Ghastly Adventures: Cascade 2.4 (ch. 9) (Patreon)

There were a lot fewer people on the beach at night, making it perfect for me. I paddled out on my stomach, the waves rising and falling in a rhythm while the moon shone overhead. Light pollution thinned out the number of stars overhead, but they were still quite a sight, enough to distract me until I saw an incoming wave. “Ready?” I asked Mankey and Mimikyu, the former soaked to the bone but genuinely enjoying himself. Mimikyu held onto the board with a death grip.

He loved looking at the ocean, but he evidently hated being in it. I'm pretty sure the only reason he was on the board at all was because Mimikyu couldn't comprehend how someone could enjoy the ocean and he didn't want me to suffer alone. The wave began to dip as I paddled forward, more or less copying what I saw in movies, and the wave began to crest. Jumping to my feet, I pivoted to ride the wave out.

Apparently, I had a talent for surfing because I avoided a wipeout as the wave began to collapse into itself. It wasn’t a particularly big wave, nothing compared to what I saw Brawly dealing with, but it had me smiling as I sailed forward, the board underfoot-

“Dreepy?” I heard, making me look over into the wide yellowish eyes of a pokemon that was hovering next to me. A stealth plane looking head with a serpentine body with two small arms.

I blinked. I hadn’t expected for one to show up out of the blue. “Huh?” I echoed, kind of stunned that one of the pokemon that I had been hoping to catch had revealed herself to me with little prompting. I had kept an eye out for one during the day, hoping that I would catch a glimpse of one, but I suppose it was true that you found what you were looking for where you least expected it.

“Dreepy,” Dreepy replied before she moved forward, headbutting me in the chest with enough force to make me take a step back. On a surfboard. “Dreepy! Dre dre dre dre!” I heard the pokemon cackle as I was knocked off, hitting the water and sending my pokemon flying off. I managed to take a breath before water washed over me, the wave twisting me around.

It wasn’t like I didn’t get why Mimikyu hated the ocean because when I opened my eyes, I saw what lurked below. I saw a magikarp looking up at me -- he was probably a little bigger than the average magikarp, his gaze vacant while his jaw was slack. It was just a little creepy to see, if I was perfectly honest.

The surfboard was connected to my ankle, so I was able to follow it up to the water’s surface just in time to avoid getting smashed by another wave. Mankey and Mimikyu were fleeing back to the beach and I went to join them. As I did so, the Dreepy that shoved me appeared next to me, unbothered by the water or the currents. Perks of being a ghost pokemon, I suppose.

She followed me to the shore, cackling all the while, and laughed that much harder when Mimikyu and Mankey started yelling at her. I pushed my hair out of my eyes and regarded the pokemon with some annoyance. Dreepy were one of the Pseudo Legendaries, their first evolution, with their strongest form being Dragapult -- one of the fastest pokemon period, and a ghost type on top of that. I also found it particularly amusing that their main method of attack was to fire their kids like heat-seeking undead missiles.

But that final evolution was a time investment. Dreepy didn’t evolve into drakloak until level 50, and its move pool had been pretty small. That hadn’t really bothered me before, but things had changed a bit. I had four pokemon, and two free slots left. Mankey was going to take some time and some work before he was ready to battle. Litwick knew two moves. Mimikyu and Phantump were my heavy hitters at the moment, and I wouldn’t say that they’re strong enough to carry the entire team on their backs.

There was no way to accurately measure experience. Pokemon that were trained tended to evolve a lot faster than their wild counterparts, but sometimes that took years. Cases like Ash’s butterfree, who was a caterpie for all of five seconds and a metapod for a day, were in the minority. To that end, it would be more efficient to swim down, catch that magikarp, and turn it into a gyarados.

It was something of a risk using the games as a reference for strength, but in general, the Elite Four had pokemon in the fifty to seventy level range. Which put me at dealing with Dreepy until very late in the game, if I managed to evolve her at all. That being said, moves weren’t tied to level and there were only a handful of cases with pokemon learning moves upon leveling up. So, it wasn’t likely a one for one scenario.

