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Borne of Caution (Pokemon Isekai)
- Thread starter Fuggmann
- Start date
Feederchan
Do you want to make a wish?
- Joined
- May 22, 2021
- Messages
- 354
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nope no Gardevoir
Ryumancer
Dragons Are Romance
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2020
- Messages
- 938
- Likes received
- 2,688
It's not that genre of story at all, essentially.
Tempting Fate
Getting sticky.
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2022
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- 56
- Likes received
- 381
Lee always fretting about if Ninetales was created, never asking himself what evidence he has that Lee Henson wasn't also created. Who is to say his memories aren't someone else's? That "Earth" exists at all? He was almost certainly placed near Birch for a reason - what else could have been done to ensure he walked a path desired of him by the one who placed him there?
If Lee's new pokemon moves have all been variations of existing moves (like the absorbing leaf blade) and not completely new, I wonder if that could be a hidden gift from the one who recycles.
Unrelated, I suspect all animals and humans in this pokemon world are descended from fallers. In that way they could be seen as an invasive species from Archie's point of view.
Last edited:
Act 3: Chapter 3
New
Fuggmann
Inventor of Sex 2
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2020
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- 153
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- 23,132
Take a look here!
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As always, thank you for reading.
As a cool breeze blows through his hair and ruffles his open jacket, Lee decides that autumn in Hoenn is quite enjoyable.
The tropical region is a sauna in the height of summer, with temperatures casually reaching ninety degrees fahrenheit or higher. If anything took time to get used to, it was the temperature.
Now, though, in the first week of November, the daily high is a pleasant sixty degrees and not a pip higher. It's unfortunate that most trees in Hoenn don't turn autumn colors, but it's just another reason to move to Sinnoh or Johto once all of their affairs in Hoenn are taken care of.
Taking a deep breath, Lee smiles and looks down at his feet, where Shinx is practically vibrating, trying and failing to keep her excitement under wraps.
After a few days testing his baby's prodigious memory and recording all the amazing findings, Lee decided to make good on his promise to find a real, live battle for Shinx.
The cub was quite literally bouncing off the walls (knocking down a portrait in the hotel in the process) and pushed Lee and the team to get up and hurry the morning of. She wolfed down her breakfast so fast that Lee had to grab her scruff until she promised to slow down, then was bouncing on her paws by the door of the suite as Lee got dressed for the day.
Now, they're hanging out at the sidelines of one of Petalburg's many battlegrounds, watching matches and waiting for a challenge.
Looking down, Lee gives Shinx a gentle nudge with his boot. "Take a deep breath and calm down, Shinx," he says. "We'll get you a match. Just be patient."
The cub slows her incessant bouncing, or at least tries, and takes in a breath that makes the fur on her chest puff up, before releasing it out in a great gasp.
"Not what I meant, baby girl." Lee smiles bemusedly. "Relax, okay? You don't want to be over-tense for your fight."
Shinx finally sits down and takes a breath that seems to calm her somewhat, but her tail still flicks to and fro with nervous energy.
Inside her ball, Ninetales smiles, and Lee can feel it. 'So eager to impress. Little Shinx has grown much.'
'Yeah…' Lee agrees, melancholy jabbing his heart. It's like seeing his cubs at the zoo turn into lions once more. 'She grew up too fast, in my opinion. Is this what being a parent is like?'
'I can only imagine so. Savor it now, for if pokemon development is anything like that of a human, her rebellious phase may be cresting the horizon.'
'Our baby Shinx? A rebel? No way, no how. My sparkly-eyed sunshine can do no wrong.'
Ninetales giggles with only Lee to hear. 'Ah, the folly of father and Daddy's girl.'
Smiling, Lee rolls his eyes and rolls Shinx's ball between his fingers. Casting his gaze around him, Lee counts the other trainers awaiting a challenge and sees their numbers thinning out.
Like many social groups, trainers have a number of unspoken rules and cues within their ranks, ones that Lee missed during his first few months as a trainer.
One of the most common ones is simply waiting around battlegrounds with a pokeball in hand, signaling that you're looking for a fight. Having the pokemon you intend to fight with released is a courtesy that confident (or arrogant) trainers afford others, though some unscrupulous individuals employ such a thing as a bait-and-switch.
They usually get put on blast online.
Thus far, a few trainers have looked their way, but none have approached. If Ninetales were out, Lee might be able to borrow her ears and hear the whispers of a few people watching them, but alas. Some of the eyes trained on them are alight with recognition, while others are simply wary in a general way. Even this deep into the league year with the more casual trainers having already been filtered from the gym circuit, it seems that Lee is still a daunting sight for most.
With an inward sigh, Lee reaches up and rubs the trio of long-healed burns on his face.
The smooth, raised flesh is warm and slightly numb, as it always is, and once again, the man wonders if he should see a cosmetic specialist to try and do away with them.
'Nah.' He traces the one that took several millimeters of his lower eyelid and lets his hand fall. 'I've kept them this long, and I want the reminder to remain.'
"Excuse me, are you looking for a battle?"
Lee's attention returns outward when a voice addresses him. Looking down, he finds a girl a head shorter than him with a smile on her face.
The youthful woman, who can't be any older than seventeen, is rather plain in appearance, with auburn hair, hazel eyes, and practical traveling clothes. In her hand is a greatball, making her intent clear.
"That I am. My name is Lee, Miss…" Lee leads off, holding out a hand.
"April!" the girl chirps, taking the offered hand for a shake. "Are you using this cutie here?" she asks, looking down at the once-more vibrating Shinx.
"It'll be her first real battle outside of the team." Lee nudges Shinx with his foot again, reminding her to calm down. "Don't go easy on her, though. She's a tough cookie."
April's smile takes on a competitive edge, one that seems universal to all trainers. "Wouldn't dream of it!"
With the pleasantries out of the way, Lee, April, and Shinx move to an unused battleground made of the standard hard-packed dirt. Along the way, they discuss an ante for the match, something Lee has always avoided for fear of looking like a bully who preys on young, broke trainers.
April laughed at the confession and flashed her five badges, including Petalburg's Balance Badge. With that, they both put down five-hundred credits on the match.
As each trainer takes a side, a small crowd of curious onlookers joins at the edges, at least double of what any of the other battlegrounds have. Many of them sport belts of pokeballs or are joined by weathered-looking pokemon, each one paying close attention. Among the throng, there are cellphones and cameras poised to catch the action.
'All of them are so eager to scope out the alpha quietly prowling amongst their ranks, hmm?' Ninetales comments in the back of Lee's head, a hint of smug pride in her words. 'Young April looks to be the sacrificial Wooloo in this case.'
'Alpha? As if. And calling this girl a sacrificial Wooloo is a morbid way to think about it, Love.'
'Am I wrong?'
Before Lee can reply to the balled fox, an older gentleman with a salt-and-pepper beard walks up to the side of the arena to referee, and addresses both of them. "Lad, lassie, who are you and what rules are you using?" he asks, looking between them both.
"I'm Lee, and I actually have two pokemon I'd like to get some practical experience today, so how about two-on-two, one substitution each, standard rules and win condition?" Lee asks across the field.
"April is my name, and that sounds good to me!" April calls back, eagerly readying her greatball.
The referee of the day nods. "Two-on-two, one substitution. Trainers! Ready your first pokemon!"
Lee kneels down and puts a hand on Shinx's back, withholding a wince when some static crackles against his palm. "Ready, Baby?"
Shinx looks up at him with a grin, one feral and entirely too reminiscent of Zinnia.
"Knock 'em dead!"
With that, Shinx springs out into the field, electricity arcing up and down her body.
On April's side, the girl wings her greatball into the air. "Kecleon! Let's go!"
The blue and white pokeball snaps open with a flash of white, and opposite of Shinx, a bipedal, chameleon-like pokemon takes form.
'A Kecleon!' Lee's eyes widen in surprise.
