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The two of them may have been taking on the Musutafu Pokemon League as a team, but all it took was a stray breeze for Shouta to lose Oboro.
"Where did that idiot go this time…?" Shouta grumbled under his breath as his eyes scanned around the outdoor market.
Umbreon, his partner pokemon, didn’t look too concerned about finding their lost friend. Still, with a light tug on Shouta’s sleeve, it was Umbreon who helped Shouta to see that Oboro and Thunder, his own partner Alolan Raichu, were crouched behind one of the stalls and peeking around the corner at something out of sight. Both Shouta and Umbreon sighed before approaching them from behind.
“Oboro, what are you-?”
Oboro jolted to his feet and cut Shouta off with a, “Shh!” He then pulled Shouta down to the ground with him, earning him an unhappy growl from Umbreon that he ignored. However, he couldn’t so easily ignore Shouta’s own unhappy complaints.
“What’s wrong with you?” Shouta snapped.
“Look, look!”
Oboro pointed towards a duo who starkly stood out amongst all the other families and older shoppers. One of them was a woman who wore a white leather jacket and not much else. Fishnets and stilettos teased more than they covered, and Shouta wasn’t well-versed enough in fashion to know if she was just wearing a black bra or bikini top. She strode confidently besides a man wearing a matching black leather jacket of his own. With his hair slicked up and sunglasses covering his eyes, he straddled the line between punk and movie greaser. Flanked by a Salazzle and a Toxtricity that each mimicked the walk of their respective trainer, there was absolutely no doubt that this had to be another team taking on the Pokemon League.
“They’re a couple of trainers with better style coordination than us. So what?”
Oboro balked. “So what?! How can you not see that’s the most beautiful woman to have ever walked the earth?!”
Shouta rolled his eyes.
“She’s certainly… a lot, but I’m not just going to sit here while you leer at her.”
“I’m not,” Oboro cried. “I’m just appreciating her from a respectful distance.”
Shouta could tell by Oboro’s gooey-eyed expression that he was already hopelessly smitten with this stranger. Again, Shouta rolled his eyes.
The leather-clad duo stopped at a stall filled with accessories for pokemon. As the woman held up a ruby-studded collar, the man suddenly became aware of Oboro and Shouta’s staring. Oboro, too focused on the woman, didn’t even realize they had been caught. The man lowered his sunglasses, and Shouta, undaunted, met his eyes head-on. Even from far away, Shouta could see that his irises shimmered a beautiful green in the sunlight.
Before Shouta had the time to properly process that intrusive thought, the man winked, stopping Shouta’s whole world.
As the man readjusted his sunglasses and turned back around, Shouta gripped the fabric above his paraylyzed heart. What was this feeling? He could hear his heart pounding, but he couldn’t feel it, and no matter how deeply he breathed, he felt like he wasn’t getting any air.
What had this man done to him?
Shouta didn’t know, and he didn’t like it. He could only think of one solution to this confusion.
“Let’s battle them.”
Oboro woke up from his dreamy haze with a, “Huh?” By the time Shouta had stood back up, Oboro finally understood exactly what he had said.
“B- Battle them?!” Oboro scrambled to his feet in order to stand between Shouta and his new targets. “Wait, are you serious?”
Shouta side-stepped Oboro and began to stalk forward. “If they’re also taking on the League, we should see how strong they are.”
Thunder flew in front of him next, stopping him long enough for Oboro to catch back up.
“I mean...I guess, but…”
Shouta turned a sharp eye towards Oboro. “Do you want to talk to this girl or not?”
Oboro brought his fists up to his chest and took a deep breath. When his eyes found Shouta’s again, a brand new resolve had fired up within him.
“You’re right, let’s battle ‘em! But, uh, let me handle the introductions, okay?”
Shouta waved away Oboro’s concern. “Whatever, I don’t care.”
Now that he was determined, Oboro moved with incredible speed. Shouta didn’t bother matching his pace, knowing he’d get there when he needed to be there.
“Hey!” Oboro’s greeting was cheerful even as he somewhat rudely pointed at the duo. “Are you two taking on the League?”
The woman and man both turned. As Shouta slowed to a stop by Oboro’s side, he couldn’t help but feel that the duo’s smiles were both inviting and dangerous.
The woman spoke first. “Who’s asking?”
