FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It's been a month already? Jeez, time sure flies when you're having fun. A lot has been done this month and I can say for certain that things are only going to get better. The warm weather is awesome, except for ALL this pollen EVERYWHERE. It gives me headaches and makes me an unpleasant dragon to be around sometimes. Other than that I have no complaints. So here's the part where I tell you to start reading not forget to Comment and Vote, because those are still welcomed and appreciated here.

**********8**********

It was particularly cloudy day out. The wind and heat had steadily increased since earlier that morning; at least, that was Chris' assessment. It didn't really matter to him. It was just one of the little things he noticed when he didn't have his mind cluttered with thoughts about Lani. She's all he ever been thinking about lately, ever since the talk they had a few days ago after she ran away. Once she told him everything that happened that night, there were few mixed emotions that he feeling, but none came close to how fearful he was of the young dragon being suddenly taken away from him. It wasn't that she was being taken by just anybody. Her previous trainer wanted her back for a reason(s) unbeknownst to either of them. Although he wanted to figure out why, Lani convinced him that thinking about it wouldn't do them any good without information.

That was true, but the only chance he saw at getting information that could help was to confront the lucario, Gabriel, she's acquainted with. Assuming that Gabriel is alone in this endeavor, he could possibly be easily subdued if Aaron were with Lani. It was also possible that he would strike during a time when she was momentarily separated from everyone. The best choice of action, Chris thinks, would be to keep her by his side at all times. He figured that it wouldn't be too different than when he and Tora spent their time together.

"Still..." he thought. "It's not like even that's a guarantee it will work." He hadn't thought of a plan on the off-chance that Gabriel wasn't alone, especially since he knows that the lucario is stronger than any of his pokémon. There were a lot of scenarios he could think up concerning a possible confrontation, but worrying about it really didn't do him any good. A small sigh escaped him as he forcefully pushed those thoughts away.

"You okay?" Alice asked. She was fully aware of the situation as well and was prepared to offer any assistance he might need.

"I was just... thinking too much. I know I shouldn't be thinking about it at all, but... I just don't what I should be prepared for or how to prepare for it. I can't say that I'm not scared, but I'm more afraid of not being able to do anything."

"I know it's scary, Chris. If it were me, I'd probably be a complete wreck by now. I couldn't even keep it together when April and Jari went missing back on Mt Moon."

"Yeah, I remember."

"If I may say something on the matter, Master Chris," Nyx interjected as she appeared in front of him, floating upside-down with her usual smile. "As I've come to realize during my time on this world, the things we imagine that could happen are often times worse than what will happen. I suppose a prime example would be parents keeping their child from running with scissors. Because a possibility of a child tripping and impaling themselves with scissors exists, the parents will keep them out of reach until they decide the child is old enough to handle them responsibly. At least, that's the main reason I seem to hear the most concerning that subject, not that I disagree with it. That being said, it's best to keep your dark expectations of the future low and to concentrate on the present." Her words eased his troubled heart, a smile etching its way on his face.

"Heh, thanks Nyx," he says, genuinely feeling a little better.

"Anytime, Master Chris," she giggled. "By the way, when are we to arrive at this Saffron City? I really can't wait to see what it looks like."

"That's a good question. We've been in between cities for a couple days longer than expected. How far do you think we have to go until we reach Saffron City?" The question was directed to Alice.

"Honestly, I know we shouldn't be too far from it," Alice replied, also wondering why they haven't seen it yet. "Let me get my map out." She slipped her backpack off, taking a knee while she opened up the front and pulled out her map. While she tried to find out where they were, Chris decided to look around to see if he could probably spot anything that looked like it belonged to a city. "We already passed here..." he heard Alice mumble. After observing the horizon for a little bit, he noticed two black tower-looking things off in the distance. They were too far away to actually tell what they were, but they definitely looked like buildings to him. The only problem he sees with spotting these objects is that they were positioned almost behind them.

"Hey Alice, I think-"

"Hold on... we're right..."

"Alice..."

"Here... I think..."

"Alice!"

"What?"

"I think I see a couple building over that way," he said pointing toward where he sees the objects. Alice looked over to where he was pointing.

"Huh..."

*****8*****

After some embarrassing backtracking, the group had finally made it toSaffronCity. It was almost unlike any city Chris or Tora have ever been to or seen. Some of the buildings they had seen since entering were research facilities for Silph Co., the leading, and biggest, manufacturer of pokémon technology, including medicine and some household appliances. There isn't a person in the surrounding regions that hasn't heard of the major company. Nearly every pokémon related product is developed, produced, and supplied by this company; from pokéballs and technical machines, to potions and repellents. It was simply amazing to see so many buildings used to develop the everyday products people use.

The other thing that caught the groups' attention was the train station; home to the world's first, of the two, fastest magnet trains that run between two regions. They run between Saffron and Golden Rod City, the time of arrival in both cities being about five hours. Both Chris and Tora have wanted to ride it at least once in their lifetime. It seemed like a very convenient way of traveling between two regions if you wanted to take a more scenic route. Alice had mentioned that she had taken it once with her parents when she was little and that it was an enjoyable ride.

