"That TM is going to have to wait until after you help me win the next battle with that kid's buddies since it sounds like it's going to be another double battle," Eileen said to Callum, shrugging at his first question. "How should I know? Maybe they normally only fight other couples, though that's changed now," she replied with a slight smirk, checking where the Rattata had bit Hughes.
"Poor fella, looks pretty painful. If we do battle the kid's friends I'll keep you out of it," Eileen told her Pokemon, hearing him whine at that, "Okay you can battle one more Pokemon, after that though I'll use Ari." That seemed to make the Growlithe whine more before she told him to shush and stop complaining or Ari would be the only battler for the next match. Hughes stayed silent after that, laying down in the sun next to his Trainer while they waited for the kid to come back.
"Another battle wasn't part of the deal. That means we have to renegotiate. What else do you have to offer me in exchange for my help in this next battle?" Callum asked Eileen as he removed his bag from his back and placed it on the ground. Next he laid down on the ground; his bag acting as a head rest, and the damp ground from the just finished battle cooled his back.
"Maybe I can teach you how to actually battle instead of just letting your Pokemon do everything. That strategy might work for chumps like those kids, but when the Trainers are more experienced the battles will be much more difficult for you to win like that. I don't see how you managed to even beat Brock," Eileen replied, petting Cleo after her Pokemon returned from another frolic in the forest. No items this time, though she did find a few coins that Eileen let her keep. "I don't really know what else I can give you. I do have some things of value, but I don't plan on giving those up. Maybe I can just owe you another favor?" she asked.
"And yet I still beat him. So maybe there's a method to my madness that you are too proud to see," Callum said as he got up from the ground in order to speak to Eileen face to face. "I'll make you a deal. You owe me another favour, you don't bother me about how I chose to let my Pokémon battle, and you stop getting these cuts. You're going to badly mark your face if keep this up," Callum told Eileen as he grabbed her face and started to rub his thumb below the largest on her face. "You'll need to bandage this one as well."
"The cuts aren't my fault really, they're all hers," Eileen replied after he grabbed a hold of her, gesturing to the Meowth in her lap with her eyes, "Cleo here has been stalking me since I first entered Cerulean, waiting for the chance to get some of my more valuable things. She's the reason for all of these." Cleo seemed to disagree with that statement, jumping off of Eileen's lap in slight anger.
Meowth! Meow-meowth! Cleo said, pointing at the big cut above Eileen's eye.
"Okay I guess you can make a case that this one I caused, but I was being chased in the forest by Cleo before I knew she was simply a little Meowth. It was scary, and I ran into a tree. Thankfully I have many spare glasses in my pack. But all the cuts after that were her fault," Eileen said to Callum, watching as Cleo went to take a nap by the pond, "I'll take care of them when we head back to the Pokemon Center. Most of them aren't too deep, at worst a bandage or two for the big cut. As for your terms, I'll agree to them and keep myself from discussing your battle methods."
"Fine but head back after this battle," Callum said letting go of her face. "Also if this isn't the Claydol calling the Seviper black, you should probably focus on improving your relationships with your Pokémon. It doesn't matter how well you can order your Pokémon to battle, if they'd rather attack you than whom or what you are battling; you are going to be in trouble and get hurt."
"I just barely caught her, of course she's not going to like me just yet. She seemed pretty pleased when I gave her the ultimatum earlier about items and battling. Soon she'll love me just as much as my other two Pokemon," Eileen replied, looking over at the pond that Cleo was sleeping by. It was then that Ricky and two other Trainers came into view, with Ricky leading the others towards where Eileen and Callum were sitting.
"It was that couple over there! They're the ones that ruined my life!" Ricky yelled, pointing his finger in accusation at Eileen and Callum.
"We'll take care of them Ricky, don't you worry. You two..." the other young, male Trainer started, stepping in front of Ricky, "...are going down! Prepare to face defeat from I, Jeff! And my lovely girlfriend here of a whole five months, Isabelle!"
"You're so sweet Jeff. Let's get this over quick so we can go and grab a shake at the diner we like!" Isabelle replied with a giggle, the sheer sappiness of these two new Trainers making Eileen gag.
"So are we going to be responsible for two break ups today?" Callum asked Eileen jokingly, as their new challengers made their approach. "Also we are not a couple so stop calling us that. And don't blame us for the fact that you two could only blame each other for losing. I swear I?" Callum was going to continue but found it easier to just facepalm. "Can we just get this over with so I can get my TM?"
