Chương 68: 68-pressure wave

Tanya blinks a few times as her perspective on the world shifts from the strange blind sight inside the pokeball to her own eyes. This has been the single longest time inside a pokeball she can remember, and it's the first time she'd been able to keep focus on the outside world as the battle went on.

But even at her most focused inside the ball some context is missing, because the last thing she remembers was Taillow diving through a flamethrower and out the other side, using the dive to add power to a point black attack before there was a blinding flash of white. Looking around, the 'mon sees both Taillow and Growlithe lying still in the middle of the arena, Taillow half buried and covered in dirt while every human eye stares back at her.

The confusion clears when the referee clears his throat and raises a hand to the challanger's side of the arena.

"Gym Leader Flannery has run out of Pokemon, challenger wins." He says in an official monotone. The instant he proclaims the victor Amelia breaks into a sprint toward the small divot in the soil where Taillow sits half buried, Tanya following quickly behind as Growlithe disappears in a flash of red.

"Oh! Don't use the pokeball on your partner just yet!" The Gym Leader shouts, jogging over as well.

"You need to wait a few minutes for the– ah you already know that…" She trails off with an awkward silence as Amelia kneels down at the mound of dirt and slowly starts brushing dirt off of Taillow's– Tanya blinks. Because this is not Taillow. Or rather, he used to be Taillow. Coming up alongside her partner as Amelia checks the 'mon's breathing, Tanya runs a professional eye down Swellow's newly evolved feathers, faintly shimmering white with residual power even underneath the dirt and soot.

After confirming the 'mon is breathing, Amelia looks up at the Gym Leader with a smile.

"I know Gym Leader. Thank you." She says, brushing off her pants as she stands up before looking up at Tanya.

"Chansey, could you…?" Tanya nods, and as Amelia steps toward the Gym Leader with an arm out for a handshake her partner keeps her eyes on Tai– Swellow to make sure there aren't any immediate evolution complications. One of the things that is taught to any trainer is to not put 'mon inside their ball at any time during or immediately after evolution. Her own medical studies have given a pretty comprehensive list of reasons why.

Most of the risks are minor, occasional cosmetic blemishes as certain parts of the body don't develop at the same rate as everything else, potential health complications later in life, at the most extreme end it can cause malformed organs resistant to healing and surgery. But those are rare.

It's the same reason she's not healed the 'mon yet, it's best practice that if there's not an emergency to not interfere with the evolution process until at least a few minutes after the last visible indications of evolutionary flare subside. As long as he's breathing he's probably fine, and even if he isn't as long as he's breathing it's better to let the evolution instability fade before messing with him. Especially with a pokeball allowing for near perfect stability.

Tanya mentally starts a timer as the last of the white shimmers fade to nothing, mentally assessing T–Swellow as she listens in on Amelia's conversation with the Gym Leader. The Gym leader coughs slightly as she comes to a stop in front of Amelia.

"Mghm. Well. Congratulations Miss J– Amelia." She starts, seeming to struggle with what to do with her hands before placing them on her hips.

"You've beaten my challenge, and for your achievement I hereby award you your… um. Your…." She trails off, searching her pockets with increasing panic.

"... Gym Leader. Did you–?"

"Waitwaitwait! Hold on!" The girl interrupts, pointing at Amelia with a finger insistantly." Dont move, I'll be right back!" With that she turns heel and sprints off to the side, in the same direction she'd come in from when Amelia entered the arena space, where Tanya can now see has some sort of small service path behind the referee stand.

The referee, still sitting in his chair, tries to appear stoic as his boss runs by him and into the woods, but he still gives Amelia a lingering meaningful look before easing back in his chair.

After a moment, Tanya just looks back down at Swellow, cocking her head to the side as she tries to estimate when she should heal the 'mon. Apparently stable or no, the uncertainty of looking at someone who's injured… bothers her. She compresses her bulk so that her arms can reach the 'mon and she starts removing dirt from around the nostrils, then moves on to position the body in a more relaxed position.

The fact she can interact with the unconscious 'mon without him so much as stirring has old knowledge ringing alarm bells, but her current medical training says it's perfectly normal. So despite illogical whispers of a major concussion she finishes positioning Swellow and gets back to removing dirt from around the ears and eyes. Amelia stands where she'd been ordered almost as still as a statue as the first minute trails into the next, but after four minutes the trainer is looking around suspiciously.

"... I thought she'd just forgotten the badges somewhere." She starts, half talking to herself as she looks vaguely at Tanya.

"But gyms do have some weird challenges, and there was nothing on the path up here. …Am I supposed to find her in the woods somewhe–" Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. The referee coughs, looking distinctly embarrassed.

"Ah. Hm. No Miss. She'll be back, you beat the challenge." Amelia looks at the referee with a small tinge of suspicion in her eyes.

"... Alright." She says eventually before looking over at her partner and kneeling down next to Swellow.

"Is he ready yet?" Tanya hums.

"Most likely, no evolution residuals for the past four minutes twenty seconds."

"Oh… good." She says, looking at Swellow's unconscious body for an awkwardly long silence.

"... He doesn't seem… larger than average does he?" The 'mon hums, looking more carefully at Swellow and mentally estimating some lengths.

"Larger than average? Yes. But tail to beak I'd say only by a few centimetres." She responds eventually, to which her partner huffs in agreement.

