it by her card being handed back to her.

"Thank you Hitori Gotoh. You are participant number five, so you'll be starting in the third battle of the first round. We'll call you up before your match begins. Until then please accept a complimentary drink and take a seat and enjoy the first matches," The clerk so politely explained. Hitori struggled for a bit but simply nodded back for a bit too long before rushing off without her free drink to find a nice gloomy corner to sit in.

As the hour of the tournament arrived, Hitori noticed that there were a few others who were carrying Pokeballs on their person. The tournament was small there were only sixteen participants. However, that may be in part because of the requirements that everyone must be in their first year as trainers, and no one who has already earned a recommendation to the gym challenge was allowed to compete. After all the prize for this tournament was for an invite to this year's gym challenge. She may have no confidence in herself, but it was thanks to Allister, an official gym leader whom she felt something of a kindred connection with giving an interview that she gained her confidence to even try.

During the first two battles of the tournament, Hitori watched as their Pokemon clashed. The rules were that everyone was only allowed to use a single Pokemon and so far she had seen a Rockruff, a Rookidee, a Yamper, and one she hadn't seen before, it was like a Tentacool with boxing gloves. Of them, the Rockruff won over the Rookidee, and as for the current round.

"Clobbopus Rock Smash!" the Pokemon's trainer shouted, dressed in a fighting gi of his own. The Pokemon pounded its fist against the ground before waddling towards the Yamper. Despite the faster electric type, the moment it got in close, the Clobbopus's fight glowed a vaguely orange-brown light and smashed its fist down against the Yamper cracking the ground under it, just a bit. With a single hit, the Yamper let out a bark and fell over knocked out.

For a moment Hitori thought she may have a chance but against a fighting type? She must pray for the Rockruff to win their next match!

-----

"We'll now begin our third round of the day. In the red corner, Hitori Gotoh and in the blue corner Mike Taro," The judge spoke as he waved to the two sides of the arena. While it was technically a proper tournament. For such a low-level tournament in a relatively unknown battle café, there were only at most ten or fifteen people watching. Of which six of which were the other competitors, the rest were either more interested in their drinks or meals or were out supporting a friend competing.

Either way, Hitori was shaking and trying to not be seen. Even the overly energetic look of her opponent was too much for her. Why couldn't she give orders from a private booth? Or maybe just a box? "G…Go…," She whispered as she lobbed her Pokeball out, landing only two feet away from her. The ball bounced and opened to reveal her trusted partner Whismur, that she won many gym battles and even became a famous champion, at least they did so in her head. Whismur was shaking almost as much as her trainer.

Her opponent's energy was too much for Bocchi as he energetically tossed out his pokeball shouting out "Let's go, partner!". Unlike Hitori, the ball flew nicely into the arena and opened before hitting the ground and revealing a Gossifleur. Hitori peaked up and for a moment she felt something approaching confidence. A grass type, she could win this, and take her first step into being a popular Pokemon trainer.

"Gossifleur vs Whismur one on-one, let the battle begin!" The judge announced and shook his flags to signal the start of the battle. "Open it up with Leafage!" Mike announced with a point towards his opponent. Hitori recoiled and shifted to the side to avoid being pointed at. As though that was the issue with everything.

"I-I-I… Ic… Whismur, Ic," Hitori whispered. Though while she struggled to get her command out the grass-type Pokemon gathered the leafage together in a ball of energetically charged leaves before releasing it towards Whismur. Whismur for her part looked back at her trainer waiting for the command "A-ah… Dodge…" Hitori changed her mind and whispered out a dodge. Thankfully for her Whismur had superb hearing and made a dive to the side to avoid the leafage before it could hit her.

"Now Gossifleur use rapid spin while Whismur is down!" Mike shouted. The Gossifleur responded right away, starting to spin itself faster and faster until the wind was starting to kick up around the Pokemon before it launched itself using the momentum gathered.

"W-Whismur Smokescreen…" Hitori whispered out. There was a moment where Whismur seemed to snap to attention now that she had a proper order. Opening her mouth wide, Whismur bellowed out a dark cloud of smoke that quickly covered her side of the arena. It wasn't the best decision as Gossifleur's rapid spin was already pushing the smoke clear.

Hitori paused as the smoke spread out and covered herself. Suddenly unable to feel the casual gaze of the few people watching her battle, it was much closer an environment to what she practiced with Whismur. "Whismur, Icy wind blow the smokescreen out more," Hitori called out with something that resembled proper volume. Her Whismur cried out before with a whistling sound began to bellow out a freezing wind, it may have been pushing the smokescreen out but as the Gossifleur was hit, its rapid spin quickly came to an end as it recoiled and tried to defend itself from the attack.

"Gossifleur no! Use Sing. Wait no Whismur won't hear it, Leafage stop that wind!" Mike called out with a dramatic wave of his hand. Not that Hitori saw any of it. Gossifleur obeyed and began to discharge leaves that glowed with energy, condensing in front of it soon ready to be fired off.

"Smokescreen again, and move around," Hitori commanded, able to order around a bit more properly. Whismur stopped its icy wind and once again began to bellow out smoke to keep visibility low. Hitori heard its footsteps and a faint green outline pushed through the smoke. "Okay, now Icy wind again, you know where to aim," Hitori added.

Whismur's super sensitive hearing worked to their advantage, they were used to next to no lighting. This meant Whismur was free to let off the Icy wind repeatedly, keeping the smokescreen up. Mike's Gossifleur was unable to defend as it was pelted down. Until the judge spoke out over the two trainers. "Gossifleur is unable to battle, Hitori and Whismur is the victor!".

Hitori blinked. Her strategy worked? Did she win? In a real Pokemon battle? She wanted to cheer in joy, but as the smokescreen cleared and she could once again feel the eyes of the audience on her she clammed up. She wanted to feel good about her victory, but she had to hide herself to even give the simplest orders to her partner!

Wordlessly Hitori returned Whismur to her Pokeball and turned to leave the arena in a hurry to return to her nice corner seat until her next match. Only to have her opponent approach her "Good job there Hitori! I wasn't expecting an Ice-type move!".

Hitori's heart felt like it was going to rip out of her chest, "A-Ah I-I Yes," She stammered out before making an ungraceful retreat from the social situation. Only a few more rounds. Three more and she could take her first step into being a popular Pokemon trainer, then it wouldn't matter how bad she was at socializing today. She could go on interviews and talk about how she used to be the gloomy kid. As she escaped the social situation, Hitori was unaware of the eyes of a red-haired girl who had looked up from snapping pictures of her food and drink. Who watched as she made her escape, some amount of recognition in her eyes.

 

[Belwin]

If there was something Hitori appreciated about when her battle had happened, it was that it was in the perfect spot of not right away, but still early enough that she could calm down while watching the remaining battles for the round. It also gave her time to attempt to claim her free drink.

The first step was quieting the voice in her head telling her that she was too late. By asking now they'd kick her out and disqualify her for not being sociable enough to accept a free drink when it's offered. The second step was peeking over towards the counter, quickly snapping back to focusing on the table in front of her as people were already lined up getting their orders. People who doubtlessly were more deserving of it than she was.

Hitori waited a few minutes before looking back at the counter, no one was there. Better yet everyone was watching the current battle and not approaching it. Hitori got out of her seat and walked over, as she reached halfway she suddenly diverted and moved over towards the wall next to the counter. What was she going to say? 'Give me my free drink now?' How rude could she get?

'May you please bestow onto this unworthy Wimpod a drink following the free service you said for trainers participating?' Too long! 'Can I still get that free drink?' Better, let's go with that Hitori thought to herself. Her eyes glanced back at the counter, it was still free, and the clerk wasn't even looking at her and noticing how weird she was being leaning near it like she was.

However as Hitori began to stand back up to finish her approach, mentally repeating her words over in her head another person had come up to order something. Hitori leaned right back against the wall not wanting to deal with the possibility of talking about who got there first. Instead, Hitori turned her attention back towards the arena to watch the current match.

A Dottler was sitting in the middle with a shell of bluish squares made from some kind of energy around it, all the while its opponent, a Skwovet was being hit by some kind of force. She was running out of time, it didn't look like the normal type was going to last much longer. Hitori glanced again at the counter and the person had gone, now was her chance!

Hitori did her best to walk up to the counter without looking like she was in too much of a hurry or doing anything weird. The Clerk smiled at her and Hitori opened her mouth to say her line but nothing came out. A few more attempts and all she could manage were some strained noises.

"Are you okay miss?" The clerk asked her with a most forgiving and kind expression on her face.

Taking a deep breath, all the while the announcer and judge were announcing the winner, Hitori gave her order. "Can I still get that free Wimpod?" She said in a quiet voice.

"I- I I Mean Drink! Can I get that free drink now? I'm sor-" Hitori stammered and began to babble out quickly after realizing her mistake.

Hirori was somewhat cut off by the clerk who again was being far too kind to a sub-Wimpod like herself. "Of course, What drink would you like?" The Clerk Asked.

The battle was over and Hitori could hear some people starting to get out of their seats, either for the next battle or to get another drink in the time between matches. Flavor, she needed to pick one. "M-Melon soda?" She asked, still so quietly of course.

"Coming right up," The clerk said and tapped something on the register before stepping away from the counter into the back where the kitchen presumably was.

Hitori fidgeted as she stood there, unsure if she should get out of the way or wait for her drink. At least she had done it. A minute later the clerk had returned holding a glass showing off the green soda topped with a generous amount of whipped cream. It even had little sprinkles and a disk ornament on it. "Here you go. Even the free drinks come with a chance to win the prize. Here's hoping you're lucky," The clerk said as she set the drink down.

