Cici laughed. "Well, I won't be up to singing for a while, or playing for any length of time, so no gigs for now. I'm just going to book my room." In a few days, though, once her sore throat and bruised hands had recovered, she planned to check out possible gig venues around Tefan. "Ok, see you!"
With that, she went to receive a set of keys from the desk and get her room set up. Once inside the cosy room, she took a few minutes to rest. She used her Pokedex to answer an email from her parents about how her journey was going, leaving out certain details - namely, the Feyhollow incident. She wasn't going to get her family unnecessarily worried.
Pulling on a jacket and leaving, she squinted through the dim light for Tommy. She didn't have to search for long - there he was, outside the Pokemart, playing with a new companion. An Eevee.
"Already?" she chuckled, glancing from him to his new Pokemon with a smile.
Ella took a deep breath of the salty sea air. "Ok, four on four sounds good," she said. "Jumbles, do you want to go first?" Bobbing as if nodding, Jumbles floated forward to face Tyrus.
Even as a beginner trainer, Ella knew it would normally be a bad idea to pit a Psychic type against a Ghost type, but the Inkay's additional Dark typing could help him out here. The Malamar had proven that earlier, against Brighteye.
Standing in silence for a few moments, the pink-haired girl faced her opponent. "Let's begin this," she finally said.
Pulling out her Pokedex, Leisy scanned Ella’s Inkay. Psychic-Dark type — Ghost-types are strong against Psychic but weak to Dark. Tyrus will be at a disadvantage, Leisy surmised to herself, frowning. The best thing to do would be to withdraw her Gastly and switch Pokemon, but this was a training match and not a life-or-death situation. Still, Leisy didn’t know what the future held, and it may very well hold this exact life-or-death situation like it had before with the Malamar. We’ll fight until the end, Leisy thought, looking at Tyrus for confirmation. The Gastly nodded, grin growing wider as it drifted forward towards his white-on-blue opponent.
“Alright, Tyrus. Let’s start this with a Mean Look and follow with a Lick after you’ve got the Inkay pinned!” Leisy shouted. Turning its eyes on the opposing Pokemon, Tyrus grinned and gaped its jaw, stretching its glowing red eyes wide as it suddenly darted towards the Inkay tongue first [Ghost, 3CP — Lick].
Ella tensed as she watched, but Jumbles shook off the attack quickly, seeming to have taken little damage.
"Jumbles, fight back with Psybeam!" the trainer called. The Inkay's glowing spots brightened, and he shot forth a beam of multicoloured light that slammed into the Gastly.
Such an attack would be effective against a Pokemon whose secondary typing was Poison... wouldn't it?
Tyrus took the blow like a Ghost-type would — with a shudder and a grin right after, although strained. “Tyrus!” Leisy shouted, realizing that her Pokemon was in fact weak to Psychic-type attacks. And Dark-types, Leisy thought with a cringe. The situation really did seem impossible, but Leisy reminded herself again that this was but a training bout. We can get through this, she thought, looking to her Gastly. But to win — we’ll try something else
“Tyrus, Spite and then Curse,” Leisy shouted [2 CP, Ghost; Status]. The Gastly immediately turned to the Inkay, eyes glowing before it fainted. Returning her Pokemon, Leisy cradled the Pokeball for a moment, wondering whether she’d pushed too hard before throwing out another Pokeball. “Alright, Naunet. Let’s start with a quick Whirlpool.” [10 CP]
The Piplup leapt into action, spitting out a stream of water that immediately wrapped around the opposing Inkay to form a whirling vortex
Although held fast, Jumbles struggled against the whirlpool. He wasn't giving up just yet.
"Hang in there and use Payback!" Ella called. Spreading his tendrils wide, the Inkay fired a beam of dark energy at the Piplup. (10CP)
"Good job!" Ella's expression suddenly turned to one of shock. "Ah!" With a strained squeal, Jumbles dropped to the ground, no longer able to fight. The curse and the whirlpool had sapped what was left of his strength. (2CP)
Chewing at her lip, the trainer summoned her newest Pokemon back. Should she really have accepted Leisy's challenge so quickly, considering what Jumbles had just been through?
"Treasure!" she said, sending out the Trubbish. "Your turn now!"
