(WARNING: Reader does have some shards of ice fly at her but she does NOT get hurt and only her coat hoodie gets ripped. Thank you to everyone who suggested names. I could only pick three so here they are: Scoliopede: Girl- Venom, Mightyena: Boy- Night, Glacian: girl- Rena.)
A Date.
You were going on a date. WITH GORDIE....OK!! NO PRESSURE!! THIS WAS ONLY YOUR FIRST EVER REAL DATE!! Granted you weren't AS freaked out as you'd thought you'd be, but you chalked that up to still being really tired at the moment he asked you, and the fact that Gordie was actually a really nice person and you didn't really feel too nervous around him. But that didn't mean you weren't super nervous being a date! But why would he ask you to go on a date with him in the first place!? Sure you guessed the two of you had become somewhat friends lately, but you didn't think that would be enough for him to want to date you, and it's not like you liked him like that back. He was really nice, and cared about people, and yeah maybe he was REALLY nice looking and he saved your life and he was really gentle-
.....
.......
.....Oh no-
You immediately had Sparky emergency call up Sonia who was more confused on why you were calling her in the middle of the day but when you explained (three times in a row because you were panickily rapid firing your situation and Sonia had to have you repeat yourself to her), Sonia only chuckled over the phone and said one thing.
"Just be yourself. Can't go wrong with that."
Gee. Thanks a lot Sonia. Solid advice usually but you could've used a bit more advice other than that! UGH!! Well no time to worry about that now. You had something else to worry about for the moment. Sigh. No use worrying over it now. ...You should take your pokemon out today and gather supplies. It's been a while since you did that, and you had nothing else to worry about for the rest of the week, so you just sighed and slipped on your coat and beckoned for your trio of pokemon to come with you. Which they were happy to do so. You had to gather a few things to do your projects with anyways. Pokeballs being one of the key items. Why? Well to put it plain and simple because you were going out to catch some pokemon! Why? Well because it was one of the harder tests for your battle studies class you decided on doing next year of course! One of the final tests was to capture three pokemon and submit proof you did so. So if you could catch three pokemon and have Sparky record it, then you could just show the professor your videos and not have to worry about it later. How did you know this? Well-... Emerald of course. One night before you had a big exam last year.
"UGH!! You won't believe what they're having me do NOW!!," she complained to someone on the phone again not letting you get ANY sleep that night again in the room next to you. "That so called battles instructor wants be to get three pokemon.....*scoff* No, Mother. I can't get them from that stupid rotomi system. She wants us to go catch them 'in the wild'!! IS SHE CRAZY!? I'd get lost and freeze to death out there! Or some nasty critter's going to bite my face off!! That's why I'm having Jackson do it. What's the use in having a boyfriend if he can't help me catch a few pokemon.....No I'm not going to keep them unless there's any value. I just need them for the grade. ....Yes. I do want you to do that. ...How?...Hm. I don't know. I can always stage something. Don't worry. They'd buy something like that if I can think of something. Just pay them and leave the rest to me."
Of course she was cheating but you didn't want anymore drama and you figured karma would strike her for her actions. Turns out...You were RIGHT about that but wouldn't know until much later. In the mean time you were just glad to step out into the fresh air. It was nice out today. The sun was shining in the sky, and sure it was still cold as the norm in Circhester, but the air smelt fresh with the scent of pine trees and you let out a big sigh letting the steam of your breath be seen.
"Zang?"
Oh. Speaking of your pokemon- Silver was already bordly looking around with a sigh, hoodie still over his head. Seems he's gotten used to the cold by how long you've been here. He mostly stayed by your side. Cerberus was the one who was running around and rolling in the snow startling people. He seemed more happy being free and taken cared of...but he still seemed to growl at anyone not you who tried to pet him. Guess that was still an issue. Zen was on all fours sitting by and just looking around. Per Professor Joy's advice, you had started having him walk on all fours again because it wasn't good for his posture in the long run. Nor was it good to have his claws out all the time. He seemed unbothered by the change either way. Good. It was better this way. Right now Zen was looking at you in question with a tilt of his head and a brow raised in question.
"We're going to try out something different today," you spoke to him before pointing off in the direction you all usually went to let your pokemon run around without bothering anyone else. "I wanna see what you guys can do so we'll be training your moves today at a safe distance."
