Like No One Ever Was

Hearing the shuffling of feet just outside I got ready. Stepping out of the darkness of the cave I’d been hiding in, I declared. “You’ve come far, but if you want to take a step further, you’ll have to face-”

“Nemona Glitterati?” Rika asked, the older girl looking utterly bewildered at my appearance. “Are you a part of the Gym Challenge?”

“You recognized me,” I muttered before shaking my head. “Well, no, not actually here for that, just thought it would be a cool way to introduce myself. So I suppose that means you don’t have to battle me, but I’d appreciate it-” The sudden clacking of my teeth cut off my words and I shivered, feeling the bitter cold of the snowy mountain.

Rika and I had forgone our regular outfits to deal with the harsh weather of the mountain. She was wearing a waterproof jacket over the standard Uva Academy winter uniform, which already included a jacket and vest over the school shirt.

I had a puffy orange hooded jacket over a long-sleeved shirt with a pair of back ski pants over my usual cargo pants. Even with all that, it was still incredibly cold up here, and I could tell that Rika wasn’t dealing with it much better, hugging her arms close.

“So what’s this all about? The Junior tournament?”

“Something like that. I got the message passed along saying you were happy to battle, but wanted to focus on your gym challenge, so I thought I’d come here.”

“How’d ya know I was comin' here?” She asked, a bit of her rural accent slipping into her voice in the chilly weather.

“You posted a Poke about being at the base of the mountain, and you’ve been making waves online, so it wasn’t hard to figure out which Gym you were headed to. You made good time, to make it here so fast.” The Poke (this world’s version of a Tweet) was yesterday around noon, and I flew to Montenevera, hiking down to Martha’s Gym and only had to wait a few hours by the entrance, so that is quite a quick climb. Though given her Type specialization I can see why she didn’t want to spend any longer than necessary here.

“Yer one to talk, people are going crazy about you online as well, 'specially after that stunt against that Unovan Gym Leader. Are you thinking about taking on the Gym challenge too?”

I shook my head, inadvertently sending a bunch of snow flying off the top of it. “Not yet, not even in school. I’m not too concerned about the trophy or whatever from the Junior Tournament - we were both different trainers from where we were then. What I want is to fight you as you are now, and see how well the famed Rika can match up.”

“Ha!” She barked out, a smile caught between eager and vicious lighting up her pale face. “If that’s what you want, we can do that. Make for a nice warm-up before my Gym match,” she said, rolling up her sleeves… and then immediately hissing at the errant instinct and rolling them back down.

Trekking a bit further through the snow, I stood a good thirty meters away from her, holding out a Pokeball. “Might be in the middle of a snowstorm, but I can keep you toasty. I’ve only got the two Pokemon, so let's have a two-on-two battle, should give you plenty left on your team to still face Martha after I beat you.” I had to shout to be heard from that far away in the cold and didn’t hear any response back, but I did see her smirk and raise a Pokeball in turn.

We both released our Pokemon without a count - this was hardly an official match or anything and no rewards other than bragging rights. Dun gave an eager cry, followed by a shiver as he landed in the white powdery snow. Opposite us, a large elephantine Pokemon gave a loud cry of “Donphan!” Flipping up its armored trunk and shaking its head, large white tusks flashing in the pale light of the cloud-covered day, it stared down at Dun.

I didn’t see a Tera Orb at her side, nor in any of her matches that I watched online. I won’t use mine here, not for a friendly match like this. While it’s a useful tool, I want to see how well I stand up compared to her on an even level.

Looking around I grabbed a small rock in my gloved hands, holding it up for Rika to see, the older girl nodding. I tossed it up in the air, the two of us watching as it soared up then sunk through the snow, signaling the beginning of our battle.

““Earthquake!!”” The two of us called in unison, Donphan stomping through the snow while Dun smashed his body through. The combined force of their attacks sent the buried earth flying up violently all around. It was hard to keep track through all the snow drifting about like a miniature blizzard, but I thought Dun might have gotten the worse end of the stick there, though Donphan looked a bit bruised too.

