Chapter Text
“Hello! Nice to meet you!” I’m Trista, the receptionist here at the Pokemon Masters League. Would you and Pikachu like to register to compete, Scottie? If so, you’ll be needing one of these.”
The lady, Trista, handed Scottie a red, blocky phone that had eyes and blue outer accessories of a nose, arms, and inserter block.
“This is a Poryphone! It’s a multi-purpose information device that is an absolute must-have here on Pasio! Since team battles are the norm…” Trista continued to speak, but Scottie zoned out into his head. He had to bring his sister, Bettie, home. That was the only reason his mother let him go to the island.
Scottie’s train of thought got cut off by the appearance of two others. There was a girl and a boy. The girl had bright orange hair held in a high ponytail to the side, green eyes, a white crop top, jean shorts, and red shoes with white bottoms and blue accents. The boy had spiky brown hair and closed eyes, an orange shirt that had a low v-neck to show a black undershirt, a black belt keeping up tanish-green cargo pants, and orange shoes with black accents.
“I’m Brock, and this here is Misty. We’re here to sign up for the Pokemon Masters League, but we’re a member short. We originally came with a friend, since you need three people to sign up, but… he ran off with his, er… Misty, are the two dating?” The boy, introduced as Brock, said before turning to his friend.
“Of course not. You know Ash. He has one thing, and one thing on his mind only; Pokemon.” Misty replied, with an annoyed huff at the end, confusing Scottie as to if it were genuine or dramatic.
Brock rubbed the back of his head, lightly laughing. “Yep. You’re right. Either way, Scottie, right?” Scottie nodded. “I overheard Trista here talking to you about the Pokemon Masters League, are you joining?”
To tell the truth, Scottie hadn’t even known that it was a thing until the nurse had told him about it after healing his Pikachu from airsickness. However, the more Scottie thought of it, the more appealing the offer became. As soon as he retrieved his sister, Scottie would have to go back inside those suffocating walls. Memories of strict teachings of the dangers out in the world- “Yeah. It seems interesting.”
Brock’s whole face lifted, and Misty shifted her weight while trying to hide a smile. “Would you like to pair up with us?” That wasn’t even a question that needed to be asked, or answered. The second Scottie decided to participate in the tournament, the three silently agreed to join forces.
“Of course.”
“Let’s give this tournament our best shot!” Misty cheerfully shouted, before grabbing Scottie’s Poryphone. “I’ll add myself into your team, but watch how to add people in case someone else wants to team-up with you.” Misty then proceeded to take out her own Poryphone, and made both of the phones open an app labeled, ‘There’s No I in Team’. Next, she pressed a menu button on the app which showed a number. She typed that number into her own phone, then a hand popped up on both screens. Misty tapped both hands, making both screens show an animation of handshaking. The Poryphone screens showed Scottie and Misty, respectively. “You don’t need to worry about the stars yet, actually ever.” Misty helpfully added when she saw Scottie glance down. Scottie did the same with Brock, and a notification saying ‘Team 7 of MISTY and BROCK and SCOTTIE you have 30 seconds to choose a team name’. After a bit of panic, they chose ‘Team Brock’, as he was the one who brought all that up.
“Well, now that we’re all together, why don’t we head out to the city? Lots of Trainers like to gather around just outside the Pokemon Center. It shouldn’t be too hard to find someone willing to battle. That way, we can see how our fighting styles match, then improve specific areas.” Brock said, as the three turned around and started to exit the building.
“It’s not a bad idea. But shouldn’t we do training with just us first? Or at least team building activities to get to know each other. We might lose the will to battle if we’re too hasty.” Misty replied, giving input onto Brock’s idea.
Brock just smiled at Misty’s worry. “It’ll be fine. When it comes to rock-hard willpower, nobody can beat me!”
Scottie stared at Brock, and Misty’s face turned beat red. “Was that supposed to be a pun?! Be glad Ash ran off, otherwise you know what types of jokes he’d make! Jeez, what type of impression do you want to give Scottie? He’ll think you're insane or not serious!” Scottie decided to be smart and not mention how he wouldn’t have his impression of Brock change based off of a joke.
Once they reached outside, Scottie looked around in awe. He had run through the city earlier, but he had been too focused on finding a Pokemon Center for Pikachu, and hadn’t had time to take in the view.
“This is Centra City,” Brock began, “the biggest city on Pasio. You might be surprised to know that Pasio is a completely artificial island!” That made everything Scottie was looking at seem even more impressive.
