Chapter 20: CH 20
"Baby-Doll Eyes."
Mudkip tries to look away on impulse, but Vulpix's eyes light up with Fairy energy too quickly, and he lets out a frustrated cry when he feels his muscles slacken.
"Mudkip don't give up!" Brendan calls from his side. "Use Watergun! Quick!" Mudkip takes a breath to build up Watergun, but before he can fire, Lee's voice calls out across the field with; "Confuse Ray!"
Vulpix's eyes light up again, this time an evil red, perfectly fitting the smirk on her muzzle.
The building Watergun in Mudkip's throat suddenly loses cohesion and just explodes out of his mouth as the confusion ensnares Mudkip's mind. The mudfish chokes and panics, forgetting his ilk can breathe water in his confusion.
Brendan growls and grabs at his hat in frustration. "Confuse Ray is such a bullshit move!" He yells to the heavens.
Across from him, Lee can only shrug. "Embrace the bullshit. It works." Ever since their first match several days ago, Brendan and Mudkip would come out to challenge Lee and Vulpix whenever the younger duo would see a lull in the training of their seniors. Each day, Mudkip would be soundly defeated, and each following day, he would be right as rain. Brendan was unbothered by the losses and Mudkip, being a little glutton for punishment, gladly threw himself at Vulpix no matter how much he was brutalized the day prior. All of Lee's fears about either pokemon being hurt beyond help evaporated like a puddle on a hot day thanks to Mudkip.
The spread on Vulpix's ranged attacks closed by a fraction of a degree each day, and now her Ember could reliably hit objects her size at about fifty feet. The little fireballs race a little faster and explode a little harder with repeated practice as well. Firespin, being the signature move of Vulpix, is already powerful, more powerful than the games give it credit for. For how aloof the little vixen usually is, she's taken to Lee's training with aplomb, and the results are already beginning to show.
Back to the battle, Mudkip barely has enough time to hack the water out of his lungs before Vulpix leaps into the air, coats herself in the shimmering aura of Quick Attack, then shoots down upon him like a meteor
CRASH! Day 12
Lee huffs and wipes the sweat from his brow as he focuses on his running pace around the corral. Vulpix has lapped him at least seven times, even with the convoluted, zig-zagging course of he's set up for her. He stops for a moment to watch his pokemon weave between spots he's marked into the ground with agility and grace that would make a mundane fox green with envy. She skids at a particularly harsh turn, but quickly corrects herself and is back in a full sprint in hardly a moment. As Vulpix runs, she pants short tongues of flame in an effort to cool off some. Then something strikes Lee as strange. The flames aren't in sync with her breathing. The fire licking at her lips ebbs and surges independent of the movement of her chest. It's almost like it doesn't even correspond at all.
'Wait, no. No way in hell. It's such a leap, but if it's true and this works...'
"Hey love!" Lee calls, making Vulpix skid to a halt and look towards him. "Let's head inside for a short break. I've got a few things to look up, then we can keep training."
The vixen doesn't verbally reply, but walks to Lee's side as she tries to steady her breathing. Now up close, Lee can see for certain that the flames she's panting aren't matching up with her breaths at all. Both man and vixen walk towards the lab at a sedate pace, letting Lee think. There for sure must be a high-level trainer out there somewhere that has already discovered this, but after recalling the Emerald dex entry on Vulpix, he has to try it.
...But how much can gamedex entries be trusted? Lee lets out a relieved groan as he and Vulpix step into the air-conditioned lab. Vulpix fans her tails and does a full-body shake, airing out her orange pelt with the cool air.
"You look tired."
Professor Birch walks in to the lab's main room with a clipboard under one arm and a plastic bottle of water held in the other. The stocky man tosses the bottle to Lee, who snatches it out of the air.
"Running around during the heat of the day does that," Lee quips, unscrewing the bottle cap and kneeling so Vulpix could latch onto the bottle and greedily drink. "Mind if we use one of the PCs for a bit? We've got a bit of research to do." "All yours," Birch smiles with a wave of his hand. "What about, may I ask?"
Vulpix chooses that time to let the bottle go, now looking very refreshed with a few water trails down her chin and into her breast tuft. "Vulpix!" she says with a smile, nuzzling Lee's hand. Lee smiles and gently strokes his fox before tipping the bottle of water back into his own mouth, drinking the remaining half in just three mammoth gulps. "Phew. To answer you, Prof. There are some..." Lee hesitates, trying to think of a good descriptor other than 'gamedex' "...legends about pokemon from my 'home' that I wanted to fact check. If some regarding Vulpix and Ninetales are true, then Vulpix here is in for a treat, and any future battlers are in for a nasty surprise."
Birch instantly understands and smiles. "You can't just give me the bare minimum like that and not expect me to ask more," he replies, his smile widening into a grin. "What's the 'legend' say about the Vulpix line?"
"That they can freely control fire, and how that's how they control Will-o-Wisp," Lee begins. Vulpix jumps to his shoulders as he stands and turns to Birch. "I noticed when Vulpix and I were out exercising that she was panting flames." Birch crosses his arms and nods. "Yes, that's pretty standard with a lot of Fire types."
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