Ghastly Adventures: Boulder 1.4 (ch. 4) (Patreon)

Marnie was an experienced trainer, I quickly noticed as the two of them both began shouting out orders for their pokemon. Brock took up the position of defense, leaving the initiative to Marnie, who was happy to have it as her impidimp hopped from boulder to boulder with surprising speed to close in on the geodude that was squaring up. With a final leap, she closed the distance and the pokemon clashed to a roaring crowd.

“AND IT BEGINS! TRAINER MARNIE GOES ALL IN ON OFFENSE, DELIVERING A PAINFUL LOOKING FAKEOUT PUNCH TO GEODUDE!” The announcer yelled and that was a little grating as I thought, following the match. The roaring crowd made it difficult to hear what moves were being called out, but I saw both of them already getting into it as Geodude put his hands up defensively, eating another blow. “GEODUDE HAS HIS GUARD ALL THE WAY UP -- DOES MARNIE’S IMPIDIMP HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BREAK THROUGH?!”

She did, as it so happened. The impidimp wailed on Geodude, cackling madly as he did so -- at least, until she leaned in and gave Geodude a big smooch. “IS IT LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT?! OH, NO! IT’S DRAINING KISS!” That information was actually useful, I decided, watching as Geodude sagged, like he just ran a marathon. With another well placed kick, he went down without much more of a fight.

“You did well, Geodude. Return!” Brock called out, and Geodude vanished in a flash of red light. “Go, Rhyhorn!” He yelled out and I frowned. Where did that come from? Did Brock always have that up his sleeve and it was just never mentioned?

The heavier pokemon landed with a thump, standing across Impidimp. Marnie suddenly looked tense as the tables were flipped. Brock seized the moment, the gloves seemingly coming off. “Tackle!” He yelled out and the crowd started cheering again the moment that the rhyhorn took off with shocking speed. Imidimp tried to dodge it, only to be baited out with a Quick Attack that struck him dead center.

Brawly leaned over to me, “She challenged him at the third badge level.” He informed, and I nodded slowly. I watched the fight play out carefully, the battle taking shape -- Impidimp fought on for a minute more, but she barely managed to scratch Rhyhorn before getting taken out by a Horn Attack.

Marnie chose her next pokemon, a morpeko -- dark and electric. A poor match up, it seemed at first, but the morpeko was far more agile than the lumbering Rhyhorn.

“We could win,” I told Mimikyu, and he seemed to agree. It'd be easier if we had a heavy hitter, or a tank. But, watching the match unfold, I began to develop a strategy. Rhyhorn fell in short order, leaving Brock down to one pokemon as it was a 3v3. And, his last one was one I knew well.

Onix was a lot more intimidating in person. A towering snake of boulders, all larger than me, seemed to fill Brock's side of the field. He roared, echoing out over the sounds of cheering from the Home side at the most signature Rock type. Marnie recalled her Morpeko and brought out an interesting pokemon.

“Go, Pangoro!” Pangoro looked like a panda if it was a grizzled war veteran, complete with a piece of bamboo sticking out of his mouth. The battle resumed and the plan continued to develop. The weak points of Onix slowly being revealed -- the joints. Mobility. Speed. If Onix hit you, you were going to feel it, but it had to hit you and it preferred large sweeping attacks that shattered boulders like they were glass.

It was another game of cat and mouse with Pangoro having enough power to hurt the onix. There were nail biting misses, a few hits even and each one dealt devastating damage to Pangoro. However, within five minutes of trading blows, with a titanic crash, Brock's onix toppled over.

“WHAT AN INCREDIBLE SHOW! THE VICTOR IS CHALLENGER MARNIE!” The announcer announced as the platforms lowered, letting the two meet in the middle where Brock gave Marnie the Boulder badge. They exchanged a few words between them, and the cheering made things deafening. It had been a good match. With her new badge, Marnie headed towards the exit, and probably to the Pokemon Center, while Brock went right back onto the platform.

Once he was back in position, the announcer called out the next challenger -- a boy named Will, who was wide eyed at the crowd and flushing at being at the center of attention. A new trainer, I figured, doubting that I would be much better in his shoes.

The match began with Brock throwing out a geodude, while Will threw out a catepie.