“How did they get all the materials for this?” Scottie asked, specifically looking at the marble sidewalks.
Brock answered Scottie’s question without hesitation. “They say that the island got a huge donation in the ten digits. Other rumors state that the donator was actually royalty. Others say that the island just fell out of the sky; created from Arceus itself.”
Misty immediately cut in. “Exactly as he said. Rumors . It was probably a group project that lasted a century.”
Scottie nodded in response, and was about to walk off before Brock grabbed his shoulder. “Wait, not that way. Let’s head deeper into the city.” Instead of heading into the surrounding forest, the three made their way to the town square where they saw a trainer. To be more specific, a trainer struggling.
“Will you please stop?! It’s against the rules to force a trainer to battle if they don’t want to!” An unknown voice shouted.
“What’s going on over there?” Brock asked, opening his eyes to look. Scottie almost had a clear shot at the man’s eyes, had he not been blocked by Misty on accident. “Sounds like trouble… Do you think they’re okay? We should see if they need help!”
As they ran over, the situation became more tense.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t battle right now. My Pokemon needs to rest-she’s worked hard enough for today.” A deep and calm voice said, before a higher-pitched more emotion filled one piped in.
“Yeah! If you really want to battle, you’ll have to challenge her another day!”
“Forget that!” A scruffier voice declared. “You’re battling me now, Champion!”
“There’s no way I’m passin’ up a chance like this! C’mon, let’s just battle already!”
Brock, having made it there first, intervened. “Hey, you two! Cut that out! Don’t you see you’re bothering them?”
“Don’t worry-we’ll take care of these guys!” Misty yelled to the two girls who were being pressured. There was a fire in Misty’s eyes that said she wouldn’t back down.
One of the thugs broke into the conversation. “Who are you? If you wanna start somethin’, you got it! We’ll make you eat dirt!”
Suddenly, three Pokeballs went up into the air, and out came a Geodude, a Drifloon, and a Marill. In response, Misty sent out a Starmie, and Brock sent out his Onix. Scottie, on the other hand, hesitated before sending Pikachu into the battle.
“Pikachu!” Scottie shouted, commanding his Pokemon. “Thunder Shock the Marill! Repeat that!” Pikachu followed the orders, and Marill was out of the battle.
“Onix, use Rock Throw on Drifloon!”
“Starmie, use Bubble Beam on Geodude!”
Drifloon floated over to Geodude and took the Bubble Beam, also dodging Rock Throw. With a ferocious speed, Geodude jumped out and swung its arm against Pikachu, hard. The small yellow rodent got flung back, knocking into Scottie’s chest, sending the two to the floor.
“Scottie, are you okay?!” Brock shouted, dropping to his knees to check Scottie for bruises.
“Now! Onix, use Rock Throw on Drifloon then Launch Starmie into the air with your tail! Starmie, use Bubble Beam on Drifloon and Geodude to take them out!” Misty commanded, taking care of the situation while Brock and Scottie were temporarily occupied.
With a direct hit, Geodude and Drifloon were recalled to their Pokeballs like the fallen comrade of Marill. At the end of the process, Team Brock was victorious and Scottie had a Charizard bandaid on his elbow.
“Graahhh! We missed our opportunity, thanks to you!” One of the thugs shouted. The three then sprinted off in separate directions. Misty tried to run after one, but Brock stopped her.
“We should make sure the two girls that they were harassing are okay.”
The younger of the two girls wore a big smile. “Nice timing, you guys! Cynthia and I were having a nice chat before those two started harassing us…”
Brock stared at Cynthia for a few seconds before dropping his gaze to the floor. Cynthia did the same, so Scottie decided not to question what he witnessed. Those two probably knew each other or something.
“Oh gosh, I haven’t even introduced myself! Hiya, Rosa here! It’s nice to meet you all!”
“I’m Brock.”
“And I’m Misty!”
“Hello. I’m Scottie.”
Cynthia lifted her gaze, but only looked at Scottie and Misty. “Thanks for helping us back there. I really appreciate it. Next time we cross paths with one another, we should have a Pokemon battle.”
Rosa smiled and waved as well. “Absolutely! Take care, bye!”
The two began to walk off before Rosa grabbed Cynthia’s sleeve. “Wait! Now I can’t wait! I wanna battle them real quick!”