“Lift off!” Dun surged through the air, using the last of the aftershocks for extra height to his jump, then set all six wings fluttering hard. The additional wings, strength, and better control over Flying Type energy had improved Dun’s aerial maneuverability, even with the additional weight his evolution granted him. As such, he could begin to truly fly through the air, not just drift now.

Rika wasn’t idle, immediately ordering her Pokemon to give chase. “Rollout!” Her Donphan curled into a ball, the armored trunk and plating on her back giving her a natural shape fit for the Move. She spun through the freshly churned snow before hitting a slight bump in the now uneven earth and rocketing up.

“Protect!” I shouted at the last moment, and Dun stopped mid-air, completely encircled by a transparent blue-ish-green honeycomb barrier. The spinning Pokemon slammed into it, whirring helplessly against it for a moment before unfolding her body as gravity took hold once more.

Dun didn’t need to be told the command to hit Donphan with a Glare right there, the full force of his fury hitting the off-guard opponent head-on. She spasmed and awkwardly fell, landing on her side.

Rather than maintain the aerial advantage, I ordered Dun “Hex, as quick as you can!” Gathering the ghostly energies, he landed with a heavy thump beside Donphan, in a patch of mountainside mostly devoid of snow from our prior Moves. Point blank, the dark purple energies enveloped the tusked Pokemon, causing it to alternate between thrashing about and freezing in Paralysis.

“Nahahaha! That was a clever trick, but we’ve got some of our own don’t we? Poison Jab!” Rika yelled, and despite being debilitated, Donphan managed to lash out with her tusk, slightly stabbing into Dun. My starter rapidly slid away, but from the purple discoloration spreading throughout his scales, the damage had been done.

“Iron Head!”

“Hyper Drill!”

Donphan half got back up on her feet, shoving her body at Dun, gleaming forehead first. Her Move was met by Dun’s own, flipping around and spinning his tail towards her rapidly. The two met, and a large number of sparks flew off from the point of contact as the two Pokemon tried to outmuscle each other, before breaking off simultaneously. Dun was holding his tail gingerly, while Donphan was wincing at the mark left on its tough head.

Hyper Drill is a crazy powerful Move, to pierce through the toughest part of a Donphan while channeling Steel Type energy. As I was thinking that, I heard Dun let out a small hiss, the poison taking its toll on him. But it won’t be enough to win the fight, especially not if I’m trading like this.

“Rock Slide!” Rika called out, and Donphan moved to follow through with the Move, slamming her trunk against the mountainside, but at the last second, twitched violently, Paralysis taking its toll and drastically cutting down on the effectiveness of the Move. A few rocks broke off from the mountain and tumbled down, but Dun easily slithered around them.

“Hyper Voice, keep your distance,” I told Dun and then immediately clamped my hands over my ears as he began screeching. Rika and her Pokemon grit their teeth at the annoying Move.

“Think ya can run? Not on my watch, Rapid Spin!” Donphan ripped across the battlefield once more, but Dun was able to easily squirm out of the way and continue his attack. Her Pokemon is picking up speed with each pass… No, it’s fine. Dun was slightly faster even without the Paralysis, it’ll take her a while to build up speed to the point that it’s a threat to me.

Something Rika realized as well, as she called off her attack, switching tactics. “Stomp your feet!” Donphan did just that, stomping all four feet into the earth repeatedly, leaving holes so large that for a moment I thought they were going for Fissure. Thankfully, it was just an Earthquake, and while it hurt Dun, he didn’t let up in his assault.

Jumping up, he began drifting high above the ground, continuing to blast Donphan with his Hyper Voice. While I’m sure there were other Ground Moves that our foe could use to hit him, with Earthquake out of the picture, she just started hurling rocks at him. Most of the throws hurled past Dun, and a few even came close to me and I had to dodge to the side.

