Lola: An Underdog Story

Chapter 2: Enough is Enough

Soon after I had captured Lola, I had to sit through the perfunctory "welcome to the world of pokemon" speech that every starter distributor coughs up to annoy beginning trainers. I wasn't officially left alone until Bianca and Cheran had walked me out to Route 20 to show me how to catch a pokemon, even though they SAW ME throw a pokeball to catch Lola. Bianca said that she had to still do it though because technically Lola went with me willingly, and most pokemon won't give up their independence that easily. I still think it was annoying though. Unless you live an incredibly sheltered life and are ignorant of pokemon in general, then it should be fairly obvious that you have to weaken them before you catch them.

Luckily I did get something out of it though. After she got through catching a Purrloin she gave me 10 pokeballs for free. That was pretty fun, though I doubt I'd use them all. I mean, I respect the pokedex project but I have something to prove first, and my quest won't get done if I tried to fill an encyclopedia first.

Wishing me good luck, Bianca and Cheran went back to Aspertia, leaving me all alone on route 20 again. Well, not totally alone, I had Lola with me. I stared at her pokeball, which felt heavier with my friend inside, and smiled as I raised it up.

"Okay Lola. Let the training begin!" I said as it opened up, Lola the Deino leaping out of it. She landed gracefully in front of me, well, as graceful as a lanky, blind dragon can, and gave me a huge smile when she turned around. I furrowed my brows at her as I lifted a hand in front of her face, slowly waving it around while she followed its movements. What the heck? Wasn't she blind?

"How are you doing that? I thought you can't see?" I asked her. Lola sat down and thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain it to me despite the language barrier. I could feel something poking into my thoughts, and I smiled as i petted her.

"Well, maybe you aren't totally blind. Let's give it a try and get some training done! If you are going to be strong, then you'll need to practice. Let's find an opponent." I said while she jumped up excitedly. I put my hand on her head, both to help guide her and to somewhat reassure myself, as we both wandered through the grass, searching for pokemon. We heard a growling and Lola tensed up, moving in front of me to protect me as the Deino from earlier returned. They were not happy about Lola beating them, and returned with their friends. I smirked as I gripped Lola's pokeball tightly, looking down at the Deino.

"Perfect. What do you say Lola? Up for round 2?" I asked. Lola snorted and stamped her foot angrily.

"Deino!" She said defiantly. I laughed and stepped backwards to give her more room.

"Let's boogie! Lola, use Dragon Rage!" I commanded. Lola roared as she obeyed, releasing the same purple-blue fire from before. It was certainly a powerful attack, for her level, and it engulfed many of the surrounding Deino, knocking them all out with one hit.

"Yeah! Go Lola! Teach them not to mess with the little guy!" I yelled, pleased with her progress. But I celebrated too soon. Her attack couldn't last forever, and she ran out of breath. With the flames gone, Lola panted softly, trying to catch her breath again. There were a lot more Deino this time though, and they would not give her the chance to beat them again as they all ran forward, tackling Lola over and over and in some cases, biting her. Lola yelped in pain as each blow connected, and it was all I could do to not rush over and rescue her from them. Maybe if I could call her back into her pokeball, I could run away quickly and get back to the gate. Surely the guards and their Arcanine partners were strong enough to fight off all of these pokemon. Gritting my teeth, I held Lola's pokeball up towards her.

"Lola! Return! I'll get us away!" I cried. The pokeball emitted a red beam of light that shot out, and Lola leapt up to meet it, allowing the beam to hit her scar and pull her into the ball, much to the attacking Deino's anger as they then turned on me. I grinned wickedly at them and turned around.