It was then that I saw the difference between a first badge battle and a three badge battle. Brock was passive in the battle. He didn't let Geodude get wailed on or anything, but opportunities that he would have taken against Marnie weren't capitalized on here. He wasn't as aggressive either. And the geodude was slower. Weaker. Cateprie managed to catch it with a String Shot, and Geodude wasn't able to break out.

That match ended up going to Brock. Then the next one went to Brock as well. The third match, he won but he gave the Boulder badge to the trainer anyway. He won the match that came after that, but lost the final match before the lunch break.

“We'll be facing geodudes and an onix,” I muttered to myself as we were funneled out of the Gym. The Pokemon Center was set up just down the road, but the surrounding area was filled with food stands and the like. Pokemon battles had replaced sports in this world, it seemed, and the people knew how to make a buck out of a hungry fan. “Rhyhorn is reserved for stronger battles.”

“You're not going to challenge him at a higher level?” Brawly asked me as we headed to the Pokemon Center.

I thought about it. “I think I could win, but I don't think I should jump head first into it,” I admitted. I had strategies, but they wouldn't be worth a thing if I locked up on stage. That kind of pressure wasn't something that I was used to, and I didn't want to make a fool of myself thinking that I was hot shit only to get beat down. “You?”

“Second level. You're over thinking things, but you do you,” Brawly offered his opinion with a shrug. We made our way to the Pokemon Center, seeing that it was crowded with trainers. There were a couple dozen of them, some who had battled Brock and a few were showing off their new badges. And those that missed out eyed them enviously, nursing their wounded pride or had their friends pick them up.

“Maybe, but if Mimikyu or Phantump got hurt because I got overconfident… We've been together for a week and I don't want to give them any reason to distrust me,” I said while Mimikyu reassured me that he never could. Much to the immediate alarm of all the pokemon with earshot.

Brawly smiled, “Fair enough. I forgot how new you are to this. You… don't really act like it,” he offered as an apology.

“I'll take that as a compliment,” I said as we reached Nurse Joy. She greeted us with a smile and… yeah, no -- you could tell me that she was a clone of the Nurse Joy that I saw in the village, and I'd believe it. I wouldn't be able to tell them apart with a gun to my head.

“Hello, could we get two rooms? If you have any,” Brawky asked and Nurse Joy offered a thin smile.

“I'm afraid that we've run out of free rooms. We have suites available for a thousand pokedollars a night, however?” She informed and based on that wince, even she knew that was a rip off.

Brawly looked at me and I shook my head. “I'm broke as a joke,” I replied unashamedly. “I'll just rough it one more night. It works better this way for me anyway.”

“Because you don't sleep?” Brawly ventured, and I…

“Can't, but yeah. A soft bed would be wasted on me,” I confirmed, not exactly shocked. “When did you notice?”

“The other day. At first, I just figured that you woke up before me, but when you never went to bed before me, and you were always up when I woke up in the middle of the night?” He offered a shrug, “I thought it was insomnia -- camping can be a pretty big adjustment, you know? But you never seemed tired.” Huh. There were more hints than I realized.

I chuckled, “Get yourself a room. I think I'm going to spend the night training for the gym battle tomorrow. Just let me use the shower, yeah?”

Brawly just laughed as we parted ways with a promise to meet up later. I was, admittedly, tempted to battle some of the trainers here. I could see some of them eyeing Mimikyu -- some wary, others curious, others with desire. The money would be nice, but it was an unnecessary risk. If one of my pokemon got hurt, then I'd be down to one for a gym badge and I'd be stuck waiting for another slot to open up if I lost.

I'd sweep them after I got my Boulder badge, I decided. The prize money for beating a gym leader also had to be pretty good too.

My wandering wasn't aimless. I did have a destination in mind as I skirted around the city limits, trying to find something familiar. I didn't find it at first, but I did find a map to the river, and from there I just had to make my way up stream until I found it -- the water mill. The same water mill that Ash had used to amp up his pikachu.

It was a run down building that still operated, but only out of spite of the neglect. The wood boards were rotting, the door had crumbled, and I wasn't the first to find it based on some tags painted on the walls. It would do. “Come on out, Phantump,” I instructed and my pokemon appeared in a flash of red.