"Prize?" Hitori asked, her mind already starting to spiral in one way or another but before she could get too far the clerk smiled and tapped on a poster that was on the counter. Hitori looked down and saw that they were running a promotional event, each of their specialty drinks came with a chance to win a prize. From free drinks or meals to trainer items, the top prize however was a Milcery. "Oh, thank you," Hitori whispered out before finally making her hurried escape back to her seat.

Back in the safety of her seat, Hitori took a sip of the drink and her eyes widened. It was good! She wasn't putting any thought into the drink itself, rather having gotten stuck on the idea of doing what she thought she should have. With a smile, she took another sip, then used the straw to scoop a bit of the whipped cream into her mouth.

"Whismur, come out," Hitori quietly said as she released her partner onto the table itself. Whismur looked around for a bit before letting out a whisper of a cry. "Want a sip of this soda? It's really good," She asked.

Whismur tilted her head as she looked between the green drink and Hitori before nervously taking a step toward the glass. Hitori bent the straw to be level for Whismur and it took a big sip all at once. Hitori panicked for just a moment as what if Whismur didn't like it or maybe it fell over, what if she drowned? But those worries were all pushed away in a moment when Whismur made a joyful cry that was even a touch louder than a whisper.

Remembering the disk on top, Hitori pulled it off while Whismur took a few more sips. The front side of it was of a Milcery, swallowing some spit that had built up she flipped it over. 'Better luck next time' Was written on the back with a smaller, apologetic-looking Milcery on it. Hitori let out a relieved sigh. She didn't know how she'd be able to handle it if she actually won something, she'd have to go up again and probably make a scene, embarrassing herself as she tried to redeem it.

"Whismur you drank that much already?" Hitori asked in a mixture of worry and panic as she turned her attention away from the disk. Half of it was already gone and there was even a large bite taken out of the whipped cream. Whismur let the straw out of her mouth at Hitori's words, frozen in some kind of emotion. Glancing between Hitori and the drink the Whismur whimpered and cried as it was clearly starting to panic and worry in a way that resembled her trainer.

"No no it's fine please don't cry! It's your reward for working so hard!" Hitori hurriedly told her partner, hoping to calm her down before she started crying. She'd definitely get disqualified and probably charged for the drink if that happened. Unfortunately, it seemed that Hitori's own panic would feed into Whismur's. Hitori could see how Whismur's eyes and mouth quivered. "Sorry in advance Whismur!" Hitori half whispered as she returned her partner to her Pokeball.

Letting out the breath she was holding in, Hitori took a sip of what was left of her soda. Win or lose, she'll buy Whismur a poffin, a sandwich, or something as both an apology and thanks for putting up with a trainer like herself.

Distracting herself from that, Hitori watched the remaining battles and finished her soda. Unfortunately, as the second round began, the Clobbopus won over the Rockruff meaning she'd be sending Whismur out against a fighting type if she somehow managed to win her battle. It also meant her battle was now minutes away. Hitori quickly finished what was left of the melon soda.

-----

Hitori quietly approached the arena for her second round. Her hopes of Rockruff winning over the Clobbopus dashed, she wasn't exactly feeling confident. Not that she ever really felt that confident. Regardless she did her best to lob her Pokeball into the arena letting her Whismur out, who announced its appearance with a quiet whimper.

On the opposing side was someone who was dressed in a rather rock outfit if Hitori was being honest. Ripped jeans, black and pink t-shirt with a sleeveless leather vest. Most notable was a pile of keychains of a guitarist that of course Hitori recognized. Both a gym leader and guitarist, from Spikemuth, Marnie. "Come on out Nickit!" The man said as he tossed it ball out confidently, releasing his Pokemon.

"We will begin the second match of our second round, Whismur vs Nickit. Begin!" The judge announced loudly.

"Best use Beat up before that Whismur can start to bellow out that smokescreen!" Hitori's opponent yelled out.

"W-whismur, smokescreen," Hitori did her best to speak up but it only barely came out instead.

At least her partner could still hear her and that was the most important thing. With a short cry to psych herself up, Whismur began to bellow out the thick smoke once again. Though it needed time to spread out enough, all the while Hitori was ducking low to hopefully cover herself sooner so she could at least let her voice out. She certainly didn't feel good about it, but it worked last time and she was afraid she wouldn't be able to do anything without it.

While Whismur let out the smokescreen, Nickit approached and began to ram against Whismur. Paws slamming down, tail slapping across Whismur, and even a headbutt, whatever the small Pokemon could do to hit the Whismur. Whismur cried out from the repeated attack and seemed to be getting agitated more and more with each hit. Hitori felt bad for her partner getting hit just because she couldn't raise her voice like she should. But at least she knew how to take advantage of her weakness.

Whismur took a few more hits from beat up until it seemed rattled enough that Hitori, now safely hidden within the smokescreen could speak up at least enough to sound to others like a regular indoor speaking voice. "Whismur, now run away and start letting out Echoed voice," Hitori commanded.

"Don't let 'em get away, quick attack Nickit!" Hitori's opponent cut in with his own command. Nickit had backed off while his trainer was giving him his command. With a cry of his own, the Nickit rushed forward leaving behind a line of white light from the attack.

But to the surprise of Nickit, his Trainer, and even the audience Whismur blurred out of the way. Visible because the speed of was enough to push the smokescreen around. Then came the volume, Whismur began to cry, loudly. Immediately Nickit's trainer put a hand to his ears, shouting out. "Quick Attack again! Quiet that crybaby up!".

Though as Nickit chased after Whismur, it moved just as fast even without using an attack like quick attack. All the while its crying only got louder and louder, until everyone had to hold their ears to try and deafen it even a little bit.

Hitori meanwhile under the cover of the smokescreen which by now only really covered her rather than the battlefield had taken her headphones and put them on to protect against the sound. She mumbled apologies to all the good patrons who came to watch and enjoy some nice food and drink, and she was ruining it with her cowardly strategy. But the volume was Whismur's strongest point.

Luckily for everyone's eardrums, Nickit was the target of the brunt of most of it, and so soon fell over and fainted. "Whismur you can stop now," Hitori said, which despite the sheer volume going on, her Whismur heard her and nearly immediately stopped her crying and looked towards Hitori with a smile on her face.

Hitori returned the smile with a faint one of her own. If nothing else she was proud of Whismur who was being braver than she was. With that Hitori took her headphones off, setting them back down over her neck. Once the noise was gone, it only took a second for the judge to recover and call the match, "Nickit is unable to battle! The second-round winner is Whismur!".

Despite how much trouble Hitori had made for everyone, she flinched both at the announcement, almost expecting her racket to have disqualified her, and at the fact that there was some clapping going on. Which Hitori could scarcely believe, no way they could be clapping for her right?

"Oi Girlie, How's your Whismur so fast?" Her opponent asked, having returned his Nickit, and walked over while she was in her head.

"I-I-I Um. I, W- Whismur," Hitori started stammering and stuttering. "Whismur's ability… isn't soundproof. It's um, rattled," She eventually said barely above a whisper.

"That so? Ha! I must have been playing into your hands the whole time! Well, done girlie!" He yelled out far too loudly for Hitori's liking. She didn't know how to react or answer back and so she just retreated, fleeing to her seat where she could await her next round.

As she fled, she heard the man whistle out loudly "Let's give it up for the gi- Hitori! Yeah!" He yelled. Making matters more awkward for her was some people did give at least something of a cheer for her. As she sat back down, she buried her head to hide herself away from the attention. Though she couldn't say it wasn't totally bad. It was part of what she wanted, wasn't it?

-----

While Hitori kept her head down hoping to let the rather riled-up audience die down and hope she could blend into the background, suddenly there was something said. Then things exploded in noise, people cheered, and a jingle even started playing. Hitori spent a few seconds pushing herself deeper mortified that it could somehow possibly be something more done for her.

After a few more seconds she peeked up from her table to see everyone was looking at a red-headed girl who was a classmate of hers from school! Hitori buried her head once again, she never talked with anyone back at school, not for a lack of trying. But the idea of being recognized and suddenly approached would be too much for her right now.

Another few seconds of noise passed by and Hitori braved another peek at what was going on, the cheers were dying down a bit and her classmate, Kita she believed was at the counter with a wide energetic smile that was far too much for her to look directly at. But she got around that by looking slightly to the side.

Kita was energetically taking pictures of a Milcery that was looking up at her. It took Hitori longer than she would admit to put the noise, her classmate, and the Milcery together. The noise died down as people had their attention once again taken by another battle ongoing. If nothing else it meant that no more attention was on her. Something Hitori kind of felt, a smidge sad about. She lifted her head up now feeling comfortable enough to sit normally, looking out over the café. Her eyes for a moment locked onto her classmate.

Hitori felt a sense of dread and panic, which wasn't actually all that new now that she thought about it. They saw each other, well no one talked to her at school so maybe- No she's approaching! She's looking right at me while walking towards me! Already Hitori was glancing around looking for somewhere to hide and avoid the upcoming social interaction.

 

[Belwin]

Hitori wanted to hide, but it was too late. Her classmate had gotten close enough and more than that was already waving at her. She didn't know how to respond so suddenly to talk with someone who recognized her. At least Whismur was still in her Pokeball, otherwise she was sure that Whismur would start crying out of anxiety. Hitori knew because she felt like crying as well.

Regardless of Hitori's quiet wish to have an extra ten minutes to an hour to mentally prepare, Kita was soon right at her table. "You're… Hitori Gotoh right? From Appletun middle school right?" she asked.

A way out, Hitori could just pretend to be someone else, not recognize her or anything it'd be easy and awkward if she was called out on it. "Y-yes…" Hitori quietly whispered.

"I knew it, your battling is so cool, I didn't think anyone else in the class was aiming to be a trainer much less one going for the Pokemon gym challenge!" Kita replied excitedly. 'Else' those words stood out to Hitori who sat there quietly. Did that mean Kita was also looking to become a trainer? Ah, she needed to reply.

