Child of Thorns - A Pokemon Sinnoh Reimagining

Reiko stood there, staring at Monferno's unconscious body and feeling heat build up inside her. She looked up to the fucking monster currently standing high enough for its head to almost touch the ceiling, and her fingers curled into a fist.

"Is Fantina just screwing with us!?" she couldn't help but ask, a hint of desperation in her voice. "What the hell is she thinking!?"

Percy gulped, his legs trembling, "I-it knocked him out in one hit!"

The Golurk set its eyes on them and stomped the ground with one of its feet, starting to walk forward. She could feel the vibrations travel from the ground up to her body.

"We have to attack it!" she exclaimed, taking two Pokeballs out of her belt. "Let's hit it with everything we've got before it comes over here!"

"Wait!" Percy's hand closed around her wrist. "W-we need an actual plan. If we all attack and it uses something that hits all of us…"

"What's the alternative then!?" She freed her arm with so much force she almost sent him to the ground. "I'm not gonna stand here waiting for you to think while that thing gets closer!"

"Guys, guys!" Barry interjected, putting a hand between them with an unsure smile on his face. "You both clearly need to chill a bit. Listen, we can do this, we just need to all be on the same page."

She scowled at him, at his baby face and bright eyes which somehow managed to ease some of the anger that'd been building up inside her, and she took one deep breath.

"Look at it." Barry directed their attention to the giant Pokemon, who was still taking slow, powerful steps towards them. "It's super slow! All we gotta do is use our fast Pokemon that can dodge while they attack it. We can, like…" He made a hand gesture, trying to think of the words.

"Whittle it down."

She heard Inyssa's voice behind her, which surprised her because she hadn't heard her talk in almost a minute. The girl walked forward, stomping the ground in a similar way to the Golurk, and with a flick of her hand returned her fainted Monferno to his Pokeball. She then proceeded to take another one out of her belt, lips stretched into a thin line.

"We are going to have a talk once we're done with this," she whispered to Monferno's Pokeball with an amount of venom that was surprising coming from such a young girl, and then put it back on her belt. "Listen, Barry's right. We'll use hit and run tactics." She looked first at Percy, and then at her. "You two done arguing? Fancy boy, I'm gonna need you to work with me here so stop shaking, and you redhead, I'd appreciate it if you didn't fly off the handle every time something bad happened."

The anger came back, and it came back hard, hitting her body like a hammer and erasing any effect that Barry's good will had had in her. She barely registered herself walking to the girl and grabbing her by the scarf with an iron grip.

"Listen here half pint…" She spat the words, feeling a dull throb in her temples. "I know you think that aloof act you're putting on is cool, but it's not, you're just fucking annoying!"

A flicker of actual confusion crossed Inyssa's expression, followed by hurt. She blinked, muttering under her breath. "Wait, I...".

It was as though she'd just realized something, realized that she and Reiko did not have the rapport she thought they had. For a moment, an apologetic look crossed her face, but then the anger and shame overtook it, making her brows furrow. "Tsk, whatever. At least I'm trying to do something instead of yell at everyone. Pretty hypocritical after you wasted one of your Pokemon so uselessly!"

Reiko stared daggers at the little shit, the fury inside of her now making her blood run so fast she was starting to get a headache. She was right, of course she was fucking right and that was the absolute worst part of it. They'd already lost one of their best Pokemon because of her, and now all she had to offer for the team was a tantrum. She swallowed all the things she wanted to say to Inyssa and let go of her scarf, her entire face red. At her right Barry let out a sigh of relief, and stared his friend down with eyebrows knit together. She avoided his gaze.

"We'll talk after we do this." Reiko whispered, barely getting a hold of herself. "Percy, we need a plan." She turned to him, putting a hand over his trembling shoulder. "Percy! Stay with me, I need you right now."

The boy took a sudden breath, apparently coming back to reality, and looked at her with eyes widened. She felt a hint of guilt for not noticing his panic earlier, but decided to bite it and swallow it down for the moment. The time for consoling him would come later.