They stopped at the pokémon center, which was on the south side of the city and nearly completely opposite from where they came in, and dropped their pokémon off with Nurse Joy for a quick check-up. Aaron went along in the back with Tora, so it was just Chris and Alice. "So, have you thought about which gym you want to take on?"Aliceasked as she sat in one of the chairs in the lobby area. "There are three you can choose from here, in case you didn't remember. You can challenge Sabrina and her psychic types, the dojo master Brian and his fighting types, or Carey and his dark types."

"Hmm, I don't know," Chris said as he sat down next to her. He hadn't really thought about which gym he wanted to challenge once he got here, but the one that sounded interesting to him was the dark type gym. To his knowledge, there weren't that many dark type pokémon that could be found in this region, so the chances of him finding one outside the gym were most likely slim-to-none. "I guess Ill take on the dark gym. What about you?"

"I'm going to the dojo. I figured that Sabrina's gym would be too much for my pokémon to handle right now. Plus I hear she has a really tough bronzing and I don't really want to fight something that looks that creepy. Besides, I think the dojo might do us some good."

"What do you mean?"

"I was kind of hoping that... maybe the dojo will do more than just toughen them up a little, especially April. She's still too scared to fight, even during training, and holds herself back from trying to use her full potential. She can hold her own in battles and has excellent control over her electric abilities."

"She does?"

"Chris," she says as she faces him directly with an intense stare. "She can cook fruits and berries with her electricity without so much as leaving a burn mark on them. If that's not amazing, I don't know what is. I mean, it's not that I haven't noticed how she's changed lately. Ever since I got Jari, she's been a lot more confident in herself."

"So you think Jari is having a positive effect on her?"

Alice sighed. As crazy as it sounds, almost insane even, she had to admit that the reckless, self-centered, cubone was affecting her innocent flaafy in a positive way. "Yeah, I do... but it looks like she's going through the same thing she went through when she was first hanging out with Kishan. Believe it or not, but he used to be a mischievous little thing when he was a squirtle." Chris raised an eyebrow in only slight disbelief. He found it a little hard to believe that the most level-headed of all her pokémon used to cause her trouble, but, then again, Tora used to be the same way when she was little.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he was little trouble maker, always pulling these childish pranks on me all the time. This one time he somehow managed to hide all my shirts between the mattresses of my bed and all my socks in a crock-pot. It only got worse when I caught April as a little mareep. He took her under his wing and showed her the ropes of how to pull one over on me. He's where she got her sense of humor from." He wasn't sure why, but the last part sounded strange to him.

"I didn't know she had a sense of humor."

"Yeah, well... she's been out of touch with it ever since Kishan evolved. I guess because he calmed down and took more of a leader role in the group, she feels that she has a standard to live up to and doesn't believe she can do it. It got even worse after she evolved."

"What happened after she evolved?"

"We were in a tough battle against this kid with a scyther. She evolved in the middle of it and just when she thought she had enough strength to win... she lost. She was so devastated by it that she lost all sense of confidence in herself. You could guess how surprised I was after she and Jari were found in Mt. Moon that she seemed like an almost different flaafy, laughing a lot more, being so outgoing... I'm really proud of her already, it's just... I want her to have the same kind of confidence that let's her believe that she could do anything she puts her heart and mind into."

"Kind of like Jari does on a regular basis?"

"No, nothing that extreme," Alice laughed. "More like Fang. He's always eager to learn something in order to get stronger. I think Jari's a little too overconfident for his own good, but I like that he's helping her... in his own way. She's actually almost as strong as Kishan is... she just doesn't realize it yet..."

Chris thought over everything that was said, feeling a bit of nostalgia well up in him from the times he could tell exactly how Tora was feeling before he could understand her speech. He thought about how close they were so back then, growing even closer as time went on, and how they seemed to be on the same mind set nearly one-hundred percent of the time. "Alice, even though you can't understand exactly what your pokémon are saying yet, I think you have a gift with understanding what's in their hearts. Even if most trainers might not see the value in a pokémon that's afraid to fight, you work extremely hard to bring out that inner strength you know they have so they can use it to their full potential. I think that's pretty cool of you." Alice smiled a bit from being praised like that.

"Heh; thanks Chris."

Just then, the double doors in the back opened. Nurse Joy, with Tora and Aaron by her side, came out carrying two trays of pokéballs. Chris and Alice immediately got up to meet them at the front desk. "Your pokémon have checked out fine, no health problem whatsoever," Joy said with her trademark smile.

"Thanks Nurse Joy," Chris replied. "Do you have any rooms available?"

"Yes we do. Would you like one room or two?"

"Two," Chris and Alice said together.

"Okay... Here are your keys and enjoy your stay." They took their keys and went up into their rooms.

