Pokémon: Galia's story

2

Galia ran outside to a relatively hidden spot and started her first training session with Eevee.

"Alright Eevee, Attack!" she shouted. She didn't have any pokédex to know any of her moves, so she had to improvise a little. Volkner would know the names of Eevee's moves. Darn it... she said to herself. A random pokémon appeared nearby. Eevee tackled it, and it immediately attacked back. Galia knew that Eevee couldn't handle an attack, so she jumped out in front of her and took an ice attack. She usually handled the cold quite fine, but the ice clinging to her shoulder was way too cold. Galia started to walk, but she was too weak and fell to the ground.

Eevee then started an attack, surrounding herself in hearts. It somehow damaged the fellow pokémon but not enough to knock it out. "Use the tackling attack again!" she shouted, while she was on the ground. Eevee tackled the pokémon once again, but no matter what she tried, no damage was inflicted. Suddenly, Galia had an idea.

"Eevee, use the tackling attack on me!" she cried. Eevee, confused and bewildered, tackled Galia, right in her ice "wound" and it broke. Galia jumped from the ground, grabbed Eevee and ran as fast as she could to Snowpoint City gym, not looking back. Galia noticed her right arm, bleeding from the shattering ice. She learned in this moment, that training a baby pokémon would be a lot harder than she expected.

As soon as she set foot in the gym, Candice looked over her way while speaking to Volkner and her eyes widened in terror. "Oh my god, what happened? Your arm is bleeding! Is Eevee okay? Do we need to take it to the Pokémon Center? Are you okay? What pokémon did you run into? What attacks did they use?" she cried.

Volkner, someone who was always annoyed at how much Candice had to say and how irresponsible Galia was, confronted the situation with ease and care. "Relax Candice. By the looks of it, a pokémon froze her arm, and once she broke the ice that was stuck to her arm, she got scraped by the broken ice pieces. Come with me, Galia, I'll wrap it up for you."

Galia looked at Volkner, appreciating his compassion. She wouldn't admit it to him, but Volkner was the only person who could help her with the little experience she had.

"Candice uses contest tactics in battle to catch trainers off guard. Her pokémon are also really strong. If you're not ready, I can help you." Volkner consoled, as they were walking to get first aid.

"I'm not desperate!" Galia cried, "I just need to know a few things..."

"Alright. Here's what you need..." he started. He taught Galia about basic battling fundamentals she should know.

Galia learned a lot from Volkner, and she even went out with Volkner to try and train Eevee again, and knocked out tons of wild pokémon.

"You're a pretty fast learner..." Volkner commented.

"Maybe I can battle you sooner than you think!" Galia exclaimed with joy and smiled, "Thank you very much!"

Volkner couldn't help but smile back, "No problem." he said. Galia's smile was contagious.

"Galia! Volkner! Come inside! You guys are gonna freeze! You can spend the night with me! Volkner has to cook though!" Candice shouted.

As Volkner was cooking dinner for everybody at Candice's house, Galia and Candice sat down in the living room and talked.

"Volkner is amazing at cooking, but that's just one of his superhuman talents. He is a genius, and he's in charge of the electricity in Sunnyshore City, and he's the only person to work inside Sunnyshore tower! That's very impressive for a twelve year old. I can't even do math." Candice rambled. She clearly admired Volkner and praised him for everything.

"How did you guys become friends?" Galia asked. She was confused to how someone so chatty and energetic could connect with a child who is grumpy and reserved.

"Well, we met three years ago. Volkner loved to come to Snowpoint City. He says it was a satisfying contrast between the intense heat of Sunnyshore. One day, his parents called the gym, worried about him, and they told me that if I found him, I needed to keep an eye out for him," she glanced over in his direction and laughed,"because when he returned, he always had scratches and bruises. I knew what he looked like and it was hard for me to believe them, since I always had this impression on Volkner that he was just some dude that was lost in life, and needed to find his way."
Galia started laughing as well.

"One day, I was able to find him in the woods where you were training earlier, and he was standing with his Elekid, just like his parents described, bruised and scratched, and I couldn't help but interrupt him, and yell 'I found you! You're coming with me!' as I grabbed his arm and dragged him to the gym. He got so angry at me, he started yelling at me once he got his breath," she started mocking Volkner with her deepest voice, "'What the hell are you doing? You're a gym leader! Do people go around interrupting your serious training?'"

"Hey, are you guys talking about me?" Volkner called out from the kitchen.

"No, we're just talking!" Candice shouts, and then winks to Galia. Galia giggles.

"So back to the story," Candice whispers, "I got so mad about how rude me was to me, that I went off on him. I don't remember what I said, I mean, I talk a whole bunch, but..." she stops, and Galia notices that her smile fades for a few seconds before it starts to come back, "I felt like I was too harsh on him and started apologizing on the spot. I thought I hurt his feelings but he didn't really care at all. I don't even know if he was listening or not."

"I was," Volkner walked into the room with plates and spoons, "I mean, you said a lot of nonsense, but you were right. I should have respected higher authority."

"Well anyways, Volkner forgave me and we ended up becoming best friends." Candice continued.

"Well, I wouldn't say best friends..." Volkner teased.

"Shut up. You still hang around and come to my gym so don't go pretending you don't like me now!" Candice retorted, laughing. Galia smiled, knowing that these two had a strong connection, and she loved it.

Later that night Galia and Volkner went outside to train again.

"Eevee, use tackle!" Galia shouted as Eevee tackled a sneasel. Volkner watched as Galia swept through everyone as if it were nothing. She had improved greatly in only a couple of hours. She actually has the potential to become an amazing trainer... he thought.

"Galia! Come here," he shouted, "I think you're almost ready to battle Candice!"

Galia slowly smiled, "Are you serious?" She asked.

Volkner smiled back. "I'm positive."