The Ranger Reject

Aliapanacea

This one is a bit experimental. Let me know how you feel about it!

I sigh as I finish straightening my platinum hair, something that turns out to be a teensy bit annoying while you’re mid route. Putting down the fire hazard, I take out a stick of lip gloss, applying it, then smacking my lips before I giggle. My partner grunts at me from the side, gesturing towards my laptop, while my other friend seems to be missing for the moment.

“Yes, yes, I hear you.” I mutter, swiftly applying a bit of lotion to my dry hands. “Yai, I’m ready, but let me move to a better position.”

The Mawile sighs as I shift my chair under a small tree, but obliges my whims as it moves the table a bit closer. I take a deep breath, then reach over and open my broadcasting software. Honestly, I wish I could kiss whoever in the Kalos league decided it was a good idea to get such good wifi access on their routes. Such a great region. I start the stream, my familiar stream start screen showing a Gif of a Mawile running.

I roll my eyes, setting a timer for five minutes. After I began to start streaming an hour after I woke up, my regulars had gotten into the strange pastime of waiting from dawn to not miss an oddly timed stream start. I never woke up at a consistent time, so it was honestly impressive how dedicated they were to the cause. Yai runs up next to me, sitting down beside me and raising her mouth up onto my lap. I quietly stroke its top, getting a shiver of pleasure from her.

I snicker at my original fanbase sounding off, then straighten my back right as the timer ends. The stream shifts into my typical simplistic layout, a black and tan outline around my chat and camera. I give a small wave and a tiny smile.

“Hello, my friends. We have a long day today, and we don’t have much time before the first scheduled match at Viola’s gym.” I sigh, putting my face in my hand. “For those of you who missed it, she was quite the challenge two days ago.”

The rampaging chat aside, yesterday’s matches were quite exciting. The way that those three lucky trainers each got at least one evolution during their battle, was basically completely unheard of before.  Someone had looked into it, and they were the professor sponsors of the year, so it kinda made sense. Yet, that also meant that their Pokemon got strong abnormally fast, since they had only become their trainers two days before. 

“Let us see…,” I mutter, pulling the schedule up over my broadcasting software, “Seems first up is one Morgan Brandy, a Paldean native. She only has one pokemon registered for the fight though, so I’m not expecting too much.”

“Now, Now friends. Don’t immediately discount the poor trainer,” I pull up the official coverage on my stream, finding that the match was about to begin, “Ah, perfect timing.”

Standing across from the veteran gym leader is a rather tiny tanned girl, her hair well dyed and her outfit quite good. A Minccino sits in her arms, which I immediately assume is her only pokemon. The little chinchilla sits quietly in Morgan’s arms, but it does wiggle a bit and swipe its tail to clean the podium. On the official stream, Viola’s voice echoes over the airwaves.

“Miss Brandt, It’s a pleasure,” Viola states with a grin, and I freeze when she opens a pokeball container besides the one I had seen her use so far, “Not every day I get to use my two badge pokemon on a first badge fight.”

“I have to ask though,” Viola says into her mic, eyebrow raised. “What’s with the Minccino?”

I giggle as the challenger turns bright red, hiding her face in the chinchilla’s fur. Turns out, it wasn’t the fabled monster I thought it was.

“I uh…,”Morgan mumbles, then looks at someone behind her, “It’s complicated?”

Viola shakes her head, then preselects two pokemon before walking up to the edge. Her face gets serious, all pretense of a light hearted match dropping.

“I understand your partner is strong, Miss Brandt.” Viola slightly tilts her head, rolling a netball around in her hands. “But are you sure you want to challenge me with just it? If you lose, you will have to wait a week to retry, as is protocol.”

Morgan nods, then starts digging around in her bag, “I’m sure. Don’t look down on Eve.”

Then, I gasp when the small girl widely grins as she snaps a blindfold over her eyes.

Matching my dumbfounded look, Viola just gapes at the girl across the field from her, “Uh…”

“I’m ready!” Seemingly unconcerned with her handicap, Morgan gives a thumbs up to the referee.

“What,” I mutter, looking down at Yai, who had jumped up into my lap when I gasped. 

Viola chuckles quietly after a few moments of dumbfounded staring, then signals ready at her referee. He raises his hand, then swipes it down after a countdown. Though it’s kind of moot in this case, as always, Viola sends out her Pokemon first, “Scyther! Time for a hunt!”

Appearing midair in an illusory flash, the giant green mantis screeches in the air, running its claws over each other to cause a scraping that could cause ears to bleed. It’s subtle, but I catch Morgan cringe at the noise, hugging the Minccino a bit. Then, she pulls a deep crimson ball off of her belt, holds it up to her forehead, then tosses it into the air. 

From the crimson shine emerges a beautiful, terrifying Absol. It lands gracefully on its feet, bringing them close together and tilting its head back as if looking down on the bug across from it. Its eyes glow a deep blood red, and I find my heart beating a bit faster than I remember it had been a few seconds before.

“That’s a good point, Seventh,” I say, biting my thumb, “This is going to be interesting, for sure.”

As Morgan catches her ball, Viola takes the initiative. 

“Swords Dance.” She orders, a small smirk rising on her face.

Morgan doesn’t even react to the words as the bug obliges its trainer’s command. The Scyther raises its claws into an X above its head, glaring down at its opponent as its blades begin to shine white. The Absol, unintimidated, matches the mantis’ setup with its own, its sinister black scythe horn and tail beginning to glow as well.

Viola clicks her tongue, then points outwards, “Go.”