“Hey!” I shouted, only to realize that Rika couldn’t hear me over all the noise Dun’s Hyper Voice was making, the teenage girl gritting her teeth and wincing in pain. Guess the lack of a professional battlefield or barrier cuts both ways here. That’s something I’ll need to be cognizant of in the future.

After chucking a large chunk of rocks at Dun, Donphan stomped her feet against the ground, causing a large spike of rocks to strike up into my Pokemon. The blow knocked him off balance and clipped some of the wings on his left side, sending him spiraling through the air for half a second before the Rock Slide she had used just prior smashed him down.

“Earthquake as you hit!” I shouted desperately, hoping he would turn it around. As always, my dear snake didn’t fail to live up to my hopes. Channeling the force of the rocks pushing him down straight into the earth he hit, the ground rippled out rapidly from the point of impact. The earth smashed through Donphan, knocking her to the side, and reaching out far enough that even Rika was jostled around a bit from the earth and displaced snow sweeping out. For myself, without even thinking to use it, my Aura lifted me just above the earth to drift gracefully back down as it passed.

I took a moment to catch my breath, surprised at Dun’s power there. A ‘critical hit’, perhaps? Or maybe just a sign of how far he has come. I was also giving Rika the chance to regain her bearings, but there was no need to worry about a quick reversal here; Donphan was out cold. Literally, I thought, holding back a small snicker as I saw her lying ungainly on her back, feet twitching as snow drifted down on them.

“Beating me with my own Type of Move, oof.” She muttered, quietly enough that I wasn’t sure if I had been supposed to hear it or not. Then a vicious yet playful grin danced on her face and she spoke up. “Well, well, well, looks like you really are as good as everyone says,” Rika commented as she returned her Pokemon. “But let’s see if you can beat my starter!”

Throwing out a Pokeball, it burst open over the battlefield, a flash of red light revealing the deceptively goofy-looking Clodsire. “Clod Cloooood,” They yawned out, sleepily taking in the battle around them.

Do I charge in- no, the horns on his back will hurt if we just rush in. Let’s get back into fighting shape. “Roost,” I shouted, and Dun began settling down, his wounds healing even as the Poison within him sapped his health a little bit further.

Rather than move to engage, Rika ordered a ranged attack. “Acid Spray.” Opening his large mouth, a gout of purple liquid sprayed out of it and onto Dun, the acid sizzling against his scales. Crud. And there’s no way for me to undo the drain to his defenses this time like Amethio did with Clear Smog.

Time seemed to slow down for me as I watched Rika open her mouth to give another command. Acid Spray and the Poison combined might have done less damage than Roost healed, but because of the weakening of Dun’s defenses, this next shot will take him out, or just put him in a bad trading game with Clodsire until he is taken out if we use Roost. I could dish out some damage- no, Dun’s gotta set the stage.

“Tailwind!” I shouted out as Rika called for her own Move.

“Venoshock!” Rather than the white ‘horns’ sticking out of the dots on Clodsire’s back, a vast number of small purple spikes shot out in a circle all over the battlefield.

Tailwind was one of a few new Technical Machine Moves I’d given following our victory against Clay, but the only one I felt ready for him to use against an opponent of Rika’s caliber. Using a Move just in the open while training is one thing, but using it in the middle of a tight battle is another.

Even with the wings on one side damaged and Poison running through his veins, Dun beat all six pairs of wings vigorously, intuitively spinning around to make sure each side got an even airflow. Of course, such a motion left him a sitting duck for Clodsire’s Move, the purple darts piercing into him and reacting violently with the Poison within my Pokemon.

With a cry of “Duuuuuuuunsparce…” Dun writhed for a second, then fainted. Recalling him quickly, I whispered to his Pokeball. “You did great, pal.”

He had indeed. The wind was moving swiftly at my back, the snow drifting down gently before now being blown straight at Clodsire’s and Rika’s faces. “Let’s put this battle on ice, go, Miles!” I shouted, launching their Pokeball much further out than I’d intended with the wind.