As soon as he stepped through the door, Chris dumped his bag on the floor and set to work on sorting out his dirty clothes. Tora and Aaron hopped on the bed, both being unusually less chatty as of late. Tora was worried about Aaron. The psychic has been feeling tense for the past few days, clearly worried about when the next possible psychic attack on Lani would be. He's also been questioning his own ability to actually help her, which dampened his mood even more. The chu didn't like seeing him like this, preferring his cheerful, carefree self more, but she's been doing her best to help him through his little slump.

"You need to relax," she said softly, nuzzling up to him. "You're worrying too much." "I'm having a hard time doing that," Aaron sighed. "I'm sorry if I'm causing you any grief."

"It's alright. Is there anything I can do?"

"Unless you can tell me the future and sever psychic connections, there's not really anything I want you to do."

"...If you want... I can help work out some of that tension you've been building the past few days." Even as she was suggesting this, she couldn't help feeling the heat rise to her face. She still wasn't used to suggesting, or even hinting at, doing such things with him, but she believes the only way to get over such feelings was to face them head on. It took him a moment, but Aaron caught her meaning and felt his face heat up as well.

"O-oh, well... I'm not that tense, but we can't exactly do anything right now."

"Of course not now... later. It'll take your mind off things for a while."

"I have no doubts about that, but I do recall me saying that I'll be taking lead the next time," he said grinning, already thinking about how their alone time would go. Tora chuckled.

"If you think you can handle such a role. I don't have time to mess around with little boys."

"Hoho... You are just asking for me to take you now." The psychic dove straight for her neck and started licking and nibbling at it, causing the chu to gasp and giggle.

"Hahaha, stop it! That tickles!" she laughed, trying to push him away.

"Hey, you two," Chris chimed in. "I'm literally five feet away from you, so I can hear everything you're saying." His face was felt so hot that he thought there was a chance he might get burned somehow. He had no idea Tora could talk like that, let alone had previously participated in mating. Although he didn't want to think about it, a few images did pop into his head before he forced himself to concentrate on something that wasn't centered on his friend and her mate. Tora felt just as embarrassed as Chris was. She hadn't meant for them to act like that while this close to him, forgetting he was even there for a moment. Aaron eased off of her, nervously clearing his throat

"Sorry about that," she said. Chris sighed and picked up a pile of his clothes.

"I'm going to put these in the wash. If you're going to... do anything... do it where I can't see or hear you and definitely not on the bed," he said just before walking out the room.

"Chris!!!"

*****8*****

Once other menial chores were done and they were well rested, Chris and Alice made their way back to north-side of the city to enter the dojo. It was decided that Alice would be the first to compete for her gym badge. Since Chris has yet to see her and her pokémon fight to their fullest, he was curious to see just how they will battle against a gym leader. He also noticed how focused she was on the way there, so he kept the small talk to a minimum. The dojo itself wasn't anything impressive, but it was still pretty big. It was just a few blocks away from Sabrina's gym. As they stood just outside the gym doors, Alice took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "You ready for this?" Chris asked.

"Of course I am," she said confidently. "Just cheer me on and don't be surprised when I win."

As soon as they stepped through the doors, they were already in the main area of the gym. There were at least twenty men and women doing some form of martial arts and exercises alongside just as many fighting type pokémon. Sections of the floor were covered by large blue mats, on which a small group was wrestling on. There were four boxing rings, currently being used for sparring, and between those were various exercise equipment ranging from weights to bicycles. In the middle of it all was the battlefield whereAlicewas to take on the leader.

While they were busy checking it entirety of the gym out, one of people standing off to the side noticed them and promptly approached them. "Hey, do you all need something?" He was dressed in red shorts and his hands were taped up to his wrists.

"Yeah, I'm looking to challenge the gym leader," Alice replied. "Is he in?"

"Ah, he's boxing with a hitmonchan in ring number four. You can't miss him."

"Thanks. Chris, you can go wait on the sidelines or whatever. I'll be just a second."

"I'll be cheering for you," Chris says as Alice gave him one final wave before she walked off to find the gym leader. With Tora and Aaron by his side, he went to find a good place for them to sit while they watched Alice's battle. As he walked around, he saw lots of different fighting types training; a couple machoke lifting weights, a few evolutions of the "hitmon" and mankey family sparring. There was even a medicham and a tall, purple weasel-looking one he's never seen before. A thought came to him while he glanced at all the pokémon. "This would be a great place for some training. Maybe Kaden could learn something while we're here."

"Okay everybody, listen up!" a loud voice bellowed. Everyone's attention was drawn toward the back of the gym. A tall, muscular man dressed in black karate gi, only the sleeves appear to be torn off, stood high on one of the corners of the boxing rings. "We have a challenger today who's here for my badge! Everyone line up along the battlefield so we can get things started!" As soon as he finished, every person and pokémon stopped what they were previously doing and started moving toward the battlefield.

Chris, Tora, and Aaron followed suit and, as they situated themselves close to Alice on her side of the field, Chris released Kaden from his ball. The blue beetle stretched a bit upon fully materializing and glanced around before fixing his attention on Chris. "Kaden, I want you to watch the battle between Alice and the gym leader. I figured that since this a fighting type gym, you might learn something from watching the more experienced pokémon fight and that you'd see something you'll want to learn later. I don't know what pokémon will be fighting, but it couldn't hurt to observe." The heracross nodded and sat next to Chris.