The pokemon on the other side of the field resembles a chameleon of odd proportions. With a large, almond-shaped head decorated by a pair of spiny frills, a pair of short arms ending in yellowish claws, a pair of squat legs, and a thin, curly tail, the reptilian is unmistakable.
While not as vanishingly rare as a Zoroark, Kecleon is definitely one of the you don't find them, they find you types of pokemon, thanks to the world-class stealth abilities afforded to them by their color-changing skin.
Even more interesting, however, is Color Change, their special ability. After being struck by an attack, Kecleon's type temporarily changes from Normal to whatever type of attack hit it last. A gimmick in a video game, but a game changer in real life.
'Well, I was hoping for a challenge, and the world answered,' Lee thinks to himself with a lopsided frown. Strategies begin to form in his head.
"Ready?" The ref raises his hand and chops it down. "Begin!"
Shinx spools up Intimidate without any order needed. She bares her fangs as her eyes shine with a malevolent yellow light, and she looses a roar more fitting for a cat five times her size. The burst of hostile intent is concentrated enough that Lee can see it travel via the kicked-up dust on the ground.
When it hits Kecleon, he stumbles like he took a punch to the chest, and the lizard's face quite literally goes white.
"Kecleon, focus!" April is quick to try and put her pokemon back on track. "GP!"
Kecleon shakes his head to clear Intimidate's fog and moves to fulfil the obscured order, digging his slightly shaky hands into the ground.
'We'll prod him from a distance before moving in.' Lee's eyes narrow. "Thundershock!"
Little Shinx's body lights up with a corona of yellow. With a yowl, her fur stands on end and a bolt of lighting erupts from her body, speeding to Kecleon.
A second before he's electrocuted, Kecleon takes the clumps of dirt in his claws and strikes himself in his chest with them. His dull green scales bleed into ruddy brown.
Ker-zap!
Thundershock lights up April's pokemon with hundreds of thousands of volts, but the lizard doesn't so much as flinch. Once the burst of electricity passes, Kecleon is left with bright yellow scales. The yellow doesn't stay long, however, as brown once more radiates from the lighty smoking dirt smeared on his chest, until he's an earthy hue once more.
Lee watches the entire process with interest, noting how Kecleon's scales shifted color. 'I knew it, any trainer with a Kecleon is going to try and game Color Change. Kecleon made himself Ground-type with whatever "GP" was to negate Thundershock.'
His eyes lock onto the dirt clinging to Kecleon. 'Thundershock still shifted him to Electric-type for a moment, though. A good defence, but not perfect. We can work with this.'
"SB!" April orders, jumping on the one-second lull Lee used to think. "Then circle with DG!"
Kecleon's maw opens wide, and he fires off a dark, writhing ball of purple that Lee instantly IDs as Shadow Ball, but he has no idea what "DG" might be, so when in doubt…
"Protect!"
As soon as Shadow Ball is flying, Kecleon dives face-first into the ground, tunneling a dark hole below him and vanishing from sight.
At the same time, Shinx squares herself, her face one of adorable focus as a shimmering green shield forms and covers her in a translucent, protective hemisphere.
Shadow Ball crosses the field at a clipped pace and smashes into Shinx's Protect, putting hairline cracks in the shield. A split-second later, Kecleon erupts from the ground behind Shinx in a shower of dirt, his already-swinging claws bouncing off of Protect. The impact jolts his arms and makes Shinx wince inside her shield.
'Dig is "DG" then, good to know.' Lee files that away for later. "Quick Attack!"
Shinx pulls a 180 to face Kecleon and drops Protect in one motion. Kecleon and April only get a half-second's notice before Shinx springs for her foe like a sonic, cub-shaped missile.
April, despite what should have been a set-back, smiles widely. "GHP! SP!"
There is a pop like a firecracker going off, and wisps of ghostly purple hiss out of Kecleon's mouth. His scales turn a pale lavender, and to both Lee and Shinx's surprise, Shinx passes right through Kecleon as if he were a hologram.
…Or a ghost.
The lizard then whirls on his feet, his claws balled up into a fist coated in black, smoky energy. The fist is driven right into Shinx's side, sending the kitten flying out into the middle of the field with a yowl of pain.
Shinx lands in a heap, but jumps to her paws immediately with wheezy breaths. Her usually happy face is contorted into concentration, and she gazes at Kecleon steadily, not looking at Lee and taking her attention off her foe like other rookie pokemon.
'I should have seen that coming.' Lee frowns, upset that both his plan to combo Quick Attack into Spark failed, and that his baby had to take the first hit of the fight. Another idea quickly forms, and he hopes Shinx's talent can make it work. "BD Eyes! Full power! Keep it going and don't break line of sight!"
Little Shinx obeys without hesitation. Her yellow eyes take on a pink hue, and she trains herself on Kecleon like a cat might a fat bird.
The lizard pokemon falters as the Fairy ray washes over him, weakening his body.
If Lee remembers right, Color Change should only be activated by incoming damage, but time and again, the mechanics of the games have been disproven here. With enough umph behind them, status moves can definitely cause harm, so with that in mind…
Lee grins as Kecleon's scales begin to go from lavender to hot pink.
…Baby-Doll Eyes should activate Color Change.
"Thundershock! Keep BD Eyes up!"
Her fae-like gaze still locked on Kecleon, Shinx snarls and fires off another crackling bolt.
Kecleon grabs another handful of dirt from the ground and punches his own sternum, but his scales stubbornly remain pink. The lizard then looks down at his brightly-colored hide with wide, panicked eyes.
Then he's violently electrocuted.
A strangled scream erupts from Kecleon as he convulses on his feet.
On the other side of the field, April realizes that her plan is in danger of falling apart and takes swift action. "Move! DG to reposition!"
Through his pain, Kecleon grimaces and musters up enough focus to drive his claws into the floor of the arena, grounding himself just long enough to dig a hasty hole and escape.
Shinx cuts off Thundershock and allows herself a single blink to wet her glowing eyes. The cub keeps her head swiveling around, ready to re-engage in a heartbeat and not dropping Baby-Doll Eyes for even a second.
"Be ready for anything, Shinx," Lee mutters, knowing his cub's sharp ears will pick up the order despite the distance. "We have no idea what their counterplay might be."
Several meters to Shinx's right, just as she turns her head to the left, the ground cracks.
"Shinx, right!" Lee barks.
The blue and black cub turns just in time to see Kecleon burst from the earth and into the air, his scales once more the ruddy brown they were earlier.
"Disable!" April hollers.
Shinx, bless her, already knows what to do and is in motion before Lee can even begin to speak. She had to face the exact same scenario from Ninetales during training, though instead of Disable, it was a surprise Dig into Confuse Ray combo she was up against.
Nine's discombobulating Confuse Ray makes for a lesson that will stick.
A deep, reverberating Roar flies from Shinx's mouth and slams into Kecleon's chin before the lizard's eyes can glint with Disable. The concussive shockwave does no real damage, but throws his head high, sending Disable's invisible beam into the clouds.
His brown scales shift to green.
'Thata girl! Time to finish this one!'
"Spark!" Lee jumps on the opening, his grin back.
Shinx leaps into the still mid-air Kecleon. Her claws dig into his limbs and her teeth find his throat, then both pokemon explode into wild arcs of electricity so bright that Lee has to shield his eyes.
Both pokemon come down as a tumble of flailing limbs as Spark runs its course, but with the leverage of her claws, Shinx maneuvers the fried chameleon under her, and poor Kecleon takes the brunt of the fall with Shinx landing on top of him, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
When her foe remains still under her fangs for a few seconds, Shinx releases him and bounds away, returning to a low stance and awaiting a new order.
Off to the side, Lee can see the man serving as the ref counting under his breath. When he hits five, he waves his hand. "Kecleon can't continue! Round one goes to Shinx and Lee!"
The bystanders let out a round of cheers, and Lee crouches down and opens his arms, letting Shinx leap into his chest where he embraces her.
