Pokemon Alternate Universe Adventures

"Mom, that's not fair. How should have I known that you were waiting here when you were keeping it from me?" I countered and I heard some snickering coming from behind Mom. I also saw Dad giving me pitying looks, and I could nearly hear him think that I should have just agreed with her instead of trying to contend her words. "That doesn't mean that you should come this late to the Gym," Mom refuted not even bothering to address my point.

"Besides, are you criticizing us; Me, for wanting to surprise you? I raised you better than that," Mom followed up, switching to Mom Tactics 101, and the snickers in the background turned into right-out laughter at her words. Meanwhile, Dad gave me a look that said you should have known better, but from the smile on his face, I knew that he was enjoying the show. I knew that Mom could easily continue this rhetoric if I let her so I decided to use my secret weapon to nip that in the bud.

"You're right," I declared; "I'm happy to see you," I affirmed as I stepped up to her and pulled her into a hug which she happily returned, and I could feel her make a satisfied nod by the movement of her head on my shoulder. "I'm happy to see you all as well," I followed up looking at the boys and girls watching us with amused looks. "I'm sure you are son," Dad said while he patted me on the shoulder as Mom finally chose to let me go. "Smart move" he whispered directly after and I had to chuckle when he flinched because Mom, who had definitely heard that, pinched his side.

There was some giggling as well as chuckling from the others who watched the byplay, and I saw the girls give me some questionable looks, which I once again chose to selectively ignore since I was simply not interested in starting any kind of relationship until I had less on my plate. Besides, all of us were still pretty young so I was in no rush to deal with something as complex and potentially headache-inducing as a romantic relationship, especially with the mess I had found myself in with all the girls that ended up liking me. Maybe a miracle would happen and they would deal with it among themselves, or their feelings would change as they waited for me to finally make a move.

"Happy to see you man," Kinji was the first to speak up among my friends. "You were nearly late to your Gym challenge. Is everything alright? Do you need any help?" My bro asked as he stepped up to hug me to complete our usual greeting ritual. Kinji's question naturally drew everyone's attention. "Yeah, everything's good. I was just shopping and time got a bit tight because finding what I wanted took longer than expected," I replied with some helplessness in my voice and a slight smile on my face, which turned into a short chuckle when I saw all the girls/women nod in understanding at my words.

My chuckle became a snort of laughter when I noticed that Yu had joined the ladies in their nodding. Kenji chuckled as well, though I was not sure if that was for the same reason. "If you say so," he said as he patted me on the shoulder. "Tell me if something crops up, alright?" Kinji followed up with a smile, and the other boys echoed the sentiment. "Alright," I briefly said with a smile. "Still, I'm about to be late, so I got to head inside real quick," I declared though I did not head inside before giving all of my friends a quick hug and thanking them for coming to support me. A man had to have priorities after all and friends ranked above Gym Challenges on my list, so I only entered after I had hugged the last friend, despite them urging me to leave that for later.

A quick look at my watch, as I stepped into the Gym, told me that I still had 8 minutes until 5 p.m., so I was theoretically not late, though going by the look the receptionist lady gave me after I told her who I was, I had cut it quite close. "Sorry, I got held up by something," I preemptively explained, making her release a sigh. "It's fine, at least you're here," she said before she picked up the phone. She told someone named Todd that I had come after all, and less than a minute after her call Todd came to the reception and swiftly led me to the waiting room.

It was likely due to the time constraints, but Todd was brisk and brief in his steps and words. He left after he told me that I would likely be called up over the speakers within two to three minutes at most, so he recommended that I did not do anything that would take longer than that. I saw him glance at the door leading to the toilet when he said that, so I nodded to show my understanding. Todd ended up being right since I heard the emcee start my intro less than 2 minutes after I sat down on the couch the Gym had placed in their challenger's room.

I walked up the passage leading to the battlefield while listening to the emcee share some information about me such as the number of Badges I had won so far and that I was from Hope Town in Kanto. My entry was met with some cheers, and looking toward the stands, I spotted my friends and parents so I gave a short wave in their direction, before focusing on the opposite of the field where my first opponent appeared under the introduction of the emcee.

"Allow me to give you a taste of the might of dragons and let us see if you have what it takes to take on the Mistress of Dragons," Joey proclaimed with a challenging grin after the emcee was done introducing him, and I had to smirk a bit at his words. "Nice opening, 8 out of 10," I said jokingly, which triggered some laughter among the audience and caused Joey's grin to falter for a moment before he chuckled. "Confident," he started; " Hopefully, you'll keep that confidence throughout the challenge," Joey declared, causing some audience members to cheer.

