My Little Pokemon

by Alabenson

Chasing Peak Performance

“Finally! It feels like we were stuck in that cave for months!” Rainbow Dash said as the wagon emerged from the caverns into the sunlight.

“It is a rather lengthy trip, but personally I tend to think the view is worth it,” Siegfried replied. As the group’s eyes adjusted to the bright glare of the sun, they quickly saw what he meant. Stretched out before them was a pathway cut into the side of the mountain which wound its way up towards an imposing castle-like structure.

“Is that…?” Twilight asked as she peered into the distance.

“Drakefang Monastery,” Siegfried answered. “The trainers who built it weren’t especially fond of guests, and if you think it’s hard getting here now then you can only imagine what it was like before the road was built. We still have a bit of a ways to go before we get there, but we should arrive by late afternoon.”

“That’s fine with me,” Rainbow Dash said. “As long as we don’t have to go through any more caves then I’m happy. Besides, like you said, the view from up here is awesome.”

“I agree, it’s very pretty, but are you sure we can’t get there any faster?” Twilight asked impatiently. “The sooner we reach the monastery the sooner I might be able to get the answers I’m looking for.”

“Don’t worry, miss, you’ll get the answers you need soon enough,” Siegfried said. “Although, they might not be tot eh questions you think they are,” he added quietly.

“What was that?” Twilight asked.

“Nothing for you to worry about, just talking to myself. Oh, would you look up there, we have a few Skarmory flying about,” Siegfried said as he pointed at a pair of massive, silvery birds wheeling through the sky. “They like nesting in the bramble patches that grow in these mountains, but it’s a tad unusual to see them this close to the monastery. Usually they prefer to avoid this particular valley.”

“Yeah, well duh,” Rainbow Dash said, causing everyone to turn to look at her in confusion. “I mean, it’s kinda obvious if you look at these mountains. The air currents up there are gonna be completely nuts, and a bird that big probably relies pretty heavily on those currents to get anywhere.”

“You’re certainly seem well versed when it comes to flying,” Siegfried remarked.

“Yeah, I’m kind of an expert when it comes to that,” Rainbow Dash replied as she leaned back, her voice dripping with false modesty.

“Are you, now? Well, you are right about the air currents around here, I’ll grant you that,” Siegfried said. Rainbow Dash, Siegfried and Spike continued to chat about the mountains surrounding the monastery and the Pokémon residing nearby as they continued along the road. Twilight, however, remained largely silent, her attention instead completely fixated on their destination.

Eventually, the wagon finally reached its destination, and the moment it came to a stop Twilight leapt out and raced inside, uttering a barely comprehensible ‘thank you’ to Siegfried as she went by.

“Hey! Where the hay does she think she’s going?” Rainbow Dash said as her friend disappeared inside.

“She’s probably headed straight to the library,” Spike replied. “To be fair, this has been the largest I’ve ever seen Twilight go without reading a book before. Maybe it’s some kind of withdrawal thing, you know, like that time you dared Pinkie Pie to go a full week without frosting.”

Rainbow Dash shuddered at the memory of her dare’s eventual outcome. “It took me three days to get all the buttercream out of my coat when that was over. Anyway, you’re probably right, we should let Twilight do her thing for now and get it out of her system. Why don’t we have a look around this place while we’re waiting? Hey, Siegfried –” As Rainbow Dash turned, however, she saw that Siegfried had somehow vanished when she wasn’t looking. “Oh come on! Now he’s gone too?”

“He probably needs to let someone know that he’s back with all this stuff,” Spike reasoned. “We can still look around if you want, though. I kind of want to see if we can figure out where those huge birds were going.”

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh as she shrugged her shoulders in response. “Alright, sure, why not? Anyway, it’s not like Twilight’s gonna get in any trouble or anything around here. She probably won’t even have left the library by the time we get back.”

*********

“Argh, this is hopeless!” Twilight cried out as she slammed the book she had been reading shut. “All of these are just old myths and fables, there’s nothing here I can use. I was really hoping there would be at least something here that would help me fix all of this.”

