Chapter 13 – Battles & New Friends

"You got this Grace!" I yell from the sidelines. 

This was Lara's 6th battle this morning. We had started at around 9 am and it was quickly approaching 12 pm. My meeting with Lance wasn't scheduled until 3 pm and we wanted to grab lunch beforehand, so we were planning on staying for another hour or so to wrack up some more wins on our Trainer IDs. So far, I was 4 wins and 0 losses and Lara was 6 - 0. People seemed rather intimidated by Pyra, so she had only managed to fight in 2 of the battles. The last battle she won, my third, was against a Wartortle she had one shot with a Thunder Punch...needless to say, people had stopped challenging her and she was feeling a little down. 

She was, however, being doted on by a ton of female trainers who were very interested in her and, by extension, me. They even started flirting with me, touching my chest, arms, and back and showing far too much skin than was appropriate. I was politely declining them as best I could, but it got to the point where I was overwhelmed and a bit out of my element. I looked over at Lara begging for help in my eyes just as she finished another match, winning of course. She just smirked at me and the women around me before walking up, pulling my head down, wrapping a leg around me, and kissing me in front of all of them. Her smirk turned a bit more feral as she stared back at the women surrounding me before leaning up and whispering in my ear,

"If you are interested in any of them, let me know. I've always wanted to try a three-"

"Lara!" I yelled at her shocked and blushing and not completely sure what to do. I mean, okay. Was I interested in the idea in the future? Yes, absolutely. Was this the place or time to discuss such things? No! ...This is payback for last night, isn't it? ...For her to say it out of the blue like that... Her smirk grew as I stared at her wide-eyed and she kissed my cheek again before rushing off to accept more challenges.

"Oh. My. Arceus!" A girl in the group squealed, "She is Lara Ketchum and you are Finn Cambridge!!!"

Shit.

Lara and I were not really hiding our identities, but we were dressed differently from how we would be when performing. At least she was, I didn't really do live performances and wasn't into PokeGram so was only featured on hers. People called me "Lara's Boyfriend" most of the time. That was fine with me, I would earn my name as a Pokemon Trainer and not a singer. Maybe in 2 years' time, she would be referred to as "Finn's Wife." Doubtful, but anything is possible I suppose!

Lara was dressed in simple trainer clothes consisting of a green tank top, black short shorts, and matching green, white, and black sneakers. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail and she wore both a pink and a blue scrunchy to hold it in place along with several hair clips. She didn't wear much makeup, but honestly, she didn't need it. She looked stunning.

I dressed as I normally did...Which is to say, what Lara picked for me. It was simple and I didn't mind it. Black v-neck t-shirt with a white Pokeball design in the center, blue jeans, brown hiking boots, and my backpack slung over my shoulders. My shoulder-length purple hair was tied in the back in a male top knot and the sides of my head were shaved. I still couldn't grow any facial hair, so I just looked like a well-built child rather than an adult - At least to me. Lara said I looked like an action movie star, but all I could see was my baby face...

(A/N: I tried to find something that would work as a picture...but looking for "Muscular Pokemon Trainers" brought me to a corner of the internet I was not prepared for or comfortable with... lol)

The rest of the girl group started taking out their phones and asking for some pictures or videos together. I agreed to do a couple but told them they would need to ask Lara herself after her newest match. They all took off to record said match and I was finally left alone with Pyra and my other Pokemon. 

"That was a bit annoying," I said patting Pyra's head and sighing.

"Agreed," Pyra said simply and nestled into my touch affectionately. Angie must have gotten jealous because she started yipping at me for attention, which I was happy to give the boisterous Pokemon. I sat down on the grass and gave my girls some love. Celeste came over, wobbling on Abra's awkward legs, and I gave her the same attention as the others.

{I am 'Evolving' in my next match. This form is annoying.} She said grumpily in my mind. 

