Chapter 191

Chapter 191

CHAPTER 191

"See? She likes you!"

Pauline stared at Emilia's Fennekin with a grimace. The small fire type's ears twitched as she rubbed up on her leg. Her fur was deceptively hot, but it was still a comfortable warmth. Fennekin was what could be considered cute, but Pauline didn't see the appeal in owning such a Pokemon. Where was the fierceness? That twinkle in her eye that was enough to understand that crossing her once would have dire consequences? Maybe it was because Fennekin was still a baby. She raised an eyebrow and turned toward Emilia.

"Yeah, she does."

"You're the first one she's approached willingly so far. She can't stand the others to the point of running away from them if they try to touch her. Although I guess she hasn't hung out with Grace or Cece yet."

Fennekin let out a high-pitched bark and strutted toward Lycanroc, who began to lick her forehead.

"Isn't it time for you to get to your first flying lesson, by the way? You don't want to be late," Emilia said.

Pauline grabbed her Poketch and her eyes widened. She had five minutes to arrive! Where had the time gone?

"Fuck. I'll see you later babe. You can show me more of those contest videos," Pauline said as she grabbed her backpack. "Don't get too bored while I'm gone!"

"I'll live. I'll probably go see Denzel to ask him about the Game Corner. He went last night with Mira."

Denzel's name made Pauline freeze for a split second, but Emilia didn't notice it, having already turned toward Fennekin and Lycanroc. All this time, she'd tried to bury the fact that she was in love with two people, and it had been easy when she'd only been with one of them at a time. Her mother had told her to try. To say something— anything, instead of just hoping for it to go away, but how to even begin? Sitting down with them was a good start, but what if the right way to approach this was to talk with one of them at a time? What if they thought her to be a freak? What if it unraveled all of their relationships?

"What's wrong? You look nervous."

Pauline's fingers quivered when Emilia cupped her cheek. It wasn't like her to be like this.

"Emi. What do you think about Denzel?" She asked, her jaw tight.

"What do you mean? I think he's a great friend. One of my best. Why?"

I love him. And you. And it's fucking killing me inside.

"No reason," she smirked. "See you later!"

"You know that you saying 'no reason' like that just makes me sus—"

Pauline closed the door and ran down the Pokemon Center stairs. It wasn't fair to either of them to treat them like this. Stringing Emilia along while she didn't know that Pauline looked at someone else the same way she looked at her. And then, to completely freak out at Denzel every time he befriended another girl...

It was different with him. Pauline was already dating Emilia, and she didn't care about her getting close to others. Her coordinator friend Vincent had been proof enough, even if she still didn't trust him completely. But with Denzel? He was single. Free to date anyone he wanted, and that meant that she could potentially lose him. Just thinking about it angered her, and that anger was a great help to cover up the feeling of distress that Pauline felt whenever she heard him talk about messaging some of his fans online— and it was almost always a girl.

Flight School was twenty minutes by foot from the Pokemon Center, so getting there in time would be impossible. She could have broken the law and flown on Charizard like she'd done plenty of times already to practice, but they'd never give her a license if they caught her. She bumped into an older-looking trainer as she ran across the street and felt his hand on her shoulder. She tried to yank it away, but he wasn't budging."

"Hey. You bumped into me, shouldn't you apologi—"

"I'm not in the mood for your fuckery. I have somewhere to be," she snapped.

"Just a simple apology—"

"I'm sorry you're so unaware of where you're going that you'd bump into me. Maybe get your eyes fixed," she said.

He scoffed but let go of her. "You need help. You're fucking crazy."

"It's people like you that make me crazy."

She gave him the finger and kept running, shaking her head to dispel the doubt that crept up inside of her. She'd been a bitch just now for no reason, hadn't she? Taking her anger out on the world when she was too scared to have a conversation with someone, and for what? Pauline could have apologized. It wasn't like she was ever going to see him again anyway, so why? Why was she so angry all the time?

Pauline had grown. She had gotten better at being nice to people compared to how she'd been in the past, but she knew damn well she didn't behave normally. She wanted to keep her edge, she thought. To trust no one and to keep her tongue sharp like her mother had taught her to be. Yet, there was another reason. The stress of her damn complicated relationship was piling up, and Pauline knew that it was all going to burst out eventually.