"R-right…" he nodded. "We need to attack from afar, like Inyssa said. Preferably using type advantage, and we shouldn't have more than..." He paused for a second to take a breath and swallow. "We should only have one Pokemon out right now; we don't know if it has any area of effect attacks. If we manage to avoid those and keep hitting it we should be able to win considering his speed and reliance on physical power."

"Sounds good!" Barry yelled enthusiastically. "Kitsune, come out and use Confusion!"

Inyssa shrugged, opening the Pokeball in her hand. "That's what I was planning to do anyway. Bret, Magical Leaf!"

Two Pokemon materialized in front of them. The first was a robust, yellow fox standing on his two legs and holding a metal spoon on one of his hands, a giant mustache adorning part of his face. The other was a short plant creature with a head like a flower bud and two roses instead of hands, one blue and one red. She recognized them from the time she and Percy had spent… running into them while they trained. She'd even got to see them evolve.

The Kadabra punched the air with the hand which held the spoon, and aimed it at the Golurk while closing one of his eyes. A pink-ish glow covered his hand, and Reiko felt the air become heavy. The giant Pokemon raised its leg once more, but this time it stopped in its tracks, that same glow covering its entire body. A piercing sound, not quite a scream but too high pitched to be a growl, came out of its nonexistent mouth as it grabbed its head with both hands, falling to one knee and raising a cloud of dust around it. Without missing a beat the Roselia threw both hands forward and released a small torrent of razor sharp petals aimed directly at it's chest. The impact wasn't strong enough to make it budge but It managed to cover most of its body in tiny scratches.

Reiko stood still as she watched them, hand strongly closed around one of her Pokeballs and biting her lip. She could still feel that all encompassing heat pulsing inside her chest and threatening to take over, but she managed to keep it at bay if only for a while longer. Still, she couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated. She'd been watching that Inyssa girl for a few days now, and after meeting her she'd thought she found someone as hot headed as her. But here she was, jumping into action immediately and not letting her emotions get the better of her. A child was a better trainer than her, and the thought alone almost made Reiko heave.

Do you really think a child like you could accomplish this objective? A voice, a memory, whispered inside her head. Is the Flame of Cinnabar truly this feeble?

"Good, we're slowing it down." Percy said, showing the smallest hint of a smile. His voice returned her to reality. "I'll have Pierre support your Pokemon through the air with distraction and status moves while Prince acts as a backup. Reiko, I'm gonna need you to…"

The Golurk screamed again, the sound filling the entire cavern. It managed to free itself from the Kadabra's hold and slowly got on its feet again, eyes shining maliciously. The giant placed both of his hands in front of its chest, one on top of the other, as if it were holding an invisible ball. White light, much like the one from its previous attack, covered its arms as the ground started shaking.

"Is it trying to use the same attack?" Inyssa whispered. "It's too far away, there's no way it'd be able to hit…"

Percy's Pokedex came to life with another beep, almost making Reiko jump out of her skin. The electronic voice spoke again:

"Hyper Beam – An extremely devastating attack that causes the Pokemon to become exhausted after using it, forcing them to remain immobile for a short time afterwards."

Reiko's heart was on her throat as she heard those words, and her eyes slowly moved to the miniature white sun now resting between that thing's hands.

"Wait, no!" Percy's eyes shot wide open. "Pierre, use Protect! Now, now!"

Vivillion flew as fast as his wings allowed him to toward the Kadabra and Roselia, putting both hands forward and deploying a green-ish shield of light around them, moments before the Golurk released the energy on its hands.

The beam of light blinded them. It fell upon their Pokemon like a heavenly torrent of pure power, and the moment it clashed against the barrier the entire ground shook, sending Percy backwards to the ground and almost doing the same to the rest of them. The shield wasn't strong enough and barely managed to stop the attack for two seconds before it was shattered. The pillar of energy fell on top of Pierre, swallowing him whole and barely catching half of the other two Pokemon's bodies.