Today you'd be testing out what kind of moves Zen and Cerberus can do. You already knew what Silver could do from the times Gloria and the guys borrowed him for battles, but you'd never seen what the others could do, plus this could be a good time to see how Cerberus's health was concerning his fire type moves. He was back to a normal weight and was happier obviously with the way he so happily acted around you, but you wanted to be sure nothing else was wrong just to be on the safe side. You know how the saying goes. Better safe than sorry. With a smile on your face you turned and started walking over towards the pathway outside Circhester with your pokemon following behind you. All the way past Circhester's gates and then you turned and started off walking towards the left starting to walk through deeper snow now, around five inches up past your ankles. It was easy to walk through it despite it being it a bit deep and soon you all reached the tree line. Past the pine trees you all went and into the woods you all went. The smell of fresh snow and pine trees was increased now that you all had walked on past them and you hummed as you all went right onto the spot where you'd usually take them to play and let off steam. It wasn't anything fancy. Just a big clearing in the middle of some trees with one or two bolders sticking out from the earth here and there. Sometimes you'd see some ice type pokemon scatter off once you all entered said clearing, but it seemed today it was as clear as the sky. Perfect!
"Ok! This is a good time to stop and start working on our progress!" They looked to you confused but you only smiled. "Sparky!" Immediately the small orange phone flew from your pocket and up to your head. "Make a list of all possible moves Houndooms and Zangeese know."
"*ZZZTT* Calculating desired data! Data downloaded and organized to desired instructions! Awaiting further instructions!", he replied after a moment.
"Good. Just take off the moves that they don't have as we go along," you took a look at the screen Sparky provided you and hummed a little bit. "...Let's start with Zen. It'll be easier to do just one at a time." Once Sparky pulled up the list you nodded. "Ok Zen. You ready to show me what all that muscle can do?" In response the zangoose just casually stood on his back legs and stretched out with a yawn and a moment later, two pairs of sharp claws poked out from his red paws. Guess that was a yes. In one moment you pointed at the nearest tree. "Ok then! Zen, use night slash on that tree!"
Nothing.
"....Zang?" Zen rose a brow in question turning his head to give you a lost look.
"...Ok. Right. Sparky cross that move off his list." Guess it was clear Zen didn't know that one. "Ok then! Scary Face!" Nothing. "Razor Wind." Zen just continued to stare blankly. "Scratch?" Still nothing. Zen still stood there staring as if he had absolutely NO CLUE what you were talking about and speaking in a different language on top of that. "How about Focus Punch? Iron tail? Fire Blast? Fury Cutter?" By how he was still staring at you it was clear he knew none of those moves. You inhaled. "OK! We can work with this. Lets just move onto the next one that's on the list shall we? Sparky!" Said rotomi phone popped up in your face and by Sparky's account that was most of the list so far. "Alright....We tried that one. What's that? Crush claw-"
BAM!!
SIlver gave a startled sound of alarm at the sound of something hitting something else and you flinched as something akin to splinters and pieces of wood rained down on you all. In response you yelped and threw your arms over your face until the rainfall of wood and bark subsided, then you ever so slowly peeked back up in time for Zen to pull his left set of claws from the tree you previously pointed out to him. The side of the tree looked as if a cannon ball was scrapped sideways across it leaving a giant gash in the wood and a mess of wood and bark all over the place. You stared. Zen just flexed his claws before shaking his claws out and looking at you.
"...Oh. I uh..Guess you can use that move. *ahem* Alright! Once from the top! Let's see if you can use X-Scissor next!"
So by the end of it you learnt Zen could use the following moves. Crush Claw, X-Scissor, Close Combat, Mega Punch, and Solar Beam. By the end of it the tree uh...looked like it had seen better days from all the moves Zen practiced on it (other than Solar Beam which you had him shoot into the sky. Wouldn't risk the trees setting on fire) but at least you narrowed down what he did and didn't know. Cerberus was a little different. You had to be more careful with him because of the greater chance of accidentally lighting something on fire, so you had him just fire straight into the sky like when Zen did that Solar Beam. In the end Cerberus only knew four moves. Flamethrower, dark pulse, shadow ball, and bite. Not bad. At least you all knew what they could and couldn't do now. You also went through it with Silver, mostly enough to make sure he got some exercise. The few moves he knew was Pound, water pulse, water gun, and tackle.
"Alright. That should be enough for now. Good job everyone!," you praised to which they seemed pleased at. Before you shivered again and looked up again to the sky. The once cloudless sky now had a few clouds scattered around it now looking as if it would snow yet again. "We should head back to town now. It's starting to look like it'll snow any mo-"
SNAP!!
