"Woah, Candice! That sure was an exciting match between Swadloon and Jynx, wouldn't you agree?!"
She face-palms, shakes her head, and giggles. "Alright. You got me. Yes, Jynx has Dry Skin. Please don't stall for time."
Sweet! That means she takes more damage from fire type moves. Even the intense sunlight will hurt her!
"In that case, it's your turn, Salandit!" I fling her pokeball high into the air, where it pops open and deposits Salandit on the ground.
She looks at the puddle she appeared in with disgust before moving to a nearby pile of rubble that has already dried.
The heat is getting to me, and I remove my coat as well, revealing my sweaty, dusty, and stained gym uniform. Yuck. I reek.
Salandit's back and tail ignite as she readies herself for battle. "We're ready!"
"We too! And go!"
"Ember! Spread it wide!"
A barrage of fire shoots from her maw like a continuous shotgun blast. The projectiles obscure Jynx from sight.
"Teleport, and then use Confusion."
In a flash of light, Jynx disappears, only to reappear silently and stealthily nearby. Salandit aborts her attack and wastes precious milliseconds looking for her.
"To my left!"
She looks to her right, even though her and my left are the same. Blue light encases Salandit - "To the other left!" - And my hint comes too late.
Jynx picks Salandit up and spikes her, slamming her back against the rocks.
"Again!"
"Use Fake Out!"
Salandit rolls across the rocks but vanishes the moment a clawed hand brushes against a surface, moving faster than the eye can see.
I need to think of a solution for Teleport.
Salandit strikes Jynx's back - I see it! "Latch onto her back before you use Will-O-Wisp!"
I close my eyes and concentrate. Everything goes black, but the outlines of the battlefield become visible with a blue hue. Salandit's form is clear in the void, while Jynx is just a blue blob in the vague form of a human.
~"Do you hear me? Follow up with Toxic if you can."
Will it mean anything? She might do it either way.
~"Undersstood." Her voice reaches back to me as she delivers three purple-hot orbs of fire that light Jynx's whole body up in flames.
She can hear me. Our bond is strong enough.
~"I'll be your second set of eyes. You just need to concentrate on the fight."
Jynx tries to tear Salandit off, but she can't reach properly behind her back.
"Use Teleport!" Candice's voice rips Jynx out of her panic, and she shines briefly, disappearing in a flash of light.
~"There!"
Left behind, Salandit falls. Her head snaps to the enemy's position before her feet even hit the ground.
The moment she touches a solid surface, ~"Toxic, now!"
She steadies herself and spits her glob of poison, sending it sailing through the air. Jynx's eyes sparkle blue, and she flicks her wrist, slapping the projectile off-course.
"Psychic, and then follow up with Confusion!"
~"Use Poison Gas!"
But Jynx is too fast. Her hair floats as if caught in a wild wind, her eyes glowing with a pale blue, almost white, light. Stones around Salandit begin to hover off the ground.
~"Abort! Use Protect!"
Rubble and even boulders join in the air before they fly straight at Salandit. Each projectile smashes into her barrier at the same time as the psychic powers themselves slam against it like a tidal wave. It squeezes and presses until Psychic lets up and buries Salandit underneath a pile of rubble.
Without even a moment of pause, a blue glow appears between the gaps. Jynx pulls Salandit free from her tomb with Confusion, only to slap her back into it. Salandit bounces, striking rocks and tumbling down the pile. She rolls to a stop in a puddle of mud at the base.
~"We can keep going." She/I say, and she pushes herself up. Her body aches, and her head throbs, and she'd really rather give up right now, but she cannot. ~"Mud-Slap!"
She digs her claws into the mud and flings it across the battlefield, aiming for Jynx's eyes. Once again, Jynx simply bats it aside with her psychic powers.
~"Ember!"
Since she will likely use Teleport or her psychic powers to dodge or deflect, we can keep Ember as a concentrated stream rather than a wide scatter. Salandit catches my intent and follows through.
Just as expected, Jynx's body glows again - it's Teleport.