“You can do it, Naunet!” Leisy cheered as her Piplup held her ground despite the onslaught of dark energy from the opposing Pokemon’s Payback. The Dark-type attack seemed stronger than normal — because its power doubles if the user took damage earlier that turn, Leisy realized. The attack sent the Piplup flying back a short distance, alarming Leisy, but she relaxed slightly when she saw the penguin Pokemon land on her feet.
“Good job, Naunet!” Leisy shouted when Ella returned her Inkay. The Psychic-Dark type had grown strong quickly, easily taking down Leisy’s Gastly. However, she was glad to see that her Piplup — and, by extension, Fletchling — were still stronger. At least this proves that I’m not a total slacker of a trainer, Leisy thought as Ella threw out her Trubbish. The green Poison-type looked a little worried, making Leisy hesitate briefly, but she figured that holding back during a training match would be hurting both sides more than helping them.
“Naunet, let’s start it off with a Brine!” Leisy called to her Pokemon. The Piplup nodded before launching a jet of water at the Trubbish.
Ella hesitated, gripping the Pokeball, considering returning the worried-looking Trubbish. She winced as she watched Treasure take the Water-type attack. Instead of shying away, though, Treasure righted herself, that layer of timidity falling away to show her inner determination.
"Hit with Sludge!" Ella commanded. Treasure opened her mouth and spewed a blast of noxious purple gunk at the Piplup, sending her stumbling back. (15CP)
“Naunet, you alright?” Leisy called, alarmed as the Water-type stood back up after taking the Poison-type Pokemon’s blast of toxic liquid that sizzled on the floor where it’d landed. Seeing her Piplup wince but prepare to fight again, Leisy frowned. In a real battle, this would be the moment she’d switch out her Pokemon, wouldn’t it? Having an injured Pokemon was better than having a fainted Pokemon. “Good job, Naunet,” Leisy said, returning her Pokemon and swapping her Pokeball out for another. “Bidein, Quick Attack!”
The Fletchling flew into action, darting towards the opposing Poison-type and smashing into her with his beak (Normal, 10 CP).
Archie stated up at Steenee as she confidently swished her calyx for a moment before the dog opened her fanged jaws. Flames flickering and engulfing the inside as if about to release a flamethrower at the grass Pokemon. In the end though, the Growlithe just blew a puff of flame and smirked. Before her annoyed expression returned as Orion purred up against her side, nuzzling against the soft orange fur. Soon enough though, the Shinx got flamethrowered in the face and Archie huffed and padded away from him.
"We could do a little shopping. Though I'm unsure where to first. I don't quite know where everything is in Zephyr." Tora said, a little lost. Shopping, well she has done via online it never exactly went out and walked around in stores.
+1 post +1HHG = 31 +1CP = 47 - 18 = 29
Pokemon Team:
Archie the ♀Growlithe: Level 13/Healthy
Sirius the Staryu: Level 4/Healthy
Pezi the ♂Skiddo: Level 4/Healthy
Cairn the ♀Onix: Level 2/Healthy
Ria the ♀Riolu: Level 2/Healthy
Orion the ♂Shinx: Level 2/Healthy
Rachni the ♂Venipede: Level 2/Healthy
Inventory: 3x Pokeball 1x Potion 3x Rare Candies
-Continued interaction with @ToadRopes's character Juana. -Continued interaction with @Dusksong's character Cillian.
Hearing Cici, Tommy looked up with a smile of his own, scratching Beta's belly as he growled playfully. "Yeah, he kinda found us by accident, but Amica and I couldn't pass it up. Beta," he stopped and let the Eevee back up on his feet, who looked at Cici curiously, "meet Cici. She's a good friend and my traveling partner." Beta regarded Cici quietly for a moment before walking up to her and sniffing around her feet. After returning to her front, he turns, sits, and gives a happy sounding "Eevee!" after looking at Cici expectantly. Tommy could only laugh at the sight. "So, I caught one of the new friends I was looking for. Up for heading out to find something in the fields, Cici?"
Cici leaned down, petting the Eevee's soft fur. "Yeah," she said, looking up at Tommy. "You still planning on getting a Ralts?"
Even after last night's events, the idea of looking for Fairy types didn't worry her all that much. Ligeia was proof that fairies could be kind, and Tefan wasn't known for problems caused by Pokemon anyway. Still, it might be a good idea to have a Pokemon out, just in case anything happened.
