“-sie! Come on, wake up! Please!”
Kaitlyn’s voice cut through the thick blanket surrounding Cassie’s mind like a jackhammer to the skull, sharp and loud but still muted and sounding like she was a hundred feet underwater. She coughed once, feeling foul water spew from between her lips as she tried to suck fresh air into her lungs. A moment later, she gagged, choking on the fluid trying to push itself out of her airway, and rolled to her side to vomit a stream of bile and river water onto the ground as her stomach protested its contents.
The first deep breath of air felt like nails driven into her lungs, but she sucked it in greedily anyway, another coughing fit punctuating her return to consciousness as she hacked up more water from her sore lungs. She was soaked and bitterly cold, hair matted to her head and dripping into her eyes as she coughed up the last of what she had inhaled, but she was alive.
“Thank Arceus...” Kaitlyn breathed from beside her, voice cracking and sounding like she was on the verge of tears. Warmth flared from beside her as Orion moved in closer, licking her face comfortingly as he pushed his body temperature up like a space heater to try and warm his trainer.
“We almost thought we'd lost you,” Zack said quietly from where he knelt beside Cassie, wiping sweat and water from his face. Now that she was mostly conscious and alert, Cassie was able to notice a few things as she took stock of her surroundings once more. First and foremost, it was quiet again in the cavern. No battle, no Dragon Pokemon, just stillness and the sounds of the group around her. Kaitlyn's Onix was coiled tightly around the group, with Tera hovering above everyone and glowing more brightly than he had been before. Orion was huddled close to her, practically laying on top of her as if he simply needed to be as close as he could, while Paulos stood nearby in an unusually solemn fashion. Mira was also nearby, sitting close to one of the walls formed from Ivan's body and looking like she was still pretty shaken up by everything.
Her eyes swept around to Kaitlyn, noticing Astrid standing beside her, and her face went pale again.
The Mawile's face and rear jaw were bloody, the white teeth of her false mouth painted crimson and standing out harshly against the bright light. The small Pokemon still looked furious, but she seemed to soften as she noticed Cassie was looking her way. Kaitlyn caught sight of Cassie's gaze and followed it, looking towards Astrid and letting out a breath as she tried to calm her own nerves again.
“She's fine,” Kaitlyn said, looking back to Cassie. “She didn't kill them, even though she wanted to. They ran off soon after you fell in the river once they realized they'd made a mistake.”
That was an understatement, Kaitlyn knew. Astrid had fought like a ‘mon possessed, enough where she herself had been a bit fearful of the change in her closest partner and friend. She'd never been in that kind of situation before, and now she hoped she never was after seeing how hard her starter fought for a friend that wasn't even her own trainer.
Only the most bloodthirsty and wild Pokemon chose to deliberately go after a trainer during a battle. Wild Pokemon, almost without exception, chose to hold to the social contract developed between themselves and trainers long ago - trainers would approach them for battles to improve themselves and the ones they trained, and in return the wild Pokemon received practice and experience, and occasionally a spot on the team of trainers willing to take them along. It had worked out neatly since ancient times, when the boundaries between civilization and the wilds were much looser and undefined, and had kept unwanted conflict to a minimum.
This, Kaitlyn thought to herself, was a prime example of why. You never knew just how strong an opponent was, especially from the perspective of a wild Pokemon facing down a potential team of six Pokemon on the side of a trainer. The Gabite in question had made a rash move, and had consequently paid for it swiftly and utterly.
“...How long...?” Cassie uttered, her voice croaking and hoarse as she finally tried to speak. She started coughing again as she tried to clear her throat, half of the question lost in the spasms. Kaitlyn understood the question, though.
“I don't know,” Kaitlyn admitted with a shake of her head. “Not long, but long enough that we were scared.”
“We'll take her to the hospital as soon as we're out of here so she can get checked out,” Zack said, the firm tone leaving no room for argument. “You too, Mira.”