~"Right behind you!"
Her aura-blob flickers to life before her body even manifests. Salandit immediately turns around and keeps the attack going.
Jynx startles, her concentration faltering as her blue, glowing eyes flicker - just long enough for the first mote of Ember to strike.
The scream of a dying woman echoes through the canyon. A part of me knows it's Jynx, but it really sounds a lot like a real girl in distress.
"Use Protect!"
In an instant, Jynx's wailing stops, and the onslaught of Ember comes to an abrupt end as Salandit flinches from the backlash of a failing move.
"Now, Water Pulse!"
Jynx summons a ring of water, strangely oscillating as it moves through the air. ~"Run away."
Salandit runs across the battlefield, but the ring of water simply changes direction, keeping chase. Wait... I open my eyes... "Ahh! It's coming right at me! What the hell!"
Salandit scales up the back of my leg before hiding underneath my t-shirt. "Hey, get out of there! We're both going to get hit like that! Wait, what move are you using now?! Why are you glowing so brightly-- O M A, Salandit is evolving!"
---
The shine brightens, piercing through my shirt and glaring straight into my retinas. Heat blooms across my back as her claws dig deeper, raking across my skin. It burns hotter, agonizing. I gasp for air when she suddenly grows. My shirt tightens, then tears apart with a loud rip at the seams.
Her arms elongate - one wraps around my neck - and I stumble as her weight shifts. It no longer feels like I'm carrying a medium-sized lizard. It's a whole person now, clinging to me.
Long fingers, tipped with sharp claws, tighten around my throat as she tries to stay on my back without falling off.
The light fades just as I stumble again - this time, I can't catch myself. She scrambles across my shoulder, then climbs onto my chest, using my body as a cushion. I hit the ground hard, flat on my back, pain spreading from the impact.
"Oof." As air rushes from my lungs, she shuffles around, gliding her long tail along my face as she turns.
She grins. ~"I evolved!"
I don't want to ruin her moment by flicking her forehead for knocking us over, so I just groan in pain instead.
~"Look how big I am now!"
Her tail coils around my leg as she presses her front limbs - her hands - against my chest, propping herself up. She stretches her neck toward the sky, igniphores glowing in bright pink patterns across her chest. Her slender frame now flares slightly at the hips - and just a bit at the chest.
Oh, Mew... She looks erotic.
The sun hits her just right, setting her obsidian-black scales aglow with a pearlescent shimmer. Her pale purple eyes narrow to thin slits under the glare. The underside of her belly shows a deeper purple than her eyes, and the pink markings along her body radiate heat to the touch.
I notice my unruly fingers tracing her patterns... I'm a deviant freak, but actually, everyone else is wrong. Her slit pupils widen in lust, and she descends on my face with a kiss.
Her long snout presses against my lips, and I feel the hard texture of her face. It feels almost... like a beak? Not quite. It's rough, scaly, and a little pliable; she has bones sitting directly underneath her skin - little to no fat to cushion her face.
She sticks her tongue into my mouth, swirling it around my own in rapid, disorganized movements. She doesn't linger in any place long enough for it to feel like a kiss. It's more like she's just mapping out the inside of my mouth.
Her eyelids narrow in a glare, as if daring me to stop her, or as if expecting it - I'm not sure which. Either way, I let her continue and return the favor by studying the inside of her mouth.
She has sharp, pointy teeth beyond the row of bony extrusions along her jaw... I can't really get anywhere in her mouth. My tongue is simply too short.
Hers, on the other tongue, constantly threatens to dive down my throat, and I can tell she avoids doing it just because she knows I will have to end it once I start coughing up her tongue.
Her eyelids bend up at the corners - she's smirking. And I can't help smiling back. Then her tongue darts past my uvula, down my throat. "Cough!"
It flies out of my mouth, slapping her smug face. "Hishishis!" She laughs, slurping up her tongue. Her sharp claw trails down the tender skin of my neck and down my chest. ~"We sshould get back to the battle, sshouldn't we, masster?"
