[Pokemon] Clear Skies Above

[Nemrut]

Hello, lurker of two years or so here, but this should be my first post. Ever since Pokemon Go came out, have been back into pokemon. And while I only played like a month with the game, it reignited my passion and interest in this franchise. A mate and I have been working on our own, loosely connected pokemon stories ever since. Half a year ago or so, I started posting the chapters on ff.net and Ao3 and decided to expand that to this site (and a few others) as well.

Summary: The day Lyn received her trainer's license she lost to a magmar in the exam, bailed on her family and watched her estranged sister's pikachu cripple two pokemon in a friendly match. At least Sabrina also offered her a sponsorship. There were worse ways to start your pokemon journey.

Information that is kinda important is that while I am writing this as a normal story, and has indeed been planned as such, it still has elements of a pen & paper game, in that the roll of the dice decides quite a few outcomes; Which and how many pokemon are encountered, whether or not they are caught, how the battles go and what kind of pokemon other people have.

The reasoning behind this is to prevent ourselves from just going for the pokemon we like and instead to simulate the adventure feeling to some degree, as the characters will not necessarily encounter or capture the pokemon they want and instead go with the pokemon they happen to find.

Which is also the reason why Cassie's current team is this weird mixture between early days Ash and Team Rocket. It was completely unintentional and just happened to work out that way.

Also rolling dice for these type of games is a lot of fun. We roll for each other, so that no one is tempted to fudge the dice a bit and admittedly to make fun of the other for having bad/weird rolls.

All that said, here we go with the story. 7 chapters are kinda done so far, although I will be editing them still. One of my personal failings as a writer is the habit to not progress in writing a story and instead harp on already written stuff and try to fix them until I get bored with it and while this is a habit I will never truly kick, the goal here is to once a chapter is done and editing to some satisfaction, to then go work on the next chapter. After the story is "finished", then I will go back and try to polish them as best as I can. And I really do want to finish this project, for once.

Which is not to say I will throw out barely readable stuff, of course. Just that I am more focused on completing it, rather than editing it. I hope that is okay.

Ironically, have been heavily editing and reworking the earlier chapters these last few days so they should be a bit more polished, big thanks to Zenzao, Jarik and other helpful people for that.

Interludes aside, chapters should be around the 5-7k range, some a bit more, some a bit less. The format this will go is two Lyn chapters, followed by two Cassie chapters and then an interlude from the POV of some other person doing something else in another place, in order to flesh out the world and get to know some players who might become important at a later point.

So, with all that out of the way, will start posting the chapters. I will use this opportunity to edit each chapter before posting it here, so depending on the speed I am working with, it might take a few days until this thread is completely caught up on how far along the story is so far. For those who want to be up to speed faster, Ao3 and ff.net have seven chapters up and am currently writing the 8th, but I'm not the fastest writer. Nevertheless, this is the one story I really want to complete, so, am a bit hopeful on that regard.

Hope you'll enjoy this story.

Chapter Links:

Chapter 1 - Lyn 1 (6847 words)
Chapter 2 - Lyn 2 (6742 words)
Chapter 3 - Cassie 1
Chapter 4 - Cassie 2
Chapter 5 - Faze Interlude
Chapter 6 - Lyn 3
Chapter 7 - Lyn 4
Chapter 8 - Cassie 3 (WIP)

 

[Nemrut]

Chapter 1 - Lyn 1

Chapter 1- Lyn 1

The white board nailed to the wall in front of her had the pictures of her classmates attached to the top rows. Under each picture was a list of their pokemon. What type they were, what attacks they had used during the two years they’d all been together and other information Lyn found relevant. Most importantly, a big question mark in each column, for things that they had kept secret or had learned since their last class a week ago.

These were going to be a few of her opponents today and she’d been staring at this board all night and most of the morning. Left out were the people she just didn’t know who would also be taking the exam, bringing pokemon and tricks she had no real way of preparing herself for.

It was equal parts exciting and dreadful.

A quick, hot shower and hour earlier had been all the reprise she had granted herself. That had removed all traces of tiredness and feeling clean was always a nice feeling.

The current Saffron City gym had a reputation for being one of the toughest in the whole circuit. The leader had proved herself by obliterating the previous official gym of the city and claiming their position in the Pokemon League as her own, despite them having defended that title for decades in the face of a type disadvantage.

That didn’t mean that it was any more difficult per se to get the trainers license there. In theory, at least, as technically speaking the requirements should be the same everywhere. That said, while the process itself didn't involve Sabrina until the end, it would still be her judgment that counted.

And Sabrina didn't suffer any fools. The gym leader was notorious for her low passing percentage. It made Lyn’s stomach queasy to think about it, but she wouldn't want it any other way.

Browsing the Saffron City gym thread earlier hadn't helped. Once she had filtered through the incessant complaining and insults, the experiences the hundreds of posters had shared didn't paint the most promising picture for those who sought either the trainers license or the badge. Many were resentful and bitter on their losses and failures while that very same thing amused and delighted many others, which wasn’t an environment to get much insight out of.

And all that said, the whiteboard with her classmates wasn’t the only one in her room. She had a second one that had only three names on it, but instead those names were of trainers who would crush her as she was now. Trainers that she would have to beat at some point. After all, the license exam was only the first step on her journey, the starting line. Being champion was a long way off, but the Saffron Youth Tournament next month?

If she got her license, that was within her reach. A tournament for trainers under the age of twenty, for those who wanted to prove themselves and win both the prize money and the opportunity to get sponsored by either Surge, Whitney or Erika. Gym leaders who very rarely did such a thing and which was an opportunity that couldn’t be missed.

Not Sabrina, unfortunately.

Winning the SYT would open a lot of doors. It would also draw strong, young trainers from all over. Trainers like Arianna or Pullo, trainers who probably could have won a badge or two by now if having one wouldn’t have disqualified them from the tournament.

“When’s your match?”

Lyn looked over from her white board to see her mother – step-mother - entering her room.

Elyse Winter was a tall, blonde woman with a homely face. She had gained some extra weight after Amy’s birth, and stress had put wrinkles of worry on her face, but Lyn hoped to look half as good as her step-mother once she reached that point in her life and if the countless times their neighbor knocked on their door with some slapdash excuse were anything to go by, he most definitely agreed. Now in her early 40s, she had married Lyn’s father three years after his divorce from Lyn’s mother.

“Later in the day. The theoretical part comes first,” Lyn said. She had turned around to face Elyse. “The tournament should be starting before noon.”
Elyse glanced at the clock that hung over the door. “It’s just after seven now,” Lyn said.

“Would you mind if we watched?” Elyse was rubbing her left elbow but was still smiling. “Because I would love to be there and so would Amara.” She paused for a bit. “Your father as well, but he said he'd be busy with writing.”

Or drinking. Lyn shrugged. “Sure, if you want. It’s not going to be that interesting though. Only a bunch of beginners fighting.”

“Oh, don’t say that, I’m sure you‘re going to be amazing!” Elyse said with a lot more vigor than Lyn thought the situation warranted.

“Cassie might be there as well, though, if the Bullet Train is on time,” Lyn said.

Elyse didn’t frown, but the smile fell from her face. “How nice, I haven’t seen Cassandra for years.” Her voice lowered, now more solemn. “Are you sure you can’t stay a few more days? Tomorrow is so soon. Amara and I would love to spend a few days with her as well.”

“We’ve been planning this for a while, I’m not going to change the plan that drastically on the fly.”

This time, she did frown. “Oh. Well, if that’s what you want, of course. I can prepare some snacks for you two then, for the road. You girls need proper nutrition”

“You don’t need to bother, Elyse.”

“It's never a bother and I want to.” She smiled, which didn’t hide the sadness in her face. “And come down for breakfast, dear. Amara was rather hungry earlier, and she desperately wants her older sister. It’s all she has been talking about, really.”

Lyn had forgotten about breakfast and Elyse insisted on all three of them being present before they began eating.

It'll be only the two of them from now on. She should feel a bit bad about that, but she needed to go. This would be for their sake as well. “I’m sorry, be down in a minute.”

Elyse nodded and left the room to go downstairs. Someone had to keep an eye on Amara and the pokemon downstairs weren't always up to the task. Lyn wasn’t too worried though. Amara - or Amy - was usually well behaved in that regard, especially for a six-year-old. Too bad she had charmed Lyn's team.

Jolt will miss her a lot.

She turned her PC off and went downstairs to find that breakfast was ready on the table. Amy was in her seat with Jolt hovering next to her and they were playing their usual weird game of tag. Amy tried to poke the magnemite, but it floated out of reach at the last second every time, its hollow hum of amusement and silly expression, alongside the spinning of its magnets making her giggle. Empy, the nidoran, was already digging into her bowl with pokefood alongside Bella, the sunflora. Carrie was nowhere in sight, which led to one conclusion.

Can’t forget to feed her before we go. Abras may not do much outside of sleeping but they did need regular meals nonetheless. “Hey Amy,” she greeted her younger half-sister who turned to her with a big smile.

“Morning Lyn!” she yelled. Jolt used the momentary distraction to float to the small electric station in the far end of the kitchen. Magnemites and a few other electric types preferred electrical currents as nourishment. Some could consume food, but Jolt needed to recharge at stations like these.

She had already packed the portable one alongside everything else she needed for her journey. Her backpack was ready to go.

“How are you feeling?” Elyse asked between pouring everyone some orange juice.

“Okay.”

“Lyn is going to win against everyone today!” The one person more confident than Elyse seemed to be her little sister.

Elyse smiled at Amy and then at Lyn. “Yes, I’m sure she’ll do great today. We’ll be cheering you on extra hard, dear.”

Lyn nodded and forced a smile on her face. “Thanks. I’m a bit a nervous but I should be able to pass the exam.”

“Do your best, and I have no doubt that you will pass,” said Elyse. "We know you can do it."

It was a relief that from then on Elyse steered the breakfast conversation back to Amy. The six-year old immediately began to gush about what had happened in kindergarten yesterday. One of the caretakers had brought in a new marill which had in return captured the hearts of the kids on the spot. With marills being the adorable critters that they were, Lyn wasn't surprised.
She finished her meal in a hurry, thanked Elyse and left the room. It didn’t take her long to find Carrie. She had teleported herself into Elyse’s wardrobe. It was one of her three favorite spots in the house to sleep in. Luckily for all of them, Lyn knew her step-mom didn’t mind and was rather fond of the abra.

I need to make things easier for her, once I come back.

Waking her up wasn’t difficult. Carrie had long gotten used to her presence. It takes a while for abras to do that and not teleport away immediately, even after getting captured. Lyn was lucky in that regard. Receiving her education in Saffron with its extensive focus on psychic pokemon had helped. They had a lot of tips to give with regards to training a psychic pokemon. For people who didn’t know what to do, trying to take care of a freshly captured abra was a nightmare. If you weren’t prepared, the abra would just teleport away when it was first released. Good luck getting that pokemon back.

With a grunt, Lyn carried Carrie to her room and gave her a few snacks, watching her eat them on her bed. She let out a small sigh and shook her arms. Carrie wasn’t exactly a lightweight.
She knew she'd be at a certain disadvantage later today. She'd have only two pokemon to fight with whereas most participants would have one more to choose from. Until she evolved, Carrie was only able to eat, sleep and teleport.

Still, it will have to be enough.

It should be, Lyn had faith in Empy and especially in Jolt. Magnemites weren’t super-rare or anything but not that many people used them for some reason. As such, fewer people had experience dealing with them. That and the fact that they were solid fighters was an advantage of sorts.

Another quick check on the clock showed that it was almost eight. She still had more than an hour, but she wanted to be there on time and it was a bit of a walk.

Satisfied that Carrie had eaten up, she returned her to her ball. She grabbed her backpack and left her room. Empy and Jolt were still lounging in the kitchen, while Elyse was doing the dishes. On a normal day, she would have long since dropped off Amy at the kindergarten before going to work herself. For today though, it seemed she had already taken the day off. Her boss was fickle when it came to giving employees a day off and Elyse had still gone ahead and done just that. Just for the chance that Lyn would be okay with Elyse watching her match.