You froze as soon as the sound of a stick snapping loudly sounded off from behind you before you whipped around as footsteps approached. Loudly. And VERY, very close. Crunching snow sounds were starting to come from the back. And there was one- Two pairs of footsteps approaching you now. Which means that there was two people or a giant pokemon walking on four legs! The footsteps were louder now and you stared wide eyed as they approached from behind a small pine tree. You froze, Cerberus growled, Zen quickly stood back up onto his hind legs, Silver latched onto your leg- And a human hand poked out from behind a branch of pine needles gently grabbing them and pushing them aside to reveal the ones on the other side. You jumped with a startle, and stared as two pairs of ice blue eyes stared back at you.
You blinked upon instantly recognizing the two people in front of you. "....Mrs. Melony?" You stared at the Gym leader and her daughter who stood there staring at you from the branches and who seemed just as surprised to see you standing there. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question," the older woman spoke back stepping closer to you, Elsa right behind her, all bundled up against the cold afternoon. "I spotted something like fire shooting through the sky and I came to investigate it of course."
"Oh. That was me kinda." You gestured to Cerberus next to you. "I was just training up his moves a bit."
"Oh I see-"
"What are you two doing all the way out here anyways?"
She hummed and placed her head in one hand. "Same thing as you apparently. Training."
"That's right," Elsa chimed in and proudly crossed her arms, "Mum's been helpin' me train up ta take over the gym!"
"Oh that's right. I think your brother mentioned that. Congratulations on that. I hope it hasn't been too stressful."
She shook her head. "No. I mean-...Yeah it's hard but I wasn't expectin' it ta be easy. I need ta be strong if I wanna take over the gym."
Understandable. But-...You couldn't help but wonder how exactly Melony was training Elsa and how it differed from how she tried to train Gordie when he was younger if it even did. Did Melony learn from her mistakes with Gordie? Was she training Elsa differently? Or was she training Elsa the same way she attempted a younger Gordie? Elsa didn't seem the slightest bit bothered with her mother training her. Was it because she was keeping it hidden? Or did Melony's style of training work for Elsa? Or maybe Melony had completely changed her style of training? You weren't sure but both seemed to be just fine. Elsa gave another look to your pokemon before pointing at them.
"Whatcha trainin' for anyways? Ya don't look like the type to go shiny huntin'."
"Well you're right about that. I'm planning on catching some more pokemon later, but I'm not really good at battling so I figured I'd just practice a bit since I got some time."
At this the teenager look confused. "But how can ya practice battling if you got no one to battle against?" She gestured around the empty area. "There's not even any pokemon you all can fight. How do ya expect your pokemon to learn how to battle other pokemon properly if you don't even battle other pokemon?"
You opened your mouth...then closed it. "I-...Well I-...I haven't thought of that before? I mean my friend borrowed Silver to battle a few times so he has some experience."
"Wait..You never battled with your pokemon before, you're not training them to properly battle against pokemon, and you're out here thinkin' you'll be catchin' pokemon like it's not hard?"
"Elsa, don't ask that in such a rude tone," Melony scolded the teenager before turning back to you, "But she does speak some truth. One of the main points of having pokemon battles is getting your pokemon used to battling different kinds of pokemon."
"Well they do have battle experience." With Zen used to being a pack leader and the guys borrowing Silver, you knew they had some level of battling experience. You couldn't speak for Cerberus tho. You didn't know anything about him from before you got him.
"Yes..But do you?"
"Huh?"
"A pokemon's only as good in battle as their trainer," Melony explained, "If a pokemon's thrown into a battle especially against a pokemon that they don't know but YOU do then it's up to you to help guide it to have the best outcome possible. How do I explain this?...Take..Gordie for example. He might not beat every single trainer he comes across but being someone with lots of experience watching his pokemon battle different pokemon and trainers with different personalities and styles and moves gives him an advantage. Doesn't guarantee he'll win every fight, but being so experienced helps him be a good trainer and essentially builds a better trust with his pokemon."
"Oh. I uh-...Hadn't thought of that either. And it's not like there's anyone I know here who'd be down to help me with that."
"Oh. Well if that's the case, then I wouldn't mind battling you."
A record scratch went off in your head as you stared at the smiling Melony. "...Say what?"
"If you haven't battled anyone before, why not battle with me to see what you can do? Then you can just build off yourself from there. I don't mind. Watching me battle in person would also give Elsa some experience."
"Uh..." Your mind blanked for a moment before you shook your head. "H-Hang on! But you're a gym leader! There's absolutely no way I'd win against you!"
"Ah. But that's where you're missing the point." She smiled wider. "The point of what you're trying to do is see where you stand. Not if you win or lose. Sometimes focusing on just winning or losing can hold a person back and you've never battled me before. So how can you make an assumption when you haven't even tried?" Again..they had a point. "How many battle-able pokemon do you have?"