... The battle... Candice! My hands jump away from her waist.
"Y-yes."
Salazzle turns around on my body, climbs off, flicks my nose with her tail, and turns her attention back to Jynx.
She crawls back to her starting spot on all fours, then rises upright, steadying herself with her tail. Her stance looks uneasy - those legs are not made for walking.
"The second evolution in two days... Congratulations..." Candice speaks up but refuses to meet my eyes as a blush spreads on her face.
She saw everything, didn't she? Fuuuck.
"I didn't see nothing."
A double negative. She saw everything.
"Ahahaha..." She fakes a laugh. "Wow, that's a surprise though, isn't it? ... Yeah..."
"Yeah..."
"... Well, you... I mean, I did see you being a lot more than chummy with your pokemon right before we got buried... So it's not reaaally a surprise... you know?"
Good fucking grief.
"Don't worry! It's not like I'll tell everyone!-- I mean, anyone! I won't tell anyone!"
"..."
"Wow, so you like smooching your pokemon a little too much, so what?"
"Arceus, smite me."
"It's not a crime to like - or love - your pokemon, don't worry! There are no laws against it!"
"Can we just resume the fight? Please?" The intense sunlight keeps damaging Jynx, but I'd rather have this over quickly.
"Yeah! Sure! I mean, I get it! It's as if I were an adult - which I am - and I just caught you making out with your girlfriend - which I did... It's understandable to be embarrassed about it as a growing young man!"
Jynx is now laughing at us. Her laughter sounds like that of an actual human girl.
"And you're far from the first to... you know... you know?"
It's not going to end anytime soon...
"Like, I've heard rumors while I was traveling. Rumors of people... you know... doing you-know-what with their pokemon..."
"Smooching?"
"Smooching! Right! They did that. Supposedly. It was rumors. Right. And I saw nothing."
Salazzle is laughing her ass off too. Her hissing lisp has gotten a little worse with her new, longer tongue.
"But... like... you know you're not supposed to be doing that sort of thing with others around, right?"
"Yes! Can we please, for the love of Arceus and Mew, resume the battle?!"
"Yes... that's good. Uhm, that you know. Uhh... sure. Let's resume. Jynx, do... uhh--"
"Salazzle, use Ember!"
"Ah! Right, we're in a battle! Use Light Screen!"
Light Screen? She plans to tank the attack even though it's super effective against Jynx? A transparent pane flickers into place, catching the incoming Ember motes.
"Haha, now you will see how much of a difference years of training and pure power make. A Salandit is never going to get through Light Screen with a simple Ember-- Oh. Yes. I see what my mistake is. Salandit has evolved since I came up with this lecture."
Ember breaks through the Light Screen. Each bullet shrinks after passing through, but they continue to their target nonetheless.
"Teleport!"
Salandit-- no, Salazzle aborts her attack as the target vanishes... Right! I need to focus! She needs my second set of eyes!
I squeeze my eyes shut and catch the telltale flicker of Jynx's soul in my aura sight - she reappears behind her Light Screen. So, they plan to keep her special defense bolstered for the rest of the fight.
We should use a physical move instead.
~"Let me usse my new attack!"
What new attack... Fire Lash? ... It's a physical fire move with relatively short range. I've read about it in a book before. It's a move only Salazzle, Heatmor, and Sizzlipede can learn.
It could work. We might be able to chase Jynx off and steal Light Screen for ourselves...
~"Let's try it. Use Fire Lash!"
Salazzle sprints across the battlefield, her awkward two-legged gait clumsily dashing over the jagged rocks and through puddles of mud.
"Oh? You're approaching us?" Candice mocks, her tone laced with confidence, clearly plotting something. She keeps mocking me for stalling, yet here she is whispering orders to Jynx right now!
But Salazzle needs a little more time. I need to distract Candice! "I can't beat you without getting closer!"
"Jynx, use Confusion!"
"Ha! Light Screen will weaken your attacks too!"
Her smirk widens. "Not if Confusion moves around Light Screen!"