By the time the dust settled all she could see was the small bug's body laying flat on the ground, his beautiful wings smoking from the energy that had hit him. Next to him, Kadabra and Roselia stood on one knee, the only reason they weren't unconscious being that the barrier and Pierre's body had taken most of the impact head on.

Reiko slowly turned around towards Percy, and the look of horror in his face broke the dam inside of her. A foggy, hot haze of anger covered her limbs and obscured her vision, and she felt her heart throbbing inside her chest like a drum. Her body moved on its own as she threw the Pokeball in her hand to the ground, opening it and releasing a tall, blue creature with a yellow beak. The Golduck landed on his two feet, red eyes glistening with power.

"Nakuru, Aqua Jet!" The words came out of her almost like a growl. "Beat that thing's ass! Now!"

Golduck moved like lightning, dashing between the metal stakes and turning into a blur. Before the giant had any time to react he turned the moisture in the air around him into a cloak of water that covered his entire body, and with a strong jump managed to tackle it right in the chest with a hit strong enough to almost make him fall on his back. She detected a hint of pride amongst the hot fury inside of her.

"Reiko!" Percy stammered as he made his way towards her, looking a few seconds away from an anxiety attack. "I told you, we need to be careful!"

"We already did, and we got fucked because of it!" she protested.

"Great, here we go again," she heard Inyssa whisper behind her, just high enough for her voice to reach her.

"If that thing has long range attacks then we can't stay on the defensive! Why is it so hard to understand!?" she yelled at them while tapping the ground with her feet. "Besides, it has to recharge from that Hyper Beam, this is the perfect chance. Nakuru, use Water Pulse!"

The Golduck gave them a thumbs up over his shoulder. Then, without missing a beat, he inhaled as deeply as he could and shot what seemed to be a geyser of swirling water straight at the Golurk's chest. Reiko couldn't help but smile; there was no way that wouldn't do an insane amount of damage. Only a couple more attacks like that and…

The attack stopped before reaching it, clashing against something she could barely make out. In front of the golem was now a purple creature with a spiky, barely formed body, both disembodied arms floating at its side. Its blood-red opening that she figured was a mouth was twisted into a painful expression as the ghost Pokemon endured the torrent of water.

The Haunter fell to the ground, unconscious. Reiko simply stood there, not quite grasping what had just happened. At least until a dozen other gaseous creatures started rising from the ground upwards, surrounding Nakaru and staring him down with their eyes full of malice.

The Golurk wasn't their only opponent, and her best Pokemon was now behind enemy lines.

Barry felt a rush of panic, and he spoke before he had time to think.

"Kitsune, help him out!" he ordered, tone high pitched. "Use Confusion on those ghosts!"

The Kadabra did as he was told, and with another flourish of his spoon he sent a psychic shock towards what seemed to be another Haunter, who screamed and moved his hands in all directions before falling immobile.

In the meantime Nakuru did his best to dodge all the attacks coming towards him, barely having enough time to breathe and get in a couple hits here and there. But the horde of Gastly, Misdreavus and Haunter were proving too much to handle for only one Pokemon. His chest rose up and down along with his heavy breathing and it was clear his body was at its limit.

"We have to help him!" Barry tried to get everyone's attention, doing his best to suppress the fear in his voice. "Niss, between Paulette and Steven we could get him out of there."

Niss turned towards him and shot him a look of disbelief, furrowed brow. At the corner of his eye he could see another dozen ghost Pokemon rising from the ground in a straight line in front of them.

"You can't be serious," she replied, the left side of her lips forming a half smile. "You want us to waste two Pokemon to save one of hers? She was the dumbass who got us into this problem to begin with!"

"We can't leave him there!" he yelled, throwing both arms into the air. "We're a team, we have to help each other if we want to…"

"She's right," Reiko interrupted them, and the pain and anger in her voice sent a shiver down his spine. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't..." She curled her fingers into fists, so strongly that her hand became pale, and her firm shoulders started to shake. "Fuck, fuck, fuck! I should've listened to you! Now we're all gonna lose and…"

One of her trembling hands went to her face, where she tried not to subtly to wipe away the wetness coming out of her eyes. Niss simply took another step forward, not noticing this.