“We are!” Oboro answered. “I’m Shirakumo, this is Aizawa, and together we’re Storm Cloud!”
“Oh? Storm Cloud?” The woman laughed behind her hand. “That’s cute! I’m Kayama, and this is Yamada. We’re registered as…”
The duo repositioned themselves so that Kayama stood with a confident hand on her hip and Yamada hung causally off her shoulder.
“Leather,” Kayama started.
“And Lace,” Yamada finished.
Oboro and Shouta shivered. The sexual implications of Kayama and Yamada’s chosen team name were not lost on the “cute” Storm Cloud team that had approached them. Every passing moment of this confrontation felt more and more like Shouta and Oboro had invited themselves into the den of a predator.
“Sho, are you sure about this,” Oboro whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
Shouta shook himself and nodded. Taking a step forward, he declared, “ We challenge you to a battle. Partner pokemon only.”
Kayama and Yamada relaxed out of their intimidating pose, but the danger clearly hadn’t passed yet.
“A battle, huh?” Kayama crossed her arms over her chest. “What do we get out of it?”
“If we win, you’ll let us buy you lunch!”
Everyone stopped and turned to look at Oboro, whose earnestness was only emphasized by a light pink in his cheeks. Shouta felt his eye twitch as he was left speechless at his friend’s hopeless infatuation.
The stale air was broken by a loud (and seemingly more genuine) laugh from Kayama.
“Maybe you’re not as dumb as you look! It’s pretty smart to incentivize your opponents to lose.” Once her laughter died down, Kayama continued. “Sure, if you win, you can buy us lunch. But if we win, you’ll have to help us carry all our luggage to Kataoka. It takes a lot to look this good, you know.”
“Do we have a deal?” Yamada asked. His mirrored shades meant Shouta couldn’t see his eyes anymore, and Shouta wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed.
He did know, however, that he hated feeling either.
“Deal,” Shouta confirmed.
The four of them moved to a dirt battleground near the market that had likely been set up for local kids. The declaration of their battle had drawn the attention of some of the market patrons, meaning a moderately-sized audience had followed them. Shouta wasn’t thrilled by all the gawking spectators and Oboro seemed mostly oblivious. Kayama and Yamada, on the other hand, were clearly soaking up all the extra attention.
“Let’s put on a good show, Mic,” Yamada said to his Toxtricity.
“Midnight and I always show our opponents a good time,” Kayama purred as her Salazzle took the field.
Oboro had to literally toss Thunder onto the field. The mouse pokemon looked very, very reluctant to fight a couple of poisonous lizards, so Oboro tried hyping him up with an enthusiastic, “Go get ‘em, Thunder!”
It did not appear to bring Thunder much comfort.
Shouta didn’t need to say anything. With a miniscule gesture of his head, Umbreon understood to enter the battlefield.
Of course, Oboro had wanted to stand across from Kayama, which left Shouta facing Yamada. Shouta wasn’t going to let that distract him, though. Yamada was just another opponent. There was nothing special about him.
“Ladies first, right boys?” No one voiced any objection to her suggestion, so Kayama went ahead and started. “Midnight, use Sweet Scent.”
The field started to fill up with pink mist, causing Shouta’s eyes to go wide.
“Umbreon, hold your breath!”
Kayama was being smart. Despite his fear, the only pokemon with a type advantage was actually Thunder. Poison was weak to Psychic-type moves, making both Mic and Midnight vulnerable. The drug-like effects of Sweet Scent would put Umbreon and Thunder in a daze if inhaled, while holding their breath would slow them down. Leather and Lace were not messing around.
“Thunder! You alright in there? Cover up your nose, buddy! Use Psychic!”
Oboro’s command came too late. Through the shifting mist, it was clear Thunder had already inhaled Sweet Scent and, as a result, looked quite happy to be mindlessly rocking back and forth on his tail. Oboro grabbed the back of his head while Shouta cursed under his breath at the development.
“Mic, let’s go into Overdrive!”
A surge of crackling sound overwhelmed the field. The mist of Sweet Scent was cleared, but at the expense of Umbreon and Thunder’s ear drums.
So Kayama set the field and Yamada dealt the damage. What a devastating combo. Maybe challenging them had been a mistake.
“Sho, we can do this! Being flashy ain’t the only way to win!”
