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Even the best have bad days, or sometimes bad weeks. Things can go wrong at a moment's notice and the outcome can be less than desirable. It's what one does in the face of adversity that tells you what kind of person they are and how they muscle through it. What happens to Tamara when she's faced with her darkest moment since joining the PCA and how can she get through it?
Sandra Kowalski belongs to
Kasedilla who was also kind enough to do this awesome story icon for me.
Art and Mr. Horton belong to
PCAduck
Chris Flynn from
TheDC
Pokemon belongs to Nintendo
Sandra Kowalski belongs to
Kasedilla who was also kind enough to do this awesome story icon for me.Art and Mr. Horton belong to
PCAduckChris Flynn from
TheDCPokemon belongs to Nintendo
Category Story / Pokemon
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 79 x 120px
File Size 53 kB
“Do not get to cocky out there,” freshmen battles tended to draw small crowds at the PCA whenever they were scheduled. Even when there were exciting young battlers set to square off it was rare to see the stands filled with more than other frosh, some bored students who had nothing better to do or friends and family. That didn’t stop some of the more eager fighters from packing in as many battles as they could get away with in a week.
“She’s a steel type and a ground type. I’ve got this!” Tamara Tellamapolou was one such young lady who wanted to be one of the very best when she got into the leagues. So far her record at the school, unbeaten, had given her a sense of being invincible. Her friends and teammates had started to worry about her attitude towards the fights since she’d started to get a bit cocky. Tam was about to start a match against another freshman who’d been talking smack about being the best and she felt it was her place to put the Steelix in her place.
“I know you have the advantage,” Molly Johnson, her best friend and teammate, told her, “But remember to go in with a clear mind,”
“Don’t worry about it, Mol. We’ll go out for pizza after this. My treat!” Tam grinned to the Combusken before she hopped towards the ring as she was introduced. Molly watched with some concern as a smattering of cheers came down to encourage the Poliwhirl. Tam made her way to the strains of her team’s theme song as she stood and looked across towards her opponent, a rather lengthy and grinning Steelix who looked just as confident.
“You both know the rules,” the ref said as he looked between the two girls, “Any questions before we start?”
“None,” Tamara said as she looked up towards her foe.
“Nope,” Cassandra “Sandra” Kowalski said in response as she smirked down at the Poli. Only a few inches separated the two but it felt like more thanks to the long tail that the Steelix sported behind her.
“Then head back to your corners and come out swinging when I give the signal,” the two made their way back and waited for the word to commence. Tam looked over to the stands where her other teammates and a couple of friends were and waved to them. Some of them waved back though others looked on quietly and wondered if she was setting herself up to much. The Poli looked back to the field that’d come up and frowned slightly as she realized that it’d changed into something she hadn’t quite expected; a rock field with a series of tunnels.
“Begin!” the ref called out as Sandra went into the field with a shot. Tam shuffled for a second before she entered as well and went on the hunt for her opponent. Moving along carefully she kept an eye out for where the steel type would hop out at her. She’d never really fought in an environment like this before and wasn’t sure what to expect, something Tam chided herself on before she came to a small fork in the tunnel. The Poli glanced to either side before she shrugged her shoulders and made her way down one of the options.
She didn’t make much progress before she heard a rumble coming from behind her. A quick glance over her shoulder revealed Sandra coming up fast behind her. The Steelix charged towards her head first and tried to ram the Poli. Tam reacted almost instinctively as she dodged out of the way and seemed to pop up behind the other out of nowhere. Sandra looked over her shoulder in surprise as Tam puffed her cheeks suddenly and sent a gout of water straight for her foe. Sandra hissed in pain as the water connected and sent her tumbling; her tail caught the Poli by surprise and smacked her into the wall of the tunnel hard enough that she started to choke on the water that hadn’t been properly evicted.
Sandra quickly spun about and moved into a defensive position as she waited to see what Tam would do. Tamara moved into a crouch as she coughed a few more times to get the water out of her system. She didn’t want to wait to long and rushed forward to swing her fist towards her opponent as it glowed with energy. Sandra moved backwards as swiftly as she could and dodged the blow; it was obvious that the Poli hadn’t collected herself fully after the botched Bubblesbeam attack. Sandra glanced to either side and grabbed some of the loose hunks of earth that had been knocked clear and Blasted them towards Tamara. The Poli brought her arms up across her chest to catch the bulk of the blow and send her skidding backwards. Tam decided she needed to get some distance to finish getting herself together and turned to move back down one of the tunnels. The Steelix wasn’t about to let it happen as she quickly slid past her to Block her exit.
