Owning a Gardevoir has its Perks: Chapter 2

“So, what’s the plan Elise?” Asked Alex as he tossed her a bottle of water. She had to say, running was quite fun when her Gardevoir wasn’t intent on making her cough her lungs out. Today’s pace was far more pleasant than last time. She and Artemis were tired, yes, but the burn felt pleasant rather than making her want to lay down and just stay there. “I mean, Slateport is nice and all but we’ll have places to go and people to fight,” he added.

She opened the bottle and let Dartrix have her fill first before she answered, “Aren’t we going to the league?” They had their goal of beating this year's League Conference and winning against Phoebe. It was going to be a long and hard journey but she couldn’t let her team and her best friend down.

“I meant like any new pokemon you want to add to your team and what moves do you want us to hone.” He then clarified as he sat crossed legs while floating above the sandy ground below before he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore along with the cries of Wingulls was quite soothing to the ear. Here on the shore line, the scent of the city wasn’t so noticeable.

“O-oh, well, I already have you, Artemis, and Snorunt. All I need is to get everyone to their final evolution and we can do this?” She replied a bit hesitantly. Right now, she only had three pokemon and she was definitely facing up against 5 to 6 pokemons but she believed in her team.

“As flattered as I am with your trust, I don’t think even I can carry you all.” He replied making Artemis cry out in protest making him roll his eyes but he relented to the smaller pokemon. “Even if you get to your final evolution, we can’t win with just the three of us.” He corrected himself.

Elise nodded gravely at that. That was one more aspect of her as a trainer that she had yet to address. Yes, she took it slow when it came to acquiring new pokemon but she wasn’t active in her search. She’d been passive these past few years, but that needed to be resolved. Admittedly, this was actually far easier to solve than her fears.

”With our current line up, as fine as it is, we’ll be demolished by the tougher competition and we haven’t talked about Champion May here yet. Her team will be a bitch and a half to deal with given she chose Torchic.” Gardevoir grumbled out making her frown a bit. Champion May?

“You mean Champion Sapphire?” She corrected him. She didn’t know why he referred to the current champion by that name but she chalked it up to his peculiarities.

“Yeah, mixing her up with someone else.” He waved his mistakes off before muttering something. “Why didn’t she just choose to be a coordinator?” He muttered darkly as he wobbled a bit in his meditation. She was often confused by what he muttered about, but she wasn't one to judge.

“I don’t really know. I haven’t planned anything since I only wanted to go back to Mt. Pyre to avoid Phoebe until yesterday.” She admitted as tapped the heels of her foot against the soft ground. She never had a plan to fight up until yesterday. Maybe she could actually fight again right? Maybe she didn’t have to fail again?

“Fair enough. Mind if I suggest something?” Her Gardevoir nodded before turning towards her. While she was by no means lacking when it comes to pokemon knowledge, her Gardevoir had some interesting ideas up his sleeves.

“Sure.” She nodded as she listened to him and wondered what he had in mind. She was short three members and wasn’t that daunting task. Who should she try and befriend? There were thousands of pokemon species, both known and unknown to modern science. Even Fossil pokemon were on the table, though she shied away from them despite their resurrection.

“First though, What pokemon do you specialize in training? The Dartrix and Snorunt were a surprise until I remembered Decidueye and Froslass.” He asked, making her look at him in surprise. Oftentimes, when people build teams, they don’t think about how they could train them properly. You can have the most varied type of team but training them all would be hard when one needs to be trained in aerial acrobatics while the other needs to be trained in the art of tunneling underground.

“Oh, I’ve trained with Psychic and Ghost types. I’ve also handled some Dark types. They’re just as mischievous as Ghost pokemon believe or not?” She replied with a smile. She might have a preference for the darker elements. Mental might and trickery often go hand in hand when it comes to training. “They’re the types my mentors trained with and the pokemon I grew up with.” She reminisced fondly. She wished she could cuddle up against her Mentor's Umbreon. They helped with the psychic headaches she had as a child.

He smiled as he cracked open an eye and observed her. “Do you have friends from Kalos?” he then asked.

She tilted her head at that question, “Yes?” She replied as he gave him a questioning look. Of course she had friends there. Kalos is one the Hex Maniac heartlands after all. “Hex Maniacs are a sisterhood you know. From mother to daughter and friends to friends, Our bonds shall remain. Even the end shall not part us for our knowledge lives on.” She recited in Kalosian.

“Try asking them if they know a breeder that has some Froakie or better yet, a Frogadier.” He nodded before casually replying. She choked at the pokemon he asked for. Of all the water types he could have asked, he chose another starter.

“T-those are expensive… really really expensive.” She replied out shakily as she reached out for her rather light wallet. She didn’t have that much capital laying around. “I only got Artemis because I got lucky!” She shouted in mild distress. The stars aligned when she was the one chosen among the kids tasked to care for Artemis’s batch of starters. Artemis reached out and gave her wallet a pat and shook her head in dismay.