"Dulcet," she said, letting out her Swablu, "this is Beta." The cotton bird flew down with a friendly chirp.
Out of all her Pokemon, Dulcet seemed like the best one to watch out for potential threats. If it was ghosts people had to be wary of, Dulcet's Normal typing would provide some protection against them, and her Flying type would allow her to fight back in case the ghosts knew other attacks.
This was also another reason to travel with Tommy. If either of them ran into trouble, the other would be around to help out.
Ella gasped as Treasure struggled to get back on her feet. It was clear she could barely fight any more. The trainer thought over the defensive and self-healing moves her Trubbish knew, but it was considered poor sport for someone of beginner rank to use them. For someone at her level, battling was about getting a feel for Pokemon's moves and sticking to the basics.
"Treasure, come back!" she called, returning the Trubbish to her Pokeball. She stood frozen, biting her lip. Who should she send out next? Brighteye wouldn't be able to do anything to a Normal type, so that just left one Pokemon - one who may not be ready for this yet.
"Uh..." Taking the Pokeball from her pocket, she pressed the button. Where Treasure had been a moment ago, Smiley appeared, glaring at his opponent. "Do you want to go next?" Ella asked. "If not... you don't have to." Still holding the Pokeball, she kept her finger over the button, preparing to return him and call off the match if he got panicked.
After studying the little Fletchling, though, Smiley turned and nodded his head.
"Ok... Use Poison Fang!" Ella commanded, watching him dart at Bidein and bite down with sharp teeth. (15CP) Maybe getting him to battle would be a way to bond with him.
Steenee harrumphed and tossed its sepal at Archie, as if saying “you jelly bro?”
“Steenee, no teasing,” Juana said. “Same goes for you, Archie.”
Juana looked up and grinned. "Okay, let's go!" she exclaimed to Cillian and Tora, before running back towards the old train's other cars. A few cars back, there was an electronics/appliance store. Juana decided to check that out.
Greeting her were several televisions of a new make; those fancy ones with the curved screens designed to accommodate the turning heads and eyes of the seated viewer. She spotted a kid swiping up on his cell phone (probably playing that mobile game that Juana always found kind of pointless given the accessibility of Pokémon in the real world), as well as a video games section. She had a Wii U at home, yes, but only three games - Mario Kart and Smash Bros., the staples (interestingly enough the latter featured the Pokémon Pikachu as a playable character; the ol' bugger was quite popular, after all), as well as Hyrule Warriors.
Snapping her attention back to the store, she found a standing rotary fan that was blowing a comfortable breeze in her face. She stood in front of the fan, checking out the quality of the appliance.
She then backed up and glanced over a washing machine and a dryer; they were both labeled at 700 bucks each. "That's a lot of money for a convenience," she remarked.
She turned back and walked towards a refrigerator, whose door had been left open.
"...Irresponsible!" Juana scolded, slamming the fridge door.
She didn't see the fridge open back up behind her.
A couple of folks were sitting in the rows of massage chairs on display. They seemed to be pretty content. Juana decided to try one of the handheld massage machines for herself.
The moment she laid it on her back, however, the thing zapped her with a short static shock. "OW!" Juana yelped in surprise, dropping the device and causing it to dangle from the display. Steenee caught it in mid-air and handed it handle-first to Juana. Juana put the thing back.
"What the heck? I'm not trying that again!" she snapped.
She turned to browse elsewhere when she heard the folks on the massage chairs give out similar yelps. They immediately fell out of the chairs, and started grumbling to each other. The store manager looked a little worried.
"What kinda..." Juana muttered as she passed by the fridge.
Suddenly she felt a tug on her tool belt; the fridge, with a purple arm, had pickpocketed her pouch and extracted a tin of baking soda she had purchased earlier.
"H-HEY! Return that at once--" Juana started, whirling around and finding that the refrigerator was alive.
The red refrigerator dumped the contents of the tin into a tiny mouth in between two eyes. Its eyes bugged out and it coughed, spitting out the baking soda and tossing the tin back at Juana. She dodged out of the way, but the contents hit an unaware Corphish in the face. Corphish was, suffice it to say, furious. The fridge began to levitate, and it dashed away through the aisle.