Hitori coughed as she tried a bit too fast to say something. "Ah, are you okay? Did something go down wrong?" Kita asked flipping on a dime and looking worried.

"Ah- O- Y-… E-Else?" Hitori coughed out after a couple of seconds of attempts. Her eyes glanced toward a large board located near the counter that had the tournament bracket listed on it. For a moment she inwardly smiled seeing her name had already risen so far, but she focused on looking to see if Kita was on the board.

"Yep! I thought I was the only one. I won my recommendation a few weeks ago because of a contest Raihan hosted, isn't that cool? Apparently, the pics I took for Porygram were enough to get his interest, so I won a recommendation from a gym leader himself! Even if he sent out like thirty of them," Kita explained energetically.

It was a lot for Hitori to take in, someone from her school had gotten a recommendation from someone as high up as a gym leader? One as popular as Raihan? Wait from pics? She could never do something like that. It also meant that Kita was already more of a trainer than she was, it probably meant that she had more than one Pokemon as well.

"A, I- um, yes?" Hitori eventually replied going for what she thought would get her out of the situation by just agreeing.

"See? But I think it's so much cooler how you're earning your recommendation through battle! You're Whismur is so cute and powerful as well! I bet you'll go far. What if we end up rivals? You know another Hop and Gloria?" Kita continued regardless. But well Hitori didn't really mind Kita's talking if she could just get by without embarrassing herself too much.

"As if, just kidding, I doubt I'm good enough to get even a little far. I mean I only started training with my Pokemon after getting the recommendation," Kita admitted.

"U- I, um, I think… you'd do… just fine," Hitori whispered after an awkward pause started between them.

"Really? Thanks for the vote of confidence, I'll just have to work harder to meet your expectations!" Kita so cheerfully replied, shining like a sun.

Hitori covered her eyes as though she were looking at the sun, it was just too blinding for someone like herself to bear so suddenly. Did Kita know Sunny Day perhaps? Someone so extroverted like her probably had Pokemon walking up begging to join her like some kind of princess from the movies she watched as a kid.

"Ah, sorry did I get a bit too close to you?" Kita asked. It took Hitori a moment, ah. She had actually raised her hands and covered herself up she wasn't just imagining it.

"N-No, I-I'm fine," Hitori replied.

"We will now shortly begin our semi-finals, if our next-round opponents can come up," The announcer said. Providing Hitori with the best excuse to get out of there before she said something else stupid.

"I'll be cheering for you! You can do it Hitori! I believe in you!" Kita said so energetically Hitori could swear she was taking damage from the energy.

-----

Hitori felt a bit nauseous as she stepped up to her side of the arena while the announcer started their introduction to her round. She had gotten so distracted by Kita that she couldn't think of how she would beat the fighting type. Well, she seemed to be doing well enough with smokescreen. She'll use that again.

"W-whismur…" Hitori whispered out before lobbing her Pokeball, releasing her partner who didn't let out a cry. Hitori could tell that Whismur was just as nervous as she was. Or maybe she was just picking up on how nervous her trainer was being and following suit?

"Come on out Clobbopus!" Hitori's opponent called out and hurled the Pokeball far, it didn't touch the ground before the ball opened and let out the Clobbopus who punched its two large tentacles together and let out a cry. Hitori noticed that while she let out Whismur basically right next to her, Clobbopus was let out as close as his trainer could get to the line separating their sides of the arena.

"We will now begin our first semi-final battle! Whismur vs Clobbopus, Begin!" The announcer said before bringing their hand down like a flag.

"Leer right off the bat!" Hitori's opponent shouted out to the point that both Hitori and Whismur flinched over the noise. Clobbopus obeyed and his eyes became so much more menacing and threatening looking. Not only that but without a command, Clobbopus was already moving forward.

"S-Smokescreen h-hurry," Hitori whispered her command out. Whismur, still startled by the shout from earlier was slow to start bellowing out the smoke.

"Bind now! Don't let it hide in the smoke!" Clobbopus's trainer barked. The Pokemon leapt up as its tentacles, normally rather small extended out like a net. Whismur panicked and let out a cry, stopping the half-formed smokescreen and on her own, dove out of the way to avoid the Clobbopus.

"N-n… Whismur, i-i-. Smokescreen please," Hitori called out stumbling over her words as she already was kicking herself for forgetting to tell her partner to run while letting the smokescreen out. Whismur quickly picked itself up and began to blow out the smoke once again but soon found a tentacle lunging forward and wrapping around her.

"Good, now deliver the rock smash!" Clobbopus's trainer shouted, slamming his fist into his palm as though the Pokemon needed the visual aid to understand how to use the move.

"W-whismur, S-smoke-" Hitori started once again, letting herself get distracted with the need to hide before she thought to do anything else. Whismur certainly tried to keep letting the smoke out even as another tentacle wrapped around the normal type trying to push her mouth closed.

Then Clobbopus's larger fist-like tentacle, glowing the faint orange-brown light slammed into Whismur causing her to let out a pained cry. Hitori gasped as the ground cracked slightly below the two entangled Pokemon.

"Good, once more! Don't let up!" Hitori's opponent commanded. Hitori could feel herself sweating and panic starting to rise.

"A-A-A-A-Astonish," Hitori called out in a strained cracking tone. Whismur stopped its attempt to let out smoke and for a moment looked over at her trainer. It went quiet for a moment as Clobbopus's tentacle was once again starting to glow with the telltale energy of its move. Suddenly, Whismur unfurled her ears and in a surprising display of strength from it slammed then, on either side of Clobobpus's head while letting out a cry that was half teary and half roar.

The sudden action was enough to make Clobobpus recoil back, flinching and loosening his grip on the normal type. Something Whismur was able to take advantage of and pull herself free regardless of being ordered to or not. Then she ran, crying out all the while.

Hitori saw the rough-looking patch on her partner's head where she had taken the hit. "W-Whis-" She started but before she could say anymore her voice was overpowered by her opponent.

"Leer once again, don't let them recover!" He ordered and while Clobbopus did start to glare at Whismur once again. Whismur, understanding what her trainer wanted, responded with a smokescreen once again.

This time without the initial startling yell of the trainer, Whismur was able to get enough of a cover that neither she nor her trainer would have to see the intimidating stare of the fighting type. But more importantly, she was finally able to generate enough smoke that it was starting to cover Hitori up.

"I-icy wind, d-don't move," Hitori gave her order, even if she had to kneel to get low enough to cover herself. As embarrassing as it was, she just couldn't give commands with everyone looking at her. Whismur let out a cry that seemed a bit more confident. For a moment Hitori wondered if it was her being able to act more confident in the smoke as well, or if Whismur was able to act more confident because she was?

"Rock smash!" Hitori's opponent called out. As Clobbopus's tentacle glowed with energy he jumped forward towards where Whismur was standing before being covered by the smokescreen. A moment later the icy wind blew the smokescreen away from Whismur and onto the now air-borne fighting type.

For a moment the Clobbopus's trainer thought he had it in the bag. After all he knew Clobbopus was used to cold waters and weather so the icy wind wouldn't slow it down as much as he expected his opponent was hoping.

"Jump in and use Pound, then Astonish," Hitori did her best to properly announce her attack but even covered by her smokescreen it was hard for her to raise her voice like that. Whismur, having extended the smokescreen leapt forward and collided with Clobbopus in the air with her tackle.

With much of the field now covered by the smokescreen it was hard to tell what was going on but a moment later Whismur was shot out of the smokescreen nearly reaching the other end of the arena. Another large bruise on her body, clearly losing the exchange and getting hit with another rock smash.

"Echoed Voice, don't let up," Hitori called out. Whismur was visibly struggling to get to her feet but once it was it began to cry once more, loudly her voice reverberated around the café. At least the patrons were prepared for it and they covered their ears in time before the sound hit them.

"Clobbopus, hurry! Get over there and use rock smash, one more time and we'll win!" Hitori's opponent called out, though panic was starting to show in his voice. There was a delay in response from his Pokemon. "Clobbopus, Hurry!" He called out once again.

Hidden under the smokescreen his trainer hadn't realized that Clobbopus hadn't gotten out of the exchange scot-free either, having once again been temporarily disorientated by Whismur's attack. Not only that but as he began to march over towards the Whismur, emerging from the smokescreen, it dawned on his trainer. The icy wind may not have slowed Clobbopus down that much, but it still was having some effect on him.

Every second it took Clobbopus to reach Whismur was another second that her cries reached the fighting type and rattled it from the force of the sound waves. Every second it took was another for echoed voice's effect to get stronger the more time it had to build up. The gi-wearing trainer looked over at where Hitori was crouching and hiding in the smokescreen as realization hit him.

It was planned. That's why she had Whismur jump to meet Clobbopus's attack. She wanted Whismur to get knocked back, astonish and Icywind was meant to delay Clobbopus's approach, all for this chance to use Echoed voice.

"Clobbopus-!" He shouted hoping to give some kind of order to his own partner, but it was too late, he watched as Clobbopus fell over, and fainted.

"W-whismur y-you can stop now," Hitori whispered before standing up. Whismur took a moment to stop her cries but when she finally did, she gave out a final whimpered cry before falling back onto her rear, panting. Hitori could see the tears welling up in her partner.

"Clobbopus is unable to battle, the victor is Whismur!" The announcer declared loudly.

At the end of the battle, Hitori heard the audience cheer for the battle that had taken place. She even heard Kita cheering for her, but her thoughts, positive or negative were placed secondary to her partner. Nearly tripping over herself she stumbled over towards Whismur and picked her up. "A-Are you okay Whismur?" She asked in a panic.

Whismur looked at her panic and began to cry, cutting off the cheers as they rushed to cover their ears. In turn, Hitori panicked more, clutching Whismur tight to avoid dropping her. Compared to how usually this would have made Whismur only cry more as has happened so many times back at home. Whismur quieted down from the embrace, even if she was still whimpering. "A-Ah, P-potion, I'll get you a potion Whismur," Hitori said in a panic.