"I'm so proud, Baby Girl!" Lee's smile is so wide that it makes his scars twinge with discomfort, but he doesn't care at all. He stands back up with Shinx cuddled into his arms. "You won your first real match! You've worked so hard and it shows! What did I do to deserve you?"
Shinx positively glows from the praise. She presses her head into Lee's chest, purring with such intensity that he almost doesn't hear her wheeze. That's when he notices that her eyes are also puffy and bloodshot.
"Aww, my poor girl, are your eyes irritated from firing off Baby-Doll Eyes so much?" Lee asks, rubbing a thumb under her watering eyelid and seeing it come back wet. "Here, how about you rest for the next one, okay? Then we'll get you an Oran, some eye drops, and get you ready for another battle."
At first, the cub looks like she wants to protest as her smile dims, but a thought seems to stop her. She slumps her shoulders and mewls sadly. What exactly she said, Lee isn't sure, but he caught the sound for "want" and "bad" in there.
'Nine? Did you catch that?'
In her ball, Ninetales frowns. 'She still wishes to fight, and she's "sorry for being a bad baby".'
That throws Lee for a loop. 'A bad baby? Where did that come from? I'm not going to be upset at her wanting to battle.'
'I'm not certain what compelled that particular comment,' Nine admits, her second-hand discontent with the fact flowing into Lee. 'Perhaps she's upset for having an opinion contrary to yours?'
"You're not bad! Don't think that!" Lee holds his youngest pokemon a little tighter and strokes her head as she looks up at him with her big, yellow eyes. "Disagreeing with me does not make you bad! You can disagree all you want, just remember that I make the decisions that I do for a reason, okay? Even Ninetales took a rest after her first fight."
That little factoid makes Shinx blink incredulously, and Lee can imagine why. To Shinx, her "mama" has always been a juggernaut. To hear otherwise must border on blasphemy.
Lee kneels and sets her on the ground. "I promise we'll let you strut your stuff for as long as you can today, but I want you to take a breather and get some treatment after your first battle outside the team. Can you stand back for me, Shinx?"
Like the good girl she is, Shinx obediently takes a few steps back until she's in the chalk corner of Lee's trainer box, then sits down and curls her tail around her paws.
'A rebellious Shinx.' Lee shakes his head, thinking back to his earlier talk with Ninetales. 'My girl is too good for such things.'
Out on the field, April has long-since recalled her crispy Kecleon and regards Lee with a sporting smile. Once Lee is obviously done with Shinx, she holds up another greatball. "Good match. Are you subbing Shinx out?" she asks, voice raised to carry across the field.
Lee shakes his head. "I'm retiring her for the remainder of the battle, so we're down to one-on-one." Reaching down to his belt, Lee takes the only luxury ball of the bunch.
The teen on the other side of the field nods, her smile widening. "Team pride and five-hundred smackers are on the line, so I've gotta take the second round! Hope you're ready for my ace!" she says, tossing her pokeball high.
The great ball flies up and snaps open. A flash of white later, a Liepard takes shape on the field.
April's second pokemon and team ace resembles a cheetah more than a leopard, with a lithe, feline form, purple fur sporting yellow diamond markings, and a yellow underbelly with paws the same color. Around the cat's neck is a loose collar, and attached to that collar is a large charm resembling a pair of black sunglasses.
'Black Glasses,' Lee's memory supplies. 'Boosts Dark moves like Sceptile's Miracle Seed boosts Grass. Hmm. I should look into selling the Seed since Sceptile doesn't use it anymore. Or maybe give it to Nine. A Drought-fueled, Miracle-Seed-boosted Solar Beam sounds funny.'
While Lee is caught in his own thoughts, April's Liepard lazily drags her eyes over Lee, then to Shinx, before she turns her nose up, utterly dismissing them. She even looks over her shoulder to April and meows out an unmistakable complaint.
"Liepard, please take this seriously!" April sighs. "This is an ante match and that Shinx took down Kecleon!"
Liepard merely sniffs imperiously, as if saying, 'So?'
Lee takes that as his cue to toss Sylveon's ball into the ring. The gold and black pokeball pops open at the apex of the throw before flying back to Lee's hand, and once the white flash clears, Sylveon is left standing placidly on Lee's side of the field.
The sudden appearance of the rarest eeveelution there is makes excited chatter break out amongst the spectators, and more people find their way over to the field until smartphones are being held over heads to catch a glimpse.
The fairy looks over her shoulder, an eyebrow raised as she extends a ribbon his way.
"Care for a match, Sylvy?" Lee asks, doing his best to tune out the onlookers as he takes the offered ribbon in his hand. Idly, he pinches the blue ribbon tip in his hand between his thumb and forefinger. "I'd love to see the progress of all your hard work out in a live battle."
The word "love" makes Sylveon perk up, and a tiny smile rises to her oft-blank face. She nods firmly and tugs the ribbon from his grip, turning her attention to Liepard.
Across the way, the cat's impassive facade cracks under Sylveon's intense stare, and behind her, April seems even more unbalanced.
"Oh, crap…" the girl mutters.
"Ready?!" The ref raises his hand and brings it down in the customary chop. "Begin!"
"Wrap!"
"Fake Out!"
Two of Sylveon's ribbons dart towards Liepard, low to the ground and with the speed of striking vipers.
At the same time, Liepard rushes forward as a flicker of purple, hoping to come in fast for a feint to open Sylveon up to a combo.
Sylveon's ribbons, so used to chasing down her infuriatingly fast teammates, re-direct themselves and tangle Liepard's paws, sending the purple-hued feline tumbling in the dirt. The extending strips of fur then wrap tightly around her paws, one ribbon for the front paws, and one for the rear paws.
Before Liepard can retaliate, or even struggle, Sylveon's other two ribbons flash into existence around Liepard's throat and squeeze, making the Dark-type's eyes bulge in alarm.
"Liepard, Iron Tail! Cut yourself free!" April yells, her eyes wide in panic.
Liepard's long tail takes on a metallic sheen, and the cat tries desperately to manage a swing to sever the ribbons holding her captive, but between Liepard's own mindless distress and the angle at which she's held, it's too little, too late.
With the same ease she might lift an unruly Eevee kit, Sylveon raises Liepard high in her extended ribbons, and with a dispassionate click of her tongue, whips all of her ribbons down in-sync.
Liepard smashes into the earth with such violence that the ground rumbles beneath Lee's feet, and everyone else's too, he imagines. The bastardised Seismic Toss kicks up a screen of dust, but from how casually Sylveon withdraws her ribbons back to her body, Lee already knows what to expect.
Once the dirt in the air settles, everyone is treated to the sight of April's Liepard lying in a shallow crater, bleeding from a gash in her head and breathing laboriously. The leopard pokemon's eyes are shut and her body is limp.
'Out cold in one shot.' Lee combs a hand through his hair, keenly aware of the multitude of stunned eyes on him and Sylveon.
The man serving as the match ref blinks, then remembers to count to five under his breath. "Liepard is unable to continue. Lee and Sylveon win the battle!"
This time, the cheers are much more enthusiastic, with the trainers and pokemon gathered around pressing in as close as they can without crossing the chalk outline around the arena.
Still a little dazed himself, Lee kneels down and opens his arms for a hug like he did for Shinx, with Sylveon nonchalantly stepping in and letting him wrap her in his arms. A few things Lee could say go through his head. 'Sylvy, you are too much.'
The fairy pulls her head back, looking up and giving Lee a searching look in those shiny blue eyes of hers. On the surface, Sylveon seems impassive, but under that…
In those big blues is a nearly imperceivable, almost shy want for approval.
Lee lets a smile rise to his face and cups Sylveon's face with his hands, rubbing her cheeks with his thumbs. "Spectacular job, Sylvy. I think… No, that was definitely the fastest, cleanest win anyone on the team has ever had. I couldn't have asked for anything better."
Sylveon's thin, velvety fur lets the embarrassed flush of her face shine through, and she breaks eye contact, but for the first time since Lee has known her, Sylveon's smile finally reaches all the way to her eyes.
