PokéSync: B2 — 38. A Rough Fight (Patreon)

Note:  Val went through with Grammarly.  Thanks, Val!  ^_^7

PoV:

1:  Rhea (Our Blonde, Awkward Bombshell MC!)

2:  Nova (Our Not-So-Secret Glaceon!)

3:  Rhea

Pokemon Map I Loosely Use For Visual Aid:  The distance between areas might be different, some cities are somewhat incorrect, a few routes have been labeled incorrectly, and some cities aren't listed, but it's the best I've found.

Pokemon Index

Google Document (You Can In-Line Comment)

Previous Chapter

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5:57 p.m. July 9th, Thursday, 106 PH (Post Hoopa Event)

Events:  The Joint Kanto and Johto Indigo Summer League have concluded.  Saria Surge has become the new Vermilion Gym Leader, converting it to a Fairy Gym.  It will be open for challenges on the 10th.

Our girl started her journey on the 9th of June—she’s been a Trainer for 30 Days (29 officially; 30 since getting Maya and Nova).

Rhea followed Amira’s gaze to the Center’s entrance as the boys they’d been strategizing against walked through the sliding glass doors, silencing the redhead; they sized up the relatively normal-looking seventeen-year-olds.

Chris was taking the front as Frazer talked with Lawrence, hanging back a bit; all of them had black hair and brown eyes, but their styles varied significantly.

Lawrence and Chris seemed to take care of their grooming much more than Frazer, who had long, scraggly locks that showed a day or two of grease.  On the other hand, Chris had bags under his eyes, showing he hadn’t gotten much sleep in the last few days.  All of them were at least 170 cm tall, Chris being the tallest of the three.

Going by first appearances, you couldn’t tell they were all that impressive, and none of them were particularly muscular, but their battle history was something special.

Each of them had only lost a single battle out of over seventy, and the only reason they’d stopped was due to them being unable to challenge anyone lower ranked; Rhea had to expect they were a bit bitter about missing out on the Summer Cup, which was why they were now touring around Kanto, and Lori mentioned it was likely for them to be heading to meet up with another top 100 group in Cerulean.

Their Pokemon were top-tier and thoroughbred, meaning they had two to three egg Moves; their dark web expert sniffed out which Moves those were, and it was a pretty intimidating match-up, which Rhea was eager to face.

Alice would have been her pick if she’d been more experienced, but they needed the versatility Nova offered with the powerful Pokemon the three had; Mya could have been a good choice, but the speed of this team made her a bad choice.

“Ready?”  Lori grinned, rubbing the back of her neck.  “This is going to be interesting.”

“Haaa.  It really is going to be a rough match, but if we can time our strategy right, it should allow us to knock out one.”

Rhea smiled down at Nova’s pokeball; they returned all their Pokemon before the group arrived.  You’ve got a billion Abilities, Nova, and all the Moves to help us survive the initial rush.  Are you ready to dazzle them?

“Pwee-pwee-pwee!”

Nova’s internal chirps and confidence welled up within her chest; apparently, the date with her mother had been more than just getting to know each other, and the Champion-tier Eevee helped her understand more about the many Abilities she had.

“I’m ready,” she whispered, studying her puffball’s datasheet.

Snow Cloak, Frostbite, and Skater from your Glaceon transformation, while you retain Adaptability, Run Away, Eject+, and Hammering Streak from your Eevee base state.  It’s tough for anyone to account for your versatility…  We just need to learn how to fight with your unique gifts.

Rising to her feet with Ash watching them, Rhea took the lead.  Lawrence seemed to notice their approach first; it was hard to miss Ash’s colossal presence in the Center since his full team was out.

“…and the Rhyhorn was like…”  Frazer trailed off, following his teammate’s gaze to them.  “Huh?”

