10:47: A.M. July 4, Saturday, 106 PH (Post Hoopa Event)

Events: The Joint Kanto and Johto Indigo Summer League have concluded; Saria Surge has become the new Vermilion Gym Leader, converting it to a Fairy Gym. It will be open for challenges on the 10th.

Our girl started her journey on the 9th of June—she’s been a Trainer for 25 Days (24 officially; 25 since getting Maya and Nova).

Lori sat on the bench as the four nervous Trainers in the locker room remained utterly silent, watching Amira’s spectacular performance, and it wasn’t just her that felt the intimidation of seeing those dark clouds and whipping waves they caused.

Miky sent anxious chuckles through their private connection, making her stomach squirm a little; Gables would certainly be their best choice in this match-up, but at the same time, she held firm to the explanation Amira had given before.

I know, Gabs would be able to keep up with her Pokemon, but Gym Leaders have to provide a way to win… even in the Encrusted Challenge; it’s hard, but you can win, Miky.

Roxie shot positive vibes to them with her little, shiny frog; however, seeing Serenity’s rapid three-dimensional shifts from air to water, and still how challenging it was for her to do anything to the powerful Lotad put a shiver through the Impidimp.

He’d been among the top dogs in his little part of Viridian Forest, and the shock of meeting so many other incredibly strong Pokemon had made him realize how tiny his neck of the woods was.

The lump in her throat dropped into her stomach as Serenity took her shot, risking it all in the daring charge to return the Lotad’s own energy with her own; it wasn’t enough.

She sat at the edge of her seat, air locked in her lungs as they didn’t hesitate, flipping around to suck in Amira’s fortitude to deliver a decisive Dragon Pulse to shatter the Lily Pad Pokemon’s defensive matrix.

She won… Lori chuckled, Roxie and Gables cheering, yet her little imp was still too nervous to let such an emotion touch him. Amira actually won.

Working down the sticky saliva in her throat, she forced a smile as the other Trainers around her cheered for the Rocket girl. Lori couldn’t help laughing at Lyra’s mood as she jumped up and down, the camera angled to see the all-black-and-red-themed section of the stadium, signs thrown into the air.

Nice…

Her focus fell to her lap, lips tightening with the realization that her teammate was halfway done with the Encrusted Gym Challenge; Amira really was amazing.

We can do it, too, Miky! See. Even if everything was stacked against them, they managed to win. I know you’re not confident about fighting in the water, and I don’t even care if we do lose; the whole point is getting out and shooting our shot!

Miky drew a bit of strength from the declaration and his fellow Pokemon supporting the opinion.

“Huu-haaa.”

Just breathe, guys! she said—mainly for herself—as her chest lifted and fell with the repeated action. Calm down and listen to the music like always—don’t make it complicated—we’ll just act like it’s any other battle.

Despite her words, she folded her arms under her bust to not shake with the adrenaline running through her veins while listening to her teammate explain her thoughts on the battle; as could be expected, the brainy girl had swiftly nailed down that they had no chance of victory without specific conditions being met.

We can do that, too. Let’s work together, guys! Plus, I bought that big Pokedex package so we can have all the information to help us figure out our opponent’s strategies. We got this!

She gave a few smiles and waves at the four remaining girls in the gender-specific locker room as they walked toward the area that would take them to where her teammate left.

“Good luck, Mallory.”

“Yeah—heh, I hope we don’t have to fight something like that—Misty’s vicious!” another girl chimed in.

“No joke,” Lori returned, pretending like she was totally relaxed. “It’ll be fine; Gym Leaders always have to give you a way to win. So, just look for what that is.”

“No way; I didn’t know that! You?”

“No. Thanks for the advice, Mallory!”

“No prob. Good luck!” she said, putting her hands in her pockets to extract the headphones Kate was still lending to her to insert them, but she wouldn’t start the music until the battle started.

She’d mainly told the other girls Amira’s revelation to reassure herself, and on her way through the hallway, Lori caught sight of the redhead.

“Yo! Nice work, Champ! Intense battle.”

“Haha. Thanks,” Amira whispered, rubbing her bare left arm. “To be honest, I’m still in kind of a daze, and… Ugh. I’m glad we’re not leaving for a few days with how my muscles feel, but…”

“Yeah! Haha. You still have to sing tonight, huh?”

“Well, compared to this, that will be a breeze. Plus, I can rely on Yancy since it’s a slower song I wrote.”