“She is in trouble,” Molly said as she watched from the stands. The field in question wasn’t the most audience friendly so several cameras were set up through the tunnels to broadcast the events overhead for those watching to see. Tam’s friends watched on worried for their friend who’d had one bad turn used against her.
“Yup,” Arthur “Art” Horton, her boyfriend, agreed with Molly. He’d warned her about not being more careful about being more prepared and now it was coming home to roost.
Tam looked up and did her best not to panic as she furrowed her brow ridge and inhaled again ready to send out another jet of bubbles. She figured that she could get rid of her excess water still causing her trouble and get in an attack at the same time. Sandra saw her cheeks puffing again and lowered her head as she charged forward to Iron Head at the Poli. Tamara hadn’t expected such a straight-forward answer to her attack but sent out the Bubblebeam attack anyway and hoped it was powerful enough to slow the other. The two attacks clashed into one another as the water bore into the Steel type. Sandra hissed at the pain but pushed forward against it and used to rock around her to push past the stream.
If there was one way to describe Tam’s style it was physical. She was used to mixing it up-close and taking the fight straight to someone and as such she wasn’t used to fighting from a distance and using her ranged moves with any great regularity. Most of the time this wasn’t a problem and she was usually able to use her Bubblebeam attack to compliment her rough and tumble style well enough. It wasn’t quite working out for her here as she was faced against someone else who wasn’t afraid to fight against it to get in close to fight. The stream soon petered out which allowed the Steelix to plow through and connect solidly with the Poliwhirl and sent her flying backwards. Tam landed with a thud on the ground as she looked up a little dazed from the attack. She scrambled to get back to her feet just as another Rock Blast came in and just managed to dodge the attack.
Breathing heavily and on the defensive for the first time in a very long time Tam watched as her foe moved in an almost snake like fashion and waited to find the best way to attack. Tam brought her hands up defensively and did her best to circle, though the tunnels cut her off from being able to get any real flank on the other. Eventually she muttered to herself and decided to charge in with her usual tactics and swung her charged fist once again to punch at Sandra. This time the blow landed solidly and sent her opponent spinning; which worked against her once again as the massive tail of Sandra turned and connected with the wall. Unfortunately Tamara found herself between both as she hit hard enough for her to have the wind knocked out of her. The Steelix noticed she had the advantage and pressed her tail against the wall harder. Tam swung her fists weakly as she tried to gather herself without being able to breathe well. It didn’t work as her arms started to go limp and hung, the Poli on the edge of losing consciousness. The referee stepped in and separated the two.
“The match is over!” the ref quickly said, “The winner is Casandra Kowlaski!” The Steelix gladly let the Poli go as she collapsed to the ground before she moved down the hallway back towards her corner. Tam sucked in several breaths as oxygen started to flow through her body again, though she was unable to raise her head just yet. The ref bent down to check up on her even as the Steelix caught Tam’s attention.
“Toldja I’d smack you around!” Sandra gloated over her defeated opponent. Tamara raised her head enough to look towards the other before the ref warded the Steelix off. The Poli lowered her head again and gripped her stomach before her eyes closed tightly and a few tears made their way into her eyes. The ref helped her to her feet and over to make sure she was fine. Physically she was okay, but emotionally…that was another matter entirely.
Inside the locker room Tamara sat bent over with a towel over her head as she tried to block the outside world. Her teammates who’d been there and a couple of friends had made their way down to talk to her and try to offer supportive words. The Poli didn’t really want to hear any of it as she did her best to hide away from any of it. Those around her weren’t giving her much of a choice, however.
“Everyone loses at some point, Tamara,” Molly brought up again, “You really shouldn’t take this defeat so hard,”
“Yup,” Art added as he sat down next to Tam and rubbed her back gently.
“Not like it’s the end of the world to lose a fight your freshman year,” Christopher Flynn, a fellow classmate of theirs, threw in as he leaned against a locker.