“Hello!”  Rhea greeted with a smile, nervously twisting Nova’s pokeball behind her back.  “Umm, I know this is out of the blue, but… would you mind having a battle with us—a team battle—oh, heh, after you heal up, of course!”  she added upon seeing Chris handing Nurse Joy his two Ultra Balls.

Lawrence eyed Amira and Lori, who stood a little behind Rhea to not crowd the area; they had drawn a bit of attention by their sudden action in the middle of the Center.  “Uh… you’re Champion Cynthia’s niece, right?”

Amira forced a smile and lifted her hand in greeting.  “Rocket girl.”

“And I’m just a dancer!”  Lori grinned, throwing up a peace sign.

Chris chuckled, turning to join them.  “…that happens to be connected to two Elite-4 Leagues.”

“Hehe.  Guilty!”

Lawrence yawned and cleared his throat, shifting a bit to glance between his teammates and them.  “What do you think, Chris?  They’ve got those OP genetically enhanced thoroughbred Pokemon; could be a challenge.”

“Mmgm…”  Frazer rolled around his neck, ignoring the mumbles of the people around them while motioning to get out of the line of traffic for others to heal their own Pokemon.  “We just pulled a 28-hour walk to get here.  Personally, I’d like to save it for tomorrow morning.  I’m, yahaah-mgm… beat.”

“That’s fine!”  Rhea nodded, seeing her companions do the same.  “We’d like to have a battle at your best, and, heh, we’re a bit tired from training today.  So… 8 a.m. tomorrow—after breakfast?”

“I’m game,” Chris laughed.  “I’m assuming you know we’re currently Ranked Bronze-93, 90, and 87… Team Rank 90?”

Lori’s violet locks bounced with her bobbing head.  “Mhm!”

“Heh.  Just making sure.  Yeah, I’m down.  Frazer, Lawrence?”

“Yeah,” Lawrence confirmed, crossing his arms and looking down at them quizzically.  “Expect us to do our own homework tonight, but I saw that viral battle with your Feebas, Amira—good stuff.”

Frazer pulled up the video to play the clip of Serenity shooting out of the water, using Splash to send diamond-like droplets around her exit in a flashy display.  “Hehe.  I never thought I’d see a Feebas in a Bronze Encrusted.  It really was impressive, and we had to take a look at your battles against Forrest for the Bronze Boulder…  The Sandstorm was intense, Rhea.”

“Thank you,” the redhead graciously responded as Rhea’s cheeks flushed a bit at the callback; they hadn’t won that match, but Mya tried her best.

Fingers tightening around Nova’s pokeball, she shifted her weight to her other hip.  “It was tough…  Can I ask you to do one thing for me, though?”

“Okay?”  Chris muttered, glancing at his teammates’ questioning expressions.

Quelling the twist in her gut, Rhea set her stance while looking up at the tall boys.  “Don’t go easy on us.”

The three boys smirked, and Lawrence shook his head.  “We always go 110%.  Catch you tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow, boys!”  Lori cheered, stepping back to join Ash as they broke away, leaving them to talk amongst themselves.

Rhea streamed out her pent-up air, not realizing she’d been holding it in, and chuckled.  “I didn’t expect to move it to tomorrow.”

“It gives us more time to prepare,” Amira returned.  “We have to win.”

“Yeah,” Lori bumped her hip against Rhea’s, bringing her attention to a video of Frazer’s Clefairy and Lawrence’s Yanma.  “Do you think they’ll use one of them, eh… or will Frazer use his Ghastly and Lawrence his Ponyta?”

“We’re baiting out the Ponyta, so… hopefully her,” Rhea sighed.

Ash flashed his teeth as they neared.  “Tomorrow, huh?  I guess you’ll have a bit more time to train today!  Want to go into the forest and do some practicing with Dracovish?  He’s been a bit, hehe, jumpy lately.”

“Uuda-da-da-da!”  he cried, wiggling around as if dancing.

