Like No One Ever Was

“Go Nemona! Woo!” I cheered loudly as her Dunsparce smacked around a Marill, sending the blue ball-shaped Pokemon bouncing around the arena.

My cheers were mostly lost amidst the other cheers (and a few curses) of other matches at the same time. I think I hear a few more people cheering for Nemona now, though. It was still faint, but as she won more often, more people in the crowds here started saying her name.

“Awesome! Go kick someone else’s butt!” Arven cheered, and not for the first time today I wondered if she hadn’t lightly traumatized the young boy. Oh well. I’m more surprised by how otherwise normal her friend/relationship with him is.

My little sister was adorable, bright, and incredibly weird. I was allowed to use Rock Throw - I freely accepted that I was weird too. Other kids my age (and especially hers) weren’t as driven as we were. We were born for greatness, and that meant putting in the work to achieve those results.

A memory, possibly my first one, flashed into my mind. It was of Mommy smiling as she saw a drawing I’d scribbled out, praising me for my work before she had to head off to her important job. A smile touched my lips at the memory, but it changed to a frown as I thought about it more.

I get that they’re busy with their important jobs, or trips to relax from those jobs, but did they have to miss this? I’d never been upset at them missing my recitals or the like, but it felt different when it was Nemona they couldn’t see.

How funny, a year ago I would have been mad at how much attention they were paying to my sister. Back then I thought she was just showing off, spouting useless trivia while I did ‘real’ work. When we made that comic together I realized that she wanted me to succeed and be noticed by Mommy and Daddy too. And as we started hanging out more, I realized just how hard Nemona works.

Which makes them missing this suck even more. I let out a small sigh and shifted the incubator on my back around. She doesn’t think it was bad for us to wait here, right? No way, she’s been winning all these early fights, and I’d get so tired if I had to run all over to that other field and back.

“What’s wrong? Are you tired?” Arven asked in response to my sigh, and I blinked. Didn’t realize he would notice that.

“No, I’m fine. And I’m not tired. We’ve got these good seats and will be right near the action when Nims wins and the quarterfinals start.”

“That might not be correct,” Turo said suddenly. “Not the seats comment, these foldable bleachers have actually proven much more comfortable than I anticipated. Nemona however, is unlikely to win this round.”

“What!?” I shrieked. How can he say that?

“While I’m no metallurgist, I think the flexibility of these bleachers comes from an alloy designed to mimic the inherent traits of Melmetal-”

“Daaaad,” Arven whined out before I could explode. “We don’t care about that sciency stuff, why do you think Nemona is going to lose?” He frowned, the otherwise hard-to-read Professor looking like he had been personally insulted.

Quickly shaking it off he said, only a bit colder: “While she might stand a chance if Atticus uses his Staravia, he’ll likely choose his Dhelmise, recognizing it as the better choice versus Nemona’s Dunsparce. Though even then, she’d still be disadvantaged from the Staravia’s greater maneuverability and speed.”

“But Dun is so strong, he’s beat Maschiff so many times.” The dog Pokemon in question at his feet gave a small whimper, remembering their matches.

Turo gave his son a small smile. “Be that as it may, Dun faces many disadvantages against Dhelmise in particular. As a Normal Type, his strongest Moves won’t work against Dhelmise because of its Ghost Typing. The other Move he has utilized the most thus far is Earthquake, which is not very effective due to the Grass Typing. That dual combination, plus the sheer physical strength and variety of Moves Dhelmise has, I can't see any other outcome than Nemona’s defeat.”

Has he actually been watching these matches? I thought he was just fiddling around on his tablet and recording the fights on his phone, but it looks like he was paying attention. Don’t get why he’s so focused on the tech instead of cheering, though. His son was starting to look worried, his belief in Nemona’s overwhelming strength warring with his belief in his father always being right.

It probably doesn’t help that a lot of that terminology is going over Arven’s head. I knew because a few months ago it would have gone over mine. It was only with the tutoring Nemona had given me to get my trainer’s license. Which is why I know that she’s still going to win. She knows all of this stuff and looks way too confident not to have some crazy plan ready for this.

“Don’t worry Arven. Like you said, she’s really strong and has been training super hard for this tournament. Think about all the training you’ve done with her, then times it by ten and she’s worked at least that hard.” The young boy gaped and shivered at the very idea of someone working that hard. “Nims is gonna win this whole thing, no problem.” I glanced over at the Professor, challenging him to deny my words.