"... Really?"
Jynx's psychic grasp locks onto Salazzle, halting her mid-sprint.
"It's like an extension of the arm." She grows smugger by the second. "Just like you can move your arms past obstacles, so can Jynx! Now, throw her!"
Salazzle is yanked into the air and slammed into the ground, skidding back several meters and bringing her charge to a halt.
I momentarily break my concentration to check my wristwatch. Fake Out still needs five minutes.
Wait, what if her evolution reset her cool-downs? "Use Fake Out!" It doesn't work. ~"Alright, back to Fire Lash!"
She resumes her sprint, running a little less awkwardly on all fours this time.
"Confusion, again."
~"Keep running."
Jynx's eyes glow brightly, the same shine appearing around Salazzle. ~"Now! Protect!"
A shell expands from her core, ripping the psychic hold into shreds that sparkle in the air as they fade away. Salazzle keeps running and reaches the barrier. "And now! Fire Lash!"
Pink flames ignite across Salazzle's chest, tracing her patterns. They flow down her waist, engulfing her tail until it blazes like a whip, tapered at the end.
The flaming tail snakes through the air, then lashes out, slicing cleanly through the Light Screen like it's not even there. But Jynx vanishes in a flash of light, leaving the safety of her barrier.
~"Behind you! Use Incinerate!"
Salazzle's tail shrinks as fire wells in her throat, bulging slightly and glowing from within.
Across the field, glowing orbs coalesce in front of Jynx's face, gathering in a single point right at her lips. "Hyper Beam!? Again!?"
Salazzle unleashes Incinerate, but the plume of fire barely reaches halfway before a blinding beam cuts through the air ten times as fast.
It tears through Incinerate without slowing, slams into Salazzle, and hurls her back - through the Light Screen for a brief moment of calm. Hyper Beam chips at it for only a measly short second before it shatters into a thousand pieces and sends Salazzle rolling further over the ground.
When the light dies down, Salazzle lies still - eyes spiraled.
Salazzle is KO.
Jynx kneels, gasping from the strain of her final attack. She braces herself and rests-- she topples over. Her eyes turn into swirls as well.
Jynx is KO.
... The intense sunlight gave her the final piece of damage that knocked her out.
... In a way, Swadloon won this fight.
---
"... Riolu?" My last battle-ready pokemon, who isn't currently resting within her pokeball, stands by my feet, looking up at me. "Let's not tell anyone that Swadloon dealt the last hit and technically won the match. I think it will just make Salazzle depressed."
She giggles. ~"Alright."
I take the black and gold pokeball from my belt and recall Salazzle. She took a serious beating but never surrendered. "Well done, Salazzle. You won." I give her pokeball an affectionate kiss as well before I clip her back to my belt.
"Well fought, Swole!" Candice catches my attention. "Your bond to your pokemon might be strange, but it is certainly strong!" I wish she hadn't caught my attention. "I never expected our match to go two for two. Once you select your next pokemon, I will reveal my final one!"
Two for two... Holy shit, she's right. I've still got Lopunny and Riolu. She's down to one.
But which is it? It's beyond over if she's selected Froslass as her last member. Aurorus, on the other hand - an ice and rock type - might even be easy for us... Either way, I should keep Lopunny in her pokeball. She needs to rest for as long as she can.
I pat her head and the dongles growing from it. "It's your turn, Riolu."
~"Yes, master." She strolls onto the battlefield. Her steps are filled with confidence and faith in my decisions.
It has become impossible to tell that she hatched a mere ten weeks ago. "Good luck."
~"I won't need luck to make you proud."
Woah. She's being cool. Is Sinnoh's icy north affecting her?
Let's not get distracted.
Candice readies a pokeball. It's the first time I notice her belt hidden underneath her pullover. Five luxury balls and two regulars - one of which belongs to Abomasnow. She has yet to grab one of her regular pokeballs, meaning she has yet to send out one of her oldest partners.