Rhea’s laugh became strained at the unusual Pokemon; she always thought Dracovish was a bit of an odd one, and there was some questionable ethics involved with their creation, but he did seem like a happy boy.  “Yay…”

The training was a living inferno, and by the end of the hyperactive Fossil Pokemon’s team drills, Rhea, Amira, Mallory, and all of their Pokemon collapsed in their beds before groaning at the text Ash sent them to release everyone for seven minutes tonight.

“It’s getting longer!”  Lori cried, tight hand pressing against her chest as the pressure of Roxie, Gables, and Miky hit her soul.  “Ugh…”

Rhea actually felt a lot better than usual, but she did have a tiny bit more practice than her friends; sitting cross-legged, she stroked Nova’s fur with one hand while playing a game of finger boxing with Alice, trying to catch the bunny off-guard.

Mya appeared to be just as dead to life as the redhead—Amira seemed to be done living; the Rocket girl was lying sprawled out on her bed with Holly, Amber, and Serenity tenderly rubbing their Trainer’s arms, quietly cheering her through it.

“Kill me…”

“One minute…”  Rhea called.

“Oof…  I don’t know if I can do seven!”  Lori groaned, rubbing her chest and trying to breathe out the stress.  “Talk to me, sunshine; how are you doing it?”

Rhea giggled at the nickname.  “What Pokemon do Chris, Frazer, and Isaac have?”

“You mean Lawrence?” Amira grumbled, her voice muffled from her face pressed into the hotel pillow.

“Good!  Yup.  Now, their Pokemon?”

Lori rubbed between her eyes.  “Mmgm…  Ponyta, Sneasel… uh, Ghastly…”

“Chris has a Scyther,” Amira picked up.  “Lawrence, a Yanma, ugh…  I’m going to throw up…”

Rhea winced as Amira rolled off her bed and stumbled to the sink to gag at the sink; they hadn’t pushed this hard after so much training yet, but, on the bright side, they were in one of the Center’s underground rooms—it was a new design in the past 10 years that was built with the support of Ground Pokemon.

“…Six minutes…  Seven!”

Breathing out in a long stream and wiping at their sweaty brows, the girls relaxed as the Pokemon returned to their pokeballs to ease the stress on the Trainers.

Rhea wasn’t surprised when Amira passed out on her bed without washing up; the strain on her body was showing itself due to the redhead’s lower physical Allocation.  Typically, the Rocket girl was the first to take care of her nighttime routine, yet each night had grown more strenuous for her.

Poor Amira, she whispered to her three worried Pokemon; if Rhea could, she’d take some of the stress off her friend, but knew this was all in order for them to get to their goals, and she figured their declaration of Silver-tier to Ash made him up the time.

Rhea let Lori take a shower first.  Unlike the redhead, the violet-haired girl was doing okay physically; mentally, on the other hand, her brain was cooked after Rhea’s questions.

Getting up as Lori entered the water, Rhea carefully helped Amira get into a more comfortable position on her bed, making sure her hair wouldn’t get in the way throughout the night before dimming the lights.

Nova was thrilled to join her outside of her pokeball when Rhea said she was fine, and once Lori finished her hot shower, she replaced the Unovan girl, giving her half-raised, confused hand a high-five as she stumbled into her bed without doing her hair.

They’re so dead!  Rhea internally laughed before hissing out a breath.  Ready to push a little harder?

Nova fed off her resolve and nodded as light filled the closed bathroom; Rhea’s legs grew weak at the energy leaving her body, but she forced herself to remain up.  We can do this much!  Okay…

“Glashy!”  Nova chirped, cold body freezing the water as it fell around her and creating a small snow pile.  “Shia.”

Gritting her teeth, Rhea got down on her knees to brush off the flurry, fingers crying for her to reject the frigid substance.  “We go first since we challenged them…  We got this!”

Nova rubbed her cool head against her hand; to Rhea’s extreme pride, her little mediator stayed evolved until they settled into bed.  Nova groaned tiredly while nuzzling under the blankets to pull herself down Rhea’s left leg.