Phantump looked around at our surroundings with some interest before his gaze settled on me. “We've scoped out the competition and I have a working strategy in mind. Phantump -- you're a crucial piece of it.” I told him and Phantump seemed to puff himself out with pride. “Tonight, we're going to work on your accuracy. We're also going to work on a combo that I think will work perfectly for you.”

Then I turned to Mimikyu, “You're going to be our powerhouse. We'll be facing a three vs two, so we'll be at a disadvantage. But, if we fight smart and hard, we'll win. So, tonight, I want you to practice your speed with Shadow Sneak. Do you both understand?”

“Mimikyu!” “Phantump!”

With that, they both went to it. Phantump practiced his accuracy by shooting falling leaves from the nearby forest. Mimikyu was flashing around inside of his shadow. I decided to take a seat near the water mill and focus on trying to find my Aura.

I had no idea if I was wasting my time or not. I didn't feel some mystical power dwelling within me. So, I tried looking for that bond the show always talked about -- the bond between person and pokemon. It could have just been anime speak, but everyone always talked about it like it was some tangible thing. And hadn't there been that one device that could measure the bond between trainer and pokemon?

Real meditation was something else, I thought. I always figured that it would be like falling asleep, but given that I couldn't, I didn't know how else to describe it because I only became aware that I wasn't alone when I felt someone touch my shoulder.

“You okay, kid?” I heard a rough rumbly voice ask me and I opened my eyes to find that the sun was on its way down to the horizon. Mimikyu and Phantump were both curled up in my lap, snoozing away. I blinked to see who was speaking-

Flint. A scruffy beard, a ragged beany -- he didn't look as haggard as he had when he met Ash, but he looked homeless. He withdrew the hand that shook me awake and I took a moment to gather my thoughts. “Yeah, I'm fine. Just meditating.”

“Seems like I'm not the only one that knows about this place,” Flint remarked before he looked over his shoulder at… Marnie? She had her morpeko in her arms, looking at me curiously. “Were you going to use the mill?”

“I was told it was abandoned,” Marnie replied, and I noticed that she had a trace of a Scottish accent. She looked at Flint and I shrugged.

This was a rather unexpected meeting. “I thought it'd be a quiet place for some training. I don't have any claim to it,” I replied. “You're going to train his output?” I asked, making conversation while I tried to not pay too much attention to Flint. Mostly because I didn't really trust myself.

I would have been fine if we never came across each other's paths. It would have been best just to let canon take its course, and Flint would come back to his family, and none of it would have been my problem. And it still wasn't my problem. It just rubbed me wrong in all of the wrong ways.

Flint abandoned his family and left a thirteen year old Brock to take care of nine siblings and run a gym. The mom? Shitty, but she was sick. I didn't know enough about the situation to say if it was reasonable or not, but at the very least, even if she did dump ten kids onto her Ex-husband, she left them with an adult. An adult who then abandoned them and was now what seemed to be a homeless vagabond in the same city.

“It helps their power output, but it's rare to find a power plant like this,” Marnie said. “Usually, they're needed to power the city rather than train pokemon.” Made sense to me -- at some point, there had to be a point where it wasn't feasible. A nuclear power plant wouldn't let you charge up your pikachu.

“Makes sense. Congrats on your match. How is your impidimp doing?” I asked and Marnie frowned ever so slightly.

“He just needs some rest. I'll be stuck here for a day or two while he recovers,” Marnie sighed. “Are you a battle trainer?” She asked, her gaze dipping down to the still slumbering pokemon. They were lucky they were cute, I decided -- we were lucky it was Marnie and not Team Rocket.

They would come for me, I knew. It wasn’t just about a gym battle. The battle would be broadcasted and Team Rocket would notice. It would officially start the clock.

With a little luck, my murderer would be the one who came for me.

“Planning to be. I have a challenge around here tomorrow,” I answered, Phantump shifting in my lap. To be honest, I didn’t think Ghost pokemon could sleep. I needed to check that book to see what it said about this. “Learned a lot from your match, so thanks?”

Marnie let out a small huff of laughter at that, “That was my ego. I did pretty well in the Kalos League, and I let it get to my head. I pushed Impidimp too hard and I had to rely on Pangoro.” Seems like she was her own worst critic.

