"Electabuzz! Thundershock!" My opponent screamed, but it was too late for that. Gyarados had been sweeping the girls team, and now her last Pokemon was desperately sending out blasts of electricity into the clouds.
The lightning hit the clouds above, and just splattered into them. To my delight, rain clouds were pretty good shields against electricity based attacks. I’m sure if the Electabuzz was stronger, like Ash’s Pikachu, my Blue Heart would be in more trouble, but that wasn’t the case.
But it was time to end this once and for all!
I laughed and raised my fists to the sky, to get my Blue Hearts attention.
"Your power is burning hot! Now! Grasp Victory!" I roared, and I couldn’t help but break into cackles as the clouds above suddenly shifted,darkness lit up only from the faint sunlight still soaking through, suddenly brightening.
The crowd went silent, as a line of power ran through the clouds rapidly, my Blue Hearts long body gathering power, and then he stuck his head down, his eyes already glowing white with his burning hot strength!
That’s right Blue Heart! You’re a shounen character! Let it roar!
"Hyper Beam!" I called in time with the release of the orb of power in his mouth, the light burning through the darkness, the clouds unable to hide this light that was more powerful than the sun!
And Electabuzz tried. He raised his fists, and Miranda called out. "Thunder Punch!" And crackling energy gathered and he thrust as the beam came down on him, but it was like punching a waterfall.
Heh.
The Ice he was standing on was shattered and Electabuzz disappeared.
That was the match. I stayed on guard, but there was no way that pokemon was going to get back up for another round.
"A-and that is Miranda Uchimaki’s last pokemon Electabuzz out!" The announcer called out, as Electabuzz appeared floating face up unconscious in the water.
A moment later he was returned, and then it was over.
"The Winner is Victoria Ferrous!"
I noticed rapidly that the crowd wasn’t cheering me on, instead their eyes were still all high as Gyarados had disappeared into the clouds.
Aww. He was being shy because he was tired after Hyper Beam.
I took a step back, and then ran forward, leaping over the edge of the trainer podium, landing with a plop in the soaked grass as I stepped forward until I hit the edge of the pool.
And then I looked up and spread my arms.
And the roar that echoed over the stadium was heard as Gyarados, didn’t just poke his head out of the clouds, but came charging out at full speed, banishing the clouds that he had hidden within.
"Hugs!" I called out loudly, and that was everything he needed.
A moment later he smashed into the icy pool, a plume of water and ice rushing out, soaking me completely as it washed over me.
It would have pulled me right off my feet if not for the face that suddenly was in front of me that I grabbed onto.
And then the water rushed away leaving me leaning into Blue Heart’s face. For a moment it was just us.
"You were amazing." I told him, and he rumbled deep in his throat, a quiet purr that only I ever got to hear. The noise of heavy splashes echoed around, as his tail swished back and forth and smashed into the pool in happiness.
It was just the two of us. Happiness curled around us both.
I looked away from him to see the crowd, as cheers had started, sporadic as they were, as people were still obviously freaking out at my breaking of their entire worldview.
So... Did I deal with that, or run away?
"Let’s Fly!" I called out instantly as the decision took exactly a millisecond to decide on, and I leapt up onto Blue Hearts horn stabilizing myself as I spun and flared my very damp cape behind me, as suddenly there was a surge below and Blue Heart rocketed up into the sky once more.
Yeah, this was the best choice. Let everyone calm down and not answer dozens of questions or something, instead just a peaceful flight slowly circling above the arena’s.
Any issues this might cause were future Vicky’s problem.
—--
"Dammit past Vicky." I grumbled, I hadn’t even sat down in front of the pokemon center when I was attacked.
"Victoria Ferrous!" Fudge, that’s the cops. Gyarados didn’t curve off and take us on a life of crime, instead settling down with a rumble, and I jumped off to stare up at Papa’s stern face.
"I didn’t do it! You can’t prove it in a court of law! I demand my lawyer!"
"Denied." Mama said from behind Papa, and I noticed she was very specifically hiding away. I felt my amusement sour a bit, and I turned.
"Good job my Blue Heart. Take a rest okay?" I asked and he rumbled and bent down to rub me with his face as he disappeared.
"Vicky... You look cold."
"I’m freezing!" I agreed. Getting soaked and then going on a Flying Gyarados ride, hadn’t exactly left me warm this mountain was freezing!
"C’mon lets get you inside and warmed up, a lot of people want to talk to you." Papa demanded, and dragged me into the pokemon center.
After a few minutes of letting me get changed into something warm, I was dragged out of the pokemon center and into a car.
"What’s going on?"
"The entire league is freaking out Trouble." Papa said, and he gave me a look. "Someone revealed that Gyarados can fly in front of the entire region. People aren’t reacting well."
I didn’t have any words to share. People would get used to it, most Gyarados probably couldn’t fly. And I wasn’t going to hide my friend just because people wanted. So what were we even doing here?
But instead I remained silent as we drove up to the league office building. The same place I had been registered before.
"Oh, Vicky." Papa said, seemingly remembering something, I looked up to meet his warm eyes. "I’m proud of you. For winning. Good job." He said, it came out a bit awkwardly, as he must have realized that he had rushed to the problem at hand, without it.
I threw him a bright smile and a thumbs up.
"I’m the best after all!"
"Trouble." Mama said, with a wink and a warm sidehug. So that was nice.
—--
"Man past Vicky really screwed me over here."
"Ugh don’t remind me." Richard groaned, thankful he wasn’t part of the Rangers. That was going to be a mess. Every time some trainer ran through the conference with a powerful Gyarados, there was a rash of Gyarados attacks the next year. Either captured Magikarp evolving and going wild, or the young trainers going into Gyarados territory to try and capture a Magikarp, or the Gyarados themselves.