“Hehe.  Good night, my little snuggle buddy.”

“Pwee…”

Night, Alice, Mya.

Her two other Pokemon were already knocked out by this point, resting against her spirit, and it didn’t take long for Rhea to join them.

She didn’t wake during the night, stretching out with Nova when Amira’s soft alarm went off at 5:30 a.m.  The redhead puffed out a low groan as she greeted Holly.

“Feeling better?”  Rhea yawned.

“Define ‘better,’ ” she mumbled, forcing herself up.  “You guys already showered last night?”

“Mhm.  Hehe.”

She giggled as Amira promptly fell back into bed with Holly pulling the light blanket over her head.  “Set my alarm for 6:30—would you, Holly?”

“Fiii,” the Posy Pokemon whispered, rubbing her covered head before moving to the device.

“Ugh… no, make it 6:45…”

“Fi-fi-fi,” she chuckled.

“Mmgm.  I’m with you there,” Rhea mused, feeling her Pokemon agree with the redhead.

Adjusting her thick braid, Rhea changed her alarm and settled back in.

When the time came around, Rhea felt a lot better and did some morning work to touch herself up with Lori as Amira washed.  Ash met them at breakfast, and they saw their three opponents nearby, but the three kept to themselves until 8 a.m. came around; it was Roxie, Serenity, and Mya’s time to eat outside.

Having Nurse Joy top off their Pokemon’s energy matrixes, they went across the road to a clearing that had been made for battles; two more groups were waiting to have a match, so they sat on the log benches to watch the Bronze-tier Trainers.

It was more low-tier fights, even amongst their bracket, with both Rattata using Tail Whip and Tackle as the main Moves between dodging; one had Guts, and the other Run Away, which made for a prolonged fight, but the Guts Rattata won.

After a Pidgey mirror match, it was finally their turn.

Rhea smoothed out her skirt and moved to shake Chris’ hand as her teammates did the same.  “Three-on-three, one Pokemon each, and we start, uh… ten-second delay per release?”

“Anyone can go next?” Lawrence questioned.

Amira rubbed her left eye, blinking a few times before nodding.  “No set order.”

“Sweet!”  Frazer stretched out his arms, smiling at them.  “I can’t wait to see what surprise you have for us.”

Lori nodded.  “Ditto!”

Walking toward their side of the field, Rhea’s eyebrows furrowed, and she slowed upon getting a social media notification from Jade’s account.  She opened the link to see the blue-haired girl’s sister standing with Jay, Hannah, and Sam, grinning ear to ear.

Rhea’s pounding heart calmed upon reading the message:

“Thank you so much, Rhea, Amira, Lori!  My big sister couldn’t complete her Bronze Journey due to running out of funds, but after everything we got from our battle with you, I can now support her after she’s funded my journey!  She’s joining our group; we only need one more person to have Jay register with her to make it official.  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!”

Drawing strength from the wonderful news, Rhea couldn’t wait to talk to her friends about the exciting surprise; it had been a few days since they’d won, so it probably took a bit to set up.  Let’s do this, Nova, and call our friends with our own good news!

* * *

Yeah!  Are you ready, Alice, Mya?  Nova cheered.

“You’ll clobber them!”

“Just be faster, and you’ll always win!”

Nova internally snickered at Alice’s solution to everything; still, this would be the most challenging match she had had, and Nova couldn’t wait to see how strong these Bronze Allstars were.

Rhea took a deep breath as Pikachu raised one red flag to them before doing the same for their opponents; they both said they were ready, and Rhea drew back her arm and tossed her a few meters away.

Energy materializing, Nova’s brow set as Chris tossed her opponent at the very edge of the acceptable release range.  Pikachu shouted, “Begin!”

