After a long silence, the three of us stood there, eyes shifting between one another, all wondering what would come next. And then—simple, almost awkwardly—
"Hi?" she said, mirroring Khan's earlier greeting with a raised brow.
After that she glanced behind her, scanning the broken corridor. Most of her team had fled the moment the battle turned against them. Her shoulders slumped as she let out a dry laugh and sat down on a cracked piece of stone.
"I really shouldn't have paid those guys that much," she muttered, brushing some dirt off her jeans.
"Why'd you even pay them?" Khan asked, settling onto another rock nearby. He lay back against it like it was a couch, one leg bouncing lazily. "You were doing great on your own—maybe even better without them."
She gave him a sideways look, then a half-smile. "Yeah, maybe. But I need the wins. And seriously—what the hell is wrong with you two? Why did you attack us like that?" Her finger jabbed through the air between us, switching from Khan to me.
"Hey, we need wins too, okay?" Khan said with a shrug. "Your squad looked like easy targets. Can you blame us? Just look at them!"
I stayed quiet, something about her still tugging at the back of my mind. She looked... familiar. Like I'd seen her before, maybe in a previous battle or somewhere else entirely.
She chuckled. "Eh. Can't argue with that."
Her gaze drifted across the ruined corridor, and for a moment we all followed her eyes—cracked flooring, vines still twitching from Weepinbell's last attack, scorch marks, puddles, and a faint smell of smoke and ozone.
"This place looks like a damn war zone," she said softly.
"It really does," I admitted, stepping over a broken slab of concrete and leaning against the stone wall.
Then her eyes flicked back to me, sharp and curious. "Hey now that ı think about it. What was that move you used with your Arcanine earlier? It looked like Flare Blitz, but... I don't know. It hit way harder than it should have been."
Her black eyes gleamed with curiosity, and I felt my chest puff out slightly—pride mixing with the thrill of being asked about something I'd created myself.
"Ah, it's a move I came up with," I began, trying to sound casual. "It's called Extreme Flar—"
"He mixed Extreme Speed and Flare Blitz," Khan interrupted, cutting me off with a grin.
I glanced over at Khan with a annoyed face as a grin tugged at the corner of my lips. "Hey, don't be jealous. If you say It like that it just proves I'm better."
Khan narrowed his eyes at me. "Oh yeah? I could do it right now, no problem! You wanna see it?"
"Do it," I said, folding my arms. "If you pull it off, I'll give you ten thousand Pokédollars."
That fired him up immediately. He tapped his wristband and looked straight at Golduck.
"Golduck, use Hydro Surf!" he shouted with conviction.
Golduck gave him a side glance like it wasn't sure if Hydro Surf was even a real thing. Still, it obeyed—gathering water between its webbed hands before launching a powerful blast skyward. The force of the blast created a brief rainfall overhead.
I pulled my coat tighter as the droplets came down, while the girl with the ponytail got caught right under it. In seconds, she was soaked.
"Look! I mixed it!" Khan called out proudly, arms raised like he just reinvented Pokémon battling.
I couldn't help but laugh. "Didn't Golduck just use Hydro Pump though?"
"It was different!" Khan shot back, but even he didn't sound sure.
The girl just stood there, dripping wet, arms crossed and an expression that said how did I lose to these idiots? She sighed heavily.
"Maybe the moves need to have synergy," she muttered.
We kept bickering about whether Golduck's move was a fusion or just a flashy Hydro Pump, until Khan turned to her.
"Doesn't Surf and Hydro Pump have synergy?" he asked.
She shrugged, still looking unimpressed. "Yeah? No? I mean, I don't really know. Maybe they're too similar?"
Then she tilted her head, curiosity returning to her expression. "Have you guys tried with other types? Like... elemental punches?"
Khan looked at me, then flicked his wristband open again, scrolling to Dragonite. "Alright, Dragonite, use Thunder Punch, but don't move."
Dragonite's fist began to spark with crackling electricity as I plopped onto the ground beside them, watching.
"Now Fire Punch!" Khan added.