"I suppose we will be. It's certainly been an exciting day so far," Eileen replied after standing up and dusting herself off, telling Hughes that he'll be the starting Pokemon for this battle. "And don't worry about the TM. You'll get it once we win," she added, watching as the couple laughed at them.
"Not even a couple! Do you seriously think we'd believe that? Come on, when we got here you had her face in your hands!" Jeff laughed, wiping a tear away from his face.
"Oh I think it's quite cute Jeff; especially their little threat of breaking us up. Though it won't be cute for much longer," Isabelle replied, taking a Pokeball out of her pocket at the same time Jeff did.
"Go Pidgey!" "Go Spearow!" The two called out, throwing their Pokeballs so that their two bird Pokemon came out flying.
Callum opened his mouth but couldn't form the words to make a counter about holding Eileen's face in his hands. Instead he shut his mouth and pulled a Pokéball out from the bag on his belt. He pressed the button on the ball and tossed it into the air. The red light that emerged from it quickly formed into his Spinarak. "Just do your thing and beat them fast," Callum told his Spinarak as it headed in for battle.
"Hah this battle will be over before we've even warmed up," Isabelle said with another giggle, telling her Pidgey to use Gust on the Spinarak. The Pidgey flew higher into the air and started to flap it's wings at great speeds, a small tornado forming from the gusts and heading towards the Spinarak.
"It certainly will be my dear, and then we ca- SPEAROW! No!" Jeff called out as he watched his Pokemon fall to the ground, a crispy shade of brown. In the short moment he was distracted Eileen had told Hughes to use Ember, hitting the bird Pokemon with a powerful blow knocking it out.
"What was that about this battle being over?" Eileen asked with a laugh of her own, recalling Hughes now that his opponent was defeated and sending out Ari. Ari seemed a little confused by the sudden circumstances, taking a second to realize that this was a battle. "The Bug Pokemon is on your side in this battle," Eileen informed him, the Exeggcute glancing over at the Spinarak. Jeff cursed quietly before sending out his last Pokemon; a Raticate.
The gust sent the Spinarak flying backwards and Isabelle ordered her Pidgey to use a Quick Attack before turning to see what Jeff's cry was about. Shock crossed her face as she watched the hurt Spearow fall. Wasting no time as the Pidgey attacked it, the Spinarak attached a piece of web to it as it was hit. The String Spit Pokémon made good name of its species' name as it covered the Pidgey in a sticky string. The Pidgey came crashing down to the ground and the Spinarak stuck its pincers into the Tiny Bird Pokémon. After Spinarak was done its fill with its leech life attack it finished the Pidgey off with a Poison Sting.
Isabelle had turned back in even more shock as the Spinarak had turned her Pidgey into little more than food. "What's wrong with you and your Pokémon," she asked rhetorically as she returned her Pidgey. Quickly she pulled out another Pokéball and released another Pidgey. "Use Gust and don't get close to that Bug Pokémon," Isabelle commanded her Pidgey.
"Ari use Leech Seed on the Raticate!" Eileen told her Pokemon. The Exeggcute shot out a few glowing seeds from itself at the Raticate. The seeds hit the Pokemon and started to rapidly sprout vines that entangled the Raticate before glowing red and sucking the energy out of the Pokemon.
"No Raticate! Try to break out!" Jeff called out, watching as his Pokemon struggled to get off the ground after falling over.
"Ari use Hypnosis while you have the chance," Eileen said, watching as Ari's eyes proceeded to glow yellow as thin, glowing beams were shot at the struggling Raticate. The foe was hit and slowly stopped fighting the Leech Seed before succumbing to sleep.
"Wake up buddy! Wake up! This isn't the time!" Jeff yelled in anguish, frantically trying to wake up his Pokemon.
The Pidgey was following her owner's words to the "t". The bird was flying around in the sky and sending small tornados at the Spinarak. The Bug Pokémon was struggling as it was constantly being set flying and its attempts to catch hit the Pidgey with its String Shot were always missing. This isn't looking good.
"Ari help out the Spinarak! Use Barrage!" The Exeggcute looked across the battlefield and noticed that the opponent's Pidgey was hurting his ally.
Ex-egg! Ex! Ari cried out, sending out a flurry of small eggs at the flying Pidgey, knocking it down to the ground hard.