"Sure," I said simply, rubbing behind her ears. She cooed happily and I thought back on her battle today. She was my fourth battle of the day with Angie being my second. Angie had wiped the floor with her opponent, a Doduo, but Celeste had a little trouble with her battle. She was a powerful Pokemon, no one could deny that, but she was young and not used to this form. So was frustrated at not being able to simply float out of the way of attacks. She had gotten hit 3 times in her match against a Pidgeotto using Quick Attacks before she was able to overcome her pain and frustration and land a critical Psychic. When I went over to treat her wounds, she was not too happy about the victory and seemed bitter about being hit. If she was a Kadabra, she would have more motor control, fewer restrictions on her mind caused by the form, and be able to generally move better. I was not going to fight her on this.

I looked over to a happy Lara lavishing her new Rhyhorn with affection for their most recent win. People seemed to underestimate her, which she was happy about since it was kind of the whole point of her acting persona, so she was getting many more battles than me. Looks like I needed to be more proactive.  I started scanning the crowd while promising Celeste she could go next and evolve. I saw a few promising trainers, but most were huddled in groups and no one was standing out obviously as "Looking for a challenge." I smiled to myself as I saw all the Kanto Pokemon lined up all around - Max would have loved this sight. 

Side Note: Jr. Leagues are restricted in the Pokemon you can use by the region you are in. So, in Kanto, you can only use Kanto Pokemon and so on and so forth. The reason for this is that this is the first real test of a trainer. To catch Pokemon around you, train them, and win with them. This is the basic foundation of the rest of your trainer career, so the Jr. League makes this a rule so that rich kids can't just buy their whole team from the best Pokemon all over the world...Some rich kids still did buy their team *Cough Cough* Me, *Cough Cough* but most would be forced into catching them or searching for them themselves. To be fair, however, both Eevee and Dratini are not terribly hard Pokemon to catch and I could have easily caught them later on in our travels, but I didn't want to force an Eevee to evolve the way I wanted and I wanted to both save a Dratini that had been up for purchase for nearly 3 years and get myself another variant Pokemon. Excuses, Finn, excuses.

Another note on this, some Pokemon are found in multiple regions and can, therefore, be used in multiple Jr. League routes. One thing Max found interesting was that baby Pokemon and trade evolution or future generation evolution Pokemon are not considered outside this region's Pokemon if one from their line is native to that region. For instance, a Munchlax is allowed in the Kanto Jr. League because it is part of the Snorlax line that originates here. Same thing with Lara's Rhyhorn if it evolves into Rhyperior in the future - still a Kanto Pokemon because the pre-evolution species is found in the wild here. Honestly, it makes sense and the games had it wrong if you ask me. 

One last note, trade evolutions, as you might expect, are not a thing here. That whole system was removed, so it seems. Now, as long as a Pokemon holds the item with them for long enough, they evolve naturally over time. For evolutionary lines that were not held item trade-restrictive, like Gengar, Machamp, and Alakazam, they evolve over time naturally as well. It appears that they evolve in the later power levels, not unlike Dragonite. 

Back to my hunt for prey... *Ahem* trainers to battle, I stand up and look down the long stretch of grassland with many battles going on in different battlegrounds. Some of the fields have been completely destroyed and I see a team of Bellsprouts, Geodudes, and a Poliwhirl going around fixing the fields one by one. The old man with them appears to be a groundskeeper of some kind and smiles and waves friendly at me when we lock eyes. I wave back and am about to give up my search and move back over to Lara to wait for someone to challenge me when I hear a voice behind me.

"Oi. You're Finn, right?"

I turn to see a tall male trainer with a girl hanging off his arms. She smiles wide at me, checking me out from top to bottom, while he looks at me impassively. 

He is a tall black man with close-cut black hair, an orange and red open jacket, a black shirt with some sort of graphic on it, dark blue jeans, black sneakers, and hard steel-grey eyes.

She is an average height girl with flaming red hair tied in a messy bun, glasses, a black top, blue jeans, black sneakers, and the most intense violet eyes I have ever seen. She bites her lip seductively as I look her over.