Lyn didn’t quite know how to feel about that. She wasn't too psyched about spectators, least of all to have Elyse and Amy possibly see her fail. But it was…nice, she supposed. They were doing what no one else in her family was going to do. That deserved more than the awkwardness that Lyn was giving them.

“I’m going out now.” Empy and Jolt had perked up at that and hurried to her. She returned Jolt to its pokeball. Empy squeaked at her, happy that she could remain outside. She and Jolt took turns but nidorans needed more movement than magnemites. It was important that Empy got to walk as much as she could. It would also be somewhat of a warm-up for the later fights.

Wish I could have more than one pokemon out in the city.

That had to wait a while, though. One needed a good reason to have two of them out, and because you felt like it unfortunately didn’t count unless one was a gym leader. Few people got the permission for that.

“Okay, honey,” Elyse said, coming over and giving Lyn a quick, heartfelt hug. The younger girl hesitated for a few seconds before returning it, harder than she had wanted but she found herself holding onto Elyse for a good five seconds before she let go. “Good luck and do your best.”

“Sure,” mumbled Lyn and with a quick good-bye to Amy, she rushed out of the door, glad to be out of the house.

She took a deep breath once outside and started to walk. She passed the lone oak tree in the Winter family garden which housed Fred the forretress. Elyse had owned him for years and all he did was hang in the tree, not doing anything. Both seemed content with their dynamic and neither Lyn nor Amy could understand why. It seemed so boring.

Soon, she had left their property behind. She had walked this path hundreds of times in the last few years, ever since she started studying at the Gym for her trainer’s license when she had turned fifteen. That was the same day she'd gotten Empy as her starter.

Truth to be told, she hadn’t been too psyched at first. While nidoqueen wasn’t a pushover by any means, she hadn’t been in any of the line-ups for her future pokemon teams she had played around with. However, she had found a partner in Empy that had quickly turned out to be a like-minded soul.

The city was full of people as always. Countless humans of all walks of life hurried to work. Many had their pokemon at their side, filling the streets in-between the large buildings. One of the interesting things about Saffron City was the variety of pokemon on its streets. As the capital and the biggest city of Kanto, they got people and pokemon from all over the continent. So, one was just as likely to meet those pokemon most common to Kanto as one was some of the more exotic species. You didn’t see a ribombee every day, for example, like that one guy had following him down the street.

Many of them came for Silph Co., a veritable titan of commerce and innovation in the world. It was an economic and political heavy weight in Saffron and had a lot of people under its employ. While it was the biggest firm by a good margin, it was not the only one present in Saffron. Where it really stood out from the rest was in the tall, black and chrome headquarters at the center of the city. Cutting edge technology had gone into constructing a gargantuan skyscraper towering above all others, with the company name proudly visible in giant letters from anywhere you stood bellow.

Lyn got to pass it on her way and it was always buzzing with busy employees skittering in and out of its big entrance, with doors large enough to classify as gate of glass, steel and velvet.
The guards and their pokemon - an arcanine, an alakazam and a venosaur - were observing everyone entering with keen senses. There had been a break-in a few years back and ever since then, the security had increased.

Now and then, you could see a police officer wandering the streets. Once or twice, the occasional ranger would rush through, always in a hurry. The cars, buses and bikes were loud and obnoxious in a lot of ways. Their smell, their noise, their speed and frequency. Thanks to the years of living in the city, Empy, and most other pokemon, had long since gotten used to that.
She would also quite often see flyers and posters pinned to various walls, telephone poles and shopping windows, proclaiming the date for the SYT. DJ Mary, the radio show host from Goldenrod, was apparently going to be the announcer.

Saffron City had stricter rules on releasing pokemon on its streets because of that. There were a few that normal people and even licensed trainers just weren’t allowed to release. One had to have the appropriate license for it. You couldn’t release an onix in any city, for example. You needed to be a gym leader to do it or a company that was building something.
Otherwise, you had to be mindful of the people and property around you.

In about twenty minutes, they reached the gym. Standing in front of its doors, it was steadfastly progressive, a huge dome made from inter-lapping segments the color of soft lilac. Twelve tapering spikes extended from the dome down into the ground, six to each side of the entrance, serving as both support and foreboding warning. It was one of the largest buildings in the city, dwarfing the surrounding housing and companies. Extensive renovations had been made starting fifteen years ago.

It had been the most modern gym in Kanto ever since. The Fighting Dojo, the previous city gym, wasn't even a third of its size. An older building, almost antique, it had been a temple with a shrine in the back, stemming to over a hundred years ago. It was a relic of older times.

The gym teachers had claimed that the reason the Saffron City gym was rebuilt there, right next to the Dojo, wasn't to shame anyone. Rather, it was a reminder to never get complacent with your training. A rival was always waiting for you to slip up. Winning once wasn't enough, as anyone could fluke into a victory. You had to keep winning, again, and again, until there was no doubt remaining. So far, they had.

As such, the rivalry between those two institutions had never waned.

“This is it. How are you feeling?” she asked her pokemon and she saw Empy give a strong nod, meeting her eyes. The squeak she let out was energetic and Lyn knew that her partner was ready for the battles ahead. Some would be opponents they had beaten and a few they had previously lost to. Some they would fight for the first time.

But it wouldn’t matter. They would win.

“Remember our training, as long as you stay in motion, and get closer, that pressure will make them nervous.”

Empy’s nose twitched and she lightly bumped her head against Lyn’s leg, impatience showing.

It was bad form to roam a gym with pokemon out of their pokeballs, so Lyn recalled Empy with a smile. People were working with all kinds of pokemon in there. Since one never knew which, it was best to be careful and not cause any complications.

With that thought in mind, she opened the gym gates. The reception hall was large, with a tired, balding man sitting in front of his computer. Albert was the longest working person in the gym; he had seen three leaders during his time. He'd been here before this had even been the official gym of Saffron City, before Sabrina.

Lyn gave him a quick nod and hurried through the many halls to the classroom.
------------------------------
The theoretical part, answering a bunch of questions for an hour and a half, wasn't difficult. Lyn knew that anyone taking the training business seriously had better be able to answer those. There had been two questions to stump the candidates on meaningless details, though. Lyn hadn't wasted any more time on them than she had to. Generally speaking, few people who had stuck to this for years failed this part.

Those who did deserved to fail.

No, the difficult part came with the mini-tournament afterwards, between all sixteen hopeful trainers taking the exam today.

“You don’t have to win to get the trainer’s license and the pokedex,” said Florence. She was a gym official and one of Sabrina’s top trainers. In her late twenties, she was also one of the tallest people working in the gym. She wore her long brown hair tied back in a casual ponytail, and the standard gym uniform stretched over her muscular, darkly tanned figure.

Sabrina rarely talked with the budding trainers, leaving that to her staff. She was watching, though, right now, of that Lyn had no doubt.

It would be her decision, after all. Few people had the authorization to grant a trainer license.

"But you’ll have to put on a show worth watching. You’ve gotta prove to us that you understand what it means to train and lead a pokemon in battle. That said, if we find that your actions are unacceptable, then even a win won't give you the license. There’s no such thing as room for trash or idiots in the battling world. That's true for all battles. Whether it's here for the license, in tournaments or much later for the badge. If you screw up, you’re out, and generally I’ll do the throwing unless you’ve got shit luck and Sabrina does it herself.”

Florence was sort of an anomaly in the gym. The trainers employed tended to favor psychic pokemon, for obvious reasons and yet despite her personal focus on a more physical based combat, she had managed to impress Sabrina long ago and had been working as one of her top people for years now, effectively serving as her right-hand woman. Her metagross was a beast.

Besides, everyone had a healthy respect for the woman who could lift her own larvitar.

It wasn’t anything they hadn’t heard before though. Florence or whoever taught for that day had delivered a lecture like this a few times in the last three months. Usually whenever an instructor felt the class needed to hear this again, which was more often than anyone had liked.

That said, not everyone in this exam had been a student here. Besides Lyn, there were eight others who had been in the same class. The other seven had either taken private lessons or had moved to Saffron recently, or else had come today just for the exam.

While most exams were happening on this day, not all gyms had them. Some were a week later. Not everyone was the same age either. While Lyn was eighteen and so were five of her classmates and one of the outsiders, the rest were a few years older. One of the candidates, Bryce, was nearing thirty.

Just as Florence was going to continue, the sound an obnoxious popsong interrupted her. Annoyed, she reached for her pokecom and checked the caller ID. “Of course, it’s Marjane. I’ve got to take this, wait a minute guys.” With that, she turned around and walked a bit to the side before accepting the call.

“Oh man, that guy looks tough,” said Nigel to Vyle, both of them Lyn’s classmates, loud enough for her to hear him. Nigel was tall, with short black hair and dark skin, and a fondness for flying pokemon. Vyle was short, not even coming to Nigel's shoulders, with long, wavy brown hair, a pale complexion and glasses. They'd been dating for a few weeks and if Lyn had understood things correctly they'd be traveling together if things went well. He wasn’t wrong though. The boy, one of those whose name she didn’t know, looked to be the same age as them and dressed in particularly high-quality clothes.

That wasn’t what was remarkable though. That would be the fact that one of the three poke balls on his belt was blue with red dots. A great ball, rather than three regular ones that beginners like them usually had.

Whatever he had inside that thing was likely to be stronger than anything else here today.

Vyle seemed to agree. She was looking annoyed as she nodded. Her eyes were still glued to his great ball. “Heard about guys like that. Could've taken the exam at whatever private big shot thing they studied at until now. Instead they take part in exams like this to make a big splash by beating the idiots there.”

“Why not graduate with his other big shot friends?” Nigel asked, a frown on his face.

“Because the assumption is that his chances to win against his big shot friends is less than his chances against us,” Lyn said before Vyle could. She looked surprised and nodded.

“Probably. A bit cowardly, if you ask me.”

"A gamble," Lyn answered, a frown on her face.

"What do you mean?" asked Vyle.

Nigel seemed to have understood though. "I'm guessing people at those schools have better pokemon, yeah? But aren't really better at using them, right? That's what you want to say?"
Lyn nodded.

“Richer folk can get the pokemon that need a higher upkeep. Which beginner could afford to feed a snorlax for example?”

“I barely make ends meet as it is," lamented Vyle. “Imagine having to feed that.”

“Man, that’s bumming me out.” Nigel groaned as he ran both of his hands through his hair. “Still, no reason to give up though.”

“Of course not,” Vyle agreed, crossing her arms. “A pokemon is only as good as the trainer. For all we know, he simply didn’t have the chops to graduate where he was and had to come here.”

“Or wherever he was before doesn’t have the authority to grant licenses, since few places can do so besides an official Gym.” Nigel’s voice wasn’t that confident but Lyn and Vyle nodded.

“Could also be that those big-shot institutions are not as prestigious as getting a license from someone like Sabrina. Certainly worth a lot more coming from here than some league washout, right?” Vyle suggested.

“Well, either way, we'll see if his gamble pays off. Should be fun,” Lyn stated.

Vyle seemed amused. “What's got you so chatty today? Usually you don't gossip with us like this.”

"Usually, you two don't talk about anything interesting."

Nigel laughed as Vyle rolled her eyes. "Harsh, Raine. Harsh. I can't believe I'll miss you," she said.

"I can’t believe it either. You're more masochistic than you led me to believe, Vyle," said Lyn, "if you're truly going to miss your regular defeats."

Vyle laughed and lightly bumped her shoulder against Lyn. “I’m going to somewhat miss you,” she corrected, grinning, something that made Nigel chortle harder.

Vyle and Nigel were solid enough trainers but Lyn didn’t have the impression that either one of them truly pursued the same path as her. Nigel had a bigger interest in studying pokemon, flying pokemon in particular and was probably hoping to get a spot in Falkner’s gym. Vyle did like battling, but she hadn’t said a word about the SYT.