“If it’s any consolation, you at looked like you knew what you were doing?” I said, offering a small shrug.

She gave me a dry look, “Thanks.”

The conversation was cut off when Flint remerged from the mill, having set everything up. “It’s ready. Just place these pads on her emitters,” he instructed and I watched as Marnie did exactly that before she went to the water wheel. Flint lingered by the doorway as Morpeko watched us both warily until Marnie began to push the wheel faster, upping the voltage. Small bursts of static erupted from the mouse pokemon, making her face scrunch up.

I watched in silence for a moment, not willing to let my guard down while others- “You know who I am,” Flint interrupted my thoughts. I glanced up at him to see he was looking down at me, his eyes exactly like Brock’s, as if that wasn’t enough of an indication.

I thought about lying, but it wasn’t a question. “Yeah, I do.” I didn’t give him more than that. I didn’t trust myself to say any more than that, but Flint was looking to open that can of worms. He chewed on that for a moment, working his jaw as he leaned against the doorframe.

“I noticed how you looked at me. I suppose it’s a good thing… getting angry on another’s behalf,” he remarked and I twitched. Pressing my lips together into a thin line, I went as far as to bite my tongue to prevent what I wanted to say from coming out. “It’s… I’m… I don’t have any excuses.”

But he was going to try to give one. “I failed them. I failed him. And I’m too ashamed to face them again,” Flint sighed and I… oh, I wanted to punch him. I think I might have if, even as a bum, he hadn’t still looked like he could kick the shit out of me.

“You’re damn right you failed them,” I snapped, knowing what he was looking for. People like Flint, no matter how much they claimed that they weren’t looking for it, wanted to be pitied. That’s why he was justifying his bullshit to a stranger that he never met. He wanted pity. Someone to pat him on the back and tell him that he made the best of a bad situation and he didn’t shit the bed. “I’m sure you have your own shit going on, but what the fuck?”

It took some effort to not raise my voice. To keep it a calm whisper. Marnie didn’t need to overhear, and I didn’t want to wake up my pokemon. Flint looked properly chastised, guilt etched into his expression as he turned away from me. I didn’t really expect an answer from him. I just wanted him to know that he was going to have to look somewhere else for a shoulder to cry on.

I was content to sit in that uncomfortable silence, only mollified by the fact that it would be more awkward for Flint when he spoke up. “I couldn’t be a Gym Leader and their father. I… there was a war. I… I don’t know if they cover that in schools, but it was between Kanto and Johto over Mount Silver. Or something in it. I don’t even know anymore. It would have been before you were born… about twenty years ago, now.” As mad as I was, that did catch me by surprise.

Flint worked his jaw for a moment. “It only lasted about six months. Pokemon… we don’t understand how powerful they are. Not really. We watch them battle for fun, send kids on their Journey with a handful of them, but… in war… it’s different. I wish I could explain it better than that, but… I can’t. I just don’t have the words… except for in six months, thirty thousand people were dead.”

Slowly, I felt the anger bleed out of me as I listened to him, a frown tugging at my lips. It wasn’t an excuse, I decided. Even if he was dealing with PTSD, or something, he at the very least should have done better than drop all of that onto Brock. Flint, seeing that I was willing to hear him out, continued. “My wife, Carla -- she was my rock. She kept me steady after the war. Gave me a family, and I could start looking at pokemon like I used to. As friends. For a long time, I was fine. Happy. Life couldn’t have been better… then she got sick. Very sick. And I… my issues… I didn’t handle it well, and that drove her away.”

I could tell that was a sore point for him -- there was raw emotion in his voice. “I fell apart. When I left Brock, it was only meant to be for a week. No more than that. I had something I needed to do, and… and I failed. I failed them. And now I’m too ashamed to face them again. I don’t deserve their forgiveness.” There was a sob in his voice and I processed all of that for a moment.

“You’re right. If it was me, I wouldn’t forgive you,” I told him unapologetically. Hashly and without a shred of remorse. He flinched as if he had been struck, telling me all I needed to know. “But I’m an asshole. In the end, it’s not up to me to decide if you deserve forgiveness. It’s not up to you either. It’s up to them.” I continued, blowing out a sigh. “And they deserve the chance to decide that for themselves.” Maybe Flint had some redeeming feature deep down that I didn’t know about, but if it was me, I’d tell him to go to hell.