This one is yet again a luxury ball. She tosses it high into the air, and Glaceon pops free. While still falling, her blue, cat-like pokemon launches an Ice Beam at the ground, landing atop a pillar she created.
She stretches like a cat and settles on her haunches, glaring down at everyone from her pedestal.
Glaceon, the ice Eeveelution - sturdy, with powerful special attacks, but slow. Both Riolu and Lopunny are good options. "We're ready!"
"On three then! One!"
Riolu readies herself for the action. "Two-- What? Riolu is evolving!"
Her body shines blindingly brightly. Her limbs stretch and her torso expands. The dongles hanging from her head each split into two while her ears grow and become perkier.
The transformation was quick, and suddenly, my old friend stands before me. She peeks over her shoulder with a bright grin on her face, looking just like she did. Parts of Lucario lived on in Riolu after all - they share the same eyes, nose, and face.
"You've evolved!"
Her grin grows as she spots the pure shock and surprise in my eyes.
~"Of course, I did. You didn't think I'd keep lagging behind the others forever, did you?"
"Heh, I did. And I still do; Lopunny never stopped training either. You're still going to have to give it your all."
She pouts.
"But so will I. We're going to win this fight together, Lucario." ... Lucario, we finally get to fight together... Stay focused, Swole.
I close my eyes and open my senses. Life force is all around us, and I feel it all. Lucario closes her eyes as well, and her feelers rise to the air. A bond connects us, rivaling Salazzle's and Lopunny's in strength.
"We're ready. Two!"
"Alright! Three! Use Snowscape!"
~"Aura Sphere!"
Lucario quickly readies a sphere, much faster than before her evolution.
In the meantime, a thick layer of snow spreads all around Glaceon, as if sprouting from the ground. Snowflakes swirl into existence from thin air. Her expanding domain slowly reclaims the battlefield, turning it back into the snowscape it had been before Sunny Day.
However, the sun keeps shining. The snow remains confined around Glaceon - her own personal storm. Aura Sphere cuts through the air and pierces the contained blizzard.
"Mirror Coat!"
It flies back out, aiming for Lucario, but she can dodge it without issues.
That was a bust. Glaceon didn't even have to move from her spot.
~"Use Work Up for now." We'll need to switch into close combat.
Glaceon is undoubtedly preparing herself with Calm Mind. We can't waste time either.
Lucario finished her quick workout. Her muscles bulge as her blood flow increases. Her attack and special attack rise.
~"Try Rock Throw."
After picking up a rock from the ground, Lucario sends it flying through the air.
Again, the projectile pierces the snowstorm, but it's a physical move, so Mirror Coat won't work against it... Glaceon turns herself into snow, letting the rock pass through her before returning to her real shape.
Snow Cloak. An ability that allows some ice pokemon to hide in snow... Wait... "Do Glaceon, Froslass, and Mamoswine all have Snow Cloak?!"
Candice just chuckles. As if to prove it, Mamoswine turns herself into a Snowswine-version of herself.
That's messed up. How are we supposed to fight against that? Glaceon can just stay in her snowstorm, dodge everything or send it back, and not even the hot weather can fight against her Snowscape!
Oh? An attack is coming.
Lucario dodges Mud-Slap effortlessly.
"Try Water Pulse." Candice says. An attack where the user must constantly concentrate to aim it at their target...
~"Rock Throw, again!"
A ring of water floats from the storm; Lucario's rock zips straight through its center. The moment it touches Glaceon, her body crumbles into a pile of snow. Water Pulse collapses with her, falling uselessly to the ground as her concentration breaks.
"Looks like a stalemate."
"Not quite! Glaceon, use Hail!"
If she changes the weather to hail, every pokemon that's not an ice type will take some damage... but... two can play the weather game. "Lucario, use Sunny Day."
Thick clouds drift along the sky, but they disappear before even a single piece of hail could fall.
"Still a stalemate."
"But we've trained for this. Can Lucario keep Sunny Day up for as long as we can use Hail?"
"You've seriously trained for this annoying strategy?"
"Oh, don't give me that! Who always uses poison and burns and then tries to stall for time?!"