-----

"W-Whismur it'll sting a little bit, p-please don't cry, okay? I-I'll get you another soda if you don't," Hitori bargained with her partner as she shakily held a potion in her hand. Right now she was in the employee's change room since they didn't have a more official place to tend to any injured Pokemon. Though they were nice enough to provide free potions and other necessary supplies so she wouldn't have to run looking for a Pokemon center.

Whismur whimpered some more but seemed to be putting on a brave face. "O-Okay, here we go…" Hitori said as she spritzed Whismur on the bruised top of her head. Whismur's whimpering got louder for a few moments but soon quieted down. Hitori was rather amazed at the potion's effectiveness, already the bruise was looking better. According to the instructional bit on it, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes for the entire effect of the potion to apply.

"L-let's see, apply no more than two sprays to each visibly injured part of the Pokemon, i-if injuries persist, wait thirty minutes before applying another dose. I-if two doses aren't enough, look to bring the Pokemon to a Pokemon center, or use a stronger dose," Hitori read the instructions and carefully stared at Whismur as she counted the minutes away.

Maybe she was staring a bit much as she zoned out, worrying about this that or another thing, only snapping out as Whismur let out a happy cry. Hitori blinked and looked at Whismur once again, other than looking a little red around her eyes, she looked just fine. Hitori let out a sigh of relief, "You were brave Whismur," Hitori complimented.

Whismur let out another cry that seemed a bit more pleased with herself. Then she let out another cry, and another. Her small hands pointing to something. Hitori turned around seeing a box of empty glasses. "Oh right, I'll get you another drink I promise, but it may not be until after our last round," Hitori explained.

Whismur's attitude took a complete turn around and she slinked away finding a dark corner to shove herself into. "Ah, no Whismur, it's not your fault! I just don't know how long we have until our next round!" Hitori started to beg while trying to pull Whismur away from the dark, inviting, cardboard box she was climbing into.

-----

In the end, it took five minutes to convince Whismur that she hadn't made any mistakes. At least Whismur seemed somewhat pumped to hurry up so she could get another drink. Now returned safely into her Pokeball, Hitori walked out of the employee's changing room to see that the other semi-final round was similarly over.

"Wooloo is unable to battle, the victor is Dottler!" The announcer exclaimed.

Hitori looked over at the arena to see the bug type right before it was returned to its Pokeball. Her Trainer was younger than herself, with long unkempt green hair. While she was wearing a school uniform, on top of it she was wearing a lab coat that was clearly too large for her.

She seemed to be proud of herself. As Hitori had that thought it seemed to draw the girl's attention as she looked up at that moment looking directly at Hitori. Not only that but she immediately began to march over.

'Not again!' Hitori thought, she was still recovering from being talked to by Kita and she was helping her Whismur heal. Could she maybe reschedule? Hitori quickly looked away, eyes finding any good place to hide for as little good as it would do.

"You're the other finalist, right? Well, I'm going to tell you know that I'm going to win, and you won't even get to lay a hit on my Dottler!" The girl confidently declared, arm extended, pointing at Hitori. At least she assumed so, the sleeve of the lab coat was still covering her hand up.

Hitori froze up at those words. She looked around hoping to find someone who'd miraculously save her from this. "A-a, um…" Hitori started but didn't go anywhere.

"Hmm, so focused on your upcoming battle? I see, this is the thing where we don't even need to exchange words, our Pokemon will do all the talking for us! Maybe you're not a total newbie, you'll make a good starting step to my championship victory!" The girl continued before walking off past Hitori and into the employee-only changing room.

Hitori quickly escaped from the situation before she was forced to deal with more social activity. However, she did wonder why the girl was going into the employee-only area. Maybe her Dottler had taken some damage, and she didn't see it?

There were a few minutes she had until the finals, so at least she could take some time to breathe and focus. "Hitori! You did so well in that battle!" Kita announced from halfway across the café. Hitori dived under her table to hide.

 

[Neo3932156]

Hitori started to beg while trying to pull Whismur away from the dark, inviting, cardboard box she was climbing into.

Click to shrink...

This is just perfect, knowing the source material, it's fun seeing her this way.

 

[Belwin]

Hitori took a deep breath, one more, just one more battle and she would be able to participate in the Pokemon League. She, just needed, to go out there once more onto the arena. Before her nerves could totally betray her, Hitori walked onto her side of the battlefield, doing her best to not make eye contact with anyone in the audience, or the judge, or the girl who would be her opponent who seemed to be kind of red in the face.

"Welcome everyone to the final round of our tournament. One of these talented trainers will win our recommendation to the Pokemon Gym Challenge! On our left, with her loud partner, It's Hitori Gotoh!" The judge started. Hitori froze up and shut her eyes as she heard people, the audience clapping for her. Some were even cheering, she could hear Kita, and the trainer with the Nickit who was yelling something she didn't understand.

She felt like apologizing, she was going to mess things up somehow. Maybe she'll end up losing so quickly that everyone will demand refunds and she'll banned forever from Pokemon battling for being such an embarrassment to Pokemon trainers everywhere. Hitori's body was shaking but she still forced herself to take the Pokeball and hold it at the ready.

"On our right, With her ever-stalwart partner, Natasha Bathory!" The judge continued. The girl, Natasha had a confident grin on her face as she posed with her hands on her hips. There was another round of applause for her, something she seemed to bask in at least from what Hitori could tell after she forced herself to crack an eye open to look at her.

"Trainers, release your Pokemon," The judge said.

Natasha was first to comply, "Let's go Dottler!" She announced before nearly dunking the Pokeball onto the ground of the arena. The ball opened and released the bug type who didn't let out any sort of cry. Instead sitting where it was released, eyes looking around. Hitori did notice that it must have been an intentional move to release Dottler as close to the edge of the arena as possible.

Right, it was her turn, she lobbed her Pokeball as she had been, her Whismur coming out with a cry before quieting up to focus. "Aa-h, W-Whismur c-come o-o-out," She muttered out after releasing her Pokemon. Ah, she was supposed to do that in the other order, will she get disqualified for that?

Thankfully she didn't and even more thankfully, no one commented on her obvious mistake as instead, the judge gave Pokemon a look to confirm their readiness. "Whismur vs Dottler, let the battle begin!" The judge waved their hand down to herald the start of the battle.

"Light Screen, Whismur will attack from a distance," Natasha immediately declared. Right on her command, Dottler sprung into action. Well sprung would be the wrong word to describe it as he didn't budge from his spot. Instead, his eyes began to glow a blue hue and around him, yellowish light began to weave.

"S-S-smokescreen," Hitori whispered out. It was shameful she knew, but as long as she could use smokescreen to hide herself everything could come later. Thankfully it looked like Natasha was giving her time to get the smokescreen ready. Whismur let out a small cry before opening her mouth and starting to blow out the smoke.

For a few seconds neither side did anymore, the smokescreen continued to expand and spread out over the arena. Covering Whismur, Dottler, and most importantly of all, Hitori. Allowing her to take a breath feeling safe and hidden. Though in that time, Dottler had more than enough time to finish weaving his light screen, the hexagonal barrier covering the Pokemon in a half dome.

"Now, Confusion blow that smokescreen away!" Natasha commanded with what sounded like a rather mean tone from what Hitori could hear. Through the smokescreen, Hitori could see the light emanating from Dottler's eyes intensify before a similar blue glow envelops parts of Whismur's smokescreen. Then it began to shift and fan away in inconsistent bursts. Like one was using a broom to sweep away the smoke.

"A-Ah, Whismur E-Echoed voice," Hitori called out to try and stop Dottler. Already pockets of the smokescreen had been pushed aside, at least Whismur and herself were still hidden under it. Whismur let out a small cry, giving Hitori the bit of time she needed to put her headphones back on. Then the volume came, slowly gaining in volume as Whismur's voice bounced off the walls.

Briefly Hitori thought she may have already done it, Dottler was still far away and Whismur would have time to get her attack nice and powerful. This was cut off in a moment as suddenly her partner was knocked into the air and out of the smokescreen. At least from what Hitori could tell by lightly peering out of her cloud.

It took her a moment to get her headphones off, only to hear what Natasha was commanding next. "Now Confusion again! Back to the smoke to clear it away from Whismur's trainer," She had said.

"Eh?" Was all Hitori could say before a sudden wave of force pressed against her. Well not a full force but more like a sudden breeze or gust of an attack landing near her. Murmurs rose from the audience and Hitori couldn't help but notice the light now covering the arena from the ceiling, the eyes on her murmuring what she no doubt was assure were, she shook her head and tried to focus on the battle.

"W-whi, I-Icy. N-no um E-e-e-e-e-" Hitori stuttered and nearly bit her tongue as she let herself be distracted. "Smokescreen…" She eventually managed to whisper out.

"Don't let them! Interrupt their strategy it keeps them off balance, Confusion again!" Natasha ordered. While Whismur opened her mouth to let the attack loose, the same bluish light enveloped her before at once she was sent flying to the side as though Whismur was sucker punched.

Hitori wanted to apologize, this wasn't part of any strategy she just couldn't handle the light of the arena or the gaze of the audience. Maybe she should have taken a box then they wouldn't be able to get it off her so easily. Whismur got herself back up onto her feet and started to blow out smoke again. Only to once again be enveloped in light and knocked away.

More than that, a few seconds later the smoke was enveloped and pushed away keeping the field as clear as it had ever been from any of Hitori's battles. No, she needed to focus, it was Whismur getting hurt out there while she was worrying. "A-ah W-whismur- I-icy w-wind" Hitori forced herself to whisper out any attack to hopefully make it not so bad on her partner.

