Chapter 15

"So we have a new challenger! What will it be, one versus one or two versus two?" Asks the fired up redhead.

"I only have one pokemon at the moment, so one versus one." I reply while taking my time to check her out.

She gives me a small smirk as she notices my gaze and shifts slightly, giving me a slightly better view of her curves. She pulls out a pokeball before tossing it onto the field and a Slugma appears. Skadi jumps out of my arms and onto the field facing Slugma while my music player starts playing the trainer battle theme from the pokemon games quietly in my ears.

"Mags, time to go!"

"Skadi, Let's do this!" 

"Mags, use Ember."

"Skadi, dodge and use Confuse Ray."

The Slugma, Mags, reels its head back and spits out a small globule of viscous looking fire towards Skadi. Skadi side steps and takes a moment to charge up a small smoky purple ray and fires it towards Mags. 

"Mags, Light Screen then Fire Rain." As the redhead calls out the command a transparent screen of light pops up in front of Mags and the Confuse Ray splashes against it harmlessly. Mags then starts to quickly spit out little balls of fire into the air which arc back down and create an effect similar to rain.

"Skadi, dodge what you can then use Icy Wind and attack from a distance!"

Skadi yips in acknowledgement and starts to run around the field. Some of the Fire Rain grazes her as she lets loose a frigid wind from her body. The attack hits Mags as a small burst of steam erupts around the pokemon. Skadi then summons a few icicles that float around her and fires them off into the center of the steam.

"Mags, Incerate that ice and keep pressing with Ember!" 

From within the steam, red balls of fire shoot out in multiple directions trying to hit Skadi but her attacks keep increasing the amount of steam, creating a thick fog that makes it nearly impossible to see. This back and forth continues on for a few minutes as some of the fog begins to float above the field, I get an idea that may change the situation. I have noticed that the embers have gradually slowed down and are only coming every few seconds now.

"Skadi, use Powdered Snow but hold it until you can't!"

"Mags, use Light Screen again!

The field falls silent for a moment until a bright burst of ice blue light erupts on the field causing the fog on the field to dissipate to reveal a frozen field. Slugma stands in the middle of the frozen landscape, looking visibly tired and has some dark splotches of cooling stone from where Skadi has hit it. The fog that had turned into clouds in the air, start releasing snow from the sudden drop in temperature. Seeing the snow, I smile and give Skadi, who is currently panting and her fur has visible black spots on it and her majestic tail is hanging limply showing just how tired she was, a final set of commands.

"Skadi, full power Icy Wind into the clouds and then finish this with a Moon Blast!"

The redhead looks visibly flustered as she hears my commands and calls out a set of her own. "Mags, don't let them succeed! Inferno!"

Before Slugma can get off Inferno, Skadi fires off the Icy Wind which turns the falling snow into a Hail Storm which causes her ability, Snow Cloak, to activate. The inferno brushes past her as she skates on the icy ground as a neon pink orb appears over Mags. The pokemon looks up at the orb and uses Harden in an attempt to endure the attack before a pillar of pink energy blasts it causing a dust cloud to appear and blowing away the hail storm. Everything is quiet as everyone waits to see the results. A few seconds later, the dust settles to show a dusty brown Vulpix, just barely standing on its for legs and its once majestic tail hanging limply on the ground, and a passed out Slugma that looks like a pile of cooling magma.

"Winner, Blue Team!" The referee announces as a wild cheer comes from the crowd.

[Congratulations host, you have defeated a strong trainer! You receive one free gacha spin.]

I dismiss the system message as I walk over to Skadi and pet her head gently as I tell her that she did a good job, causing her to purr in contentment and fall asleep in my arms. As I was petting Skadi, I could hear the sound of gravel crunching as someone approaches me. I look up to see the redhead coming towards me with her confident stride. Due to the steam caused by our battle, the clothes she is wearing look to be nearly painted on her now. I gulp slightly as my eyes start to wander again enjoying the view.

"Aah~. I I thought I had it. Good fight though. I bet if we had a rematch I would win." She gives me a big smile as she walks up to me.

I return her smile while looking into her ruby colored eyes. "Who knows? If I had my other pokemon and it was a two on two battle I still might have won."

"Let's test that theory later then! I'm Flannery Asuna, the future first female fire-type gym leader!" She offers her hand to me as she makes her introduction.

