Pokémon: Leah's Journey {Rewrite}

Chapter 37: The Electric Boogaloo

When morning came, Leah woke up with a new attitude. She returned to being the chatterbox that her friends recognized and ate her breakfast with newfound vigor. It was rather confusing, but Mildred and Adeline opted not to mention it since it seemed like she returned to her usual self. Zayn, however, knew that something was amiss. Leah was cheerful, yes, but a little too cheerful for what is considered typical for her and she is usually not the kind to be in a pleasant mood early in the morning. It was just not her type. She lacked her usual dream-filled eyes and the grumpiness that came with the fact that she had just woken up. This was rather bizarre to Zayn and he will investigate it later if it's the last thing he does.

The moment Leah finished getting ready for her day, she bolted outside to the arena behind the Pokémon Center with Adeline following not far behind. Zayn narrowed his eyes, this was definitely weird. There isn't anything wrong with a little training, but at this point, he knew that there was something wrong and he wanted to make sure that she was okay. Adeline had an Electrike and while it was not on par with the likes of Clemont's team, Freki was still an Electric type Pokémon and that was what Leah needed.

Adeline led with a Thundershock that was far too powerful for it to be a Thundershock. In fact, Freki's body was shrouded in crackling electricity and released a bolt of lightning towards Omen. The Absol nimbly jumped sideways to evade the Thunderbolt. The problem was that he placed pressure on his bad leg and he screeched in response. Adeline yelled from the other side of the arena, "Leah, if Omen's leg hurts when he puts pressure on it, maybe you should try having him avoid attacks on his other side."

"Will do." Leah turned to Omen, "well you know what to do."

The Absol barked in response. It was clear to Zayn that Leah was practicing evasive maneuvers. Omen wasn't the only one on the field, Stardust and Skalli were also there. They would switch out to give Omen a break. After a while of practicing evasive maneuvers with Omen, Leah called him back and placed a blindfold on Skalli the moment she walked on the battlefield. Mildred, who was idly watching from the inside, cocked her head sideways in confusion, "Isn't that counterproductive?"

Zayn shook his head, "I think Leah is trying to encourage Skalli to use her other senses in the chance that she does get blinded. It's actually very clever."

Zayn focused back on the battle. Freki's fangs were bared and crackling with electricity. He lunged towards Skalli. The Growlithe quickly detected the Electrike. His scent was familiar to her and nimbly evaded the attack. Freki veered back towards Skalli, his body being surrounded by a white aura as his speed increased. Leah saw this, "Skalli use Fire Fang to your left!"

Just as Freki was about to pounce, Skalli's blazing fangs met the Electrike's body. Once they were satisfied with that, Skalli switched with Stardust. Adeline called Freki back to her, "Hey Leah, I'm going to switch to Dahlia to give Freki a break."

"Sounds good to me."

The Sprigatito meowed upon being summoned. Dahlia lunged for Stardust with her claws unsheathed. Stardust nimbly evaded the attack. It was clear to Leah and Adeline that Dahlia had very little experience in battling so when the little feline pounced to bite Stardust, the Sylveon simply placed a firm paw on Dahlia's head to keep her in place. The Sprigatito tried to move towards Stardust, but the most she was doing was kicking up the sand behind her.

On Adeline's command, Dahlia swished her tail and summoned a multitude of glowing leaves. They spiraled around her tail and with a second swishing motion of her tail, the leaves were hurled towards Stardust. The Sylveon brought her feelers together and released pink, sparkling winds towards the leaves. The moves combined and imploded in a flurry of sparkles. Adeline called Dahlia back and walked indoors for lunch with her cat and dog held her arms. Mildred went with Adeline while Zayn went outside and approached Leah.