Whismur was just recovering from another sudden hit of psychic energy. Hitori's own uncertainty was reflected onto Whismur as she spent a second looking back at her trainer for confirmation. In that time another hit of confusion had time to build up and knock the Pokemon aside. At least when Whismur pushed herself back up again she began to let out the icy wind.

The hexagonal barrier of Light Screen was blocking the white bluish energy filling the air as it mostly parted around Dottler. "Confusion again!" Natasha said. The light began to build up once again, but this time Hitori noticed, as Whismur was tensing herself for another attack the light didn't match Whismur completely.

"D-d-d" Hitori started but her nervousness and anxiety slowed her down. Once again Whismur took an attack that Hitori knew only happened because she was being a failure of a trainer. Whismur was even starting to look more beat up after taking so many. Maybe she should give up before Whismur got too hurt.

"Confusion again, we're almost done here!" Natasha confidently exclaimed with a swing of her arm. The glow in Dottler's eyes intensified once again. This was it, Hitori thought. She maybe could at least say she tried to be a trainer. Her hands went to the Pokeball, thumb fiddling with the device as she came closer and closer to just returning Whismur.

"I-" Hitori started slowly holding the Pokeball out but stopped when she noticed Whismur. Her Partner was shivering and looking just as nervous as Hitori was. Ah, that's right, Whismur was just as much of a shy, anxious girl as she was. She was just acting bravely, for her. Because Whismur had the same dream as she did, because Whismur trusted her, and she was, and she was going to let her down by giving up.

"D-dodge back now!" Hitori called out, voice crackling not used to coming out with any volume. Hitori coughed a moment later as well, but Whismur perked up and kicked back just as the glow was reaching its more intense. A moment later the psychic force slammed against empty air, the thin smokescreen still over the arena providing a nice visual aid in showing the clear miss of the attack.

There was a pause as everyone took in how Whismur dodged the intangible psychic attack. The audience, the judge, Natasha, and even Hitori were surprised that Whismur could do it. "Tch, we've been found out. Dottler reinforce your Light Screen!" Natasha broke the momentary silence with her command. Dottler quietly obeyed as it built up more psychic energy feeding into the fading hexagonal barrier.

"W-Whismur, E-echoed voice," Hitori called out, her attention focusing more narrowly on the battle. Tuning out the other voices, their gazes, to focus on Whismur. Whismur's confidence seemed to return as it wasted no time opening her mouth wide and crying loudly. Hitori flinched as she realized she hadn't put her headphones on.

But under the loud ringing of Whismur's attack, Hitori continued "N-Now, G-get in close and use Astonish,". Whismur stopped her crying and began to run forward towards Dottler. The run-up allowed Whismur the time to put more energy into the attack, to the point that her ears began to faintly glow a purplish color signaling the ghost-type attack.

"She's getting close, swap to Reflect!" Natasha shouted back. The glow of psychic power emanating from Dottler's eyes flickered a few times like an LED light. After it stopped, the hexagonal barrier began to shift, from hexagons to squares, and from a yellow light to a blue one. "Now get ready to use confusion!" Natasha added on right after.

Whismur leaped to cross the last distance, ears extending and slamming down onto Dottler. Rather than hitting the bug-type Pokemon, the barrier stopped the attack in its place. All the while the bluish hue of psychic energy had been building up once again. "Dod-" Hitori started, but her timing was off and Whismur was suddenly pushed back as she took the attack.

As Whismur sailed back, landing on Hitori's side of the arena, Natasha was already shouting more orders, "Switchback!". Again, Dottler's eyes flickered and the barrier shifted back towards Light Screen now that Whismur was no longer close by.

"W-Whismur, I-icy wind," Hitori called out, an idea starting to form in her head. It didn't seem like Dottler could keep both Reflect and Light Screen up, and it wasn't Protect, so Dottler should be feeling some of the attack. Whismur nodded and opened her mouth wide and began to bellow out the attack.

Predictably the wind was once again parted around the barrier. "Confusion while Whismur is still!" Natasha called out. The light built up and Hitori watched it carefully, she'd seen the attack enough times to know when it should go off.

"Dodge forward, go in for Pound," Hitori called out her voice steadying as her focus continued to close in around Whismur and the battle. Whismur obeyed and jumped forward as the psychic force again slammed against empty air. Then Whismur was on the run towards Dottler.

"Again, switch. Then have confusion ready!" Natasha responded the moment she saw her confusion missed.

"E-echoed voice, once you're close," Hitori whispered out, looking to intentionally take advantage of Whismur's hearing to give a command that no one else would hear. Whismur let out an understanding cry, even as she ran forward, and the barrier shifted from hexagonal to square.

Whismur leapt up as she got close enough and already the blue hue was forming close to the Reflect around Dottler anticipating where Whismur would land against the barrier. But as Whismur reached the apex of her jump she opened her mouth wide and screamed. The force of her sound pushed her and kept her momentarily airborne. The Confusion dissipated without going off as the soundwaves rocked against Dottler, his perpetually open and glowing eyes closing as he endured the attack.

"Struggle Bug! Get Whismur away!" Natasha called out, panic starting to show in her voice. Immediately Dottler's eyes snapped open and from the points in his carapace, yellow-green lights emanated out and erratically moved out. Converging around Whismur as she was landing.

"Whismur! H-Hang in there and T-take it, Please," Hitori replied uncertainly. Whismur had already taken so many hits, that she didn't know if Whismur could endure anymore. But if she could, Whismur's Rattled could activate and she might be able to close the battle out. Whismur let out another cry as she braced herself. While the lights seemed rather slow and harmless, the moment one contacted Whismur it burst with energy nearly knocking Whismur back.

Hitori fought against telling Whismur to dodge after each attack hit her, the lights continued to fire off from Dottler. Three more to take, two more to take, one more to take, "W-Whismur c-come back and use i-icy wind," Hitori called out. Whismur rushed back, kicking up dust as she sped back. As she came to a stop next to Hitori it was clear that Whismur was agitated and jumpy from Rattled having been built up. Not only that but it was clear that Whismur looked beat up and was low on breath.

"Light Screen, then Struggle Bug minefield style!" Natasha yelled out. Dottler shifted his barrier once again, all while continuing to let out struggle bug. The lights rather than approaching Whismur, instead spread out around Dottler, none of them wholly stopping creating a field of moving lights.

Whismur opened her mouth wide and began to bellow out the icy wind. As the wind reached Dottler's side it began to push the struggle bug out of the way though they pushed back against the wind as the attack tried to take their spots back. As well like before the Light Screen shielded Dottler from the brunt of the attack.

Both trainers watched carefully as their attacks continued. Dottler's struggle bug slowly creeps forward toward Whismur. While Whismur's wind blew them off course. Seconds passed before it was Hitori who broke the seeming stalemate. "P-pound!" she nearly screamed, voice cracking.

Whismur stopped the wind and rushed forward. The struggle bug, no longer held back by the icy wind, began to converge on Whismur. Whismur dodged through the barrage of attacks thanks to her increased speed, closer and closer she got to Dottler. Natasha gave an order, and the barrier was already starting to shift.

But it was too slow, Whismur reached Dottler and slammed her weight into the bug-type. Whismur's body moves right past the hexagonal barrier. Dottler let out a cry for the first time as he was pushed off his feet. "Forget defense, Struggle bug Whismur is so close!" Natasha shouted out. Dottler's eyes focused again, regaining his footing and beginning to release the lights once more.

"Astonish!" Hitori called out focused to the point that she paid no attention to any audience or the growing cheers. Whismur extended her ears and brought them down onto Dottler's body. The sound of the attack echoed out as everything came to a halt. Dottler went still, and Whismur fell back panting from exertion.

Things were quiet, the lights of struggle bug had gone out and both Pokemon lay in the arena. Seconds passed, but in the end, it was Whismur who pushed herself up. "Dottler is unable to battle! The winner is Hitori Gotoh and Whismur!" The judge spoke up and called the match.

Hitori blinked, Whismur had done it, she won. Only now did Hitori realize just how fast her heart was pounding, the sweat covering her palms. Then the audience erupted into cheers, their focus entirely on her. She was almost too tired to care, almost. She froze up for a second before stumbling to grab Whismur's Pokeball, quickly returning her partner and running straight for the door.

-----

Hitori had only turned a corner into an alleyway before slumping down behind a trashcan. Her heart was still going a mile a minute and she was taking deep breaths to try and calm herself down. It, it probably wasn't the best way to make her exit. She still left her Guitar case behind as well, so it was going to be more embarrassing regardless to have to go back for it.

Regardless she couldn't help but laugh, a nervous laugh mind you, but laughing either way. Hitori brought her hand up to cover her mouth and muffle herself lest she attract more attention to herself, there she realized that despite her anxiety at how it'd look when she walked back in, her worries over maybe losing her recommendation over that action, she was smiling.

It took Hitori fifteen minutes until she felt calmed down enough. That and she watched as people had started to leave the Café, maybe she could just wait until it was empty to get her things. With that hope, she justified those fifteen minutes she took to build the courage to go back in. As she opened the door, it thankfully looked like she was right, there were much less people and no one suddenly trying to talk to her.

Carefully she approached the counter. "I-I-um, Sorry. Um, for- I'msorryforrunningofflikethat" Hitori quickly said to the clerk who was still being so patient and just smiling at her.

"Your first tournament win must have been overwhelming for you, either way, congratulations you did well! Please, take this as your recommendation for the Pokemon League Gym Challenge," The clerk replied and Hitori took a small breath of relief.

"It's already partially filled out, but please have it filled out before handing it in at Hammerlocke Stadium," The clerk continued.

Hitori blinked, ah right, she'll have to enter such a large building with people no doubt so much better than her. Would they even let her in? Would they make her battle 100 people in a row to prove she is a worthy trainer? Or it- it's the Dragon-type gym, did she have to go catch a dragon just to enter?

