Mirus lowered the pokéball, ran towards the surprised pokémon and hugged him, not caring if anyone saw a teenaged boy hugging their pokémon. His fur was long and soft, and his head came up to Mirus's shoulder. "You did it! You finally evolved! I can't believe it... you are glad... are you?"
"Tyena!" Grim said happily, his tail starting to wag.
Mirus knew from that movement that this was the same old Grim, and he hadn't really changed in personality that much. How would they battle, though? They might have to change their strategy a bit... he would obviously be stronger, but by how much?
"Well, congratulations," said Liam, sounding slightly surprised.
"Mirus!" Heron said to him in a loud whisper. "You can win the battle now!"
He shook his head. "I forfeited, remember?" He gave Grim a final pat and recalled him, saying, "Sorry, rules are rules..."
Liam blinked, before coughing gently. "I suppose I won then."
"Yes. But I don't mind." Mirus's face broke into a grin. "I've wanted him to evolve for ages."
"Well, don't forget to re-register him later," Heron said, as Mirus handed over a bundle of notes and stepped back, out of their allotted battlefield. Then: "My turn."
"Ah, so you want to face my dragons?"
She snorted. "Yeah, whatever. There seem to be a lot of dragon trainers around here nowadays though. How come?"
Her arms were folded, and Liam could see that she wouldn't battle until he answered. He sighed. "Well, the type is very powerful and dragons aren't as rare as they once were. That could have something to do with it. I've just always admired them for..."
"Yeah, you and the rest of the world," Heron interrupted. "OK, I'll battle you now."
"Charmeleon, go!"
"Perfect. Come on out, Milotic!"
The two pokémon appeared; Liam's orange lizard with the flaming tail- Mirus could feel a faint heat on his face even over the distance- and Heron's milotic, a snake that looked soft, tender and somewhat vunerable. He started at just appearing in a battlefield, uttering a small cry, so Heron called out to him.
"Listen, milotic, I know I haven't talked to you at all yet, and I'm really sorry but I haven't had time. This seemed like a good chance to battle... so, you think you can do it?"
Mirus couldn't hear an answer, but he must have replied, because Heron nodded. "OK, let's go."
"Charmeleon, get right in there with an Ember, then Scratch!"
"Right Milotic. Water Gun- aim for the tail!"
Charmeleon dived forward at once, tail raised, and it flared up instently, sending flashes of fire into Milotic's body. Immediatly Milotic drew back, and the strike of Charmeleon's claw just fell short of him. Milotic seized the chance and fired a swift Water Gun at Charmeleon's tail, smothering it completely.
The lizard gave a deafening screech and fell backwards, the flame on its tail hissing and issuing smoke. Liam flashed Heron a glare, and took out his pokémon's ball.
"Charmeleon, return," he said, calling back his pokémon in a flash of red light. Then he called out to Heron, "I don't even think that's legal. Charmeleon nearly died."
Mirus stole a look at Heron, who was staring at Liam's face, indifferent. Then she shrugged. "It was an accident."
But she didn't ask for her winnings as Liam ran off, clutching the pokéball. Mirus noticed that she was too busy looking at Milotic. The pokémon had a strange look in his eyes, and he was making a soft hissing sound, tail flicking from side to side as though he'd like to hit something. Heron had a thoughtful look set on her face, before she called him back.
"Come on," she said to Mirus as though nothing had happened, and he followed her to the pokémon centre.
"Heron," Mirus said as the nurse handed him back his pokémon with a smile, "Do you know why Milotic was acting like that?"
"Huh?" she asked, turning to him in confusion. Then she shook her head. "I reckon he was just fired up from the battle still. There's nothing unusual about that, is there?"
"No," he replied, feeling rather stupid. He would have liked to ask her about the Water Gun incident, but if it was a mistake, there wasn't anything that could be done about that. Still, Heron ought to have known about the tail flame of a charmeleon, her being the pokémon expert she was. maybe she'd done it on purpose. She had, after all, told Milotic what to do.
Heron finished clipping the pokéballs back on her belt, and looked up at Mirus. "So, you wanted to do some training?"
He nodded. "I'd like to work with Grim. I've already registered him. What type did you say the gym used?"
"Fossil," she replied. "Mainly rock and ground types, I'd guess. But probably pokémon that resemble ancient creatures.I'd better do some work with Milotic all the same."
Mirus nodded in agreement as they started to leave the building. "I'm out of luck there, since suicunes are the only water dog I can think of. What about grass dogs? Do you know about any?"
She shrugged. "How would I know? You're the canine expert. Maybe your pokédex could tell you about them." She looked around, but apparently found nothing of interest, as her eyes settled on Mirus again and she stopped walking. "What do you say to me battling you?"
He shook his head, smiling a little. "You'd beat me hands down."
"Probably," she replied, grinning smugly to herself. "Still, I can only get better."
Mirus nodded. Was she the same Heron he'd known less than a week ago? Before they'd arrived here in Tyrone. She'd known a lot more than him back then, but had she been so open about it? If she beat him now, maybe she'd tease him. Which would be more annoying than anything else, but still.
He looked up at her. She still looked the same, apart from small details, like the mousey-brown roots of her hair were growing through the pink. And her skin was slightly darker. But she'd changed as a person. Tougher? Still, there was no reason why she shouldn't like battling. Maybe he was being paranoid. As usual.