"See?" she asked, eyes set on their opponent. "There was never any point in trusting anyone else. We're gonna defeat this thing ourselves."

Barry couldn't believe his ears. He looked from friend, completely unaffected by what happened around her, to the shaking Reiko and finally to Percy, who seemed completely out of it, immobilized by panic.

Barry grit his teeth. He might've not been the strongest trainer amongst them, nor a good strategist, but he knew there was no way they could ever win like this. All the anger and bitterness he'd been accumulating for the past weeks rose from his chest, extending through his entire body. And before he could even process his words he found himself yelling.

"What the hell is your problem!?"

He caught them all off guard, judging by the way they turned towards him. Inyssa was the most affected; she looked at him with wild disbelief, as if she'd just seen a ghost.

"Why are you treating them like this!?" The words came out of him like a flowing waterfall. "They're our teammates! What do you think is the point of the entire trial!?"

"I…" she stammered to get a response out, eyes opened wide, but he interrupted her.

"If you think we can win alone then you're delusional." His tone was heavy, and his words hit her like a hammer. "Just look at that thing! Reiko and Percy's Pokemon are much stronger than ours and they're our only chance to win this! Or do you have another fully evolved water Pokemon that could help us right now?"

Inyssa didn't say anything back, too shocked by his tone to reply. He could see her lower lip quivering.

"We've all got problems and our own things going on…" He continued, and before he knew it that strange heat came back, appearing behind his eyes. "That doesn't mean we can't work together and win this. Fantina was right; there are some things we all lack, but that's why we came here, to learn and improve!" He took one of his Pokeballs out of his belt, brandishing it and throwing it into the air. "If you want to pretend you can do this alone that's fine, but I'm here to win, and for that we need them! Pedri, help that Golduck!"

The Prinplup materialized ready, and as soon as his feet touched the ground he began sprinting towards the conglomeration of Pokemon in the middle of the room. He ran with both his fins at his side, imbuing them with a silver energy that did wonders to dispel all the ghosts which tried to stop him on the way.

The Golurk was now a few feet from Nakuru, who was down on one knee and barely able to move. With a premeditated slowness it raised its gigantic fist and coated it with the same white light they'd seen before. It fell on top of him with the strength of an avalanche, and just before the impact Pedri managed to jump between them, intercepting the attack with his own body. When the dust dispersed he could see his Pokemon with both feet planted firmly on the ground, his fins barely holding the weight of the Golurk's fist.

"H-he wasn't knocked out…" Percy whispered, disbelief clear in his tone.

"Barry…" Reiko stared at him, with an expression he couldn't quite make out. "You don't have to do this…"

"I'm not going to repeat myself. We're all getting through this." He turned towards his friend, who was still speechless. "Niss, are you gonna help me out here or not?"

She also stared at him, and the weight of her gaze was almost too heavy to handle. To say he was improvising would've been putting it lightly. Now that that explosive rage had subsided he was barely managing to hold the act of decisiveness that had seemed so easy less than a minute ago.

Her expression changed several times in a few seconds, going from surprise to rage to sadness and a few other things he couldn't possibly pinpoint. In the end she lowered her head, covering her eyes in shadows. He gulped, trying desperately to hide the shiver that began to cover his body. He was scared; scared of the reaction she would have to his words, and he wasn't sure saying all that had been a good idea after all.

"Hope you're right about this," she finally said, raising her head again and showing him a flat expression. "Redhead, you owe me one."

She smiled. A weak, perhaps too feeble smile, but it managed to untie the knot inside his chest. That smile was for him and him alone, and nothing in the world could've filled him with more strength.

"Alright!" He took another Pokeball out, and Niss did the same. "Paulette, get that Golduck back here! Pedri, hold him back with Bubble Beam!"

