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Vi whistles merrily as she saunters out of the Pokémon Center, backpack stuffed with her freshly healed Pokémon inside their Poké Balls along with the morning’s earnings. The clear blue sky above her fills her heart with the need for adventure. She stretches her arms out over her head, exhales, and adjusts her visor.
“Where to next…” she mutters to herself.
Her trip to Sinnoh has been like all the previous ones. Land on the tarmac, wander from town to town, win battle after battle, treat her Pokémon to something nice, rinse and repeat. After all she’s been through, seeing the world (and pocketing hard-earned money) is what she’s owed. Perhaps it’s what she owes to herself.
Three children run by her and she catches their parents huffing behind when she spins around. A flashbulb image of five children running ahead sporting a variety of pink, blue, white, and brown hair flashes in her vision. She casts her gaze downwards before huffing to herself and heading east. She should have expected this in Hearthome City. Vi clenches a fist and decides to depart immediately once she can find her way out.
Although she loathes to even near the Pokémon Contest Hall, Vi hopes she can pass by it quickly. There’s nothing she’d like less than seeing contestants with their disgustingly adorned Pokémon, showing them off for their looks rather than their battling abilities.
Sure would be nice to have a bike around here, she thinks to herself as she passes a Gyrados wearing a bow on top of its head posing for its trainer.
Vi shoves her fists into her pockets and briskly hustles west out of the city after consulting her handy Town Map. A sign to her right says “Route 208” and another near it indicates Mount Coronet is a good hike north.
“Better than nothing,” Vi shrugs. Her Pokémon enjoy hiking up mountains, anyway.
No sooner than when she starts heading north does she spot a figure in the distance, sitting on a bench. Vi squints her eyes to get a closer look. It’s a woman, one with dark blue hair tied back into a ponytail, facing away from her. She’s wearing-no way-an honest to goodness fanny pack to store her five Poké Balls. Given the look of the rest of her clothes-a collared yet sleeveless shirt, a skirt that reveals legs that go on for-anyway-, and well-worn trail runners, Vi can almost smell the money on her. Vi stands still for a second, dumbfounded at the woman’s ensemble, before a smirk takes over her face. She adjusts her visor again. If there was never an easier target…
Vi nearly sprints toward the woman, making sure no one else will make eye contact with her first.
“Hey!” she shouts, as soon as she’s within distance.
The woman turns her head in surprise, sky blue eyes meeting her own.
Vi’s smirk grows wider.
“Let’s battle,” she states before the woman can say a thing. She sets her backpack on the ground.
The woman’s eyes widen before giving Vi a quick once over. She knows she can’t refuse after a challenge has been made. The woman gingerly rises to her feet.
Of course she’s taller than Vi.
“All right, then.”
Vi internally rolls her eyes at the fancy Galarian accent. This lady must be from some stupid town called Berkshire-upon-Trent or Fiddlyton or something equally insufferable. It doesn’t help that her aristocratic features match her accent. This’ll be the easiest mark yet. The woman steps onto the road and reaches toward her fanny pack. She’s probably bringing her sheltered Pokémon on a vacation. Vi wouldn’t be surprised to see a Yamper at the woman’s side, offering meager protection as she navigates the ooh, dangerous wilderness! All on her lonesome!
Even though Vi’s sure she could take on the woman’s untrained and untested five with her four, she decides to make it even easier for herself. The sooner this is over, the sooner she can continue her hike with her backpack likely bursting with cash.
“Hold on, I’ve only got four.” The woman nods in affirmation.
Vi grabs a Poké Ball out of one of her cargo shorts’ many pockets once she puts enough distance between them to have a makeshift battlefield. “Let’s do this,” she whispers to the Pokémon inside.
“Go, Flygon!”
Flygon darts out, flying a wide arc around the two before settling on the ground. He keeps his wings spread and growls in attempt to intimidate the other woman.
The other woman daintily laughs behind her hand. Well, Vi certainly wasn’t expecting that. The woman reaches into her lame fanny pack and pulls out a blue ball with a red mark in the center. Three yellow lines sit atop the red shape.
“Go, my sweet one!”
Vi fights the urge to gag before she’s stopped in her tracks at the sight of the Pokémon that meets her eyes.
A distinctly snake-like Pokémon stares serenely at her. Its pink antennas wisp over its head while its blue and pink tail swishes in preparation.
This chick must have come from the Contest Hall. There’s no other reason for her to have a Milotic, especially one whose scales gleam like that.
