“Oooh, this will be a fun one to watch,” a familiar, female voice said from beside Applejack as she sat on the edge of the bench. The mare glanced over her shoulder to see that Brooke was sitting near her, causing her to jump slightly, she hadn’t heard her approach.
“Why is that?” Applejack asked, scooting slightly away from the canine.
“It’s a first timer who only has their starter,” Brooke answered with a doggy grin, tongue hanging slightly out the side of her mouth giving the hellhound a strangely... comical appearance. “That’s the type that Matt really puts on a show for. Oh, and sorry about earlier, you made me mad and I have kind of a short temper, fire in my belly and all that.”
The mare frown slightly but nodded her head slowly. “Apology accepted... I’m sorry for causing a... mess with the plates.”
“It’s alright, everyone makes mistakes,” Brooke said before she leaned over and licked Applejack’s cheek with a tongue that would make Winona blush. “I just react poorly to them.”
The pony’s eyes went a bit wide from the wet lick and rubbed a hoof over the cheek. “Right... now what’s this about putting on a-” suddenly the lights went off “-show.... what in tarnation?” Applejack said a bit out loudly as she rabidly looking around the dark room unsuccessfully.
“Shh,” Brooke whispered in her ear. “Relax, this is all part of the fun.”
The mare frowned at what she meant but then at the edge of her vision she could see the doors to the gym opening, letting in a small stream of light, fog dancing across the beams of light, distorting and twisting them. Slowly walking through all of that was a young girl, her arms hunched together across her chest as she gazed around in the darkness, her face masked behind a fearful expression.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” the girl called into the darkness. “I’m... I’m here for my first gym battle and the Luxray pointed me this way...”
A soft chuckle rolled through the abyss. “You’re in the right place Alice, welcome to the Dark Star Gym.” A snap rang in the air and suddenly large braziers alight with fire around the corner of the arena. Matt was standing on the far end, looking over at the girl with a mysterious, yet readily friendly, smile.
The girl jumped in surprise at the sudden fire but gulped once and did her best to put on a brave face. “Thank you,” she said with a small smile. “I’m here to challenge you!”
The man smiled as he held out his hand dramatically. “And I accept your challenge,” he said. “I hope you’re ready, for even if this is your first Gym Battle doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you.”
“I can take it,” she replied with a frown as she reached for her Pokeball. “Me and Bubbles!” She held out her hand and a Piplup emerged from the Pokeball.
“Let’s do this!” the female penguin cheered enthusiastically.
“A Piplup huh?” Matt said with a small smile before snapping his fingers once more. From the darkness behind him a Poochyena leaped out and ran forward into the battlefield. “Well, let’s see how well you do against Scorch,” he told Alice as the Poochyena growling at the Piplup challengingly.
“Go get her Scorch,” Brooke said with a smile as she looked down at the Poochyena, pride in her eyes.
Applejack frowned slightly as she looked over at Brooke, recognising the look on Houndoom’s face. “Is Scorch your... pup?” she asked.
“Yes, yes he is,” Brooke said with a happy grin. “He’s been working so hard for the past year that Matt’s finally letting him fight.”
The mare’s frown deepened slightly, still not seeing the point of working to just... fight like this, but decided not to voice her opinion. This seemed to be a big moment for Brooke and the last thing she wanted was to light that short fuse again.
“Hah! Just a little puppy? I can take you easy!” Bubbles exclaimed with a grin as she stretched her neck.
Scorch’s growl deepened as he barked out. “HEY! I’ll show you little, you little pipsqueak!”
Matt let out a short mental sigh as he glanced over at Alice. “The challenge is simple. Both of us can use up to three Pokemon and will fight till either faints. You can switch out at any time but I will stick to the Pokemon I call out to the very end.”
“I only need Bubbles! We kicked all kinds of butt on the way here!” the girl replied with a smirk. “Let’s do this!”
“Very well then let’s begin!” he made a dramatic gesture, or as much as he could, and pointed a hand straight out. “Scorch use Shadow Ball!”
The Poochyena charged forwards, opening his mouth a ball of dark energy building up quickly and he flung it towards the Piplup. Bubbles’ eyes widened in surprise but Alice remained calm.