Juana ran to the manager. "Hey, is your refrigerator running?" she asked, out of breath.
"Uh, well--"
"'Cause you'd better go catch it!" she shouted, pointing at the fridge floating around, knocking over TVs, smashing video game cabinets, causing radios and sound systems to play "Never Gonna Give You Up" on repeat...
Juana turned to Honedge. "Sic 'im!" Juana said, pointing at the floating refrigerator. Honedge disappeared into the shadows of the shelves, traveling through the darkness, before appearing behind the fridge and slashing it. The fridge immediately turned the color of stainless steel, and started to fall towards the kid on his phone.
"Steenee!" Juana shouted, pointing to the fridge. Steenee jumped into the air and fired a stream of leaves into the fridge, diverting it and causing it to land with a dull CLANG on the ground (denting the floor in the process).
A red blur zipped through the store, before landing back in the appliance section. In a heartbeat, a gush of water blasted towards Honedge. The sword's eye widened; Honedge was subsequently knocked into a light fixture by the blast of water.
A red washing machine, surrounded by a blue aura, rose above the shelves. Juana called Honedge back. "Steenee, gimme another Razor Leaf!" she ordered.
Steenee fired leaves off at the washing machine, while Juana checked her Pokédex.
"It's a Rotom!" Juana exclaimed.
Rotom didn't take the leaves too well, and it fell to the ground, sparking. Rotom loosed a Thunderbolt at Steenee, but Steenee held one of its sepals out like a shield to dull the attack.
Rotom zinged around the room, before slipping into a toaster oven and firing a blast of heat at Steenee. Corphish scuttled in front and sprayed a bubble attack at Rotom. There seemed to be a lot more bubbles than usual.
“I think you’ve graduated to Bubblebeam, amigo!” Juana exclaimed. “One more time!”
Corphish sprayed Rotom again; after the Overheat attack, Rotom couldn’t so much as let loose a spark. The possessed toaster oven clattered to the ground, too tired to phase out.
Juana grabbed a Great Ball and tossed it at the mischievous Pokémon. One shake… two shakes… Click!
She ran over and scooped up the ball. Her Pokédex buzzed.
“Research continues on this Pokémon, which could be the power source of a unique motor.”
Rotom clattered around in the Great Ball, someone distressed that it can’t continue wreaking havoc.
“Hey. Behave,” Juana said sternly to the toaster oven. Rotom stuck its tongue out at her and let out a small shock through the ball, zapping her hand. Juana dropped the ball in surprise, and picked it back up.
Corphish shook its claw up at Rotom. Only I get to cause comedic but relatively harmless bodily injury to the human! it seemed to be saying.
She picked up the ball and walked up to the manager.
“Um, so… should I, uh, pay for any of the store damage or…”
“We don’t want to burden our customers with the antics of a Pokémon,” the manager sighed. “It’s a new Rotom every week, I swear…”
The manager shrugged. “Feel free to keep the toaster oven; not like we can do anything about it. The latest one—the one you just caught—kept going back in it after store hours. I’m just glad to get rid of the blighter.”
Beta enjoyed the attention before looking at the Swablu. "Eevee Eev Eevee ee." It seemed to be questioning what Dulcet thought of the humans, but in the mean time, his trainer joined his friend after returning Amica, who was looking a little tired. "Yeah, fully. Beta here was just a chance encounter after purchasing another Pokeball in the mart. Just hope we can find one. I don't know much about their sleep habits." Calling for Beta, who had begun digging through the trash he had knocked over before getting caught after talking with Dulcet, he set off out into the fields between the volcano and the village.
As he walked, he looked over the area before spotting the graveyard where the Ghosts were often found. Frowning, he turned back to Cici. "You know, Psychic types are often used to try and counter act Ghost types. Think we'll find them over by the graveyard?"