Kaitlyn had to gently nudge Orion to get him to move so that she could help Cassie back to her feet, the puppy Pokemon steadfastly refusing to be anywhere except directly beside his trainer now. Paulos flapped over and alighted on Orion’s back, taking a spot there instead of his normal one atop Cassie’s shoulder as everyone prepared to move again. Astrid took up a spot at the front, her countenance practically daring any wild Pokemon to approach them, while Ivan slowly uncoiled and let everyone else out in front before slithering along behind them. Zack’s Pokemon stayed close to his side as well, everyone clearly on edge after the harrowing fight. Mira fell into step beside the Ranger, just glad to finally be moving towards the exit again. She’d seen enough of this cave to last a lifetime, and she was sure that sentiment was echoed by everyone else in the group right now.
Over two hours later, Kaitlyn stepped into Cassie’s room at Eterna Memorial Hospital, safely out of danger and finally able to relax once again. Her companion was asleep, taking much needed rest after the tests they’d run to confirm she didn’t have any major injuries. Even though she’d been coherent on the way here, they’d feared the worst; it seemed a gift from Arceus himself that nothing was wrong beyond some minor bruises and scrapes from the rocks. If not for Zack’s Golduck diving in to fish her out of the river as soon as it had, she very well may have died. Her mind started to wander to all the ways that things could’ve gone horribly wrong before she forced herself to stop with the self-destructive thoughts. That wouldn’t do anyone any good right now, least of all herself.
Orion and Paulos were in their Poke Balls once again, attached to the belt sitting on the bedside table. She knew that they were probably keeping an eye on Cassie even now, since Pokemon could somewhat see and hear what was happening outside their balls if they focused on doing so. Mira was probably safely back home by now, the Rangers as a whole and Zack personally having thanked them for helping in finding the lost girl. He’d left Kaitlyn his contact number to pass along to Cassie when she awoke as well, as well as a small sum of credits in reward for helping and the assurance that any bills for the emergency room visit would be taken care of.
“My early travels weren’t nearly this exciting,” she murmured as she sat down, hand reaching for her phone as she felt the vibration of an incoming message. She glanced at the alert for a moment, seeing that it looked like an e-mail from Kayley responding to her question about good Poketubers to watch, and she pulled up the mail program before marking the message read and forwarding it on to Cassie so she could read it later. With nothing else pressing on her agenda besides keeping Cassie company in case she woke up, she browsed over to PokeBattles on her phone and started checking out the latest news.
PokeBattles was one of many such websites that had sprung up in past years to serve trainers gunning for their regional league championships. BattleNet, Battle Central, Sinnoh Trainer Network...there were dozens of sites all centered around giving trainers the latest news from inside and outside their regions in order to give them the best chance of making their conference-winning dreams a reality. Kaitlyn checked most of the larger ones equally, trying to keep abreast of the latest developments where she could, along with a couple of smaller sites dedicated primarily to training Steel-type Pokemon.
The front page, as usual, was full of links to new news articles and forum posts. Most seemed to be the same old things she was accustomed to - a thread about up and coming trainers to watch out for, one about gym leader team updates and rosters spotted this season, migrations and new influxes of Pokemon in various areas. Scrolling for a moment to check the list, she finally clicked on the leader updates thread to see what unread posts she hadn’t yet seen.
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Leader Team Updates, 2025 Season - Updated 4/9
SquirtleSquad(Moderator) / March 1st, 2025 / 9:42 AM SST (Pinned)
It's that time again - the Sinnoh League circuit officially begins on Wednesday, which means we'll be seeing challenges soon from trainers across the region. Please use this thread for any info about Gym Leader roster additions, changes, etc. or other related info of note. Posts for each Leader are below this one and will be updated periodically with new information.
BubblingBrook / April 7th, 2025 / 3:10 PM SST
Just got done with my match with roark and he had some new mons. Saw a rockruff and rolycoly for a first badge match. Nothing too hard to deal with but the rockruff does have agility
InsectQueen49 / April 7th, 2025 / 4:02 PM SST
Wake added another Buizel to his team, looks like. Me and Kricketot just fought it and a Staryu from last season.