"I think that perhaps young Victoria has the start of something interesting. Change Gentlemen I find over my years usually comes at the end of a Pokemon Battle, when a young trainer breaks what we all thought of as possible." Goodshow added with a smile. "And there can be no doubt, that has happened today."
—--
"That’s the Gyarados girl!"
"The one that flew?"
"Whoa, do you think she’d tell us how to get it to fly?"
"Don’t be stupid that’s a family secret, and I don’t want more flying Gyarados!"
I ignored the comments as we walked through the conference town. I was getting plenty of attention, but honestly I was more interested in my family.
Papa, and Uncle Leo were very pointedly not speaking to each other, but both were speaking despite that.
"You should be more careful about handing out information like that." Uncle Leo was arguing.
"Leave her alone Leo." Gram Gram cut in. "The girl’s got a sixth sense for this sort of thing. Flying Gyarados huh?" She asked, and I blinked at the question.
"Yeah? I mean, Gyarados is a flying type! And look at Milotic, he can sort of hover, but I’ve never seen a Gyarados do that, so I figured you just needed to teach them to fly, they’re a flying type, and flying types can fly. I mean, that’s like common sense."
"Common sense. Pfeh!" Gram Gram scoffed and then cackled. "Granddaughter, I think your sense is anything but common!" She continued to cackle but I wasn’t laughing with her.
Yeah. I know. There were way too many times I’ve run into people that just don’t treat pokemon right.
It was times like this that made me really miss Oak. It would be so much easier, if I didn’t feel sort of guilty for knowing so much stuff that no one else knew.
I guess... I guess I wasn’t being the trainer that Oak thought I was, I was a Pokdex Holder after all. How many times had Oak handed me a Pokedex and a pokemon and sent me out into the World of Pokemon?
Well in the games anyways, but it still counts!
We stopped to get food, but everyone must have noticed I was being introspective as the chatter mostly went around me.
I had tinkered with my pokedex, I still had it in my bag. Something I doodled on every once in a while when I couldn’t sleep in my tent.
But it’s not like I could just throw it at someone and expect it to work, the problem was it was hard to verify knowledge, I needed a way to spread it without actually caring about going through researchers. Cause those guys were all about the scientific method, but they lived in a world with magic.
Hmm.
I looked away from the table at the people that were peeking at me. I had made a bit of a scene after all.
I guess Oak had used his battling prowess to get his research taken seriously, but I wasn’t... I couldn’t do what Oak did. I’d have to come up with my own way.
—--
"Wooo! Go Ivy!" I cheered from the stands as Ivy battled.
Venusaur had been her first pick, and the battle started. The opponents Rapidash, a solid choice, but even as it charged forward in a Flame Wheel, it slammed into Venusaur who simply poofed into a Pokedoll that then vanished.
"What?" The opponent asked in shock as the massive Venusaur disappeared! But then as the smoke cleared there she was, Venusaur’s flower was pointed and instantly a burst of pollen exploded out.
"Ah she got him!" I called out as Rapidash suddenly whinnied and then flopped.
Well that meant Ivy likely won this.
Ivy didn’t call out anything, but I could see Venusaur suddenly start using moves.
First the sky above suddenly got bright, and I could practically see the streamers of sunlight raining down.
Sunny Day? Against a Fire Type was risky, but I had faith!
Then Venusaur Shifted and a purple glob of gunk shot out and splattered across Rapidash.
Toxic huh? Nasty Ivy. Really nasty.
"Rapidash! Wake up!"
I nodded, that was likely to work, it had been long enough, and suddenly it did. Rapidash jumped to its feet looking pissed as it started burning bright with fire probably to protect itself.
"Flare Blitz!" The opponent called out, and I felt my eyes widen as the Rapidash burst into a practically straight line of fire as it raced right at Venusaur.
To my surprise Ivy didn’t need to say anything. A moment later the Rapidash slammed into a solid wall and I couldn’t help but nod.
"And Venusaur uses Protect! Completely Negating the attack!" The announcer called out, and I smirked as the grass terrain was looking pretty rough from that attack, but Venusaur stared down the firetype without concern. "Ivy Vinewoods Venusaur is a tough customer!"
Rapidash was in a bad spot, and Ivy capitalized.
"Bulldoze!" She called out, and Rapidash tried to leap away, but the ground attack was timed correctly.
And the Rapidash stumbled, obviously twisting its ankle a bit as it was slammed by the moving ground.
That was the first match in Ivy’s favor.
Rapidash tried to regain some control, but only managed some minor damage on Venusaur, which was healed away.
And as Rapidash pulled away. I noticed Ivy being sneaky.
Venusaur kept fading away with Substitute. Between it’s healing and Venusaur’s move pool which was super broad. She tore into her enemy.
Eventually Venusaur went down to a surprise Flamethrower by a Nidorina, and was swapped out with Tauros, to remove the type weakness.
Watching that poor Nidorina fly into the sky from a very familiar move. That was a Mrs. Kurosawa variant on Giga Impact, and Seismic Toss the match was over.
"Woooo!" I cheered and Ivy turned to the crowd that was cheering her on, despite this being her second match she seemed flustered and waved.
Heh. Ivy might not have been as flashy as I was, but the Vinewoods were pretty famous, and the Announcer had introduced her as one of the Vinewood Bulbasaur breeders.
Quite a few people in this crowd probably had, or knew someone that had a Bulbasaur coming from Ivy’s family.
But this wasn’t a moment where Ivy was recognized because of her family, it was a moment where her family was recognized because of Ivy!