Chapter 11: Encounters

"Shroomish, appear before me," commanded Parelan.

A brown Pokémon with circular green spots appeared before Parelan.

"Skarmory, come on out!" shouted Erani.

A metallic bird materialized in the air above the trainers. Milli once again found herself on the sidelines of a battle. Neither Pokémon nor Trainer was making a move, though unlike many Gym Battles Milli had watched, she felt no tension in the air. Milli looked back and forth between the two Trainers, waiting for one to make a move. Parelan seemed to have a bit of a smirk. The battle began in a flash with Erani ordering a Steel Wing. Shroomish leapt out of the way easily. Shroomish followed up with Leech Seed, but Skarmory was ready and countered it with Spikes, shredding the Leech Seed to bits.

I wonder why Anano said that Erani wasn't a difficult opponent, thought Milli. He seems to be holding his own fairly well.

She turned her attention back to the battle. Shroomish had brought Skarmory in close with Fake Tears and trapped it with Grass Knot. Skarmory tried desperately to break free with Drill Peck. Shroomish unleashed a second Leech Seed, this time hitting the mark and draining Skarmory of energy. Parelan ordered Bullet Seed to be used. Rapid fire yellow orbs sprayed forth from Shroomish, hitting the trapped Skarmory and causing it to faint.

"The battle is over! The victor is parelan! All right, who's next?" asked Anano.

"I'll go twice in a row, brother," said Erani.

"Very well. Will you be our judge, Milli?"

"Uh, ure. I don't think I'll be very good at it though," replied Milli.

"You won't get better without practice,"said Anano. "I don't think you'll have any problems."

"Yeah, maybe. You can take a break, Parelan," said Milli. They don't know how long I've been judging matches for Dad. I've always had trouble telling the Sleep and Faint conditions apart. Dad tried to teach me a lot with his Gym Battles, but I always got caught up in the excitement. Here goes nothing.

"Don't worry. This won't be a long match," said Anano.

"Hey, I've gotten stronger, you know," said Erani. "And so have my Pokémon. You'll be the one to get it this time."

"All right, all right. Let's get this started. Battle begin!" shouted Milli.

"Out, Absol!"

An Absol appeared before Anano. Milli knew it was not an illusion this time.

"Pulling out your ace-in0the-hole, huh? Then take this! Come on out, Cherrim!"

"cherrim!"

A small Pokémon stood before Erani. Two large purple leaves covered its body. A green leaf and pink antenna adorned the top of its body. Two pink legs poked out from beneath the leafy cloak. A beady black eye could be seen just above each leg.

"Cherrim, Sunny Day!"

"Cherr-rim!"

A bright sphere of light launched from Cherrim's body toward the ceiling, where it streamed down white beams that lit up the room.

"Absol, Swords Dance."

Translucent, blue swords appeared in a circle around Absol. They spun and clicked in pairs twic before vanishing.

"Now, Cherrim, Solar Beam!"

Cherrim had transformed during Absol's Swords Dance. It now had a yellow body with a round yellow head was adorned with pink petals and its green leaf had become a pink cloak. Two red orbs on its head surrounded the largest, narrowest petal.

"CHERR-RIIIIM!"

A bright yellow beam of light shined forth from Cherrim's new beam raced toward Absol with blistering speed.

"Sucker Punch."

Absol disappeared. The Solar Beam missed entirely. Absol reappeared behind Cherrim and slammed it into the ground with its paw. Cherrim did not get up.

"Battle over!" declared Milli. "The winner is Anano!"

"Great job, Cherrim. Now return."

"You have gotten better, little brother. Though, I'm afraid, not better enough. Cherrim will be a real powerhouse someday soon."

"Thanks. See, milli, you did fine as a judge," said Erani.

"Maybe this time I did, but I was on pins and needles the whole time because I was nervous about messing up."

"Hope you get off them soon. You're up against Parelan next, and you two have equal records for our little tournament. So the question is, whose streak will break?"

Maybe I shouldn't've saved her for last. She beat Erani so easily. And her match against Anano was hard-fought. After seeing his real Absol in action, it's pretty obvious he really did go easy on me. Neither of them let up on Erani for a second, thought Milli.

"Milli, you there?"" asked Erani.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. What did you ask again?"

"I was wondering whose streak would break, Parelan's or yours," responded Erani.

"Heh. I'm hoping my luck holds out. She's not going to give me any breaks, unlike you and your brother."