A black-furred Pokemon with a long, crimson ear appeared—Finline—his white claws digging into the soil before rocketing right at her; Nova’s gut tightened at the Sneasel’s rapid acceleration when the white force enclosing his body brought him right on top of her within a second.

A greenish shell encompassed Nova, blocking the bash and stopping Finlin in his tracks—even with all her enhancements, she might only be tied in speed with Run Away—jumping back, her puffy tail dragged against the soil as she whipped around, sending a wave of sand over him.

Finline dove to the left, but the wide attack seemed to hit him in the face, making his sharp eyes squint before spinning in a quick circle, white light gathering into several yellow stars that shot after her retreat; Nova had never fought against someone who could gather energy as fast as her.

Following Rhea’s guidance from their training with Dracovish, a sparkle glistened in her pink eyes, allowing her to predict the curve of each star; she flipped around the projectiles in a way where they struck each other, but she couldn’t dodge all of them, taking two to the side.

It didn’t do too much damage to her energy matrix, but she hadn’t expected to be unable to escape all of them, and he was right on top of her again, a big grin on the cat’s face.

“Good!  Good!  Eh?!”

Nova’s momentum flipped instantly as kinetic energy propelled her forward, mirroring his first attack and plowing into the surprised Sneasel, forcing him to redirect his illuminated claws to the soil to shift his rapid trajectory.

Amber entered the battle, sending small balls of flame across the field at Finline as he flipped forward toward Nova, refusing to retreat; Penny, Lawrence’s Ponyta, exited her Ultra Ball reasonably close to the direction Nova was heading, making Rhea and her teammates cheer inside—they were going to use their planned strategy.

Picking up speed while running away from the pursuing Sneasel, Nova drew upon Rhea’s energy, evolving as Penny neared, engulfed in a wheel of flame; Finline appeared from shadows at Nova’s back, black-encased claws striking her side with the wall of fire—the burst of evolutionary energy repelled both Moves, throwing them back.

“Ahh, that strat from your third battle?!”  the Sneasel hastily snickered, recovering with his teammate and sending more stars her way.

Drawing in a deep breath, Nova sent a spray of super-enhanced, chilling air from her Abilities and Type, making a veil of mist; the Ponyta tried to counter with another Flame Wheel, but Finline flickered in dark energy, causing Nova to lose track of him.

Penny couldn’t break through the gale, forcing her back as Nova skated across the path she’d made to Amber, becoming a blur through the speed multipliers of Run Away and Skater.

The Fennekin jumped out of the fog, plowing into Finline’s materialized figure on Nova’s left flank and shoving him back as Nova spun around to breathe another cloud of frost across the ground, tuning out the claps and calls from the onlookers; the biggest problem was the Sneasel wouldn’t give her room to prepare any other attacks, yet didn’t want to put him on his guard.

Finline became a white, zig-zagging blur as he used the Move to run around the Fennekin’s slow Embers, claws digging into the sheets of ice to keep him balanced where the Ponyta couldn’t approach so easily.

Nova winked, sending a storm of hearts after the swift cat that he expertly dodged through the dispersing mist, but it provided just enough opportunity for them to set everything up as Finline flickered into shadows.

Amber drew in deeply before relating a broad wave of super-heated air that vaporized her ice, sending steam in all directions as burning air engulfed Nova and Finline.

Just before it struck them, and his darkened claws dug into Nova’s side, a purple aura illuminated the Sneasel, rainbow lights transporting him away as Penny entered the line of fire; Gables exited his pokeball, landing on top of Nova’s back for a greenish shell to enclose them.

Penny right in front of her and steam obscuring everything around them, Nova froze over the flaming horse’s hooves and the ground around her, even if only for a moment, as Gables jumped off her back, peppering the out-of-position Ponyta with bubbles.

Gables and Nova locked up for a second as dark, red-tinted eyes dotted the field, drawing their attention—Triska, the Ghastly, had entered the battle—chuckling from inside the haze.

“Very well executed…” she trailed off.

