Pokemon: An Icy Path

Chapter 14

The next morning, Bea and I head towards the Pewter Gym. I’m not quite sure why they call it a gym and not a stadium due to how large the building is. The city does not have buildings larger than five stories except for the various Pokecenters dotted around the city and the gym itself. Even from a distance, the gym has a presence in the city that draws your eyes towards it. 

The gym stands nearly thirty meters tall and is stone gray in color. It does not have a single square side as it looks to be put together using tinted glass triangles, giving it a faceted look, like a gemstone. As we get closer to the building, I am able to see a large crowd of trainers constantly going in and out the doors. Some of the trainers had huge smiles on their faces, while others have tears running down their faces and are rushing towards a Pokecenter. There are also a large number of pop-up stalls that are selling a large number of goods from food to potions and everything in between. It gives the whole area a festive feel.

There are a few huge screens on the front of the gym that are showing the current gym battle as well as the schedule for the day. I notice that there is a battle scheduled for every thirty minutes from zero seven hundred to nineteen hundred.  Noticing how busy the gym is, I feel a bit of pity for the gym leaders. Bea and I chat with each other while we wait in line to enter the gym to sign up for our matches. After about fifteen minutes of waiting we make it to the desk where Bea flashes her phone and a few moments later she steps away from the desk to wait for me. I approach the desk and find a pretty lady of about twenty wearing a t-shirt with the league symbol splashed across the front sitting behind the desk.

“Welcome to Pewter City Gym! Are you signing up to battle Brock?” The pretty lady asks with a professional smile on her face.

“I am, this is my first gym circuit.” I reply with a nod.

“In that case, welcome to the league! Can you please provide me with your credentials from your Pokedex?”

I open the Pokedex on my phone and bring up my Trainer QR code and she scans it. She looks over the information on her screen and furrows her brow slightly. A moment later she looks back up at me.

“Pardon me Ms. Oak, I unfortunately cannot immediately register your gym battle. You need to have one of your pokemon checked over by your sponsoring professor. I can schedule your battle for three days from now which will give you time to get the all clear or else you will only be able to battle with one pokemon.”

I bite my lower lip while thinking for a little bit but I nod. “Go ahead and register me for when you can. I will contact Grandpa in the meantime.”

“Alright Ms. Oak. I will schedule your battle to take place in three days at seventeen hundred. Please make sure everything is squared away as we will do a final check before you are allowed to battle.” She hands me a small card with my date and time of my battle and I hear my phone notify me of a message. 

“Thank you for your assistance. I will see you in three days.” I bow my head to her slightly in thanks and hurry towards Bea.

“So when is your battle? Mine is tomorrow at noon. I am super pumped and ready to kick butt!” She asks me once we leave the crowded lobby and we are outside. She shadow boxes the air and looks over at me in excitement.

I give her a half smile and sigh slightly. “Three days. I have to contact my Grandpa due to Zephyr’s odd evolution. I guess the league doesn’t want to let unknown pokemon battle in case of an accident.”

“Bummer. Who is your Grandpa? Why do you need to contact him about Zephyr?” She raises an eyebrow at me while asking.

“My Grandpa is Professor Samuel Oak. The leading pokemon researcher in all of Kanto.” I answer with a smug smile.

I have the pleasure of watching her jaw drop open. I giggle a little at her reaction and then reach over and close her mouth for her. “Be careful or you might swallow a fly.” That seems to reboot her as she takes my hands in excitement. I blush slightly as she grabs my hand, as I’m not used to physical contact anymore. On earth, I used to have a number of friends that were touchy-feely types but since I have come to this world, I have had very little skin to skin contact. From my memories of ‘childhood’ here, I was never a person that had a lot of physical contact.

“That is so awesome! My friend is the granddaughter of Professor Oak! Now it makes sense why you had training in martial arts.”

I tilt my head slightly at her remark about my training. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, if word got out that you were Professor Oak’s granddaughter, all sorts of groups would be after you to get to him.” Bea informs me.

“I never thought of that. Grandpa was going to send my brother and I off without any training at all. I actually had to request to get my training done over the last two years.”

She gives me a look like she does not believe me and mumbles something under her breath that I don’t hear. She shakes her head before changing the subject.

“So what do you plan to do today after you talk to your grandpa?”

“I figured I would take Skadi and battle some trainers. I figure I need to get some experience in regular pokemon battles. So far all my battles have been irregular or just training. You?”

“I figured I would take a rest day today as my battle is tomorrow. When you train, it is important to rest or else you will burn out.”

“You are welcome to come watch me if you want. I wouldn’t mind a friend to cheer me on.” I offer with a smile.

She takes only a few seconds to think and then nods. “Sounds like fun. Let’s get back to the center so you can contact your grandpa.”

About ten minutes later we arrive back at the Pokecenter and I am sitting alone in my room. Bea decided to give me some privacy to contact Grandpa, which I am grateful for. I let Skadi out of her pokeball and pet her gently to calm my nerves slightly as I pick up my phone and contact Grandpa. After a few rings Grandpa’s phone picks up.