"You're right there. Which reminds me, how did you know Illumise wasn't my strongest Pokémon?"

"My dad's leader of the Mauville Gym. I greew up watching battles. And I saw you hesitate before picking a Pokémon to battle. Your hand paused for a split second. As if you didn't want to tire out your strongest Pokémon before facing your brother."

"All that, just from seeing me pick a Pokémon? Are you psychic?"

"Nah, unlike Pokémon, I don't think humans can have psychic powers?"

"But what about Sabrina from Saffron? She's famous for them."

"Maybe she's not human"

***s***

Marie fed Pichu the medicine. The little Pokémon began to calm down and breathe easily. Relief swept through her. She and M were sitting on a bench near the remedy shop.

"I'm glad there was a town so nearby," she said.

"Sorry about the poisoning again. Figured you were experienced to be coming out of Mount coronet and were probably carrying an Antidote on you."

"From now on, I think I'm going to do just that. So, where are you headed after this?"

"I'm on my way to the Eternia City Gym for the Forest Badge. I've already got the Beacon and Fen Badges, see?"

M took out a small, dark case and held it open in his hand. The inside was lined with a soft fabric to which two shining Badges were pinned.

"That means you've beaten Volkner and Crasher Wake, right? How tough were they?" asked Marie.

"I went to Sunyshore first. Volkner wiped the floor with us using only a Shinx. It was just me, piplup, and Starly back then. The second time we faced him Starly had learned hidden power and we were able to beat him."

"And Crasher Wake?"

"No, I didn't face Wake. He apparently retired sometime in the last couple of years. There was a new Leader in his place. Something or other Mask. It was still a Water Gym. By then, Starly had evolved into a Staravia. And neither my Piplup nor the Leader's Pokémon were at an advantage due to the terrain. Satravia faced his Buizel and that match ended in a double knockout. Then, it was Piplup versus Poliwhirl. We made it through, abrely, all thanks to Piplup's Bide. Got the Fen badge and caught a Venipede soon after. Named it pol after the Leader's Poliwhirl. Your turn now. Where're you headed?"

"Just wandering around Sinnoh, at the moment. Took part in a contest in Oreburgh. I lost, but it was fun, so I may try again somewhere else," answered Marie.

"If I'm remembering correctly, there's supposed to be a Contest of some sort in Solaceon Town in a few days. It's not too far from here, so you should be able to make it if you hurry."

**s**

Mia was sitting on a rock watching the battle between Gym Leader Misty and Lance of the Elite Four. This particular showdown was taking place a few miles away from Cerulean City. The battle was down to its final two combatants, Dragonite and Starmie, both of whom had already sustained moderate damage in earlier fights against other Pokémon . The two Pokémon fought fiercely for the upper hand. Starmie's Thunder attacks missed again and again as Dragonite flew around in the sky.

Aunt Misty is amazing, thought Mia. But this guy is powerful, too. His Dragonite has been avoiding all of Starmie's attacks, even the combination technique she used against Zubat has already failed twice. Dragonite's got Hyper Beam and Dragon Pulse, two attacks with an amazing amount of power. On top of that, it knows ThunderPunch, so Starmie can't close in on it. And this Lance guy is still holding back dragonite's fourth move while Starmie has shown all the moves it's capable of using. I wonder what it could be. Dragon Claw, Dragonbreath…

A shout from the field brought Mia out of her thoughts.

"Dragonite, let's end this with Hyper Beam!"

"Let's finish this! Starmie, hold your ground and use your own Hyper Beam!"

I wonder what Dragonite's fourth attack would have been. Maybe Flamethrower, no, wait, Ice Beam would be way cooler. Huh? That's weird. Ow! Mia clapped her right hand over her left eye.

A bright orange beam blasted from the tip of Starmie's body. The energetic attack raced toward Dragonite. Dragonite let out a furious roar. A small, red sphere appeared in Dragonite's mouth which quickly switched colors to sky blue. The sky blue orb began emitting jagged bolts on a collision course with Starmie's attack. Starmie's Hyper Beam attack proceeded to decimate Dragonite's Ice Beam on contact and met the Dragon Pokémon full force. Dragonite crashed to the ground, fainted.

Wait, I thought Lance told Dragonite-

"Dragonite!" shouted Lance. "Are you okay? Did something go wrong with your hearing at the end there?" he asked.

The large buff yellow Pokémon seemed confused, as if wondering why it had failed to use Hyper Beam earlier.