“It sounds as though things aren’t going quite as well as you had planned.” Twilight spun around to see Siegfried standing in the library’s doorway. “Tell me, what exactly were you hoping to find here?”

“That’s kind of a long story, but basically my friends and a lot of other po-people are in trouble because of something I did, and I thought I might be able to find some way of fixing everything by coming here,” Twilight replied. “But, it doesn’t look like that’s going to be the case. The books here are certainly fascinating, but mythology isn’t really what I need right now.’

“Well, that certainly sounds like quite the predicament you have. But, let me ask you this; What is it precisely that you do think that you need right now? Siegfried asked.

Twilight wordlessly opened and closed her mouth several as she appeared to try and come up with an answer, only to eventually give up and slump down onto the table. “I don’t really know. I just figured that when I found the answer I was looking for I’d just…know.”

“I’m guessing things have worked out for you in the past like that, haven’t they?” Siegfried asked, to which Twilight nodded. “I thought as much. From what I’ve seen of you so far, you’re clearly quite intelligent, and it would probably be easy for you to become accustomed to relying on your intuition along with a bit of luck to solve your problems. Unfortunately, not every problem can be solved like that, and it can be hard habit to break once you get into it. Luckily for you, I think I may know a way I can help.”

“You do?” Twilight asked, her face brightening considerably.

“In a manner of speaking, yes. I might have the answers to the problem you’re focused on solving at the moment, but I do think I can help you to see the truth of the obstacles keeping you from getting there on your own,” Siegfried said as he turned and motioned for Twilight to follow.

Twilight hesitated for just a moment before getting up from the table and hurrying after Siegfried. While she might not have fully understood what Siegfried was saying, her efforts to find answers on her own hit a brick wall and she was ready to accept help wherever she could find it.

Once he was sure Twilight was following, Siegfried proceeded to lead Twilight through the twisting halls of the monastery, until they eventually reached a massive set of wooden double doors. “As I see it, the problem that you have right now, Twilight, is that you’ve become so focused on a single goal that you’re losing sight of the path you’re taking to get there. If you’re not careful, you may find yourself straying from the path you need to take without ever realizing it until it’s too late to correct course, and if that should happen you might never reach your desired destination.”

“Sorry, but I think you’ve lost me,” Twilight said as she tried to keep her impatience from creeping into her voice.

“Like many things, it would probably be easier to show you,” Siegfried replied before pushing the doors open. Beyond the doors lay a massive, vaulted chamber housing what Twilight immediately recognized as a battling arena. “Over the years, I’ve found that battling can bring a certain clarity to one’s mind. And besides, you did say that you intended to challenge this place while you were visiting, so you can think of this as furthering two goals at once.”

“Why does everything in this world have to revolve around battling?” Twilight groaned. “But, you are right about me needing to challenge this place for my next badge. So, where’s the Gym leader?”

“Closer than you may realize,” Siegfried replied. “Allow me to reintroduce myself; I am Siegfried, leader of the Drakefang Monastery Gym, and I hereby accept your challenge!”

*********

“So, what’s so bad about the wind around here, anyway?” Spike asked as he and Rainbow Dash hiked along the mountain trail.

“Well, first off they can get pretty strong, but the main problem is they can change direction really suddenly,” Rainbow Dash replied as she peered down the mountainside looking for a good way to illustrate her point. “Okay, here, look over at those bushes down there. Do you see the way the leaves on it are moving? That means the wind down there is blowing east…-ish, I think? Anyway, the important part is that it blowing that way and it’s not strong enough to really be a problem when you’re flying. But, if you look up there,” Rainbow Dash continued as she pointed to another bush further away and higher up. “The way those leaves over there are moving tells you that you’ve got a really strong downdraft over the there. If you fly into something like that and you’re not paying attention you could spinout and even get slammed into the side of the mountain. Trust me, that’s not something you want to have to deal with.”

“Woah, that sounds pretty dangerous,” Spike said.