The Scyther rushes forward, its claws covered up in bug energy as it cleaves at the Absol. Morgan’s partner side steps, then swings it’s head as it slashes out at the Mantis’s wings. Viola scoffs, her pokemon’s wings taking on a slight bluish hue as it shifts just a bit to align their top edge with its opponent’s neck.

Then, the Absol suddenly moves faster, its eyes flashing with flying energy as a translucent mirage of a wing forms over its horn. When it slams into the bug’s neck, a sonic boom erupts, sending it crashing into the ground. When the dust settles, the entire arena is silent. The referee makes the call, and Viola scowls as she recalls her Mantis.

“Brutal…” I pale as I gulp, imagining my pokemon taking an absurd hit like that.

“Hmm…” Viola taps her podium deep in thought. “I guess this is a valid situation.”

Viola takes her pokeballs, calmly walks over to her storage containers and places them back on it. Then, my eyes go wide when she opens the third badge case.

“Sorry about this in advance, Morgan.” Viola grabs an ultra ball, walking back to her position. “I can’t just let you get away with a win for free, and I can’t use fourth badge pokemon here.”

Viola throws the ball up in the air, and it pops open to reveal… a Beedrill?

“Huh? That… doesn’t seem like a third gym pokemon,” I mutter, squinting at the screen to see if I can catch what was so special about the bee. When Viola pulls an amulet from beneath her shirt, my eyes shoot to her. The gym leader raises it up, holding it out towards her pokemon, before she smiles and holds it between two fingers.

Then, the rainbow gem upon the chain begins to shine in a brilliant magenta.

My heart begins to beat in tandem with Yai, and we watch in awe as the unassuming Beedrill is engulfed in a dark pink shine, a cocoon forming around for just a moment before it shatters in a huge burst of power. The Bee’s form has shifted drastically, its form dramatically sleeker, gaining two more pairs of wings, having turned into what I could only describe as a weapon. Its iconic lance-like stingers have extended, but it also gained two more alongside it. Its abdomen is elongated with black stripes along it, the previously small spike upon it now sharp, a paler yellow then before. 

For a single moment in time, it’s like the world has frozen, in total awe, there is only one thing I can manage to say.

“Mega Evolution,” I breathlessly mutter.

For once, chat is essentially speechless, only a single message popping up for nearly ten seconds.

Of course, inevitably, all hell breaks loose.

I can’t seem to find any words as me and Yai stare breathless at the screen. It was like we could feel the power from here, the all encompassing pressure of a bond taken a step beyond. I hug my partner to my chest, huffing a small laugh as I feel our connection grow a bit deeper, a fledgling wish to gain the power we just witnessed taking root in our hearts. 

I can’t help but grin.

“I really, really love Pokemon,” I huff, right as the fight resumes.

The Mega Beedrill flashes out of view, reappearing right on top of the Absol. The beast flinches, its eyes flashing orange as it splits into three right when a poison coated stinger pierces where it had just been standing. The bee flickers to one, stabbing into it with one of its lance arms, only for it to vanish. Not letting this opportunity go to waste, the Absol's claws flash as it uses Quick Attack to augment a Bite. Before it hits though, the bee turns, knocking its opponent away. 

Absol comes to a sliding stop, all veneers of indomitability gone. It winces at a tiny cut upon its chest, then splits again in a panic when the Beedrill zooms at it again. This time, when the bee goes for a second hit, however, the Absol barely manages to parry the blow with a quick Slash from its horn. The bee doesn’t let up, its momentum shifting irregularly, flying up and to the right right before it slams into its opponent with two flying energy coated stingers. The Absol goes flying, landing on the ground across the field with panicked eyes.

Then, Morgan says something for the first time in the fight.

“Don’t be afraid, Eve!” Morgan’s face is pale, many beads of sweat running down her face. “If it’s faster than you, find a different way!”

Her pokemon’s demeanor shifts entirely, a subtle confidence filling its labored movements. The Absol uses the Detect-Double Team combo again, but it seems to be not nearly as effective when the Beedrill is able to use Aerial Ace to home in on it. As the Mega Pokemon looms above it, Eve’s claws begin to exude a huge amount of Dark Energy. When it swipes out its paw, the move seems to break the concept of space, slamming down upon the Bee’s body before it can hit its attack. 

The Mega Beedrill wavers from hit for just a single second, but that's more than enough time for its opponent to take advantage of the opening. A huge gust of wind sends dirt flying as Absol rushes forward, going for a second hit, its paws covered in an ominous black glow. The bee barely manages to block the blow, having to use every one of its stingers to block a strike. 

In the end, four arms aren’t enough. Absol whips its neck, its horn extended out quite a bit with gray normal energy, Slashing into the Mega Beedrill’s midsection. The bug screeches, but its energy is spent. The bee crumples, it’s transformation fading as its stingers klink against the ground.

“She did it,” I say, then eventually mutter after a moment of processing, “Holy shit.”

I take a deep breath, a small grin emerging on my face.

“I don’t know, Seventh.” I huff, only one thing in my mind.

 “But I wanna fight her.”

Aliapanacea

For the first time, we get a good look at how strong Eve and Morgan really are. They can be hard hitting if needed, are slippery enough to stay up despite being a lot slower then her opponent, and can improvise in battle when needed. My ruling on mega evolution is that only pokemon at or above third badge strength can perform it, the trainer and pokemon have to have a deep connection between each other, and the trainer can only use it once a day, except for incredible circumstances. I'm putting Sofie's fight into the next chapter, since this chapter would probably get a bit long otherwise. Is this cliche? Idk, Morgan kinda breaks rules