One of the few people of her class that Lyn knew had set her eyes on the same goal as her would be Mara. Her charmander was well trained and strong and there was no such thing as a guaranteed win against her. She was standing with her own group of friends, shooting the occasional glance at the trainer with the great ball, until she looked over and their eyes met. Mara gave her a slow nod, which Lyn returned.

I hope I fight her.

Florence, until now distracted with a phone call, focused her attention back on the group.

“Okay, people. You know the rules. Two pokemon each." She looked at the screen in her hand that was the size of a book. "We even got our first pair. First ones up are Lyn and Faze. Go through the door and give us a good fight.”

The trainer they had been talking about started moving.

Speak of the devil.

"Good luck," said Nigel and patted her lightly on the shoulder. “Do your best.”

"Have fun," Vyle said, a small smile on her lips, no doubt remembering Lyn's earlier words.

"Oh, I will."

Lyn nodded at Florence and followed Faze, walking through the door. After entering the indoor arena, she stepped forward to the fighting field. The arena they were fighting in was one of the smaller ones at the gym. It was a mixed field. It had several smaller, connected pockets of water, each the size of a kiddie pool. Around it was plenty of land with sand, grass, trees and rocks covering it. That way, it allowed for a multitude of pokemon to fight at their best. All around the fighting field, there were seats for roughly only a hundred spectators. They had designed this room for either training or fights of low importance such as this.

The big gym battles happened in the arena that could host thousands. It even had expensive cameras fixed all over. The fan remixes of some of these battles had become popular over the years.

The audience for this was already present. Not even twenty people. There wouldn’t be any cameras here today. It was rare for something spectacular to happen at one of these qualification tournaments.

Most of the time, such as today, only family members cared about this. Lyn knew that at times scouts from big firms like Silph Co. came to look for some promising talent. Sponsors and news could find their way here, but they needed to already have an interest in someone. Today, it was just two bored looking reporters sitting in their designated seats. Each one had a smart phone ready, just in case.

Lyn hoped to give them something to see.

She also saw Elyse and Amy in the stands who were waving their hands at her, but she didn't bother waving back. Instead, she settled for a quick smile and a nod of her head.

The contestants took their spots on opposing sides. They nodded to each other and grabbed their first pokeballs and released their pokemon.

Empy and an horsea materialized on the field, Empy on the land, immediately shuffling around, whereas the horsea found itself in the water.

That was an unfortunate matchup.

How annoying that I can’t switch out Empy for Jolt.

Still, it was winnable.

The horsea was quick and agile but not that strong. It also wasn't the most durable of pokemon. Then again, neither was Empy. Not yet. Still, Lyn would reckon that she could take more damage than the enemy for now but while both pokemon got more and more impressive with each evolution, at the end of horsea’s evolutionary tree waited a dragon type.

A great ball and a dragon type right at the start, how much luck can one person have?

“Water gun,” ordered Faze and the horsea shot out a stream of water from its mouth. Empy was able to dodge by jumping to the side without needing to wait for an instruction.

Never get hit was a command in play at all times. Horsea fired a few more in rapid succession and Empy was able to avoid all but the last one, which hit her in the side.

She winced, and the force of the impact pushed her back a few inches. Empy had avoided a head shot though.

“Growl!” Lyn said, her eyes darting between the pokemon and her enemy. Empy belted out a loud, piercing cry. Given her size, it came out as more of a hiss, but it did its job and intimidated the horsea, making it flinch.

It looked wary now, swimming on the spot, its focus on Empy, who was trotting nearer, making use of horseas temporary weakness.

This was something they had practiced. Always try to get close to the enemy. Long range was bad for them.

While there were no type advantages and disadvantages in this match, it was still in favor of the horsea. It was fast and could dart in-between the pools and take shots at Empy from a distance. Sooner or later, it would get a few more hits in. In turn, it'd be difficult for Empy to attack horsea back. She was lacking any and all long-distance attacks for now and it was hard to reach something in the water with her short legs.

It wasn't impossible though. A small smile found its way on her face. She looked at Faze, to see he was looking confident, his arms crossed and he was looking intently at the pokemon.

“Dash forward!”

Empy obeyed and closed the distance with surprising speed.

But not fast enough.

“Dive and water gun!” came the order to horsea from Faze the next beat and it disappeared from view.

That wasn’t unexpected. But there was always a drawback with this tactic. While it did shield the pokemon from enemy attacks, it also stopped any and all communication between trainer and pokemon.

In a lot of ways, it was a double-edged sword, and Lyn knew how to exploit it. She didn’t bother looking at the pools themselves to look for the horsea. The movement of bigger water pokemon might stir the surface and betray their location, but small ones like horsea didn't. Lyn knew that trainers liked to give instructions on where to emerge beforehand, for exactly situations like this. Preplanned strategies. It was the sensible thing to do, and Lyn had done the same.

But sometimes, the trainers forgot that they themselves were a part of the match as well. Lyn saw that Faze was looking at the pool to the left of Empy.

It wasn’t guaranteed. It might well be the case that Faze was trying to trick her by looking at the wrong pool. She didn’t know enough about him to tell.

Overestimating an enemy can be just as dangerous as underestimating them.

She had to take the gamble.

Either it paid off here and they got a few important hits in or they had bared their back to a water gun. It was better than getting whittled down without ever being able to fight back.

“Empy, turn left and rush to the edge of the pool. Double kick the second it breaches the surface.”

Faze flinched, a frown appearing on his face. He watched as Empy positioned herself, waiting for the horsea to come out.

It didn’t take too long. A few seconds later, the horsea burst through the surface. Its cheeks were already bulging and ready to fire its water gun. To its and Faze's dismay it found itself face to rear as a stubby leg smashed into its face. Empy, her head turned to watch for movement, had reacted before the horsea could.

Faze's desperate order had no chance of reaching his pokemon in time. Horsea’s were fast but they weren’t that fast, least of all when the kick was coming at point blank range.

It was lucky for Lyn and Empy that it had come up so close to the edge. It made sense, the closer the distance, the higher the chances of hitting.

We have to finish this with this attack though. We might not get another chance to close the distance like this.

The first kick slammed right in the middle of its forehead. The kick was strong. Horsea released a high-pitched howl, but the blow also pushed it back a few inches from Empy, and the second kick only grazed the trunk

Lyn had an idea that was as risky as it was stupid.

“Jump backwards!”

Empy didn't hesitate for a second and leaped. Horsea, still dazed from the first kick, was unable to react to this unexpected move and Empy slammed into it. Her toxic spines dug themselves into horsea's small body before Empy landed in the water with a small splash.

“Get out now.”

Empy paddled hastily towards the land and it was lucky that it was not far. Unfortunately, the horsea, while poisoned, had now recovered enough to attack. And while the distance was short, Empy wasn't a fast swimmer.

“Water gun!” its trainer roared, and the water attack slammed against the back of Empy’s head. Lyn winced. That had hurt. Empy yowled in agony but the attack had also given her the necessary push to climb out of the water.

Wincing, she turned around, waiting for the next attack, and Lyn was relieved to see that it was still good to battle and more importantly, enthusiastic to.

“Smokescreen and then water gun,” Faze gave the next order. A stoic look had replaced his frown.

The small pokemon covered the pool it was in with white smoke in seconds. While it made it a bit more difficult to aim, it didn’t make it impossible. It did make it a lot harder for Empy to dodge though. Not to mention that it could dive and emerge from another pool and attack from there. This time Lyn didn’t think she would get a convenient forewarning. Only an idiot would make the same mistake twice.

A stream of water shot out of the white smoke and grazed Empy as she was able to avoid the worst of it. The second shot hit her right in the cheek, tough, making her let out another painful squeak.

“Leap right!” Lyn ordered and Empy obeyed, dodging the third shot by a narrow margin. Lyn shot out a torrent of orders, alternating in which direction to jump, allowing the nidoran to avoid the next few shots. She barely managed and she was grazed once or twice but she did avoid the worst.

The training is paying off.

There was one thing Lyn noticed, however. The water gun is getting weaker.

So the reckless jump had paid off and the poison was doing its job. Lyn’s lips curved into a satisfied smile. Now, the ball was in Faze’s court. Lyn was content to run down the clock, to wait until the poison knocked out the water pokemon. The scanners scattered over the battlefield were analyzing the whole time to make sure no pokemon took permanent damage. Besides, a small, light body like horsea couldn’t take that much poison to begin with.

The bad thing was, Lyn could see that Empy wasn’t doing that hot either. The first water gun had nailed her good in the ribs and all the movement since then hadn’t done her any favors. Not to mention the other hit to her head.

However, she had faith in Empy and she knew her partner enough that she would hate to be pulled out right now. And between the two right now, Empy had the advantage.

The smoke screen was clearing up by now, revealing a panting horsea, its eyelids half closed. The noises it made were mewls of pain. Florence took one look at her and stopped the fight.

“Round's over, this is Lyn’s win.”

Faze winced. “Thanks, little guy,” he said after he had the horsea return into his pokeball. Florence, meanwhile, was giving Empy a critical look and checked something on the electronic pad in her hand.

“Well, nidoran can continue but I’ll be keeping an eye on her in the next round,” she said after a few seconds.

Damn, not good.

Lyn had seen that Empy was not in a good condition anymore. She hoped she'd at least get a few hits in on the next pokemon. Best case, she'd be able to poison whatever Faze was sending out before going down herself. Empy still had a bit of fuel in her tank, so they would at least face the new pokemon.

“Do you keep your nidoran in?”

Lyn looked at Empy, who had turned around and squeaked in determination and scratched the ground with one of her hindlegs.
Atta, girl. “Yeah.”

“Okay.” She turned to Faze. “Round two begins now, choose your next pokemon.”

Lyn was observing Faze. His hand had reached first to the normal pokeball on his belt. It hovered over it for a second or two before he grimaced and reached for the great ball right next to it.

Here it comes. The smile had returned on Lyn’s face, the excitement of facing whatever was in there was racing through her veins. She could feel her blood pumping. Maybe it was a second evolution? With his uncertainty over what to send out, Empy might actually have a chance here. But it was better to be prepared in either case. “Brace yourself,” she told her pokemon.

She watched as Empy’s muscles tensed, lowering her center of gravity, ready to dash at any second.

Lyn was concentrating on Faze, and to her surprise, he still had a bitter expression on his face. He looked as if he had swallowed a lemon. For a second Lyn thought she would actually have the type advantage. That notion lasted as long as it took for the red energy materializing from the great ball to reveal a magmar.

Fuck.

 

[Nemrut]

Chapter 2 - Lyn 2

Chapter 2 - Lyn 2


“Do your thing, Blaze,” he ordered.

Well, this is going to be a challenge. Where the hell did he get the magmar from?

Empy let out a worried squeak as the magmar leered at her and took a few steps back. Lyn couldn’t blame her too much. She was tired already and she had received a few hits, losing her usual mobility. Even in perfect condition, this would have been a long-shot at best.

The magmar was tall for its species. Magmars were around one and a half meters tall, most a bit below that. This one was quite a bit taller. Everyone in the room felt the heat and Lyn was glad she was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt and nothing longer.

This would have been a difficult fight even if Empy didn’t have a disadvantage. Magmar was a difficult pokemon to poison and they were among the more powerful fire types. There weren’t many due to their rarity and the fact that they were difficult pokemon to keep. Carelessly released, they could do a lot of damage to their surroundings. Its body temperature was around 1,200°C. The closer you got, the more overwhelming the heat. Unsurprising for a pokemon that preferred to live in active volcanos and nowhere else and was pretty much constantly on fire.

There was a reason that the most prominent magmar trainer had his gym uncomfortable close to one. Or rather, it was in one.

There were a lot of things Lyn would do to win a fight. Having her injured starter charge a pokemon that was bigger, heavier, faster and stronger wasn't one of them. Especially if it was also on fire and she'd need to touch it to poison it…

At least at this moment.