***s***

"You can't seriously think that with the world we live in," said Erani.

"If I ever have a chance to meet her, I'll ask for a live demonstration. Until then, I'm gonna remain a skeptic," replied Milli.

"There was another reason I asked if you were psychic, but it can wait until after your battle. So, what Pokémon will you use?"

"I've got a Gardevoir, but it's not really mine. I'm just watching it for someone. So I think I'll use-"

"Hey! Are you two done talking? We'd like to wrap it up soon," said Anano.

"Sorry," said Erani. "I was just asking her a few questions."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Milli walked over to the older pair of Trainers. " So, Parelan, you're my final opponent. I can't wait to see what you can do, though I have to admit I'm nervous after watching your battles with the other two."

"It is a good thing to be nervous. It means that you have not let your recent victories to go to your head. I hope you are ready for a difficult battle," said Parelan.

Was she taunting me? thought Milli. Here goes nothing.

"Come on out, Shellder!"

A small purple Pokémon appeared in front of Milli. A pink tongue stuck out from between the two halves of its shell, roughly between its two inset eyes.

"Shroomish, appear before me!"

A Shroomish appeared on the battlefield in front of Parelan.

I'm already at a disadvantage because of Shroomish's type, thought Milli. I should probably ask if that's the same Shroomish as before.

"Is that a different Shroomish?"

"Yes. Since I was a small girl, I have loved Shroomish so, though nostalgia has little to do with why I now raise them."

"I see," said Milli. Great, that means this one hasn't even been worn down a little by Erani. Maybe, just maybe Shellder will be able to get a good, clean shot in and knock it out with one blow.

"Battlers, are you ready?" shouted Erani. "Battle begin!"

"Shellder, start off with Withdraw!"

Shellder quickly closed and opened its shell.

"Shroomish, Leech Seed attack!"

Brown seeds shot forth from Shroomish's head. They surrounded Shellder and began sprouting vines. The vines dug into Shellder and zapped it with a red energy, which formed a small orb and returned to Shroomish.

"Shellder, get the Leech Seed off with Ice Shard!"

A thin disc of ice shot from Shellder's shell, shredding the Leech Seed.

"Follow up with Leer!"

Shellder stared at Shroomish, making the mushroom Pokémon uncomfortable. Shroomish began to back away.

"Now, Tackle!"

"Shroomish, Grass Knot!"

Thick blades of grass sprouted from the pods of Shroomish's earlier attack, ensnaring Shellder.

"Shellder, get out of there with Ice Shard!"

"Bullet Seed!"

Shellder shot forth a thin disc of ice in an attempt to cut through the tangled grass. The Bullet Seed shattered the Ice Shard into pieces, leaving Shellder trapped.

"Shroomish, let us end this with Headbutt!"

Shroomish charged at Shellder head down. Shellder was still struggling to escape the Grass Knot. Shroomish propelled itself into the air a bit. Shellder's shell snapped down on Shroomish as the two collided, the force of the collision causing Shellder to become disentangled. The two Pokémon were now on the ground, Shellder holding onto the struggling Shroomish tightly.

"Ah, Shroomish!"

"Way to go, Shellder! That's an awesome Clamp attack. Now, Ice Shard!"

Shellder spat Shroomish into the air and launched a small storm of thin icy discs at the mid-air Shroomish. The attack landed right on target and Shroomish fell to the ground.

"Shroomish!" cried Parelan. "Are you all right?"

"Shroom-Shroomish!"

Shroomish's body began to glow a bright white. Its form began to change.

"Shroomish-it's evolving," said Milli.

The bright light faded. In Shroomish's place was a new Pokémon. The new Pokémon was taller than Shroomish and had green arms and legs ending in red claws. It had a long tan tail that terminated in four green spheres. Its face was the same color as its tail and had a beak-like mouth. A green mushroom cap that sprouted from its head sported a red orb and completed the Pokémon.

"Breloom!" shouted the new Pokémon.

"Oh, wonderful, my Shroomish! You have evolved into a marvelous and powerful Breloom!"

"Breloom!" agreed the Breloom.

"Do you wish to continue the battle, Milli?" asked Parelan.

"Shellder?" asked Milli.

Shellder nodded.

"Keep it coming, Parelan! Shellder, Withdraw and stay that way!"

Shellder closed its shell. Breloom approached it, puzzled.

"Breloom, Force Palm!"

Breloom placed its right hand on Shellder's shell. The hand began glowing an ominous red. Shelklder began to open its shell.