The electricity flickered—then vanished beneath a flicker of flame as fire consumed the fist instead.
"It didn't work," she said, pouting slightly as she stood up and walked a slow circle around Dragonite. "Hey, what if you told it to use both at the same time?"
Just as we were starting to wonder if that could work, our wristbands lit up in unison. Tyranitar, Dragonite, Scyther, and Golduck were all automatically recalled into their Pokéballs.
[Dear Trainers. Midnight has arrived. Please gather at either entrance on Route 5 or Route 6.]
We all looked at each other.
"So this is it," Khan said, stretching out his arms and cracking his neck.
"If one of you wins and gets a Prism Scale," the girl said, walking past us with her hands behind her head, "I'm stealing it. Just so you know."
Khan turned to me with a grin. "I like her. Oh—and if you get an Electirizer, I'm stealing that."
He jogged ahead to walk beside her, leaving me behind for a moment.
I blinked. Wait—when did we even team up? Do we even know her name!? I thought to myself for a moment, then sighed and followed after them.
The sound of our footsteps echoed softly against the broken concrete as we joined a slowly growing number of trainers heading toward the Route 6 exit. The cracked path was littered with debris, scuffed by battle and scattered with the faint glow of retreated Pokémon.
"So, what are you guys planning after this?" she asked, walking between us, her hands resting behind her head as she glanced our way.
"Beat the Vermilion City Gym Leader," Khan and I said at the same time, glancing at each other in mild surprise.
"Want to go there together?" I offered, casually thinking having a company other than Rotomdex could be good.
Khan rubbed his chin with mock seriousness. "Hmm... and what do I gain from that?"
I waved him off. "If you don't want to, she can come with me, right?" I looked over at her—then paused. I lowered my voice. "Hey... this might be rude, but we never asked your name. Can I know it now?"
Khan tilted his head slightly, also listening.
"It's Amaris," she said without hesitation.
I turned to Khan, smirking. "Yes—Amaris, do you want to come with me?"
She looked at me, amused. "And what do I gain from coming with you?"
My face fell immediately as both of them exchanged grins.
With a dramatic groan, I placed the back of my hand against my forehead and let out a fake cry. "Why? My God! Why do you make me meet people who are only so self-serving?"
Khan chuckled, giving my dramatic display a light shove. "Hey, you're just mad we're better negotiators.But okay, I'm in. Not like I've got anything better to do anyway," Khan admitted, stretching his head as we reached the staircase leading up to the exit.
The cracked concrete steps were damp from the lingering mist of battle, but the air beyond was clearer, quieter—like the storm behind us had finally passed.
As we climbed, I glanced over at Amaris. She was walking with her hands in her pockets, her eyes distant, as if lost in thought.
"So," Khan asked, nudging her shoulder lightly, "got a plan after this?"
She glanced between Khan and me, then gave a shrug. "Eh not really but if it lets me keep running away from work, I'm in."
Khan snorted and held up his hand. "Respect."
Amaris smirked and returned the high-five.
We reached the top of the stairs and were met by a sleek metal wall with three identical screens embedded into it. Each one blinked with a familiar prompt in bold, glowing text:
[PLEASE PLACE YOUR WRISTBAND HERE.]
Khan didn't hesitate. "Let's get this over with. I want to sleep" he said aa he yawned.
He slapped his wristband onto the leftmost scanner. Amaris followed suit, taking the center. I stepped up to the last one and pressed mine into the empty space.
A moment later, Khan's screen lit up with a burst of digital confetti.
"I'm fifth!" he shouted, fist pumping the air. "Got a Focus Band!" He snatched his Pokéballs from the retrieval tray, along with a red-and-yellow band packed neatly in a small black box.
From the middle screen, Amaris groaned. "Ugh, twenty-first. Thanks to you guys, I get nothing." She deposited the temporary Pokéballs she had rented earlier into their return slot and collected her own, her expression somewhere between annoyed and amused.
I looked at my screen as the text began to load slowly, the fan inside the machine giving a soft whir.
[Congratulations. You are the…]
The words paused, the dots blinking on screen.