“You did a good job.” The red beam engulfed Empy and transformed her into pure energy that drew her back into the confines of the pokeball.

“Lyn’s nidoran is out of this match, she can’t use her again,” proclaimed Florence.

After pocketing Empy’s pokeball, she reached for Jolt’s, enlarging it. Lyn couldn’t use Carrie in this fight so she would have to go with Jolt. The odds weren’t good, steel was weak to fire, but they weren’t zero either.

“Let’s do this, Jolt,” she yelled and hurled her pokeball, releasing her magnemite. Its huge eye immediately fixated at the magmar, not betraying an expression.

Jolt let out a mechanic, worried buzz as it increased the distance between the two by floating a bit away from it. Understandable, seeing that the immense heat made steel types like magnemite uncomfortable.

They were also difficult to control. They tended to have quick tempers and were prone to rage-fits if an enemy angered them.

Let’s do that, then.

“Supersonic!”

Jolt emitted strong soundwaves by vibrating its magnets at a high speed. Lyn knew that the strong heat would block some of that but enough should penetrate. Maybe show some effect.

Judging by the annoying look on the magmar’s face, it did at least make him uncomfortable.

Faze, still that bitter expression on his face, was quiet.

Curious

The magmar exhaled a small flame from its mouth but seemed unimpressed so far.

“Thunderbolt.”

The magnemite released electricity from the two screws below its face. Everyone watched as it arced towards the magmar who managed to duck under it, its eyes narrowed. It opened its mouth and released a small torrent of miniature fireballs. Jolt was able to avoid the ember attack at the last second.

“Supersonic again, amp it up.”

More waves, stronger than before, left the magnets. This time the discomfort was visible on the magmar’s face. It started scowling and let out a grunt of annoyance and now stomped towards Jolt.

“Fall back, try to always keep a pool of water between you two.”

The fact that Jolt could hover helped a lot in that regard. There were a lot of small pools littered on the battlefield. It was easy to keep a distance from the fire pokemon, who could not cross them the same way. What was not helping was that its heat had started to evaporate some of the water, making things a bit harder to see.

What would happen if it fell into a pool?

“Keep your distance, harass it with supersonic.”

It wasn’t particularly pleasant for Lyn and the other spectators. The supersonic was aggravating and could even be painful. Thankfully, the distance was great enough to not worry about it too much. The magmar wasn’t so lucky as it was the direct target of the attacks. It was blasting one fireball attack after another, trying to close the distance enough to do damage. Jolt was good at dodging and always keeping a pool in the middle though. Magmar's aim also had suffered as the missed got wider and wider. Jolt was weaving through the fire attacks, pelting the fire pokemon with its sonic attack in return.

Not enough yet.

The angrier the magmar got, the hotter it became. With that, more water started to evaporate, and the steam got thicker.

Nearly there.

Throughout all this, to Lyn’s confusion, Faze had been quiet. He looked frustrated, his right hand balled into a fist and he had a scowl on his face but he wasn’t uttering a word. He seemed to have understood what Lyn was trying to do, but he was letting it happen.

Why?

Then, Lyn understood.

He’s not giving any orders because magmar wouldn't listen.

It made sense. A magmar was a strong pokemon. Proud, willful and already evolved. It needed an experienced trainer or at least some time to bond. Faze didn’t seem to have either the experience or the bonding with the beast to control it.

Then again, he might not need to. It wasn’t that stupid of an idea. It was strong enough that it should carry through most fights here. Why instruct a pokemon if it was powerful and loved to fight? It might do so only on its own terms but it would fight and seeing its strength, that was really all it needed to do.

The plan was working so far. Jolt was able to dodge the ember and fire spin attacks until the magmar stopped. It collected more fire than it did before in its beak and spat out a fireball the size of a coconut. Traveling at a surprising speed, it smashed into the tree next to Jolt. The acedia exploded in a burst of flames. Parts of the fire reached Jolt though, showering it in burning debris. While the wood couldn't harm Jolt, the fire did and it let out a mechanic screech and hovered away.

Magmar dashed forward. It used the distraction to close the distance, once again collecting the flames for what was going to be another flame burst.

“Swerve and then thunder shock!” Lyn yelled, leaning forward, her heart pounding. Sweat was running down her face, her blood was pumping though her veins but the smile on her face was wider than ever.

It was fun and just as difficult as she imagined. Even more so. Yes, the current condition wasn’t ideal, there could be more steam but it had to be enough. She hadn’t realized that it knew an advanced move like it.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. I underestimated a magmar of all things.

“Jump back!” roared Faze, unable to keep his silence.

Alas, it was too late, not to mention futile. The magmar didn’t even attempt to do so. Jolt obeyed and swerved left. It released a thunder shock that was unfortunately not at its best, seeing as it had so little time to charge it. Yet, the steam in the air had enough water to allow the electric current to travel through it. It reached the magmar in the blink of an eye. The shock of the pure electricity, amplified by the moisture in the air, hit magmar so fast that it couldn’t brace itself and it roared in pain. The fire dissipated in its mouth, now harmless.

After a few seconds, Jolt had to stop its attack. It hovered a few feet away from the panting magmar, tired, but the magmar now had a look of pure fury on its face. Beak twisted into a snarl with smoke coming out and the room was hotter than ever. Lyn had to wipe the sweat from her brows every few seconds now.

By now, Jolt was very well into the fight, and took a few seconds to charge this time, intent to demolish it with the following attack. The magmar saw the electric currents dancing on Jolt’s body and reacted. Spitting out a small whirlwind of flames faster than before, it took Lyn by surprise. Jolt, busy charging its attack was unable to dodge and the fires surrounded it.

“Fly out!” Lyn yelled. Jolt, while disoriented and in pain, released its electric attack. Managing to push the flames back a bit, it was able to fly up. The magnemite managed to escape the torrent of fire, and plummeted down after getting a bit away. Burn damage was all over its small body and it was shaky.

Lyn cursed. She had focused on Jolt too much in that moment and it had escaped her that magmar had crossed the distance by now. It had dashed around the pool. Magmar’s were on top of everything else also quite fast for their size and shape.

“Thunder Shock, fast!” she yelled and while Jolt was able to gather a bit of current, magmar had already reached it. It had its right fist covered in crackling fire, flames dancing over the knuckles. It smashed its fist right on Jolt's head making Jolt smack down with a loud crack on the ground. The sound of the breaking ground echoed through the arena.

Then, the magmar clutched his fist in pain, pulling it back to its chest, howling. Jolt had still managed to release the attack at the last second, shocking it one last time.

That was it though. Cold, bitter dread was clenching in her stomach. Jolt was down, beaten. Maybe it could get up one more time but magmar was too close and in still too good of a shape to miss from that distance. They had done some serious damage. Maybe more than expected giving the type disadvantage but not enough.

Not that it mattered. Wheter you barely lost one inch away from the win or were completely destroyed, in the end, a loss was a loss.

She took out Jolt’s poke ball and returned it, just in time before the magmar could start stomping on it and then took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again.

“Winner, Faze and his magmar.” Florence was frowning, a contemplative look on her face. She seemed as unhappy as Lyn was and indeed, as even Faze was as he was looking as if he had been the one to lose this fight. He also returned his pokemon and was looking down on the battlefield, a look of uncertainty and embarrassment etched on his face.

That, more than anything, pissed Lyn off.

Oh isn’t that perfect, he uses a magmar that he bought but he also feels bad about it.

Lyn looked over the spectators, finally finding Amy and Elyse, as they waved at her. Elyse had a small smile whereas Amy had wide eyes and a look of amazement.

Why do they look so happy? She couldn’t understand it. Anger and humiliation burned in her stomach. A magmar, a freaking, godsforsaken magmar. It was unfair. An evolved pokemon, where there was no way he had just happened to have caught it on his own, used right here, right now. In front of Sabrina’s eyes, she had lost to some rich kid, who might as well have beaten her with a wallet or credit card.

She glared at him, clenching her fist.

Before she could turn back, she saw a figure she hadn’t expected to see quite yet about. A girl with her long, black hair in a lazy ponytail. She wore a bright pink backpack, blue jeans and a red t-shirt, a blue vest over it and she was giving her a thumbs up alongside a cocky grin. A girl with a face almost identical to hers. The one real difference being the pink, glossy lipstick on her lips.

Her older sister had finally arrived.

----------------------------------------------------

The wait turned out to be boring and frustrating. Her pokemon were with the medical team and all she could do was watch the other matches on screen, and while any other time she would have been ecstatic to see rivals and potential enemies go all out, revealing their techniques and strategies, right now she was too angry to truly concentrate.

Nigel had lost his first fight to a trainer from Leaf Village, who then later on had also lost to Faze. Vyle in the meantime had managed to eke out a win against a trainer from Sable City. The match had been rather close, her cyndaquil had some difficulty against the goldeen but had snatched a win. Too bad she lost in the next round to their classmate Mara, whose charmander was at the top of his game.

When she returned from her defeat she gave Nigel a weak smile who stood up and gave her a quick kiss, hugging her close. "You did so good, babe."

"Oh, it was such an annoying loss though. I really thought I had her this time."

"At least you got to round two, that's almost a guarantee for a pass, right?"

She bit her lips. "I don't know. Technically we both could pass but Sabrina at most passes four or five people. Often less."

"It's going to work out, I know it."

That was a healthy dose of optimism that Lyn lacked. Knocked out in the first fight wasn't a particularly good endorsement of her skills but she also had done the best against the magmar. At least, in her own opinion.

Lyn hated losing, and winning was of course best but during her years at the Saffron Gym they had been taught again and again how just winning wasn’t everything. It was a concept that she was still struggling with at times but right now, after such an early loss, that was all she could cling to. That despite her defeat, she had done as well as she could have. A loss might be a loss, but thinking a bit calmer now, this had been a platform to show their pokemon handling skills.

That didn’t make the burning lead that had been making her stomach clench ever since her defeat disappear though, neither did it lessened her anger. Anger at herself. If she had used Jolt first, she could have defeated the horsea much faster and would have had two pokemon to deal with magmar. Not a guaranteed win, of course, but certainly much better chances than just one pokemon with a type disadvantage.

Not that Empy would have fared much better against a freaking magmar.

Maybe that was the thing that annoyed her the most. That there hadn’t been anything she could have done to prevent this defeat. That no matter what she could have done, it wouldn’t have mattered, barring a freak lucky shot or the magmar having a heart attack.

One of Jolt’s attacks could have paralyzed the magmar and had it collapse into a pool. That was something to think about, for the next time, to have her pokemon push his into the water.

And there will be a next time!

The winner, of course, had been Faze. The fights had been close at times, but the magmar had been too strong for them all. While the fight against Jolt had tired it out, every other pokemon it faced had been tired from their previous fights as well, so it hadn’t been a real disadvantage. It was so big and strong, that it endured whatever amount of damage the other pokemon could inflict before it knocked them down.

All in all, with few short breaks, the whole thing had wrapped up in an hour, during which she had sat in her spot, arms crossed over her chest, seething, and the anger was only slowly ebbing away.

By now, everyone was back in the room. Her pokemon would be ready for pick-up after the ceremony had concluded.

Lyn was twitching and tried to keep her expression calm and composed. She didn’t want Sabrina to see her angry. Not Sabrina, who was famous for never getting aggravated or emotional during a match, who was perfectly composed during every situation. Who had kept her calm in the face of dragons and titans and had won.

That was the person she had to emulate and be if she wanted to succeed, to always have a hold on herself. It would be essential for the SYT, if she got there. Dread was filling here, the thought of having to miss out on that, to have to wait a few months before trying again…

That was when the doors opened with a sharp click and Sabrina waltzed into the room with large strides, her arms crossed behind her back. Florence was right on her track, carrying a box the size of a shoe-carton, which she was effortlessly carrying under her arm.

Any thoughts she had were interrupted with her entrance. Lyn immediately stood up, standing straight, looking wide eyed at Sabrina and she could see every other trainer doing the same. All conversation died down immediately, and from one second to the next, the only sound was the clacking of the heels the two women were wearing.