SurgingSparks / April 7th, 2025 / 4:28 PM SST
maylene has a new meditite with her, knows bulk up low kick detect force palm confusion
KingOfFighters77 / April 7th, 2025 / 7:41 PM SST
Just had my first badge match with Roark, and he pulled out a Klawf. Didn't even know what that thing was at first. Knows Rock Throw, Rock Tomb, Harden, and Metal Claw that I saw.
ElizabethNagata (Verified Trainer) / April 8th, 2025 / 9:57 AM SST
Tough fight with Roark this year, but we took the win for badge number two. Quilava had to deal with a Nosepass, which I’m pretty sure he didn’t have last year - I saw Tackle, Spark, Thunder Wave, Harden, and Rock Throw out of it before we took it down. He used his Geodude and Cranidos against me as well, but I know he had both of those on his roster last season. On to Veilstone now for Maylene, so I’ll update once I’m done there.
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The posts continued for a few more pages after that, and Kaitlyn even saw mention of the Torterra that Astrid had faced down in her own gym match. It looked like most of the trainers posting had only gotten two badges so far, and most had taken on some pairing of Roark, Gardenia, and Maylene. Only one trainer she’d seen had finished a third badge challenge, and that had been just this morning from the looks of things. Three badges in just over a month was impressive, not to mention a downright blistering pace for most Sinnoh League challengers. Kaitlyn had taken her time last season, only challenging one gym per month as she carefully trained up her team and researched how best to approach the challenges.
She sighed, thinking back more to her performance the previous year. All of her gym challenges had gone relatively smoothly, even the looming threat that was Fantina and her dream-crushing team of specters. She felt like all of her matches had gone according to plan, her practice and training with her team paying off just as intended.
Then she hit Byron's gym in Canalave, and found a wall that no amount of preparation had been able to overcome.
Steel-type mirror matches were about endurance, and simply put, the elder Gym Leader's team had more of it. Astrid and the rest had put up a valiant effort in their initial attempt, but were simply outmuscled and outlasted by the stronger team the Leader brought to bear. Her Bronzong's Psychic abilities and her Steelix's mighty Earthquakes made little difference as she struggled, eventually being handed her first gym defeat of the year as she tried and failed to come up with a counter. They spent weeks in Canalave City, training and resting at the port city and even in the mountainous Islands offshore as they fought to come up with a solution to their troubles, but in the end it was all for naught. Five weeks and two more failed challenges later, she headed home to Eterna, her dreams of a championship run dashed beneath her feet.
Kaitlyn was nothing if not tenacious, however. Where her sister was spirited and flighty, Kaitlyn was grounded and persistent, doggedly pursuing her goals much the same way that Kayley pursued her freedom. She had wanted to be a Steel specialist from the moment she watched Steven Stone take the Hoenn Champion title, admiring the grit and determination that his Pokemon all seemed to embody.
She may have also had a slight crush on the young trainer, but that was something she'd never admit to anyone but her sister.
She wasn't satisfied with just that, though. She didn't want to be a Steel Specialist, she wanted to be the Steel Specialist, the name that came to mind the moment you thought about the idea just as Steven's presently did. If that meant that she had to face him for his own Champion title, then so be it. She would crush him underfoot and take his throne if that's what it took to be at the top. Her dreams and her team both demanded no less.
That time was far away, she knew, no matter how much she wanted it. Astrid was slowly breaking into the ranks of what trainers referred to as ‘Elite-tier’ Pokemon, those capable of standing toe to toe with Leaders and coming out on top against even their Aces. The rest of her team, new and old alike, weren't there just yet. While the three members of her team from last season were strong, they were still behind Astrid in overall ability, and her two new members would take a while before they approached that level of strength.
Unless her hunch was right, that is.
Most top trainers that Kaitlyn knew of possessed similar qualities - strength of will, kindness towards Pokemon, a drive to learn and succeed. Cassie certainly fit all of those, she thought as her eyes wandered back to the resting girl. She was nervous, but not afraid. Ignorant of trainer life, but full of passion to learn. And the kindness couldn't be understated either; even Astrid, who was normally somewhat hesitant to approach new people, had taken quickly to her, to say nothing of the girl's own team members. Now that Kaitlyn thought about it, even the wild Pokemon around the park had been enamored with her. More than once, she'd gotten distracted during training by Cutiefly resting on her head or shoulders, or an errant Starly curiously playing around at her feet. She knew the wild Pokemon around the area were very used to being around people, but she'd never seen anything like that before.