He was not deterred as he merely grinned back and replied in his own cocksure way, “Welp, that just means we have a lot of people to beat up then.” She felt her lips twitching as she let out a soft chuckle at that. Where was he getting all this positivity and endless enthusiasm? He sounded so assured and self confident that she was getting swept off her feet. She wondered if she could get a fraction of that.

“Are you really that confident?” She asked with amusement tingeing her tone.

“Hey, you have me and you have Artemis. You can count on us!” He replied as he gave her a thumbs up. Artemis cried out to the sky, calling for a challenge as she thumped her wings against their chest making Elise giggle. “High five!” offered the Gardevoir to the little Owl who was eager about it only for her to trip forward as Alex pulled his hands back “Too slow,~” Elise laughed out at that point. She was truly blessed to have such partners by her side. Of course, she had to pull Artemis away from trying to shank the offending party.

They laughed together for a bit, and in Artemis's case she fumed, but eventually they all calmed down. Clearing his throat, he went on to continue his recommendation, “After Frogadier, you just need a Fire type to round up the team.There’s this Paldean pokemon I’ve been hearing about. My old trainer was actually looking to acquire one. You’ve heard about Ceruledge?”

“Yes. They’re all the rage among my friends…” Elise trailed off as she just noticed something about all the pokemon he had planned for the team. The two pokemon he had suggested so far were humanoid in nature. Sure Frogadier’s evolution Greninja was amphibian in nature but they could be quite appealing to look at and she hadn’t even talked about Ceruledge who was a spectral pokemon possessing an ancient armor, a very idealized and stylistic armor. There was also her own pokemon to consider. Artemis was rather humanoid when she evolved into a Decidueyes. Finally, it was just Snorunt. From a cursory glance, Snorunt’s evolution of Froslass wasn’t humanoid until she considered the pokemon’s exotic charm as their body’s looked like they were wearing a kimono.

“...wait.” She called out as the gears in her mind clicked together. She could already feel the growing headache she had as she was reminded of Alex’s rather charged… carnal nature.  “Are… are you suggesting pokemon based on looks?“ She asked him bluntly, making the Gardevoir lose all focus as he fell down to the ground.

“N-no!” The gardevoir quickly answered back as he scrambled to get back to his feet. The way he avoided her gaze and the pink tinge on his cheeks was pretty telling on how he truly felt. She didn’t even need to peer into his heart to know the answer to her question now. “Every single suggestion I made is justified! The fact that they look appealing was just icing on the cake!” He defended himself, making her groan out in dismay. Artemis meanwhile laughed as she started mocking the now embarrassed Gardevoir as she turned around and waved her tail at him.

“... I hate how every single suggestion you made makes sense but damn it.” She complained as there was rhyme and reason to his horniness. She felt her own cheeks heat up as she rubbed her face. He might be powerful, he might be a bit strangely insightful to pokemon battles, but he still was very much a full blooded man.

“You know what, Let’s just try a match today.” She sighed out. If she was going to fight Phoebe, she needed to hone her skills. It should also help distract her from the thought of having to deal with Alex’s more carnal nature.

-x-x-x-

This morning’s excitement quickly gave way to dread as she tried to work up the courage to go fight one of the passing sailors in the docks. She sat there on the bench, soaking in cold sweat as Artemis and Alex comforted her. “We can do this tomorrow Elise. Sure I need to get a feel on how you fight so we can see where we can work things out, but you don’t have to force yourself.” He said soothingly as he rubbed her back. The sheer thought of having to fight right now made her stomach turn but she clenched her fist as she did her best to get her shaking under control.

“N-No, I need to do this.” She replied with grim determination. She could chicken out everytime and run away from her fears, but she needed to face them because she couldn’t just always run away. She needed this for her team and she needed this for herself. These were just baby steps, win or lose, it didn’t matter.

Alex nodded before asking. “So remember the plan right? We’ll keep dodging till you command me to do something else.” It was a simple plan really, Her pokemon would minimize the amount of commands she had to make. It was easy enough, the only problem was executing it.

“R-Right. Let's do this!” She shouted rather shrilly as she shot up her seat. With her heart thundering inside her chest, she walked up to a nearby crowd of sailors as they cheered on the winner of the bout. The burly sailor’s Medicham flexed with his owner as they stood over the defeated Pelipper of their enemy. The psychic fighting pokemon still looked fresh despite the fight against the bird pokemon.

Mustering her courage, she shouted at the top of her lungs, “H-Hey!” She flinched a bit as every single person nearby turned towards her, from the sailor to the fishermen coming back to the city to get their lunch. Well, she definitely caught their attention alright. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she then asked “S-still willing to fight?”

The man grinned as he rolled up his sleeves before another sailor tried barging in. “Come on Bob, you already broke even. Best to give us the chance to battle here.” The reedy sailor said as he combed his rather greasy hair back before pulling out his pokeball. She wasn’t really picky on who it was she needed to fight but she let them sort it out.