"Frost Oak, a budding ice type specialist." I shake her hand and notice that it is a little warmer than usual. The crowd that was around us starts to disperse as we shake hands. They could see that there is not going to be any drama from the results of the match. A moment later, Bea approaches us as well. I introduce the two of them and invite Flannery to join us for lunch as we start walking towards the Pokecenter to get our pokemon healed up. I still want to do some more battles with Skadi as my match with Flannery was my first official trainer match.

"So Flannery, when is your battle with Brock?" Asks Bea after we handed our pokemon to Nurse Joy. We go over to one of the tables in the lounge and look over the menu tablet on the table.

"The day after tomorrow. I registered a few days ago but felt that I should get some practice in before the match." Flannery replies as she picks out something on the tablet to order before handing it to me so I could order as well.

"Really? Mine is tomorrow and Frost has hers in two days. We registered earlier today."

"I had hoped to have mine as soon as possible as well, but my Fletchinder had an issue when she evolved so the League wanted my sponsor to check her out." I reply with a sigh as I choose a sandwich and a rootbeer float for lunch and hand Bea the tablet. 

"That's rare indeed. What happened to your Fletchinder? They are pretty stable pokemon in general and well loved by the community."

"Well when she evolved, we were fighting a Beedrill hive in Viridian Forest and I passed out soon after from an injury so I didn't get to check on her right away. When I woke up, I noticed that she was about double the size of a normal Fletchinder and her coloration was off as well. After scanning her with the Pokedex she had an ability the species isn't known for." I play with my blue bang as I explain the situation to Flannery while we wait for our food.

"Eh~, that sounds interesting. When she gets back we should battle again! Of course I will win." Flannery smiles confidently at me. A moment later a Chansey shows up carrying a tray of food and places it on the table for us before waddling away cutely with her sing-song voice. We spend the next forty minutes or so chatting amongst ourselves while our pokemon are healing. I also find out that Bea is also training to become a gym leader as well, only as a fighting type leader. This surprises me as she had not mentioned that previously, only that she was doing this circuit with a new team because her old one didn't work out.

After lunch, Flannery and I pick up our pokemon and we head back to the training fields for some additional battles. We take turns doing battles with other trainers, but the fights are lackluster at best. Skadi is able to take out most of the trainers in two or three moves due to her training. Mags has the same issue, so I can see how Flannery had been able to rack up ten wins before I challenged her. Bea just stayed off to the side and cheered us on while we fought. As the sun began to fall, we brought our tired pokemon back to the Pokecenter to turn in for the night. As it turns out, Flannery was staying in the same Pokecenter as us and she decided to join me in watching Bea fight Brock tomorrow.

Once I returned to my room I stripped off my clothes and went to take a cold shower. I bring Skadi into the shower with me so that I can clean her up from all the battles today. It took almost an hour before I decided that Skadi was properly clean and nice smelling enough. I grab a fluffy towel from the shelf nearby to dry the bulk of the moisture off of her and allow her natural ice generation to handle the rest. Once I let her go, she hops onto the bed and curls up, falling asleep almost instantly. I give her a warm smile and sit on the bed next to her and I open my status to see how many spins I have. When I see that I only have one spin I furrow my brow and think about the message I got earlier in the day.

"So, it needs to be a trainer of my skill or higher to earn a reward? Well, I guess that means there will be no easy farming for points." I mutter to myself. I shake the thought off and decide to use my spin.

[Congratulations host! You have received an Ice Silk Dress Outfit!]

As usual, the reward appears in front of me, only this time I am completely shocked at what appears. When I saw the reward prompt I thought I would get the same qipao that I had previously, or one with a different design. What actually appeared in front of me could only be described as a work of art. 

The dress would be impractical to wear for anything other than a special occasion. I get the feeling that the system wants me to wear it during gym battles. After thinking about it, I like the idea as it would give me an image I could work with to promote myself. From my browsing on the forums I found that after trainers get their third badge, companies will reach out to them for additional sponsorships to promote their goods. If I have an established image already, I won't need to create one for the sponsors.

I take my new outfit and hang it by the door so I can admire the work of art that it is. Once I get myself comfortable on the bed and into a lotus position, I begin to relax my mind and settle into my nightly meditation.