Shouta looked to Oboro, who was still smiling despite everything. It was a miracle the way he always managed to stay optimistic, but that extraordinary optimism was exactly what Shouta needed in a teammate.
The way Umbreon was shaking his head made Shouta worry he couldn’t hear from the residual ringing in his ears. But that was okay. Shouta and his pokemon didn’t need words.
Shouta waited for Umbreon to look back at him. Once they made eye contact, Shouta nodded. They both knew the best move for the situation.
Channeling the power of vengeful thoughts, Umbreon sent out a more subtle but powerfully unsettling wave across the field in the form of the attack Dark Pulse. Though Thunder was dazed and confused, he was thankfully still floating, so the dark-type move passed right beneath him. Mic and Midnight, however, were definitely damaged. The unease Dark Pulse fostered caused Midnight to flinch, opening the way for Thunder to hopefully make a move.
“We can’t leave Umbreon alone out there, Thunder! Snap out of it and hit one of them with Psychic!”
Thunder tried his best, he really did. He sent out an attack, but it was so off that neither of the opposing pokemon even had to worry about dodging.
Yamada didn’t waste any time.
“Mic, Sludgewave!”
Another long-range attack. Shouta and Umbreon must have noticed the bias at the same time, because after Umbreon successfully dodged the poisonous wave, he decided to close the distance with Snarl. It was a good plan. Shouta would have told Umbreon to do just that if he could have heard. Mic and Midnight must have had some weakness in close-combat if they were so focused on damaging from afar. Snarl was the right move, both Shouta and Umbreon knew it.
However, to their joint surprise, Mic didn’t look affected by the attack at all.
“What was that, Snarl?” Yamada pushed his sunglasses up with just a single finger. “Not a bad move, but I’m afraid Mic’s Punk Rock soul means that particular attack only does half damage.”
The revelation left Shouta disarmed. Just when he thought he had found a weakness, he instead slammed into another wall.
“Midnight, Fire Lash!”
A whip of fire ignited in Midnight’s hand, and she used it to strike Thunder down. The force of the hit was the final straw, and poor Thunder collapsed to the ground, defeated. Oboro, too, fell to his knees with a devastated cry.
Shouta felt the world closing in on him and Umbreon. His heart was pounding in his ears again, but this time he understood exactly what he was feeling.
Shouta didn’t care about losing, but he absolutely couldn’t stand seeing his pokemon faint.
So, when Oboro scooped up Thunder into his arms, Shouta also quickly returned Umbreon to his pokeball.
“We forfeit,” Shouta grumbled.
Yamada and Kayama looked surprised, but they didn’t say anything about Shouta’s retreat. The crowd, however, was not so quiet.
“Ah, lame!”
“Keep fighting!”
“What a coward…"
“Hey, hey.” Yamada stepped towards the crowd with a smooth grin. “They aren’t the first to surrender to us, and they won’t be the last. You have to understand that you’re all looking at the next Champions of the Pokemon League right here!”
Yamada’s bragging should have irked Shouta, but from the side he was able to see Yamada’s eyes again. The two of them shared a brief glance, one that told Shouta the boastful act was meant to take the heat off Shouta.
It worked, too. The crowd erupted into cheers as Shouta turned away, trying to catch the breath that had suddenly left him again.
This Yamada was a menace, and Shouta just couldn’t beat him.
“Oh, boys~ We have some bags with your names on them~”
Once the crowd had dispersed, Kayama happily waved Oboro and Shouta over to an impressive pile of bags. It was hard to tell that Oboro had lost with his happy puppy dog expression still shining on his face. Shouta looked more appropriately miserable, but that was more of his default look.
“To be honest, most of these are Hizashi’s,” Kayama teased.
Yamada shrugged. “It’s like you said, it takes a lot to look good. But this really is a lot… maybe we should buy our new pack mules lunch first.”
Both Oboro and Shouta blinked, surprised. Yamada seemed to be very purposefully not looking at them while Nemuri’s smile finally went from dangerous to sweet.
“What do you say? It won’t be anything too fancy, but it might still be fun,” she said.
Oboro and Shouta looked at each other. Before Shouta could say anything, Oboro’s smile really said it all.
“Wherever you want to take us, we’ll happily follow!” Oboro declared with a cartoonish salute. Love had really, truly made him a hopeless fool, but Shouta was mostly worried that the same might become true of himself.