"Hmm, alright, I see no problem with that. Half of learning is from observing what others do."

Alice was going over her game plan in her head for the umpteenth time that day. the familiar jitters of facing a strong opponent was making her stomach twist into little knots, which was good in her mind. If she wasn't the least bit nervous about facing a gym leader, then she'd think there was something wrong with her. "Alright... It's been a minute, but I'm ready for this," she thought. "Time to earn my fourth badge."

She stared at Brian, the gym leader, as he took his place on the opposite side of the field. "It's been few weeks since I've gotten another challenger," Brian says as he rolls his shoulders and pops his neck. "I guess not a whole lot of trainers still don't know this place is an official league gym yet. Oh well. You better put up a good fight to make up for those weeks of no action." Alice smiled.

"I'll do more than put up a fight. I'm going to beat you and get that badge of yours," she said confidently.

"Hahaha! I like your spirit; and I see you've got guts too! You'll need plenty of that if you're going to take me on!" Another man stepped up and stood at the center just outside the field.

"This will be a three-on-three battle! Only the challenger is allowed to substitute pokémon at any time! The winner will be decided when one side is out of usable pokémon! Let the battle begin!"

"Let's get things rolling, breloom!" Brian yelled as he threw a pokéball and released a breloom onto the field. Upon fully materializing, the kangaroo-like pokémon was already bouncing from left to right on its feet and throwing out little punches as if it were fighting right now.

"A breloom? I've never seen one of those before. Whatever; let's take it down Fang," Alice said as before releasing her pokémon on the field. The gligar materialized sitting on his tail, glancing around at the crowd of people surrounding the ring. "Focus, Fang. This is a really big match, so I need you to do your best, okay." The gligar to give her a mock-salute and turned his attention to the energetic opponent across the field.

"I'll let you have the first move."

"That's fine by me. Quick-attack, Fang!"

Fang immediately launched himself into the air using his tail. Once he was high enough, he dove toward the bouncing breloom with impressive speed. "Heh, that's cute. Show them what real speed is!" The breloom nodded and sped off, actually beating Fang to the middle of the field with both claws glowing before it leapt into the air. Surprised, Fang had no choice but to block the incoming attack. The force behind the breloom's punch knocked him back a great deal, enough so that he was nearly side-by-side with Alice.

"Wh-what the?! Are you alright, Fang?" The gligar nodded to her. "That's some crazy power..."

"Surprised by our Mach Punch?" Brian shouted. "You should know that breloom's can be pretty fast on their feet. They can also throw a more than decent punch, despite their short-looking arms."

"We'll show you a more than decent punch. Use Fury cutter!" Fang flew off towards the breloom once more, his claws glowing a faint green color. Brian gave no order for the breloom to make a move, but even as Fang made his first slash, the dual grass/fighting type side-stepped his attack with ease.

Fang continued to eagerly slash away, intent on doing some kind of damage on his elusive opponent. The breloom was just as intent in not getting hit, slowly backing up so that it was just out of reach of fangs claws. "That's not gonna cut it here, little miss," Brian said as he shook his head disappointingly. "You're gonna need to bring a lot more to the table than straightforward attacks like that. There is such a thing called finesse, even in this gym. Show them what I mean! Counter!" As fang made to slash again, he was surprised when the breloom knocked his claw away. It then threw two quick jabs to his chest, knocking the wind out of him, and followed up by a Mach punch uppercut that more than rattled his brain around. The gligar was sent flying across the field, coming to a rolling stop near the middle.

"Fang!" Alice shrieked worriedly. She knew full well how much that had to have hurt him, almost thinking that she felt the pain herself right then. "Can you get up?"

Although he struggled to do so, Fang managed to get back to his feet, his labored breath telling how hurt he was from the breloom's last attack. Alice frowned, knowing that this battle wouldn't last too much longer with Fang taking so much damage in such little time. She needed a solid strategy to attack without being too obvious and to keep Fang from getting hit at the same time. There wasn't much to work with, considering all the moves he knows, but the beginnings of an idea slowly started to form in her head. "Listen up, Fang. We're going to pay them back two-fold no matter what. Just like before; take off and use Quick-attack."

Fang launched himself into the air once more and dove at the breloom faster than the previous attempt. "Knock them out the air." The breloom dashed and leapt at Fang with a Mach punch at the ready, which was whatAlicewas hoping would happen.

"Poison sting!" The gligar immediately spat dozens of poisonous darts right in the face of the unsuspecting opponent. The breloom cried out and braced itself as it fell uncontrollably to the ground.

"Crap, get up, Breloom!" Brian shouted, realizing the trouble they were getting in.

"No you don't! Hit it with Sand-attack, quick!" Fang made a sharp turn and quickly dove toward the downed pokémon, scooping and splashing a collection of sand and dirt in its eyes just as it lifted its head. "Keep it down with Fury cutter!" Feeling confident about the change in momentum, Fang unleashed a barrage of slashes on the breloom, each hit stronger than the last and weakening the once agile pokémon more quickly.