“Yep. I mean, I keep telling Twilight how important it is to keep track of your surroundings while flying, but up here in the mountains its super important,” Rainbow Dash said. “You’ve got to be pretty awesome to fly around in a place like this, otherwise you might end up having to -”

“Duck!” Spike yelled as he pulled Rainbow Dash down to the ground as a sudden updraft sent a Skarmory careening up the side of the mountain, nearly crashing into them before landing on ledge above their heads.

“Hey! A little warning next time!” Rainbow Dash yelled angrily as she tried to see where the Skarmory had landed. The
response Rainbow Dash received, however, was a series of shrill, pained screeches from the top of the ledge.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Spike said as he stood back up. “Do you think we should climb up to check to see if it’s alright?”

Rainbow Dash grimaced before letting out a sigh of resignation. “Yeah, you’re probably right. It wasn’t really its fault it crashed like that, and now that you’ve mentioned it if we don’t do something I’ll feel like a jerk for the rest of the day.” With that, Rainbow Dash and Spike began looking for a way to climb up to the ledge, a task which took several minutes due to the steepness of the mountainside. Once up there, it didn’t take the pair long to locate the Skarmory and see the reason for its distress.

The Skarmory had landed in a large thorn bush, in which it had become hopelessly tangled. Moreover, repeatedly crashing into the sides of the cliffs had left the Skarmory ‘s wings in a sorry state, bend and cracked to the point that it was unlikely the armored Pokémon could fly. This combination of being ensnared and injured had left the Skarmory in a clearly foul mood, and it started violently thrashing about with renewed vigor the moment it noticed Rainbow Dash and Spike.

“Hey, easy there,” Rainbow Dash said as she tried slowly approaching the Pokémon. “We’re not gonna hurt you or anything we just want to – HEY!” Rainbow Dash was forced to abruptly jump back as the Skarmory tried to swipe at her with one of its wings.

“Careful, I’ve been checking my Pokédex, and it says here that that thing’s feathers are so sharp people used to make knives and stuff out of them,” Spike warned.

“Well, we can’t just leave it here like this, I mean just look at how beat up its wings are,” Rainbow Dash said before her eyes suddenly lit up. “Wait, I know what I can do; I’ll catch it!” Neither Spike nor the Skarmory had time to react as Rainbow Dash pulled out a Poké Ball and tossed it at Skarmory. In a flash, Skarmory was enveloped in red light and pulled inside the ball, which began furiously shaking before it even hit the ground.

“What’d you do that for?” Spike asked.

“This way I’ll be able to take it to a Pokémon Center easy without it trying to cut me or something,” Rainbow Dash said as she watched the ball continue to shake. “Geez, how long do you think its gonna keep shaking like that?”

“I have no idea,” Spike replied. “I just hope Twilight’s having more luck in the library.”

*********

“Charmeleon, Dragon Rage!” Twilight’s Charmeleon snorted upon hearing Twilight’s command, but still obediently opened its mouth and sent a massive ball of fire at its opponent.

“You’re still relying on that trick, I see. Well, with any luck you’ll at least find what’s about to come instructive. Tyrunt, use Dragon Dance,” Siegfried commanded, his tone projecting an aura of complete calm even as his Pokémon, a small greyish-brown theropod, was struck full on by Charmeleon’s attack. Despite being visibly battered, however, Tyrunt pulled itself to its feet as glowing clouds of maroon energy started swirling around it.

“I don’t know what you think that’s going to teach me, but if you’re just going to have your Pokémon dance around –”

“Tyrunt, use Stomp.” Twilight found herself cut off as Tyrunt raced forward and leapt into the air before dropping down like a stone directly onto Charmeleon’s head.

“I – what? How did it move like that? It wasn’t that fast before. Charmeleon, hurry, use Dragon Rage again!” Snarling, Charmeleon wheeled around to face Tyrant, sending a shower of cinders flying from its tail in Twilight’s direction even as it launched it attack. “Hey! Charmeleon, watch what you’re doing with that tail.”