Meeting Sabrina was always an experience. Today, she was wearing white jeans, a red top and a white jacket over it. Her black hair was short and wavy. Her cool, blue eyes wandered over the trainers, piercing them. Judging them.

Those were the eyes of the woman who had practically carved her own gym into the capital city of the nation, deposing the old gym which had stood for generations. The woman who had rampaged through the Gym Circuit and Indigo Plateau. Who was rumored to be able to read minds and had connected deeper with psychic pokemon than any other trainer before her.

Two ultra balls hung on her belt, white lower halves, black top halves with yellow lines. One of them, Lyn knew, was Nostradamus, her prized alakazam, her strongest pokemon. She always had him with her, either in his ball with her or out of it, floating besides her. She had seen him tear through entire professional teams. Today, she didn’t have him out, for which she found herself to be glad about.

She had seen Nostradamus in person only once and when he had looked at her, Lyn had felt bare in front of it, as if it could have ripped every thought and secret out of her mind without trouble had it been inclined to do so.

Every trainer in training could have released all their pokemon, in topform even, and attacked the alakazam together and he would have crushed them without breaking a sweat.

It was a rare privilege for Sabrina to have time for trainers on their level. Sabrina’s schedule was complex. She had periods of time where people avoided her gym because they knew it was going to be unlikely to receive a badge. Then someone would luck into a win, tons of people would try to challenge her, thinking she was weak. Some upcoming big shot-trainer would then try to take on Sabrina. They would be thinking they got her number and she would demolish them. This in turn once again made people avoid her for a time.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Otherwise she was busy with research, training and the occasional visit to the Indigo Plateau.

No, Sabrina was one of the top gym leaders in the world for a reason and it was an honor to listen to her.

“Some of you did well,” she said, standing in front of us, her arms crossed. “It is my pleasure to proclaim that five of the sixteen trainers today have passed and even those that haven't did show some potential. Some of them, at least. I am sure that you will do your best and we will all meet again in the arena. Some to try once more for the license and the others when they will try to win my badge.”

She glanced to the side to see Florence looking at her, raising an eyebrow, which made her lips twitch slightly for a second, making that the first emotion to appear on her blank face so far.

“And I would like for one of you to be among those few that succeed one day,” Sabrina added, but she seemed amused at the notion and it was obvious she had added that not because she believed in it but rather that was the kind of thing a gym leader should say. “We will now announce those who passed."

Somehow she stood straighter, her clear voice becoming sharper. "Let me say right away, that those who participated in the courses were likelier to pass. If only for the simple reason that we knew them better and could judge them more thoroughly for a longer period of time. However, that didn't excuse any mistakes made. The ability to keep a cool head in a battle with high stakes such as today is essential for a trainer. For those of you who have been coming from elsewhere; we looked over your transcripts, talked with some of your teachers and then used today to make our final judgments. If anyone has a problem with today's rulings, they are free to lodge a complaint."

"That's our complaint box." Florence pointed at a garbage can next to the wall on the left. Sabrina shot her an indecipherable look but also didn't disagree.

She then continued, "Very well. First trainer, Vyle Arent. Come forward please."

Vyle let out a sigh of relief at the same time that Nigel let out an enthusiastic whoop.

"Congratulations. Take your package and stand over there, please." Florence handed over a small package which Vyle accepted with a shaky smile.

"Well done, kid. That was a good show you put up," Florence said, a relaxed grin on her face.

"Mara Green, take your package, you deserve it. Well fought."

Mara had long, brown hair that went down to her waist. She wore a skirt, a frilly brown shirt and a blue hairband. She would no doubt meet her at the SYT.

She received her package with a polite bow and Lyn could feel the Sabrina's approval for her as she nodded back.

"Next," Sabrina continued, "is Nigel Hale. Congratulations to you as well, you’ve shown your worth."

"Nice!" yelled Nigel, pumping up both hands into the air and Vyle even let out a small jump of happiness. Sabrina looked unimpressed whereas Florence just cleared her throat.

"Ah yeah, sorry. Thanks a lot, ma'am."

Florence pressed the thing into his arms and shooed him to the side.

"Next up is Lyn Raine."

Thank the gods. Relief flooded her body as she relaxed, the churning in her stomach stopping and a certain light headedness sinking in. Until now, Lyn had been too sucked into the atmosphere that Sabrina had created to realize that she still had been worrying but hearing her name snapped her out of that at the same time that that worry had been made unnecessary.

Lyn had her hopes raised when Nigel had gotten his license, seeing as they both lost pretty early but to actually get it. No, that was something else.

"Well done," Sabrina said as she walked up to Florence. "You impressed me, Miss Raine. Come to my office after this ceremony."

Lyn's mind turned blank, her eyes widened as she stared at Sabrina.

"What?"

"You heard her, Raine." Florence was smirking. "Now mosey along, we don't have all day."

It was like she was in a daze. She took her space next to the other three that had passed and ignored their questions. Why her? What had impressed Sabrina? Her loss? What did that mean?

Deep in thought, wondering what the hell just had happened, she also missed out on Bryce receiving his package. He was the only outsider to pass, surprising everyone.

After all, the winner of the tournament hadn't passed.

"That was all. Good luck trainers on your journey.”

With that last remark, she turned around and left.

“H-hey, what about me?” asked a shaken voice and all eyes turned around to Faze, who was fidgeting and seemed bewildered and uncertain. “Didn’t I-“

Sabrina fixed him with a sharp gaze that made him immediately shut his mouth and Lyn could see sweat breaking out on his face as he feebly tried to hold her gaze but looked away after a second, briefly trying to glance back but always averting his eyes. After a few seconds of this, Sabrina narrowed her eyes, her nose flared for a bit and she turned back around again and strode out, not saying a single word to him.

Not that she needed to.

“Well, that was awkward,” muttered Florence under her breath as she took the spot that Sabrina just vacated. “Anyway, after that rousing speech, I bet ya’ll can’t wait to hear more technical stuff. Well, those packages include your pokedex, pokecom, license and your personal starter kit. The starter kit has three pokeballs and some first aid things in case you screw up on the first route. And, you know, didn't think about getting your own stuff, which you should. Unfortunately, this stuff isn’t for free, even if it’s a lot cheaper. So be sure to pay or we’ll have problems down the line,” she said the last bit with a wink. "Don't worry though. If you failed, you won't have to pay for the electronic stuff, just for the attempt. It's already going to be a ***** to fix the damages you lot did to the court."

Her light tone didn't exactly help those that had failed. Elba, another classmate, had fancied himself the star student of the course and was fuming. He had some reason to, Lyn admitted. He had two psychic pokemon on his team and he wasn't exactly shabby with them but it seems the way he got taken apart by Bryce had been enough to end that story.

Not that she had much room to judge his anger, despite her passing, she still was angry.

“Oh yeah, before I forget. Hey, magmar kid,” she called to Faze, who flushed at the nickname. “Since you won the damn thing, you’ll get the prize. Congrats on a new enton." with that, she tossed a pokeball against his chest which he then caught in a hasty fumble. He might have failed but enton's were pretty handy to have. Psychic water was a nice combo.

But I want another psychic water pokemon.

"I know you would have liked to pass but you know why you failed, didn't you?"

"I-I,." he stammered, his voice was coarse, his face flush from embarrassment and shame, before he closed his mouth again, not finishing his sentence.

"You better learn to control that beast of a magmar of yours. Using a pokemon – no matter how strong- that you can't control is foolhardy at best. Don't get me wrong, it was a winning strategy that didn’t break any rules after all, and that counts big time. Especially later on in tournaments, you'll see some people try it, to get a leg up on the competition. They'll have caught or bought some crazy strong beast and hope that'll be enough. And yeah," she let her gaze wander over all participants, "sometimes it is. It's not forbidden. But today wasn’t the day to try that. Today was about showing what you knew. How you could control your pokemon, how you assessed taking a risk and playing it safe. How you planned and made the best out of difficult match ups. In short, it was all about showing how responsible and capable of a pokemon trainer you're. That you know how to take care of your pokemon and aren’t a danger to you, your own pokemon and others. To show us that you could shoulder the immense responsibility that is training a team of pokemon.."

She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, as she let her eyes wander over the assembled trainers. She saw those who were angry and devastated at failing and those who had passed but were standing apprehensively. She focused again on Faze. "I'll be honest kid, you've got potential and balls, but you need some brains as well if you want the license from this gym. Not to mention the badge way, way later on. And some control. We noticed that after your first loss you freaked out and pulled out the magmar. I doubt that had been your initial plan. We value control pretty high here and you showed a remarkable lack of that. What you did was a desperate tournament strategy not a gym one and those two are very different things."

She had walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come back next time showing that you know that and we'll see about that license."

Faze mumbled a thanks, his face redder than ever.

How do I fight him again then, if he won’t be a trainer for a while?

She turned to the rest. "Okay gang, now get the hell out of my gym. Those who passed, go the front desk and register your pokedexes and trainer ID in the system before you leave. Exam is over. Good job everyone. Lyn, come here, I'll bring you to Sabrina."

The group dispersed, with Nigel, Mara and Vyle shooting Lyn an enquiring look as they walked out, and Lyn followed the tall woman. Florence didn't say anything as she was leading her through the halls of the gym. Until Lyn couldn't take it anymore.

"What's she going to talk about with me?"

"Oh you know, this and that." The teasing smile on her face didn't help either. "Oh relax, it's nothing too big, I imagine. You did well today. Sabrina's had her eyes on you for a while now and you put on a good show today. That's all."

That's all?

"Well, here we are. Go in."

They were standing in front of a fancy pair of doors. Sabrina's personal office. It felt like standing before the cave of a monster.

"You won't be coming in?" she croaked, her voice shakier than she would have wanted.

"Oh no, this is a private meeting, after all. What I will be doing though, if you give me your pokedex and license, is to put you in the system while you two have your little talk."

Lyn handed the package over. So far, she hadn't even looked at it and Florence's amusement on the fact that it was still closed was showing.

With those in hand, she turned around and rushed off.

Lyn gulped, took a deep breath and before her knuckles touched the door, she heard Sabrina telling her to come in.

So she did, despite being a bit freaked out by that.

Once the doors had opened, Lyn entered. A rich red carpet decorated the floor, there was an impressive desk placed right in front of the window. Behind it sat Sabrina, her blue eyes gazing on Lyn.

Lyn couldn't have described the office afterwards, she had been entirely focused on Sabrina. She flinched when something touched her legs and made her jump, only to see that it was Sabrina's espeon, which had brushed her body against Lyn.

"That's Leah," she introduced her pokemon.

"Hello," Lyn said, fidgeting.

"Calm down, Miss Raine. You aren't normally this uncertain."

Normally, I'm not in the office of a gym leader.

"In fact, that's one of the qualities that made you...attractive as a candidate." Her lips lingered on the word.

"What sort of candidate, ma'am?" her voice sounded, at least to her own ears, a bit firmer now.

"I don't like battling, Miss Raine. Or can I call you Lynnea?"

"Of- of course."

"I don't like battling, Lynnea," she repeated, "But I respect its value and I am excellent at it, if you forgive me that arrogant statement. And I have a good eye to spot others who are the same. I believe you are one such person." She let that statement stand for a few seconds before she continued. "I believe that you have potential. The question now, however, is to see whether you can live up to that potential."

Lyn had calmed down, the shock hard worn off. Now she knew roughly what Sabrina wanted from her and she was getting excited.

"How would you like me to prove said potential."

Sabrina leaned back, satisfaction showing on her face. Leah, the espeon had returned to her and was now lounging on her desk. Sabrina was letting her gloved fingers run through her fur. "I hope you’re familiar with the Saffron Youth Tournament.”

It was hard not to be, there had been more advertisement for that than anything else in the last two months. So Lyn nodded. “I want to participate.”