Flygon looks back at her through his…goggles? He nods at her before taking flight; they both know they have to do anything to avoid an Ice Beam.
Vi glances at the woman, still irritated at her ridiculous outfit. A terrible-no, great-idea comes to mind. She points right at the other woman. “Flygon, use Sandstorm!”
Vi thinks she hears a yelp from Prissy McFancypants.
Quickly, a whirlwind of sand kicks up. Vi settles her own goggles over her eyes and the smirk returns to her lips. She doesn’t need to see her Pokémon to be in sync with them.
“Use Earthquake!”
She hears Flygon roar as he pummels the ground. Vi can hear the rumbling of the cracks that must be swallowing the Milotic whole.
“Recover.”
Vi can barely hear the other woman’s clipped tone through the sand whipping through the air. She sees a serpentine flash of white light quickly appear then disappear. The opposing trainer spares Vi a glare before clucking her tongue in dissatisfaction.
“Rain dance, please.”
Fuck.
The sandstorm dies down as dark grey clouds form above them. Vi drops her goggles into her bag. A crack of lightning brightens the sky for a moment, allowing Vi to see the other woman’s displeased countenance. Her arms are crossed, no doubt aware of Vi’s immature attempt to dirty her clothes.
Milotic raises her head to the sky, indulging in the rain. This is Vi’s chance.
“Dragon Pulse!”
Flygon opens his mouth, charging up.
Suddenly, Milotic appears before him as her tail smacks Flygon’s mouth. He goes sprawling into a puddle before they both hear the dreaded-
“Ice Beam.”
Vi returns Flygon to his Poké Ball. “Good fight,” she murmurs. She settles his ball gently into her backpack before picking up another. She lifts the second Poké Ball to her wet forehead. If this Contest Hall Lady thinks she’s going to give in without a fight, she’s got another thing coming.
“Go!”
Blue haired chick keeps her arms crossed. A disapproving frown still sits on her face.
“Lucario!”
Her opponent’s eyes widen before she opens her stance and mutters, “Be careful, Milotic.”
Lucario clenches both fists as he roars at Milotic. Vi knows he can sense her frustration. The blue-furred Pokémon sets one knee into the mud, preparing to take off. They’ll get this one right.
“Dragon Pulse!”
Lucario kicks off so quickly she almost misses it. She swears even the raindrops don’t hit him. He appears behind the Milotic, shooting a Dragon Pulse that hits her right in the midsection.
“Milotic!” Finally, an emotion escapes from Beauty Pageant Contestant Number Five Hundred.
“Use Recover!”
“Not again,” Vi grunts out as she swipes a hand across her forehead so she can see. “Aura Sphere!”
The ball of energy hits Milotic right as she flashes white again.
Lucario jumps back. When the dust clears, Milotic still stands (well, whatever the word is since she doesn’t have legs) but her head is lowered with fatigue.
Blue-Haired Chick doesn’t even look like her breathing rate has increased, even though she’s drenched from the rain. Well, Vi has a surprise up her sleeve (she’s of course, wearing her customary tank-top).
“Hidden Power!” she yells. Lucario takes a moment to charge up.
“Dodge it!” yells the other woman.
Milotic is too slow to get out of the way. Green balls of energy hit her along the length of her body before she collapses.
The rain has finally stopped but there are puddles around them.
“That was a lovely battle,” her opponent murmurs to Milotic’s Lure Ball. “Take a good rest.”
Vi watches as the woman pulls a Poké Ball from her fanny pack. The woman meets her eyes and gives her a small smile. “Not bad.”
Vi tilts her chin up. “Not so bad yourself,” she grits out. Her opponent spares her the slightest smirk.
“Come out, dear!”
Vi swears she sees sparkles pop out at the same time as this next Pokémon. Of course she has a shiny Sylveon.
Sylveon mewls and takes a battle stance, its ribbons flowing attractively around it. Will all this woman’s Pokémon have ribbons or something?
Lucario takes a large leap backwards and raises his fists once more. There’s no way-
“Attract!”
The woman winks at Vi at the same time her blue Sylveon winks at Lucario. Vi swears only Lucario gets heart eyes.
Lucario staggers backward, then forward one step.
“Knock it off, Lucario!” Vi yells. “It’ll take more than a cupcake like that to get you!”
Lucario continues swaying.
“Come on! Use Meteor Mash!”
Vi’s opponent’s smirk grows while her Sylveon licks her paws. A steely glint appears in Sylveon’s eyes. She begins powering up something…pink. Something powerful and pink.