Salty spray and stinging sand whipped at the backs of Olivie, Bernard, and their Pokemon as their headlong sprint toward town came to an end. Out of breath, the pair threw themselves on the pier that overlooked the Friending Pool. She dumped Gespenst beside her, who tucked into a roll to lessen the impact, and his spikes brought him to a stop. Having vanished shortly before the skirmish with the Malamar started, the Araquanid befriended by Bernard now stood on the other side of the pool, its thoughts imperceptible. Olivie's chest heaved as she tried to get her wind back without opening her mouth, lest unwanted sand fly into her mouth. A couple of slips into tide pools of varying depths on the way back had left her leggings soaked and dirty, so she kicked off her shoes and yanked the sullied garment off. After that, she let herself relax, reclining on the mossy wooden boardwalk. The irritating wind, it seemed, brought with a wave of clouds spreading over the horizon like jam. As they sped along, they clumped together, blotting out more and more of the sky. Olivie's eyes narrowed as she saw how the sunlight filtered through the odd clouds to create a bizarre, green sky. Bemused, she turned to Bernard, who'd also noticed the heaven's weird hue, but he knew nothing more about the phenomenon than she did. Once the pair recovered just enough to move somewhere out of the rising wind, they skedaddled.
Moments later, they stood in the threshold of a floating building called Ribbly's Raft. Sitting on an enormous pontoon in a pool in the middle of a boardwalk ring, the round structure buzzed with the sounds of conversation and merriment. From its open windows drifted the smell of cooked fish, and through them the trainers could see an assortment of patrons. Altogether, it gave off a lively impression—one wholly opposite of the state of two of Bernard's pokemon. ”You go ahead,” the young man told her. ”I gotta get back to the pokemon center. Just thinking of Painkiller's arm makes me sick. I've got to get him healed.” Olivie nodded, and off she ran. The sight had made her skin crawl; she couldn't begin to guess how she'd feel if it was Gespenst who'd been mauled. As her thoughts turned to the perpetrator of the injury, her blood boiled. The sound of grinding teeth caused her Cacnea to look up in alarm. While the Malamar enraged her, however, she could not go back out into the biting winds and get her own party -or self- torn apart as well. The resulting feeling of helplessness made it even worse. With heroic effort, Olivie reigned in her fury to enter the building. Her revenge would have to come later.
At first the bruiser thought she'd entered a bar. It had all the quaintness and other traits that any brewhouse might put on display. A handful of customers even glanced her way, giving her pointed or curious looks. She did spot some plates of food here and there, though, and a soda fountain. Wearing an ugly frown, Olivie made her way to the counter and seated herself on the stool, and reflexively she tugged on the bottom of her sweater-skirt. The person behind the counter, a barrel-shaped man with pronounced mutton chops, sidled over. “What'll it be, missy?”
Olivie maintained an unpleasant countenance as she asked, “Cola?” Without a word the man turned around, grabbed a clear plastic cup, and started filling it from the fountain. ”Let me ask you something,” the girl began as soon as he turned around, and he gave a nod as he gave her the drink. ”I just ran into this tentacle monster down on the beach. It had a beak, and it used moves called Superpower, Foul Play and Psyche...uh, Psychic Cut. Do those things have anything to do with dreams?” A shred of Olivie wanted him to say no. As much as she wanted to tear the wild pokemon a new one, she got the sinking feeling that it would be her on the receiving end of the tearing.
The guy crossed his arms. “Ya mean Malamar? Well, there's good ones and bad ones. Some of the bad ones do hyp-no-sis, but I ain't heard of any makin' bad dreams.”
A soft, melodic voice from behind Olivie called out, “Are ya a trainer?”
When the girl turned to look, she found a young woman with a huge black afro and glasses, her face sprinkled by dark freckles and sporting an intrigued expression. Wondering what the stranger wanted, Olivie gave a curt nod, and her new acquaintance continued, “Ya must be lookin' to solve the nightmare problem. Well, hon, ya don't have long to wait. I 'spect since ya new here, you ain't had the pleasure of one of Stillwater's Green Days.” Noting that Olivie now paid rapt attention to her, the woman smiled. “Usually our town's quiet and peaceful-like, but on some days the wind rises an' clouds roll in that turn the sky green as the sea. If anything's gonna give ya a hint 'bout the nightmares, it's gonna be tonight. Just ya wait an' see.”