Regardless of any attention that comes from this match, it's a win in Lee's book. Releasing his pokemon and standing, he beckons both Sylveon and Shinx along as he walks to the middle of the arena.
April, still speechless, recalls her wounded Liepard and meets Lee in the center of the battleground, carried along by unsteady feet.
"Apologies if Sylvy was a little rough." Lee holds out a hand to shake with a slightly sheepish smile. "It's nothing personal, she just didn't want to do anything by halves."
At his side, Sylveon's chest puffs up a little.
"Yeah, no hard feelings." April shakes Lee's hand and regains her smile, although now the girl's expression is a touch sour. "I guess all the BattleNet hype about you being a Conference shoo-in is real."
"Ah, I wouldn't pay much attention to that stuff," Lee waves her off. "Internet buzz is always overblown."
April puts her hands on her hips and shakes her head. "Whatever you say. Let me get your money," she mumbles the last part reluctantly, pulling her phone from her pocket.
"No, don't worry about the credits," Lee stops her short. "I've got plenty of income. I'm not taking anything from independent trainers who need it more."
The girl blinks and gives Lee an incredulous look.
"I'm serious!" Lee insists. "Five-hundred is a lot of money. Save it, use it for something you need, but don't give it to me. I've got plenty."
When Lee doesn't say "Psych!" or otherwise change his mind, April's genuine smile returns, and the girl surprises Lee by standing on the tips of her toes to wrap her arms around his neck in a brief hug. "Thank you so much!" she exclaims, pulling away. "I didn't expect a bigshot to be so… well, I dunno, like you!"
"Thanks, I guess?" Lee replies, trying vainly to will the awkward flush on his face away.
Her piece said, the auburn-haired girl waves over her shoulder and steps off the field, disappearing into the people surrounding the boundary lines.
Lee, with Shinx and Sylveon in tow, move to clear the area as well, but are stopped when another trainer steps onto the field.
"Hey!"
Lee turns, finding a boy of fourteen or fifteen grinning at them. "Can I get a battle, too?" he asks, raising a pokeball.
Lee, seeing no reason to deny the teen boy who approached him, agrees to a one-on-one, with Shinx vs the boy's Seviper.
Seviper has speed and guile in spades, but no answer for Shinx's ranged abilities. In the end, it's a decisive victory for Shinx.
Another young woman stops Lee after the boy trainer has said goodbye and takes his cooked Seviper to the pokemon center. This time, Shinx's opponent is a Swinub. A tricky customer owing to his Ice/Ground typing, but Shinx ekes out a win with some frostbite to show for it and is retired for the day.
By then, the ice is broken and Lee is no longer so unapproachable. The trainers and pokemon come from all directions, all wanting a piece of the mysterious trainer they read about online.
Sylveon then takes over, thrashing a number of challengers in a row, even a recently-evolved Aggron.
The trainer with the Aggron thought he was slated to win thanks to Steel's advantage over Fairy, and how Sylveon should be exhausted from fighting nonstop.
The tortured squeal of Aggron's armor when Sylveon got her ribbons on him swiftly killed that notion, however.
Lee knew the weeks of secluded training did wonders for his pokemon, but seeing Sylveon twist an Aggron's arm until he cried uncle really makes it all hit home.
Despite Sylveon's deep well of resolve and brutal efficiency, she isn't tireless, and Lee eventually retires her for the day. Now well into the afternoon, the easily cowed trainers have left, leaving only a small group willing to fight.
Then Corviknight takes to the field with an ear-rending cry that half the city probably hears, and the number of trainers willing to tangle with Lee and his team drops to zero. Once more, Lee and his pokemon are left on the sidelines, waiting for someone to approach.
At Lee's side, Corviknight grumbles about his distaste for cowards and weaklings under his breath, casting his baleful red eyes over everyone around. With his wings hunched and his feathers ruffled, the great corvid looks as put-out as can be over not getting to fight.
Lee pats the crow on his armored wing. "Sorry I called you out without a battle lined up, Corvi. I didn't think you would scare everyone off like that."
'You didn't think that a pokemon nearly ten-feet-tall and weighing half a ton would be intimidating?' Ninetales asks amusedly, still in her ball.
'He's not intimidating to me.'
'Oh, Beloved. There are few men as brave as you.'
Rolling his eyes, Lee pulls out his phone and looks up the route to the Pokemon Center. If no one wants to battle, then it's time to split.
"Mister Lee?"
Blinking, Lee turns to the voice addressing him and finds a short form with a mop of messy green on his head. "Wally?"
Corviknight's head snaps around, all of his attention focused on the exchange.
Sure enough, the boy Lee met in Verdanturf stands before him. Wally looks as Lee remembers, with green hair, light blue eyes, and an unsure posture, but he seems… healthier.
'I remember his skin being paler. Is he getting some color?'
"Wally, nice to see you again," Lee greets. "Small world, eh? Still working for Vivian?"
The boy lets a small smile rise to his lips and nods. "I guess it is. A small world, that is. Um, I actually saved up enough from my work with Miss Vivian to start my own journey a few weeks ago. It's late in the year, but I've already got the Stone and Knuckle badges!" he says, fishing a case from the messenger bag over his shoulder and opening it for Lee to see.
Sure enough, there are two glittering badges. In the reflection of the badges, Lee sees the crow behind him smile with… pride?
Lee lets out a whistle, genuinely impressed. "That's some real hustle. Good on you. What brings you to Petalburg, then? Normally Mauville is next on the list."
"The cheapest boat from Dewford to the mainland was coming to Petalburg, so that's what I took," Wally's smile diminishes some. "Um. Petalburg is also my hometown, and I got a little homesick…"
That, Lee can understand. "Yeah," Lee says wistfully. "I feel ya. There's no place like home."
Behind Lee, Corvi shuffles closer until his downy chest tuft is pressed into the back of Lee's head, and from within her ball, Ninetales radiates a mournful love.
'Thank you. Both of you.' Lee presses a hand against the warm, metal armor behind him.
Wally's attention travels up to the crow towering over Lee, and after a moment, his eyes grow wide with recognition. "Mister Corvisquire? Is that you? You were Mister Lee's pokemon?"
'What?'
"Mister Corvisquire?" Lee parrots, also looking up at Corviknight and pondering what Wally means. "You two know each other?"
"He saved my life!" the young trainer blurts.
Lee turns back to Wally, now even more confused. "What?"
"I-I have really bad asthma," Wally begins, looking away and twiddling his fingers. "Me and my Ralts heard a commotion in the woods when we lived in Verdanturf, and we found Mister Corvisquire there. He was really angry, and…" Wally slows his word vomit down and takes a deep breath. "Ralts didn't know how my medication worked at the time, and I collapsed, and Mister Corvisquire saved me. And he trained us for a while despite us being weak, and-and…"
Taking a second to think, Lee connects all the dots. 'So that's what you were up to while you were gone, Corvi.' He pats the crow once more. 'I knew you always had a heart.'
In her ball, Ninetales is quiet as she digests the sudden revelations separately.
Wally stops again, then looks up at Corviknight shyly. "Thank you, Mister Corviknight. I don't think we would have been brave enough to start this journey if it wasn't for everything you did, and I'm really happy that you had a trainer like Mister Lee to go home to."
The knightly pokemon turns his head, but even with his armored helm, he can't quite hide his misty eyes.
"Mister Lee? Mister Corviknight?"
Both look down to the green-headed boy, who now wears a stern face.
"I don't want to be selfish and ask things from you," Wally murmurs, taking a pokeball from his bag. With a tap of the button, it expands to its full size. "Mister Corviknight was - is the strongest pokemon we know, and I know we still have a long way to go, but we wanna know just how far, so…"
The ball in Wally's hand shakes, then snaps open.
Next to Wally, a slender form materializes out of the pokeball, standing on two legs and tall enough to stare Lee in the face. When the light of the pokeball fades, a Gallade stands on Wally's right, and exactly one step back, like a knight with his master.