“Lucario!”
Lucario growls and smacks his forehead.
“I know you can feel me!” Vi hollers. All those hours of understanding each other’s emotions, ever since he was a Riolu…finally acknowledging each other’s hearts right before he evolved…
He vigorously shakes his head and growls lowly at the Sylveon while he charges his move. Princess Gorgeous raises an eyebrow.
Lucario leaps into the air and fires a Meteor Mash just as Sylveon launches a Moonblast at him. She tries to duck away at the last second, but bears most of the assault with a yelp.
Pink takes over Vi’s field of vision. When she can see again, Lucario is on his knees.
“Can you still fight?” she asks. She doesn’t even register the ordered, “Calm Mind” in the distance.
Lucario looks back at her and nods once before shakily getting to his feet. Vi smiles at him and stands as well.
He holds one hand before him, facing Prissy Moneybags. He makes a come-on motion at her.
Vi blinks in confusion.
The other woman snorts.
“Finish this with Moonblast,” she sniffs.
“Counter with-“ but Lucario is already in motion.
He roars as he runs towards Sylveon and fires another Meteor Mash. Once again, a Moonblast meets him. Vi knows this time he won’t get up. Her only consolation is that damn Sylveon is almost finished.
Lucario lays on his back, eyes fluttering, breathing heavily. Vi walks up to him and kneels down, setting one hand on his shoulder.
“You did well,” she whispers. Lucario offers her a smile-grimace before closing his eyes and returning to his Pokéball.
Vi looks up to see Sylveon clambering to her feet. She wails at the sky and Vi swears she sees an image of the moon.
Vi knows she can take this Sylveon down quickly. She pulls a pink Poké Ball out of her backpack.
“Let’s do this, Marowak!”
Marowak clutches his trusty bone that he raps twice on his mask to light. He begins to spin his bone while Sylveon huffs for breath.
“Use Attr-“
“Not so fast, Cupcake!” Vi bellows. “Use Iron Head!”
Marowak’s mask turns to iron that he bashes right into Sylveon’s gut.
Sylveon lays in a puddle, ribbons no longer dancing about.
“You’re more talented than you look,” the other woman acknowledges as she brings out her third Poké Ball. The glaring sun above them has done little to dry their clothes.
“Something wrong with my looks, Cupcake?” Vi can’t help but smirk.
An attractive flush rises on the woman’s cheeks. She huffs out a breath and presses the button in the center of her Poké Ball.
“Finish this, Inteleon!”
“What the f-“ Vi can’t help but let out. The skinniest, smuggest looking blue lizard towards over Marowak. He’s even taller than Bluey over there! Vi frowns. She’s running out of nicknames.
“What’s your name, Cupcake?” she hollers. Marowak turns to glare at her.
“Caitlyn,” she responds in a much quieter voice. Vi notices the loudest her voice has ever gotten has been to command her Pokémon. “And yours?”
Vi pulls her visor down and grins. “I’ll tell you after I beat you! Marowak, Earthquake!”
More fissures rip the earth open. Inteleon stumbles and grimaces.
“Take flight and use Ice Beam!”
Ice Beam? Vi scoffs. That won’t do shit to Marowak. Still, she can’t help but look up in awe as Inteleon unfurls his yellow wings and pushes strongly off into the air. She swears once again she sees a faint vision of the moon appear behind him as he flies with renewed vigor.
He aims his Ice Beam not at Marowak, but at the ground. Large sections of rock quickly freeze over and Vi realizes too late that he’s created a downward ramp of rock and ice.
Marowak stands dumbfounded at the bottom of the ramp.
“Flare Blitz!” Vi yells in desperation. If they can melt the ramp in time-
“You know what to do,” Caitlyn says simply.
Inteleon lands at the top of the ramp and speeds down on his feet. He points his finger right at Marowak, who has surrounded himself with fire and begins to charge up the ramp.
A tightly compressed bullet of water fires straight through Marowak’s flames.
He slides backwards down the melting ramp to Vi’s feet.
“Good fight,” she says, laying his heavy head in her lap. Marowak turns his head away in shame, one tear escaping. Vi pats his mask twice. They’ll process this later.
“I’m on my last one,” she informs Caitlyn.
“Lovely,” is all she hears back. Vi sees Caitlyn shift her weight from one foot to the other. Impatient? Or not wanting this to end?