Appearing nearby with a frown on her face, Triska noticed Amber repositioned in front of Penny, glowing, light pink eyes sending pulses of psychic energy at the recovering Pontya; Penny seemed to try and counter it with her own, yet the Fennekin’s struck first, making the fire horse sway.

“Nice!”  Gables laughed.

“Run—akhm—away from your friends,” Amber instructed, coughing from the swift strain the Heat Wave had on her throat as the Froakie landed on Penny’s back, continuing to spray her with bubbles.

A purplish aura surrounded Triska, her shadow elongating to knock the frog off his teammate, but Nova had seen Mya use this Move and used another gale of frigid wind against the burning grass to send more mist into the air and disrupt its trajectory, yet she only barely managed to protect Gables as Finline rammed her side.

Air leaving her lungs at the massive chunk that was taken out of her energy matrix, Nova slid over a still-frosted area of grass, which was the only reason she managed to keep ahead of the pursuing Sneasel.

“Ack—c’mon… give me a break!”  Nova cried; she didn’t have the luxury of helping Amber and Gables with the speedy Pokemon on her tail.

Eyes sparkling, she flipped over his swipe, yet his claws sunk into the grass, twisting him back toward her; Nova only needed a few seconds to land her secret weapon, but he wasn’t going to give her an opportunity, so she took the chance.

Setting her ground, her claws sank into the ice, tensing as his claws hit her three times; her energy matrix hit 1%—she was only just holding on with the small buffer she’d made with her offensive energy—even after all the mitigation they’d done from their powerful attacks.

“Hehe…”  Drawing in a colossal amount of energy from Rhea, Nova forced a smirk as Finline’s fur stood on end; Nova felt weightless as a quivering, multi-hued ripple exploded from within her, ripping up the soil and rattling through the Sneasel’s bones.  “I had fun.”

“Wa—”  He was thrown into the air, resonating with the energy inside Nova.

His energy matrix shattered, and Nova stumbled to the side, light encompassing her as the weakened Eevee’s evolution reversed, yet her focus moved from her fainted opponent to a large, purplish cloud that enveloped her, causing her to feel sick; a red beam connected to her, drawing Nova back into the comfort of her pokeball.

D-Did I do good?

* * *

Rhea called back her drained Eevee as Chris did the same with his Sneasel, wearing a thoughtful expression while observing the fight between Gables, Amber, and Triska; Penny had been taken out after Nova’s speed disruption gave Amber enough time to engage the Ghastly, leaving the frog to destroy the hypnotized Ponyta’s shield.

You did incredible, Nova!  she assured, knowing her fluffy-tailed Pokemon wanted to be more help for her teammates, but she’d tipped the scale in their favor.  We’ll heal you up soon!

Even with a two-on-one, Gables only stayed in due to his Camouflage and Mind Reader combo allowing him to escape the stall-disruptor Pokemon; Triska was an absolute monster, having Lick, Mean Look, Poison Gas, Spite, Confuse Ray, Astonish, Haze, and Will-O-Wisp.

Triska’s status and stall game was on-point and made for a great backup and chip play that could be used in the background to support her teammates; it was lucky she went last because if the Ghastly went first, Amira wasn’t sure they could win if they were all inflicted by every status in the book, which was why they forced them to go for speed with how unknown Nova’s Moves were, plus the Ice Resistance.

Penny could have turned their plan on its head, so they built their whole strategy around taking her out first.  The Ponyta had Growl, Tackle, Tail Whip, Ember, Double Hit, Quick Attack, Flame Wheel, and Double Kick to destroy Nova if she didn’t transform; if that wasn’t enough, for her Egg Moves, she boasted Hypnosis, Ally Switch, and High Horsepower.

Nova had to spray the field with ice to keep the Ponyta at a distance with her fragile footing, and Amber’s appearance made Penny concerned for her teammate, keeping Penny constantly trying to anticipate when she’d use Heat Wave to swap places with her fire-vulnerable teammate.