Her lilac locks swaying as she danced around—hands held behind her back to grip her wrist to stop the jitters—Mallory walked backward to keep Amira in sight on passing the redhead. “Ooh! Can’t wait. I’ll see you in a bit!”

“Yeah, good luck, Lori; we’ll be cheering you on—hehe, probably all of Rocket, too.”

“Haha! I bet, knowing your mom.”

Flipping away as they parted, the pressure hit Lori’s tight chest; her own parents and little sister would be in the crowd, and she pulled out her phone just before exiting, lingering a moment to smile at a photo message her big sister had sent.

Shauntal sat in a candle-lit room with various Ghost Pokemon around her, cute smile, wink, and thumbs up in place with the message: Always watching, Lori. Funny memes!

“Humph.”

For an author, you suck at writing, Sis.

“Huu-haaa…”

Let’s go, guys!

Stepping into the bright light to hear the crowd's cheers, Lori’s mouth went dry upon taking her position.

Misty worked the spotlight like a natural, being a live-drama performer as a member of the Sensational Sisters; her voice was upbeat and welcoming. “What surprise are you going to send my way? Hehe. I half expect you to throw out your little Rockruff for the shock factor alone, being Karen and Grimsley’s kid.”

“Hehe. We’ll see, huh?” Lori returned, adding a forced smile as Roxie roared that she’d gladly face the Water Gym Leader, but this was Miky’s stage, despite the flustered Impidimp’s insistence that if she wanted to take his spot, she was welcome.

Hips shifting to the opposite side with her hand, Lori wondered if Misty’s growing baby was causing her internal trouble, but she didn’t let it show in her voice. “Just make sure to have fun! Shall we begin?”

“Uh-huh!”

Lori promptly took out Miky’s pokeball, swallowing at the M written on the front before inserting it into the machine. What’s it going to be?

* * *

Miky tried to follow his Trainer’s example in breathing as she expanded his capsule and placed him inside the scanning machine; it left a bit of a tingle through him while looking through his Trainer’s eyes.

The ginger’s smile fell a bit as she glanced at the screen beside her and the tray exited, giving her the options for their conflict, but it swiftly became a thoughtful smirk; it was difficult for him to understand the human, but Roxie helped to translate.

What she say? Rox-Rox! What she say?

“Hmm,” the stalwart Rockruff’s tone stiffened slightly as she examined Misty draw out a Great-Type pokeball through her link with their Trainer. “She said our team is causing all sorts of interesting lineups—whatever that means.”

Lori took his capsule out, whispering, “Here we go, Miky. Let’s take it a bit slow at the start to see what we’re dealing with. No need to rush”

Mi smacky-smack ‘im to stop the blasty! Miky returned, nervous jitters rolling around his stomach as she drew back her arm with the ref’s countdown.

“Like I said—no rush—we can only use it once in a while, so let’s chill.”

Miky listened to the music Lori put on, which was far more understandable through her interpretation than all the human mumbo-jumbo they typically played; the soft beat and flow helped to ease the tension he felt.

“Three, two, one… begin!”

Pokeball thrown through the air, he exited the ball to almost fall back in shock; the colossal lake he’d been thrown on was daunting, as was looking up at the vast sky and stadium—he was accustomed to the enclosed forest.

Too big! Too big!

“Huh…”

Lori brought his attention to their pink-skinned opponent that exited their own capsule far in the distance, making Miky giggle.

Hehe. Hehehe. Mi knows dum-dum!

“Mallory Medina of Unova sends out Miky, her Impidimp, verses Dox, Gym Leader Misty’s Slowpoke! Fight!”

“A Slowpoke, huh, and Bronze 2? Well, we got our slow match,” she chuckled, and Miky’s confidence skyrocketed. “Let’s not get cocky, though, Miky.”

Snickering at the extremely slow-minded and moving Pokemon he’d matched against, he looked to the nearby platforms as the big, pink guy rose up on his hind legs, supporting himself with his tail, and waved to him.

“Hi… I’m Dox. Who are you?”

“Shi-shi-shi. Mi Miky,” he shouted back, sticking out his tongue as he ran to the edge of his platform to jump to a nearby one; they seemed to be arranged to allow Pokemon to meet each other. “I come for you! Hehehe.”

“Miky, don’t get cocky, man!” Gables muttered with Roxie's agreement.

“Mhm! This is an Encrusted Match; he’s supposed to outclass you a ton. Remember?”