You blinked. "Huh? Oh. Uh just three. But I know their moves and I kinda have an idea about what to do with them."
"Excellent!'' She clasped her hands together happily. "Then a standard three on three battle won't be a problem!"
"I can referee!," Elsa added shooting an arm up. "The area's big enough to be used as a gym floor anyways! The boundary lines can be the tree line!"
"What do you say, Dear? Would you like to go up against an old lady like me?"
Her tone was nice enough but there was an icey cold edge under it which sent a shiver down your spine. "I- Well-...Sure. Why not?" Why not indeed. Worst thing that'd happen was that you'd lose anyways which wasn't the end of the world.
"Excellent! Then let's get started shall we?"
With that Melony turned and just started walking towards the end of the clearing. Oh. Guess you were taking the other side. With a turn you began walking off towards the other end of the snowy clearing before stopping and facing towards her. You didn't even get a chance to react or anything before she was already holding up a pokeball and tossing it out. In a flash of white light, a pokemon appeared. And not just any pokemon. A flying pokemon that looked like a moth dunked in white paint floated there. A Frosmoth.
"Well? Are you just going to stand there and admire it, Dear?", Melony asked tilting her head at you.
At this you frowned. Ok. A bug and ice type. Reasonably Cerberus being a dark and fire type would be the best bet to use against it, but you didn't know how powerful this pokemon was. Putting your bet advantage first might be a bad move. Zen was a heavy hitter as well but you weren't sure you wanted to use him so early into this. So your best bet would be-
You pointed. "Silver! Get in there!" A chirp and some snow crunching later, the drizzlie was fight in front of you with a frown.
"Alright! Let's do this!," Elsa cheered from the sideline. "First one to faint or goes out o' the clearin' loses! Three pokemon each for each round! Let's get the first round started, Mum!"
"Well, you heard my darling daughter!," she shouted voice echoing throughout the field before she pointed, "Frosmoth sweetie! Be a dear and use attract!" Following it's trainers commands, it let out a chittering sound and surrounding itself in bright red hearts before shooting them out towards Silver.
You didn't have any idea what gender the frosmoth was so there was no telling if it'd work or not on Silver so you made a hand swipe to the left. "Silver dive out of the way!" With a panicked chirp of alarm, Silver dolphin dived right into a snow drift completely missing the hearts tossed at him but now about neck deep in the small hill of snow- "Silver use water gun!"
"Sweetheart, dodge that and charge him with stun spore!" Silver obeyed your commands and a stream of water pulsed from his throat at the charging frosmoth. With one powerful flap of it's wings it was thrusted forward scattering snowflakes in it's wake and puffed up looking ready to blow that stun spore move at the water type-
"SILVER DUCK!!" Silver gave an alarmed sound before ducking his head back into the snow drift he'd dove into and completely missed the stun spore cloud blown at it.
"Ice beam!" It was so quick. How the Frosmoth changed from stun spore to ice beam and watching the white beam of light shoot from it's mouth area and towards the snow drift Silver hid under, and time seemed to slow as it made contact. A small BOOM! noise went off and you had to throw up your arms to cover your face from the spray of snow flakes. When you looked back up your jaw dropped.
The ENTIRE snow drift was encased in solid ice!! "SILVER GET OUTTA THERE!!" No response. "...Silver?" Again no response and it became pretty obvious why when you still didn't see him. "Oh my god- SILVER!!" Disregarding the battle, you quickly ran as fast as the deep snow could let you towards the ice prison until your hands made contact with the cold as artic ice and looked worriedly inside. "SILVER!?" Again no response except from the Frosmoth close to you who thrummed in curiosity. "Oh no- CERBERUS!! GET OVER HERE AND THAW OUT THIS ICE QUICK!!"
What followed was that Cerberus had to use flame thrower to melt the hard as rock ice all the way to the snow drift inside and you had to use your hands to dig through the remanding snow until you were able to pull out the shivering drizzlie who curled in on himself from the cold. You breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of him. Thank Arceus he wasn't hurt at least.
"Is he alright!?," Melony called from her side of the clearing with a note of concern in her voice, frosmoth already having been returned to it's pokeball.
Slowly you stood with him in your arms and nodded as he just chirped annoyed at his situation. "Yeah!...But I don't think he can fight anymore like this."
"In that case Mum wins first round!," Elsa said with a small arm thrown up in the air happily.