It was nice to have someone else around, really. Kayley enjoyed traveling far too much to stay in one place for long, and had seen everything in Sinnoh at least twice over by now. It was honestly kind of fun to help coach another trainer as well as showing them the sights...well, except for the cave, she thought wryly. Not only that, but she just knew the girl had potential in spades that she wasn't even aware of. Her nerves still got to her, but once she was able to get that under control...well, Kaitlyn shuddered to think what her opponents on the circuit might be in for. The girl was a voracious learner, often spending her free time on her phone just looking up random topics of interest about Pokemon or trainer life, and in a career where knowledge quite literally was power? That could wind up being a nightmare for anyone across from her on a battlefield.
She was already pulling some stunts in battle, Kaitlyn realized as she considered Cassie’s recent bouts. Nothing too complex, mind, but enough where it proved she was getting her hands dirty and experimenting. The one in the forest with Paulos had shades of what she'd done against Gardenia, using the opposing Pokemon's own momentum against it. From what Kaitlyn had seen so far, Cassie seemed to want to try and turn the opponent's strategies against them, then capitalize at the opportune moment. Simple, but devilishly effective in the right hands, though it left you open to falling prey to counter-traps and simple misdirection if played wrong. Many trainers didn't start properly strategizing until their first real gym match, using their debut battle against a Leader as a measuring stick and learning tool at once, so Cassie seemed slightly ahead of the curve there.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
It was a bit similar to her own style, really. Fitting with her type preference, Kaitlyn preferred to simply have her Pokemon endure an enemy's attacks, then counterattack from advantageous positions and wear the opponent out with a war of attrition that Steel-types excelled at. Strong enough opponents could overwhelm her team's defenses, and savvier enemies could outmaneuver her often slower Pokemon, but the strategy had carried her through a number of battles so far. She found herself wondering if the girl would fall into a type preference like she had as time went on. With only two Pokemon and the egg she'd received so far, it was hard to say.
She also found herself feeling a bit guilty as her mind continued to wander. A part of her was still bitter at her repeated losses to Byron at Canalave, and she secretly hoped that Cassie would turn out to be as strong of a trainer as she expected. Pitting her team against such a person day in and day out could only turn out well for the both of them, but a nagging part of herself kept damningly mentioning in her mind that she was just using Cassie as a means to an end no matter how many times she told herself otherwise. Kayley, she knew, would just tell her how silly she was being if she were here, but she couldn’t help the thoughts nonetheless.
She sighed, frustrated at her errant mental irritations, and reached for her phone again just to have something to try and take her mind off of things. Cassie may have wanted to take things slow in expanding her team, but Kaitlyn was already looking at the potential of adding a fourth member to her own. It was part of the reason she’d wanted to take the southern route to Oreburgh, actually. If what she’d heard in the last week or so was to be believed, there had been some isolated sightings of Skarmory in the nearby mountain passes, not far from Route 207 itself. She would never speak ill of her Staraptor, of course, but the Steel and Flying-type avian was high on her list of wanted captures. The Pokemon were surprisingly fast for a creature coated entirely in steel armor, and while they weren’t the most offensively-oriented Pokemon despite their natural weaponry, they could still bring a solid amount of power to the table as well as utility moves such as Spikes to hinder opponents. She was determined to at least make a token effort to see if she could locate one on their way south. It could just be migratory flocks headed through the area, but she didn’t want to squander the chance just in case.
Had she more time to work with, she would’ve considered going into Coronet proper to search around as well. While they were a bit reclusive in the mountain, she knew that there was a small population of Aron and its evolutions that lived within Coronet’s range. Sadly, that would be a much longer detour than she would be comfortable dragging Cassie along for, at least for the time being. Maybe later, once they revisited Eterna...