“I suspect your Charmeleon knows exactly what it’s doing with that tail, Twilight,” Siegfried said. “It’s painfully clear you’re losing control over your Pokémon, and would you like to know why? It’s because you’ve started to think of them as tools or pawns to be directed in battle and not as partners, as friends. A proud Pokémon like Charmeleon can sense that, and so it will be the first to start rebelling, but in time all of your Pokémon will follow suit, to one degree or another.” Siegfried paused as he looked down at his Tyrunt, who had collapsed to the ground as a result of Charmeleon’s second attack. “Granted, just focusing on a Pokémon’s raw strength and wielding it like a club can be effective, more so than many great trainers would care to admit. Tyrunt, return. Now then, what do you say we stop playing games? Gabite, go!” Siegfried tossed his second Poké Ball into the field, unleashing a purple and red Pokémon that looked to Twilight like a cross between Spike’s dragon form and a hammerhead shark. Siegfried, however, wasn’t about to give Twilight much time to asses her new opponent. “Gabite, Bulldoze.” Gabite immediately moved to follow its trainer’s command, stomping down on the arena floor as an orange aura surrounded its leg. The ground at the point of impact seemed to ripple as a shock wave of orange energy pulsed outward, slamming into Charmeleon with enough force to knock it off its feet.

“Charmeleon, can you get up?” Twilight called out, but Charmeleon only groaned as it lay prone on the ground.

“It would appear that your Charmeleon is unable to battle,” Siegfried observed. “So, what are you going to do now?”
Twilight scowled in silence as she recalled her Charmeleon before pulling out her next Poké Ball. “Alright then, I guess its all up to you. Go Whirlipede!”

“As I expected, you intend to defeat me using your Z-move. A sound strategy, but in case you’ve forgotten you’re not the only one who wields such power!” Siegfried said dramatically as he began the poses for his own Z-move. “Gabite, unleash your full might! Devastating Drake!” As Gabite mimicked its trainer’s movements, a purple sphere of energy formed in front of it. Then, with a final thrust of its clawed arms the orb exploded forward, the energy coalescing into the shape of a winged dragon as it bore down onto Whirlipede.

“Whirlipede, Protect!” A mere split-second before Gabite’s attack struck, Whirlipede surrounded itself in a bubble of turquoise energy as Twilight grinned smugly. “As a matter of fact, I did remember that you still had your Z-move. Though you were right about one thing,” Twilight added as she held up her wrist, the crystal in her Z-ring already glowing with power. “I have every intention of beating you with my own. Whirlipede, Savage Spinout!” The barrier surrounding Whirlipede burst apart as the golden energy of the Z-move was unleashed, followed immediately after by a torrent of white fibers. Gabite, still winded from its own Z-move, had no hope of escaping the attack and was quickly engulfed. With its prey captured, Whirlipede proceeded to spin around like a demented top, frequently changing direction to slam its opponent into the walls and floor. “There, now all I need to do is have Whirlipede finish your Gabite off and I should have this all wrapped up,” Twilight said, practically oozing self-satisfaction.

“Is that so? I think you might find that this battle isn’t nearly as close to decided as you seem to believe. Gabite, use Sandstorm.” Gabite’s eyes began to glow as it lifted its head and let out a piercing cry, summoning a swirling tornado of dirt and sand which sprang up around it before quickly engulfing the entire arena.

“Nice try, but its going to take more than a little sand to stop me. Whirlipede, use Bug Bite!” Whirlipede obediently charged into the heart of the storm towards Gabite, but just as Whirlipede was about to strike Gabite seemed to disappear into the swirling grit. Confused, Whirlipede began frantically looking in every direction for its opponent, but to no avail. Twilight growled in frustration as she realized that the Sandstorm would prove more effective at providing concealment than she had expected, until a dark shape amidst the sand. “Whirlipede, behind you and to your left! Use Poison Tail!”

“Gabite, Dual Chop.” Whirlipede’s rear barbs took on a sinister purple glow as it spun around in a circle, an act that was rewarded with a grunt of pain from Gabite. This minor victory was short-lived, however, as Gabite promptly delivered a vicious blow to Whirlipede’s side with its claw, followed immediately by a second blow to the front of its carapace that sent Whirlipede rolling back.