You again nodded with a sigh. Fair enough. Silver got it handed to him and with him shivering more than a cat dipped in cold water, there's no way he could continue battling and not get completely wiped out by Melony...But that wasn't what shocked you. You hadn't ever seen a bug type pokemon who could've switched between moves that fast before. How long had she trained it to be able to do that?
"Alright! It's time to start round two! Unless you wanna quit now but then Mum would still be the winner."
You took time out to look at Silver then to Melony who did nothing but smile patiently waiting for your answer. Before you looked back to Cerberus who panted but whined when you looked at him. "..Yeah. Cerberus, you're up!" If Melony was an ice type user then Cerberus would be your best bet. "I'm coming at you with more firepower this time!"
"Oh!," Melony gave a surprised face hand on her cheek before smiling. "That's wonderful, Dear! I hope you don't mind me washing the embers away."
You didn't get the meaning behind her words until you got Silver situated and Cerberus out on the field barking and growling in Melony's direction already heated up for the fight. Melony only smiled before tossing out her own pokeball and out came something that made your blood run cold. Out in a color of blue was a tall and intimidating looking Lapras. A. Freaking. LAPRAS. HOW COULD YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN MELONY HAD A FREAKING LAPRAS ON HER TEAM!? A water and ice type, which was something that could totally wipe out Cerberus in one water type move if you weren't careful. However the gym leader only chuckled at your reaction and Cerberus's now furious barking at the lapras who looked more confused at the pokemon it had never seen before.
"Oh dear. What's the matter? It looks like you had seen a ghost type pokemon. Don't worry. I'll make the first move since you're paralyzed. Lapras darling.~," she sing songed, "Why don't you cool them off with your icy wind?" Like clockwork the Larpas rung out it's (admittedly beautiful sounding-) voice and raised it's front flippers bringing forth a rein of icy wind rocketed right towards the still barking at it.
"Cerberus, to the right then charge right at it with bite-"
"Use Ice beam on the ground!" Again it was like watching something in slow motion, as the Lapras easily and again quickly changed from one move to another. It was hard to see with that cold wind blasting snow and cold wind into your face making snowflakes go everywhere, but you could definitely see the way that Lapras blasted a white beam from it's mouth and make contact with the snowy ground. Crackling sounds popping out as the ground quickly covered with a thick layer of ice with Cerberus charging. Only to slip with startled whine as soon as his paws touched the ice, and quickly crashing onto his side. "Good job! Now let's put out their flames with surf!"
SURF!? "Cerberus, hold your breath and turn your mouth away from the flow of water!" For the first time in your life, you saw cerberus gain a look of horror, especially when the a tidal wave of water sprung from the bottom of the Lapras's body and flowed towards the houndoom. Said houndoom flipped his body against the surf and clamped his eyes shut when the water hit him pushing him sliding back against the ice covered ground until he slammed into the leftover ice shield that had covered Silver earlier. Ice shards cracked and when everywhere as the water cleared and left Cerberus shaking his head and looking angrier. "Dark pulse!" His mouth opened instantly and a stream of black tightly spewed from the open muzzle and towards the Lapras-...Who..just leaned it's neck to the right and completely dodged it.
"Let's get ready to wash them away!"
"Use shadow ball to part the water!"The houndoom again opened his mouth and made a black ball gather energy in front of it.
"Use ice beam!" WHAT!? Instead of surf again which you completely thought was coming, the lapras tilted it's next again to completely dodged it!
"USE FLAME THROWER QUICK!!" A stream of fire was next to come from the mouth of the houndoom just as another white beam came from the Lapras. The two moves collided for half a second before the white beam completely cut through the fire and collided with his muzzle! There was a loud half bark half whine sound as it collided with his head and you could only stare helplessly as Cerberus laid there, unable to move on the ice, with now his mouth completely FROZEN SHUT!!
And then there was silence for around six seconds on the battle field other than Cerberus struggling and failing to stand on the ice until Melony spoke again. "Dear, are you going to give your pokemon an order?"
"I-...I can't!," you yelled back horrified, "His moves are all mouth based! He doesn't have anything else!"
You were expecting Melony to have her Lapras use surf again to just finished Cerberus off, but she only sighed and asked, "So he's unable to continue battling?" Sadly yes.
"In that case, Mum wins again!," Elsa added from the sidelines and it really made a pit form in your stomach. "But I suggest you get your houndoom off the ice and thaw out that maw o' his."