Corviknight sucks in a hissing breath.
"May we please have a battle?"
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As a cool breeze blows through his hair and ruffles his open jacket, Lee decides that autumn in Hoenn is quite enjoyable.
The tropical region is a sauna in the height of summer, with temperatures casually reaching ninety degrees fahrenheit or higher. If anything took time to get used to, it was the temperature.
Now, though, in the first week of November, the daily high is a pleasant sixty degrees and not a pip higher. It's unfortunate that most trees in Hoenn don't turn autumn colors, but it's just another reason to move to Sinnoh or Johto once all of their affairs in Hoenn are taken care of.
Taking a deep breath, Lee smiles and looks down at his feet, where Shinx is practically vibrating, trying and failing to keep her excitement under wraps.
After a few days testing his baby's prodigious memory and recording all the amazing findings, Lee decided to make good on his promise to find a real, live battle for Shinx.
The cub was quite literally bouncing off the walls (knocking down a portrait in the hotel in the process) and pushed Lee and the team to get up and hurry the morning of. She wolfed down her breakfast so fast that Lee had to grab her scruff until she promised to slow down, then was bouncing on her paws by the door of the suite as Lee got dressed for the day.
Now, they're hanging out at the sidelines of one of Petalburg's many battlegrounds, watching matches and waiting for a challenge.
Looking down, Lee gives Shinx a gentle nudge with his boot. "Take a deep breath and calm down, Shinx," he says. "We'll get you a match. Just be patient."
The cub slows her incessant bouncing, or at least tries, and takes in a breath that makes the fur on her chest puff up, before releasing it out in a great gasp.
"Not what I meant, baby girl." Lee smiles bemusedly. "Relax, okay? You don't want to be over-tense for your fight."
Shinx finally sits down and takes a breath that seems to calm her somewhat, but her tail still flicks to and fro with nervous energy.
Inside her ball, Ninetales smiles, and Lee can feel it. 'So eager to impress. Little Shinx has grown much.'
'Yeah…' Lee agrees, melancholy jabbing his heart. It's like seeing his cubs at the zoo turn into lions once more. 'She grew up too fast, in my opinion. Is this what being a parent is like?'
'I can only imagine so. Savor it now, for if pokemon development is anything like that of a human, her rebellious phase may be cresting the horizon.'
'Our baby Shinx? A rebel? No way, no how. My sparkly-eyed sunshine can do no wrong.'
Ninetales giggles with only Lee to hear. 'Ah, the folly of father and Daddy's girl.'
Smiling, Lee rolls his eyes and rolls Shinx's ball between his fingers. Casting his gaze around him, Lee counts the other trainers awaiting a challenge and sees their numbers thinning out.
Like many social groups, trainers have a number of unspoken rules and cues within their ranks, ones that Lee missed during his first few months as a trainer.
One of the most common ones is simply waiting around battlegrounds with a pokeball in hand, signaling that you're looking for a fight. Having the pokemon you intend to fight with released is a courtesy that confident (or arrogant) trainers afford others, though some unscrupulous individuals employ such a thing as a bait-and-switch.
They usually get put on blast online.
Thus far, a few trainers have looked their way, but none have approached. If Ninetales were out, Lee might be able to borrow her ears and hear the whispers of a few people watching them, but alas. Some of the eyes trained on them are alight with recognition, while others are simply wary in a general way. Even this deep into the league year with the more casual trainers having already been filtered from the gym circuit, it seems that Lee is still a daunting sight for most.
With an inward sigh, Lee reaches up and rubs the trio of long-healed burns on his face.
The smooth, raised flesh is warm and slightly numb, as it always is, and once again, the man wonders if he should see a cosmetic specialist to try and do away with them.
'Nah.' He traces the one that took several millimeters of his lower eyelid and lets his hand fall. 'I've kept them this long, and I want the reminder to remain.'
"Excuse me, are you looking for a battle?"
Lee's attention returns outward when a voice addresses him. Looking down, he finds a girl a head shorter than him with a smile on her face.
The youthful woman, who can't be any older than seventeen, is rather plain in appearance, with auburn hair, hazel eyes, and practical traveling clothes. In her hand is a greatball, making her intent clear.
"That I am. My name is Lee, Miss…" Lee leads off, holding out a hand.
"April!" the girl chirps, taking the offered hand for a shake. "Are you using this cutie here?" she asks, looking down at the once-more vibrating Shinx.
"It'll be her first real battle outside of the team." Lee nudges Shinx with his foot again, reminding her to calm down. "Don't go easy on her, though. She's a tough cookie."
April's smile takes on a competitive edge, one that seems universal to all trainers. "Wouldn't dream of it!"
With the pleasantries out of the way, Lee, April, and Shinx move to an unused battleground made of the standard hard-packed dirt. Along the way, they discuss an ante for the match, something Lee has always avoided for fear of looking like a bully who preys on young, broke trainers.
April laughed at the confession and flashed her five badges, including Petalburg's Balance Badge. With that, they both put down five-hundred credits on the match.
As each trainer takes a side, a small crowd of curious onlookers joins at the edges, at least double of what any of the other battlegrounds have. Many of them sport belts of pokeballs or are joined by weathered-looking pokemon, each one paying close attention. Among the throng, there are cellphones and cameras poised to catch the action.
'All of them are so eager to scope out the alpha quietly prowling amongst their ranks, hmm?' Ninetales comments in the back of Lee's head, a hint of smug pride in her words. 'Young April looks to be the sacrificial Wooloo in this case.'
'Alpha? As if. And calling this girl a sacrificial Wooloo is a morbid way to think about it, Love.'
'Am I wrong?'
Before Lee can reply to the balled fox, an older gentleman with a salt-and-pepper beard walks up to the side of the arena to referee, and addresses both of them. "Lad, lassie, who are you and what rules are you using?" he asks, looking between them both.
"I'm Lee, and I actually have two pokemon I'd like to get some practical experience today, so how about two-on-two, one substitution each, standard rules and win condition?" Lee asks across the field.
"April is my name, and that sounds good to me!" April calls back, eagerly readying her greatball.
The referee of the day nods. "Two-on-two, one substitution. Trainers! Ready your first pokemon!"
Lee kneels down and puts a hand on Shinx's back, withholding a wince when some static crackles against his palm. "Ready, Baby?"
Shinx looks up at him with a grin, one feral and entirely too reminiscent of Zinnia.
"Knock 'em dead!"
With that, Shinx springs out into the field, electricity arcing up and down her body.
On April's side, the girl wings her greatball into the air. "Kecleon! Let's go!"
The blue and white pokeball snaps open with a flash of white, and opposite of Shinx, a bipedal, chameleon-like pokemon takes form.
'A Kecleon!' Lee's eyes widen in surprise.
The pokemon on the other side of the field resembles a chameleon of odd proportions. With a large, almond-shaped head decorated by a pair of spiny frills, a pair of short arms ending in yellowish claws, a pair of squat legs, and a thin, curly tail, the reptilian is unmistakable.
While not as vanishingly rare as a Zoroark, Kecleon is definitely one of the you don't find them, they find you types of pokemon, thanks to the world-class stealth abilities afforded to them by their color-changing skin.
Even more interesting, however, is Color Change, their special ability. After being struck by an attack, Kecleon's type temporarily changes from Normal to whatever type of attack hit it last. A gimmick in a video game, but a game changer in real life.
'Well, I was hoping for a challenge, and the world answered,' Lee thinks to himself with a lopsided frown. Strategies begin to form in his head.
"Ready?" The ref raises his hand and chops it down. "Begin!"
Shinx spools up Intimidate without any order needed. She bares her fangs as her eyes shine with a malevolent yellow light, and she looses a roar more fitting for a cat five times her size. The burst of hostile intent is concentrated enough that Lee can see it travel via the kicked-up dust on the ground.
When it hits Kecleon, he stumbles like he took a punch to the chest, and the lizard's face quite literally goes white.