Really, there were quite a few Steel-types that Kaitlyn wouldn’t mind adding to her team, but the majority of them were fairly inaccessible for the moment. Some, like Honedge or Klefki, were nearby but not yet worth the detour similarly to Aron. First and second-badge challenges wouldn’t necessitate any more than around three Pokemon anyway, so she would have plenty of time later on to go hunting. She still longed more than anything to chance upon a Beldum, however. The Steel and Psychic-types were nigh-unfindable in the wild, usually living lives of solitude in harsh, rugged environments that they were unbothered by. Rumors persisted that the cold mountain trails of the northern areas of Sinnoh were home to a sparse population, but she didn’t put much stock in those. It was more likely for one of the elusive Pokemon to find you than for the reverse to happen. That hadn’t stopped her from trying her best over the years, even enlisting Kayley’s help to search while she was off in other regions to no avail.
Kaitlyn’s thoughts of future team members were interrupted by a low groan from the bed as Cassie stirred, shifting uncomfortably in the hospital bed for a few seconds before blue eyes fluttered open slowly and squinted against the light overhead. She leaned up onto her elbows slowly to look around the room, startling a bit as she realized Kaitlyn was sitting in a chair a few feet away.
“Hey,” the Steel trainer said, trying her best to smile despite everything. “How’re you feeling?”
“Sore,” Cassie croaked, clearing her throat again in an attempt to get her voice to not sound like she had pneumonia. “How long was I asleep?”
“Maybe an hour or so?” Kaitlyn guessed, shrugging. “I’ve only been here a few minutes, but I think we came in about two hours ago.” Her eyes glanced at her phone again for a moment before she nodded, seemingly confirming her estimate.
“Sorry,” Cassie said quietly. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
Kaitlyn blinked in surprise. Was she really trying to blame herself for ending up in the hospital?
“Why are you sorry?” she asked, honestly caught off guard. “It’s not your fault that some Gabite took offense to us existing and tried to kill us all out there,” she added, her voice coming out a bit harsh and irritated just thinking about the Pokemon in the cave. Cassie’s eyes fell, and Kaitlyn instantly regretted her bitter tone despite her intentions. She wasn’t upset at Cassie, just frustrated at the entire encounter.
“I’m serious,” Kaitlyn continued, softer this time. “It’s really not your fault, you know. I’ve been to that cave dozens of times, and Kayley and I have had a few sticky situations there too. It’s just something that happens in the wilds sometimes, especially around Pokemon like that. We’ll be back on the road to Oreburgh before you know it.”
Cassie didn’t reply at first, an awkward silence stretching on for several long seconds before she finally spoke again. “How’s Mira?”
“Good,” Kaitlyn replied. “They checked her out and fixed up the bandages, but she wasn’t too badly hurt. Her Pokemon got checked out at the Center, and they’re going to be fine too.” She neglected to add that Mira had apologized over Cassie getting hurt while trying to help her - that didn’t seem to be something she needed right now, more words to add to guilt she shouldn’t feel in the first place.
“Thanks for taking Orion and Paulos over,” Cassie started, reaching for the Poke Balls at her bedside to run her fingers over the orbs almost soothingly. “I hope you haven’t been sitting there bored the whole time.” Kaitlyn smiled softly, shaking her head in reply and holding up her phone.
“Was browsing PokeBattles for a bit, thinking about team additions. That sort of thing.”
“Team additions? You’re thinking about adding another member?”
“Maybe,” Kaitlyn said, shrugging. “We’re headed down 207 soon, and I’ve heard there are some Skarmory in the area. I’m hoping we spot one while we’re going through.”
Cassie didn’t miss the hint of excitement that crept into Kaitlyn’s voice despite how she tried to keep her voice calm. It was nice to see that her friend wasn’t as stoic as she tried to appear all the time after all. Come to think of it, she hadn’t really discussed Kaitlyn’s team all that much since she’d met the girl, with most of their focus being on the older girl trying to bring her up to speed on trainer life and practicing for the battle against Gardenia.
“I’m guessing they’re pretty rare around here?” she asked.