“Bubbles! Use Bubble to block it!” she shouted.
“Right!” Bubbles shouted back, even though the girl couldn’t understand, before she drew back her head and let out a string of bubbles at the incoming ball of shadows. The two attacks collided, causing a burst of wind to spring out as the Shadow Ball dissipated.
However Matt already had the next move in mind. “Scorch, use Torment!”
Scorch smile as he flash a smile at Bubbles. “Come on, is that all you got!? I’ve seen Magikarp throw a better Bubble than that!”
Bubbles’ face turned red and she let out a cry of anger before charging forwards. “I’ll show you who the Magikarp is!”
Alice’s eyes widened at the sudden aggression but regained control of the situation by shouting. “Bubbles! Use Peck!” the girl shouted.
The Piplup leapt at Scorch, its beak glowing as she tried to peck at him.
“Sucker Punch!” Matt called out and immediately Scorch dodged the attack and lashed a paw out, glowing bright purple as it hit the side of Bubbles’s face.
Bubbles let out a disbelieving gasp of pain as she went rolling head over webbed feet in the opposite direction. She stayed down for a moment before struggling back to her feet.
“Yes! Great punch Scorch!” Brooke barked from the stands, a grin on her face a mile wide.
Applejack jumped slightly from the volume and shifted her eyes at the Houndoom for a moment before looking back at the battle. Not really getting what... fun there was in it, but somehow she wasn’t bored or disgusted from watching the fighting.
Scorch smiled proudly from hearing his mother bark her praise at him while he continued to keep his eyes on the Piplup. Matt too was watching the Piplup before shifting his attention up at Alice, waiting for her next move and observe how she was taking in the battle.
Alice grit her teeth as Bubbles stood in front of her, panting heavily. “Come on... come on... I want to win!” the Piplup growled.
Alice came to a decision. “Bubbles! Get close and use Bubble!”
The Piplup grinned and charged forwards again, blowing bubbles at Scorch the whole way there.
“Scorch, dodge and use double team!” Matt quickly ordered. The Poochyena quickly began to weaved and waved through the onslaught of bubbles and was moving faster as hazy doubles of himself started to appear everywhere.
Bubbles’s head snapped from one direction to the other in an attempt to keep up but it was no good at all and the only thing it accomplished was making her wobble about dizzily.
“Oooh where are you?!” she shouted as she struggled to put one foot in front of the other.
“Everywhere and nowhere!” Scorch answered, picking up a line he remembered Shade using once before.
“Scorch, use Shadow Ball once more!” Matt shouted, and all the copy of the Poochyena all began to form a large ball of shadow in their mouths as they aimed at Bubbles. Bubbles let out a squawk of fear but Alice’s jaw hardened.
“Use Water Sport to launch yourself into the air!” she shouted to Bubbles. The Piplup’s eyes widened as she heard the command but did as she was told. She aimed her head down to blast a jet of water into it, sending her flying into the air, the Shadow Balls, or rather, illusory ones and the real one hitting the ground harmlessly.
An intrigued eyebrow arch on Matt’s face while Scorch’s doubles began to fade away leaving one confused Poochyena. “What!?” the pup shouted in disbelief.
“Pound!” Alice shouted as Piplup fell towards the Poochyena like an avenging blue missle, her front wing glowing white. She hit and Scorch went flying in the other direction. As he landed he rolled on the ground and went out of bounds of the arena, skidding to a stop.
“Ouch,” Brooke winced in sympathy for her son. “That’s not going to do his little ego any favors.”
Applejack winced too, her mind imagining the rough feeling of being ragdolled like that... and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling to say the least. Scorch pushed himself slowly up, before going down flat on his side.
“Scorch, return!” Matt called out as a red beam hit the Poochyena and scooped him up back inside a Pokeball. He looked down at the Pokeball. “You did good for your first match,” he said softly with a smile before letting it shrink and placing it onto his belt. He glanced back at Alice, who had the biggest grin on her face.
“Yes! Great job Bubbles!” she cheered enthusiastically.
