Would You Like To Make a Run For It?

Gary and I had found a good spot in the park for our battle, and we were facing each other off. It was now time to battle; there was no delaying this any longer.

“I choose you, Shellder!” Gary shouted, grabbing the pokéball from his belt and sending out Shellder.

“Go Eevee!” I shouted back, grabbing her pokéball and letting her out free.

Eevee immediately looked at her surroundings, and saw Shellder and Gary in front of her. She recognised this as a battle, and immediately got on all fours and raised her back into a battle stance.

Shellder on the other hand looked confused. He looked at Eevee and looked quite frightened as he then looked up at Gary. His expression changed from one of confusion to one as anger, as Shellder began to launch itself at Gary’s feet.

“OW! Shellder! You’re meant to battle Eevee and not I!” Gary whined, rubbing his calves.

Eevee then slowly approached Shellder and began a conversation with it. The two began to converse with each other.

“Can you find out from Eevee why Shellder attacked me? She’s your Pokémon so you’ll be able to understand her. I’ve never bonded with Shellder, so I cannot understand him.” Gary asked me.

Eevee understood Gary and approached me. She began to bark at me to tell me what Shellder had told her.

“Eevee! Eveeeeee, Eevee Eevee Eevee”

I nodded my head at her to show her I understood.

“She says that Shellder doesn’t like you because you caught him and never ever bothered to check up on him. Apparently Shellder doesn’t trust you.” I explained, feeling awkward as I was giving bad news.

Gary slowly nodded his head as he took in what I was saying. He dropped his gaze to where Shellder was angrily looking up at Gary.

“Hi Shellder. I’m sorry I neglected you and I didn’t mean to. I was a bit of an ass when I was younger and I’m sorry I never checked up on you. As I got older I thought your home was best with my gramps, Professor Oak. I hope you can forgive me.” Gary said, sincerely apologising to Shellder.

It made me smile a little bit. Gary was a completely cocky and arrogant boy, and to see such a sweet and sensitive side to him was rare and amazing at the same time. He could be so sweet and genuine if he chooses to.

Shellder however did not see this and began to tackle Gary’s legs again. Whilst I could see Gary wasn’t in a HUGE pain, I could tell that he was deeply offended that he could not rectify the situation with Shellder.

I decided that now was the time for me to step in.

I approached Shellder and bent down on one knee to be closer to Shellder’s eye level.

“Hey Shellder, I’m Lily, it’s nice to meet you. If you won’t listen to Gary then please listen to me. Gary has very kindly organised a battle for my little Eevee to train and thought you would the perfect candidate. If you won’t battle for Gary, please battle for your friend Eevee, and maybe me if you like me?” I asked, using a kind as voice as I could muster.

Shellder was quiet for a second.

“Shellder!” He then said, his eyes glowing happily as he jumped up and down in an excited manner.

“Good work Lily.” Gary praised me, giving me thumbs up.

I beamed. If this were Ash, he’d be really jealous and would be negative towards me at the moment. But instead, Gary was happy for me.

Eevee then positioned herself back into a battle stance with Shellder following through. Gary and I then got into our ‘trainer stances’

“Um…Shellder use tackle attack! Since you seem to be very good at it.” Gary said to Shellder.

Shellder began to race towards Eevee and luckily my quick thinking saved us just in time.

“Eevee! Use Quick Attack as a counter attack!” I said loudly to Eevee.

She then used her attack, quickly approaching Shellder faster than Shellder could approach her. She charged into him, knocking him back as Shellder hadn’t even began the tackle of Eevee yet.

“It’s okay Shellder, use your Supersonic on Eevee!” Gary urged Shellder.

I saw Shellder use the move on Eevee and she began to stumble around.

“Um…Eevee…use growl attack.” I nervously stumbled out, not sure how this would pan out.

It was as if she hadn’t even listened. She was still stumbling around the place, and then she tripped over her own feet and hurt herself in her confusion. This was not good…

I dug through my bag to look through the berries I had collected on our adventure so far. I had plenty of berries, but I was looking for a Persim berry in particular which cures confusion. Not finding one I sighed, I was going to have to wait this one out.

“Use withdraw.” Gary said to Shellder and he did, raising his defence.

“Eevee…growl…” I said sounding unsure, I wasn’t sure whether Eevee would be able to attack or not.

She stumbled around a little bit but was able to send out a growl, shocking Shellder and decreasing his newly increased defence.

“Finish this Shellder…use tackle on Eevee!” Gary coached to Shellder.

“This isn’t over Eevee! Use Quick Attack again!” I shouted, my desperation coming over me.

Eevee quickly shook her head quickly and stopped stumbling around. She had snapped out of her confusion and was ready to battle again.

She once again charged towards Shellder, sending Shellder flying before Shellder even knew what was happening.

After Shellder had landed back on the ground it was made obvious he was in no position to continue the battle. Eevee had won. This time no one went easy on her and the stakes were made fair. She had won fair and square.