As such, Miles materialized in a red flash almost directly above Clodsire, their red refrigerator body glowing with lavender energy, manifesting odd plasmic flaps for hands. In the dim light, I almost thought I saw their body gleam slightly in the snow. Thank you natural weather conditions.

Wasting no time, Rika immediately cried “Megahorn!” Her starter tensed his legs and horns, ready to jump ahead and shoot them up.

“Dodge and Blizzard!” Miles responded to my command immediately, opening their refrigerator doors and shooting ahead, the wind on their side. Despite my instructions coming second, Miles still easily avoided our opponent's attack and unleashed their own, a massive outpouring of ice slamming into Clodsire.

The spiny Pokemon flipped around, recovering fast, and at Rika’s command tried to jump at Miles again, this time with the wind on their side. Unfortunately, that gambit was doomed to fail. In an instant, the winds shifted, and with my newfound sense of Aura, I could feel how the Move was connected to Miles's energy. They pushed back against Clodsire and helped Miles along in avoiding the slower Pokemon.

Two more Blizzards hit, one of which almost seemed like it was going to freeze our foe in place, but a rapid Earthquake broke up the ice gathering on his small feet and continued the battle.

“Am- amnesia!” Rika’s teeth chattered, the chill getting to her as Miles’ Blizzards and Dun’s Tailwind turned the battlefield into a frigid storm. Clodsire cocked his head and gave her a confused look, which I could only assume was the Move working as intended. How odd to learn a Move that causes you to temporarily forget. I wonder what inherent traits make it so you don’t forget other Moves or even itself- gah no time for that! Theorize later!

“Nasty P-plot,” my command was as stuttered as hers, but it was enough to put a wicked smile on Miles’ face as they loomed over the shivering Ground Type. I don’t have a way to stop her buffs, but I can counteract them with one of my own.

“Sludge Wave into-

I interrupted her. “Blizzard!” With the last of the Tailwind behind them, Miles unleashed another burst of ice over the battlefield.

Clodsire was pushed back, but still able to spit out a wave of toxic goop. Even without the Tailwind, Miles would have been agile enough to dodge the Poison attack were it not for Rika’s follow-up command. “Hydro Pump!”

Swiftly changing Type energies, Clodsire opened his large mouth and released a high-power stream of pure water from it, like a firehose. The stream of water shot through the previous sludge, slamming into Miles and blasting them meters through the air before they stopped, reasserting their control over their possessed body.

“Nice try, but the water diluted your poison,” I crowed, seeing through the snow that my Pokemon appeared fine, with no lingering traces of the Poison attack on their body or glowing plasmic energy. Clodsire opened his mouth, but no other attack came out. Too tired or cold? Best not to let this chance go to waste in any case.

“One last time, Blizzard!”

“Protect!” A barrier rose to shield her weakened and battered Pokemon, and I felt the chill of Miles’ attack. Our Pokemon’s positions had switched so they were now on the opposite sides of the impromptu battlefield.

“Kee-keee-keep at-at-at it!” I called out through the cold. We’re so close, just a bit more… Blinking apart frozen eyelashes, I saw Miles frowning at that, but they continued the assault. Ice and harsh winds poured out of the refrigerator’s internal components, seemingly without end. Rika’s Clodsire valiantly tried to hold out, but the greenish force field started to crack after half a minute and shattered shortly thereafter.

Before the ice could pour over her Pokemon, Rika recalled him, shaking her head. “Yer crazy, kid.”

“No-not crazy,” I stuttered back, though as she didn’t have my hearing she likely didn’t catch my witty retort, or even expect I had heard her in the first place.

Trudging over, she asked me louder “You okay Nemona?”

“Just… pe-peachy,” I called back, forcing my sluggish muscles to move forward and meet her. Miles drifted over as well and I gave them a big hug. “That- awesome,” I panted out. Impressive Auric control, to not let me feel any colder even while being an Ice Type.