-=-=-
By evening, the wind had died down, but the sky turned from leaf to kelp. Dark clouds swirled over Stillwater, and at 8:00, the moon rose over the ocean. It shone through the clouds, a spectral, emerald orb. Goosebumps lined Olivie's arms and legs as she stood on the boardwalk by Ribbly's Raft, and not just from the cold. In the hours that had passed since arriving at the place, Olivie had made the rounds of the town. Two repels were in her bag, ready for use against meddlesome, annoying wild pokemon that might get in the way of something important. She'd gotten a bite to eat, freshened up, and even found a pair of jeans at the little local shop to wear. Yet, she hadn't found Bernard. His failure to return, while surely for a good reason, rubbed her the wrong way. Since being told about the Green Day, she'd indulged in every local tale she could get a hold of. She'd learned about Lunaala and Darkrai, the two Legendary pokemon said to favor this region, and about the things that went bump in the night. Sleepwalking, night terrors, and even disappearances, with some of the vanished found laid out on the shore days later, and some never seen again. How could these people not be more terrified? And many of these events occurred on or near Green Days. Anxiety from this realization threatened her courage, but here she stood beneath the rising moon, ready to find out what was going wrong even as the townsfolk retreated into their homes. They regarded the nights of Green Days with suspicion, and best avoided. Tonight, Olivie stood as Stillwater's lone sentry.
Or rather, she stood along with her party of pokemon. Buck, Gespenst, Verrine, and Bifrons all shared her resolve, though visible in different ways. Olivie shifted her view constantly, scanning the coastline and the town for any disturbance.
"Hm? I thought Ghost types had the advantage over Psychic types," Cici replied as the graveyard came into sight. "But then again, I guess it depends on the Pokemon. Ghosts can't easily affect ones like Girafarig and Oranguru. And I imagine Psychic types are good at sensing them if they try to hide."
She reminded herself that most Ghost types tended to be more mischievous than outright malicious as she and Tommy neared the graveyard, but felt goosebumps break out all over her skin at the sound of distant, eerie laughter.
"So... we could try over there," she said, continuing onwards anyway, Dulcet flying by her side. The musician wasn't going to withdraw from the world just because of one bad experience.
“Bidein, good job!” Leisy called, feeling a flood of pride when the Fletchling shrugged off the enemy Ekan’s attack with little more than a flick of its wings. Looking to Ella, Leisy figured that the girl’s earlier hesitance to continue the battle had gone away. Let’s make the most of this, Ella, Leisy thought, turning to her Fletchling.
“Bidein, come on back,” Leisy shouted, withdrawing the Flying-type and picking out another Pokeball from her bag. “C’mon out, Devinco!” Leisy shouted as the Larvitar landed on both feet in the battlefield. “Let’s start off with a Rock Slide!”
The Larvitar nodded at his trainer before leaping into the air, landing with a thud that stirred up a wave of rock and dirt that rushed towards the opposing Ekans (Rock, 10).
Cillian followed behind Juana with his eyes trained on the Scraggy at his side. Although the Pokemon had appeared rather proud at first, it was now behaving rather well — amazingly well, in fact. Am I just that good of a trainer? Cillian thought with a grin as he entered the electronic appliance store behind Juana. “Are, uh, buying something here?” he asked, looking around at the rather large appliances. Surely the group had no need for a television — one that definitely didn’t look portable — or a lawn mower? He was in the middle of staring down an interesting-looking washing machine when he heard a slam. Looking up, Cillian spotted Juana confronting a big box that appeared to be, well, a refrigerator.
“I don’t suppose the fridge attacked you, Juana?” Cillian joked, walking over. He immediately wished he could take back his words when the fridge floated up and started drifting around the room. “Alright, I’m done,” he said, eyes wide. Looking around, Cillian noticed that the other appliances appeared to be just as lively — quite literally. “Scraggy, lend me a hand and knock that fan back down, would you?”
The Scraggy nodded, leaping forwards and landing a Low Kick on the appliance that sent it clanging back to the store floor. As the fan skidded to a halt, the fridge started back up. “What is wrong with your shop?” Cillian asked increduously, looking at the owner briefly before giving chase to Juana and the runaway fridge.
A short while later, Juana managed to nab the appliance-hopping Pokemon with a Great Ball. The Pokemon turned out to be a Rotom, which Cillian pulled out his Pokedex to clarify. “Huh. Well now I’m glad there weren’t many Ghost-types around where I’d grown up,” he said, following Nylah back to the store. “Are we going to hit up a grocery store and pick up some bread then?” Cillian asked upon hearing Juana’s comment about a free toaster. “Congrats on the Rotom though. How many Pokemon is that now? Six? Seven?”
