Ella's Game :: Chapter 3

"No, no, stop that!" Ella's knuckles were white on the console, jabbing at buttons, trying to get her Pokémon to listen. "No, fall back!"

Her Pidgey zoomed around the stadium, while the other simulation Pidgey darted about as well, both screeching loudly. The "wild" sim crashed into Talon and he fell to the ground, squawking. Ella grimaced, eyeing the bar on the console that showed the Pokémon's health. Talon's was dangerously low. Quickly she pressed a button and light flashed - Talon vanished. She switched the Pokeballs and pressed the button again, and Dan leaped into battle.

"Alright, Dan, use that new move! Vine Whip!"

A long vine snaked from Dan's arm, and he lashed it, cracking it over the Pidgey's head. The simulation shattered, fizzing into a burst of sparks.

Game finished. Victory to Ella.

Ella sighed in relief, pressing the button to eject Dan's Pokeball. She picked it up and looked at it, then looked at Talon's. She sighed again, this time in annoyance. "Why are you two so hard to train?" She muttered.

Her stomach rumbled, and she pocketed the two spheres. She could think over today's training over dinner. She pulled off her headset and left the booth, trotting down the hall.

She'd been at the Royale for a week now. She had her own room, with a tiny bunk and a small desk. She had learned the map of the facility as quickly as she could, and now knew where everything was - the Assignment Room, the cafeteria, even a library filled with books about history and Pokémon combat. All of the Royale was made out of the same smooth, white material, probably some kind of plastic, and all the doors looked the same. The Royale was one big looping corridor, with branching off rooms for the dorms and other facilities. It was easy to get lost, but Ella had learned to find her way.

Most of her time these days was spent training.

Trainers, as the children were called, were allowed most of the day to use the games room for training their monsters. Since the only fights against other trainers were scheduled, the stadium computers would generate nontrained, "wild" Pokémon for the trainers to fight. Unfortunately, like in official matches, victory was when the foe was terminated. Ella was getting used to beating the simulations - but she wasn't getting used to Talon.

She pressed her hand against the cafeteria door - it beeped and slid open. A lot of trainers were here already - lots more were probably still training in other games rooms. Ella spotted a few of the older trainers. Teenagers, and even young adults. She didn't meet older trainers much except at meal times. She looked around for Cheren and Bianca - she spotted them at their usual spot, a table in the far back, where they had some semblance of privacy. Ella grabbed a tray and went to the food generators, swiping her key card so the generators would fill her tray with tonight's meal. She pulled the food out without seeing what it was, and hurried over to their table.

Cheren was talking animatedly to Bianca. He waved his hands. "So, Hotshot took a dive at the Lillipup. His attack was lower because of its Intimidate ability, but at the last second I -" He looked up and grinned when he saw Ella. "Oh, hey, you're here. Finally. I was just telling Bianca about my training today."

"Sorry I'm late." Ella sat down, glancing at her food - a cheeseburger and a basket of fries. Typical Unovan fast food. "I was trying to train Talon some more."

"That derpy Pidgey of yours?" Cheren smirked.

Ella bristled. "He's not derpy! He's just…not a good fighter yet. But he will be." She glared, then sighed. "I'm trying with him, but it's really hard. The only move he knows is Tackle, and too often he gets nearly killed by a wild, and I have to switch in Dan. But Dan's weaker too! I keep having to shuffle them back and forth, healing them, so I spend hours and hardly get any good training done. It stinks."

Bianca patted her arm. "Don't worry, I bet he'll get stronger soon."

"I'm just worried that some wild sim will get a lucky crit on him, and then what'll I do?" Ella was quickly picking up the slang that the other trainers used at the Royale. A "crit" was an especially strong hit, one that usually meant the end of a Pokémon. Terminated in a burst of static. Ella kept telling herself they were just programs, just games, but she couldn't help but care about them. Dan and Talon.