“It’s not just that I lost, guys,” Tam finally spoke up from under her towel, “its how I lost. It was embarrassing,”
“Well, you did let your guard down,” Molly said after a moment and tried not to be accusing with her tone.
“Seemed like you broke out of your game plan,” Art added, “Something to learn from though,”
“I shouldn’t have to learn from it though!” Tamara said as she looked up from under her hiding place, “I should be good enough by now to just do what I need to do!”
“You’re acting like you’re a twenty year veteran of battling,” Art said as he arched a brow at her.
“I’ve been training for years!” the Poli cried out as if it answered everything.
“So have I, Tamara,” Molly pointed out, “But you do not see me saying I should be undefeated,” Tam stood up and glared at her friend.
“Just don’t understand,” The Poli grumbled as she stormed off towards the shower with her towel gripped tightly in her hand. Her friends watched as she walked off without any other words. They all looked at each other and wondered if they should chase after her but any thoughts of going after her stopped when they heard someone behind them speak up.
“Even the strongest of Arcanines must occasional lick their paws clean,” the kids all looked towards the familiar figure of Tam’s Grandfather, Hori Tellamapolou.
“…what?” Chris finally asked, still not quite sure what to make of older Poli’s sayings; which wasn’t anything all that uncommon.
“Pride can be both bad and good for someone,” Grandpa Hori responded, “In this case it will be both for Tamara. Give her time work through it all and be supportive when the time is right,”
“How will we know when it is?” Molly asked, just as confused as the others even though she grew up with the older ‘mon’s sayings.
“You will,” was all he said, “I’m going to be waiting outside at the car when we’re ready to go!” He suddenly said cheerfully and headed out of the locker room. The kids all just watched in uncertainty about what just happened.
“No, you do not ever get used to it,” Molly answered Art and Chris who looked at her questioningly. They all shrugged their shoulders in some way or other and waited for Tam to get out of the shower and ready to go. They just hoped that they’d be able to do something for her when the time came.
A few weeks had passed since the battle and Tam hadn’t been in any matches. She’d managed to build herself up a bit of a buffer thanks to the fact she’d put herself into so many already. She hadn’t dodged any practices though her teammates could tell that something was bugging her. She’d thrown herself into the training sessions with abandon and pushed herself harder than before. The rest of her team had talked to their coach, Grandpa Hori, about it and asked if they should talk to her about it. Her grandfather had shaken his head and said now wasn’t the right time to confront her about it yet. They reluctantly went along with it, even though several of her friends were also worried by her actions.
For her part Tamara hadn’t stopped doing what she normally did. She knew she was coming off as more distant and seemed distracted to those around her but she couldn’t help it. The match continued to weigh on her mind as she ran through it over and over again to try and figure out what it was that had tripped her up. Her thoughts went between blaming herself and giving her opponent credit. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to admit that maybe her foe had just been better that day, but her thoughts kept going back to what it was that she had screwed up on, what opportunity she had blown and she couldn’t shake the feeling it was her. Perhaps, she thought, she just hadn’t been strong enough.
To the wonderment of the kids many of the adults around Tam seemed to see it as a phase that she was going through and that she’d work her way out of it. They were worried and feared that maybe the adults were understating what was going on; that they didn’t know what was actually happening to her. Whether it was her grandfather, her parents or Art’s parents who were her bosses they all seemed to assure anyone who expressed concern that she would be just fine once she worked her way through it. To say it was a bit frustrating for the kids was something of an understatement, though.
“Good job tonight, Tamara,” Mr. Horton, Art’s father, said to the Poli after an evening at the Sweet Kiss Candy Shoppe. Tam worked for them doing various sales and stock jobs as well as basic prep for the candy; she just wasn’t allowed to do the actual baking. She was perfectly fine with this since Art was much better at it anyway.
“Huh? Oh, thanks Mr. Horton,” she replied with a small smile. Art arched a brow at the distracted reaction but didn’t say anything as he worked on prepping some more of the candy for the night. Tam moved over towards her things to get them out of the way after the older Skitty had left the back room. As she slid her jacket over to another table something fell away from it and clanged hard to the floor. Tam had already made her way several feet away before it landed and looked back with a bit of horror that it’d fallen out. As she reached for the small bag Art had already picked it up the Lucario gave a glance to see Tam’s reaction. The Poli tried to hide any as she reached for it to take from him.