Yeah. She was right. It was kinda a struggle to have Zen fetch Cerberus off the ice and use his crushing grip to free his muzzle allowing the houndoom to gasp for air and whining from the whipping he got. That left only one pokemon you could use for battling, and Zen looked as if he didn't even want to do it but slowly walked out onto the still icy fields claws out and on hind legs ready for whatever pokemon sent out next. She didn't hesitate to send out her final pokemon for this, which instantly reminded you of an ape by the way it cried out and beat it's chest a few times. A darmanitan! A galarian darmanitan which were ice type variants of the usually fire type darmanitans. Zen was your heavy hitter so this should be an interesting battle for sure.
"I'm going to be nice this time 'round and let you have the first move, Dear," Melony called out with a small hand wave. "It's only fair, and to be honest I'm curious to what you'll churn out. After all I've never battled a zangoose before."
"Just be ready for whatever he throws at you!"
"Do you hear that, Darmanitan? Brace yourself.~" In response the darmanitan made an ape like noise.
"Alright then! Zen use crush claw on the ground!" In response Zen cried out raising his left paw as his two large claws glowed a bright almost painful to look at white before he struck right at the ground and made an instant reaction. A GIANT glass shattering sound went off as a good portion of the icy layer was broken, not all of it but a good portion, and let out the snowy ground underneath. Zen wouldn't have a too hard time not slipping now.
"Leveling out the field! That's a smart move! I'm impressed!," Melony complimented with a small clap, "But I'm afraid you aren't the only one with that ability! Darmanitan use icicle crash!"
"Zen dodge it!"
"GOOSE!?" Zen let out a questioning noise as the darmanitan cried out.
"LOOK UP!" He did so and yelled out as GIANT ICICLES appeared in the sky and fell down towards him. With a loud 'ZANG!' he quickly retreated to all fours again and started running, suddenly stopping as an icicles crashed in front of him, twisting his body this way and that, and by SOME miracle not getting hit by any of the icicles crashing about. But someone did. And that someone was you. The icicles crashed to the ground breaking apart the already broken ice broken by Zen earlier and making shards of ice fly everywhere, which unfortunately flew right at you as well. Your pupils shrank as one went right towards you- "AH!!"
A rip sound only loud enough for you (and Zen with his super hearing-) heard and instantly the zangoose stopped...and he turned to you as a hand zipped up to your coat's hood. Nothing hit you actually, thank goodness but that ice shared tore a good sized rip into your hood letting the cold air in and hitting the side of your head...You sighed in relief that it had missed you but Zen didn't stop staring wide eyed.
"GOOSE!?"
"I'm ok!," you assured him before pointing back forward, "Ok! Zen let's use Mega Punch!" He didn't move..."ZEN!! I said mega punch!"
"ICE PUNCH!!"
Zen didn't respond staring at the spot that was ripped on your hood...Before his eyes narrowed and he ever so slowly turned back to the darmanitan who already had his arm raised with a white light surrounding it. Time seemed to slow as the rival pokemon swung at him, and Zen leaned back barely missing the punch which slammed down onto the ice beside him. And he reacted. It was so face no one really saw it coming. A bright light in an X shape was slashed right across the front of the ape pokemon's face making the darmanitan let out a cry of pain at the close attack and you audibly gasped. That-...THAT WASN'T MEGA PUNCH!! The darmanitan had barely fallen down when those same deadly claws wrapped around that giant wrist of his and with a turn off his heel and tug, over his body the darmanitan was flipped only to be slammed down into the ice.
SLAM!! SLAM!! SLAM!!
One slam after another Zen yanked the darmanitan, slamming him into the ground over and over and over again like a sledgehammer. Each one ending in a loud noise which left both you and Melony stunned. You hadn't ordered him to do that or X-scissor!! What was he doing!?
"Zen, knock it off!! Stop it and listen to me!!"
"DARMANITAN USE ICICLE CRASH AGAIN!!"
"ZEN!! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING BUT LISTEN TO ME AND USE THAT POKEMON TO SHIELD YOURSELF!!"
You weren't sure how but in between the tug of war Zen was doing to him he indeed made the giant icicles rain from the sky again which was unfortunately his undoing. Just as a giant icicle was raining down towards him, Zen did a 180 body twist and TOSSED the darmanitan into his own icicle making him give out a cry of his own and Melony give out a stunned scream herself. Watching her poor pokemon land just feet away. But it wasn't over yet. Two loud crashes rang out as claws dug themselves into the ground before Zen used his strength to launch himself across the ice right towards the darmanitan who didn't get up in time before Zen pulled his arms back and a series of punches began. The ice type cried out as Zen with his lips curled back into a menacing snarl threw a flurry of punches at him. Stomach, Gut, Shoulder, Head, and Face.