"Pardon me? Did you understand?" The clerk asked and Hitori suddenly shook her head back and forth as she snapped back to reality. "Oh, things like your trainer ID and name have already been filled in. Along with things like the Café's information regarding your recommendation. There's more to fill out but you can do that whenever before handing it in," The clerk helpfully explained again. Ah, Hitori was beginning to think this clerk was an angel to socially anxious girls like herself.

"Ah, T-t-thank you," Hitori answered finally noticing that some paperwork had been pushed forward towards her. She accepted the luxurious seeming paper and hurriedly made her way to her guitar case. It wasn't that bad, all things considered. Maybe, maybe it wasn't that bad at least dealing with people at counters.

"Hitori you did so well!" Kita suddenly called out from Hitori's table. She hadn't been paying attention and didn't see her at all.

"AAAIIEEE!" Hitori suddenly screamed out at being surprised. Grabbing her guitar case and bolting. She was wrong, Cafes are far too dangerous for timid girls like herself. Without thinking she ran out the door and again into the alley's safety. However, she needed to go further and hide herself in a trash can. At least it was empty.

 

[NooneImportant]

Bocchi won, LET'S GO!!!

Spoiler: The visage of a PEAK Pkmn Trainer

 

[Belwin]

It was a good night for Hitori, she finished editing another cover and was now waiting as it uploaded to her channel. Whismur was listening happily to the song, played on a very low volume of course to not agitate her sensitive ears. The only thing Hitori was worried about right now was that it was a Sunday, and she was set to go back to school the next morning.

While Whismur was using her father's laptop, Hitori opened another browser and opened another site. Whismur had done well, way better than she was expecting, maybe it was a sign that she should continue with Whismur's training? That she'd be ready to learn more moves? With that in mind, Hitori opened a site called the Attackdex, made by one Professor Kukui from Alola.

At least according to the front page of the website. Made to document every Move that every Pokemon could learn. A few keystrokes later and she was on Whismur's page, Moves were separated into two categories, Instinctual and Tutor-able moves. Her curiosity getting a bit ahead of her, she went right into the Tutor-able moves portion and scrolled down to Icy-Wind.

A click later she was presented with a description of the move. More than that, there were a few below it, only 3 of them. The first was from a Pokemon photographer, or at least that's what Hitori figured as the clip was shot from behind some rocks. It showed a wild Whismur using the move on a Zubat that had intruded on their nest. The second was from another trainer who had demonstrated the attack from their own Whismur.

Finally, the third video was one she had taken and uploaded. It didn't include her in it. Ah! She could hear herself crack her voice trying to speak up for the video. It was in her bathroom, showing off her Whismur using the move over her filled bathtub. Showing off how ice was forming in the water thanks to the move. Ah, it was embarrassing to watch back! She quickly clicked back.

Unfortunately, despite her own embarrassment over her recording, she was quietly hoping she could have taken a higher spot. After all, there is a feature that changes the order the videos appear based on how useful it is, or it was popularity. It wasn't just chronological because she knew from other visits that the order would move around.

She was getting distracted though, she clicked back and went to the instinctual page. There the moves listed were a lot more obvious, Pound, Astonish, Uproar, Howl, and so on. Moves that pretty much every member of the species would learn naturally as they got older or stronger. But just because they were naturals at a move, didn't mean they wouldn't benefit from being taught the move or training with it.

With that in mind, Hitori looked over what move she should train Whismur in next. Hitori began to dig through the information on the site, as for the instinctual moves there was a lot of information regarding when in a Pokemon's growth they start to exhibit the move naturally, or things to look out for to see if a Pokemon is strong enough to start using a move.

For example, when Hitori was looking at Stomp, it said that Whismurs should be taught to use Stomp only when their ears start to spend more time unfurled rather than curled up, as it's a sign of incoming evolution. Or Roar which is apparently rare for Whismur to learn, but according to the site, they could learn once they've grown to be at least 1.3 times the average size of a Whismur. Apparently because only once they reach that size do their lungs have enough capacity to…

She was getting off track again! Hitori quickly clicked back a few more times and focused on the moves that Whismur should start being able to use. Which after some looking was Uproar, Howl, or Supersonic. Hitori continued to flip between the pages trying to guess from quick viewings of the many available videos of the moves which would be easiest to teach next. Compared to the harder moves, each of the moves she was looking at had hundreds of videos of various trainers showing off their own Whismurs.

Hitori was taken out of her searching by a sudden cry ringing out through her bedroom. The surprise made her trip over herself to get up and look at her partner. Whismur was crying loudly having stepped away from the other laptop. "Whismur! What's wrong?" Hitori asked rather loudly momentarily forgetting Whismur's sense of hearing. Of course, the sudden noise only made the Pokemon cry louder.

It took her maybe longer than she'd admit to anyone the reason for Whismur's crying was that Hitori had let herself get distracted browsing online that she missed dinner. Which meant that Whismur also was getting hungry. She rushed out of her room, closing the door behind her to keep the rest of the house insulated from the noise.

Hitori hurried over to the kitchen and grabbed the usual bag of Pokemon food and one of the plates, filling it up and rushing back. The noise was quiet as she walked back to her room, she wondered if Whismur had already quieted down. But as she opened the door she was met with the loud crying once again. Ah, so that's why her parents or Futari never complained about Whismur's frequent outbursts.

"Whismur, I have your food here, look, see?" Hitori quickly said holding the plate out towards Whismur. The Pokemon turned to look at her, she kept crying but it did quiet down a bit, even as Whismur began to waddle herself over to a specific corner of the room staring at the empty place where her food was usually served.

Hitori let out a sigh of relief as she moved to set the plate down, only for Whismur's crying to get louder again as her patience had worn thin. Which in turn forced Hitori to hurry up nearly tripping once again. But soon the plate of food hit the ground thankfully not breaking the plate and Whismur finally stopped crying, if only because she immediately began to shovel food into her mouth.

With that Hitori let out another sigh of relief, even as she tensed up almost expecting another incident to happen each time she did so. When it didn't come, she could slow down and watch her partner eat. After a minute or two of quietly watching, her stomach growled, reminding her of her own skipped dinner. Which came with it the thought that usually her mother would come looking for her if she wasn't at the table for dinner.

Whismur let out a cry getting Hitori's attention once more. She looked to see her partner holding out a piece of food towards her. "Ah, no it's okay Whismur. I'll get my food, so eat up," Hitori quietly replied as she patted Whismur's head. Whismur let out another small cry before going right back to her food and eating in a hurry.

Whismur taken care of for the moment, Hitori stepped back out of her room now to answer the issue at hand. Where had everyone else gone? No longer rushed by Whismur's crying, Hitori quickly found the mundane answer. A note was left on the kitchen counter telling her that her mom and dad had taken Futari and Jimmi-hen out. The note even explained how they sent her messages asking if she wanted to come along. Hitori pulled out her phone and ah, yep the messages were there. Her phone was on silent since it wasn't like she ever had to worry about texts or calls from people.

Hitori wasn't exactly bummed out or even disappointed about not going out. After all she got editing done and a video uploaded… Two hours ago, spending the rest of the time looking up Pokemon Trainer information. Grabbing a small plate of whatever looked easy to eat with no preparation, Hitori took her plate with her back to her room, she had to make sure Whismur didn't start crying again.

It was back in her room that she slowly felt the anxiety of going back to school in the morning build. Was Kita going to suddenly approach her? She didn't want to go, the more she thought of it, the more she didn't want to go. Slowly she turned her head to Whismur, maybe this time it'll work? Those battles a few days ago surely made Whismur's Icy Wind stronger right?

That was another thing! She still had to actually register that recommendation! Well, she could put that one off for a few more days, or weeks. As long as she submitted it before the due date it'll be fine. Unless it was some kind of secret test, and only those who submitted bright and early with extroverted energy were allowed to join.

Hitori grumbled as she nibbled on a carrot, her eyes slowly moving back to her laptop. The allure of putting it all out of her mind and mindlessly searching through the internet, or working with Whismur on a new move becoming more and more tempting. Then an idea struck her, quickly she typed up and did a quick search.

A couple of minutes later Hitori jumped up, "That's it! My way out!" She exclaimed.

"Ah…" She let out a moment later as Whismur, spooked by the sudden volume began to cry once again. "no no! Whismur please stop crying I'm sorry for scaring you!" She suddenly called out to her loud partner. A few minutes and the promise of a treat later Whismur had calmed down.

Hitori turned her attention back to her laptop, specifically a piece of information that she just confirmed her school had. Since so many people spent time on a Pokemon Journey, many schools had flexible schedules to accommodate it. More importantly, those with recommendations to participate in the Pokemon Gym Challenge were allowed more freedom in time off to focus on their training. More than that, her school offered a skipped year for participation.

No more school, at least for a year! She could avoid having to go to her class and best of all when she returned, she could possibly be a grown-up, amazing, famous, popular, rich Pokemon trainer that everyone would come to her to talk about. It was win-win! She just needed to fill the form out and submit it first thing in the morning, then it was right back home to send in a thankfully electronic form about getting the time off!

Now motivated, Hitori finally took the recommendation and filled it out. It was like a weight was off her shoulders, she had made a step forward filling it out, now with nothing else she could possibly do at the moment. Her consciousness was clear when she returned Whismur to her Pokeball, grabbed her guitar, and played late into the night. Only interrupted for a bit when her family came back, and she explained her plan to her dad.

-----

It was bright and early when Hitori set out on her quest to hand in the recommendation to Hammerlocke Stadium. For one she needed to get it turned in early enough in the day that she could let her dad go and have her excused from classes. But also going so early meant that maybe there'd be no one there. Or maybe that was a dumb idea, it just meant everyone who was there would stare at her, see her as a gloomy, unpopular trainer, and chase her out. No no! Hitori shook that thinking out of her head, she had to focus!