"Touché. But Lucario also knows Rain Dance. We can keep it up long enough, I'm sure."
This actually might be good for me. If Glaceon and Lucario both exhaust themselves trying to change the weather, then Lopunny will be able to clean up.
"Well, but can you handle this?! Use Swift!"
Lucario runs behind some rubble, using it as protection against the array of shooting stars that Glaceon shot out.
Only one star makes it past the cover and strikes her shoulder... They are probing our defenses. We need to start acting, or else they might find an exploitable weak point.
~"Get in there and start fighting her in melee." We know a new move. ~"Use Bone Rush!"
As she sprints, Lucario puts her palms together and summons a long, glowing bone made of aura. She twirls it around like a quarterstaff.
~"Dodge left."
Ice Beam misses, crashing into the ground and leaving a jagged ice sculpture behind.
With a jump, she pierces through the dome of snowflakes and lands atop the meter-deep snow. Her feet sink in, breaking her stride, yet she presses on.
Glaceon is just up ahead, smugly smirking without ever changing her pose. "Icicle Spear!" She summons five spears that float in the air and sends one down.
~"Detect and keep going!"
Lucario ducks under the first spear and steps aside to dodge the second. She smashes the third into pieces with her battle-bone and keeps running. The fourth misses, falsely predicting a dodge, and the final spear aims for her face, but she simply turns her head.
Finally in striking range, Lucario slams her bone down, but Glaceon turns into loose snow. Her pedestal shatters into pieces. A follow-up strike from below misses as well.
"Use Confusion, and send her flying!" Candice shouts.
Glaceon's eyes glow as her body reshapes midair, their shine piercing through the storm, and the pedestal's fragments, along with some snow, rise into the air.
That's not Confusion, it's Psychic!
Another strike with the bone shatters Glaceon's spell. Psychic bursts as her body scatters in the wind, reforming a few meters away. She meets Lucario's snarl with a smirk, opens her mouth, and blows Icy Wind into her face.
~"Lucario! Use your own Confusion and send her flying instead!"
Frost laps at her health, coating her fur, and Lucario clenches her jaw. Inner Focus allows her to keep going. Thrusting her palm forward, a burst of psychic power sends Glaceon flying along with shards of her pedestal, sending them hurtling through the storm.
~"Keep it up with Bone Rush!"
Glaceon rolls to a stop by my feet, and Lucario sprints through the snow, hot in pursuit.
"Hyper Voice!" Candice shouts across the battlefield, and Glaceon pulls herself together.
She shakes off some dirt from her fur, sits down on her haunches, and opens-- "GLACEON!" She suddenly screams at the top of her lungs, sending a shock wave through the air. It crumbles rocks to dust and rips a hole into the snow dome.
Tinnitus rings in my ears, but Lucario was struck head-on. She lies on her back, ears bleeding and paws pressing against the snow as she picks her bone-staff up.
"Hyper Voice, again!"
Glaceon's hackles rise; the fur along her neck stands up as her body tenses. Her lungs expand, and she takes a deep breath. "GLACEON!" The shock wave pushes along rocks, knocks over boulders, and barrels across the battlefield.
~"Protect, and keep going!"
Just before it reaches Lucario, she protects herself with a barrier of light--
"Hyper Beam!"
Oh no.
Hyper Voice has not even finished by the time Glaceon opens her mouth yet again. Particles of pure power coalesce in the air, gathering within Glaceon's open mouth. Meanwhile, Lucario's Protect pops like a bubble when the shock wave passes over her.
We look around for anything to hide behind, but there's nothing. Lucario stands in the middle of the open.
~"Aura Sphere?" I don't know who suggested it, but it's a terrible idea. It's far from strong enough... but what if--
All of a sudden, a dazzling shine blinds our eyes.
A painfully hot sensation burns all over our skin as Hyper Beam strikes. When the skin on my chest crackles, blisters, and pains more than anything I've ever felt before, my eyes suddenly flutter open and my concentration shatters.