"Nice aim Ari, that monocle of yours must help your aim," Eileen replied with slight sarcasm, her Pokemon not understanding and instead thinking she was telling the truth. It stared at the monocle for a few seconds before Eileen told him to pay attention to his opponents. "One has an advantage over both of you, so don't lose focus!"
Spinarak wasn't about to waste any time waiting. It quickly scurried across the field and jumped on top of the Pidgey, hitting it with a Poison Sting attack. That would have been close. Maybe I should switch Spinarak out after this Battle. The Pidgey wasn't out of the battle yet and knocked the Spinarak off it, before trying to take to the air again.
As it tried to ascend it was hit with another Barrage attack, keeping it pinned down to the ground. The assault continued for another minute before the Pidgey was out of the match, causing Isabelle to scream out in frustration.
"This isn't fair Jeff. Help out your Pokemon so that he can help mine out!" she demanded. Poor Jeff was still trying to get his Raticate to wake up, the rat Pokemon out like a light as it's energy was still being drained. "I can't sweetie! I don't even understand how he can be sleeping through this!" Jeff explained to Isabelle, tapping on the ground to see if that would wake it up.
"Just keep trying!" Isabelle replied, returning her second Pidgey before sending out a third one to battle.
Callum pulled out Spinarak's Pokéball and returned it. Reaching into his bag he pulled out the next Pokéball blindly and released it. The Oddish that he had just caught appeared from the red light released from the ball. "Are you alright to battle Oddish? I know you took a lot of damage from my Pineco but are you good to go?" Callum asked his Pokémon. "[color=3311BB]Odd Oddish.[/color]" I'm good to battle. Came the reply as the Oddish stepped out to the field.
Eileen smiled after seeing Callum's latest Pokemon enter the battle, happy to see that even he knew when to return a Pokemon. 'And I thought he only caught bug Pokemon,' Eileen thought, looking at the playing field and deciding it was time to end this. "Ari use Uproar! Be as loud as you can!" The couple across from her looked with confusion at her command, knowing it would wake up Jeff's Raticate.
"Maybe it's just been a fluke so far, or something," Jeff muttered to Isabelle, getting a shrug as a reply. Eileen smiled as Ari started to bounce around and make a bunch of noise, glowing a bright blue color as sound waves started to hit both opponents.
"Ack it's hitting both our Pokemon!" Jeff yelled, watching as his Raticate was hit by the soundwaves. The weakened Raticate had barely woken up before it was hit with the numerous waves, being kept on the ground by the attack. Isabelle's Pidgey was faring slightly better as it flew in the sky and tried to dodge most of the attack.
The Oddish followed Ari's lead and used Acid. A stream of caustic matter emerged from the Oddish as it covered the flying Pidgey, bogging it down. The Radicate had already fainted by the time the sludge hit it and was promptly returned. The Pidgey on the other hand was struggling to fly with the heavy, acidic substance covering it. Flapping its wings was a challenge as its cries were faded out by the Uproar. Oddish took aim at the slowly moving Pidgey and hit it with the red beam from its Absorb attack. The Pidgey slowly fell to the ground as the condition of the Oddish was improving every second. As soon as the Bird hit the ground it was returned by Isabelle.
"That's the end of that. So are you two broken up yet?" Eileen asked jokingly, watching as the couple hugged each other in grief over their loss.
"N-no. We'll work together to make our team stronger. I'm sorry for yelling at you Jeff dear, it was just so stressful to see the battle slipping out of our fingers," Isabelle said, grabbing a tissue from her pocket and wiping her eyes.
"It's okay sweetie. This was a good battle, and our Pokemon will be stronger for it," Jeff replied, giving her a hug as Eileen approached them.
"Can I have my prize money now that I've beaten you two?" she asked, looking over at Ricky who looked downtrodden at the loss his friends received.
"Yes. Here you go. You have strong Pokemon, and I'm sure the bond you have with them and your boyfriend over there will only strengthen with time," Jeff said wisely, handing over some money to Eileen.
"Cool. Thanks for the battle. Hope you guys do well," she replied in a chipper mood now that the battle was over, watching the couple and Ricky make their way back to Vermillion. "That went well," she told Callum, putting her money away after counting it and taking out the TM disc. "And this is yours for helping me out with the battles. Thanks too, I know I can be a little demanding at times. Now, are we ready to head back? I think our Pokemon need some healing, and I need to get ready for the party. Not going to wear torn, worn-out, dingy clothes to something like an anniversary party," Eileen said with a laugh after handing over the TM, returning Ari to his Pokeball and calling Cleo over so they could head back.