Flint stilled, trembling with emotion. “I can’t be a Gym Leader and a father.” Seriously, fuck this guy.

“Then don’t. Just be a dad. Idiot,” I meant to add that last bit under my breath, but it slipped out. Flint glanced at me, but I stubbornly refused to look at him. As far as I was concerned, the conversation was done.

Just to make sure, I picked my pokemon up and left. What he did next was entirely on him.

…

The next day came entirely too quickly for my liking. Mimikyu and Phantump both ended up waking up and we trained a little more in the night, but I called it short to make sure that they were rested up for the battle today. I took a shower, combed my hair, and straightened up my clothing and every step that I took towards the gym filled me was a nervous jittery energy. It wasn’t quite cold feet, but I was really rethinking this course of action by the time I found Brawly standing outside the Gym.

He was all smiles, completely at ease. “Nervous?” He greeted me with and I managed a thin smile.

“Was it obvious?” I asked and he clapped me on the back as we entered.

“Only a little,” he replied as we were escorted into a challenger locker room, essentially. There were two others before us, and I was mollified to see that Brawly was the only calm looking one in the room. A large TV in the room let us see the crowd that was gathering in the stands, and it was shaping up to be another full house.

Then the announcer spoke, “WE’RE IN FOR ANOTHER LONG DAY OF GLORIOUS BATTLES PEOPLE OF PEWTER CITY! WILL THE CHALLENGERS CLAIM VICTORY, EARNING THEIR COVETED BOULDER BADGE, OR WILL THEY BREAK UPON BROCK LIKE A WAVE? THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO FIND OUT! BUT, FIRST, A THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS -- SILPH CO., THE ONE STOP SHOP FOR ALL YOUR POKEMON NEEDS!”

This was reminding more and more of a football game by the moment. The thought was a stray one, but it distracted me from my growing nerves.

“AS ALWAYS, ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE PEWTER CITY’S ONE AND ONLY GYM LEADER… BROOOCK! TODAY, HE’LL BE FACING A FRESH FACE IN THE POKEMON WORLD -- TIMOTHY LEE. WILL LITTLE TIMOTHY PROVE THAT HE HAS THE MAKINGS OF CHAMPIONS, OR SHALL ANOTHER BITE THE DUST?!”

“That makes it sound like I’ll die!” Timothy blurted, looking up at the Tv, seriously regretting his every decision that led him to this moment. All the same, he swallowed down his nerves and walked out of the room, onto the field…

And lost. Handily. He ran into the same problem that I was worried about -- a lack of power and no strategy to deal with that lack of power.

Second up was a girl named Jenny, who lost but also managed to earn her Boulder badge. Again, the problem was the onix. It was just a massive wall that most pokemon struggled to get through. At the very least I would have some more time to see what worked and what didn’t-

“UP NEXT IS A SUPER ROOKIE! EIGHTEEN OFFICIAL BATTLES AND EIGHTEEN VICTORIES! IS TODAY THAT THE CHALLENGER TASTES DEFEAT FOR THE FIRST TIME? OR SHALL HE OVERCOME THE ODDS AND CLAIM HIS FIRST GYM BADGE?! GIVE A WARM WELCOME TO… BLAIR WYCH!” The announcer shouted, and until he called out my name, I had been convinced he was talking about someone else.

I whipped around to Brawly, “You put me first?!” I blurted, not even trying to hide my shock.

Brawly just laughed, “I told you, you’re overthinking things. Go get ‘em, super rookie.” He said, waving me off.

“Oh, I’m so getting you back for this,” I muttered darkly under my breath as I walked to the door, my heart hammering in my chest. I swallowed it down, pushing the doors open to be greeted with a roaring crowd. And, for the briefest seconds, I froze mentally. That… was a lot of people. A lot of people looking at me. More that were watching on TV. The whole city was probably watching. I’m sooooo getting back at Brawly for this.

I tried to appear calm as I headed to the platform, and as soon as I was on it, it lifted into place, bringing me eye level with Brock. He stood across from me and then his lips moved before his voice rang out in the speakers on my platform. “My dad showed up last night and said you talked some sense into him. Thank you,” Brock said, and I swallowed my nerves.