“More or less,” Kaitlyn replied. “Sightings aren’t very common, but I saw on the forums that people have been seeing an awful lot of them around the trails branching off from the main route over the last week or so. Not sure if something’s messing with their normal habitat, or if there’s just a flock coming back from migration or something.”
“We can go looking for one on the way, if you want. I don’t mind.”
Kaitlyn arched an eyebrow. “Are you sure? I know you wanted to get to Oreburgh to get in your challenge with Roark -”
“Kaitlyn, you’re my friend,” Cassie interrupted, frowning as if her statement was the most obvious thing in the world. “Why would I mind helping you hunt a new Pokemon for your team? That’s just as important as the gym challenge to me, you know.”
The older blond blinked, caught off guard by the statement as she stopped and ran fingers through her hair. Somehow, she’d paid enough attention to Cassie to see how much she cared about her Pokemon and the people around her without realizing that it might actually apply to her as well. Classic Kaitlyn, she heard Kayley’s voice say in her mind.
“If...you don’t mind, I’d love to have the help,” she said awkwardly, causing Cassie to laugh at the suddenly uncomfortable look on her face.
“Of course I’ll help! What, did you think I wouldn’t want to see new Pokemon too?” Cassie teased, wagging a finger from her bed.
At least she seemed to be feeling better, Kaitlyn thought even as she felt her face heat a bit in embarrassment. She pulled up a map of the route on her phone, zooming in a bit to focus on 207 as she stood up and walked over so that Cassie could see the phone as well.
“How about we make a plan, then?”
Evening came without too much of a fuss as Cassie rested in her hospital room, finishing off the last of some soup that Kaitlyn had brought her to eat from a local restaurant after clearing it with one of the nurses. The hospital food wasn’t bad, per se, but it was still pretty bland compared to basically anything she could find in the city to eat. Kaitlyn had left for the evening to get something to eat and take care of her team, promising to be back early in the morning when they were ready to release her. With all the tests done and results scanned, Cassie seemed to be fine barring the soreness that remained in her lungs and throat. She’d been given some various antibiotics as a precaution against anything she might’ve picked up from falling in the river, but other than that, it looked like nothing that wouldn’t heal up in a few days.
With little else to do and her Pokemon recovering quietly in their balls at her bedside, she grabbed her phone and navigated to Zoogle. As ridiculous as it sounded, her mind had been occupied by one singular thought the entire time since Kaitlyn had left earlier, and that was the topic of Kaitlyn’s sister. The girl apparently owned a Garchomp, of all things, and for all intents and purposes seemed to be a Dragon trainer like her sister was a Steel specialist if the pieces in Cassie’s mind were fitting together like they ought to. On a whim, her fingers tapped across the tiny keyboard, putting in the first thing that came to mind that might give her some confirmation.
Kayley Rayne Delilah Garchomp
She tapped Enter with a thumb, instantly pulling up a relatively sparse amount of results, but the first few held what she was looking for. Three links down, she clicked on a thumbnail of a picture to load the page accompanying it, and her eyes widened.
Clear as day stood a girl that was Kaitlyn’s twin, albeit with shorter hair styled differently than the long ponytail Kaitlyn wore, though the bright grin on her face and excited peace signs she was making with both hands seemed the total opposite of the serious-natured Steel-type trainer she’d come to know over the past few weeks. Behind her, however, stood the towering form of what was unmistakably the Sinnoh region’s resident pseudo-legendary Pokemon. Taller than Kayley by at least a half foot or more, the Garchomp was intimidating to even look at, thick dark blue skin covering bands of muscle and a tail that looked like it could shatter concrete with a single swing. Clawed hands and feet gleamed pearl white in the photo, immaculately cleaned and looking razor sharp, and the horn-like structures jutting from either side of her head framed a mouth full of dagger teeth and menacing black and gold eyes.