"Yeah, that's me," I say cautiously at the pair, "Who are you two?"

"Who are we?" The girl scoffs at me, "We are your and Lara's top competition, that's who!"

I am about to respond in confusion when a squeal comes from behind me. I look over my shoulder to see Lara running over to us, a huge smile on her face.

"No way!! You two are Cerulison, right? I love your PokeGram pictures~~!!"

The girl breaks away from the tall man and clasps hands with Lara smiling just as wide. "Nah uh! The star Lara from Ketbridge loves our pictures? No way! This is like, super awesome~~!"

They start hugging and talking a mile a minute as I just stare at them in confusion. I am interrupted from my contemplations by a hand held out to me. 

"I am Omar Harrison, nice to meet you, Finn." The tall man, Omar, says.

"Oh...right. Sorry!" I say as I reach out and grasp his hand in a firm handshake, "Finn Cambridge, I am not really following what is going on..."

He smirks and shakes his head in exacerbation, "Yeah...when we started dating, Selena made a PokeGram account for us. Now we are competing with yours it would seem. She has been really excited to meet Lara, though she keeps saying we are your rivals...for some reason."

"PokeGram account?" I ask confused, "Lara has one, but I don't. Never really got into it."

He looks at me in matching confusion for a second before realization dawns on him. He shakes his head and smiles wryly at me. "Looks like she didn't tell you..."Instead of elaborating further, he pulls out his PokePhone and flips to PokeGram showing me a page that made my heart stop for a second.

♡♡Ketbridge♡♡ - Lara Ketchum & Finn Cambridge

This title was followed by many pictures of us together. There were sweet ones, like selfies of us hugging all over Pallet City on our many dates and cute pictures of kisses I remember her taking of us. There are pictures of us with our Pokemon and some of us in our mock battles. Luckily, none of the mock battles are recorded. I would hate it if my strategies were posted before I even started. Some of the pictures...are more intimate than others. Like one where we are both naked and I am laying on top of her stomach first, asleep, protecting her modesty while she smiles up at the camera, brushing through my hair affectionately. We are both covered completely, me out of the frame with just my back in the picture and her covering her chest with my body as the covers cover her lower half...but still. This was a lot of me I didn't know I was sharing... There are also a lot, and I mean a lot, of me shirtless with her in my arms or just me in the photo with lots of post edited hearts and lovey-dovey captions. My face pales. I hope to Arceus Ash hasn't seen this...

"Lara~~~" I growl in a tone so sweet it could inflict cavities while at the same time feeling like it weighed a ton. 

She looks at me, looks at the phone in Omar's hand, then back at me with a winning smile. "Isn't it awesome!? We are always trending! ...Wait...Did you not know?" She says and then quickly hides behind Selena as my smile turns to a scowl. 

Selena and Omar laugh and he claps me on the back. "Don't take it so bad, dude, you are one of the highest followed couples on the app. Everyone can see how much she loves you. Besides," he says and his face falls a bit, "I wish I had muscles like that...no wonder she likes to show you off..."

I continue to glare at my fiance who is smiling sweetly at me from behind a laughing Selena before I sigh and let my shoulders fall. What's done is done. I wish she would have asked me or told me about it...at least I don't think she did..., but it's not like anything is unflattering and she seems to enjoy showing me off, as Omar said...is that really so bad? I give her a look that says "We'll talk about this later" before turning back to Omar.

"Alright, so what can I do for you? I can't imagine you came over just to meet us?"

"No!" Selena yells and then runs over to Omar, plastering herself to him again. "We were hoping we could do a double battle with you two! Omar's dad, Brock, and my Aunt, Misty, used to travel with Lara's dad, so we were looking forward to recording the battle and sending it to them...as long as you both don't mind?" 

Holy shit! Brock's son and Misty's niece! These should be some high caliber trainers, right? I smile at them but am interrupted from accepting by Lara's face falling as she asks,

"Won't Misty hate that? She is not on the best of terms with my dad last time I checked..."