“What’s in the bag?” He asked as he moved his lollipop from one side of his mouth to the other.
“I-it’s nothing,” she said as she reached suddenly for it again. Art twisted his arm to keep her from being able to snatch it away. He gave the small pouch a squeeze to get a feel for what was inside.
“Doesn’t feel like nothing,” He said as he lifted the pouch up, “Won’t mind me seeing if it’s nothing,” He added before he started to open the pouch. Tam flinched as though she was going to try to pull it away from him but stopped and just watched him, almost pleading. For a moment Art considered just handing it over to her and not asking, but he knew something had to be up and needed to see what was going on. With a flick of his fingers he opened the pouch up and let the contents inside tumble into his hand; the Water Stone that landed there gave him pause as his eyes went wide.
“You bought one?” He asked in shock as he looked back to the Poli. Tam had backed off and looked like she was torn between running or not. Tears started to reach her eyes as she couldn’t meet his.
“I…yeah. It seemed like a good idea,” she told him as she spun her back to Art so she didn’t have to look at him, afraid of what she might see if she did.
“Why?” He blurted out the question and put the stone back in the pouch, “Isn’t the whole, you know, evolution thing a big deal for you?”
“It is!” She quickly answered, though she didn’t turn to face him, “I mean, yeah, I want to prove I’m good enough to get a Water Stone. I just…I thought about it after the loss and I realized that why I lost was…I wasn’t strong enough…”
“….what?” Art asked in disbelief, “Not strong enough?”
“Why else wouldn’t I have won, Art?” She asked and finally turned to look towards him, almost begged to be told she was wrong or what scared her more was she hoped that he’d tell her she was right and should use the stone. The idea, possible as it was and much as the stone might make her stronger, still terrified her that she’d just ignore everything she’d planned. Instead Art sighed and handed her the stone.
“Dunno what to tell you, Tam,” he answered, “You lost, it happens. I’ve lost fights ‘fore, so if I follow what you’re sayin’ then I’m not strong ‘nuff either,” Tam took the stone as it was offered to her and looked into the Lucario’s eyes. He honestly looked like he wasn’t sure what to say, or if he could say anything that would help her right now. Tears began to stream down her cheeks.
“I was weak…” she said before Art suddenly enveloped her in a tight hug.
“Shhh, no you weren’t. Ya did fine in the fight,” He assured her. The Poli shook her head as she buried her face into his shoulder.
“Not the fight,” she sniffled, “I…I thought I was too weak, so I was weak and bought the Water Stone, even though I knew I shouldn’t!” Art sighed and continued to hug her tightly, “I’m just, it’s so stupid ya know? I’m so worked up over losing one fight. One fight! But, I just…I can’t believe it on some level and feel like I shouldn’t have, but I’m a freshman…I’m a kid! I shouldn’t be thinking I’m invincible!” Art smiled since he was glad to hear she realized it, even if she struggled with the fact.
“That why you bought the Stone?” He asked, “To make yourself stronger?” She nodded her head weakly.
“I…I…I thought I was anyway,” Her lip quivered, “I mean, bigger stronger, right?”
“Kinda how it works on the outside,” Art nodded in agreement. Tam sighed as she picked up his meaning.
“Doesn’t help me in other ways, yeah,” she admitted. Art gave her a squeeze then pulled back enough to look her in her eyes.
“Just keep in mind yer Tamara and ya work hard at it,” He told her, “Don’t knock the hard work or give up on it. I’d hate to see those legs let go,” Tam smirked at the joke and lightly hit his arm.
“Hey, you’re supposed to be more supportive, ya know!” she joked a bit back. He gave a grin and a wink.
“I’m the one holding you up right now aren’t I?” He shot back. She hit his arm again though not quite so lightly.
“You know what I mean,” she shot back and tried to pretend she was upset, tears still streaked down her cheeks though she found herself feeling a bit better.