“I’m the best around!” Bubbles agreed, pushing out her chest, a grin on her beak.
“Don’t get too proud you two, the match isn’t half way done,” Matt said with a small chuckle before holding out his hand once more. “Cutter, come on out!”
Again, out of the darkness a small red and black figure leapt out in the air and landed in front of the man. The figure stood straight up displaying that its arms ended with two sharp blades, it’s chest had two lunar crest blades sticking out of it, and a small bladed horn standing out of its forehead.
Applejack’s eyes open widen. “What in tarnation is that?” she asked Brooke.
“That’s little Cutter, he’s a Pawniard Matt rescued from the rest of his pack,” Brooke answered as if it there wasn’t a creature with blades for hands standing in front of Matt. “He’s a Dark/Steel type so this battle is pretty much over. That, and he’s a vicious little guy in battle.”
“Vicious?” the mare asked, not liking the sound of that word. “Why would Matt keep a Pokemon like that with him?”
“Well hopefully, to make him a bit less so,” Brooke answered with a small shrug. “But really, it’s not surprising, his species has a very ‘kill or be killed’ mentality, only the strongest ones get to eat or mate so it ends up making them a bit... nasty.”
Applejack frowned deeply as she glance back at Cutter, who was just standing there like a statue as he just looked down upon the Piplup. A part of her now a bit worried about the young penguin Pokemon.
“Bring it!” Bubbles shouted defiantly. “I can take you, you lump of brass!”
Cutter simply remain quiet as Matt called out his first move. “Cutter, use Slash!” In the blink of an eye the Pawniard was racing towards Bubbles, it’s bladed arms lowered in a readying swing.
“Bubble!” Alice shouted, Bubble’s eyes widening as the Pawniard got closer with every second before she let out a string of bubbles at him.
“Dodge them!” Matt called out and Cutter easily maneuvered around the bubbles and got right in front of Bubble’s face, his right arm already held up.
SMACK
Bubbles was sent flying as the Pawniard’s thankfully dulled blade smashed into her face, sending her spiraling through the air. She landed hard in front of Alice, eyes blinking blearily for a moment before her head slumped.
“Bubbles!” the girl shouted, kneeling down and picking up the unconscious Piplup worriedly. Thankfully the Piplup was still breathing, a soft groan of pain leaking out of her beak.
“And the match goes to Cutter,” Matt said as the Pawniard walked back to stand in front of the man, a large, satisfied ‘expression’ plastered across his lipless face. “Is Bubble okay?” he asked over to Alice.
“She’s breathing,” Alice said, wincing a little as she pet the Pokemon. “She’ll be okay right?”
“She should, return her to Pokeball and take her to Pokemon Center once our battle is over,” Matt informed her with a nod.
“Right... right,” Alice said unsteadily as she brought the Pokeball up and touched it against Bubbles’ head and the Piplup vanished into it.
“Heh, thought so,” Brooke said with a small smile. “Scorch did a good job weakening her up.”
Applejack was still trying to process what just happen. Cutter moved very fast and she didn’t even see the hit that sent Bubble’s flying. “That still seem cruel to do to Bubbles... I mean, did he really have to hit that hard if she was already weak?”
“Of course, otherwise she might have gotten up again,” Brooke answered nonchalantly. “You fight till the other Pokemon faints or is unable to keep fighting. If they’re still standing then you should hit them with all you’ve got.”
Applejack shook her head. “I really don’t see why you do this... this seems more abusive to others than ‘having fun’.”
Brooke frowned. “Abusive? It’s not abusive,” her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “Matt doesn’t beat us, or mistreat us, or make us do things we don’t want to do! We fight because we like to fight Applejack.” She let out a small sigh, venting her anger downwards in a small stream of fire for a moment before shaking her head. “Right, sorry, anyways... Matt’s one of the nicest humans I’ve ever met... and I’ve met a lot. He took me in off of the streets when I was still a little Houndour after my old master... well I’d rather not talk about that. But really, Battling is fun, you should give it a try sometime.”
The mare rolled her eyes. “I think I’ll pass,” she replied with a shake of her head.