He shrugged. “There are unpredictable elements in any experiment.” It was a non-answer to hedge bets, but he didn’t seem to think it was likely, nodding to himself as he glanced at his tablet.

I don’t get what’s going on with those two. I had overheard Nemona talking to him at the party where she became best friends with Arven. Everyone else was willing to wave off her words as just ‘things kids say,’ but I knew better. She was deliberately trying to upset him. But why?

“Why don’t you show me some of what Maschiff has learned after the tournament?” Turo asked his son, causing Arven’s face to light up like a Lanturn.

“Really?” The boy asked and the Professor nodded his head, a goofy smile of his own on his face. Unguarded, in a way Nemona couldn’t be.

Oh sure, my little sister could talk endlessly about any topic that interested her. She was way more open than the stoic Professor generally. It’s a miracle his son didn’t inherit that from him. But as much as Nemona is generally more engaged and considerate than him, there’s a gap I see with her. A space between her that no one can seem to close. Not me, not Leah, not even Mommy or Daddy.

Before I could get more frustrated with Nemona and her weirdness, I got distracted as I saw her battle about to start on the screen. She and her opponent had been called up for their round and were releasing their Pokemon.

“Let’s get this, Dun!” The yellow-winged snake gave a roar for the crowds, one that a few of the audience there returned with their own cheering.

Across her stood a tanned young man with long blue hair, accented with yellow tips. His t-shirt cut a slight v-frame on his torso and honestly looked quite cute. Sorry pretty boy, I’d be rooting for you if it wasn’t my sis you were facing, but as is, you’re going down!

“Go, Dhelmise!” The seaweed-encrusted anchor-and-wheel drifted onto the battlefield, glaring balefully from one of the eyes on its wheel at the smaller Pokemon. I hope Dun will be alright. I know what I said and how much Nims trained him, but looking at it live… that anchor looks scary.

“Contestants ready?” The referee asked, and they both nodded. “Begin!” The older child, Atticus, took the lead, shouting the first command.

“Rapid Spin!” Before the Dhelmise could even begin to whirl around, Nemona gave a counter command.

“Earthquake!” Dunsparce slammed into the ground, causing it to shift and bounce up and down. Dhelmise lowered itself, moving perpendicular to the ground as the anchor began to spin around the wheel. Before it could build up speed, some of the earth rose and hit it, disrupting its movements.

“Gah!” The boy cried out at his Pokemon taking a hit. Despite his exclamation, it didn’t look like the Dhelmise was all that injured. But maybe I’m just not seeing something they are. Nemona had a sharp grin at the exchange. Atticus wasn’t done yet, giving another command. “Alright, go for Rapid Spin again, but go high above the ground.”

Nemona called out for an Earthquake again, clapping her hands together as she did so. She didn’t give any more commands as the Dhelmise hurtled in, but, when it tried to cut in diagonally at Dunsparce he jumped well over the ghostly sea wreckage, the movement of the ground helping push him up.

“That Dunsparce is impressive,” Turo commented as we watched him try to lash out with a Poison Jab at the Dhelmise under my sister’s commands. The anchor was lightly grazed before managing to back away, even with the Dunsparce chasing after it, gliding through the air by furiously beating his wings.

“Told you~” I sing-songed, enjoying watching Dun’s assault on the bigger, very solid-looking anchor. It’s crazy how powerful a little guy like that can be. Nims would be the first to tell me that though - she can wax poetic about ‘the infinite potential within all Pokemon.' About how even an electric mouse could fight a god and win. The weight of the incubator on my back felt heavy, and I wondered if my Popplio could be that strong.

“That being said, my preliminary hypothesis holds.” Turo finished, and by the time I had parsed his words, Atticus had made a comeback.

“Frustration!” He shouted, and Dhelmise’s ghastly eye narrowed, the anchor body swinging out from the wheel briefly to catch Dunsparce by the hook. Slamming into the little snake hard, it sent Dun flying across the arena and crashing into the barrier at the edge. He flopped on the ground, giving a pained cry and we could see a nasty red mark where the anchor had hit.

Atticus flashed a brilliant smile as the tables turned. “Ha! You’re no match for my Pokemon.”

My sibling remained undaunted. “As if! Dun would never give up so easily. C’mon, get up buddy. No matter how tough, you can do this!” Dunsparce rolled back onto his belly quickly before wincing and trembling.

“Oh no!” Arven cried out, biting his nails. I shook my head, knowing where this was going.