He then nodded towards the referee, who started his spiel without giving me a chance to make a comeback/retort. I just smiled at that and pulled out Kun/Azuraid's OceanBall while the referee mentioned that I, as the challenger, had a single substitution allowance. Not all Gym's offered one during the challenge phase, but it was a welcome bonus. Once the referee gave the signal I released Kun onto the field while an Altaria appeared on Joey's side, though I was not sure if starting with (low) dark gold stage Pokemon was what the Fallabor Gym usually did for 8 Badge 3-star challenges or if that was just for me.

Nonetheless, I was sure Kun would still prevail, so while Kun initiated Tailwind, I chose to tease Joey a bit. "So, an Altaria, huh? You're not going to turn out to be a flying specialist right?" I joked and Joey released a contemptuous snort. "Dragonbreath," he simply ordered instead, probably thinking something like 'How's that for a flying type?'. Kun easily dodged the thin but potent stream of dragon fire and retaliated with an Ice Beam that Altaria smoothly evaded. That skillful dodge promised a long battle, but having an Altaria myself I had a good idea of how to hamper its mobility/speed.

'We're going to soak its wings with water first before truly going on the offensive, so let's first test how well this Altaria can control its ability. If we're lucky it will be unable to prevent the rain from starting and just negate its extra effects,' I told Kun through telepathy, and he directly performed Rain Dance. "Sunny," Joey directly said when he saw what Kun was doing, which revealed that this Altaria, unlike some others, could not use its Cloud Nine ability to stop the rain and had to resort to Sunny Day to oppose the Rain Dance.

I made a mental note of that before I had Kun fly higher following which he formed a Whirlpool that he then threw at Altaria. Altaria had to hastily dodge out of the range of the expansive whirling water heading for it, and while it did that Kun tried to close in on it, or more specifically, he tried to fly above Altaria for his next attack. While Joey noticed Kun's approach and told Altaria to swerve to the right to open the distance between them, Kun still managed to reach a decent enough position for our next move. 'Surf,' I ordered and Kun released a giant wave of water from above Altaria in its direction.

Their respective positions ensured that Altaria would be unable to dodge the move without being submerged in it for at least a few moments, so they had no choice but to block the wave somehow if they wanted to avoid that. I got what I wanted either way, so while Joey ordered Altaria to use Dragon Pulse and break through the water, I had Kun use Rain Dance. Altaria being busy had no time to interrupt him, so just as it broke through the Surf and appeared on the other side, it got peppered by raindrops. Joey's reaction was immediate, "Sunny," he ordered as Altaria's cotton-like feathers began to soak up the raindrops, slowly becoming heavier and clumped.

We obviously were not planning to just let them do, so Kun released an Ice Beam straight at Altaria as it was initiating the Sunny Day, forcing it to abort its attempt in favor of dodging the beam of ice. Everyone got to see the result of the rain since the dodge was already less elegant than before even though the rain had just started. After two more failed attempts at Sunny Day with increasingly close call dodges, Joey chose to change his approach. "Fire Spin around you," he ordered, and it was not a bad idea to use the heat of its own attack to at least temporarily dry Altaria's wings.

Still, I did not plan to grant them any reprieve, so I had Kun flood the air around Altria with Surf. The wave doused the fire though Altraia itself appeared untouched since it used Protect at the last moment. The shield/dome got dragged down by the water as it crashed into the ground, and while it protected Altaria, it had also effectively grounded her, which was not all that good for them. I had Kun utilize his rain cloud to release pinpoint Thunders that Alatria could not dodge while grounded. Protect did hold out, and Altria began to Sing.

Unfortunately for them, the loud sound of the second Thunder broke the Sing and cracked the remarkably resilient Protect. Instead of a third Thunder, Kun released a Scorch Pump at the pinned-down Altaria. The scorching water broke through the protective dome and boiled the blue bird, sorry, dragon. Altaria released a painful cry when it got hit by Scorch Pump, which then transitioned into a mournful melody. Taken off guard by Altaria using Perish Song without Joey's order, I could only helplessly listen/watch as it finished the tragic tune moments before Kun's follow-up Thunder hit.

Since Altaria had abandoned any defense in favor of finishing Perish Song Thunder hit it and it released another pained cry, which got cut short after Kun hit it with an Ice Beam that took it out, though his victory over Altaria did not change that his time was numbered unless I switched him out, but I was not planning to do that, so Kun stayed in. The referee prompted Joey who had withdrawn his beaten Altria to release his next Pokemon, and Joey looked at me as he pulled out his second PokeBall.

"You need more than rain, thunder, and ice to beat dragons," Joey declared, stressing that dragons at the end, before he released a Turtonator, while the audience cheered at his "cool" declaration.

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