She had to speak to them both, and soon.

"Fucking finally. Damn Flight School," she huffed.

When Pauline had come here yesterday to sign up, there had been no huge yard to give students and teachers space to practice flying as she'd expected. Instead, it was just another nondescript building made out of bricks and concrete like the other thousand that littered Veilstone. Pauline wasn't much of an architect, but by the Legendaries, this city just looked boring. As it turned out, there were classes that she had to attend before practical lessons started. Five of them, where they'd go over the rules of flying and Sinnoh's different laws. When she turned the corner, someone she knew did the same thing. They both looked at each other with a deep frown, and Pauline felt a surge of displeasure by just being near him.

"Chase fucking Karlson," she said. "What are you doing here? Do you even have a flying Pokemon?"

"To get my license, why do you think?" he deadpanned. "Why are you here so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Yeah, I probably wouldn't care anyway," he shrugged as he entered the building.

He didn't hold the door for her and it almost closed on her face. Well, luckily he'd be in another class. Thousands of trainers learned to fly every year, and they had to be divided into different classes to keep up with the demand. Pauline's smug smile slowly disappeared as they both climbed up the same stairs, turned down the same hallway and reached the same classroom.

"What the hell?" Chase muttered. "Did you follow me here? First Mira, now you—"

"The world doesn't revolve around you, so check that ego. It's an unfortunate coincidence, that's all."

"Don't sit near me."

"I won't. Why would you even think I'd sit near you?" She sighed exasperatedly. "We might have friends in common, but we're just acquaintances."

"Acquaintances? I sure as hell am not acquainted with you—"

"Just open the damn door, dipshit!" She fumed.

Chase and Pauline entered the classroom, and twenty heads turned to them, including the teacher, who was tasked with getting them to know everything about the rules of flying before the official government-mandated written exam. Only after passing that would they be allowed to actually fly, which meant she had completely misunderstood what the teacher with the Charizard had said when they had spoken. An image was being projected onto the whiteboard labeled 'CITIES: DO'S AND DON'T'S'

"Ah, our two final attendees have deigned to show up. Pauline King and Chase Karlson, I presume?" She said. "Sit."

They both groaned when they saw that only two seats were free.

Not only were they next to each other, they would also have to share a table.

Chase glared at her, and she glared back. Was this piece of shit blaming her for this? Another word from the professor, this time more stringent, made them shuffle to their seats in defeat. She stared at them for another few seconds and scoffed when she saw that neither of them was taking out anything to take notes with. Chase leaned back against his chair and placed his feet on the table while Pauline dragged her seat further away. The professor muttered something under her breath and continued.

"So, as I was saying, you aren't allowed to land outside cities' designated zones unless you are a member of the League, otherwise you will disrupt pedestrian and vehicular traffic. These zones are easy to see up in the sky, but they look like this—" She said, tapping the picture on her whiteboard. It looked like a Helipad, but with a Pokeball instead of an H. Pauline had seen a few in her life. "You can also land outside of city limits and go through the gate, and some Pokemon are not allowed to land inside of cities, even on the zones designated for landing. We'll get into the list at a later date. You must also maintain an altitude of at least one hundred feet at all times unless you plan to land, but you should preferably go higher."

She clicked on a small remote and switched images.

"Now, regarding speed limit, out in the wild, you can go as quick as your body allows, which tends to be around 53 meters per second or 120 miles an hour. Faster than that, and you go faster than terminal velocity. You start to feel pain and discomfort because air resistance pushes back and turbulence starts to really be felt. Go fast enough, and you will sustain permanent or lethal injury by potentially falling if you don't use a saddle. Even if you do, going faster is unwise. Of course, people have been known to push past that limit for extended periods of time. Champion Cynthia and her Garchomp is just one example, but you aren't professional fliers with decades of experience, you are children with bodies that are still growing. Do I make myself clear?"

Grumbles ran through the classroom, and she continued.

