I woke up feeling weird, and found Puff shivering. I brought her closer to sleep next to me and went back to sleep. I didn't notice her shivering even more after that.
The next day was much the same as yesterday except we didn't have to look for breakfast or travel to Elizabean.
Puff was worse for wear, not having had a good sleep last night. On top of that she kept hearing these weird noises that weren't there. She described it having weak sings attacking her ears and making her drowsy. She was sleeping in her pokeball to keep her close to me while I moved all around.
George had all but left Bronzor to mentor Ian as he felt useless in the exchange and wanted to take a break from his 'hard travels'. I was dismissive but from what I heard, the walk to Darklauf was supposed to take normally 3 days. I do admit that I had some soreness from the jogging but it wasn't too bad.
The Stuffel got their battles, each winning me 100 bucks and I now planned to include them on my roster for the event tomorrow. They were strong but instead of listening to me, they only took suggestions and warnings. The rest they figured out on their own to smash the Shelmet and Qwilfish they fought against. As long as I could get the ribbons I was sure I'd do well tomorrow.
I wasn't quite thinking I would get 50 or anywhere close but I could at least get 10 from my estimates. I was getting money slower than yesterday, people having figured out exactly how strong I was with only the older trainers or ones who would stomp me anyway with evolved Pokemon challenging me when I quit. I still gathered a tidy sum just under 2000 bucks.
Sin pulled me out, noticing how I was now losing money. I had also lost quite the sum to George, or at least his Bronzor who had gotten a ton better at using gravity while Ian had only been able to make himself heavy and to a lesser degree even then. Still I felt a difference. Gravity increased his weight at least 50 percent and he could turn it on and off fairly quickly by releasing ghost energy to offload the effect and then reapplying it later.
We did some personal training after I stopped battling and Fly made a breakthrough in her ability. She was now able to completely separate a cloud of static from her to push it farther away. It depleted quickly but once it latched onto a being it drained like water to the source that it touches. From what I knew, Manectric storms also acted sort of like that except that they were generally attached to the Manectric. She also figured out double team and was able to make one copy of herself and control it.
The last of the improvements I noticed was that Sin was getting physically stronger. Having to babysit the Stuffel most of the time and only being relieved of that duty to go battle had stimulated something in him. He ate more that he used to tonight and I bought him a second serving that he downed as well.
The wait for that line was insane. I waited in line for an hour before getting my grilled Pidgey and then another 40 minutes for the extra. I apparently hit a sweet spot because only a couple minutes later an even bigger line formed and the middle-aged woman at the cash register mentioned how the late nighters rush was here.
Ian tried attacking me again tonight so instead of forcing him out of the drunkness he was enduring, I brought out my knife and went at it. We blocked and slashed, he stabbed while I swiped the tip of his blade away from me. I finally knocked him out by slamming my knife into the side of his blade, his weakness it seemed. No guard helped him get a few good scratches on me but a quick potion fixed that right up. The nurse Joy only stuck around till 8 unless there were emergencies so I was forced into using some of the regular potions from my stock.
They would have had to have been used at some point I told myself. I watched over our camp until Ian woke up from unconsciousness with a clearer mind and resumed his normal nightly watch. It was crazy how he never needed to sleep, even while I was sawing logs he was becoming more and more of a threat by shortening the time he needed to gather and use the psychic power on himself. Put together with Bronzor's teaching and the mercury I let him have during his sessions it allowed him to learn this pretty quickly even if it wasn't all that the move could offer.
While technically any Pokemon could learn any move, it took much longer for the real thing to really show itself. Months of practice were needed despite them picking up the individual components as quickly as normal. Some species weren't as inclined to certain moves as others. And then there were the ones that they were inclined to learn and just couldn't, looking at you block. Fucking block. You know how weird I felt telling Ian to float in front of a fleeing wild, DO YOU? Sigh, I'll drop it for now but I won't forget.
Finally, the day of the colony attack was on. I grabbed everything I would need and left Puff to watch the rest. Potions, knife, and lastly my Pokemon. Puff was feeling more awake today, getting accustomed to the frequent ringing of sing in her ears. I made sure to brush her extra to make her feel better. She had been so out of it yesterday that she had forgotten to redo my hair and that was the favorite part of her day when the time came.
She waved us off, floating gently upon her tailwind and agility combo. The Stuffels and I waved back to her as Fly barked a bye.
"Good luck" she rasped. Her throat was dry instead of being sleepy so I had left her extra plastic water bottles I had gotten for free from one of the townsfolk. The elderly man called it an offering for their protector's children, explaining the situation in Elizabean.
A strong Bewear with two children watched over this town to keep any rowdy wilds away in exchange for offerings and sometimes taking care of his children. That would explain where the Bewear got all those berries, he certainly couldn't have just walked around to find that many. The Stuffel seemed to recognize the man and encouraged me to stay for a little while he rubbed them down, showing me the secret to not getting punched.
The one with the smaller bottom earlobes didn't like being scratched on its back while the other with the larger smile didn't like being tickled. He showed me his ways and thanked me for helping the village when I was asked such that they could enjoy an easier time. The free water bottles was good enough for me so I told him not to worry about it. I may have not told him about the deal I made with their almighty protector though. I'm a nice kid he told me. Only slight guilt remained as I walked over to the area that the other trainers were drifting to.
I envied Elizabean. It was the best of both the city and small village worlds. With the protection of a strong Pokemon, one that had left on good terms with a trainer at that, they were able to peacefully pass their time in retirement with all the modern amenities they were used to. The village tried making a deal with a strong Pokemon once before my grandparents got there but it fell through, the fairy seeing little need to protect the village.
Ah memories of terrible fairies, breath of fresh air aren't they.
I turned my brain back towards the outside world and listened to the rousing speech the woman from two days ago was making.
"-charge into battle to protect this village! ARE YOU WITH ME!?!?!" too loud. The crowd that had formed went wild and the trainers numbered around 80 adding Pokemon made a crowd of hundreds.
"Well here they come, get to your positions!" she announced, pointing towards the forest that started buzzing as the hidden Swarm grunts released all the Beedrill they had prepared for this event.
The stretch of forest they had marked out made up the entire circumference of the village on the east side. The Stuffels made intimidating noises as they prepared themselves with bulk up and prepping some rock tomb rocks as I suggested. Sin did the same and added on focus energy, becoming eerily expressionless.
Ian pulled up 5 wide guard pyramids while Fly howled loudly. We were ready
and then the swarm came.