“Excellent, I want you to participate as well and I want you to do well. Impress me, Lynnea. Show me that you have learned the lessons we teach here, our values. And I want to see how you raise your abra, Carrie was her name, if I am not misremembering, correct?”

She knows the names of my pokemon?

Lyn gulped, feeling the dryness of her throat. “Ye-yes, that’s her name, ma’am.”

“Good, I expect you to show me that you are a competent trainer, and that you present to me that you understand what that means even beyond fighting. I expect to see a capable kadabra. I expect you to be punctual and show me my faith in you was well placed. If you impress me, we'll talk more. Sponsorship. Maybe even joining my team later on. If you don't...well, we'll also talk but it will be significantly less enjoyable for you."

Lyn didn’t know what to say, her blood was pumping in excitement.

That's one hell of an incentive. An opportunity to get a sponsorship from Sabrina? Something the winner of the SYT wouldn’t even get? That was…she didn’t know what it was. Amazing? Unbelievable? Bizarre?

"I'm surprised you picked me though, ma’am. I-I lost in round one." And she still felt bitter about that.

"Yes, you did, and I expect better in the future. However, everyone can get lucky or unlucky once or twice. I'm not impressed by narrow wins that depend more on chance than on ability. The person that beat you gambled that the magmar would rather fight you than do anything else. If you hadn't engaged it all, it might as well have wandered off or gone sleeping. If you two were to fight again right now, I doubt his strategy would work again. See, those kind of victories are ultimately meaningless. That's not true strength. When some enemy challenges you and you beat them down each and every time without fail, that no matter what they do, a victory against you is impossible, that, Lynnea, is true strength. That is what winning looks like. Stability. Reliability. Constance."

When she said those words, she emphasized each word, and Lyn felt them reverberating through her.

"Not a one-time fluke or a narrow win. And if you happen to lose once? You fight them again and again and grind them to the dirt again and again.” She gave Lyn a dangerous smile that made the hair on her arms rise and shot a shudder through her but at the same time made her hear beat faster. “And I believe you can be someone who can live up to true strength and I want to see it realized." All throughout her speech, both Sabrina and her espeon had stared at her without blinking.

"If I impress you,” Lyn said, her voice nearly a whisper.

"If you impress me," she agreed, folding her hands together in front of her on the table.

"I'll take that challenge,” Lyn tried to inject her voice with as much certainty and confidence as she could. This was the chance she had always wanted.

"Very well then, Lyn. I am happy to hear that. Florence will have put both of our numbers in your pokecom. I don't have to tell you to be responsible with them. Call in an emergency, otherwise, I'll keep an eye on you and we'll meet again when the tournament starts, where you'll show me how much you’ve improved."

"Thank you ma'am. You won't regret giving me this chance.

"I know," she murmured. "I can see the future, after all."

Lyn almost laughed, but right now, standing in front of Sabrina, in her office, she believed her.

------------------------------------------

On the way out, Florence ruffled Lyn’s hair and Lyn didn’t had the energy to do something about it. She still felt shaky and as if she had just stepped out of a dream.

"Here kid, your pokemon are mostly fit, your nidoran needs to take it easy for a bit but your pokedex was updated with her more exact status. Your ID is registered, same as the rest of your stuff and you are ready to go."

She took it all. Her first glance at her pokedex, the universal proof that she was an official trainer. Red and shiny. She pocketed in the inner pockets of the vest she had put on after leaving the office. She strapped on the pokecom to her arm and admired. A click revealed the numbers that were already on it, Sabrina and Florence.

"If you prank call or give them to anyone else, I'll have to visit you and you won't like that." Her tone was joking but Lyn could hear that she was serious about it on some level.

"I won't," she promised. No way was she going to squander a big chance like this.

"Oh, I know you won't." she patted Lyn's head, only for Lyn to try to brush the hand away. Florence had already withdrawn it, though, and returned the flat look that Lyn gave her with a cheeky smile.

“Good luck out there, kid. Come back when you want an official asskicking.”

That prospect did cheer her up. “Oh, you can count on that,” she said. “That fight’s going to happen sometime.”

Florence snorted. “Yeah sure. You’re welcome to try. At least it will be an amusing ten seconds.” And with that, she walked away, leaving with the last word.
It would be quite a while before she could seriously challenge Florence. She had been among the group of trainers who had formed Sabrina’s core team with which she had blazed her path through the pokemon world years ago and her strength was considerable.

Sabrina didn’t have incompetent trainers working for her, only outstanding ones.

And I have the chance to join them one day.

The rest had already left, and with that, Lyn walked out of the arena as well, going outside to meet her family.

This was going to be interesting.


A/N: So, you can see the capriciousness of the dice. On one hand, Lyn had the bad luck that not only one of the beginners got a magmar, he was also the first guy she was fighting and of course he won, even if it was closer than expected. Which is a pity, an enton for winning the tournament would have been nice and the guy who got it already had the strongest party present. On the other hand, Lyn had outstanding luck on the “how much does Sabrina like her” roll and got the perfect critical roll there, which opened the “Sabrina really likes Lyn and is interested in her” story line, with eventual sponsorship and more awaiting her down the line, if she manages, of course.

As a quick reminder, this is her current team:
Lyn: Empy the Nidoran female (Poison Point, 25/29 EP), Jolt the Magnemite (Sturdy, 14/65 EP), Carrie the Abra (Synchronize, 11/29EP),

 

[Nemrut]

Chapter 3 - Cassie 1

To say that Cassie was nervous would be a huge understatement. It wasn’t even meeting Lyn and the prospect that she was going to travel with her after years of not seeing her outside of the occasional video chat on their birthdays.

No, it would be meeting Elyse, Lyn’s step mom and her half-sister Amy for the first time.

What was she going to say? She had brought a plushy of a muk as a present. Kids that age loved cute things, right?

Nothing cuter than a muk, of that she was certain.

But how was she going to behave? Shake hands? Give a hug? You didn’t shake the hands of a five-year-old, right? That was weird.

She had seen them in the stands. Recognized the two from the occasional photo Lyn had deigned to share with her. She had watched them cheering Lyn on as she was getting creamed by that cheating asshole. The squirt seemed adorable and Elyse's positive yelling sounded genuine.

Heck, those two had cheered harder than anyone else sitting there. It could’ve easily been embarrassing but Cassie was just touched. It was lame and cheesy but in a good way.

In comparison, mom, auntie and uncle had been practically stoic.

She hadn’t approached them then. Mostly because she had been running a bit late. She had only caught the end of Lyn’s nidoran - she forgot the name- kicking that horsea’s ass and didn't want to disturb them then.

But where’s dad? He should’ve been here.

There they were, Cassie had finally spotted them. Standing outside, not far from the main entrance. They had taken different exits after the ceremony had concluded. Sabrina was way worse at this whole motivation thing than Brock had been in Cassie’s humble opinion. Then again, everyone preferred the gym trainers of their home-city.

“Cassandra, is that you, dear?” Elyse greeted her, with an awkward smile on her face. It seemed she was just as uncomfortable as Cassie right now.

Cassie didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, she was glad that Elyse was as lost on what to do as she was and she wasn’t the only bumbling, awkward idiot here. On the other, it would have been nice if one person here knew what do.

“Nice to meet you two, Mrs. Winter and you too Amy.” It never hurt to be polite. They had met once, seven or eight years ago and back then they hadn’t really interacted. Cassie had been too focused on her father whom she had missed for a while then.

It seemed that the polite distance convinced Elyse to take the reins of this meeting. The smile on her face became wider and more genuine. She stepped forward and embraced her.

“Oh, none of that, it’s Elyse or aunt Elyse, whatever you feel more comfortable with. Oh, you’ve grown so much, so pretty as well.”

Elyse was a bit taller than either sibling. Her short blonde hair bound in a tight bun tickled Cassie's nose during the hug, which she returned, but Cassie was glad.

They released the hug. Elyse then pushed Amy from behind her legs where she had taken cover to peek at Cassie.

“Amy,” she said, “I want you to meet your other sister, Cassie. Didn’t you always want to meet her, honey?”

She nodded. “Hi,” her voice was barely audible in her whisper but Cassie grinned, kneeling down.

“It’s great to finally meet you, Amy. I’ve heard lots about you.”

Well, some. Cassie had always wanted to meet Amy, - another little sister, how cool was that? – but Lyn had never been particularly enthusiastic about sharing stuff via mail. Well, outside of the occasional photograph and short message. Writing Elyse had always felt like an awkward prospect and she really didn’t want their first conversation be over a phone.

Wracking her brain on what to say, she finally decided on a safe topic. “Hey, I’ve brought a present for you.” Bribery for affection was a valid tactic. She took out the little wrapped present from her pink backpack. “It’s not much but you can see it as an early birthday present. You are turning six in a month, right?”

Amy’s face brightened and she lunged for the present, making Cassie laugh.

“Oh yeah, that’s a sister of mine, alright.”

“What do we say, Amy?” the mother teased her youngest daughter.

Amy, having already unwrapped the purple plushy of the slime pokemon, hurled herself at Cassie. “Thank you so much, he’s awesome!”

“I know, right? Can’t wait to get my own.”

“What is he?” Amy asked, her eyes big with delight and curiosity.

“That’s a muk. They are this cute poison pokemon and they can be strong and versatile and I’ll try to capture one. Or a grimer, that’s his previous evolution. Either one is fine, really.”

“That’s so cool!”

“Yeah, it is. It’s going to be great.” She paused for a second, “Hey, if you want, and if I manage capturing one, I could show it to you whenever.”

“Oh please, can she mom?” she turned to her mother, a begging expression on her face. Elyse, meanwhile, was looking a bit uneasy and confused. “Su-sure,” she stuttered. Cassie then remembered that most people weren’t all that fond of them because of their supposed smell, but really, how bad could it be? Poison pokemon were awesome and she carried enough anti-dotes anyway.

Still, better to change the subject.

“You know, you should check my vlogs. I’m gonna upload two to three times a week, to give a status report for my viewers, tell them about our journey. Well, mostly about me, but I’m sure Lyn will be in plenty of them, if she agrees.”

Elyse eyes widened, her mouth parting slightly and she swiftly turned her head towards Cassie. “Oh, I didn’t know you were planning to become a vlogger.”

Cassie snorted. “Planning to? I’m one. Well, more of a streamer but hard to play games on the road, beating trash in battles. So, during this time, I’ll be vlogging. My sponsor,” here she was pointing at her pink backpack which had a logo that she was sure Elyse didn’t recognize. “is pretty cool with it.”

“Will they be…appropriate for younger audiences?” she was a bit hesitant, taking a quick glance at Amy but she was absorbed in prodding the plushie and thankfully wasn’t paying any attention to their conversation. “I mean, I don’t want her to hear or see anything bloody or with swears.”

Cassie had followed her look and bit her lip. “Ah, I dunno, I do say the, ahm, occasional swear. But I think I can tone it down. Probably. And while I’m travelling, won’t be streaming any games anyway.”

Elyse nodded, her expression brightening as her lips curved, “Well, I would love to hear about what you girls are up to and when possible, will show it to Amy as well. She’ll be so happy to keep track of her big sisters like that.” Her smile fell, and her voice became a bit shaky. “I fear she’s going to miss Lyn really badly. And Jolt.”

“Well, we can’t have that. Seriously, tune in, it should be awesome.”

“I will. Thank you for telling me about that. It makes me so glad.”

Cassie smiled and wrote down her webhandle and address. “Here, just look me up, if you subscribe, you should get an email whenever I put something up. Feel free to just call or write as well.”

“Oh, I will, thank you so much. And you as well. If you girls have any trouble, need anything or just want to talk, please contact me.”

Cassie was touched. “Yeah, sure, will do.”

There was a beat of silence and Cassie had to voice the one question that had been nagging in the back of her head. “Where’s dad?”

Elyse’s face flushed the faint color of shame. “Ah,” she mumbled, “he’s busy writing his book. He has these inspiration weeks during which he rents a hotel room or a cabin and locks himself in for a week or two and just writes.”