"Ah!" Ella raised her hand to her mouth as she watched the rocks slam into her Ekans. "Smiley, are you ok?" She held out the Pokeball, calling him back and sending out Brighteye. The ghost drifted right over to her opponent, her single scarlet eye flaring with her eagerness to fight.
"Shadow Sneak!" Ella commanded. A shadow lengthened, twisting and shifting into a claw before striking at Devinco from behind. (-10CP)
Tommy watched the graveyard carefully, as did Beta, who actually growled softly when a shadow moved between tombstones. "Yeah, no, I think near it is fine. In fact, this distance is perfect. I mean, how hard could it be to find a Ralts?" Turning away from the graveyard, the trumpet player set off into the taller grass on the right side of the path they had followed to get down here. He hoped he'd find a rare colored one, but any Ralts would do. Then tomorrow, he'd see if she was up for going after a Dragon Type. As the thought crossed his mind though, he looked back at Cici and frowned.
She'd gone to such great lengths to keep the fact that a friend had turned their back on her and hurt her and all that had come undone the moment a Fairy type got her under it's spell. Resuming his search, Tommy tried to think of anyone he'd seen her talk to in Central City that might have been said friend, but the only person he could remember seeing her even look at was the girl at the cafe they'd met at before heading to Feyhallow. Maybe I could talk to her about it later...
“Devi, push through and retaliate with a Bite!” Leisy called, remembering that Ghost-types were weak against Dark-type attacks. Leaping up, the Larvitar confronted the levitating Duskull midair and opened its jaws wide, biting down on what seemed like nothing (dark, 10 CP). The Ghost-type’s reaction to the attack, however, showed that the attack was anything but.
"Uh, y-yeah..." Although she didn't outright admit it, Cici was more than a little relieved that Tommy didn't want to explore the graveyard. Maybe one day, though, catching a Ghost type would be a way to overcome fear. "We're near enough, so we could find a Ralts around he-"
A loud shriek cut her off. "What was that?!" she yelled, staring in the direction the sound had come from. It wasn't a ghost. Two purple cats pounced around in the grass, pawing and biting at something, batting it to each other as if playing some cruel game. Whatever it was let out another cry, and a noise that sounded like the ringing of a bell.
"Dulcet, stop them!" Cici shouted, running at the two Purrloins. The Swablu sped forward through the air, pecking at one of the cats. It spun around, hissing, lashing with its claws while the other picked up the crying Pokemon with its teeth. A Chingling. Cici gasped. Psychic-type attacks couldn't do anything against Dark types, making this Pokemon defenseless.
"Chase that one with Fury Attack!" she commanded, pointing at the Purrloin who tried to make a run for it. "Careful, though! Don't hit that Chingling!" Trying to fend off the volley of pecks and scratches, the cat dropped the baby Pokemon. Instantly, the other Purrloin saw its chance, leaping forward at the little bell.
Cici jabbed at the button of a Pokeball. "Cadence!" she shouted as the bug appeared. "Use Struggle Bug!" A burst of green lights shot at the Dark type, knocking it out in one hit. "Now, again, at the other one!" Before the other Purrloin could attack, the energy blast sent it slumping to the ground.
And just like that, the fight was over, but that didn't mean the little Chingling was safe. Wading through the grass, Cici bent down. The bell Pokemon, its ropes chewed up and its metallic body covered in scratch marks, whimpered and writhed. "Shhh, it's going to be ok," Cici soothed. "We'll get you to a Pokemon centre."
Holding out a Pokeball, she pressed the button, summoning the injured Pokemon to safety.
All Ella could do was watch as Brighteye floated to the ground, knocked out by one attack for the second time that day. What was this going to do to the Duskull's already shaken confidence?
"Brighteye, come back!" she called, returning her. "Uhh..." She considered her options. Her two Pokemon who hadn't yet fainted were both drastically weakened, and Poison type to boot, with a disadvantage against Ground types.
She looked Leisy in the eye. "You... You win," she said. She wasn't going to make Treasure or Smiley keep fighting in their current state. There was no way she could win this. She'd known that, deep down, from the start.
Putting on a smile, she wondered how simply forcing the corners of her mouth upwards could be so difficult. "Good job there."