"Roll to your feet, Breloom! We can't let a little dirt throw us off like this," Brian shouted. As Fang made to strike a sixth time, the breloom rolled out the way and stood up, still wiping one of its eyes free of dirt. "Alright, let's turn this back around. Use Drain punch!"

"Keep it away with Poison sting!" Fang did his best to keep his opponent at bay, but the agile pokémon was too swift in dodging his attack and came within striking distance, punching him in his stomach and sapping some of his energy away.

"Follow up with Seed bomb." In the split second the breloom began preparing its next attack, Fang, in what some might call a desperate move, used his tail to 'spring' himself away and, at the same time, pushing his opponent it toward the ground with a surprising amount of force. The breloom hit the ground pretty hard, so, keeping her surprise capped at the moment, Alice ordered one last assault of Poison sting. It seemed to do the trick because the breloom didn't get back up.

"Breloom is unable to battle! The winner is Gligar!" The referee announced. The surrounding audience gave their round applause from witnessing an impressive match. Fang flew to Alice and embraced her in somewhat of a victory hug, to which she couldn't help but laugh at. "You were really awesome out there, Fang. I'm so proud of you," she commented, which got her a couple licks from happy gligar. "Rest up in your ball for now; you earned it." She saw how tired he was and knew he wouldn't withstand even one attack from a healthy pokémon. He would be nothing but cannon fodder in that situation. She recalled him into his pokéball and turned her attention the Brian, who had already recalled his pokémon.

"That was pretty sneaky blinding breloom like that, but I've no grudge against it. Strategies come in all forms and yours earned you a win. Now let's see how you handle my next pokémon." He tossed a pokéball and released a poliwrath onto the field. Alice thought the muscular tadpole pokémon looked kind of intimidating with that mean-looking scowl, but it'll take more than that to scare her off. Hopefully, the same could be said for her next pokémon.

"Let's go, April," she said as she released the flaafy next to her. As soon as the sheep fully materialized, Alice knelt down so that she was eye-level with her. "Listen, April, we're in the middle of a gym match right now and I need you to fight right now. Can I count on you?"

The timid sheep took a glance across the field at her supposed opponent and nearly jumped out of her skin from seeing how powerful the poliwrath looked. She was supposed to face that? Her imagination ran wild with scenarios that involved her receiving the wrong end of the large tadpoles' muscles. They all terrified her to the point of shaking, but the gentle hand of her trainer calmed her down somewhat. "Hey, it'll be alright. Just remember all the training we've done up to this point and you'll do fine. Believe in yourself, okay?" April nodded, albeit hesitantly, and proceeded to take her place on the field.

"Are you done with your pep talk or can we get this show on the road?" Brian asked, not in a demeaning way of course, but he was getting fired up and didn't want to wait any longer for their battle to start.

"We're ready whenever you are."

"I was ready yesterday. Poliwrath, start things off with Hydro pump!" The powerful tadpole quickly let loose a huge jet of water from the center of what looks to be its mouth.

"Dodge it!" Even before the command was made, April was already running to get out of the way. "Thundershock." The flaafy sent a jolt of electricity at the tadpole pokémon, but it was easily avoided. "Don't let up; keep going."

"You too, poliwrath! We're not going to make it easy for them to score even a single hit!" Torrents of water and jolts of electricity were traded between the two battling pokémon, more of the former than the latter. The poliwrath was easily able to dish out more attacks than April due to her tendency to run away before even thinking to counterattack, but she managed to fight back, even if just a little bit.

"Heh; those look more like 'Thundersparks' than 'Thundershocks'. Let's make this more of an in-fight. Poliwrath; use Focus punch." April froze up on the spot, overcome with an overwhelming fear of getting hit by the powerful pokémon.

"Don't be scared, April. I won't let anything happen to you. Start charging your electricity and wait for my signal." The timid sheep nodded and did what she was told, taking a half-step back in order to either retreat or, Arceus forbid, press forward. Even though she was scared right now, she steeled herself to press forward. She didn't like how she was afraid of confrontation and kept reminding herself that if her trainer didn't believe she could do it, she wouldn't be fighting right now. Not just her trainer, but she has friends that believe in her as well. More than anything, she didn't want to let them down.

The poliwrath was upon her with its massive fist cocked back, ready to deliver a hard blow. April was almost fully charged. The orb on her tail glowed faintly with an excess of power starting to build in her. "Jump back and use Heatbutt!" she heardAlicesay. The pink sheep waited, against her instincts wishes, until just when the punch was starting to come forward before she hopped back a bit just out of the poliwrath's range. The large tadpole pokémon was thrown off-balance due to unexpectedly overextending the punch and April took that moment to tuck and ram her head into its gut. The large pokémon was sent tumbling backwards onto its back, holding its slightly sore stomach with one hand. "Double-up with Thundershock!" April quickly released all her stored up electricity, which had grown stronger than any of her regular Thundershocks, on the downed poliwrath, inflicting major damage on it.

