A Spirit's Journey (Pokemon Watty Awards 2014 3rd Place Winner: Adventure)

Chapter 23: Possible Lover Pikablu?

                     Chapter 23: Possible Lover Pikablu?

The next few days were spent with even more training and construction. A week and a half of our allotted time had passed, so Hecate had come down to inspect the work. She gave us a tongue-lashing for being lazy, but otherwise there were no consequences. Seriously, what can you threaten someone with when you’ve already told them they are going to be executed?

After much effort, Rio finally managed to stabilize his staff of aura. He and Psi trained against each other, learning to use their new weapons, and sometimes I joined in when they needed to fight someone more experienced. Nine’s psychic abilities grew exponentially under Latios’ direction, though they often gave her splitting headaches as a repercussion. But most interesting of all was Lady Glacier and Pikablu, who were always fighting each other. From their training, Lady Glacier had become faster, more accurate, and quite dangerous. But none of it helped her against Pikablu, whose speed allowed him to almost disappear at times. However, there was a limit to it. He would quickly become very tired if he ran at full speed for too long.

“Nice try!” he panted as they were training together on the eleventh day of Giratina’s allotted time, dodging her attack and sending a bolt of electricity her way. In defense, she stamped her foot formed a shield-wall of ice, which shattered when hit but blocked the attack nonetheless. She swept the electrified fragments up in an icy storm and sent them shooting back at Pikablu. Alarmed, he ducked and they buried themselves in the wall behind him instead.

“She’s gotten better,” Z said in admiration. Syoran was giving us all a break, but Pikablu was not so generous. Ice met electricity in mid-air and resulted in an explosion of ice shards in every direction. We dove for cover.

“Well, at least she won’t slow us down,” I admitted grudgingly.

“Oh stop it,” Nine told me, “You’re just biased against her.”

“HEY! WATCH IT, YOU ARROGANT ARISTOCRAT!” Pikablu shouted, narrowly avoiding a frozen spear that was just a little too close to his neck.

“SILENCE, YOU BRASH BRUTE!” she shouted back. They came together and clashed. Pikablu came away with a scratch across his forehead.

“You trying to kill me?” he demanded.

Lady Glacier smiled smugly. “You going to let me?” Taking a large breath, she sent a burst of frigid air at him. He stepped aside and it missed.

“Alright, that’s it!” he growled, “It’s on now!” Electricity sparked from his cheeks and traveled down his entire body. “Charging up to Level Three!” He counted off the levels one by one, all the while dodging Lady Glacier’s desperate attempts to stop him. “Level Three Release!”

A wave of electricity shot out from him straight for Lady Glacier. She tried to form her ice wall, but it shattered and did nothing to diminish the attack. She screamed and fell, twitching spasmodically. Pikablu stood stunned for a moment.

“Oh crud! I overdid it!” he said, regaining his senses. He dashed over and knelt beside her. Nine tried to rise to go help as well, but Syoran pushed her back down.