Cassie frowned and crossed her arms. “Huh, that sucks. I wanted to see him.”

“He has been gone for three days, it was a very spontaneous thing.”

“Maybe I’ll see him when we come back?”

Why did he leave just before I came? Just before Lyn’s exam?

“I’m certain of it,” she said. “When are you girls leaving, will you have time to eat dinner with us one last time?”

“We are leaving right now,” Lyn interrupted them. She was now standing right next to them. They hadn’t noticed her coming.

“Lyn!” yelled Amy and ran to her and Lyn, with the frown already on her face becoming bigger, lifted her up. “You were so cool!”

“Oh, hey little sis. Nice match there, you’d have stomped that guy if that cheating bas-baddie hadn’t pulled a magmar out of his – out of thin air.”

Perfect save, Cassie you idiot.

Lyn scowled, “I lost. That’s all there is to it. If I had a legendary that didn’t obey me, I would have used that as well, let alone a magmar. Well, not in this thing but in general. The fault was mine for not being good enough.”

Yikes, what a bundle of cheer. And honesty.

“You were great honey, you were so impressive.” Elyse was trying to smile but couldn’t. “You’re leaving now? Wouldn’t you like it if we all went to eat together? We could celebrate you becoming a trainer and the beginning of your journey. When will we get you two girls together like this again?”

“If we do that, it will be too late to start today and we’ll lose valuable time. The tournament is in two months already and we don’t have a day to waste.”

"What tournament?" Cassie hadn't signed up for any tournament. She hadn't been exactly training hard for the last year, too busy with her streaming career. No way could she get into a serious competitive tournament shape in two months.

"The SYT tournament that's going to happen here in Saffron City. I signed us both up."

What the hell!

"You signed both of us up for the SYT? Why?”

"Because that's how we get better. By beating others."

"You got your license not even an hour ago and you already want to win a tournament? It's called U20 but mainly because it's aimed at trainers who are actually twenty and have two years of experience under their belt. Not for newbies like us. I don’t want to make my debut in a tournament with a crushing defeat."

"Sabrina may sponsor me if I do well in the U20 tourney."

"Wow." Cassie didn't know what to say to that. Admittedly, that was a very good reason. For Lyn that is, not so much for her. Still, this was not the place or time to argue this out, right when they met for the first time in years, right in front of Elyse and Amy. "Ah well, in that case. Why not. Shouldn't be that hard.”

Yeah right.

“Would starting tomorrow be so bad?” asked Elyse, her voice shaky and her eyes were starting to become a bit watery. That sight made her feel like a complete heel and a hunch told her that Lyn’s answer wouldn’t be all that diplomatic.

“We’re sorry, auntie,” Cassie put a bright, cheerful smile on her face, laying an arm over Elyse’s shoulder. “Looks like we actually have a tight schedule to keep. But we’ll stay in touch, and hey, we’ll be here for our debut tournament in two months at the latest. It’s okay that I can stay with you guys then, right? I’ll need a place to crash.”

“Of course,” her voice was aghast, as if the notion that the two girls might sleep somewhere else was highly offensive. “You’re always welcome in our home.” She paused for a moment. “Well, if that‘s how it goes, I won’t try to disrupt your schedule.”

“It’s rough but I can promise you that I’m already looking forward to our return.” Cassie’s smile was enough to make Elyse look at her with a small, fond smile as well, when she rubbed her left eye. “And it will be really fun.

Lyn shot Cassie an odd look but didn’t say anything.

“Are your pokemon healed? They took a few nasty hits,” Cassie asked her sister.

“It was nothing serious. The worst has been healed. Jolt is alright, Empy needs to take it a bit easy for a day or so but she’ll be okay. We can go.”

“Very well, then. You got your things, I take it?”

Lyn nodded, to the dismay of Elyse and Amy.

“I don’t have your lunch-packs with me, girls.” Her tone was more apologetic than the situation warranted, seeing that Lyn was pulling the rug out from under her feet there.

“Well, that’s it, I guess.” Cassie was feeling bad for the two Winters but by now she felt that a quick getaway would be less upsetting for them than drawing it out. Lyn’s loss and that offer seemed to have rattled her too much to be considerate of her family’s feelings right now. “It was so great to meet you two.” She squatted down, face to face with Amy, who had a shy smile on her face, trying to wipe away the tears. “Especially you, Amy. I hope we’ll get to talk a lot more from now on. I promise, I’ll call and visit as much as I can.”

“I’d like that,” Amy said, her voice so close to a whisper that Cassie had to really focus to hear what she was saying.

“Of course, you’ll have to see and meet my awesome pokemon friends. That reminds me.” She grabbed a pokeball from her belt and released the pokemon within, the red energy revealing a pikachu. Most of its small body was a mute yellow, while the ends of its long ears were black. His zig-zagged tail twitched upon his release and his reddish cheeks puffed in curiosity. “This is Rush. I’d like for you to meet him.”

Amy’s eyes widened, her mouth open. She probably hadn’t seen a pikachu before. They weren’t super rare but less common than one would think. Especially seeing that they only lived in the depths of the Viridian Forest, which is where she caught Rush. Well, barring the occasional member of the species that had wandered elsewhere or got released. They were also pretty cute and thus popular.

“Hi Rush,” she greeted him. Rush squeaked happily at her, waddling over to her and rubbing his face into her stomach, prodding her into petting him and he preened at the attention that the young girl showered him with.

That needy jerk, Cassie was smiling as she looked at them. Rush loved to be pampered like that.

She stood up, turning to Elyse. “Don’t forget to tune in.”

“I won’t.” She pulled her into a last hug, whispered a quiet sorry into her ear, for which Elyse pressed her extra hard for a second and then stepped back, to allow them to say goodbye.

Elyse then embraced Lyn, muttering something in her ear, who endured the hug being stiff as a board, but her face had flushed a bit red.

Ah, seems even she realized she’s being a bit of a bitch right now.

“Thank you for coming,” Lyn said. “I appreciated you two being here. I’ll be in touch.” Lyn patted Amy on the head, who by now had separated from Rush and glomped her sister one last time, holding tight with her tiny arms.

“I’ll miss you, Lyn.” She was crying openly now and Lyn obviously didn’t know how to handle this. She was still awkwardly patting her head, frowning, looking a weird combination of almost disturbed and lost.

“I’ll miss you as well,” Lyn said.

Elyse released her from her suffering by bending down and picking her daughter up, a weak smile on her face. “Well, we knew this would be an emotional moment.”

“We should hit the road before Lyn starts crying as well.” Lyn shot an irritated look at Cassie for that comment but it did make Elyse laugh.

“We wouldn’t want that,” Elyse said and wiped at the redness of her eyes.

Worth it.

“See ya.” And with that, the two girls walked off, heavy backpacks strapped on their backs and with Rush having climbed on Lyn’s shoulder. Thankfully, he wasn’t too heavy and she could carry him like that for a bit.

For the first ten minutes, neither of them talked as they were navigating through the countless people streaming on the streets. Lyn was calm, with a thoughtful expression on her face.

Cassie exchanged a worried glance with Rush who just shrugged.

Cassie wasn’t sure what to talk about. They didn’t have many conversations over the years. Mostly just occasional video chats. That they would go on this pokemon journey together had been a decision they made nearly two years ago, encouraged by their mother to rectify that distance. Cassie had been fine with waiting a year, it gave her more time to devote to her streaming. She had the sinking feeling though, that Lyn might not have wanted to wait, but voicing that would be crass and she wasn’t certain she wasn’t being overly harsh there.

But it hadn’t really allowed them much chances to talk. Lyn had been busy studying and training her pokemon, and Cassie had been jobbing and streaming.

“Any changes to our route, with the tournament and all?” she asked, unable to bear the silence any more.

“Not really. In about an hour, we should be out of the city and with a bit of luck, we might be able to reach Pokemon Tech by the time it’s dark. Can sleep there and get Empy checked out one last time. I called there last week and they don’t charge much for an overnight bed and breakfast. Twenty bucks for us both, and we can make use of all their facilities.”

Cassie nodded. It wasn’t a bad idea. It was still noon and it didn’t get dark until around 8-9 pm. From what she remembered from the time she had studied the map and researched online, this should be manageable.

“Any hopes for a good capture on the route?"

"A vulpix," Lyn said without taking any time to think on that. "Really, hands down the best pokemon available around Saffron City. Versatile fire type. Wouldn't say no to houndour, murkrow or growlithe though."

"Same, to be honest. Would love a growlithe of vulpix. There are a bunch of good ones there but the real treat starts later."

Lyn hummed in agreement. "Too bad it's much later."

Cassie snorted. After a few minutes of further silence, during which the amount of people started to thin out as they were nearing the city borders, she said, “Be honest, do you see us having a chance at that tournament? Beginners haven’t really done well in them. Tended to get crushed by those with more experience.”

“It’s not so much the question if we have a chance. We have to, so we’ll do it.”

“Not the best plan.”

Lyn shrugged. “It’s what needs to happen. We have to make a good impression and winning the damn thing is the most impressive thing we can do.”

“Ha!” Cassie shot Lyn a disbelieving look. “Dude, you have a nidoran and an abra. Maybe, maybe you’ll have a nidorina and a kadabra by the time the tournament starts, but neither one will be that strong by then.”

“Calm down. It’s not impossible. If we make good time, we can do our route in one and a half months, giving us ample time to train the pokemon we have and catch a few more as well. After that, we have one or two weeks until the thing starts and we can get some information on our possible enemies. That’s something we can start even now. You have internet on that thing, don’t you? We can look up what trainers registered and every trainer has their pokemon noted in the system. I already know that trainers like Pullo will be there and their teams are mostly known at this point. Depending on what they have and how long they’ve had them, it should be possible to plan for which pokemon they’d be likely to use.”

“That’s a stupidly optimistic view. No amount of planning will bridge the gap between trainers like us, practically starting out for real now and people like Pullo. Not in two months. But I guess that’s better than a defeatist attitude.”

Do I say it? She really didn’t want to argue this early in but she also didn’t want to just be pulled along without voicing her opinion.

“Also, while I am really happy and impressed by you having an offer by Sabrina, and I do understand why you would participate, it’s really not the same for me. I don’t have anything to gain, except maybe a humiliating defeat on camera. Really doubt I’d win the tournament, so the prizes aren’t really drawing me in and a likely early loss would harm my image.”

Lyn nodded, not responding for a few seconds. “I understand your apprehension, but didn’t you say you wanted to stream your pokebattles? To raise your notoriety in that community? Well, what better exposure than doing well in the SYT, with all the eyes on you?”

“Nothing, if I win. Everything if I don’t.”

Lyn was frowning, “Why are you so sure you’ll lose? Mother mailed me your battle during your license exam and you were pretty good. You can’t tell me you got worse over the year.”

“I also didn’t get much better and if you’re telling me I was tournament ready at that point, I’d say you’re a bit delusional.”

“Seems to me you’d now have a really good motivation to improve over the next two months, to make for a good showing in the SYT. Besides, the top prizes aren’t everything. You don’t have to win the thing to be impressive, a good showing in general can be worth just as much.”

That would be a really good way of getting sponsors. It wasn’t that she wasn’t tempted at all, she was, very much so. If she did well and impressed the people there, she’d get tons of fans and viewers. Sponsorships by firms and stores were also a real thing. Cameras, all the people in the crowd, screaming her name, cheering her on? She couldn’t deny the appeal. She looked at her pikachu, who had been walking alongside them for now and he stood up on two legs and puffed his chests, apparently rather enthusiastic for the tournament. Not that that was a surprise, Rush had taken a huge liking to her streaming and had become a part of them for months now. He took every opportunity to present himself and loved it when she read comments about him out loud.

Rush and Diva are pretty strong and would get stronger with two months of good training. No way those two wouldn’t impress the masses.