I scratched my head, mulling over my options.

Then I saw a flash of red light.

Slowly, mechanically, my gaze went to my backpack to see that one of the pokeballs were wobbling back and forth for the briefest of seconds. Then it stilled.

“Bro,” I breathed, my jaw going slack as I approached the pokeball. “You didn’t,” I tried to deny it, but when I released the pokemon within the ball, sure enough, Dreepy emerged in another flash of red light. She swirled around in the air, cackling before she swooped over to lay on my head. I stood there, frozen, my mind going a mile a minute.

A sigh heaved out of me, “You could have asked, you know?” I remarked to the pokemon, not entirely sure what to make of the events. “Your parents won’t come after me, will they?” I asked, knowing that the evolved forms were pretty attached to the dreepy. Though, the dreepy were pretty quick to abandon them if they lost a battle. Is that what happened here?

“Dreepy!” Dreepy was anything but repentant as she started to cackle at Mimikyu and Mankey, as they shouted at her, saying some rather unflattering things. It seemed that Dreepy was a little shit-stirrer. Naughty nature?

Well, I caught a Dreepy. Even if saying that I caught her felt like a lie. “Well, welcome to the team. You probably should have asked this, but I’m a battle trainer, so if you want to be on this team, then you’ll need to train. I expect all of my pokemon to try to be their best selves, and now that includes you.” Dreepy tilted her head, looking down at me upside down. She blinked owlishly, and… yeah, she didn’t think this through at all. “You had no idea? Why did you pick me to be your trainer then?”

“Dreepy?” Dreepy replied and that…

“I feel like a ghost?” I echoed, a hand going up to my chest. To the scar over it. I tried to pay it no mind, but I was compelled to look down at it now. The horn that had pierced my heart did more than stab it. A long tear stretched up to my collarbone, a jagged white scar, where the pokemon that killed me ripped its horn back.

The information wasn’t a surprise. If anything, I expected it. Still, I couldn’t say a shiver didn’t race down my spine hearing it spoken out loud. Everything had a cost, I reminded myself, thinking about the flash of white-hot rage I felt when I saw Team Rocket. I could only imagine what the price tag for a second lease on life might look like.

Swallowing thickly, I pushed the thoughts from my mind. “No time like the present, in that case -- is everyone up for some training? We have a big day tomorrow. We’re entering our first tournament…” I said, dropping to a knee before my pokemon, and they huddled up. “We’re going to do our best, alright? If we lose, it’s not going to be because we didn’t give it our all.”

Dreepy didn’t seem too invested, but I was thankful that the rest of my team was in the spirit. They immediately broke off to play a game of tag -- it had gone through some iterations. All four of them tried to avoid being hit by the one that was ‘it’ while the one that was ‘it’ tried to tag the others with one of their abilities. Mankey struggled the most with it, which caused laspes with his anger, but I was working to get him in the habit of taking a breath.

All the while, I thought on a training plan for Dreepy. Her biggest strength was her speed -- it wasn’t anything to write home about yet, even if she was faster than the average pokemon. When she evolved into a Dragapult, she’d be top ten fastest at a baseline. As a dreepy, her movepool was small, but her evolved forms could learn a large number of attacks with various types: Bug, Dark, Psychic, Fire, Electric, Water, and Normal. I think there was a grass one tossed in there too.

Again, the biggest issue was getting her there, but once we did, she was going to become an absolute powerhouse. So, the best strategy I had was to focus on her speed, and give her a number of moves that would take advantage of it with some Typed moves that would give her some range.

I-

“Blair?” I heard, and looking over, I blinked at who it was.

“Marnie? What are you doing here?” I asked, seeing her in some casual clothes. Not exactly beach attire, but she didn’t look like she planned on swimming.

“Same thing as you, apparently,” she noted, looking out at the ocean. “Felt like going for a walk on the beach. I tried to come by earlier, but crowds really aren’t my thing,” she admitted with a small shrug. Then she inclined her head to me, “I see you caught some more strange pokemon.”