“I just said what he needed to hear,” I deflected. It would have taken him another year, but I knew that much was true.

“Still, thank you,” Brock insisted and I blew out a nervous sigh, still keenly aware of all the eyes on us.

A thin smile tugged at the edge of my lips, “Don’t suppose that means you’ll take it easy on me?” I tried and I heard Brock laugh lightly.

“Not a chance,” he replied good naturedly. Then he reached down to his platform and this was the moment. “Go, Geodude!” Brock called out, and no matter how many times they saw it before, the crowd went absolutely wild.

I breathed in. I breathed out. Reaching to my belt, I grabbed a pokeball and enlarged it. “I choose you, Phantump!” I yelled out, throwing the pokeball to reveal Phantump who seemed pumped to finally be let loose. The crowd yelled in excitement, and they drowned out whatever the announcer was saying. Between them, and my heart thundering in my ears, I could tune him out for the most part.

The referee began the match and I wasted no time.

“Phantump! Tackle!” I shouted and Phantump rushed forward to meet Geodude.

“Meet him halfway! Tackle!” Brock called out, and already that put me off a little bit. For first badge trainers, he normally lets us come to him. Well, that didn’t matter. It worked in my favor.

Waiting until the last second, I shouted out, “Confuse Ray!” Phantump responded instantly, a beam of red light erupting from his eyes that struck Geodude in the forehead. Instantly, I saw a dazed look enter the Geodude’s eyes. “Finish the Tackle!” I instructed, and now in a dazed state, despite being made of rock, Geodude took the worst of the attack. “Follow it up with a Leech Seed!”

“Dodge, Geodude!” Brock called out, and I was starting to think he wasn’t as thankful for his dad returning has he had let on. Geodude picked himself up, breaking out of the daze, but it wasn’t fast enough to dodge the Leech Seed that struck him. It burrowed into the rock, vines erupting from the seed as a flower bloomed.

“Take the energy and funnel it into Growth!” I ordered and Phantump did exactly that. The signs of growth were mostly subtle -- his bark head grew a shade darker, with the biggest sign being more leaf sprouts appearing on his horns. “Razor Leaf!” I called out, the moment the extra leaf sprouts appeared. Phantump did as bid, the leaves on his horns flying off at Geodude, cutting into it.

As far as Razor Leaf went, it was kinda terrible. And not solely due the fact that our target was made of rock. It was a move that we experimented a bit with, but he hadn’t even step foot on the path to mastery yet. It did, however, force Geodude on the defensive. “Tackle!” I called out, and through the haze of leaves, Phantump once again clashed with the Geodude.

This time, the pokemon was knocked unconscious. I let out a slow breath, realizing that my heart was still absolutely pounding.

“Return, Geodude! Not bad,” Brock remarked to me through the speakers. “But, how about this? Onix!”

Too early.

I swallowed a lump in my throat, idly realizing that Onix didn’t look any smaller this close. A chain of boulders -- it had to weigh at least a thousand pounds. Probably more. Probably a lot more. I fully expected its presence, but even still, I felt intimidated by it. That, I suspected, was the point.

Phantump was made of sterner stuff, it would seem. “Phantump! Phantump phantump phan,” Phantump said, talking truly outrageous amounts of shit. I saw Onix’s eyes narrow while I sputtered. Where did my Phantump pick up that kind of language? I wasn’t given any time to think about it because Brock wasn’t content to give me any.

“Rock Throw!” Brock called out, and in response, Onix’s tail lashed out, smashing up boulders and sending a good half dozen right at Phantump.

“Take cover!” I ordered, grabbing onto the platform railing as huge clouds of dust were kicked up. I couldn’t see a thing, but somehow, I knew that Phantump was okay. He was fine. It was earlier than I planned, and I was a lot less confident about the plan than I had been minutes before, but we did have a game plan. “Leech Seed! Target the joints!” I ordered and, in response, small seeds erupted from the cloud of dust.

“Rock Polish!” Brock countered, and what happened to taking it easy on newbies? In response, as the seeds made their way to it, Onix’s stone body gained a sudden gleam. “Dodge!” He followed it up with, and for something that big, it had no right being that fast, I decided.