“Oak Laboratory, how may I assist you today?” A familiar female voice answers the phone.

“Hi Aunt Delia, it’s Frost. Is Grandpa around?” I ask while smiling. Aunt Delia must be delivering some food for Grandpa as he always forgets to feed himself.

“Oh hi Frost! Are you having fun on your journey so far? Have you seen my baby boy? He hasn’t called me since he arrived in Viridian City.”

“It’s been a blast, and no I haven’t seen since I left. He and Gary took off like two Ponyta off the line. I just reached Pewter City last night but I have an issue I need to speak to Grandpa about.”

“I swear those two boys compete for everything. Here is Sam for you, I hope everything is okay.”

“It should be, thanks Aunt Delia.” After a quick goodbye from Aunt Delia, I hear Grandpa’s voice on the other end.

“Hey Frost, I was notified by the league that you have an issue with one of your pokemon. Can you tell me what happened?”

“Hey Grandpa, well the thing is…”

I talk to Grandpa for nearly an hour telling him everything that has happened but didn’t mention anything about my powers that are manifesting. If he ever asks about it, I would tell him, but I want to keep it quiet for as long as possible. Once I finish explaining what went on, Grandpa is quiet for a little while before speaking up.

“That is fascinating, your Fletchling evolved but not to a standard version but one that uses Fire and Ice type energy? I will need to take a closer look at her to know more, but it should only take a day or so to gather the information required for you to use your pokemon in the gym, but it will take me a bit longer for more information. Can you send your Fletchinder to me?”

I pull out Zephyr’s pokeball and release her onto the table in front of me. I take a moment to explain the situation and Zephyr rubs her head against my hand and chirps happily agreeing to let Grandpa study her. I put her back in her ball and set the button to transfer before touching it to my phone.

The latest phones have the ability to send and retrieve pokemon from your sponsors ranch. This allows trainers to catch more pokemon than their limit of six and they are able to change their team as needed. This feature is great for generalists but for someone like me who wants to be type specialist, it is a feature I might not use often. There are not many Ice type pokemon, but if I am able to affect a pokemon’s base typing, I might be able to use any pokemon and create an ice variant of it. A moment later I hear Zephyr’s confused cry come from the phone.

“Alright Frost, I have received Zephyr. I will take good care of her while I give her a check up. I will give you a call once she is ready to return. Stay safe sweetpea.”

“You too, Grandpa.” I hang up the phone and keep petting Skadi. “It looks like it is just the two of us again for a little while. Want to go fight some trainers to get ready? Maybe we can surprise Zephyr if you grow even stronger.” Skadi cheerily agrees before hopping off my lap and heading towards the door.

I smile and follow behind her while sending Bea a text to let her know I am done and will wait for her in the lobby. Shortly after I arrive in the lobby and find Bea standing near the stairwell waiting for me. I give her a smile and motion to head out the door. While we are walking, I bring up the map on my phone and look for the training fields and pick one nearby. As we walk to the field, I see a number of other trainers heading the same way, probably with the same idea. 

When we get closer, I can hear a roaring cheer from the crowd of trainers watching someone battle. I try to peer through the crowd of teenagers to see who is fighting but all I can see is a spray of red hair from one side but that is it. I work my way closer to their field and I can finally see who is fighting. On one side is a bombshell of a girl with flame red hair and an outfit similar to mine but with pants instead. My eyes wander and examine the curves on her with a healthy appreciation for her proportions. I can see that her eyes are red as well and she has a bit sharper of a face than Bea does, giving her a sexy look rather than Bea’s cute look. 

I have to forcefully pull my eyes away from her, feeling that it is a bit of a pity that I can’t keep looking. I take a look at the rest of the field and see that she is using a Slugma and is currently fighting a Marill. The trainer she is fighting is a rather forgettable person with no real defining feature. It is the type of person that would quickly disappear into a crowd.

“Mags your smog!” The redhead orders her Slugma which quickly complies, spreading a purplish smoke along the ground towards the Marill.

“Marill use Water Gun, try to wash that smoke away!” Marill takes a deep breath, inflating its stomach to use Water Gun but sucks in the smog as well and fires the water gun weakly as a purple glow appears in its eyes. 

“Mags dodge it, then use Yawn.” Slugma flattens itself on the ground, allowing the Water Gun to fly over it before a white energy shines around its mouth as it takes a big yawn.

“Sluuuuugmaaaaaa~”

“No Marill! Resist it!” The other trainer calls out but the eyes of Marill slowly close before it falls to the ground fast asleep.

“Winner Red Team!”

“Ahahaha! That’s what you get for trying to compete with the great me! Anyone else want to battle? Come on, see if you can break my streak! Ahahaha!” The redhead lifts her chin up confidently with a big smile and her hands on her hips and puffing out her generous chest which attracts my eyes again.

“She currently has a streak of ten wins to zero losses. I don’t think we are strong enough.” Someone whispers quietly beside me. I smirk at that and decide to test my luck. I step out from the crowd with Skadi in my arms and head towards the blue side.

“I think I would like to try my luck.”