He be sooo slow—Alice run circles around ‘im—I run circles ‘round ‘im! I make him stumble—

Lori’s hiss caused him to almost stumble himself and drop into the water as the dopy Pokemon watched his advance with a dumb smile on his face, still waving at him.

“Own Tempo, probably… Out of our four moves, ugh—he’s immune to Confusion tactics. We’re Super Effective against him with Bite, but the issue is…”

Miky’s cheer dampened as the happy Slowpoke lowered himself to the ground and started walking to the platform's edge in a casual stroll.

“No! No, no! No go in water! Cheating! Cheating!”

“Hmm?”

Dox’s front left foot paused midair, head tilting to the side. “I’m cheating? Hmm… I don’t think so? I just want a little swim… Ohh—c’mon, Miky—the water’s great!”

Miky got to his stage, steam practically puffing out of his pointed ears as the pink Pokemon slipped into the pool to flip around and float away with gentle sways of his tail, belly upward.

“Cheating! Cheating!” he shouted, flailing his fists in the air and storming around with the Slowpoke spraying a small fountain of water up in his gradual swaying swim.

“Oh, no…” Lori sighed, and Miky froze in mid-tantrum as a violet aura enclosed the Pokemon.

Smacky-smack!

The Slowpoke startled as Miky clapped his hands in the water—ducking underwater for a moment—generating a pulse that stunned the Pokemon, disrupting his Move.

“Great! But don’t get carried away, this will be difficult!”

Mi Smacky-smack, this be easy. No hard.

“Curse… No, Miky, chill a little; this is going to be a long fight,” Lori hummed, calmly observing the pink Pokemon as his movements in the water slowed further.

Is slow! Is slow dummy! Stupid water!

“Miky…” Gables mumbled, flicking his spirit and making him jump.

What?! Mi do no wrong!

Roxie’s reasonable voice came through as he watched the Pokemon sway across the surface of the large pool. “You’ll have to go into the water, Miky.”

“And chill, Bud,” Gables prompted as their Trainer scanned the Pokedex App. “I know this is your first real battle, and there’s a lot riding on this, but ya got hit with a nice and slow battle.”

Dox hummed along to his own tune—apparently not too upset at the failed Move—and it became clear this wouldn’t be like the previous challenge.

Frustrated, Miky looked at the rippling waves, teetering at the edge.

People laugh—why they laugh at mi—no, they laugh at dumb slow-slow!

He hesitantly jumped into the gentle ebb and sway of the colossal pool, bubbles floating around him as he blinked, air escaping his lungs once seeing how deep the bottom was.

Too big!

Lori’s calm and supportive voice held a slightly melancholy tone. “You’re doing great, Miky. Breathe… Just breathe.”

Fighting to the surface, he coughed and sputtered, gasping for air; with his teammates’ soothing encouragement, he stabilized himself on the side of the platform—he’d never fought in an arena like this—and once his vision cleared, everything seemed twice as big from within the water.

G-Gabs—m-mi don’t think mi can do this—Gabs… Rox-Rox… he cried.

“We’re here, Bud. I know it’s hard.”

“Focus on the big pink guy,” Roxie urged. “Isn’t he a big dum-dum?”

Yeah… Yeah… Everything be—be too big!

Lori’s spiritual vibes stabilized him with the help of the music. “No rush. He’s off doing his own thing. Feeling better now?”

Little… Mi still scared.

“I got you if you get stuck, Miky; I can pull you back with the pokeball, remember? This isn’t like the wild where you’ll get stuck and drown. Hehe. You know how bad I am with water, right?”

Heh-he… Lori bad-bad with rivers.

“Right! Heh, I know, Miky—I know… Can ya show me how it’s done?”

Yeah… Mi know how to swim!

Building his courage, he cast his vision around, spotting the slow-moving Slowpoke as he became surrounded by a violet aura again after recovering; he’d gotten off a Curse.

Although, the Slowpoke was now staring at the bright blue sky with his mouth open in wonder as he watched a puffy cloud coming into view. “Miky… Woah… You see it, too?”

Gables laughed. “He’s so high! This is great.”

“Hehe,” Roxie mirrored him. “I didn’t think there were battles like this.”

Mi have funny time? Miky questioned, making his way toward the floating Dopey Pokemon, and his vision latched onto the gentle sway of his tail. Ooh… Why it look so yummy?