A small sigh escaped me, “You can say that…” Dreepy cackled on top of my head, and Marnie looked faintly amused. Then an idea struck me. “Could you do me a favor? I don’t have a pokedex, and Dreepy… well, she caught herself and I need to know what she can do. There’s a tournament happening tomorrow and I thought I’d give it a shot.”

“Sure, but… I’m also in that tournament. You sure you want to let me know what Dreepy can do?” She asked and I gave a thoroughly indifferent shrug.

“I’d rather lose to you or Brawly than someone I don’t know,” I replied, earning a soft hum.

“In that case,” she began, taking out her pokedex and pointing it at Dreepy, who instantly took an interest in it. I think she thought it was a camera, because she began to pose.

‘Dreepy: An ancient dragon pokemon reborn as a Ghost Type. They frequently visit lands that they used to know when alive and are known for their love of extreme speeds. As well as taunting pokemon for their inability to fly. This pokemon knows: Quick Attack, Bite, and Unknown.’ The pokedex rattled off in a different voice than Brawly’s, and gave a little extra information.

“Unknown?” I echoed, looking up at Dreepy, who shifted her pose to make it look like she was going to swallow the moon.

“It means that the pokedex doesn’t recognize it,” she answered and that kinda only gave me more questions. Like how exactly did the pokedex know a pokemon knew a move if it couldn’t tell what that move was? But, that wasn’t important at the moment. “I haven’t seen that before…”

I thought about what it could be for a moment, before one move jumped out at me. Mostly because of the name. Ancient Power? It could fit… And if that was the case, then I might have just struck gold. Ancient Power was one of the best buff moves -- it raised all stats, and for some pokemon, it was a requirement for evolving.

“Thanks, Marnie. That helped a ton,” I told her and I saw that Marnie was faintly suspicious that I suspected what it might be, but she shrugged before turning away.

“Won’t save you in the tournament tomorrow,” she said, waving by over her shoulder.

I chuckled. “We’ll have to see about that.”

…

There were six rounds of preliminaries with a 1v1, with the top eight being the finalists with a 3v3. Unlike gym badges, there weren't any kid gloves being put on to match your skill level. You had trainers as young as eight years old, you had people like me who were on their Journey, then you had some old hats that made a career out of battling. Given the number of people that were waiting for a gym battle with the Curelan gym, there were a surplus of young trainers.

I got lucky with my match ups, especially considering how stacked the final eight were. My first opponent had a rattata. My second had a krabby. My third was a little more interesting with a squirtle. My fourth, fifth, and sixth were a horsea, oddish, and poliwhirl respectively. I kept Mankey in reserve because I wasn't sure if I trusted him to battle yet. He was pretty sore about that. Dreepy, however, got her first debut and she did remarkably well.

Hit and run tactics. Go in for a bite or a swipe, then fly up and away. It was a tactic that had been well honed with her habit of pissing off pokemon that couldn't fly.

The top eight were populated by people I knew, for the most part. Of which, I was currently sitting in the stands that were set up for the first match of the tournament.

“Let’s give it up for our first match of the finals!” The announcer yelled into a microphone, wearing some surfer bro gear with some crazy sunglasses. There was some cheering at that, though not as loud as it had been at Brock’s Gym. “Brawly… and Larry!”

Brawly wore a confident smile as he stood across from what I could only describe as a salaryman. He was around his mid thirties, wearing a three piece suit and his expression could best be described as apathetic. I wasn’t really sure what to think of him, if I was being perfectly honest. He was an older trainer, and so far, I saw him only use Normal Types, so I felt confident giving Brawly the edge for the battle. Even with the experience.

“Come on out, Makuhita!” Brawly called out, summoning his makuhita.

“Lickitung,” Larry replied, summoning a pink pokemon with a comically oversized tongue.

The match began and I instantly felt Brawly lose the advantage in the battle. The two pokemon clashed in the center, Makuhita going on the offensive. Lickitung, however, positioned itself perfectly and used its tongue as a vantage. They danced around one another, Brawly calling out attacks, but Lickitung only needed minimal prompting from Larry and the moves that he did call out led to him dominating the fight.

Within two minutes, Makuhita was out of the fight.