“Okay, that could have gone better, but that was still only one attack. Whirlipede should be able to –” Twilight paused mid-sentence as she took a closer look at her Pokémon. While Whirlipede may still have been able to fight, it was clearly worn out, far more than Twilight would have expected.

“The barrier created by Protect can’t quite absorb the full force of a Z-move, thought it does greatly mitigate the damage. Given the expression on your face, it would appear that you were not only unaware of that, but you hadn’t even noticed your Pokémon’s injuries. Your blind focus on your goal of defeating me has left you vulnerable, and now it’s time to pay the price. Gabite, another Dual Chop.”

Panicking, Twilight desperately peered into the swirling sands to try and see where Gabite’s attack would come from, but to no avail. “Whirlipede, use another Protect,” Twilight finally shouted, just as Gabite emerged from the sand.

A sudden upsurge in the force of the sandstorm briefly obscured both Pokémon as they clashed. A few agonizing moments of silence followed before the sandstorm enveloping the arena abruptly died down, revealing Gabite and Whirlipede, the former’s attack having been thwarted by Protect. Then, as Siegfried and Twilight looked on Gabite slowly teetered to one side before collapsing to the ground.

Both trainers needed several seconds to process what had just happened until Siegfried silently raised Gabite’s Poké Ball and recalled it from the field. “It would seem I’m guilty of the same offense I had accused you of. Before now, I hadn’t realized that the venom from your Whirlipede’s earlier attack had taken hold. Consequently, it would appear that you have succeeded in besting me. As such, it is my duty to present you with the spoils of you victory; the Wyrm Badge and a piece of Dragonium Z.”

Siegfried pressed a concealed button on the wall next to him, which caused a panel near Twilight to slide open. Inside was a padded case containing a badge in the form of a winged dragon along with a teal stone similar to the crystal Twilight had received from Arnold. Any elation Twilight might have felt at this victory was soured, however, by the revelations Siegfried had made during their battle. “Do I really deserve this?” Twilight asked.

“Regardless of the mistakes you’ve made so far, you’re still clearly a skilled tactician. If you weren’t, then you likely wouldn’t have made it even this far. That said, if you continue as you have been then it will be highly unlikely that you’ll be able to reach your goal.” Seeing Twilight visibly wince at this, Siegfried offered her an encouraging smile. “Remember, the first step to solving a problem is acknowledging its existence. Now that you understand where you’ve gone astray you can work to fix things.”

Before Twilight could respond, a female voice spoke up from an unseen speaker. “Mister Siegfried, sir? This is Nurse Joy from the monastery’s Pokémon Center. We seem to be having some issues with a Skarmory that was just brought in could really use your assistance.”

Comments

[raven618]

.I might have the answers to the problem you’re focused on solving at the moment

there should be a 'not' in there.

[Xanderfox]

Twilight winning with type disadvantage and even the problems her approach has is impressive but fits Twilight, there is a reason she's a good leader. If Twilight forms strong bonds with her pokemon her strategies will be more effective, her pokemon will go along with her choices with out hesitation if they trust Twilight. Friendship is your greatest power Twi, make friends with your pokemon!

[CyberDemonSlayer]

The win kinda feels forced, she should have lost, worked on befriending her Pokémon and then came back and won but now it feels like it’s okay that twilight’s treating her Pokémon like tools, the princess of friendship didn’t even react to the accusations of treating them like tools instead of friends and preceded to win anyway despite everything pointing to twilight losing the match.

[WanderingPony]

10467248

Just because you're not doing it the best way in the end doesn't mean it's an unviable solution. She planned it out, and it worked- but from the looks of things, she's not bonding with her Pokemon the way Dash is. And that's a situation of increasingly inefficient effort.

Friendship may not be magic here, but it can mean a Pokemon shakes off effects that would otherwise incapacitate it, or pull off unbelievable amounts of power from an ordinary move, even manage to keep fighting where otherwise they'd be out cold from a massive hit. Anyone who's watched the animated series knows exactly how bad a Charmeleon/Charizard gets when a trainer doesn't manage that bond properly (Ash) vs. say, a certain Charizard-fan Champion from a recent series.