It was a mirror match, in a way—Ice vs Fire—and their only advantage was knowing all their opponent’s strategies through their many battles, whereas Nova still had many mysteries that would keep them on their toes, pressuring her.

The fight lasted longer than Rhea anticipated, and, unfortunately, Amber’s Wish couldn’t save her from all the status effects.  Luckily, Gables managed to finish it with less than 10% of his energy matrix, ironically ending it with a Lick—super effective—since Bubble was his only other Move that could actually affect the Normal, Fighting, and Ground-Immune Ghost.

Cheers erupted around them as Gables landed beside the fallen Ghastly, dropping onto his back and throwing out a thumbs up.  The first real team challenge that they’d spent hours and hours preparing for had paid off—they’d won, and only just barely, but it proved they could stand at the top of the Bronze League and Low Silver if they put in more effort.

Recalling their drained and fainted Pokemon, Chris, Frazer, and Lawrence walked over the damaged field as Gold-tier onlookers used their Grass Pokemon to fix much of the damage.

Lori laughed, hopping forward to meet them, likely still coming off her high.  “That was insane; Triska is such a beast to take down!”

“Thanks,” Frazer forced a smile, holding up Triska’s pokeball.  “She had a ton of fun trying to guess where he was, making bets with us and stuff…  I didn’t expect Finline to drop that fast.”

“You and us both,” Chris mused, crossing his arms and staring at Nova’s disguised Master Ball.  “That last attack was insane…  Synchronoise.  Does your Eevee know, like… every Move?  Talk about timing, too; she’s good at predicting and dodging…  No one’s dodged our Swift before.”

Rhea jabbed her thumb at Ash, wearing a sheepish grin nearby as he was once again swarmed by fans, and his Pokemon weren’t faring any better than their Trainer.  “We’ve been doing some tennis ball games with Pikachu that has really helped us.”

“Interesting,” Lawrence hummed, popping his tongue a few times.  “Mind sharing the secret with us—what are your plans today?”

“Mmh?”  Lori smirked.  “You asking us out after one loss?”

“No-hehe,” Lawrence smoothly protested.  “Can’t we hang out and just talk about the battle?”

Rhea gave her teammate a leery eye.  “Yeah, not everything’s about dating.”

“Speak for yourself,” Lori winked.  “I like forward guys that shoot their shot.”

Amira chuckled and motioned to the Center nearby.  “We should probably get our Pokemon checked out.”

“True.”  Chris nudged his head to his teammates.  “We can buy coffee; it’s still early, and I’d like to know how you guys came up with that strategy.  Gotta learn our flaws, ya know?”

Rhea couldn’t help the positive vibes fluttering in her chest, and she began to see what Ash meant by battling being fun and not all about winning or losing.  “I’d love to chat about our Pokemon and how hard it was to devise a plan—Amira actually came up with it.”

“Really?”  Lawrence asked.  “I can’t wait to hear the details because your girls totally read our Ally Switch like we were a book.”

Leaving Ash to handle the flood of people pining for his attention, they went into the Center cafeteria; Frazer and Lori hit it off since the Unovan girl knew so much about Ghost Pokemon due to it being her big sister’s specialty, which helped them navigate and win the final duel.

After an hour of relaxing, they exchanged numbers to battle in the future and parted ways when Ash finally got an inch to escape his ravenous fans; it was back on the road and on to Meadowview Village to meet Ash’s old friend, Melanie, the president of the ‘No Pokemon Left Behind’ initiative.

Rhea wanted to call Jade to see how things were going with her sister, and when Ash discovered the happy news about her friend’s sister journeying with her and needing one more companion, he mentioned he may know someone that could fill that spot.

Yet, to her frustrated curiosity, he decided to keep it vague until he could confirm it himself; plus, they were nearing the end of Blue Forest.  Rhea couldn’t wait to see the fields of gold.

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