Brawly was a good trainer. I saw him working with his pokemon and, I knew, if we battled again that I may not get so lucky now he knew what to expect from Mimikyu. Even when he battled others, I saw him dominating the battle -- he was the student of one of the Elite Four, and it showed. Brawly, simply put, was not the average trainer and he was getting manhandled.

I could see Brawly getting tense as he brought out his second pokemon, Machop. Brawly was more cautious this time, going on the defensive, which proved to be a poor decision against Lickitung. A single lick weakened and induced paralysis, and as far as I could tell, it was always active rather than just being a single move. In another minute, Machop was taken out of the fight, leaving Tyrogue as Brawly’s final pokemon.

“I withdraw,” Brawly decided, raising his hand as he forfeited. I could tell that he didn’t like it, but he was two pokemon down, and Tyrogue was his weakest one until it evolved. There was some booing intermixed with the cheering, he and Larry meeting in the middle as they shook hands. They exchanged a few words before parting and I saw Brawly letting out a disappointed sigh.

Getting out of the stands, I met him as he walked back and he offered a wane smile. “I haven’t lost like that since Master Bruno tested to see if I was worthy,” Brawly said, running a hand through his hair. It bothered him more than he wanted to admit, but I wasn't quite sure what to tell him.

“We'll if it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure he's going to end my win streak,” I said and that got a light hearted chuckle from Brawly. He thumped me on the shoulder and his wane smile became a little bit more genuine.

“Sorry to say, but yeah, probably,” he said, and I let out a laugh.

Yeah, probably.

“Our next battle of the evening is… Blair and Misty, of our very own Sensational Sisters!” The announced called out, dragging my attention back to the ring. Glancing at Brawly, I saw that the frustration was gone. Or, hidden rather well as he gave me a nod. I returned it and stepped into the arena, standing across from Misty.

I took in a slow breath, held it, then let it out. The cheering was loud, people chanting Misty's name, and she seemed to be suffering from a worse case of stage fright. She probably had more riding on the line than I did. After Pewter city… it wasn't that bad, I decided, my hand dipping down to my belt to grab my first pokemon.

“Staryu!” Misty shouted, releasing staryu. Possibly one that she would be bringing with her on her Journey with Ash next year.

I had a game plan, “Phantump!” I called out, making the ghost pokemon appear. He came out flexing and all fired up for his match. Water was weak to grass and Phantump had been training hard. It was time to show off the results and get a taste of what I could expect from the Gym.

“Staryu, Water Gun!” Misty made the first move and a torrent of water launched itself at Phantump.

“Dodge and Razor Leaf,” I instructed as Phantump strafed to the side. I haven't had my pokemon for very long, but they were incredibly fast learners. In only a few days, Phantump’s Razor Leaf improved by leaps and bounds.

I saw Misty scowl, “Harden then go into a Rapid Spin, Staryu!” She called out and Staryu launched itself forward at high speeds, closing the distance quicker than I was comfortable with. As it did, it built up momentum and spun rapidly.

I swallowed a command, trusting that Phantump would know what to do in this case. My trust was rewarded when the Staryu passed right through Phantump, and he immediately pivoted. “Toxic!” I called out, and Staryu was out of position to dodge -- the poison filled seed struck the pokemon, splashing purple toxic filth over it.

“Staryu! Wash yourself off with a water gun!” Misty adapted instantly, Staryu sending up a jet of water that flowed over it.

“Razor Leaf!” I wouldn't let up the pressure, I decided, a volley of sharp leaves that could shave a branch off of a tree lashed out at Staryu.

“Dodge!” Misty called out, a fraction too late. The leaves struck her pokemon, weakened by the poison.

“Follow it up with Leech Seed!” I instructed, making Phantump strike it with two seeds before it had even recovered from the Razor Leaf. Two flowers blossomed as Phantump drained the strength from Staryu, channeling it straight to Growth, like I taught him.

The training had changed up a bit, but we were training even harder than we had before. Strengthening techniques, control, responses -- I wanted to get a strong foundation to build off of.