The bus she was riding came to a stop and it was enough to help bring her back to reality as she checked around her, then back down to her phone to compare it to the online map she had. Well, actually, she probably didn't need it, she could see Hammerlocke's stadium looming overhead, probably only like a couple of stops away now.

Unfortunately, as she looked out at the streets, even so early in the morning it was busy and filled with people coming and going from. With a few deep breaths, Hitori did her best to calm herself down as the bus started moving again. Two stops later she was getting off the bus right in front of the stadium. Even with the amount of foot traffic going on, no one was going into the stadium. That probably made some amount of sense to Hitori, it wasn't like the season began yet so there wouldn't be challengers and there were only so many people who got recommendations.

A smile crept onto Hitori's lips as she started walking towards the entrance. That's right, she was one of only a select number who earned a position! One of, up to a thousand each year. It was an accomplishment, right? She could brag about even being selected to participate. She could even appear on TV since every gym challenge was recorded and shown to audiences region-wide, if not worldwide.

For reasons certainly not because of that thought, Hitori turned a sharp ninety degrees and began to walk in another direction. She was just… Checking the stadium out from every direction, yep it was probably something trainers did, know their battleground or something!

Not that Hitori even got that far, because a sight caught her attention. Someone with a large Pokeball mascot head, dressed in a red t-shirt and white skirt. Wearing some kind of bodysuit so their arms and legs were just as white. 'Oh right, Ball Guy' Hitori thought.

Ball Guy doesn't wear a skirt! Hitori's mind pointed out a moment later. Indeed, with a second look, she could see that the not Ball guy's Pokeball head was designed after a Premier Ball, with eyelashes that usually designate a female character. Ball Girl? Did the Pokemon League have such a mascot? Slowly Hitori moved towards the entrance of the stadium the confusion having her forget her cowardice around the Stadium itself.

As Hitori approached the stadium she kept an eye on the mascot, she seemed to be doing what Ball Guy would be doing. Which was approaching people and handing out Pokeballs to passersby. Which meant she needed to make sure she wasn't seen. The last thing she wanted was to be attacked by a weirdo in a mascot costume.

Hitori must have displeased some Legendary because the moment she had that thought, the mascot stopped and slowly turned toward her. Hitori felt her blood run cold as she glanced towards the door, if she hurried maybe she could avoid having to talk to them. As she glanced back, the mascot was doing stretches, followed shortly by starting to sprint over to her! Run Hitori this isn't one of your delusions!

Even trying to make a run for it, Hitori wasn't fast enough, and soon the mascot was coming to a skidding stop in front of her. "Aye, ya going to be signing up to the Pokemon Gym Challenge Ain'tcha? I can see it in ya recommendations, ah that brings me back! Well, I can't just let ya go without something ta motivate ya! Here, take this gift from Ball Girl and use it with confidence!" Ball Girl said to Hitori before pushing two Pokeballs into Hitori's hands. Or more specifically a Level ball if the plastic wrap with Pokemon League branding was anything to go by. The other one however was a Premier Ball.

"I- um, ah," Hitori started. But before she could stop her stuttering and say something, Ball Girl simply continued.

"How many Pokemon do ye got? Cause if ye got two then we could have ourselves a battle! More specifically a double battle, if ye win you earn a big prize!" Ball Girl explained.

"Ah- no, um, I only have one Pokemon, also she's totally injured and unfit for battle!" Hitori quickly threw out before making a run for it towards the entrance.

"Then take 'em to a Pokemon center once you have yer registration! They'll heal 'em up right quick and for free for League Trainers!" Ball Girl shouted back with a wave. Not that Hitori was paying attention as she swung the door open and entered. Ball Girl remained still for a few seconds before perking up and turning to see another fortunate and lucky individual in need of some extra Poke Balls. Some girl wearing a lab coat that was far too big for her.

-----

Surprisingly for Hitori, after the craziness of whoever was hanging around in a Mascot outfit. It felt almost relieving to just stutter and hold out the recommendation to the first manned desk she could see. She didn't even agonize over which desk she should be going to or anything. It was the wrong desk, but they were polite in telling her where to go.

Which brought her to another desk and soon into a private office and her anxiety was already starting to build once again. As one of the league workers came in, what followed was a brief interview, mostly asking if she ever worked for groups such as Team Rocket, Magma, and so on. Did she come off as a criminal? Was she going to be jailed as a criminal? She eventually stuttered out a no and they moved on to another question.

By the end of the interview, Hitori was sweating expecting any one of her answers to get her declined, kicked out, or arrested. But instead of any of that happening the league worker simply said, "Well then Hitori Gotoh, everything looks to be in order. We're happy to have you participate in our Gym Challenge,".

It was a heavyweight on Hitori's shoulders, more so because it meant she had the reason she needed to avoid going to school now! "T-Thank you," Hitori stuttered back.

"Now there are some final things to prepare before the start of the season. For one is the contract, We'll be happy to explain anything you may not understand. Though we recommend you take a copy home and look over it closely, we'll even provide a reimbursement if you go to a lawyer to look it through," The league worker explained taking a small stack of paper out and pushing it forward towards Hitori.

"Aah, okay," Hitori said quietly accepting the contract as it would be much easier than asking any questions. Not that she signed it, though only because the worker wasn't assigning any pressure to do so. If they did, she… probably would have signed it without looking it over.

"Right you're in school right now aren't you?" The league worker asked after checking something on a computer. Hitori nodded. The worker nodded back typed something out and with a hit of a button printed out another form. "Here you go, an official notice of participation. Use it to get the time off from School or Work necessary to compete," the league worker continued.

Hitori nodded once again. Then, with a few more minutes and another congratulations Hitori was almost numbly walking out of the stadium, a large folder now in her hands. That wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it would be.

 

[TRm]

This was an amazing start; I really liked how you wrote Hitori and Whismur together like this

 

[Belwin]

Hitori made a mistake in what she believed her perfect plan was. Something she felt hit her multiple times from realizing that she'd have to be present at the school when her dad went to get her excused from her classes. Then again when the timing of it all was still in the morning and her walk into the school was just after the first break period started, because that meant people were still wandering the halls, and seeing her walking with her dad attracted way too much attention. Finally, when the principal she was sitting opposite of had chided her for skipping her classes, telling her that she could have gone after school both to turn in the recommendation and get excused from classes.

So Hitori sat, eyes firmly looking at the floor as she berated herself for her stupidity, mentally apologizing to her dad who was sitting next to her going over some of the details of having an incompetent daughter. Ah, she probably should be paying attention.

"While Miss Gotoh will be allowed to miss the rest of the school year, she will have to test into the high school of her choice. Of course, she will also be able to repeat the year with no demerits on her record because of her journey. It will be from the beginning of the year however, our exceptions can only go so far," The principal explained to the two.

"I see, that's good to hear that she won't be missing out on any opportunities because of this," Hitori's dad said.

Hitori despite herself already started zoning the conversation out again. Her mind drifted to one particular idea that came to mind. Visions of her walking into high school and turning everyone's heads. They'll all whisper to her about how they can't believe they have a big-shot trainer attending their school. Maybe even the newest champion. She'll take her sunglasses off and give them a confident smirk and strike a pose one she'll doubtlessly be known for like the legendary champion Leon is. Friendship, popularity, she won't even need to try to get those things! "Battling advice? Of course, it'll be easy…" She absentmindedly said

"Miss Gotoh, do you have a question?" The principal asked snapping Hitori out of her delusion and bringing her back to reality.

Immediately an embarrassed blush crept onto her face and she began to stutter "Ah- n-no, actually, how would I go to high school if I miss my classes?" She asked in a whisper. Hopefully, it was the kind of student-y question that would distract from questioning any weird expression she had on her face or what she had mumbled out.

Hitori's father gave a look of surprise and pride at her daughter possibly growing up and taking studies more seriously. Just another thing Hitori would need to apologize to her dad for when she had the confidence for it.

"Very good question Miss Gotoh. We provide a number of resources for students going on their Pokemon journies. For one your student login will remain valid for the rest of the school year so you may access the school's online textbooks whenever you may wish. As well we provide self-driven lessons and tests to allow students to continue their classes while on their journey the best they are able. If requested we also can provide physical packets with notes and worksheets that are in line with what is being taught in person," The principal explained.

That didn't seem too bad to Hitori. It didn't sound like they were expecting her to do the same amount of work as if she were attending class. Maybe she'd be the type who worked better with those lessons, Hitori thought even knowing she was the type who didn't study unless absolutely forced to. She gave a small nod to the principal to show she was listening and her dad soon chimed in and continued their talk.

It went on for a while longer, papers were signed by all of them and soon she was given a small slip of paper and a business card from the principal. Something that he told her to try and keep on her person as it'll act as evidence in case anyone like a concerned police officer thinks her to be skipping school or a runaway from home.

---

As Hitori was leaving with her dad, she considered what to do with the rest of her day. She still had quite a bit of time before she even needed to think about how she was going to go to Motostoke to attend the opening ceremony. Something she was doing her best to pretend didn't exist and happened in a nice gloomy place.

"Ah, Dad I can make my own way home?" Hitori asked for once a natural volume and tone as they were leaving the school building.

"Are you sure? Is there somewhere you want to visit? We're already out, I don't mind another stop," Her dad graciously offered. As well as politely not touching the Beedrill's nest of her friend situation by thinking she'd be wanting to say goodbyes to them. Better to continue in willful ignorance in that matter.

"No, just um. I wanted to train with Whismur. I, I'll have to work harder with her if I want to do well. I'm going to try and teach supersonic next so I'll be making a lot of noise," Hitori explained.

"Getting right to work? My daughter is growing up so fast!" He said in a bit of a teasing tone. "Alright, I'll see you back at home," He added before giving her a light pat on the shoulder. The two of them naturally split off, Hitori off towards a park she knew wasn't that far away while her dad went to his car.