“Well,” Cassie mused, running her thumb and indexfinger over her chin, “you aren’t wrong when you say that. It’s still a risk, mind you, and I guess I would have been happier to go for the Youth tournament next year. That said, the earlier I get my name and face out there, the better. And that of my babies, of course.”

Lyn’s posture relaxed and she seemed to cheer up. “I’m glad we’ll be able to do this together. Training seriously with the two of us is going to do help both of us in the long run.”

“Yeah,” Cassie agreed, but her mind was already on trying to plan an impactful strategy. Lyn gave her a weird look but didn’t say anything and soon enough, both of them returned to walking quietly, lost in their thoughts.

------------------------------------------

Two hours later, they were well outside the city. There were several ways that connected to Saffron, like the highway for the buses and cars, the train rails and the marching ways.

And then there were the trainer paths. Well-trotted roads through forests and wild land, without much human presence, where the pokemon roamed wildly. The Rangers kept a lot of eyes on them, of course. Regular patrols were sent out, to both protect the pokemon wildlife and to protect humans and their settlements. Cassie had listened to the countless time their mother had complained about the hours of the job and the way some people seemed almost suicidal in their idiocy and disregard for safety protocols in the wild.

They were travelling on one such path. Since it was still relatively close to the city, the grass wasn’t as high on the sides of the road and the trees were rather wide apart, not yet the forest they would be in an hour or two. And yet, the occasional pokemon hushed around.

So far, they had spotted two spearows and a rattata. Lyn hadn’t released a pokemon yet. From what Cassie understood, she had an abra, a magnemite and her starter the nidoran. With magnemite and nidoran tired and recovering and abra not being a fighter for a while yet, the task to defend them fell to Rush.

Easy.

The spearows hadn’t really come near them, having seen Rush before he saw them and kept their distance. If one of them had wanted one, this would have been troublesome. Thankfully, neither of them did.

The rattata now was much closer. They had sat down in the shadow of a big tree, leaning against its trunk, sipping water and eating nutrition bars. Rush was snacking on a few berries that Cassie had laid out for him. It were probably those that had brought it out of the underbrush. It nudged closer, its whiskers twitching. Feeling bad for it, Cassie had thrown it a small berry. It wasn’t a pokemon she’d want to own right now, not when they’d have to prepare for a serious tournament. They weren’t terrible fighters or anything but they were underwhelming on the competitive level and everything they did, there were stronger pokemon who could do better and had other stuff besides. Still, this one was cute and she wasn’t completely heartless.

Rush, on the other hand, hadn’t liked the rattata. Right after Cassie had thrown it a treat, Rush had launched a small bolt of lightning. It didn’t hit it but it spooked it nonetheless and with a panicked squeak, it bolted.

He then trotted forward, snatched the berry that Cassie had thrown and shot her a smug grin, making Cassie roll her eyes. “You’re such a jerk, you know that?” she scolded him, but was unable to maintain her stern expression. Rush seemed more amused as it jumped on her lap, giving her a rather self-satisfied smile and rubbed himself against her legs and stomach. “First you bully that poor thing and now you want to be petted?”

Such a scamp.

Cassie couldn’t say no to him though. With a wry smile she started to run her hand through the fur on his back.

“What the hell was that?” Lyn’s voice was sharp and Cassie turned her head to look at her younger sibling.

“Hm?”

“Your pikachu just attacked a wild pokemon like that.”

“So? It didn’t harm it. Rush can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, but he’s harmless, really. The rattata was never in dange- ”

“We want to capture pokemon,” Lyn interrupted her. “Eventually. I don’t give a damn about that rat, but what I do care about is your pikachu scaring away a pokemon I need for my team. We can’t afford to throw away our chances with rare ones like vulpix simply because your pikachu was feeling petty.”

“Hey, he’s not stupid, okay. He knows.”

Lyn probably wanted to say something more, Cassie could tell by her opening her mouth but she closed it, glaring at the ground and taking another sip from her flask.

Cassie rolled her eyes. Great, she’s an even bigger buzzkill in person. This wasn’t really how she had planned this whole trip thing to go.

Rush, meanwhile, had glared at Lyn in turn. A few minutes of more petting relaxed it again though. She really hoped this wouldn’t become a thing where her pikachu and her sister would hate each other. This was going to be stressful enough as it is.

She flipped open her pokecom and for a few seconds, she was able to completely forget about this tournament and sister thing.

It truly was a beauty. It was the newest model and one of the more expensive ones. She had saved a year for it. She’d been streaming for a few years, and had gotten a sizeable following. She wasn’t exactly recognize-on-sight famous. Not yet, at least, but people in the scene generally knew of her. And she couldn’t really stop completely and expect to still have an audience when she came back, however long that took.

So, she had found a compromise. This pokecom would allow her to record herself in a pretty high quality and then be able to upload it. The upload speed would vary, she knew, depending on the connection she’d get. The signal wouldn’t be everywhere but with all the pokemon centers and even some of the ranger stations littered around, she was rather confident she would at least get the opportunity to put up something every few days at least.

It wasn’t streaming a full game but it was better than nothing. Besides, showing Kanto and its pokemon and all was bound to get some views. Not to mention her battle progress. Her fans watched her because she was really good at gaming and she’d have to be the same here.

Winning was the goal, as it always was. Cassie played to win. Lyn was right when she said that winning was what mattered, on that the two agreed.

She wouldn’t film herself today. No, that was for later, preferably when she had prepared something. But she did write a quick update on her website, explaining in a few sentences that she had begun her journey and that she would follow with a video soon. She also gave a quick shout-out to Elyse and Amy, saying how awesome it was to meet them. She finished that post by adding a selfie with both Rush, Lyn and her visible on it. Of course, Rush was striking a pose, having raises his small arms and letting a bit of electricity crackle on his cheeks.

What an attention-hog.

Cassie had a small smile on her lips, having pocketed her pokecom again, as she gave Rush a spontaneous hug. “You and me, buddy,” she whispered, “you, me and Diva. We’re going to make it to the top.”

Rush squeaked in agreement, cuddling into her.

xxxx

It was five hours later, around eight in the evening, right after it had become dark that they managed to reach Pokemon Tech. It was a surprisingly large complex. Three big buildings formed a large U, each twice the size of a pokemon center. The buildings themselves had been built nearly sixty years ago but they had been obviously renovated and painted with a fresh white coat, as were their roofs with a bold red. The pool was also new and there were three arenas outside, ten meters apart from each other. One of them was in use as two men seemingly a few years older than Cassie were having a duel but since no one was playing the role of referee, it probably was just a training session.

And observing their performance for a few seconds, Cassie came to the conclusion that they needed as much training as they could get. The trainer with the corsola was utterly wasting it.

“Those’re the supposed super-elites?” she asked her younger sister.

Lyn shrugged. “As I said, the institution talks big but not everyone here is a master trainer. As far as I know, they can’t grant the license but there has been some debate on that lately.”

They passed through the entrance and into the foyer, which had significantly more activity than outside. Around two dozen people were standing around, most of them waiting in front of the main desk, talking to one of the three people working there while the rest were scattered around the spacious room, chatting. It was loud and busy.

“Huh, didn’t expect it to be this full.”

“Think most of them are like us, just passing by. It’s secondary function as a hostel for people active in the woods around us is part of its income. This area has good pokemon and it’s easier to crash here rather than travel to Saffron and back every day.”

“Do you think we’ll even get a room? Seems to be full, especially if you count the students.”

Lyn started to walk towards the reception. “We should be fine. They don’t have that many students anyway and the buildings are big. Think studying here costs a good penny but its hostel part is cheaper. Now, during the tournament, then it might be difficult. But right now, nothing important is happening, at least as far as I know.”

“Fair enough.”

They took their place at the end of the queue, waiting for their turn.

“Man, I’ve heard Tech is full of jerks,” Cassie said after a few minutes.

Lyn snorted. “Where did you hear that?”

“Told my viewers the rough route of our journey, and more than one wrote how much the Tech students sucked. There was a comment war, I think, about that but my mods killed it rather soon.”

She shrugged. “It’s a private school and it prepares its students both, for the pokemon license and then later for league matches, but they can’t actually grant the license themselves, at least most of them can’t. It’s supposed to have comparable equipment to most gyms, probably better than some. It also has former high-ranking trainers doing the teaching and coaching.”

“Huh.”

“Most people in our gym didn’t like the school and its students. The guy who beat me,” her expression darkened when she remembered her loss again, but she managed to move on and continue, “probably came from here, or somewhere similar.”

“So, what? You hate them as well?”

“Not really. Don’t see a reason to worry. Saffron City gym is top notch and if any of their trainers and teachers were worth a damn, were truly skilled, then they'd be working alongside or for Sabrina or other gyms leaders instead. But they aren’t so they don't. So, no, just indifferent.”

A small smile appeared on Cassie’s face. “Sounds to me someone is annoyed that they’re getting a rep for being good that you think is just empty hype.”

A shrug was all the answer Lyn gave to that.

"Maybe. Don't really care much about that. I just know it's a convenient first stop for us and that’s all it needs to be."

"Hmm, true.” Cassie was silent for a bit before she spoke again. “Guess that explains why those two fighting outside,” and she made air-quotes when she said fighting, “were so bad at it. So, this is a glorified inn that kinda scams rich people on the side, did I get that right?”

Before Lyn could answer, they were interrupted. “Hey!” a sharp voice from next to them yelled. They turned around to find a boy roughly Cassies own age with short black hair, dressed in jeans and a white shirt, glaring at them. “You better take that back.”

“What?” Cassie wasn’t sure what he was so upset about.

“What you said about this place. I’m training here. One of the teachers is my cousin.”

Lyn was looking at him like he was the world’s biggest idiot. “Why would you brag about that?”

He bristled. “I’m not bragging. I’m saying that you two assholes insulted me and my cousin. He’s a great trainer and is on his way to finish the gym circuit!”

“Good for him,” Lyn said and then turned back to Cassie. “Yeah, you got that right earlier but it’s an excellent inn with great facilities.”

Wow that was cold. Cassie was grinning. Who knew her sister had that kind of insulting capabilities in her. “It sure is convenient,” she agreed.

The student however was turning red from anger. “I guess words won’t mean much to the likes of you two. I hate people like you gym brats, strolling right in and looking down on us.”

“Look dude,” Cassie said, “We don’t really care about your hostel or your cousin. We’re just here to crash for the night and tomorrow we’ll be gone, so just relax, man. Chill.”

“That’s it. If you’re so tough, how about proving it? You guys are from Saffron gym, right? We always get trainers like you come in here and talk shit. And they all turn out to be hot air and nothing else. Well, I won’t take it.”

“She is. I’m from Pewter. You know, a real gym.” Cassie shot her sister a cheeky grin who just rolled her eyes at that.

“Please, Sabrina would eat Brock for breakfast.”

“Are you kidding me? Brock’s onyx. That’s GG right there.”

Lyn didn’t seem all that impressed with the answer and raised an eyebrow but before she could reply, the guy interrupted.

“You! Pewter girl! If you’re so tough, then let’s have a duel right now.”

Cassie felt like she was having an online discussion about a subject she didn’t really care about but the person on the other side did.

“Right now? I’m a bit tired, to be honest. Can I take a raincheck? And we do this some other time? How about in five years or so? Or, you know, never?”

“Are you afraid to lose?”

A master of psychological manipulation, that one.

“Yeah, that’s it. Shaking in my cute, stylish boots.”

Suddenly, his eyes widened. “I recognize you,” he said and Cassie perked up. That hadn’t happened often. In fact, this would be the fourth time someone had recognized her. “You’re that shit streamer.”

Now it was Cassie’s turn to frown but it wasn’t that unexpected. If there was someone who recognized her, chances were about fifty/fifty on them liking or hating her. “Yeah, that’s something I’ve never heard before.”

“You’re just the type of person who’d make fun of a school like this, thinking yourself better.”

Before Cassie could retort, Lyn cut in. “She is and she accepts.” Cassie whirled around, eyes wide to stare at her sister in astonishment. “Lead the way or did you intend to battle right here?”