I still wasn't entirely sure what Growth did for Phantump, but I had a pretty strong idea. According to research, as much as I could trust it, Growth was meant to be a temporary boost. However, Phantump was a Ghost-Grass type. Leech Seed siphoned off ‘energy’ from a pokemon, and gave it to the user. Phantump, being a ghost, fed off of ‘energy’ as much as he did food. Channeling Growth solidified that excess energy into him, making the boost more permanent.

Phantump was going to become a little monster long before he became Trevenant.

The energy that Phantump siphoned was enough to take Staryu out of the fight and it toppled over, much to Misty’s dismay. She scowled and I could see a competitive glint entering her eye.

“Goldine!” She called out, summoning a goldine -- a fish landed on the sand. My first thought was that it was a poor choice, but she clearly had something cooking. I had to be careful. “Use Supersonic!”

“Phantump!” I called out -- we were ready for that. Onix showed me the dangers of sound based attacks, and I wouldn't be falling for them again. Phantump phased, the soundwave going through him. “Razor Leaf!”

Goldine had poor mobility on the land. Misty called out for it to dodge, only for its fins to flap around in the sun. The golden weathered the Razor Leaf barrage for a few short seconds before Misty recalled it. “You can't just phase out of the way of attacks!” She shouted, her temer boiling over as she jabbed a finger at me.

“Can too! This is why Ghost Pokemon are the best, right Phantump?!” I shot right back.

“Phantump!” Phantump replied, showing off the guns with a proud look on his face.

“Grrrr…!” Misty growled at me, her hand going for her final pokemon. “Starme! Show that stump who's the boss!” She ordered and there was the temper she was famous for.

I was faintly surprised to see that she had the evolved version of staryu. Dark purple in color, four additional limbs… dangerous. That was my first thought. It may not be the strongest pokemon, but it was a strong one in comparison to Phantump. Even if I did have a double type advantage since Starme was Psychic and Water.

“Phantump, bullet seed and Toxic!” I commanded, wanting to seize the imitative.

“Dodge them! Then Hydropump!” Misty ordered and Water Gun couldn't even be compared to a Hydropump. It was the difference between a gardening hose and a wire truck hose -- completely different in scale.

“Dodge then Tackle!” I instructed as Phantump just barely managed to shift before he was struck by the torrent of water. I could feel him traveling up the stream, getting ready for the tackle. He reemerged on the other side of Starme, slamming into her back with enough force to topple her. “Leech-”

“Rapid Spin!” Misty shouted, and I realized I fell into her trap a second too late. The speed difference between them was too great and my guts tied themselves into knots when Phantump took a solid blow to the side of his head.

He was hurt but he was fine. Still very much in the fight. “Confuse Ray!” I ordered, and Starme was stuck in the Rapid Spin when the ray struck. There wasn't really any visual indication that the ray worked, but I was assuming that it did. “Razor Leaf!” A barrage of leaves raced from Phantump, striking and breaking upon its body.

“Starme! Whirlpool into a Waterfall!” Misty instructed and the Starme began to produce a torrent of water -- a total wave of it that it then jumped into, giving it shape into a cyclone that began to twist into itself. It was an impressive move, I thought. Just not one that was particularly effective as Phantump floated through the side if it as Starme collapsed the cyclone into itself where Phantump had been a moment ago.

Water and sand washed over the field, flowing over my flip flops. “Leech Seed, rapid fire!” I instructed and through the water, Phantump fired off a half dozen seeds and the combo seemed to have some degree of recoil because Starme was struck with all of them. Phantump used Growth, drinking in the influx of energy. His horns and stump seemed to grow as another set of leaf buds appeared.

Starme stood, then she wobbled and I hesitated. This wasn't Team Rocket. I didn't have to go for the kill.

“Return, Starme!” Misty called out and Starme vanished in a flash of red light. She frowned, clearly unhappy with her loss, but I saw her lips moves as the crowd cheered for my upset. ‘You did great, Starme.’

“We have our winner with a sweep. Give a big round of applause for Blair!” The announcer called out as me and Misty met in the middle to shake hands.

