PokeWild

The training session the next morning was short. Venonat and Cloudburst were both fully healed, and it was time for more realistic battles. Only ‘more’ realistic because there were three days left until his League deadline, and they were fighting a monster.

David was worried at first about injuries. Three days was not enough time to recover, especially if it was from a wound given by a fully evolved gym Pokemon. That worry was short-lived. Venonat and Cloudburst may have been battling, but Jenny’s Venomoth was only stretching her wings.

Venonat at least understood he never had a proper chance. He fought with that understanding, attempting risky maneuvers to avoid Moves or to dart close for a response of his own. Supersonic was used most often to attack, along with several Disables to keep his future evolution off balance. Poison Powder, still not fully mastered, was for the escapes. He shook out a purple mist to prevent Venomoth from following him too closely, her lengthy wings proving unwieldy for such sharp turns. Or perhaps, that was another handicap the Pokemon took upon herself as she taught another of her species. She had moved with a speed that defied logic before.

Cloudburst allowed herself no such advantage or refused to accept the situation. She fought, fought and fought to the bitter end. If anything she seemed dismayed at her lack of injuries when David and Jenny called the battle. Without any flashy new Moves to work into her fighting style, she stuck to what she knew best. Flying, and adapting to confined spaces. The two Pokemon started off slow, Cloudburst probing Venomoth’s defense and limits with lavender swirls, but as both Pokemon adjusted to each other... things got fast. Venomoth’s wings began to blur, Pidgey’s wings began to leak color. There were so many Gusts thrown around the arena that David and Jenny both took a step back.

It was a short session, but a productive one. They would have likely taken a break after the battles, even if they didn’t have somewhere else to be. But they did. The entire city had somewhere to be today. Fuchsia’s freedom festival.

-.-

David hadn’t been planning on attending the festival. He'd had high hopes for a nap while people celebrated – preferably in another part of the city – however, that was before he made the mistake of mentioning this to his local friends.

Louis was disappointed, but he was also planning on spending the festival with some of his friends that had come home for it. An invitation was offered to David, but it was out of solidarity rather than anything else. He wasn’t too upset when David refused it. Marie, on the other hand, refused to accept his plans. So here he was, standing in a crowd of color on the main road beside the market.

The crowd was pressed against the walls to keep the center of the road clear. Oddly it wasn't blocked off, in fact it was still in normal use given the steady traffic. Thankfully a small bubble of space had formed around Marie, as if the locals were wary of her haughty expression or afraid of being on the receiving end of her prim frowns. Or, more likely, they were worried about damaging her outfit.

Marie had gone all out on the fashion side today. She wore a long yellow robe that billowed out at her feet. The yellow faded to a perfect white towards the edges and became wispy and light. Embroidered on the robe were swirling leaves and petals. She even carried a blanket with the crest of the city as a hand warmer even though it was blindingly sunny.

David wasn’t sure if he should stand closer in the bubble around her, or further apart like everyone else to avoid damaging the robe. Unfortunately, doing so would likely earn him the scowl that was currently directed at a blue haired man mid-stumble towards her.

“You said that robes were tradition, but I don’t see anyone else in them.”

Marie held her head high, refusing to acknowledge the accusation, but he could see her eyes hurriedly scanning the street. “It wa–is. It must be the area of the city that we’re in.” She turned her head away – to search further down the street. “Look! There.”

He squinted as he followed the stately incline of her head down the road. Nothing immediately stood out, but... “The children?”

“Of course. You can’t expect them to wear or care for the full ensemble.”

The children in question weren’t wearing anything like Marie’s outfit. They weren’t even wearing robes, though he had to admit that it did seem to be a costume of sorts. The group of girls all wore long wide skirts in the bright colors of spring and white blouses. They, and some of the boys with them whose outfits were less elaborate also wore little keepsakes that seemed familiar.

“Those keepsakes, are those like centise?”

“Mmhm,” Marie hummed happily. “I taught several classes in the schools on how to make the charms.”

“Charms? Were they once symbols of the revolution? Showing allegiance maybe?”

Marie gave him a dour look. “No David, they look pretty and let them express themselves.”

“Oh.” In his defense, half of his conversations with Marie seemed to stem back to history. She was incredibly passionate about her hometown’s culture.

Marie’s displeasure faded quickly as she looked back at the children. She was positively preening.

“Next you’ll tell me this festival has nothing to do with the revolution.” David muttered, enjoying his friend's happiness, but also wanting some payback.

“Of course it does.” Marie said in a rush, before stopping to draw a large breath.

“The name kind of gave it away.” He added before she could start the lecture.

“The festival has had several names over the years, actually. ‘Freedom’ is just the latest. The Mad Death was the first, however, the dying wasn’t something easily repeated. After a few years it was changed to Mad-No-More. Sadly, while that falls off the tongue quite nicely, we found it didn’t fit everything the celebration was meant to encompass. There’s also the political concerns. The current name is still up for debate, but freedom is at the heart of the festival and no one seems to be in a rush to change.