"Kecleon, focus!" April is quick to try and put her pokemon back on track. "GP!"
Kecleon shakes his head to clear Intimidate's fog and moves to fulfil the obscured order, digging his slightly shaky hands into the ground.
'We'll prod him from a distance before moving in.' Lee's eyes narrow. "Thundershock!"
Little Shinx's body lights up with a corona of yellow. With a yowl, her fur stands on end and a bolt of lighting erupts from her body, speeding to Kecleon.
A second before he's electrocuted, Kecleon takes the clumps of dirt in his claws and strikes himself in his chest with them. His dull green scales bleed into ruddy brown.
Ker-zap!
Thundershock lights up April's pokemon with hundreds of thousands of volts, but the lizard doesn't so much as flinch. Once the burst of electricity passes, Kecleon is left with bright yellow scales. The yellow doesn't stay long, however, as brown once more radiates from the lighty smoking dirt smeared on his chest, until he's an earthy hue once more.
Lee watches the entire process with interest, noting how Kecleon's scales shifted color. 'I knew it, any trainer with a Kecleon is going to try and game Color Change. Kecleon made himself Ground-type with whatever "GP" was to negate Thundershock.'
His eyes lock onto the dirt clinging to Kecleon. 'Thundershock still shifted him to Electric-type for a moment, though. A good defence, but not perfect. We can work with this.'
"SB!" April orders, jumping on the one-second lull Lee used to think. "Then circle with DG!"
Kecleon's maw opens wide, and he fires off a dark, writhing ball of purple that Lee instantly IDs as Shadow Ball, but he has no idea what "DG" might be, so when in doubt…
"Protect!"
As soon as Shadow Ball is flying, Kecleon dives face-first into the ground, tunneling a dark hole below him and vanishing from sight.
At the same time, Shinx squares herself, her face one of adorable focus as a shimmering green shield forms and covers her in a translucent, protective hemisphere.
Shadow Ball crosses the field at a clipped pace and smashes into Shinx's Protect, putting hairline cracks in the shield. A split-second later, Kecleon erupts from the ground behind Shinx in a shower of dirt, his already-swinging claws bouncing off of Protect. The impact jolts his arms and makes Shinx wince inside her shield.
'Dig is "DG" then, good to know.' Lee files that away for later. "Quick Attack!"
Shinx pulls a 180 to face Kecleon and drops Protect in one motion. Kecleon and April only get a half-second's notice before Shinx springs for her foe like a sonic, cub-shaped missile.
April, despite what should have been a set-back, smiles widely. "GHP! SP!"
There is a pop like a firecracker going off, and wisps of ghostly purple hiss out of Kecleon's mouth. His scales turn a pale lavender, and to both Lee and Shinx's surprise, Shinx passes right through Kecleon as if he were a hologram.
…Or a ghost.
The lizard then whirls on his feet, his claws balled up into a fist coated in black, smoky energy. The fist is driven right into Shinx's side, sending the kitten flying out into the middle of the field with a yowl of pain.
Shinx lands in a heap, but jumps to her paws immediately with wheezy breaths. Her usually happy face is contorted into concentration, and she gazes at Kecleon steadily, not looking at Lee and taking her attention off her foe like other rookie pokemon.
'I should have seen that coming.' Lee frowns, upset that both his plan to combo Quick Attack into Spark failed, and that his baby had to take the first hit of the fight. Another idea quickly forms, and he hopes Shinx's talent can make it work. "BD Eyes! Full power! Keep it going and don't break line of sight!"
Little Shinx obeys without hesitation. Her yellow eyes take on a pink hue, and she trains herself on Kecleon like a cat might a fat bird.
The lizard pokemon falters as the Fairy ray washes over him, weakening his body.
If Lee remembers right, Color Change should only be activated by incoming damage, but time and again, the mechanics of the games have been disproven here. With enough umph behind them, status moves can definitely cause harm, so with that in mind…
Lee grins as Kecleon's scales begin to go from lavender to hot pink.
…Baby-Doll Eyes should activate Color Change.
"Thundershock! Keep BD Eyes up!"
Her fae-like gaze still locked on Kecleon, Shinx snarls and fires off another crackling bolt.
Kecleon grabs another handful of dirt from the ground and punches his own sternum, but his scales stubbornly remain pink. The lizard then looks down at his brightly-colored hide with wide, panicked eyes.
Then he's violently electrocuted.
A strangled scream erupts from Kecleon as he convulses on his feet.
On the other side of the field, April realizes that her plan is in danger of falling apart and takes swift action. "Move! DG to reposition!"
Through his pain, Kecleon grimaces and musters up enough focus to drive his claws into the floor of the arena, grounding himself just long enough to dig a hasty hole and escape.
Shinx cuts off Thundershock and allows herself a single blink to wet her glowing eyes. The cub keeps her head swiveling around, ready to re-engage in a heartbeat and not dropping Baby-Doll Eyes for even a second.
"Be ready for anything, Shinx," Lee mutters, knowing his cub's sharp ears will pick up the order despite the distance. "We have no idea what their counterplay might be."
Several meters to Shinx's right, just as she turns her head to the left, the ground cracks.
"Shinx, right!" Lee barks.
The blue and black cub turns just in time to see Kecleon burst from the earth and into the air, his scales once more the ruddy brown they were earlier.
"Disable!" April hollers.
Shinx, bless her, already knows what to do and is in motion before Lee can even begin to speak. She had to face the exact same scenario from Ninetales during training, though instead of Disable, it was a surprise Dig into Confuse Ray combo she was up against.
Nine's discombobulating Confuse Ray makes for a lesson that will stick.
A deep, reverberating Roar flies from Shinx's mouth and slams into Kecleon's chin before the lizard's eyes can glint with Disable. The concussive shockwave does no real damage, but throws his head high, sending Disable's invisible beam into the clouds.
His brown scales shift to green.
'Thata girl! Time to finish this one!'
"Spark!" Lee jumps on the opening, his grin back.
Shinx leaps into the still mid-air Kecleon. Her claws dig into his limbs and her teeth find his throat, then both pokemon explode into wild arcs of electricity so bright that Lee has to shield his eyes.
Both pokemon come down as a tumble of flailing limbs as Spark runs its course, but with the leverage of her claws, Shinx maneuvers the fried chameleon under her, and poor Kecleon takes the brunt of the fall with Shinx landing on top of him, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
When her foe remains still under her fangs for a few seconds, Shinx releases him and bounds away, returning to a low stance and awaiting a new order.
Off to the side, Lee can see the man serving as the ref counting under his breath. When he hits five, he waves his hand. "Kecleon can't continue! Round one goes to Shinx and Lee!"
The bystanders let out a round of cheers, and Lee crouches down and opens his arms, letting Shinx leap into his chest where he embraces her.
"I'm so proud, Baby Girl!" Lee's smile is so wide that it makes his scars twinge with discomfort, but he doesn't care at all. He stands back up with Shinx cuddled into his arms. "You won your first real match! You've worked so hard and it shows! What did I do to deserve you?"
Shinx positively glows from the praise. She presses her head into Lee's chest, purring with such intensity that he almost doesn't hear her wheeze. That's when he notices that her eyes are also puffy and bloodshot.
"Aww, my poor girl, are your eyes irritated from firing off Baby-Doll Eyes so much?" Lee asks, rubbing a thumb under her watering eyelid and seeing it come back wet. "Here, how about you rest for the next one, okay? Then we'll get you an Oran, some eye drops, and get you ready for another battle."
At first, the cub looks like she wants to protest as her smile dims, but a thought seems to stop her. She slumps her shoulders and mewls sadly. What exactly she said, Lee isn't sure, but he caught the sound for "want" and "bad" in there.
'Nine? Did you catch that?'
In her ball, Ninetales frowns. 'She still wishes to fight, and she's "sorry for being a bad baby".'
That throws Lee for a loop. 'A bad baby? Where did that come from? I'm not going to be upset at her wanting to battle.'