Somewhat entranced by the side-to-side motion, he forgot the depth and height of the water he swam through.

“That’s it,” Lori cheered. “You’re doing it!”

Mi doing it! Watch, Gabs, watch! Mi swim real good!

“Yeah, Bud! All that practice with Lori, right?”

Mi bite tail! Mi win!

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Gables mused. “Lori, what are we lookin’ at?”

Their Trainer eased out a slow stream of air. “I think even in the water Miky can dodge the Tackles, considering he dropped his Speed, but his defense increased… I think we’re in a Time Battle, Boys.”

Roxie chuckled, always finding it funny to be lumped into the guys with the term.

Mi chomp-chomp!

Miky’s sharp fangs glistened as he drew near, peeled back his lips, and gathered a large chunk of power with the swaying white tail in front of him; black force gathered in front of him, and in one swift motion, his teeth closed around the soft appendage.

Eyes widening in partial shock at the flavors that exploded in his mouth, he only returned to his senses as he was drawn out of the water; dangling in the air, his gaze met Dox’s blinks.

“Oh… Are we in a battle? Oh…” His head turned left and right, seeing the crowd's laughter; Lori, Gables, and Lori reflected the action. “Oh… Ouuuch. Hmm. Okay.”

Halfway through gathering a second Bite, he grunted in protest with the dark fangs growing around his tail to chomp down on it again with the appendage still in his mouth.

“No—no, no, no… Eeeek!”

With a lazy flick, he lost his grip on the tail and was sent screaming through the air to smack, belly-first, onto a platform, making him see stars.

“Eh—eh…”

“Oof! You okay, Bud?” Gables hissed with Lori.

Mi… Mi no like flying.

“Roll to the left…”

Stumbling to his feet in a daze, he shook his head and jumped to the right, only to be met by a jet of water that carried him back into the pool.

“Ack! Ack!”

Energy matrix down to 80% from that one attack, Miky floundered a bit before making it to another platform, chest huffing and puffing.

Mi… Mi no like water battles! he sputtered.

He saw Dox back on his belly swaying between the stages to get back into position to spray more water at him.

“Hmm. Hmm. Hmm…”

Lori’s voice finally reached him through his panic. “Scoot around the edge—keep distance… Oof.”

Head tilting to the side as he slid into focus, Dox opened his mouth and sent another blast that carried him into open water and dropped his defensive matrix to 62%.

“Ack!”

Refocusing to not get struck by another, he dodged the telegraphed shot and swam behind another platform, hearing the gentle advice from his teammates. Once out of sight, he saw the crowd had an entirely different vibe than it had with Serenity’s fast-paced battle, and tears came to his eyes.

Mi… Mi embarrasses you, Lori—mi don’t like this…

“We’re all learning, Miky,” Lori returned, not a hint of anger in her voice as he’d expected. “If we act the fool, then we can have fun doing it! Hehe. Let’s play into it. Dance around a bit, and dodge the Water Guns. Maybe we’ll make him frustrated. Huh?”

Yeah! Mi dance! Mi can dance!

Pulling himself up, Miky started jumping up and down, waving his hands around wildly while sticking out his tongue and laughing at Dox’s wide-eyed, open-mouthed stare.

“Huh… Dance competition? Oh… Wave your tail—wooh—clap, clap…”

Miky snickered at the dumb Pokemon; he didn’t even know they were in a battle!

Dox spayed a fountain of water in the sky to rain around them, annoying Miky a little as the wide-ranged rain attack he created dropped his matrix to 61.5%, yet he wasn’t even looking at him!

“Come! Come, Doxy! We battle on here—on here—land! Land!”

He stopped, mouth opening as he looked at him for a moment, hand rising to his head. “Battle… Oh. We’re in a battle!”

“No! No!”

Miky shouted as he breathed in and shot more jets of water at him; not one hit.

Dodging left and right, Lori chuckled. “Use Confide, Miky. It will lower the damage.”

Gathering the force, he whispered, “Y-You know we not in battle! We in dance battle!”

The sprays ceased with his derpy expression as the wave of small white notes made their way to him to gather around his head.

“Dance battle… Oh, no. Wait… Are you trying to trick me?”

Roxie, Gables, and he snickered as a white aura collected around him, dropping his Special Attack.

“No! No! Mi no tricky-trick!”

He tried it again with his ability making its use practically instantaneous, but a third time failed; he wasn’t strong enough to drop it further.