"In cities, there is an actual legal limit which is 30 miles per hour. Unlike in the wild, you cannot go over that speed no matter how experienced you are— unless again, you are a member of the League. Cities have a much higher density of fliers and going too fast makes collisions much more likely. I know these numbers can seem confusing, but you'll get a feel of what that feels like during practical lessons. For now, just write them down and commit them to memory. And if your Pokemon are skilled enough to dodge suddenly with tight maneuvers, the forces applied to your body will not feel pleasant and can potentially make you black out. For those of you who plan to ride without a saddle, that means falling to your death. Do not think that it can't happen to you, because I've seen it."

She paused and switched slides again.

"Now that we've gone over all of the rules—"

"Sand Tomb in front—"

The ground in front of the dragon type liquified, forming a Sand Tomb that stretched across the arena like a fissure, but Arcanine easily jumped to the side. The battle was going too fast for him to track, and Arcanine quickly rammed into Gabite, his entire body swarming with pink dust. The ground type bellowed, but he did not go down. He dug his two claws into Arcanine's flesh, digging at his shoulders with a powerful Dragon Claw.

"Bulldoze!" Louis screamed.

"Crunch."

Darkness spewed from the fire type's open mouth as he bit into Gabites neck, shaking his head and tearing some of his scales away. The floor under his feet shook and crumbled, opening a small chasm that the two Pokemon fell into. Gabite quickly recovered, angling himself forward and slamming head-first into Arcanine's hide, but the fire type did not stand still. He pawed and bit at him with Crunch and Play Rough with snarls that Louis had never heard.

"Now, Sand Tomb! Bury him!"

"Flame Wheel."

The floor turned to mud, but Flames engulfed his body, still shining with an incredibly vibrant blue and burning Gabite's scales and solidifying the mud before he could sink further. Still, they were at an advantage. His feet were stuck in solid ground, and Gabite kept tearing away at Arcanine's flesh. His claws raked against his already-bloodied skin, tearing chunks of flesh, but the blood boiled and flames cauterized the wounds as soon as they'd formed. Things weren't as easy as Louis had hoped, but they had the upper hand—

"Reversal."

Gabite's eyes bulged as Arcanine slammed into him with unbelievable force. He flew out of the small hole and rolled onto the floor like a ragdoll.

He didn't get up.

Louis swallowed as he recalled his Gabite and sent out his Prinplup, who honked in pain from the Toxic Spikes that stabbed into his skin and began spreading their poison. Both he and Arcanine had been friends, once. They were each other's first Pokemon and embodied loyalty to their trainers. Louis had shared many conversations with Justin while they were out and about. Arcanine no longer shared that warmth, and Louis' eyes teared up as he looked at Justin. It was only now that it sunk in that they were no longer friends. He gripped at his shirt and felt a stabbing pain in his heart.

It hurt.

"Water Pulse!" He snarled.

"Dodge with Agility and Reversal again."

The fire type blurred, albeit slower than before and easily avoided the ring of water. Louis' eyes narrowed as he attempted to track Arcanine, but he had no time to think. He could only react to what was happening.

"Whirpool!"

Prinplup honked, and gallons of water shot out of his small beak, swirling until it coalesced into a vortex. Arcanine stopped in his tracks, but Louis wasn't done.

"Freeze it!"

A thin ray of ice washed over the Whirpool, freezing the entire structure in a moment. It fell onto Arcanine, and it was heavy. Prinplup spat out a small Water Gun forward, then slid on his belly using the slick ground to go faster than he could run. He angled his head to the left and sent a final Water Pulse flying at Arcanine, finally fainting the beast.

Justin recalled him before he could even fall, his face still expressionless and sent out his Audino. The normal type did not twirl as he used to, nor did he smile. He only stared, ready to do what needed to be done.

"Simple Beam."

Louis clicked his tongue as an almost transparent beam washed over Prinplup's body. It appeared harmless, but now, he couldn't rely on Torrent as he had hoped to. Louis waited for Justin to do something, but his old friend simply waited, and after all, why not? The poison was running its course. Prinplup had to act, not Audino.

"Ice Beam!" Louis yelled.