"Poliwrath!" Brian shouted worriedly, knowing that the battle was going bad for him very quickly. The large tadpole pokémon shakily got back up once April stopped her attack, already looking pretty exhausted. April felt a bit of confidence swell in her, similar to how she felt when she was shouting in front of a cave with Jari at Mt.Moon. She was starting to feel like she could do almost anything right now. "We can't let them beat us so easily, Poliwrath! Use Ice beam!" The poliwrath straightened up and shot three jagged rays of ice at April. The pink sheep had only a moment to dodge the attack, a pillar of ice forming where she was just standing.

"Hit him with a Thunderwave!" Alice said. April avoided another icy blast before sending a weak jolt of electricity at the poliwrath, effectively paralyzing it. "Headbutt!" The pink sheep ran forward, fully confident that she could handle this opponent now. She felt that victory would soon be within her grasp in just a few moments. However, neither nor her trainer noticed the small grin on opponents face.

"Façade!" Just when she was only a few feet from it; the poliwrath suddenly charged forward and delivered the hardest tackle April has ever taken. She was sent tumbling back pretty far, most of the top half of her body in pain.

"What the heck was that?!" Alice exclaimed, never having seen a move like that before.

"It's called Facade. It's a move that works extremely well if my pokémon is paralyzed, burned, or poisoned. Since my poliwrath is pretty strong, your flaafy took a pretty nasty hit just now," Brian explained.

A nasty hit indeed. April had the wind knocked out of her and felt so sore almost all over. Even while her instincts were screaming at her to stay down and play dead, she got right back up, albeit slowly due to the pain, and faced down her opponent. She knew she had the poliwrath in a corner and she wasn't going to let that one attack stop her from winning this fight. "Oh Arceus... I feel like a completely different flaafy," she thought, feeling the rush of battle slowly consume her and grant her access of her hidden strength. "I actually... want to fight..." Although she wasn't completely sure,Alice noticed a bit of an attitude change in her timid flaafy.

"Can you keep going?" she asked. The flaafy nodded. "Okay, let's wrap this up and watch out for that last attack. Use Thundershock."

"We're not gonna let you get away that easily! Ice beam, Poliwrath!" As April gathered enough electricity for an attack, the poliwrath was already firing off its attack. She avoided the first icy blast and had to dodge others before she finally managed to send another powerful jolt of electricity that hit at the poliwrath dead on. It came with a price though. The last icy attack hit and froze over the orb on her tail, making it heavier than she was used to. The tadpole pokémon grunted in pain and fell to one knee.

"One more time!"

"Dodge it and use facade!" As April tried to shock it again, the poliwrath managed to somehow roll out of the way and started charging at her.

"Crap, move it, April!" She didn't need to be told to move out the way and managed to avoid most of the attack by sidestepping it, but she didn't let the pain stop her from executing her next attack right then. She used Headbutt to knock the large pokémon over and quickly followed up with another Thundershock. The poliwrath tried to get up, but it barely managed to get its arm up before it fainted.

"Poliwrath is unable to battle!" the gym referee announced, followed by a series of applause.

"April, you were so awesome! I'm so proud of you!" Alice shouted excitedly, not believing how the flaafy took control at the end of the battle like she did and actually won. April almost wouldn't have believed it herself had she not done it only moments ago. Now that the battle was over and the adrenaline was wearing off, she was starting feel the pain and exhaustion a lot more now. The flaafy sighed happily to herself and plopped down on the field, reveling in the comfort of a hard-earned victory.

"I did it..." she thought happily.

On the other side of the field, Brian almost couldn't believe he lost against such a timid-looking pokémon. As he recalled his pokémon, he remembered that he should've never underestimated his opponent because, as years of practicing martial arts have proven, even the most hesitant of fighters can pull a win over aggressive fighters if they applied themselves strategically and with absolute conviction in their punches. "Well I'll be damned. That flaafy of yours is stronger than I initially gave it credit for. I'm not taking the chance in underestimating my opponent again, so this time I'm going all out."

"Are saying you've been holding back so far?" Alice asked mockingly.

"Let's just say that I could've done better than what I've been doing," Brian replied as he pulled out another pokéball. "Now, show them what you're made of, Primape!" He threw the pokéball and released a primape on the field. As soon as it fully materialized, the massive wild monkey screeched and snorted, virtually pumping itself up for battle.

Alice automatically knew just how dangerous primapes are and knew April would probably never be able to handle the kind of ferocity those pokémon are known for. She recalled the tired flaafy into her ball, silently praising her for her hard again, and thought about who she would send out next. Given everything she knows about that particular pokémon, she knew that the only thing that will beat them is with overwhelming force, not so much anything on the tactical side. With that conclusion, she was already regretting her choice even while she enlarged the pokéball. "Let's go, Jari," she said as she released the cubone on the field. The first thing Jari did was take in the unfamiliar surroundings and the crowd of people, briefly wondering where he was before he settled his sights on the primape across the field. Immediately he put two and two together as to what was going on and turned to Alice.

