Happenings Between Goals

Filler time!  Can YOU guess when this takes place?  FF20: The Pokemon League has been hiring younger and younger gym leaders in order to reach out to a younger and younger audience (to get more of them to become Pokemon trainers, which in turn means they'll buy more League merchandise).

“Alright!  Emma Lain is going to show you two how it’s done!”

“Don’t let her swagger confuse you.  It’s ME you should be worried about!”

“Cecilia!”

“Gallade!”

We sent out our Pokémon, both of whom took the moment to glance at each other.  Gallade formed a small smile and nodded to Cecilia, who daintily covered her own smiling mouth and blushed slightly.

“Psychics, eh?  Well, let’s go get ‘em, Crawdaunt!”

“Krookodile, you too!”

Nice try, guys, but we aren’t that stupid.

“Time for Plan B!” I said.

“Yep!” Emma replied, knowing what to do.

“Gallade, use Leaf Blade on Krookodile!”

“Cecilia, use Magical Leaf!”

“Crap, Krookodile, Dig!”

“Crawdaunt, use Night Slash on the Gardevoir!”

“Block and slice!” I told Gallade, anticipating this.

Gallade leaped in front of Cecilia and shielded himself with his armblades as the Crawdaunt slashed downwards with a pincer.  Then he proceeded to uppercut the red menace with a Leaf Blade.  We had trained many times to do this exact thing.

“Daaaunt!” it cried, flying straight into the air.

Meanwhile, Cecilia’s magical leaves went straight into the tunnel that the Krookodile was making.  They would end up hitting it before it rose out of the ground.  The leaves were good for homing in on things, but they weren’t too powerful, so Gallade would have to finish the job once it emerges.

“This is going very badly!” stated one of the opponents.

No duh.  What was your first clue?

“Cecilia, just in case of an emergency, make a Wish!”

Cecilia folded her hand-like appendages into a prayer motion and closed her eyes.  The Crawdaunt was getting back on its feet.

“Finish it off with another Leaf Blade!”

Gallade rushed over to the Crawdaunt and put it down for good with a deck across the face.  Its trainer called it back.

We heard a yelp come from below.  The leaves must’ve hit the Krookodile.  It still managed to pop up next to Cecilia, knocking into her.  She started glowing white (well, whiter than she normally is).  The Wish attack took effect and healed her.

“Quick!  Use Leaf Blade before it goes underground again!”

“Cecilia, use Captivate!”

Cecilia really started to camp it up as Emma and I both hoped that this Krookodile would be affected by it.  It managed to stun the Pokémon long enough for Gallade to swipe at it, however.  The Krookodile went down after that.

“We win,” I said, coolly.

“You did awesome, Cecilia!  Way to go!  You’re the best!”

For their part, Gallade and Cecilia ignored us and glanced at each other.  I think they were making sure the other was okay.  I was still trying to decipher just what their relationship was with each other.  Was it becoming romantic?  Or, given Gallades’ nature, was it more of a “knight and maiden” type relationship?  Knowing Emma, she was fully convinced that it was true love.

We called the two back and got our money.