-----

"Hitori! Wait up!" Hitori had barely made it off school grounds when she heard her name being called. It took her a second to even realize she was being called and stopped to look towards the source of the voice. A voice that was familiar to her. Kita was running out of the school and waving to her.

Hitori flinched and sped up if only to get out of sight of anyone who may be able to see from the windows of the school. Not that she was fast enough to get out of sight of Kita who quickly caught up to her. "Hitori where are you going? I didn't see you in class, are you sick?" She asked in that cheery extrovert way that Hitori wasn't sure how to respond.

After a second Kita took a step back and let out a chuckle, "Sorry sorry, that's probably too much at once,".

"Ah, no, um, I was, getting excused from classes. F-for the Pokemon Gym Challenge," Hitori eventually whispered out.

"I see, I already have that as well. But I figured we still have a couple of weeks before it starts, so I could stay in school before then. Maybe I'm just taking this whole thing easily then?" Kita replied.

"N-no, I- I just wanted to try and get Whismur a new move or so before the start…" Hitori said, technically telling the truth even if it was hiding the other fact that she was just skipping school.

"Cool, Um unless you are really busy, would you mind having a battle with my Milcery? I wanted to get some practice in with you since we're both from the same class and going to be competing together. I was going to ask you this morning, but I didn't see you," Kita explained, fishing out a Pokeball from her bag.

Hitori wanted to say no, she wasn't mentally prepared for a battle. It took her nearly a full day to motivate herself for the few battles she had to get her placement. But saying no was much harder than simply not wanting to do something, and with Kita looking at her with those sparkling eyes. "Okay…" Hitori let out.

"Really? Thank you! So want to go to the school grounds, or a Pokemon Center or…" Kita jumped excitedly over the chance to battle, moving into a more casual tone as it wasn't as though they could just let their Pokemon out in the middle of the street for a battle.

"P-park, I w-was going to train at a park. W-we could battle there, t-there is spaces set out for that," Hitori muttered.

"Sounds good!" Kita energetically replied. Together the two began to walk towards the park, even if Hitori was lagging behind and mostly following Kita rather than leading her or going side by side. Maybe the park would be closed for cleaning? Then there'd be nothing for it but to hold it off, she could always practice in her room with its soundproofing.

The walk was awkwardly silent, though Hitori didn't mind it at all, it wasn't like she knew what a popular girl talked about anyway. As they arrived at the park, Hitori was happy to see that it was almost empty. Sure there was an old woman there feeding some Rookidees, but that was basically it. Just within the park was a portion of flat grass with posts in the corners that marked one such arena for people to have Pokemon battles.

There were even signs on the posts explaining the park rules about battles. Namely things like contacting a number if the field gets damaged and needs a ranger to fix up. Or to do things like clean up after yourselves. "H-here we are," Hitori said, as she shuffled towards one side of the field.

"Here we are! So it'll be a one vs one right? My Milcery and your Whismur? Do we go until one faints?" Kita asked suddenly seeming more nervous.

"Ah, yeah, um faints or if it's obvious one lost? Or maybe like pushed out of the arena?" Hitori offered some other conditions as examples.

"Sounds good! I don't really want to see Milcery get super beat up if that's okay," Kita said, as she held out her Pokeball. Hitori gave a nod of her own as she picked out Whismur's Pokeball as well. Without a judge or someone in that role, they both just vaguely tossed the balls out at the same time. Hitori once again weakly lobbed her ball, while Kita tossed it high into the air.

Whismur came out first and looked around for her opponent. Getting startled a second or two later when Kita's Pokeball hit the ground and released Milcery who let out a small, cute cry that only it believed to be intimidating. "S-smokescreen," Hitori called out in a quiet tone.

"You can do that to Milcery, Aromatic Mist, all around you!" Kita called out. Milcery nodded and began to spin around while letting out a cry. Wafting off the Fairy-type Pokemon's body was a pink mist. Meanwhile, Whismur had opened her mouth wide and started bellowing out the dark cloud of smoke. The two colored airs hit each other as they spread out, but rather than one overpowering the other, they created a clear distinction where one ended and the other began.

Already Whismur was well hidden within her smoke screen, while Milcery's mist wasn't dense enough to hide within. "I-icy wind," Hitori ordered now that there was enough smoke. Whismur let out a whispered cry before opening her mouth once more and blowing the frigid air. The smokescreen rolled and folded over itself as the attack blew it around. However it was there that the oddness of fairy types could be seen as while the attack pushed through the mist, it didn't seem to budge from the wind. Still not letting a puff of smoke into its area.

As for the attack itself it reached Milcery, forcing the young Pokemon to let out a cry and be blown back a bit, it's creamy body now looking stiffer from the cold. "Right, we need to get in close Milcery! Aromatic Mist once again while rushing in!" Kita called out after a second of thought.

Milcery nodded and gave another spin deepening the pink hue that surrounded Milcery before floating off towards where Whismur's attack came from. Its mist clung around her and easily forced the smokescreen away. Which in turn revealed Whismur who was in the middle of waddling over to a new spot. "E-echoed voice," Hitori called out.

With a hop Whismur stopped its attempt to move, turning towards the approaching Milcery, and began to scream forcing Kita and Hitori to cover their eyes, the force of the sound even pushing some of the mist and smoke away. "Tackle!" Kita yelled back hoping that her Pokemon would hear her.

Despite the force of the sound, Milcery didn't waver as her body was temporarily covered in a white glow before ramming into Whismur. Not that it was very effective, Whismur's body was pushed back but with how small and light Milcery was, Whismur's feet didn't budge from it's spot on the field. "Pound," Hitori said with a touch more volume.

Whismur swung back slamming its own body back into the fairy type to much greater effect. The cream Pokemon nearly burst as it splattered against the field, looking like a puddle of cream over the Pokemon it was a second ago. A moment passed and both trainers let out a surprised scream. "Ahh! Milcery are you okay?!" Kita called out running into the field. Hitori meanwhile was wondering if she'd be jailed, she'd be hated, she should have told Whismur to be more gentle!

As Kita reached the cream puddle, two white eyes opened up on the puddle looking at Kita. Then a mouth formed, and the cream shifted towards the face until the whole puddle lifted back off the ground and reformed into the recognizable shape of Milcery. "Oh thank goodness I thought you were seriously hurt! Are you okay Milcery? We can stop if you want!" Kita fretted over her Pokemon. Milcery meanwhile let out rapid-fire cries before turning to face Whismur and charging forward.

"A-ah d-do we continue?" Hitori asked feeling relieved that she didn't make Whismur into a Poke-murderer but also still feeling anxious in general.

"I think so, I think Milcery wants revenge," Kita says as she brings herself back onto her feet and hurries out of the field.

"O-o-okay, W-whism-" Hitori started but was interrupted as Milcery already tackled her Whismur this time succeeded in making the normal type take a step or two back in recoil. "A-astonish," Hitori finished.

Right away Whismur gathered the ghostly energy into her ears, unfurling them long enough to slam them down into Milcery with an accompanying loud cry. The attack caused a chunk of the cream Pokemon to distort inward. "P-pound again," Hitori called out.

Milcery had ignored her body becoming misshapen in favor of ramming into Whismur once more. All the while Kita had been watching and fretting over if she should be calling out whenever Milcery tackles or try and get her to do something else. In the end, after the latest Tackle, Whismur slammed her body back and knocked Milcery back once again causing it to lose shape and splatter against the ground.

This time Milcery was much slower to reform, with glass clinging to her cream body, swaying back and forth in clear exhaustion. "I'm calling it! Milcery return!" Kita called out. Milcery blinked and turned to look at her trainer for a moment before letting out another series of cute cries.

"No no, we've clearly lost this one!" Kita answered back. Milcery let out a final cry and slumped as she floated back to Kita. "You did well though Milcery for our first battle we held out for a while didn't we?" Kita consoled her Pokemon as she reached into her bag to pull out a potion and began to read the instructions for herself.

Hitori wasn't sure what to do here, it wasn't like the tournament where she would just have to leave the field so they could continue the next round. Should she go over to Kita and talk about the battle? Was that what friendly trainer battles were supposed to be like? A-ask for money? No no, she could never do that, that was way too much for someone like her. Maybe she could just take Whismur to another part of the park to start training with her?

Whismur at this point had shuffled over to Hitori and looked up at her, her trainer was getting distressed. Which to Whismur must mean that there was something worth being distressed over. So she handled it the only way she knew how, Whismur began to cry loudly.

"Whismur no! What's wrong are you hurt!?" Hitori suddenly cried out as she used one hand to cover her ear while she bent down to grab Whismur to pick her up. Thankfully it was enough to get Whismur to stop crying early. "Let's see, I'll get you a potion soon okay?" Hitori said as she began to look her partner over and other than some small bruise near her stomach she looked fine.

"K-k-kita, I-I'm going to h-heal Whismur okay? T-then I-I'll start training with h-her, Okay bye!" Hitori stuttered her way through telling Kita her plan. Before running off even before she was done talking.

 

[Belwin]

A one-stop spot for the Pokemon teams of noted Pokemon Trainers featured in this fic. I think it could get hard to keep track for people as more characters are introduced, teams grow in size, and Pokemon expand their movesets. It will be updated as of whatever the latest chapter is. So if you're reading this in the future when things have developed more, be mindful of potential spoilers.

Also, this is as good a place as any to mention that Pokemon won't be limited to four moves at a time.

Spoiler: Hitori 'Bocchi' Gotoh

Whismur ♀
Ability: Rattled
Known moves: Pound, Astonish, Echoed Voice, Smokescreen, Icy Wind

Spoiler: Ikuyo Kita

Milcery ♀
Ability: Sweet Veil
Known Moves: Aromatic Mist, Tackle

 

[TRm]

Everything about this chapter made me want them to get all the headpats