"So, what, I'm supposed to fight that weak thing over there? That guy's not worth my time. I can destroy his spirit with my awesomeness alone," he said, completely convinced by his own logic.

"C'mon, Jari, this is a gym battle and I need you to fight right now," Alice sighed, not looking to get into it with the cubone. "Besides, that primape over there says he's the strongest pokémon in the whole world, but I guess you don't care about that...."

"What?!" Jari exclaimed, not believing for a second that another had claimed such a title without facing him first. Alice smiled, seeing that she had his full attention now.

"Yeah, he said anyone who challenges him get crushed to oblivion and bow down to his superiority afterwards."

"That bastard! How dare he say something that ridiculous without facing me, Jari, the greatest warrior the world will ever know, in combat?!"

"You know what to do right? Go show him who's the boss."

Jari nodded and turned his attention to the primape. "Hey, you fat furball!" he shouted as he pointed his bone threateningly across the field. "I'm going to completely annihilate you if you don't bow down right now and beg for my forgiveness in you claiming that you're the strongest in the world! In case you haven't heard, the name is Jari, The Destroyer of Legends; a name meaning Justly Awesome and Really Incredible! Nothing is beyond me! That title is mine! It's not for the weak, undeserving creatures of the swine persuation like you!" The primape stared at Jari in confusion for a full minute to process everything that was said before it threw a massive fit, snorting and screeching louder than had done previously. No one, besides Chris and company, knew what was said, but they knew that it must've been either insulting or petty if it got the primape so riled up.

"H-hey, calm down primape! What the heck did your cubone say?!" Brian exclaimed.

"I don't know," Alice said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Are you going to make the first move or should I?" Brian gritted his teeth, not looking forward to having to deal with directing an angry primape or risk forfeit by recalling it.

"If that's how it's going to be, then go all-out, Primape!"

At that, the wild monkey charged at Jari. The cubone shook his head disappointedly and stood ready to fight, using Focus energy. "Start off with bonemerang and get ready for a follow-up," Alice said. The cubone dashed forward, expertly throwing his weapon in a wide arc at the enraged monkey. The primape dodged spinning bone and was already close to Jari, readying a punch. "Headbutt!" The cubone already knew what she going to say and ducked under the wild punch. He then rammed his head dead-center of the primape's pig-like snout, causing it to reel back in pain. It tried to throw another punch, but Jari easily dodged it.

"You should pay more attention to your surroundings," Jari commented, right before his weapon smacked the back of the primape's head on its return trip.

"Bone club!" Alice commands as soon as he possessed his weapon again. Jari gripped his bone tightly and slugged the wild monkey hard in the face, sending it reeling back in pain again.

The primape screeched and stomped around again, seemingly angrier than it had been before. "Keep it up, Jari!" The cubone had no problems with continuing his assault on the pig monkey, hitting it with his weapon wherever he could. As the battle continued,Alicenoticed that Brian hadn't been giving his pokémon any sort of commands, not even to defend itself. She thought it was outright strange, so she paid closer attention to the battle. Jari was doing a remarkable job dodging the wild punches of the primape and getting his hits in. It seemed like they were winnings so far, but it looked... "Shit," she hissed under her breath. It just clicked in her mind why everything seemed off. While it was true the cubone was successfully scoring hits, the primape's extremely high adrenaline levels, due to its enraged state, kept it from feeling any sort of pain and allowed it to, essentially, brush off all his attacks as if they were nothing.

"Jari! You have to knock it out, now! You're getting into serious danger right now!" Alice shouted, realizing the battle is going to get even more dangerous the longer it drags on. The cubone almost rolled his eyes.

"Danger? My presence alone is the only dangerous thing in here!" As Jari made to strike again, his weapon was grabbed by the large fighting type and he was thrown, quite forcefully, through one of the nearby pillars of ice that was made from the previous battle. The cubone's side erupted with pain as he rolled on the ground, not having expected that at all. Still, he didn't let it show that he was hurt at all. "You call that a throw?" he mocked as he shook off the slight dizziness. "An armless infant could throw hard-" He was cut off by the primape delivering a devastating Low Kick to his face, sending him rolling across the field.

"Jari!" Alice shrieked worriedly, before turning to the gym leader. "What's the big idea letting your primape get out of control like that?! Don't you know how dangerous that is?!"

"My primape isn't out of control," Brian replied. "Your cubone ticked him off a bit and he started using Rage on his own at the start of the match. That's why I haven't been giving any orders to him so far. The fact that he used Low Kick just now is proof enough that he's calmed down a bit and is willing to listen to reason now. If you think your pokémon can't handle a little rough treatment, then maybe you should just forfeit." Alice gritted her teeth.

"Fine then. Jari, get your butt up and beat that chump down! We're winning this and taking that badge!"

The cubone was already up and dusting himself off. He spit a little blood that collected in his mouth and pointed his weapon at the primape. "That's a pretty decent kick you've got there, but you fail to understand that everything you do means nothing to the future destroyer of legendary pokémon!" The primape snorted at him. "I'm the biggest opponent you'll ever face, so you should be honored to even see the level of greatness you wish you could attain! The beating I'm about to give you should make you more humble!"