"Yea I thought so too… well his line gets most of their growing done in the evolution flare, so…" She trails off with a cough.

"Right, well if you think he's ready I don't see any signs of a post-evolutionary aura malrecuperation, so he's definitely recovered enough healing won't strain him, though I'm not sure if you'll be able to wake him up with your boosted heal pulse."

"Hm." Tanya agrees with a grunt, reaching out with an arm beginning to sparkle.

"If not he'll get his honors when we get back to the center." Pressing her arm against the middle of Swellow's splayed wings, she barely taps the wellspring of power within and is pleased to see a sizable but not overwhelming burst in response. It seems all that practice is finally starting to pay dividends. She feels the energy rush in, gathering to mend various scrapes, bruises, and something in the bones of the left leg she has to assume is either a fracture or a break before–" AAAH! WHERE!? Who!?

Wh–" Swellow's panicked flailing subsides as he comes to his senses, looking around at the furrow in the dirt he's lying in, to Amelia, then to Tanya.

"... Chansey? What happened? Did I–" That all he can say before his now larger body is hefted off the ground and into Amelia's arms in a twirling hug.

"Swellow you did it! You beat her! We won!" She cheers, giving one last spin before placing a now slightly dizzy looking 'mon back on the ground.

"Your last attack knocked both of you out! Chansey just had to come out to make sure it wasn't a draw! You did it!" The news seems to have the 'mon at a loss for words, looking up at his partner with emotion filled eyes that just as suddenly snap to abject shock.

"Wh– wait, Swellow?" Swellow flares his wings then cranes his neck to look at his belly and talons, then down his back and seems even more shocked by his twin trailing tail feathers. He wiggles the feathers, stares, then wiggles them again.

"I evolved!?" He screeches, looks up at Amelia, then over to Tanya, then over to the referee who seems to be pretending he's alone.

"I… I dont… Swellow!?" Amelia giggles at the sight of her partner's actions, then quickly looks back to the small path as the sound of crunching foliage rapidly approaches.

"Found them! I found them! Don't go anywhere!" The Gym Leader shouts a few seconds before she sprints back into the clearing and comes to a stop right where she'd been, this time a small black case in her hand. She plants her hands onto her knees and pants a few times to catch her breath, waving vaguely at the trainer.

"I got… hah… I got them… Just give me a… a second." She gasps, to which Amelia awkwardly obliges. After a moment the referee reaches behind his chair and pulls out a bottle of water.

"... Gym Leader, would you like some wate–""Ah no– just– thank you Alan but…" She pauses to take a few more breaths, then straightens up and takes a step closer to Amelia and continues in a rehearsed rush.

"Ok. Congratulations Trainer Amelia, you've beaten my challenge and for your achievement I hereby award you your second badge, the heat badge." With that she flips open the case, almost dropping it as she does, revealing a row of identical badges to which she grabs one and offers it to the trainer.

Amelia seems momentarily stunned at the sight of the badge, but she recovers in less than a second, grabbing the badge from the offering hand and pulling out the similarly black badge case and pops it open, carefully placing the badge next to her first. Watching on, Tanya considers the badge, proof that, assuming they're capable of the feat, they're one fourth of the way done with this enterprise.

Their good impression on the local Head Nurse and a tentative offer of a position is proof doing this was a good idea, but as the 'mon stands there in the afternoon sun, she tries to imagine what the world will look like when this is all over. Her eyes drift from the badges to Swellow, still looking at his new body with awed fascination, lifting up his right foot and clenching his talons over and over while watching the motion.

The 'mon can barely read, let alone practice medicine, what's he going to do when this is all ove– Tanya's head snaps to the horizon as she feels the unmistakable shiver of a P-wave, and her vision focuses just in time to see the foliage on the mountain shifting as if in a strong wind just before–" Down!" She shouts, grabbing Amelia as the quake hits and the world becomes noise. The ground heaves, knocking Tanya off her feet and rolling her on her side.

She keeps hold of Amelia as she falls, releasing her grip only afterwards where the human immediately covers her head with her arms and waits for the quake to abate. The earth thunders, vibrating a deep sound as if the ground is a struck drum, accompanied by the popping groan of wood and the hiss of leaves rusting like wind in the still air. It doesn't last long, less than ten seconds and it leaves as quickly as it arrived, but as it leaves the dissipating sound reveals a deathly quiet almost louder than the quake.

The instant she's able Tanya is up, scanning her surroundings for any potential hazards caused by the earthquake. The previous two quakes didn't have anyone nervous in the news, but personal experience with Japanese quakes means Tanya knows that this one was serious. Thankfully their position in the center of the arena means there aren't any trees falling on them and she doesn't hear any indication of a landslide.

Ruling out immediate hazards, the 'mon looks back down at everyone else as they slowly uncover their heads and look around. The first thing she notices is that Swellow is gone, but a single glance skyward shows he's in the air, slowly circling on his new wings. Amelia coughs roughly into her elbow as she gets up, face and front half of her body covered in a thin coating of dust.

"Everyone alright?" She calls out, looking around to confirm everyone's status, but as the sound of sirens rise in the distance an alarmed expression falls over her face. She locks eyes with her partner before turning and breaking into a sprint toward the stone path back the way they came.

"Cmon!"