“Good match,” Misty said, and I could tell that part was to be cordial. “Your pokemon is really strong and that combination…” She was getting pissed off just thinking about it.

“Thanks. And if it helps, I developed that combination to beat your sisters,” I offered and I saw that did help as she immediately brightened.

“Then you have to beat them for your challenge,” Misty stresses, “They'll never let me live it down otherwise. I'm counting on you, alright?!” I got the impression that there had been some substantial smack talk on Misty's end prior to the tournament.

“I'll do my best?” I answered with a hesitant smile and that's what she wanted to hear. Parting ways, I made sure to praise Phantump for a job well done. And, to my relief, the Growth seemed to take care of the damage to his head. Returning him to his ball, I went back to Brawly, who earnestly congratulated me.

It was a solid win for me. I only revealed one Pokemon. Same as Larry. It might have been better to hold Phantump in reserve to surprise him with, but it seemed dangerous to plan to beat my next opponent when I hadn't beat my first one.

“Here is a name for you to remember if you’re on your Journey -- Janine! The daughter of Kanto’s very own Fuchsia Gym Leader, Koga! Facing against Buck, the little brother to one of Sinnoh’s Ace trainers!”

Janine was a future Gym Leader -- Poison type -- when her father went to the Elite Four. I couldn’t remember much about her, but I did know that much. Buck, however, I didn’t know what to expect. He seemed vaguely familiar, but he evidently hadn’t made that much of an impression.

“There sure are a lot of trainers from other regions,” I noted, curious. Counting Brawly and Marnie, four out of the top eight were from different regions. I didn’t have any particular nationlistic fervor, but I did think it was a little odd.

“It’s because of Lance,” Brawly answered. “It’s the same over in Johto, from what I hear -- he made an open invitation to other regions in the name of breaking down the barriers between Kanto and Johto. No idea if it’s going to work, but his intentions are good. I think.” Lance. The current Indigo League Champion. He was the champion of both Johto and Kanto, though he was a Johto native. I understood that there was something of a tizzy about that, but I wasn’t particularly invested in it.

Politics wasn’t my thing.

Mentally shrugging my shoulders, I watched the match. Buck, it seemed, preferred pokemon with high defense because his pokemon were a shuckle, a cloyster, and a golem. All of which were a very poor match up against a Poison Type trainer, who’s playbook I took a page out of because she poisoned them, then stayed out of reach.

It wasn’t the most exciting match, but it was a complete sweep and a good showing for Janine, who only revealed a Coffing.

“Our final battle of the finals are… Karen versus Marnie!” The announcer called out, dragging our attention back to the next battle. This one… I hated to say it, but I knew exactly how this one was going to go.

Karen was a future member of the Elite Four. I'm not sure how far away that was as far as the timeline was concerned, but she was a Dark Type trainer that took over the spot that had been occupied by Agatha, a Ghost Type trainer. I would put her in her late teens, light blue hair and eyes with a smirk that could best be described as smug.

The 3v3 began. And I saw the gulf between experienced trainers and Ace trainers. I didn't think I could beat Marnie. She was good in the same way that Brawly was good. I think I could put up a good match, but right now my pokemon lacked the experience and the strength.

Karen didn't even pretend to give Marnie a chance. She released a Houndoom and crushed Marnie’s entire team, dancing around her attacks and ruthlessly pouncing on every single opening. The battle lasted less than five minutes as her pokemon were beaten down without so much as landing a single attack.

It was hard to watch. Especially when Marnie returned her final pokemon, met with Karen in the middle. I didn’t hear what was said, but I saw the tension in Marnie’s shoulders as she marched away. I raised my hand to call out to her as she walked by us, but I lowered it when I saw her expression.

Marnie was so frustrated she was on the verge of tears.

I didn’t understand it at that moment. Even if I wanted to approach her, I didn’t have the time as my match with Larry was called. I swallowed it down and met the man who beat Brawly, making plans and preparing myself for a tough fight.

But when I got absolutely demolished with the very first loss of my career as a trainer?

Yeah, I was so frustrated I wanted to cry too.