"Bone Club!" The cubone rushed forward, a new sense of determination to truly show his opponent the difference in their skills.

"Karate Chop!" Brian yelled. Jari smirked under his mask as the primape made to intercept him, spinning out the way of its chop and striking the funny-bone in its non-attacking arm. The wild monkey screeched at the tickling pain running throughout its arm, holding it in a vain attempt to relieve the feeling. The cubone then struck it across the face, sending the confused monkey to the ground.

"Get up, Primape!"

"Use headbutt, Jari!" As he made to ram his head against the larger opponent, the primape recovered and got back up in time to avoid the hit.

"Now use Fury Swipes!" The primape wasted now time in leaping at Jari and taking swipe after swipe at him. The cubone wasn't at all phased by the repeated speedy attacks against him. He actually almost laughed. Compared to the speed he's used to fighting Lani at, the swipes appeared to be moving very slow to him. He either dodged or smacked the offending paw away with his weapon.

"You can't touch me, worthless fool! Just give up!" Jari shouted, which got the primape angry yet again. The cubone sighed and glanced to Alice. For the brief moment their eyes looked, she knew that he was going to finish the fight right then.

"Alright, wrap this up, Jari! Use Bone Club!" Alice said confidently. The brown dinosaur nodded. He stepped into the primape's space and jabbed his bone into its snout, causing it to stop its assault and cry out in pain. He then moved to strike the funny bones in both its arm again, jabbed it in its belly and assaulted it with multiple hits around the face.

"Get out of there, Primape!" Brian shouted, knowing that his pokémon was in danger of losing this fight, but his voice went unheard. The wild monkey screeched in confusion, not knowing what to do to defend against the assault. Once Jari decided to let up, he took a couple steps back to see his work. The fierce monkey was breathing heavily and protecting a spot that was obviously sorer than the rest of its body.

The cubone shook his head and sighed. "Do you see the difference in our strength now, you pitiful excuse of a fighter? You never had a chance to begin with! I told you before; I'm Jari, The Destroyer of Legends and the biggest opponent you'll ever face! My greatness spreads far and wide! Kneel before me and give up if you recognize that my strength is far superior to yours! If you don't, then not even Arceus himself can stop me from eradicating your already weak fighting spirit!" The primape stared at him for longer than its trainer cared for.

"What are doing Primape?" Brian asked, wondering why the two pokémon suddenly stopped fighting. The wild monkey didn't move, instead it continued staring at the brown dinosaur. Jari gripped his weapon tighter, tired of waiting for a response.

"Do it now, or so help me-!!"

As soon as he took one step forward, the primape actually dropped to one knee with its head down. The display brought up many confused looks among the audience, along with a few astonished ones from a certain group, and two satisfied smirks. "Wha... what the heck is going on?" Brian asked.

"I think your pokémon gave up," Alice replied, not even trying to stifle her laughter.

"N-no way. You didn't give up, did you, Primape?" All that came from the pig monkey were a couple whispered grunts. "I don't believe this..." With no other choice, the referee called the match.

"Since Primape has... given up, the winner of this match isAliceand her cubone!"

A round of applause resounded once the announcement was made, obviously from seeing the end to the most interesting battle in their lives. Alice went to meet Jari in the middle of the field, thanking him for his cooperation before returning him in his ball. The gym leader, Brian, returned his pokémon as well and met Alice in the middle of the field. "I'll be frank with you; that was one hell of an interesting way to end a gym battle and I've never seen a cubone quite like yours. He's quite talkative, which I believe is not the norm for his species," Brian said, half-amused. The other half was still a bit bewildered at the outcome.

"He's definitely one of a kind," Alice replied, knowing full-well how true that statement was.

"Well, it doesn't matter how it happened; a loss is still a loss. So, in commemoration of your victory here today, I present you with the Fist Badge." He pulled the metal badge out of his pocket and held it out to her.

Alice beamed and gladly accepted the badge. As she held it between her fingers, it fully dawned on her just how much she had grown with her pokémon lately. Fang had grown stronger, April has, quite possibly, regained her lost confidence, and Jari actually listened to her throughout an entire battle. To say she was proud of them would be a major understatement and she was already thinking of a really good way to celebrate their victory today. She was sure Kishan would be ecstatic to hear how well April battled today. As she turned and walked toward the exit, she met up with Chris and his pokémon.

"That was a really awesome battle,Alice. Congrats on getting your badge," Chris said, replaying the events over in his head. "By the way, what Jari was saying throughout the match was... well, it was pretty interesting... and funny." Alice laughed.

"Thanks. I may not have understood it exactly, but I think I have a pretty good idea of what was said. So, when are you going to try for your badge? You know that you've got to catch up to me now."

"Well, after seeing your match, we're going to train for a couple days before giving it a shot. I think Kaden saw a new move he'd like to learn."

"That's cool. Let's head back to the center to heal everyone up and go out to celebrate afterwards. I know just the place I want to go."

"Lead the way then."

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