“Don’t worry, I know that wince,” Cyan said with a smirk. “That’s how he looks when Nemona stops our chefs from giving him a third dinner.” And he certainly doesn’t wince like that because he needs the extra meals.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you! Alright, Frustration again!” The Dhelmise glided across the battlefield at the behest of his trainer, in a collision course with Dunsparce. At the last second, Nemona gave her command.

“Dodge!” Despite the bruising from before remaining, any signs of weakness in his movements disappeared as he rolled to the side, deftly evading the powerful attack and catching the other side off-guard with the sudden speed. “Poison Jab!”

Dun’s tail lashed out into the wheel of the ghost, causing it to recoil before moving in for another swing of its anchor. “Counter!” The call wasn’t for a Move, but instead for Dunsparce to start spinning his tail and then raise it to deflect the anchor before it could crash down on him, pushing it to the dirt beside. “Earthquake!” Again, the ground shook, dislodging the anchor.

“Go Nemona, wooo!” I cheered, hearing Arven and a few others cheering along. Most of the crowd here was focused on Nemona’s match, this one being the most exciting by far of the ones being broadcast to the central battlefield right now.

Turo wasn’t cheering at all, however, his face looked like it was carved out of marble as he impassively watched the match. Occasionally he’d glance down at his equipment, type in some new code, then go back to watching.

“Great job Atticus!” Cheers like that had me whipping back to the match, to see that something had happened. Some crunching sound that had likely been Dhelmise breaking one of Dun’s wings, the left one sticking out at an odd angle. The Dunsparce looked a bit roughed up in general, something that incited Atticus’ fans to shouts of joy.

“C’mon Nemona, you can do it!” I cried out as loud as I could as if my words could reach her from here. They didn’t, but Atticus gave a command I couldn’t hear and something unexpected happened. The Dhelmise shrouded itself in a dark purple energy that swung into, and harmlessly through, Dun.

“Huuuuuuh?! What happened?” Arven shouted, echoing out loud my internal confusion.

“Another Poison Jab!” Nemona called out, and with the time from his failed attack before letting her Pokemon recover enough to strike back. Dhelmise was wary of that now, and reeled back, but was still grazed by the magenta-tipped tail.

Clearing his throat, the Professor explained. “Dhelmise Ghost Typing protects it from Dunsparce’s Normal attack, but that protection goes both ways. As a Normal Type, Dun is immune to Ghost Type attacks.” Right, Nemona mentioned something about that when testing me on Types. I never got that, what regular people just ain't afraid of no ghosts? And why do they resist Bugs?

“Gyro Ball! Crush it!” The anchor spun fast as it rose up into the air, looking like a solid circle for a moment.

“D- Tank it and Bite!” Dunsparce clenched up but didn’t move, letting the Dhelmise slam into him. He gave a pained cry, before coating his teeth with a barely visible black aura and latching into the metal anchor. Dhelmise wailed but didn’t flee.

“Lock him down, then Mega Drain!” Seaweeds extended from the anchor to stop the snake from fleeing and then began to pulse with light green energy. “Haha! Now my Dhelmise will heal while your Dunsparce is drained to nothing!”

I was worried, it actually looked like this might be the end but Nemona was smiling on the screen, for some reason.

“It’s over. Dun, wiggle out your back half.” Dun was quite slippery (something I’d found out when he’d wiggle out of my grasp with ease in the early days), so despite being wrapped up, he was able to comply with the command, even though the pressure holding him down was on his neck now. “Poison Jab repeatedly! Aim for the seaweed!” Nemona cried out, a vicious look on her face.

His tail jabbed back and forth, striking into the dense clumps of seaweed multiple times. The energy being transferred between the Pokemon took on a magenta tint as it was absorbed into the ghost.

“Ack! Dhelmise, retreat!” Dhelmise broke off the seaweed and floated away. There was an odd sway to its hovering compared to before and it had one of its steering wheel eyes closed in pain. “What? What’s wrong?!” Atticus demanded wildly.

“Your Pokemon has just been Poisoned, that’s what’s wrong,” my little sister taunted back. It’s odd, in that it’s not odd. Nims has a certain presence to her, that makes you forget that she’s basically bullying someone almost twice her age. “His strength is being sapped away every moment.”

“Fine then, I’ll end this fast! Dhelmise-”

“Dun, dig down.” Nemona interrupted him, holding a hand out, pulling it back, and then splaying her fingers again. The land snake quickly spun his tail and started drilling through the ground.