“And lose a chance to impress the little lady? Hah! Fat chance Alfred.” The larger man replied bombastically as he thumped his meaty fist against his barrel-like chest much to the disappointment of the smaller man. She sighed at that but the momentary distraction helped calm her nerves a bit.

Smilingly smugly at her, he then asked, “So, think you can handle my Medicham here?” His Medicham crossed its arms across their chest as the female pokemon glared at her with barely contained irritation.

Taking a deep breath, she made her challenge “O-one on one! Your Medicham against my D-Dartrix.” Artemis walked forwards from between her legs as she gave the Medicham a challenging glare. Some of the sailors snickered and jeered at her choice of pokemon only to be silenced as the much bigger Medicham started sizing up the shorter owl. The two locked eyes and neither were backing away.

The man crossed his chest against his chest as he nodded respectfully at the smaller pokemon. “Oho, hear that Maimai?” He said as he poked his Medicham who scoffed at her choice. “You have guts little lady but let’s see if you can back it up.” He replied as he turned to the other sailors. “Boys! Give us some space. Let me show her just what us sailors of the Ever Fortune are made of!” He shouted as the sailors made a ring around them.

She could feel sweat dripping down her forehead as she faced down the sailor and his partner before her. She nearly jumped as she felt Alex’s hands grab her shoulder. “You can do this, we believe in you” He whispered into her ears even as the mocking laughter of her nightmares called from beyond the grave.

She nodded shakily as she felt her nails dig into her palm. The referee of the match stepped forward with his flag as he started listing the conditions of the match. “Ok, folks. Keep it clean and inside the ring. Avoid using flashier moves, we ain’t in the leagues see? None of them fancy field dampeners and we don’t want to pay for broken pavement.”

The referee looked at Artemis and then to Mainmai as he kept his flag in between them. “Begin!” With a wave of the flag, the Medicham was already at the Dartrix’s face. She felt herself choke up and look away but the lack of cries from her starter made her look back. She danced and weaved around the Medicham as the taller pokemon fist crackled with power and she attempted to pummel Dartrix with it.

“Keep her dancing Maimai! One hit of that Thunder Punch and she’ll feel the pain!” Shouted the man as his face morphed into that of an evil grin in her vision. Her vision wavering as the shadows seemed to stretch on and on while the sound of the fight slowly drowned out.

“Focus!” Shouted Alex as she was snapped back into reality. Everything went back as it was as she felt Alex’s hands squeezing her shoulder.

Gritting out a command, she shouted “S-Shadow Claw!”. Dartrix was more than eager to follow her command as her feathers glowed a ghostly purple before she lashed out.

The Sailor cursed as he shouted in turn, “Bulk Up Maimai!” They were far too close for the Medicham to disengage and she had to take the damage. Dartrix made her pay for being so aggressive as the claw raked the Medicham’s chest but she found her shadowy claw raking against rock hard muscle.

“Zen Headbut!” The Sailor shouted and the Medicham lashed out. Elise bit back a cry as the pokemon’s forehead glowed before she smashed her head against the owl pokemon who was still mid air, making Artemis bounce away. Her partner almost slipped out of the ring but she managed to scramble back to her feet.

Artemis spat to the side but she didn’t look worse for wear. “She can handle it. Just keep going Elise, you’re doing great.” Alex whispered into her ear as he kept her from reaching out and hugging her pokemon. This was a match, she can’t pull Artemis out of it now.

Medicham went back to her furious assault but this time, her hits sounded louder as it swept through the air. She might not be faster, but the Medicham looked stronger despite how her chest looked bruised from the raking cut.

Elise took calming breaths as she tried her best to get her heart in control, “Artemis! Tackle!” She called out as her hands shaked. She wanted to back out now, she wanted to flee but Alex kept her mind in the fight as he whispered encouraging words.

Artemis crouched down before launching herself at the surprised Medicham. “Dodge!” The sailor cried out but Artemis was already on Medicham. The tackle might have been dampened by the enemy jumping back but Artemis clung to the bigger pokemon like a demented limpet, refusing to pull away.

Screwing her eyes shut, she shouted on the top of her lungs “Shadow Claw!”. Artemis’s eyes glinted as she jabbed her glowing claw at the Medicham’s chest.

“Get her off Maimai! Thunder Punch!” Cried out the Sailor but Artemis weathered the storm as Elise cried out in turn. “Keep using Shadow and don’t let go!” Without leverage, the Medcham’s attack proved futile. Artemis’s smaller size proved to be an asset as she kept jabbing away even as the punches rained down from behind.

Under Artemis’s relentless assault, the Medicham toppled over before fainting. Elise blinked as she watched Artemis raise her wings up high and cried out in triumph. “I-I won?” She whispered out just before she felt herself swept off her feet and carried aloft by Alex as people cheered her and Artemis on.

Adrenaline drained out of her as she laughed out joy until everything started to spin and fade into black. The last thing she remembered was Alex calling out to her before she was carried off to the direction of the pokemon center.