"Meh. Don't worry about her. Aunty is a bit...well let's just say that she got over Ash in her own way. I am sure she will be excited to have a challenge from you when you make it to her gym and I think you may be overthinking things. I know Brock would love it!" Selena answers.

"Yeah, Dad is always wishing he got a chance to battle Ash again. I am sure he will get a kick out of this." Omar adds.

"Okay then..." Lara says as nervousness and worry leaves her for a growing smile.

"Sounds good to me! What are the rules?" I ask.

"How about 2v2 with 2 Pokemon each?" Omar asks.

"Cool," I answer looking over to Lara, "Wanna use Celeste in your team for this one? Your Rhyhorn looked a bit tuckered out."

"Can I?" Lara asks the pair opposite to us who nod and smile.

"Thanks, babe!" She smiles at me and kisses me quickly before turning to the small Pokemon near us, "Will you listen to me for this battle, Celeste?" The silly question is answered by a laughing and cheering Abra who waddles up to her and who waves to be picked up. Lara does so and she starts whispering baby talk to the cute Pokemon. 

"Okay, let's do this!" I smile savagely at the couple who returns my smile in kind.

* | * | *

30 minutes later and we had the battle ready to be recorded. One of the girls from earlier had a tri-pod that we could set up to record this on Selena's PokePhone. Lara gave her phone to another girl to record us for her own account.

In the little break, Lara pulled me aside and apologized profusely. She explained to me that the couple's account was set up years ago and she thought I already knew about it. I vaguely remember her telling me about something like this...but I wasn't really interested in it, so it makes sense that I forgot about it. I mean, she did always say she wanted to take cute pictures together for PokeGram, so I guess this is on me as well for not asking more about it or paying more attention to it. You live and you learn.

A huge crowd had formed around us as we took our spots on either side of the grassy battlefield. Both of our PokeGram accounts announced we would be having a battle at 1 pm here and it seemed we had a lot of fans in the area. Some had even made signs with our names on them along with encouraging messages. Ketbridge vs. Cerulison. This was going to be a popular battle on PokeTube, for sure. 

I told Lara and my Pokemon that I would be abandoning our usual tactics for this fight as I didn't want to advertise them widely yet. Let that be a surprise for when I faced Brock. Instead, I was just relying on yelling out my moves like most do. Not ideal, but my team could make it work. Pyra and Angie were pumped, ready to prove themselves in a real, tough battle. Grace was...well...graceful as ever. But we could all tell she was just as excited as the rest. Celeste informed Lara about her evolution that would happen mid-fight, and Lara was going to use it as her trump card. Was it a bit cheap? Sure. But it is not like we could just battle with a Mew. The whole world's criminal elements would be here to attack us in a matter of hours if we did. 

The stage was set and we were ready. Apparently, this battle was a big enough deal to summon the head announcer from Lance's gym. He wasn't challenged much, so the announcer, Mellisa, was thrilled at the chance to announce a 2v2 with celebrities. 

"This match will be a 2v2 battle with Lara and Finn of Ketbridge-" Applause interrupted her, "Versus Selena and Omar of Cerulison-" Again applause interrupted her. "Both teams will be sending out 2 Pokemon to battle and will have 2 more in reserve. Only 1 substitute will be allowed per person per standard duo battle regulations. This battle will continue until one side's Pokemon are unable to continue or until one side concedes. Please meet in the middle and shake hands."

We do so and Lara and Selena face-off with Cheshire smiles as they shake hands. Omar and I lock hands and a brief battle of strength occurs, to which he winces slightly as we shake hands. We part and head back to our sides.

"Are both sides ready?"

""Ready!"" We all say in unison. 

"Then both sides, please send out your first Pokemon." Again, we follow instructions. I send out Angie and Lara sends out Grace as Selena sends out a Lapras and Omar sends out a Hitmonlee. A challenging fight, indeed. 