'I'm not certain what compelled that particular comment,' Nine admits, her second-hand discontent with the fact flowing into Lee. 'Perhaps she's upset for having an opinion contrary to yours?'
"You're not bad! Don't think that!" Lee holds his youngest pokemon a little tighter and strokes her head as she looks up at him with her big, yellow eyes. "Disagreeing with me does not make you bad! You can disagree all you want, just remember that I make the decisions that I do for a reason, okay? Even Ninetales took a rest after her first fight."
That little factoid makes Shinx blink incredulously, and Lee can imagine why. To Shinx, her "mama" has always been a juggernaut. To hear otherwise must border on blasphemy.
Lee kneels and sets her on the ground. "I promise we'll let you strut your stuff for as long as you can today, but I want you to take a breather and get some treatment after your first battle outside the team. Can you stand back for me, Shinx?"
Like the good girl she is, Shinx obediently takes a few steps back until she's in the chalk corner of Lee's trainer box, then sits down and curls her tail around her paws.
'A rebellious Shinx.' Lee shakes his head, thinking back to his earlier talk with Ninetales. 'My girl is too good for such things.'
Out on the field, April has long-since recalled her crispy Kecleon and regards Lee with a sporting smile. Once Lee is obviously done with Shinx, she holds up another greatball. "Good match. Are you subbing Shinx out?" she asks, voice raised to carry across the field.
Lee shakes his head. "I'm retiring her for the remainder of the battle, so we're down to one-on-one." Reaching down to his belt, Lee takes the only luxury ball of the bunch.
The teen on the other side of the field nods, her smile widening. "Team pride and five-hundred smackers are on the line, so I've gotta take the second round! Hope you're ready for my ace!" she says, tossing her pokeball high.
The great ball flies up and snaps open. A flash of white later, a Liepard takes shape on the field.
April's second pokemon and team ace resembles a cheetah more than a leopard, with a lithe, feline form, purple fur sporting yellow diamond markings, and a yellow underbelly with paws the same color. Around the cat's neck is a loose collar, and attached to that collar is a large charm resembling a pair of black sunglasses.
'Black Glasses,' Lee's memory supplies. 'Boosts Dark moves like Sceptile's Miracle Seed boosts Grass. Hmm. I should look into selling the Seed since Sceptile doesn't use it anymore. Or maybe give it to Nine. A Drought-fueled, Miracle-Seed-boosted Solar Beam sounds funny.'
While Lee is caught in his own thoughts, April's Liepard lazily drags her eyes over Lee, then to Shinx, before she turns her nose up, utterly dismissing them. She even looks over her shoulder to April and meows out an unmistakable complaint.
"Liepard, please take this seriously!" April sighs. "This is an ante match and that Shinx took down Kecleon!"
Liepard merely sniffs imperiously, as if saying, 'So?'
Lee takes that as his cue to toss Sylveon's ball into the ring. The gold and black pokeball pops open at the apex of the throw before flying back to Lee's hand, and once the white flash clears, Sylveon is left standing placidly on Lee's side of the field.
The sudden appearance of the rarest eeveelution there is makes excited chatter break out amongst the spectators, and more people find their way over to the field until smartphones are being held over heads to catch a glimpse.
The fairy looks over her shoulder, an eyebrow raised as she extends a ribbon his way.
"Care for a match, Sylvy?" Lee asks, doing his best to tune out the onlookers as he takes the offered ribbon in his hand. Idly, he pinches the blue ribbon tip in his hand between his thumb and forefinger. "I'd love to see the progress of all your hard work out in a live battle."
The word "love" makes Sylveon perk up, and a tiny smile rises to her oft-blank face. She nods firmly and tugs the ribbon from his grip, turning her attention to Liepard.
Across the way, the cat's impassive facade cracks under Sylveon's intense stare, and behind her, April seems even more unbalanced.
"Oh, crap…" the girl mutters.
"Ready?!" The ref raises his hand and brings it down in the customary chop. "Begin!"
"Wrap!"
"Fake Out!"
Two of Sylveon's ribbons dart towards Liepard, low to the ground and with the speed of striking vipers.
At the same time, Liepard rushes forward as a flicker of purple, hoping to come in fast for a feint to open Sylveon up to a combo.
Sylveon's ribbons, so used to chasing down her infuriatingly fast teammates, re-direct themselves and tangle Liepard's paws, sending the purple-hued feline tumbling in the dirt. The extending strips of fur then wrap tightly around her paws, one ribbon for the front paws, and one for the rear paws.
Before Liepard can retaliate, or even struggle, Sylveon's other two ribbons flash into existence around Liepard's throat and squeeze, making the Dark-type's eyes bulge in alarm.
"Liepard, Iron Tail! Cut yourself free!" April yells, her eyes wide in panic.
Liepard's long tail takes on a metallic sheen, and the cat tries desperately to manage a swing to sever the ribbons holding her captive, but between Liepard's own mindless distress and the angle at which she's held, it's too little, too late.
With the same ease she might lift an unruly Eevee kit, Sylveon raises Liepard high in her extended ribbons, and with a dispassionate click of her tongue, whips all of her ribbons down in-sync.
Liepard smashes into the earth with such violence that the ground rumbles beneath Lee's feet, and everyone else's too, he imagines. The bastardised Seismic Toss kicks up a screen of dust, but from how casually Sylveon withdraws her ribbons back to her body, Lee already knows what to expect.
Once the dirt in the air settles, everyone is treated to the sight of April's Liepard lying in a shallow crater, bleeding from a gash in her head and breathing laboriously. The leopard pokemon's eyes are shut and her body is limp.
'Out cold in one shot.' Lee combs a hand through his hair, keenly aware of the multitude of stunned eyes on him and Sylveon.
The man serving as the match ref blinks, then remembers to count to five under his breath. "Liepard is unable to continue. Lee and Sylveon win the battle!"
This time, the cheers are much more enthusiastic, with the trainers and pokemon gathered around pressing in as close as they can without crossing the chalk outline around the arena.
Still a little dazed himself, Lee kneels down and opens his arms for a hug like he did for Shinx, with Sylveon nonchalantly stepping in and letting him wrap her in his arms. A few things Lee could say go through his head. 'Sylvy, you are too much.'
The fairy pulls her head back, looking up and giving Lee a searching look in those shiny blue eyes of hers. On the surface, Sylveon seems impassive, but under that…
In those big blues is a nearly imperceivable, almost shy want for approval.
Lee lets a smile rise to his face and cups Sylveon's face with his hands, rubbing her cheeks with his thumbs. "Spectacular job, Sylvy. I think… No, that was definitely the fastest, cleanest win anyone on the team has ever had. I couldn't have asked for anything better."
Sylveon's thin, velvety fur lets the embarrassed flush of her face shine through, and she breaks eye contact, but for the first time since Lee has known her, Sylveon's smile finally reaches all the way to her eyes.
Regardless of any attention that comes from this match, it's a win in Lee's book. Releasing his pokemon and standing, he beckons both Sylveon and Shinx along as he walks to the middle of the arena.
April, still speechless, recalls her wounded Liepard and meets Lee in the center of the battleground, carried along by unsteady feet.
"Apologies if Sylvy was a little rough." Lee holds out a hand to shake with a slightly sheepish smile. "It's nothing personal, she just didn't want to do anything by halves."
At his side, Sylveon's chest puffs up a little.
"Yeah, no hard feelings." April shakes Lee's hand and regains her smile, although now the girl's expression is a touch sour. "I guess all the BattleNet hype about you being a Conference shoo-in is real."
"Ah, I wouldn't pay much attention to that stuff," Lee waves her off. "Internet buzz is always overblown."
April puts her hands on her hips and shakes her head. "Whatever you say. Let me get your money," she mumbles the last part reluctantly, pulling her phone from her pocket.
"No, don't worry about the credits," Lee stops her short. "I've got plenty of income. I'm not taking anything from independent trainers who need it more."