"Should we go to the beach?" he asked. "For training. I'm guessing there'd be a lot of trainers there."
She nodded, scanning the area- for a battle, Mirus guessed. She turned to him. "There'd be a lot there. It's not exactly the kind of beach you'd go on holiday. The one in Rigol's used more often for that."
Mirus followed her as she changed course. "I bet they have street battles here," she said, looking around. He couldn't think of anything to say, so didn't comment. Heron carried on talking. "That would be interesting, see if they battle any differently here. Because it's usually local people who are in these leagues."
"It's getting late," Mirus added, looking at his watch and finally finding something to say. "I reckon we should have an hour of training, then go back. Otherwise it'll get dark."
"Mmm," she agreed, still looking around. "I might stay up. Depends."
By this time the buildings had cleared slightly, and there appeared to be a vertical drop ahead of them. But when Mirus got closer, he saw that there were actually steps, seemingly carved into the cliff face, and that it would be easy to climb down. Scattered around the beach were people, some battling. There were not so many as he had imagined, but more than enough to choose from and battle with. There were about a dozen, all of them in pairs. There were also huts and people walking along selling things, but both Mirus and Heron found the trainers more interesting.
Heron jogged ahead, climbing down the stairs quickly. When Mirus stepped on the first one, he found them slippery with the wet sea breeze, and had to grab onto part of the rock on his left to stop himself slipping. Eventually he caught up with her without gaining any bruises, and found her already walking towards a pair who weren't battling. Sighing, Mirus followed.
"Hello," said the trainer who wasn't being talked to by Heron. He grinned. "Want to battle? While your significant other is getting thrashed by Simon."
Mirus blinked, before saying, "You'd be surprised."
"Probably," came the reply absent-mindedly. "Anyway, I'm a solo pokémon trainer, so it'd have to be one-on-one." He offered a hand. "Anyway. I'm Aaron." He pronounced it Aron.
"Mirus," said Mirus. "You're a pokémon?"
"At least it's reletively normal," he replied, but grinning. "Anyway, let's just battle. You choose first. I haven't got much choice anyway."
"Right," Mirus said, picking Grim's pokéball. "Grim!"
The mightyena emerged, shaking his shaggy coat and stumbling slightly, before choosing his footing more carefully and staring at Aron. He nodded.
"Go, Digby!"
Mirus was expecting a ground type, but as the light formed itself into its shape, a wave of heat his his face. It was only light, but it was still rather a shock, and confirmed the pokémon as a fire type. A dog, to be precise, with flamed orange fur streaked with black, a flickering tail and mane and sharp teeth as the pokémon growled at his opponent. The name had obviously been chosen when he was only a puppy, and was now too late to be changed.
Grim was shorter in height and smaller in build than the arcinine, but he still held his tail high, a sign that he was in charge. Digby growled again and snapped his jaws, refusing to be the beta.
Mirus noted this, and knew how important pride was to dogs. Whoever was stronger would be able to bear the title of alpha male, and neither of them particulary wanted to let that chance go.
"Digby, Flame Wheel!"
Mirus jumped as he remembered he was in charge. Grim was crouched, muscles tensed, ready to leap on his opponent and sink his teeth into his neck. His eyes were focused on his opponent as fire grew around him and he grew closer...
"Grim, Quick Attack to dodge aand then use Howl," Mirus ordered quickly.
Grim sprang out of the way as Digby thrust his full body weight in his direction, fire blazing. His side grazed the mightyena's, and Grim Howled, but not in pain.
"Rage! Scratch! Bite!" Aaron commanded.
His pokémon needed no telling as he leapt onto Grim and started tearing away. Grim tore back, teeth biting, claws flashing, sand from the beach flying up as the two dogs. Digby has his body over Grim's head, trying to crush him to the ground, but he was still trying to snap and claw back.
"Grim..." Mirus began, but broke off as he couldn't think of what to say. "Get out of there fast! You're too close!"
There was more struggling as the two dogs wrestled against each other, teeth tearing at fur, then Grim managed to break away from Digby's grasp, knocking the arcinine off his feet in the process. Whil he tried to get back up, Grim caught his breath.
"Good work, Grim. Now use Howl again and..." Mirus thought desperately, and had an idea. "Take Down!"
"Flame Wheel again," commanded Aron simply.
As Grim turned to rush at his opponent, Digby flared up in white heat, twisted his agile body round to face the mightyena and ran towards him as well. The two dogs collided, and to Mirus's surprise it was Grim who came of second-best.
"What...?" he said to himself. "But... the Howls..." The Howls... they'd have raised his Attack, and so the recoil damage would have been a lot more than usual. Digby's attack much have... diverted some of the damage to him, and Grim had...
Mirus willed Grim to get to his feet, and watched as the wolf stuggled up. But finally he gave up and collapsed. With a sigh, his trainer recalled him. "Sorry," he muttered, mainly to himself. "We'll try again later."
E/N: Yes, this HAS been updated! I think I'll write another chapter of this, as I'm on a roll-thing, then update Freaks. So you know. But hey, who knows what I'll write? I'm a crazy funky writing thing!
Review and I'll be quiet(er)... maybe.