"No, Shellder, stay closed!"

Shellder snapped shut. Breloom's glowing hand blasted forward, sending Shellder rocketing toward the wall. Shellder crashed into the wall, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

"Shellder!" Be okay, be okay, be okay.

"Shellder." The purple Pokémon had its shell open and its tongue sticking out. It was staring at Breloom.

"Shellder, return."

A beam of red light engulfed the surprised Pokémon and Shellder was returned to its PokéBall.

"Milli has forfeited the match, therefore Parelan is the winner! And with a 3-0 record, Parelan wins the tournament!" shouted Erani

"Why, Milli, did you forfeit the battle? Shellder still seemed to be raring to go, no?" asked Parelan.

"Shellder may have a hard shell, but it can't stand up to Breloom forever and I didn't want it hurt badly. After all, I only caught it yesterday."

"It is truly unfortunate that you had to face one of my most experienced Shroomish."

"Yeah. It was still fun. Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment…Erani, I believe you had something to talk about right before the match. Something about psychics and Sabrina."

"Oh right! I got caught up in the battle. Anyway," Erani lowered his voice, "you're certain you're not psychic?"

"Yes…why are you asking again? I already told you that I don't believe in psychic humans."

"What if I said to you, right before our battle, I saw your right eye flash bright green for a second or two?"

***s***

"Maybe I will," said Marie.

"If you haven't decided by tomorrow, then you'll probably miss it, unless you use the Abra Transport in the PokéMart, and that only runs from 6 A.M. to 9 A.M. It's constantly going between cities in those three hours, so it has to sleep a lot to conserve energy. It'll pop you right out in the Solaceon Pokémon Center," explained M.

"Solaceon…my friend won her first Ribbon there," said Marie wistfully.

"Oh, maybe you'll run into each other, then," said M.

"I don't think so," replied Marie. "She started her journey two years ago."

"Oh, that's too bad. Why'd she start her journey so early?"

"She didn't. I started mine late. My parents were worried for my safety, so all my friends have already been on their journeys for two years."

"Ah. Well, it happens. Good intentions, at the very least. And you got a Pichu out of it, so you can at least pretend you're related to Ash Ketchum, the great hero who saved the region with the help of his friends," said M, his eyes starry.

"Even if I wanted to pretend that, don't you remember your history? There was a huge scandal thirteen years ago involving Team Rocket and "the great hero" fell from grace."

"Between us, I don't think that the 'scandal' was much of a real thing, that it was a cover-up for something else."

"Oh, a conspiracy theorist, are we?"

"A bit," said M. "But just think, what if the great hero didn't want the attention or responsibility of being a great hero? He could've engineered a situation in which the public became disillusioned with him, allowing him to disappear from the world at large."

"You're making sense, which is more than I can say for my mother's conspiracies. But then, she's had her most off-the-wall theories come true time and again. I just wish that Mom didn't always have her worst conspiracies come true all the time as well." Marie looked at Pichu, who was sleeping peacefully.

"Well, Marie, I must be going. I would prefer to be through Mount Coronet by nightfall." M got up to leave.

"Do you have either Rock Smash or Flash TM's?" asked Marie.

"Mmmm, no, actually. Why?"

"The path through is blocked with a pile of boulders that are impossible to climb. There's a large chamber that connect through directly underneath, but it's very dark and hard to navigate without light."

"Hmmm, then I'll have to buy them in Veilstone tomorrow morning, which means I'm stuck here for today." M sat back down on the grass.

"I'm heading to Celestic Ruins to explore the caves. I've heard they're some of the earliest known writings of humans in the Sinnoh region."

"Oh, a fan of history, are we?"

"Hehe, a bit. But I'm more of an ancient past as opposed to recent past enthusiast. I'm hoping that there are some Fossils in those ruins that no one has uncovered. Maybe even Dialga and Palkia Fossils…"

"Guess I'll follow you around for today then," said M.

"Come on then," said Marie.

**s**

Mia was happy that her aunt had managed to defeat Lance of the Elite Four, but something was bothering her. The more she thought about it, the more Dragonite's disobedience didn't make any sense. It had been accurately following commands the whole battle and then suddenly it used a completely different move? Something wasn't adding up.

"I think that it is safe to say, even with that bit at the end, welcome to the Elite Four, Misty of Cerulean City."

"Yes! I made it! Take that, Daisy, Violet and Lily! Your baby sister is the first person from Cerulean City to be in the Elite Four!"