Psuedo-legendary Pokemon, as they were often known, were widely considered some of the most difficult Pokemon to train that existed. Almost without exception, these Pokemon shared a few similar traits - first forms that were relatively weak and slow to grow, middle stages that they stayed in for extraordinarily long periods of time, and final evolutions that were among the pinnacle of power for their typing. Each region held one such Pokemon that trainer communities had given the unofficial classification to, with the notable exception of the Hoenn region which featured both the Dragon and Flying-type Salamence as well as the Steel and Psychic-type Metagross. These Pokemon commonly took years to reach their final forms of evolution; to do so inside of a single year was considered an extraordinary feat of both the Pokemon and its trainer and had only ever been documented a handful of times.
The page, which appeared to be a forum thread talking about Kayley and her new acquisition from just over a year ago, had a video link from Poketube further down the page. The moment she tapped it to start the video, causing the title and playback buttons to appear, her eyes widened at what she saw.
Blackthorn gym trainer gets destroyed
Uploaded: 1 year ago
162K views
The video opened on an outdoor battlefield, presumably somewhere in or near Blackthorn City in Johto if the title was any indication, with a crowd of people scattered around and visible in the cellphone-recorded footage. It was rowdy and noisy, yelling from pretty much everyone around overlapping into an unintelligible cacophony, and Cassie could only make out some scattered fragments of sentences as she listened.
“...she crazy? That's a gym...”
“...two on one with him? Even with...”
“...the way she looked when he said that...”
The view swung wildly for a few seconds as whoever was taking the video moved to get a better view, finally stopping and refocusing the phone from an angle near the center of the battlefield's sideline. Cassie could see an older man in the background apparently stepping up to act as referee, confirmed a moment later when he began to announce the battle and called out that it would be two Pokemon against Kayley’s one. The girl looked undeterred by that, rolling around a lone Poke Ball in her hand impatiently as the man called for her opponent to send out his first choice. From a Great Ball, a beautifully-colored Dragonair appeared, the sinuous Dragon winding around in the air like a majestic blue sea serpent and trilling a loud battle cry as it awaited Kayley’s choice.
“Delilah, it's time to play!”
Kayley grinned happily as she lobbed the ball high into the air, and a couple snickers broke out from the nearby crowd as they waited to see what she was choosing to take on a lopsided match with.
The giggles died off abruptly as Delilah's six-foot tall muscled body materialized from the ball, roaring loudly before looking back at her trainer with open curiosity and a slightly-canted head that looked a bit out of place on the powerful Pokemon. Kayley’s next words were almost crystal clear in the sudden stunned silence of the onlooking crowd at the appearance of a fully-evolved Dragon.
“Delilah, this guy doesn't think I'm a real Dragon Tamer. Don't play too rough with him, okay?”
Kayley almost looked like she was pouting from what Cassie could see from the video's point of view, with hands on her hips and a shake of her head, but the blond girl suddenly wondered if the whole thing was just an act. The Garchomp grinned, the mouth full of teeth broadening into a wicked smile, and she turned to face the Dragonair and its suddenly-hesitant trainer with a loud, rumbling growl.
Cassie peered at the video's remaining runtime - about 4 minutes, give or take - as the referee called for the battle to start. The moment it did, something in Kayley’s expression changed like the flip of a switch, and she grinned with just a touch of manic glee as she pointed at the Dragonair.
“Dragon Claw!”
“Evade and Dragon Pulse!”
The first two commands set the tone for what Cassie quickly discovered was a quick, dirty, and brutal battle that Kayley’s opponent discovered he had been woefully unprepared for. From the word go, her Garchomp practically mobbed the poor Dragonair across from it, battering it with a storm of flying claws, teeth, and fins. It looked absolutely brutal from an outside perspective, but Cassie was surprised to find that there was very little bloodshed despite the fact that Delilah almost looked like she was ripping her foe apart. It took barely sixty seconds for the third-stage Dragon to finish with her foe, some burning on her chest and arms from Dragon Pulses the only marks she had to show from the violent exchanges, and the stunned trainer recalled his unconscious Pokemon before tossing out an Ultra Ball in its place. A bright sky blue bird with a long neck appeared where Dragonair had once been, the Altaria's wings and body covered in downy cotton-like material and feathers, and it shrieked a nearly ear-piercing challenge to the Pokemon in front of it.
Kayley’s grin only got wider, and she rubbed her hands together gleefully as she took in the sight in front of her.