She took a bite of her burger. Bianca looked at Cheren. "So, Cheren…you know the older trainers pretty well, right? Do you know when our first real game will be?"

Ella looked at Cheren too. The boy was better at getting information than they were - and the first real battle was a topic that was on all of the new trainers' minds. But Cheren just shrugged. "I don't have a clue. I've tried asking Dr. Juniper even, but she just gives me that weird smile and tells me to train hard. I'm guessing they want us to be surprised by it, or maybe they don't want us to procrastinate training our teams until D-day."

Ella picked at her fries, but finally just pushed the food away. "I think I'm going to go train some more."

"You sure?" Bianca looked concerned.

"Yeah. I want Talon and Dan to be ready."

She waved goodbye to her friends and left, dumping the rest of her food in the garbage.

She got back to the stadium booth, but stopped. Instead of plugging in her Pokeballs for the fight, she sat down on a small chair next to the door. She pulled out both of the Pokeballs and pressed the button - the holograms reappeared, the small leafy lizard and the scruffy bird. They looked up at her, and Ella sighed.

"Look…I know you can understand commands, but you probably can't understand me." She mumbled. "But I want you two to know that I've been training you so hard for a reason. I don't want you to be terminated."

Dan looked up at her with round, gentle eyes. Talon ruffled his feathers and squawked at her. For some reason, she thought his sharp gaze looked accusing. She almost heard a voice say, I won't be killed! I'm strong!

"I know you are. Just not stronger than the wild sims yet. That's why I'm trying to train you, Talon!"

He squawked and scratched at the floor with his claws, bursts of static rippling across him. I don't need training! I'll win!

"I need you to trust me, Talon! So that you can get stronger! Please?" She slipped off the chair and knelt in front of the two of them. "Please?"

Talon's agitation faltered. Then he turned his head away.

Fine.

Dan blinked his soft eyes at her, and she imagined another voice.

I trust you.

She felt relieved, and got to her feet. She pressed the buttons on the Pokeballs, and Dan and Talon vanished. Then she stopped, confused.

Did I seriously just pretend to have a conversation with a computer? She shook her head. Geez, and I almost thought he was - nah, that's impossible. They can't talk back. They're not real.

She plugged the Pokeballs into the console and pressed a few keys, initiating the game. A wild sim appeared, a furry canine with long ears - a Lillipup. Talon appeared too, screeching threateningly.

Oddly enough, this time, he listened to her commands. And by the end of the fight, a new attack had been added to his roster - Gust.

She trained until late, getting Talon and Dan up to the same level. As she left the stadium at curfew time, she had the strangest feeling that her talk before the training had helped, in some way. It had been her best training session yet. Perhaps something in the programming was sophisticated enough to understand her words beyond the commands? Ella shook her head. It was very, very strange.

She walked back to her room.

That night, as she curled up under the sheets of her bed, she looked at the two Pokeballs on her desk. Quietly, she reached over and pressed them - the holograms reappeared. She didn't say anything. She wasn't sure what she was trying to accomplish. But she rolled over slightly, clearing a space, and patted her bed.

Dan and Talon moved off the desk and hopped onto the bed beside her. She was surprised - but she wasn't really surprised at all. Talon put his head under his wing. Dan curled up next to her side. Ella watched them for a moment. She reached out and tried to stroke the feathers on Talon's head - but of course, her fingers passed through the hologram. But Talon blinked at her, and it was a warm light in his eyes. She looked at Dan, who seemed to be sleeping, his back rising and falling.

"Good night." She whispered.

Good night.She felt inside.

She put her arm under her head, careful not to touch the holograms. But she imagined, as she drifted to sleep, that she could feel them lying beside her.






End of chapter stats:
DAN level 12
Ability: Overgrow
Attacks: Tackle, Leer, Vine Whip, Wrap

TALON level 12
Ability: Tangled Feet
Attacks: Gust, Tackle, Sand Attack