Cynthia smiled at the younger girl. “Go ahead. I’m not stopping you. Though, if it’s going to be a team battle, you should grab some of the nearby trainers.”
“You got it!” Rosa quickly ran nearby to grab a temporary team before reappearing. With her was a boy with a weird haircut, and a girl with green hair. Together, the three sent out a Drifloon, a Snivy, and a Fletchling. At the sight of the Drifloon, Scottie gently rubbed the bandaid on his elbow, before quickly putting his hand down before anyone noticed.
The battle started with a doubled attack of Starmie’s Bubble Beam and Pikachu’s Thunder Shock, instantly taking out Fletchling.
“Snivy! Use Leaf Wind on Onix!” Rosa shouted.
Her remaining teammate chirped in with an order of his own. “Drifloon, use Gust to spread the Leaf Wind to Pikachu and Starmie as well!”
The attack did little damage on Pikachu and none on Onix, but took a lot out of Starmie.
Gritting her teeth, Misty barked out another order, determined to not lose. “Starmie, use Bubble Beam on Drifloon and Snivy, get them as wet as possible!”
Determining Misty to be the weakest link or most potential threat, Rosa and her teammate both used their attacks on the redhead, taking Starmie completely out.
“I don’t understand your play, Misty, but you lessened your attack damage by spreading it out between two Pokemon instead of going at one target.” Rosa called out from across the battlefield.
“That’s alright, it wasn’t for you to know. Only my teammates.”
“Huh?”
Pikachu’s cheeks began to sparkle with electricity.
“Well, you see…”
Onix used Rock Throw, but towards the sky.
“...water…”
Pikachu jumped onto the rocks to get up high, while Onix slammed its tail against the floor, making the other two Pokemon stumble uncertainly.
“...conducts electricity.”
Pikachu let out a giant blast of electricity. Not Thunder Shock, though.
Thunderbolt.
Drifloon and Snivy were recalled to their balls.
“Wow.” Rosa exclaimed, much quieter than during the battle. “That was impressive.”
Misty smiled. “Thanks. It was part of my plan. The challenging part was having Onix not deal any damage so that it could save up to do one massive Rock Throw. I was worried about you finding the lack of movement suspicious, so I took away your focus with that combined attack between Starmie and Pikachu. That way, you’d focus on Starmie instead of Onix.”
“Wow! What an awesome strategy! How’d you come up with that?”
“An old friend.”
“An old friend?”
“Yep. He would’ve been in on this action, had he not taken off with his… partner? I’m not too sure what’s going on between those two.”
“Huh.” Rosa turned around to look at Cynthia. “Well, I better get going. There’s a friend of mine somewhere. His name is Barry. We met online on a fanpost for the Pokemon Performer, Serena. He said he was going to Pasio. If you want, you could go battle him.”
With a final wave, Cynthia and Rosa left, and so did the trio.
“Ah. That was exhausting. Two Pokemon battles, right after each other. Poor Starmie. We should hit that Pokemon Center again.” Misty exclaimed, stretching her arms in the air.
“Good idea. Although, speaking of the Pokemon Center, why is the nurse named Trista? I read something saying they were all named Joy.” Scottie asked, walking next to his teammates.
“It’s probably because she’s married.” Misty and Scottie whipped their heads towards Brock so fast that they almost got whiplash. “What? There was a ring on her finger. Some nurses change to their middle name if they get married.”
The trio continued their walk to the Pokemon Center, and were surprised to see how full it was when they got inside. “Hey, Scottie, we’ll take Pikachu to the nurse for you. Why don’t you go get us a room for the night? Two preferably. Misty likes to have her own.” Scottie nodded and handed Brock Pikachu, and went over to a girl named Trinnia who gave him two keys.
Scottie went to the room he and Brock would be sharing and put his stuff down before heading back out to go grab some dinner. As he was walking, Scottie felt someone put their hand on his shoulder, and for whatever reason, Scottie didn’t turn his head to look during the whole ordeal.
“You don’t really talk that much, do you? You're just like him .” A deep voice said, before the pressure on Scottie’s shoulder lifted. As soon as it did, Scottie whipped his head around, but couldn’t see which person was there as the crowd was too large. Deciding to ignore what just happened, Scottie headed to the built in diner and got himself some curry before meeting up with Brock and Misty again. The three then headed to their rooms to go to bed. It was only when Scottie was trying to fall asleep that he realized.
Scottie forgot all about Bettie.