Stomach, Gut, Shoulder, Head, and Face. Stomach. Gut. Shoulder. Head. Face. STOMACH. GUT. SHOULDER. HEAD. FACE. STOMACH. GUT. SHOULDER. HEAD. FACE. STOMACH. GUT. SHOULDER. HEAD. FACE. STOMACHGUTSHOULDERHEADFACE-
Until with a final war cry of rage, Zen delivered a punch to the darmanitan's face so hard that it sent the ice type flying back skidding across the ice and snow covered ground until with a final thud it landed in front of Melony who-....Didn't even react?? She just stood there surprised for a moment staring at the form of her darmanitan before back to Zen. Elsa also remained blank face as you stared on in horror. YOU HADN'T TOLD ZEN TO USE CLOSE COMBAT!! The 'using the darmanitan to shield himself from the icicle crash' thing WAS definitely something YOU TOLD HIM TO DO but NOT close combat!! Zen just stood there heavily breathing paws balled into clawed fists before growling deep in the back of his throat and moving back stiffly to stand between yourself and the darmanitan laying face down in front of her.
"*HHHHHIIIISSSSSS!!!*"
Melony blinked for a moment at the long hiss the zangoose gave her and her pokemon before-....Smiling. "Oh. I see what that was all about now. AW!~ What a darling display of loyalty!~ I love it!" She gushed hands on her cheeks confusing you. What- "But unfortunately because he didn't listen he's all worn out now and tired. Oh Darmanitan, my little snow cone!~ It's time to stop playing dead now."
And then-...
Like what Zen just did HADN'T even happened-
You all watched as the darmanitan slammed his hands into the ground before pushing himself up and smiled dangerously at the dumbstruck zangoose-
"WHAT!?", you shouted completed in disbelief.
"Now dear, you didn't really think my pokemon were that easy to take down did you? After all, I've been a gym leader longer than Leon's been Champion." She waved her hand. "Oh of course other gym leaders are stronger than myself. Kabu, Raihan obviously, and of COURSE I'm no where near as strong as Leon and probably will never be-..." Her smile turned icy as she stared at you. "But it's going to take more than a few fighting type moves to bring down one of the pokemon I've trained with for nearly twenty years!"
"B-But-...Then how did Gloria-"
"She was smart. I'll give her that. She used her roserade's stun spore ability to instantly paralyze my poor snowcone to pieces." She sighed hand on her cheek. "The same move Milo uses against me whenever we battle. I've really got to better prepare for that later. However that's irrelevant now- Darmanitan!" She snapped said hand pointing at the smiling pokemon. "Taunt!"
Instantly a hand appeared and motioned for your zangoose in a 'come here' motion, to which Zen instantly hissed and chared forward at. "WAIT!! ZEN DON'T-"
"Ice punch!" The darmanitan raised his fist and with swing he swung at Zen but was stopped with a single crush claw of Zen's. "Grab him and don't let him go!" Zen's other hand was quickly grabbed in a tight grip Until they were both fighting against one another. At this rate Zen wouldn't have been able to
"ZEN! Flip him backwards!" Zen immediately obeyed literally falling onto his back and pulling the darmanitan forwards and up to slam onto his back- "GIVE HIM A TOSS ACROSS THE ICE!!" Zen. Obeyed. Jumping to his feet in an instant. Grabbing a hold of that darmanitan's wrist and with a dig of his heel, twisted around and tossed him across a patch of remaining ice. The pokemon let out a cry as it went skidding across the ice, Rolling over and over and over again until he inevitably slammed against a tree. WITHOUT EVEN FLINCHING the darmanitan shook itself off and got back up turning to Zen-
"MUM!!," Elsa suddenly yelled out making everyone look at her. The teen pointed at Melony's pokemon with a concerned look. "Darmanitan's past the treeline! Doesn't that mean he's out?"
Melony hummed. Then looked to her pokemon who shook off snow clinging to his fur, and then rose a brow. "....I think you're right." She smiled back to you with a regular smile again. "I guess you win by default, Dear."
"Yeah. But you still bested 'er in the first two rounds so ya still win!"
"Well it's not about winning or losing really," Melony stated as her pokemon came back over to her. It let out a content sound when she patted it's head. "You did such a good job! I'm so proud of all of you." She praised before returning the darmanitan and turning back to you. "It was to see how you could do and if I do say so you do need a bit of practice. You're not the worst trainer I've had the pleasure of battling against but there's definitely room for perfection." She then gestured to Zen huffing from the workout. "Especially controlling that's one insistence to jump the gun and fight for you rather than with you. Your pokemon chosing not to listen to you is usually because they see you as an incompetent trainer or is too stubborn or another problem. Rarely is it a problem because they're too worried about the trainer."