"Yes, very well done. Now, do you mind telling me who that girl tagging along is?"

"Oh, that's Mia. She's from another Kanto."

"I see, I see…? Another Kanto?"

"Well, we're pretty sure she's from an alternate universe's Kanto region. The more she tells me, the more I'm certain of it, and besides, given her parents and age, she couldn't possibly be from here."

"Hmmm…do you have any idea how to get her back?" asked Lance.

"I do," interrupted Mia. "When I went through the weird door, there was a message written on it but I can't remember the long version, only the short one. It said, "Earn your way home."

"And you're how old?" asked Lance.

"I am eight years old."

"Too young to be a Trainer. Then, how did you acquire a Pichu and a Zubat?"

"Pichu was a birthday gift from my mommy and daddy. Zubat was an accident. You see, I dropped my daddy's Master Ball while a swarm of them were upon me, long story, and it happened to catch the leader and calm the flock down."

"Odd. A Zubat, let alone a yellow Zubat, shouldn't have been the leader of the flock. And given its size, it was probably the lowest ranking member of the group, so the swarm shouldn't've calmed down upon its capture. Tell me, Mia, did you feel anything weird while you were watching our battle?" Lance stared intensely at the young girl.

"Hmmm, not really. Well, the end didn't make sense because Dragonite disobeyed an explicit order after following them for the rest of the battle."

"Precisely. And, for another, my Dragonite shouldn't be able to use Ice Beam. Its fourth move was ExtremeSpeed."

"Huh. Daddy always said the four-move limit was a restriction imposed by the League," replied Mia.

"Now, that is true, as during League-sanctioned matches, including Gym Battles, a Pokémon may only use four moves, but that's only part of it," explained Lance, "since it's actually a consequence of physical limitations. Pokémon moves gain a great deal of power from repeated use. The more moves a Pokémon knows, the weaker each individual move is going to be. Now, of course, Pokémon like Ho-oH and Celebi are exceptions, given their exceptionally long lifespans, but since all Pokémon train their muscles to use specific moves multiple times, eventually muscle memory plays a part in the move, and the only way to get full power out of a new move is by letting it overwrite the muscle memory for an older one. Now, that explains why my Dragonite's Ice Beam lost to Starmie's Hyper Beam as opposed to equaling it as it normally would, but it doesn't explain Dragonite's choice to use it. You're certain nothing felt off to you?"

"Yeah. Oh wait! I felt something like a quick jab in my eye. Do you think that might be the reason?"

"It very well could be. We'll need to run some tests on you, but it will take time to get everything in order. Will she be staying here?" asked Lance.

"No, actually. When contacting everyone, arrangements were made for her to stay with my good friend Brock in Pewter City. One more person isn't going to make much of a difference in that house. I'll be taking her there in two days' time," replied Misty.

"Really? I get to stay at Uncle Brock's house?" asked Mia excitedly.

"Yes, he agreed to take you in for a while, but we'll have to stop at a nursery along the way. He asked me to pick up some herbs they're running low on in the Gym. He was planning on meeting us there, but some things came up with challengers and now he's stuck in Pewter City for a few days."

"That's OK," said Mia. "I'm just happy I'll actually get to stay there this time. I wonder if he's like you, Aunt Misty. The same person, but different. Where I'm from, he's world-famous as a Pokémon Breeder, but Officer Jenny said he wanted to be a Pokémon Doctor for a little while when he was younger. Oh, but you know, right? What does Uncle Brock do in this world?"

"He's the Pewter City Gym Leader. It's been that way since his parents ran off…again. Well, technically, they retired this time, but we have no idea where they are, so he's been stuck running the Gym and taking care of his younger siblings. I don't know how he keeps up with all of it. He's tried going for the Elite Four before as well. He figured it would allow him to relax a little and leave the Gym in someone else's hands, but he just hasn't had the luck," said Misty

"Oh, does he have a rather large Steelix? I believe I remember facing that man. And I could've sworn he beat me, so now I'm wondering why he isn't part of the Elite Four. That's another matter to look into then." Lance glanced toward the sun. "I must be off," he said. "The official announcement should be made within a few weeks. I'll write you with any information I can dig up. Until then, take care." Lance climbed onto Dragonite's back and the two flew off, backs to the sun.

"And off they go," said Misty. "Alright, Mia, let's get moving. We'll run by the Gym real quick to pack and then we'll be off."

**s**