Vi holds her last Poké Ball to her heart. “I know we’re at a disadvantage, but we’ve always pulled through. We’ve got this.”
“Go, Blaziken!”
Blaziken bursts out with the flames on his wrists raging outward. He nearly bellows at the blue lizard on the other side of the battlefield.
Vi knows to take advantage of the first move. Caitlyn, in her arrogance, seems to enjoy letting her have it.
“Swords Dance!”
Blaziken crosses his arms over his head and lowers them quickly into a fighting stance.
Caitlyn has the audacity to flip her hair over her shoulder.
“Let’s show them what we’ve got, darling,” she simpers to her Inteleon.
With that tone of voice, Vi would be surprised if she didn’t wink at her again. She scoffs at herself and shakes her head. She can think about that later.
“Air Slash,” Caitlyn orders.
Inteleon jumps once more into the air and swings his right wing, beating blasts of air toward Blaziken.
“Jump!” Vi retaliates. Not many people know Blazikens’ legs are so strong they can jump over buildings.
Blaziken leaps into the air and dodges the Air Slash. This is their chance. Vi punches the air.
“Close Combat!”
A hastily muffled gasp escapes Caitlyn.
“Inteleon!” she frets.
Blaziken pummels Inteleon’s body with his fists in the air as they hurl to the ground. Punch after punch lands before Inteleon extracts himself from the barrage with a well-placed water attack just in time to land on his feet.
Blaziken’s landing kicks up a small dust cloud and he crouches into a high stance once more.
Caitlyn’s voice cuts across the battlefield. “You’re quite talen-“
“Thunder Punch!” Vi yells. She can feel guilty about taking advantage of this moment later. What’s important now is beating this smug woman and taking her money.
Caitlyn’s eyes narrow and she bears a grim smile. “Quite clever indeed.”
“Inteleon, take flight.” Caitlyn’s voice is remarkably calm. Shouldn’t she be worried about the super effective attack Blaziken is about to shove down her lizard’s throat?
Inteleon pushes off into the air for a third time, but doesn’t make it as high this time.
“Get him!” Vi roars.
Blaziken drops his back foot as lightning crackles around his right hand.
Caitlyn is silent. She points at Vi right as Inteleon maneuvers to block the sun and points at Blaziken.
Caitlyn slowly winks.
Vi has forgotten how to breathe.
Inteleon lands a critical hit.
Blaziken faints before he even takes off.
Vi purses her lips as she reaches into her backpack. In the distance, Caitlyn can be seen impatiently debating with her pale blue Ninetales. “Next time,” she whispers hurriedly. “I’ve got to-“
The Ninetales steps aside and sniffs as Vi approaches.
“Here,” she says stiffly, holding out a wad of bills.
“Oh, I don’t need-“
“It’s customary, or tradition, or whatever,” Vi replies. She gives her arm holding the money a shake. “Just take it.”
Caitlyn taps an index finger on her gorgeously sculpted nose. “All right.” Well that was easy.
The bills exchange hands. Now Vi can fuck off and lick her wounds.
“I never got your name,” Caitlyn says in a measured tone before Vi can move.
Vi scratches her cheek. “Yeah, well, I lost so…”
“Would you be willing to exchange it for something? Perhaps..?” Caitlyn looks down at the bills still in her hand and flashes a toothy grin at her.
Man, what a cute tooth gap she’s got. All thoughts of scampering evaporate.
“What’s in it for you?” Vi isn’t stupid enough to say no to money, even if it’s her own…that she just lost.
“I’ll need to know the name of the woman I’m taking out for dinner tonight. You have some impressive strategies and I’ve love to…” Caitlyn conspicuously looks her up and down once more, then directly in the eye. “Discuss more with you. After we both change, of course.”
Vi’s face must be the same color as her hair.
“Well, Cup-Cait-Caitlyn-I’m actually headed-I mean-I’m going-“ Vi shuts her mouth (hopefully forever with how this is going) and points north. “No restaurants there!” She laughs awkwardly and grips her visor before uselessly dropping her hand.
Caitlyn hums and looks away. “I was going to hike Mount Coronet as well to examine the ruins, but I can wait until tomorrow.” She flicks her gaze back to Vi, who does not tremble. “I’ve found something even more interesting.”
This woman may be decked out in the wrong, not to mention unnecessarily fancy, gear, but Vi can’t deny noticing her toned calves. You can ruin me, a voice says inside her head.
Caitlyn looks pointedly at Vi.
“Perhaps you’d like to join me in that as well?”