“Fine, keep judging me without actually trying to understand, I’m sure that’ll work out well for you,” Brooke said with a roll of her eyes before she got up, stretched once, and then leapt from the bleachers into the ring, walking up to nose Matt’s side as he walked to Alice.
Matt smiled as he gave the dog a rub across her head before looking at Alice. “So, was Bubbles your only Pokemon?” he inquired from her.
“Yes...” Alice said with a frown as she stroked the Pokeball. “I thought she was all I needed.”
“Maybe in some instances, but she can’t do all the work of battling by herself,” Matt told the young girl in a soft, lecturing tone. “You’ve got to remember, Pokemon can get tired too, especially in battles. The support of a team helps lighten the load and gives you a greater chance of success. Now that doesn’t mean Bubbles can’t still fight most of the battles, but having backup and support can really help in the long run in becoming the best trainer you can be.”
“Right... thanks,” she said, letting out a small sigh before glancing up at him and offering a hand to shake. “I’m going to come back here and we’re going to be stronger than ever!”
The man smiled as he accept her handshake. “I’ll be waiting until then. Good luck out there Alice.”
The girl smiled slightly before she frowned and looked up at the bleachers as the lights came on. “Oh... and if you don’t mind me asking, what kind of Pokemon is that?” she asked, pointing at Applejack. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in any of the books.”
Matt frowned as she glanced over at the mare and tried to think of an explanation. “She’s... a rare breed of a Ponyta.”
“Okay... without any flames?” the girl asked in bemusement.
“That’s why she’s a rare breed,” the man said again with a small chuckle. “I’m... mostly just looking after her for now for my wife, the Professor living here in the city.”
“Oh, okay then,” the girl said, satisfied with this explanation. “Well, I’ll be back, count on it!” she added with a grin before she turned and started back the way she came.
“Heheh, she’s got spunk,” Brooke commented, leaning up to lick Matt’s hand. “And Scorch did very well for his first time!”
The man let out a short sigh of relief before smiling down at the Houndoom. “That he did, want me to heal him so you can congratulate him yourself?”
“Yes!” Brooke barked with a grin, thin tail weaving back and forth excitedly.
“Alright then,” Matt said with a chuckle as he gripped a hand on one of his crutches and headed for the wall containing the healing machine.
Though in the back of his mind he made a note to bring Applejack back home with him. It was one close call for lying of who she was... and hopefully news wouldn’t go spreading around about a new species of Pokemon being held in Hearthome. The last thing he needed was Professor Oak showing up at his door, no matter how happy it would make Roxanne.
Applejack for the most part barely noticed being pointed out or Matt lying about her species. Her mind was still pondering what Brooke said to her. A small frown crossed her face as a hoof tapped lightly on the bleacher she was resting on. As she did so, she saw Matt put the Pokeball containing Scorch into the machine from yesterday before pulling it out and releasing Scorch.
The puppy came out frowning unhappily but Brooke began to lick him and soon he was bounding around full of energy, acting out different parts of the battle, Brooke at his side playing his ‘enemy’. Despite the loss, he looked... incredibly happy.
Applejack watched him for a bit longer before frowning thoughtfully. She really couldn’t see what the appeal of battling was... and most likely never really would, but at the same time, she couldn’t form a solid opinion to something she’d never done. Her mind wandered back to last night... with the ‘sparring’ she’d done with Ohm. While she never could land a hit on him... she always kept trying to. Now that she was thinking about it, she had to wonder: why?
Part of her thought because she just didn’t want to go back to sleep after having that... horrible nightmare, but a part her realized something was just... urging her to land a hit on the lion. The mare blinked blankly for a moment at thought. It reminded her of how she’d felt when she and Rainbow Dash competed. At the same time however, while some of the contests that they’d had were... stupid, she admitted that... they’d never seemed as poorly thought out as these battles were.
The tapping of her hoof went silent as a thought ran through her mind. Maybe... maybe I should at least try one battle... then I can say what I want about them. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath as she got up and headed out of the stands and to the main lobby, thinking of only one Pokemon she could trust with such a request.
She walked up to the couches standing to the side and took in a deep breath. “Ohm... I would like to go through a battle with you.”