“Mmh… No. Misty says we’re in a battle! That’s mean, Miky…”

He shot more blasts of water that missed but Miky was too nervous to go back into the water; a few minutes passed of unsuccessful goading before Lori got him to go back in and chase the Slowpoke, but now he was annoying and keeping his distance.

Lori, Gables, and Roxie gave him advice on getting closer, and Miky got close to biting him a few times; he only took part of one weakened jet of water in his platform leaps to close the distance. However, he grew more desperate as the time on the big monitors grew smaller and smaller.

“I get you!”

“Nu-uh… My friends call me Speed Blur the Fabulous…”

“Ggrrgh! No cheating!”

“I’m not cheating?”

Lori! He cheats! He no let me bite!

“It’s alright,” Lori’s soft, resigned chuckle carried through their connection. “We should have practiced battling in the water in Samiya. It’s okay, Miky. We did our best.”

I not…

“Match!”

Miky blinked in confusion as a red light shot out to return the retreating Slowpoke. “Eh? Eh? Eh?! No! Mi no done…”

Tears formed in his eyes as Lori called him back to his pokeball.

“It’s not your fault, Miky. It’s not. Okay?”

Mi lose… Mi lose…

He began to cry as Misty and his Trainer talked.

* * *

The nervous jitters in Lori’s stomach faded away while watching the battle play out, Roxie and Gables attempting to give their anxious Pokemon advice. It was obvious why Misty had chosen this route to battle her, helping her realize that Miky was far from ready to enter the open stage.

Arms crossed under her bust, she followed the imp’s desperate swim, doing his best to reach the Own Tempo Slowpoke while deep in her own thoughts as the results of this challenge became crystal clear.

Just like pushing Rhea with dancing and dates… I rushed head first, dragging Miky into a battle he just wasn’t prepared for. Ugh. I’m a terrible Trainer and friend, huh?

Roxie seemed to pick up on her emotional state and smacked her spirit with a glare, and Gables catching on, made her giggle as he mirrored her, telling her to get her to quit being depressing.

You gotta self-reflect, guys, she returned.

Observing the final seconds of the battle count down before telling Miky he’d done his best; after all, the issue wasn’t him, but her, and she had to wonder how Misty knew exactly what style of a match was required to force it into her thick skull.

She recalled him, stopped her music, and returned Misty’s sad smile as the Gym Leader asked, “What’s on your mind, Girl?”

“Huu-haaa.” Running her fingers through her hair with Gables and Roxie comforting the sobbing Impidimp, Lori only felt guilt at not reading the signs that Miky wasn’t ready for a Gym Battle. “I think it’s pretty obvious. An expensive lesson, but, heh, I’m grateful for it. I’ll talk to my teammates and see what else I missed.”

She held up her imp’s pokeball. “I let my team down, and that’s on me. Miky did great, and so did Dox. Thanks, Gym Leader, Misty; I learned a lot.”

“Hehe. Training’s not easy, Mallory, and we all have to go through harsh lessons sometimes, but I’m glad you’re so introspective.”

A concerned shift came to the woman’s young face on the display. “Just remember, seeing our flaws is all fine and good, but don’t go making more cracks or pick at them until they become fissures that swallow you whole.

“You did good trying to guide Miky through the tough parts where he was panicking, and it seems like you have an excellent team that supported him rather than belittled his inexperience. I look forward to battling him again when he grows a bit more. Sound good?”

Finding strength in her encouraging words, Lori nodded, wondering if the heavyweight against her chest was what Rhea felt when she lost to Forrest. “I’ll definitely come back to get that Encrusted Bronze Badge. This isn’t where our journey ends.”

A bright, toothy grin split Misty’s lips. “Glad to hear it. I’ll see you in a few months?”

“Count on it.”

Turning around—and feeling better than she thought she would, given their comical performance—Lori vowed to do better; she had to if she was ever going to give her Pokemon and teammates what they deserved.

Waving and smiling at the nervous girl that exited the locker room to replace her, Lori slowed and let her go by before stumbling against the side of the concrete hallway, unable to hold back any longer.

Tears came to her eyes as she clutched her burning breast. I’m sorry, guys. I’ll do better.

Miky was now crying harder after she began to tear up, and her two other Pokemon huddled closer to be their pillars.

She’d do better; she had to find another way to not be left alone, or Rhea and Amira would be forced to leave them behind, and that would kill the sensitive blonde country girl.