To my shock, Miles’ plasmic eyes drooped and then closed, crashing into the slush in front of me. “What?” I questioned while Rika gave a small chuckle. Then a bunch of stony debris scattered about in our fight rose and smacked into Miles from all around. “What!?!”

“I’ll explain, but let’s head inside.” Giving a sharp jerk of my head in agreement, I recalled Miles and we huddled up inside the cave. It was still cold there, but far less bone-chillingly so than it was outside. I could barely make out Rika in the nearly pitch-black cave - as befitting the entrance of a Dark Type Gym. Once we warmed up a bit, I released Miles to give them the time they needed to wake up.

“You copied me,” I said first, having put the pieces together. Clodsire used an invisible Yawn. Damn, I’m glad that we managed to push through, it would have been embarrassing to lose to my own technique.

“You catch on fast. Yeah, I saw that Move you used on that asshole’s- Sorry.” I waved off her apology at the swearing. I’ve heard worse, even in this life. Mostly just from staff that would have no reason to think I could hear them, however. “Freddrick’s Corviknight dodged around or blew away all the regular Yawns we tried to use in our battle,” she said, lightly patting Clodsire’s Pokeball.

“Ahh. And you’re running-” I paused for a second, my teeth chattering again for a moment before I got my body back under control “Running into the same problem I had. It’s not that accurate, and a bit slower acting in its ‘invisible’ version.” From the frown I was wearing, she was probably able to tell that I didn’t have an answer to that problem.

The same with a bunch of my experiments. Screech doesn’t pair well with Hyper Voice anyway, but it slows the Move usage and the efficiency of both when trying to combine their effects. And on that topic…

“How did you combine Earthquake with Stealth Rock?” I asked, and she chuckled.

“I didn’t. Ground and Rock might seem similar in a lot of ways but… it ain’t enough. Ya gotta use a Rock Type Move first-”

“Which leaves the splintered shards, then use Earthquake as the method to spread them across the field. Wow, that’s really smart of you.”

“Hey, I can be plenty smart,” she countered, before laughing to show she was just messing around, and I joined in too, the post-battle high filling me with joy.

“Bzzt, what did I miss?” Miles asked, groggily waking up.

“Not much pal, just talking over Moves. And speaking of that, could you heat things up for us?”

“Wait wha-” Rika began before having to shield her eyes from the glow coming off of Miles.

Controlling the ball of fire and light very carefully, they condensed it and pushed it up into the very top of the not-so-tall cave and a fair bit away from us. Immediately the Sunny Day began warming us up, the heat just shy of scorching.

“Thanks, that’s good.” Miles smiled at me but otherwise didn’t respond, their eyes screwed up in concentration. Well, it should be good training for them to use the Move even in tight environments.

“Sunny Day, interesting Move for an Ice Type to learn,” Rika commented, basking in the sun and opening up her jacket a tad to let it melt any of the ice that had gone down in our wild battle.

“Miles has a whole bunch of Types they can use.”

“Talk about unfair, an Ice Type with Levitate in the snow? No way I was gonna win that one.” I frowned, feeling guilty for a second. I thought my planning was clever, but maybe that was unfair to Rika.

She snapped me out of that guilt with her next statement. “Thanks for the match, that was a great battle. Can’t believe someone so young is so far ahead of me,” the older girl shook her head wistfully, long ponytail swaying back and forth.

“I wouldn’t say that. You still had three Pokemon left, right?” I asked, pointing at the five Pokeballs on her belt and she nodded. “Even a single extra Pokemon would have beat us.”

“Maybe, though don’t think I didn’t notice you hadn’t used your Tera Orb,” Rika pointed a finger at me accusingly. “Anyway, I’m sure you’ll do great in your Gym Challenge once you pick up a few more Pokemon. When are you gonna start that? Cause not to toot my own horn, but if you’re taking on me, you’re more than ready.”