"Lara and Finn send out a Flareon and a Jolteon. Selena and Omar send out a Lapras and a Hitmonlee. 2v2 battle, Begin!" The announcer yells over the cheers from the croud. 

"Angie, Charm the Lapras and use Helping Hand on Grace!" "Grace, multiply and wait for the boost to use firey bite!"

"Lapras, Water Pulse that fire doggy!" "Hitmonlee, Wide Guard and Focus Energy!"

Moves are shouted by trainers as the battlefield explodes into action. Angie, the fastest as always, has her eyes glow a pink color as she stares cutely at the Lapras who recoils back, pink electricity wrapping around it. Grace and the Hitmonlee go at around the same time and one uses Double Team as the other erects a giant rock wall in front of its team. The Lapras moves to the ledge of the wall as it raises and fires off a series of blue glowing rings at Grace before falling back behind the wall. The rings slam into an illusory Grace and she launches forward, her teeth dripping liquid fire. Before she can land a Fire Fang on the rock wall, Angie coos and yelps in appreciation towards her big sister as a wave of energy empowers the Flareon. The wall shatters under the improved might of the attack and shards of broken, flaming, stone shoot off in all directions. 

'Good thing we got an official announcer.' I think as those flaming rock fragments slam into an invisible forcefield the announcer's Hypno has put up.

The battle rages on as Angie launches a Thunderbolt at the newly exposed Lapras as Hitmonlee moves in to Low Sweep the overextended Grace. Grace stays put and fires a ring of fire at the Hitmonlee, burning it with Fire Spin, but takes a savage kick to the side in trade as the Hitmonlee's kick lands. She flies through the air, landing roughly on our side staggered, but standing slowly back up. The Lapras, who looks to have been paralyzed by Angie's electricity, still manages to get off a Water Pulse against Grace before suffering another Thunderbolt, knocking it out. Unfortunately, the Water Pulse knocks the already weakened Grace out as well. 

"Oh! Both Lapras and Flareon go down! What will the trainers bring out next?"

As Lara and Selena switch out their Pokemon, offering words of encouragement to the Pokemon's Pokeballs, Angie lands another Charm on Hitmonlee as it rushes to close the distance. 

'Stupid. Lapras is a special attacker. That was a waste of a move. Get your head out of your ass, Finn!'

Lara sends out Celeste and Selena sends out a Cloyster, but not just any Cloyster...

"What's this? Trainer Selena has sent out a variant Cloyster! Look at the size of Pokemon, folks! This will be a tough match for team Ketbridge! Will they be able to pull through? Lara has sent out an Abra, will this small Pokemon be enough?"

I grit my teeth and Lara frowns as Selena and Omar smirk at us. The Cloyster is indeed huge. A giant, 5-foot tall, dark brown clamb with jagged edges on its massive shell and enormous spikes that secrete a purplish liquid. Lara and I share a worried glance, but as we do Celeste's eyes glow neon purple as she launches a powerful Psychic without being told to. It appears she does not like being called small and being considered weak. The attack lands just as Hitmonlee is suffering from the effects of its burns and flips the poor Pokemon head over feet before it lands and lays still, knocked out. Everyone around us quiets down as we stare in shock at the overwhelming attack, but the shock only grows as the small Abra shines white and starts flickering. The crowd roars in approval as the announcer rides the waves of cheers with her refereeing. 

"I cannot believe my eyes! Lara's Abra is evolving mid-battle just after landing a powerful Psychic blast and knocking out Hitmonlee! What will trainer Omar choose next? This is turning into quite the hot battle!"

Unfortunately for Lara and me, the smile on Selena and Omar's faces only grow as he releases his next Pokemon.

Lara and I stare in awe and disbelief as the towering Pokemon comes out to join the fray. 

"What!?! Another variant Pokemon? Trainer Omar sends out what can only be described as an Onix made entirely of Diamonds!"

'Well...shit.' I think, 'This battle just got a lot trickier...'