The girl blinks and gives Lee an incredulous look.
"I'm serious!" Lee insists. "Five-hundred is a lot of money. Save it, use it for something you need, but don't give it to me. I've got plenty."
When Lee doesn't say "Psych!" or otherwise change his mind, April's genuine smile returns, and the girl surprises Lee by standing on the tips of her toes to wrap her arms around his neck in a brief hug. "Thank you so much!" she exclaims, pulling away. "I didn't expect a bigshot to be so… well, I dunno, like you!"
"Thanks, I guess?" Lee replies, trying vainly to will the awkward flush on his face away.
Her piece said, the auburn-haired girl waves over her shoulder and steps off the field, disappearing into the people surrounding the boundary lines.
Lee, with Shinx and Sylveon in tow, move to clear the area as well, but are stopped when another trainer steps onto the field.
"Hey!"
Lee turns, finding a boy of fourteen or fifteen grinning at them. "Can I get a battle, too?" he asks, raising a pokeball.
Lee, seeing no reason to deny the teen boy who approached him, agrees to a one-on-one, with Shinx vs the boy's Seviper.
Seviper has speed and guile in spades, but no answer for Shinx's ranged abilities. In the end, it's a decisive victory for Shinx.
Another young woman stops Lee after the boy trainer has said goodbye and takes his cooked Seviper to the pokemon center. This time, Shinx's opponent is a Swinub. A tricky customer owing to his Ice/Ground typing, but Shinx ekes out a win with some frostbite to show for it and is retired for the day.
By then, the ice is broken and Lee is no longer so unapproachable. The trainers and pokemon come from all directions, all wanting a piece of the mysterious trainer they read about online.
Sylveon then takes over, thrashing a number of challengers in a row, even a recently-evolved Aggron.
The trainer with the Aggron thought he was slated to win thanks to Steel's advantage over Fairy, and how Sylveon should be exhausted from fighting nonstop.
The tortured squeal of Aggron's armor when Sylveon got her ribbons on him swiftly killed that notion, however.
Lee knew the weeks of secluded training did wonders for his pokemon, but seeing Sylveon twist an Aggron's arm until he cried uncle really makes it all hit home.
Despite Sylveon's deep well of resolve and brutal efficiency, she isn't tireless, and Lee eventually retires her for the day. Now well into the afternoon, the easily cowed trainers have left, leaving only a small group willing to fight.
Then Corviknight takes to the field with an ear-rending cry that half the city probably hears, and the number of trainers willing to tangle with Lee and his team drops to zero. Once more, Lee and his pokemon are left on the sidelines, waiting for someone to approach.
At Lee's side, Corviknight grumbles about his distaste for cowards and weaklings under his breath, casting his baleful red eyes over everyone around. With his wings hunched and his feathers ruffled, the great corvid looks as put-out as can be over not getting to fight.
Lee pats the crow on his armored wing. "Sorry I called you out without a battle lined up, Corvi. I didn't think you would scare everyone off like that."
'You didn't think that a pokemon nearly ten-feet-tall and weighing half a ton would be intimidating?' Ninetales asks amusedly, still in her ball.
'He's not intimidating to me.'
'Oh, Beloved. There are few men as brave as you.'
Rolling his eyes, Lee pulls out his phone and looks up the route to the Pokemon Center. If no one wants to battle, then it's time to split.
"Mister Lee?"
Blinking, Lee turns to the voice addressing him and finds a short form with a mop of messy green on his head. "Wally?"
Corviknight's head snaps around, all of his attention focused on the exchange.
Sure enough, the boy Lee met in Verdanturf stands before him. Wally looks as Lee remembers, with green hair, light blue eyes, and an unsure posture, but he seems… healthier.
'I remember his skin being paler. Is he getting some color?'
"Wally, nice to see you again," Lee greets. "Small world, eh? Still working for Vivian?"
The boy lets a small smile rise to his lips and nods. "I guess it is. A small world, that is. Um, I actually saved up enough from my work with Miss Vivian to start my own journey a few weeks ago. It's late in the year, but I've already got the Stone and Knuckle badges!" he says, fishing a case from the messenger bag over his shoulder and opening it for Lee to see.
Sure enough, there are two glittering badges. In the reflection of the badges, Lee sees the crow behind him smile with… pride?
Lee lets out a whistle, genuinely impressed. "That's some real hustle. Good on you. What brings you to Petalburg, then? Normally Mauville is next on the list."
"The cheapest boat from Dewford to the mainland was coming to Petalburg, so that's what I took," Wally's smile diminishes some. "Um. Petalburg is also my hometown, and I got a little homesick…"
That, Lee can understand. "Yeah," Lee says wistfully. "I feel ya. There's no place like home."
Behind Lee, Corvi shuffles closer until his downy chest tuft is pressed into the back of Lee's head, and from within her ball, Ninetales radiates a mournful love.
'Thank you. Both of you.' Lee presses a hand against the warm, metal armor behind him.
Wally's attention travels up to the crow towering over Lee, and after a moment, his eyes grow wide with recognition. "Mister Corvisquire? Is that you? You were Mister Lee's pokemon?"
'What?'
"Mister Corvisquire?" Lee parrots, also looking up at Corviknight and pondering what Wally means. "You two know each other?"
"He saved my life!" the young trainer blurts.
Lee turns back to Wally, now even more confused. "What?"
"I-I have really bad asthma," Wally begins, looking away and twiddling his fingers. "Me and my Ralts heard a commotion in the woods when we lived in Verdanturf, and we found Mister Corvisquire there. He was really angry, and…" Wally slows his word vomit down and takes a deep breath. "Ralts didn't know how my medication worked at the time, and I collapsed, and Mister Corvisquire saved me. And he trained us for a while despite us being weak, and-and…"
Taking a second to think, Lee connects all the dots. 'So that's what you were up to while you were gone, Corvi.' He pats the crow once more. 'I knew you always had a heart.'
In her ball, Ninetales is quiet as she digests the sudden revelations separately.
Wally stops again, then looks up at Corviknight shyly. "Thank you, Mister Corviknight. I don't think we would have been brave enough to start this journey if it wasn't for everything you did, and I'm really happy that you had a trainer like Mister Lee to go home to."
The knightly pokemon turns his head, but even with his armored helm, he can't quite hide his misty eyes.
"Mister Lee? Mister Corviknight?"
Both look down to the green-headed boy, who now wears a stern face.
"I don't want to be selfish and ask things from you," Wally murmurs, taking a pokeball from his bag. With a tap of the button, it expands to its full size. "Mister Corviknight was - is the strongest pokemon we know, and I know we still have a long way to go, but we wanna know just how far, so…"
The ball in Wally's hand shakes, then snaps open.
Next to Wally, a slender form materializes out of the pokeball, standing on two legs and tall enough to stare Lee in the face. When the light of the pokeball fades, a Gallade stands on Wally's right, and exactly one step back, like a knight with his master.
Corviknight sucks in a hissing breath.
"May we please have a battle?"
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ApiLol123123
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Thank you for the great chapter, eager to read the next one!!!
AmberSlime
Alright so what happens if I change this?
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Holy smokes, that Ralts grew up quick.
also, loving the Black Knight vs Knight in Shining Armor dichotomy-thing we've got going on here.
Retigh
I got nothing
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This whole section makes me wonder on an interesting tidbit of the Shinx line. Did Dig provide an additional pressure on wild Shinx line to develop Luxray's ability to "see through" objects?
They are ground bound electric types, which means their young are especially vulnerable to the ambush ground attack. The ability to see pokemon hidden in the ground would largely negate it. A Luxray could guide the young ones away from the danger, and prep a counter attack with the pride.
...Also, a pride of the Shinx line is goddamn terrifying to face in the wild. They can swarm a target with Intimidate and Leers, and lead with Rivalry boosted strikers. This would be a devastating combination for physical oriented pokemon, as the ability to counter attack and resist blows would be shredded. I see why the Shinx line became common in Sinnoh.