“Grrr, fine, wait for it to return and take out all your anger on it!” Atticus commanded, and Dhelmise got ready, looking for anywhere it might pop up from. And looking. And looking…

“Hey, what gives? You can’t hide forever!” The boy pouted as his Dhelmise gave a pained cry, the poison taking its toll.

“That’s correct, I can hide for 30 seconds at most before I’d be disqualified,” Nemona explained, without giving any further comments. The look in her eyes made it clear she wasn’t going to either.

“You’re fighting dirty! Cheater!” Nemona frowned at the name-calling, clenching a tight fist, but didn’t engage with him beyond that. The crowd over on my end started doing the same, booing her.

“Hey, shut up! It’s in the rules, if he doesn’t have a counter, it’s on him!” I shouted at them, realizing after my outburst that I’d stood up at some point. Some of the crowd turned towards me, jeering- then Turo stepped in.

“The young lady is correct, it’s an entirely legitimate tactic. Let’s go back to watching the match in peace.” His tone and fancy Professor’s coat brooked no disagreement. Some of the adults looked guilty when they realized my age, a few still shot daggers at me with their eyes, but everyone quieted down to watch the match conclude.

“Fine, Dhelmise get ready for when-” At that moment (25 seconds into the count as shown by the referee), Dunsparce popped back up. The poisoned ghost had turned slightly to face its trainer before he had resurfaced and thus wasn’t prepared to crush him right away.

“Outmaneuver!” Nemona called out, and Dunsparce fled the enraged Dhelmise. Not just fleeing, however. Whenever the Dhelmise got too close, he’d spin his tail and get ready for another Poison Jab, forcing the larger Pokemon to back off and try to hit it from another angle, giving Dun more time to evade and keep his distance.

Losing his cool, Atticus grabbed big clumps of blue hair on either side of his head and yelled

“Screw it! Giga Impact!” Everyone, even the crowds watching here gave a shocked gasp at that as pale green energy emanated in a semi-sphere in front of its body. I don’t know what’s so bad, but if they’re all worried for Dun…

Nemona was panicking as well, for the first time in this tournament. Throwing her arms to the side as if to add force to the motion she screamed “BARREL ROLL!!” Dunsparce obeyed without hesitation, launching itself into a tumble that took it a third of the way across the arena.

Dhelmise rocketed forward with great speed, but little accuracy, missing by a fair margin as it drove itself into the ground, tearing up large chunks of dirt before it hit the barrier and broke through that too.

Some of the in-person spectators dove to the sides, but it didn’t get near any of them. The friction from the ground and the barrier bled off enough speed that it only went a few feet past it before collapsing to the ground, defeated.

All was silent for a moment before the referee called the fight, and the crowd erupted into cheers. Even the people booing her name a moment earlier were cheering her on now. Everyone loves a winner.

Sometimes adults didn’t realize just how much I heard, and how much of that I understood. So many times there would be some man calling Daddy a ‘Driftloom headed fool’, or disparaging Mommy’s bold style of dress, out of their earshot. Such comments quickly changed with the recent success of the Tera Orbs and their companies.

Or maybe they were just won over by my little sister and her last-minute victory. I didn’t care too much, just happy that Nemona grabbed victory and would be moving on to the quarter-finals.

Cheering alongside us, I saw Turo clapping politely as well. He also muttered something to himself, but I couldn’t hear it over the din.

“What was that?” I shouted.

“Ah, your hypothesis was proven correct, well done.” He stated loudly over the crowd, without seeming to strain.

I blinked, surprised at how cordial he was. “I thought you hated Nemona.” Now it was his turn to look surprised.

“Why would you think that? Did she say something?”

“No, but- ah never mind. I guess you guys are over the party stuff, huh?” I scratched the back of my head, a nervous habit I was starting to pick up from my little sister.

“That. Yes, I’m entirely over it. More than that, in fact, I’m grateful. Her introduction helped me create my greatest project to date, a Sproink board to further marvels of science. To say nothing of the data she just gave me…”

“Woohoo! That was awesome Nemona! She was all like ‘nuh-uh’ and then ‘bang’ ‘pow’! And then, then she was all ‘I’m so cool, dodge dodge’!” Arven recapped the fight (and inaccurately at that) we had just seen, blissfully ignorant or inured to just how creepy his father sounded.

Weird, maybe that’s why Nemona dislikes him so much? Oh! “Tulip and Dendra are here!” I exclaimed as I saw the elegant model and her friend on the other end of the crowd. Waving to them, I rushed over. I wonder if Tulip will have any more tips for me? Today is going great!