“I love Altaria, but that doesn't mean I'll go easy on it! ‘Lilah, give it a hug!”
‘Hug,’ as Cassie discovered, was apparently her way of saying ‘Body Slam.’ Altaria was rocked before it could ascend out of the way, knocked into the air behind its trainer like a pinball, and from there followed a familiar sight to how the first exchange had gone - albeit a bit more drawn out. Altaria was faster than Dragonair had been and launched out deafening Hyper Voices that sounded like they rattled windows for a mile along with torrents of Dragon Pulse every chance it got, but the dual Dragon and Flying-type was simply not equipped to stand up to a Garchomp in close combat. Tufts of cottony feathers and down flew as claws sliced and teeth snapped, and in no time at all Kayley's opponent was recalling his second Pokemon with a look of disbelief across his face. Roughly three minutes had passed from start to finish, and Delilah looked almost smug in her victory as Kayley grinned.
“Still think I'm not a real Dragon Tamer now, mister gym trainer?”
The video cut off a few seconds later as Kayley recalled Delilah, not letting Cassie see what might've happened afterwards, but the crowd's stricken reaction had said a lot by itself. She continued down the page, starting to take a look at the comments underneath and quickly wishing she hadn't.
Chatotbox / February 24th, 2024 / 3:31 SST
Arceus, what did I just watch?
EeveeEnthusiast41 / February 24th, 2024 / 3:32 SST
Replying to Chatotbox
a gym trainer getting wrecked
TheRunningMon / February 24th, 2024 / 3:34 SST
Are we sure that guy is even a Blackthorn trainer in the first place? Looks like he got scrubbed out pretty quick.
EeveeEnthusiast41 / February 24th, 2024 / 3:35 SST
did you even wathc the video? they said it like 3 times moron
TheRunningMon / February 24th, 2024 / 3:37 SST
Replying to EeveeEnthusiast41
I’m from Blackthorn, idiot, and I’ve never seen that guy before. Either he’s new, or he’s lying for clout. Maybe do some research next time before calling someone out, dumbass.
EeveeEnthusiast41 / February 24th, 2024 / 3:38 SST
Replying to TheRunningMon
did your baby feelings get huryt? Blackthorn gym isnt even that strong anyway. clairs a terrible leadre and just rides her cousins fame
StarrySkies96 / February 24th, 2024 / 3:40 SST
Replying to TheRunningMon
Eevee's just trolling again, don’t worry about him. Could be a new trainer. Is there anything on the gym's page about the battle or the trainer? Or local news?
EeveeEnthusiast41 / February 24th, 2024 / 3:41 SST
Replying to StarrySkies96
shut up loser
“Well, that’s familiar...” Cassie muttered, skimming the rest of the posts on the first page of the thread and seeing that there were forty-seven more pages. She clicked over to page two, seeing that the entire discussion for at least another page or so did nothing but devolve into enough arguing that a moderator finally stepped in to deal with the offending parties. Sighing, she just closed the entire tab before browsing over to Poketube. Whatever info might be there, it wasn’t worth sifting through forty-plus pages of what might be nothing more than intermittent flame wars to try and find. At the very least, she knew for sure that Kayley had a Garchomp, which was the big thing she wanted to confirm.
Her ‘Watch Later’ page was getting rather large, she noticed with amusement. She spent at least an hour or two every day just researching and watching videos on various aspects of trainer life, Pokemon care, and anything else her mind wandered to. 12 Raising Tips Every Fire Type Trainer MUST Know, Working With Team Compositions, Battle Tactics Every Trainer Should Master, A New Kind Of Evolution - How Regional Variants Showcase Pokemon Adaptability...the list was well over fifty videos and growing now. She'd need an entire weekend to even try to catch up, and that was if she didn’t do any training, traveling, or other things in the meantime.
Yeah, she wasn't getting through that anytime soon, she thought with a sigh. She clicked the volume on her phone down and flipped it onto its side for a better screen before pressing Play on the first video in her list. She still had an entire evening to kill, after all, and she figured she could at least start making a dent in the group while she rested.