"Ugh." You facepalmed as Zen trodded back over to you and you instantly felt two giant paws grabbed the sides of your head as red eyes examined you.
"Ang?"
"I'm fine, Zen." Your hand trailed down your face and Zen stared at you skeptically. "I can see the problem...I'll definitely have to work on that." You turned Zen still holding your head to the gym leader. "But..thank you, Ms. Melony. I really appreciate your help."
The older lady only smiled at you. "But of course! I'm happy to help you-"
"Um..Hey Mom." Melony hummed and turned to Elsa who had walked up to join you all and the teenager look between you two then gave a sly smirk to her mother. "I have an idea. Why don't we invite Y/n to dinner tomorrow night? That way ya can give 'er all kinds of advice! N' Gordie'll be there too. He can give his friend tones of advice too."
"Oh, honey. You know Friday night's family night, and I'm sure Y/n's already got plans-"
"But Gordie said he wasn't coming," Elsa interrupted making Melony blink in surprise.
"He isn't?" Elsa nodded. "When did he say this?"
"He told me this mornin' to tell you but I haven't gotten a chance yet. He said his busy tomorrow with something special."
You lit up in realization. "Oh that's right! I'm going to be hanging out with him tomorrow."
At this both stared at you. Melony in surprise and Elsa knowingly. "You two are- OH wait! That's right!" Melony smiled again. "He mentioned the two of you were friends."
"Eh...Well yes. But he meant it more like a date wise."
"A date!?" Melony's hand grabbed her cheek in surprise again. "A date? He hasn't been on one of those since he was yelled at in public. I just thought he was too busy with his duties."
"This is perfect then!," Elsa butted in again. "We can invite Y/n for dinner and then Gordie won't miss dinner either!"
"Oh that's sounds like a wonderful idea!" Melony clapped her hands happily and smiled at you. "Of course you're invited, but please do ask Gordie first if he wants to. I wouldn't want to intrude or disrupt any plans you two already made."
You nodded. "Sure. I'll ask him about it tomorrow. But it's getting late now. I think I'd better stop by the pokemon center and then go home."
"That's not a bad idea. I think we should get our looked at as well. Do you mind if we join you?"
"Sure! Why not? C'mon guys!"
Your pokemon obeyed and followed you after Melony meanwhile Elsa walked slowly behind you both and rubbed her hands with a smirk.
"Step One of Operation Get My Brother A Girlfriend has been completed. Step Two is jus' around the corner."
-TIME SKIP TO NEXT MORNING-
It was snowing this morning again. Not surprising with all the clouds you saw in the sky yesterday but it did little to calm your nerves as you ran about this way and that trying to make yourself look presentable, debating on calling and cancelling the date with Gordie, and repeat the first two steps over and over again until you mindlessly going back and forth. Were you supposed to go find him? Was he waiting for you? Should you call him? No. Scratch that! You don't have his number! Were you supposed to wait here for him!? Your answer was given when there was a knock at the door making you jump nearly out of your skin and whip around to the door. Another knock sounded out and a voice came out from behind the door.
"Oi! Y/n, 's me! Open up!," Gordie called from the other side. "I've got somethin' real important ta discuss with you."
You stood frozen for maybe a couple more seconds before taking a deep breath, letting it out, and walking to the door. This was it. No backing out now. With a steeled expression against your nerves, you grabbed the door knob and opened it to the other side. What you were expecting was Gordie standing there with a somewhat concerned expression. What were weren't was the woman standing right next to him with a frown on her face......You blinked.
"Um...Hey, Y/n," Gordie started rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Uh. You look good this mornin'. I uh-....Y-Y'know Officer Jenny right?" He asked with a nervous smile gesturing to the POLICE WOMAN next to him. "So funny story. She actually came to me because she wanted ta interrogate ya! HAHA!! Isn't that funny?"
You still stared saying nothing until eventually Officer Jenny sighed and looked you over with a raised brow. ".....Are you the woman known as Y/n L/n?"
"Uh...", you spoke numbly, "Yes?"
"I'm Officer Jenny of the Galarian Police Force, Poke-Federation Investigation Division or P.F.I for short, assigned to Circhester under the Chairwoman Dahlia's orders and under super vision of Gym Leaders Gordie and Melony respectfully." She pointed to the badge pinned to her coat front. "Currently I've been investigating a serious crime I believe is being held behind Circhester's doors. I've come to question you of how you obtained the pokemon you currently have in your possession."
"......Wat?"