David snorted. Political. Hosting a festival that celebrated the end of a revolution, and the likely bloody deaths of one of your more powerful neighbor’s ancestors was definitely that.

“So when does it start?” He asked.

She looked at him quizzically. “It already has.”

David raised an eyebrow at the road, and all the very normal traffic on it. It was decidedly not parade-like.

“The idea behind the festival is that you have to ‘search’ for the heroes. The revolution wasn’t won just by trainers and the festival honors that. Supporters showed their allegiance in disguised ways, like wearing a centise, and that's what this is about.”

“So I look for the purple belts?” David asked in surprise. It sounded like a giant game of ‘Where’s Wally?’. Which sounded great.

“No,” Marie replied in amusement. “It became too hard to distinguish the supporters after the city became free. Now we search for hidden people. Though the game is mostly for children.”

“Hidden people?” Another point in favor of ‘Where’s Wally?’. “Like what? Those people on the roof?”

They had seemed a bit suspicious up there, but he’d thought they were up there trying to get a better view of the parade. No one had complained about it, so he hadn’t either.

“N-. Yes. Exactly like them.” Marie gave him an odd look.

“Will they be in the crowd too?” David asked, getting into it.

“See that man between the delivery men and their boxes? Look at the paintings on his cheeks. Pink hearts are how they are distinguished now.”

They began to point out anyone they could spot to each other, though discreetly so as not to spoil it for the nearby children. David was, to his pleasure and Marie’s dismay, quite good at it.

Victory was sweet.

-.-

The city was in high spirits after the festival, a mood that extended to the gym and had even pulled Jenny from her wary funk. David and her chatted about the giant ‘Where’s Wally?’ as they walked through the maze-like gym rooms. They both had several funny disguises they’d seen today or in the past in Jenny’s case.

The pleasant conversation ground to a halt as he stepped inside their usual arena.

“What in God’s name is that?” David jabbed a finger at the ceiling, being careful not to put it an inch into the room.

Jenny turned to him puzzled before looking towards where the finger was directed. “Oh, that’s Skitter. He’s better suited to what I was planning than Carine, though she will likely work with your Venonat later.”

David didn’t let his finger drop an inch. It wouldn’t do much against the creature, but it felt wrong to let his hand fall yet.

The monster hung vertically, enmeshed in a horror of its own creation in the center of the arena. It fixed two beady purple eyes on them. This had the unfortunate effect of directing its steel-like horn and large pincers at them too. The rest of its body, a red carapace with a black face on it, was almost as terrifying. While it watched them, two yellow-purple legs protruding from its back worked to pull thick silk from its spinneret. Its other four legs strummed on the web around it.

A Spider. A giant spider about as tall as his Venonat, but three times as long in a web large enough to capture a dozen humans.

They made horror movies about this exact situation.

“That’s yours?”

Was it the colorful spiders that were poisonous or the plain? Did that only apply to insects and plants? Did it matter? A spider that large could kill him even if its venom was as harmless as water.

“Yes, my sneaky Pokemon.” Jenny resumed her steps into the room.

The creature made a low hiss in response. Was that happiness or hunger?

Jenny waved at the monstrosity of silk that had taken over the center of the arena. “As you can see, Skitter is uniquely suited to practicing Whirlwind.”

“Whirlwind.” He repeated in a daze.

Jenny came to a stop under the monster. She tilted her head at him. “Oh. You’ve never seen an Ariados before. They’re from Johto, but don’t hold that against them. Skitter is strong and friendly.”

Friendly. She really just said that.

“Yeah. That’s it. New Pokemon and all that.” His hands were very sweaty as he rubbed them against his leg. He didn’t need to get close. Standing by the wall would be perfectly fine.

Cloudburst was released with her usual flash. She wasted no time flying closer to get a look at this new arrival to their training.

David stayed by the wall.

-.-

Training got easier once night fell, and Jenny’s Venomoth returned. The giant web in the center of the arena was destroyed with relish by both Cloudburst and Venomoth to David’s relief. Cloudburst's interest in the Ariados had faded as they trained, and while he didn't know Carine's motives, he suspected that few bug types were fond of Spiders. They worked on double battles for a while before an unassuming visitor interrupted.

Whether it was the festival game earlier, or the phantom fear of legs on his neck that kept him on edge, David didn’t know, but he recognized Koga near instantly. After they got over the initial awkward greeting, Koga joined them in the center of the arena.

“I have learned enough to add to your training.”

The sentence hung in the air. Koga blinked slowly, seemingly happy to leave it like that.

“...How Gym Leader?” Jenny finally asked.

Instead of answering, he turned to David. “The festival was informative. You appear to be sensitive to type energy. Tread carefully with Moves. It is not something we can cure, but you can use it to your advantage.”

What?

Koga turned to Jenny with an amused crinkle in his eye. “As you are not, you will have to adapt.”

She was less than amused.

“You will need to be alert for the next forty-eight hours.” Koga announced, then turned to leave

What?

David and Jenny shared worried looks as the door slid closed.