"Steven, follow Paulette! Bret, keep up the attack!" She threw the Pokeball into the air as she gave them orders. The small grey bird appeared along Barry's evolved form of him, and both started flying to the center of the room. "Reiko, we need cover from those ghost Pokemon! It's the least you can do since we're saving your ass!"

"R-right," Reiko nodded, taking her final Pokeball out. "Gamatetsu, help them out with Vine Whip!"

A beast of a Pokemon materialized before them, so heavy it raised a cloud of dust around it as it fell, landing on her four feet. She had the face of a toad, and a colorful giant flower rested on her back. Two thick vines were expelled from the Venusaur's sides, traveling almost thirty feet forward and smacking every ghost Pokemon that Niss' Starly and Barry's Staravia encountered on their way.

In the middle of the room the Prinplup managed to send his opponent's fist backwards with all his strength, although that barely gave him enough time to dodge the next punch. He inhaled deeply and shot a burst of bubbly water at the Golurk, and while it didn't have as much of an effect as Reiko's Pokemon it still managed to make it flinch for a second, just enough for Bret's razor sharp petals to reach its body and send it a few feet back.

Amidst the confusion both flying Pokemon swooped in and grabbed the Golduck by his arms with their talons, flapping furiously to lift him up and get him back to the back lines. Paulette did most of the lifting; her long, delicate wings cutting through the air and her expression that of decisiveness. Steven on the other hand was struggling to sustain Nakuru's weight, and he constantly looked back at the Haunters and Gastlys that chased them with an always present look of terror on his face.

Way back the Golurk managed to free itself from its shock and stomped the floor once again. With a deep growl it put its hands in that strange position again, and started to gather white energy into it. Barry felt everyone panic around him.

"That's going straight for Nakuru and the others!" Reiko yelled.

"W-we need to cancel that Hyper Beam!" Percy followed. "Everyone attack it at once!"

Both him and Niss gave the orders to their Pokemon, and soon a whirlwind of water and grass attacks flew through the width of the cavern, filling almost a quarter of it and hitting the Golurk in the middle of the chest. The giant flinched from the impact, and for a second Barry had the naïve hope that they'd managed to stun him.

That hope was shattered when it sent both hands forward and fired the attack regardless. The pillar of light fell on top of Golduck and both their flying Pokemon with the speed of a bullet. But just before it made impact Paulette let go of Nakuru's arm. Steven went down, incapable of holding Nakuru's weight, and fell in front of the group of trainers as the Hyper Beam swallowed Paulette whole. Her body fell limp to the ground, raising a small cloud of dust around her.

"I'll have to thank her later," Inyssa smiled nervously. "Alright, and that thing's gotta recharge energy again. We need to hit it now!"

Barry nodded, swallowing down the pride he felt for Paulette at the moment, and returned her back to her Pokeball.

Every one of their Pokemon with the exception of Percy's Ampharos attacked the Golurk. Bret and Gamatetsu fired a torrent of leaves and petals that stuck to its body and barely managed to penetrate its rock skin. Nakuru and Pedri (who was still in the thick of the fight, dodging attacks from all fronts) doused it with copious amounts of water. Kitsune gave the thing another ugly headache and Steven flew around the battlefield, sending gusts of winds towards the Pokemon below.

And while Barry observed this, an odd itch bothered the back of his mind. The more he looked at the battlefield in front of him the more he felt like there was something strange going on. More and more ghost Pokemon started raising from the ground, as if there were no end to them. But they did so in very specific patterns; in a straight line just below where Steven flew, wherever their attacks traveled through, in any place where Pedri set his feet as he desperately tried to dodge a barrage of hits…

A light bulb lit up in his head, and he felt his mouth open wide as he realized it. There was a pattern to it; their emerging had nothing to do with bad luck or randomness.

"The stakes…" he whispered to himself, and had to repeat it so everyone could hear him. "It's those metal stakes all over the place! The ghost Pokemon are hidden there and they come out whenever something comes close to it!"

Everyone turned around him, confused for a moment but realization dawning on them soon after.

The entire cave was a ghost minefield.