The days that followed left me paranoid. I constantly saw people wearing the same dark green pants everywhere I went. Each outing for a Task left me feeling worse, but none of them interacted with me. They were just around.
After talking to Nurse Joy about it, who told me the League has been keeping track of Team Flux for a while, they disappeared. But that only made me feel worse. No one was around when I talked to her, which meant they had some way of listening in or watching me without people.
A week after the protest, I chose to go out and battle some Trainers. I thought it would be good for me to be around others who could fight back if something happened, and I needed to gauge how Inkay held up against Pokémon from other Trainers. PokéBase had location-specific forums for Trainers looking to battle. After making a post, I walked over to an empty battlefield behind the Center.
I waited about ten minutes before someone messaged me saying they would be there in a few. Pretty soon, a fifteen-year-old girl showed up, her oversized Pikachu hoodie standing out immediately.
"Hey, you made the post, right?" she asked hesitantly, looking around to see if someone else was here.
"Yeah," I answered. "I recently caught an Inkay and thought I should learn how to battle properly" I'd learned that people were more open to older Trainers when I framed it as me looking to protect myself from threats.
"Oh, cool," she said, visibly relaxing. "Have you battled before?"
"I've only recently become Trainer," I answered honestly. "I've taken on some Tasks that had Inkay battle, but they were never super intense."
"Ah, okay," she replied, nodding to herself. "Yeah, Trainer battles can get pretty crazy, even at lower Badge numbers. Just a one-on-one?"
"Yes, please," I said, taking out Inkay's PokéBall. I'd been getting him used to being recalled and let out, though he didn't like it very much.
"Alright," she said. "My name is Belle, by the way. I'll set up the match. Do you want to bet anything?"
"Nice to meet you Belle, I'm Marco," I replied. "Sure, I haven't bet before. Is 100$ too much?"
"No, that's actually lower than the average. Most people bet enough for a PokéBall or Potion. But 100$ is fine for this one," she answered.
When she set the match with the League, a Battle app automatically downloaded onto my phone and linked to my account. On the app, I saw she had a Fletchling and a Buneary. She also had a winning rate of 82%.
I tossed Inkay's ball a few times before tapping the center button twice and tossing it into the air. Mid-arc, the PokéBall opened and a beam of red shot out. Inkay materialized as the PokéBall bounced back in the exact same arc and into my hand. Belle pulled a PokéBall from her belt, which was previously hidden by her hoodie. She tossed it to release her Fletchling.
"Alright, since we don't have a referee, our phones will countdown and chime to begin. Remember, the rules are until one Trainer forfeits, or their Pokémon is knocked out. Tap 'READY' on the Battle app when you want to start."
I looked down at my phone, tapped the screen, and waited for the ten-second timer to finish. We were both itching to start.
*DING*
"Fletchling, Quick Attack!" / "Inkay, Payback!"
Belle's eyes widened as Fletchling shot forward. I'd watched many Pokémon battles of every level over the last few days. If this were a battle against someone with more than four Badges, their Pokémon could easily abort the move and switch to something different. However, Pokémon that hadn't mastered their moves or had little battling experience couldn't do so, which meant I could take advantage of a faster Pokémon's first hit.
"Hypnosis," I said, not bothering to shout. Inkay knew exactly what I wanted him to do.
Fletchling crashed into him, the Normal-type energy transferring from her to my starter. All that energy turned black, giving Inkay's move the energy necessary for the increased damage of Payback. He still got damaged, but the move allowed him to stay in place and give it back to his opponent.
Inkay's tentacle, shrouded in Dark-type energy, slapped Fletchling and sent her crashing into the floor. Inkay immediately used Hypnosis, causing her to fall asleep right after. Inkay went in for a Peck, which woke Fletchling up. However, she didn't fly into the air. Instead, she cried weakly and fainted.
"KAY!" my squiddy partner shouted, all but gloating his tentacles off.
"Alright, that's enough you little shit. No need to be rude about the win," I said, leaving him grumbling as he floated over. I walked over to Belle, who was spraying the bird with a Potion. "Sorry if Inkay was rough at the end there. He's used to fighting wild Pokémon."
Belle looked up, surprised. "Rough? I don't think you could have done better if you had a Gym Leader telling you what to do. Is this actually your first Trainer battle?"
"Yeah," I answered. "I didn't even have the Battle app until you set the match."
"Geez. The way you predicted my first move and took advantage of the fight's momentum made it seem like you have way more experience. Most other Rookie and Junior Trainers don't have battle sense like that."
"That's surprising, at least for the Rookie Trainers," I said. Mitchel might have lost his first battle against Viola, but he hadn't waited too long for the rematch. I doubted four days of training improved his battle skills so drastically. "I would've thought that Trainer Schools produced Trainers with significantly better battle senses."
Belle's face hardened at my comment. "Yeah, many of us hoped so. But all we did as students was battle against each other with Pokémon bred to be weak and friendly."
"That might be true for a loser like you, but exceptional Trainers don't need to be taught," a haughty voice rang out.
Belle and I looked over to see a lanky boy dressed in tan slacks and a lavender polo shirt. He had light brown hair slicked back and held together with some sort of shiny hair gel. His sunglasses covered most of the upper half of his face. Even with that, he looked young. I couldn't quite tell, but my first guess was thirteen or fourteen.
"Who the hell are you?" Belle asked.
"Don't worry about it," the kid said. "All you need to know is you suck at battling." He then turned to me, looking me up and down. "You look like you'd be a shitty Trainer. Jesus, the general talent in this place is ass. Not even the older Trainers are that good."
My phone chimed. The dickhead, Bo Langlois, requested a battle. He already put in a 2,000$ bet, and I saw he had earned the Gym Badge. He only had one Pokémon, a Corvisquire. "Hurry and accept so I can take your money. I need to buy a TM for Joan to prepare for her evolution to Corviknight."
"I would love to put a prick like you in your place," I said, causing Bo to hilariously stomp his foot and clench his hands. At that moment, however, my phone went off. It was an alarm I set last week for Ferrothorn. My metal ball of spikes was going to hatch very soon. "Fortunately for you, I have better things that I need to attend to."
I returned Inkay to his ball. The little shit was festering and liable to hurt the kid. I turned to Belle, who looked amused at Bo's little tantrum. "It was nice meeting you, Belle. Don't let this little boy get to you. He's got some maturing to do."
With my piece said, I ran towards my room. When I slammed the door open, the incubator was beeping rapidly and its screen flashed with [INCUBATION COMPLETE]. When I got to it and opened it up, the egg was shaking violently. A bright light came out of the egg as pieces fell to the floor. After a good third of the shell broke off, the white light radiated from the entire egg, blinding me. When my eyes recovered, I had a three-foot ball of spikey metal. The eggshell was entirely gone.
'I'll have to ask Nurse Joy about that,' I thought.
Ferroseed looked around as it blinked its eyes to adjust. When she could finally see, she turned to me. I stared at it for a moment. I didn't know what I was supposed to do at this point. "Uh, hey there."
"Ferro!" my new Pokémon cried before jumping at me, spikes gleaming as it moved through the air.