"Light Screen."

Audino's eyes shone pink, and a thin barrier appeared around him. The ice made it through the Light Screen, but only after being severely weakened and barely hurting Audino.

"Make a path and Drill Peck!" Louis ordered with a sweep of his arm.

Again, Prinplup wetted the ground before him and slid, continuously providing himself with wet ground by keeping the Water Gun going. His beak slowly elongated and shone with a bright white, then he stood up and jumped as high as he could, twisting his body into a vicious spin.

"Reflect."

Prinplup slammed into the hastily erupted barrier, spinning and spinning until it cracked, but Justin did not stand idle.

"Mega Punch."

Audino's entire arm bulged, shining as bright as Prinplup's Drill Peck, and the moment Prinplup broke through the Reflect, he struck the water type's cheek right as he stabbed into his chest. Audino slid onto the wet floor while Prinplup flew backwards, landing on top of more Toxic Spikes. He struggled to get up, but Audino finished him off with a loud Disarming Voice that brought a harrowing feeling into Louis' heart.

"You did well."

He bit his lip and recalled Prinplup right as Justin ordered a Life Dew. The water Prinplup had sprayed onto the arena spun and coated Audino's skin, healing his wounds. As Louis sent out his Pawniard, Justin immediately recalled Audino and sent out his Krokorok. Louis felt terrible for the ground type. He looked the most affected of them all. After all, he had been the one to bury Justin underground during the Darkest Day. Louis didn't have many options. Both Vulpix and Pawniard wouldn't do well here, but he couldn't lose hope. What he did know was that Krokorok would bury and that Pawniard had no way to counter that, so he used his last swap of the battle and sent out Vulpix. The Toxic Spikes again poisoned her. Was there truly no easy way to counter them? A strange light began to bear down into the arena like a second sun, letting him know that Drought had been activated.

He'd waited to use his Fire Stone, but Justin had not.

They had a single opening, and he needed to make it count.

"Confuse Ray!"

A strange, otherworldly bulb of light appeared above Vulpix's forehead. It galivanted around the arena as if it had a mind of its own, but Vulpix focused and the Confuse Ray listened. It stopped zigzagging and began beelining for Krokorok.

"Dig and finish her off," Justin said.

The dark type didn't even move. He simply sunk into the floor with his arms crossed, and the Confuse Ray had been too slow. Their first opening was out, but there was still a way to force the ground type out. Vulpix had learned more fire moves, but what they had focused on was manipulating the flames themselves, tapping into the Vulpix's line talent for elemental control.

"Burn the ground as hot as you can!" Louis yelled.

Fire emerged from every inch of Vulpix's body and washed over the ground, warping the air around Vulpix. So long as they didn't let Krokorok get close, then he would be forced to surface to actually hit them with their usual Sand Tomb—

Louis' face fell when the ground under Vulpix fractured and shook. No, it was more than the ground under Vulpix. The entire arena was shaking, and it threatened to collapse onto itself. This was too powerful to be Bulldoze. This was Earthquake.

There was nothing they could do. Krokorok's range had apparently improved and he was nowhere to be found, even when Vulpix had worked so hard to make staying underground untenable. The fire type fainted when the attack finished, and Louis dejectedly sent out Pawniard, who was subject to the same fate. There was no secret trick, no evolution to save him.

He'd lost, and it hadn't even been close.

"Disappointing," Justin said. "But I'm still nowhere good enough for Victory Road."

That was it. That was the extent of his words.

"Wait, I battled you, so please stick around—"

"No, you didn't give me what I needed," he said, not even bothering to look at him. "I thought someone I used to consider a rival would be better than this. Perhaps Pauline would be a better match..."

Louis ran in an attempt to catch him but lost Justin in the crowded street. Just like that, he was gone.

What in the world had just happened?

He felt Maeve's hand on his shoulder.

"You should call the others. At least— at least you know he's physically fine," she said, trying to offer him sympathy. "Do you want to go back to the Center? Get your Pokemon healed up and rest?"

Louis dried his eyes with his forearm and took a shallow, shaky breath.

"Yeah," he nodded.