The dodge came a moment too late to dodge all of the seeds, making only one strike home, even if it wasn’t at a join like I wanted. The veins sprouted, the flower bloomed- “Growth!” I called out, not entirely sure if it would do something or not. In the game, it made the numbers go up, even if it had diminishing returns.

“Onix, Bulldoze!” Brock countered.

“Fly up!” I shot back as Onix came rushing forward like a speeding train, tearing up the ground and shattering boulders like they weren’t even there. Phantump flew up into the air, sailing over the attack. “Leech Seed!” I ordered, and Phantump sent forth another volley of rapid fire seeds that struck Onix, the vines and flowers appearing. “One last Growth!”

The wood of his stump head darkened further and the leaves appeared once more. Onix seemed like he had plenty of energy to spare because he lashed out at Phantump, only for me to raise up my pokeball. “Return, Phantump!” He just didn’t have the power needed to take out Onix, but he had paved the way to our victory.

“BLAIR HAS DECIDED TO SWAP OUT HIS POKEMON, JUST WHEN THINGS WERE LOOKING THEIR FIERCEST! WHAT POKEMON DOES HE HAVE UP HIS SLEEVE THAT COULD FOLLOW SUCH A STRONG PERFORMANCE?” Oh. I almost forgot about the announcer.

I answered by throwing out my other pokeball, “Go, Mimikyu!” I called out and Mimikyu appeared in the settling dust before Onix.

“WHAT’S THAT POKEMON?!” The announcer shouted, echoing the sentiments of the crowd and, despite my nerves, I smiled.

“The world wants to know who you are, Mimikyu! How about we show them?” I prompted and Mimikyu seemed ready. I could see that Brock was uncertain, his expression one of concentration, and I capitalized on his hesitation. “Mimikyu! Shadow Sneak, rapid fire!” I called out and like a bullet, his shadow shot out to connect to Onix’s, not that it was difficult. The multilights and the size of Onix worked in our favor there.

Mimikyu vanished, appearing behind Onix and wound himself up for a Wood Hammer. His tail struck stone with surprising force, but hardly a finishing blow. I didn’t expect it to be. Instead, Mimikyu followed it up with another Shadow Sneak, appearing elsewhere to deliver another blow. And another. And another. And another. Five of them within the span of three seconds.

“Onix! Harden!” Brock ordered, and instantly, the blows did less damage. “Bind!” He added, making Onix lash out with its tail. I had hoped that it would have been locked down. It’s why I had been aiming for his joints. Mimikyu dodged the attack easily enough, but I saw that his Wood Hammer Attacks weren’t doing much.

“Force Palm!” I ordered as Mimikyu vanished again, appearing by Onix’s head as shadows gathered into the shape of a palm the size of me. The shadow lashed out, striking Onix in the face with enough force that his head jerked back, but even weakened, it still remained standing. Did I not weaken it enough?

“Screech!” Brock called out and that move caught me flatfooted, I realized, suddenly realizing I didn’t know what order to give. Cover your ears? I didn’t know if Mimikyu even had ears. And that moment of slight hesitation cost me as Onix unleashed an awful, ear-splitting, nails-on-chalkboard sound that made me wince. “Brutal Swing!” What the fuck?

“Shadow Sneak!” I ordered, but Mimikyu couldn’t hear me. My guts twisted into knots as Onix’s tail smacked into Mimikyu, sending him flying and crashing into the ground. I understood that pokemon were stronger than anything was in my old world. People took a hundred million volts of electricity for a gag. As much as I might know it, my mind lurched to the worst possible scenario.

Mimikyu was dead.

I was quickly reassured that wasn’t the case when the dust cloud faded away, revealing Mimikyu was standing. Only his head rolled to the side and there was a nasty tear in his costume that was leaking black smoke. I felt it then. Everyone did, I think. That deep uneasy feeling of knowing that something terrible was about to happen.

Only that terrible thing had a name.

“M̴̪̫̱̬̺̠̹̹̃̉̎̇̕ì̸̡̢̛͎̗̖͒̄̉̕̕͝m̷̨̯͖̭̭̳̤̈́ǐ̶̪͈̭̌́͛k̸̯̚y̶̥͉͑u̵̡̺̓̍̅̽͜!”