That was a question I didn’t want to focus on, for a lot of reasons, some of them intersecting with future knowledge and canon events that I couldn’t possibly explain to her, so instead I focused on the Tera Orbs. “Don’t worry, I don’t think you’re bragging by saying you lost.”

“Oi!”

Snickering, I added “Are you ready for the Gym Battle? Anna is no joke, being an Elite Four as well as a Gym Leader. Plus, she’s likely to use her Tera Orb at a battle of this level.”

She sucked in a deep breath. “Yeah, that’ll be rough, no two ways about it. But I think we got a good shot. I believe in my team.” I nodded, smiling back at the unwavering confidence I saw on her face.

“Alright, I wish you luck. I’ll watch the video of your match once it drops, but I should probably head back home. Oh, but before I go,” rifling through my bag, I pulled out a few Hyper Potions and dumped them into her arms. “To make sure your team is back in fighting shape.”

“Whoa, that’s a lot of potions,” she said, looking at the half-dozen I’d given her and I shrugged. Not really, that’s only a tenth of my regular supply. “Thanks. We should do this again sometime.”

“I’ll face you at the Elite Four,” I said without thinking to which she barked out a laugh.

“Ha! Think that might be a ways away, if ever. But maybe…” She stared out into the distance, clearly imagining it, and from the upward curve of her lips, I’d say she liked the idea.

Whoops, might have been a bit early to say that, but I don’t think I caused too much harm. Giving my farewell, Miles and I left the cave, heading back out to the bitter icy outside of the mountain while she descended. It wasn’t readily known how deep down Martha’s Gym went, but the consensus was the journey would usually be a long one. I think that’s why there’s no trainers to challenge you early on, to build up the anticipation as you have to silently trek down dark tunnels.

I was tired from the battle and the cold, so slogging up the mountain was an unappealing prospect. Enough that I was tempted to just call down a Flying Taxi to where I was, but not enough that I followed through with the idea. Just like any old workout, a pain to start, but I’ll be glad with the results. Plus, I do kinda like being able to do this.

My burning desire to explore the land had been suppressed for a while so I could learn the basics with the Explorers, but now I could go places. There’s so much to see, even in harsh environments like this!

Most Pokemon avoided the Gym entrance itself, but just a few hundred meters away and I could see several Ice Types wandering around. Packs of Snom crawling nearly invisibly against the white snow on the ground, and Glalie floating around. There was even a Cetoddle waddling about and a pair of Sneasels eyeing me suspiciously.

None of the Pokemon appeared too worried about my presence, however. The mountain was a hard climb in some spots, but had a whole city on top of it and several well-trod paths formed by Paldeans over the years, so the Pokemon were used to people. Quite a peaceful place. I’ve got to get back home soon, but maybe I should explore again sometime-

As if Arceus themselves decided to spite me for my thoughts, a piercing cry rang out from down and to the west of me. It was distant, but I could hear the human shrieking in pain. “Someone’s hurt!” I told Miles, not sure if they would have picked up on that, and began sprinting down towards them. There might be some other people heading that way too, hard to tell, but I should at least check it out.

Leaping lightly over the snowbanks, I crossed over the wilder terrain, running past a few trees and down several slopes until I rounded a corner and got to the source of the screams, though they had stopped by the time I’d gotten there. There was a young person with long blue hair, slightly matted by blood, lying on the snow groaning, a snowboard lying off to the side. For a second I thought two people had fallen as their legs couldn’t be at that angle… until I realized that they shouldn’t be at that angle.

Two other people were being flown down by Pokemon and I could see more rushing down as well. A distant part of me noted that was good as I had no skills beyond barely remembered first aid classes in my first life on what I could have done to help there. The larger part of me was struck by realizing just who this was. “Grusha.”

Despite the distance between us, for a second I thought he locked his gaze with mine, before being rushed off by the first responders.