The attack just keeps blasting Lucario with white-hot energy. My leg gives out - I drop to one knee as the heat and wind push me back, whipping my hair around. It scorches the earth, cracking the dried mud beneath Glaceon and melting the rocks in its path.
She keeps it up for an eternity. A yellow streak has burned into my retina by the time Glaceon finally runs out of steam. Hyper Beam fades, and its backlash crackles across her body like arcing lightning.
Lucario is down on her knees. The snowstorm is gone, replaced by steam, pearls of sparkling glass littering the ground, and small, glowing blobs of lava on an otherwise smooth track; Glaceon cleared the rubble.
I press myself up again, and Lucario copies my motions. Except, she kept an Aura Sphere hidden behind her back the whole time, protecting it with her body.
Glaceon is entirely defenseless right now. "Use Aura Sphere! Make it hurt!"
Lucario nods, keeping her eyes closed. Her feelers rise. She shuffles her feet, wincing when her paw steps on a molten rock, but she continues. Finally, she thrusts it ahead and sends the orb flying.
Glaceon sits still like a statue, rooted to the ground. Imprisoned within her body, she can't even budge when Aura Sphere strikes her face.
"Another one!" How long does Hyper Beam's backlash last? I don't know, but we've got to make the most of it! "And send it!"
Lucario fires off another, smaller Aura Sphere, sprinting after it and summoning her Bone Rush staff.
Aura Sphere strikes... not a moment too soon. The sparks coursing through Glaceon vanish right after... Yet, she remains still like a statue. Her body glows softly. A white shine envelops her from head to tail, and the ground cracks underneath her paws.
They're planning something. "Prepare yourself to use Counter!"
"Oh?! You'll be trying to Counter our attack?! Daring!"
What attack is it?!
Hot motes of energy gather all around her, drifting slowly at first, then swiftly, into her body. She glows brighter. "Glaceon, use Giga Impact!"
For the first time this battle, Glaceon moves on her own accord. Her legs tense-- no, her whole body has been tense the whole time; only now her hind legs bulk up even thicker as her muscles coil tight.
"Lucario! Counter!"
She jumps. Her shine intensifies one last time, becoming as bright as the sun moments before striking against Lucario's bone, which she uses as a baseball bat. It shatters in an instant, and the shards fly everywhere as if her staff exploded.
Lucario quickly adjusts her stance, trying to grab the incoming pokemon instead.
Her resistance lasts only for a moment. Glaceon sends Lucario flying. I see the swirls in place of Lucario's eyes before she even hits the ground.
As fast as I can, I grab her Love Ball, returning Lucario. With the other hand I unclip Lopunny's Premier Ball and toss it. "Lopunny! Quickly!"
She appears on the battlefield, looks around, and spots Glaceon right beside her; the same sparkles lock her in place once more.
"We're ready!"
Candice chortles and smacks her thigh. "Ahahaha! You're so shameless! We're ready too!"
"Lopunny, use Jump Kick!"
Glaceon watches the smug smirk on my battle bunny and can only accept the inevitable.
She jumps high and dropkicks Glaceon in the face! Her body relaxes, and Glaceon tips over. Swirls appear instead of her eyes.
Glaceon is KO.
"We've won!"
"Lo?" Lopunny asks, turning her head left and right, taking note of the drastic changes on the battlefield.
"Wuhu! We've won the battle!" I give Lucario's pokeball a kiss before clipping it back to my belt. "Good job, Lucario. And good job, Lopunny! I can't believe we did it!"
~"We won?"
"Yes! That was her last pokemon!"
I take a step towards Lopunny-- my leg gives out. The ground rushes towards my face. The snow is all gone, replaced by jagged rubble. That's gonna hurt.
Except, Lopunny catches me just in time. She slings my arm over her shoulder, keeping me up. ~"I've got you."
"Thanks. You're the best. You're all the best pokemon ever." I pat Salazzle's, Swadloon's, and Lucario's pokeballs, and I kiss Lopunny's cheek. "Really well done, everyone."