“You’re a great girl, Tamara,” Art said suddenly more seriously, “Yer strong, good looking and fun to hang out with most of the time. Don’t take yourself to seriously, okay?” Tam looked at him for a long moment as if she wasn’t sure about something, but eventually nodded her head. She knew it might not be the easiest thing for her, but she had to let go and not be so uptight about everything. It hadn’t exactly been any fun for her the last couple weeks worrying about why she’d lost. With a deep, cathartic breath she exhaled and wrapped her arms around Art tightly once again. He returned the hug just as tightly for a long moment.
“Thank you,” Tam whispered to him. He responded with a smile and leaned over to kiss her cheek. The two held the embrace for several moments before they reluctantly parted.
“Should probably get back to work shouldn’t we?” He nodded in response. Tam let out one more sigh before she turned to head back to her work station when she suddenly felt a hand smack her on the backside. The Poli jumped for a moment and turned almost ready to yell at him for doing that after such an emotional moment. Instead the smirk on his face just made her giggle…a giggle that helped her become even more relaxed and felt like it lifted a great burden off of her shoulders.
A few weeks later Tamara found herself back in a familiar place; she waited in her corner for the referee to give the signal to start the battle. She hopped lightly from foot to foot as she thought about the words her rematch opponent, Sandra, had said to her. ‘You sure you want another beatin’?’ the Steelix had asked. Without smirk or smile Tamara had nodded she did and agreed to a match using the same arena as before. She knew she needed to face the same challenge in order to prove to herself she could face it. The plan going in was definitely to win, but more importantly for her was to prove to herself she wasn’t scared of possibly losing again.
The call from the ref went out and Tamara made her way cautiously into the battle area as she reminded herself to stick to her battle plan. Crouched low and listening for where the attack might come from the Poli tried to keep herself calm. Fear and doubt threatened to creep back into her thoughts and forced her to quickly banish them before they took over. She didn’t have to wait long before a familiar rumbling could be felt through the tunnel. She turned around just in time to duck a swing from the Steelix’ tail and jump back.
“Not bad,” Sandra admitted as she fell into her own battle stance. Tam grinned a bit before she moved swiftly towards her opponent. Sandra grinned back as she thought the Poli was falling back into the same thing that lost her the match in the first place. Lowering her head the Steelix charged forward with her skull lowered to ram and ready to meet the Poli Head on. Instead, Sandra found herself connecting with the side of the arena and landed on her patoot with a grunt. She quickly looked around to see where Tamara had gone and blinked when she found the Poli up close.
Sandra wasted little time in swinging her tail at Tam to prevent her from getting away as well as to try and smack her against the wall. The satisfying thud sound she was hoping for didn’t happen as her tail hit the wall. She looked towards it and blinked as she found the Poli clinging to her tail. The Steelix smirked and shook her tail multiple times to try to get Tamara off of it. Try as she might the Poli wouldn’t go anywhere as she clung there waiting for an opportunity. Finally Sandra got an idea and grinned malevolently towards Tam before she twisted and twirled and swung her tail for the ceiling as the Poli looked up and saw a very hard rock barrier coming ever closer. The tail thudded into the solid rock hard and shook the entire arena as those in the audience watched and waited for the dust to clear to see if Tam was okay.
With a victorious grin the Steelix pulled her tail down to look for the bested body of her foe…only to blink in surprise when once again there was nothing there. Sandra looked around to try to find the Poli; only to see her smiling right at her. Sandra growled and started to take a step forward before Tamara pointed upwards towards where the tail had impacted the ceiling. Sandra looked up and blinked a few times before she looked back to Tam very confused as to the big deal. It was Tam’s turn to grin as she punched the side of the tunnel with a solid Brick Break as a moment later the ceiling started to rumble and caved in above the Steelix. Sandra tried to scramble out of the way but it was too late as dozens of pounds of rocks fell on top of her and buried her under its weight. Tam wasted little time as she puffed her cheeks and sent a Bubblebeam over the pile of stone and soaked it completely. Once finished she crouched and waited to see what came next until the pile shimmied and shook as the Steelix’s head finally popped out.
“The match is over!” the referee called out, “Tamara Tellamapolou is the winner!” Sandra’s eyes looked like they weren’t looking all in the same direction as she was definitely knocked out. The combination of the pressure from the rocks falling and the water attack looked like it’d been enough for Tam to get the unique victory. The Poli girl smiled broadly as she made her way out of the arena and towards the post-match check up where she also waited for Sandra to make her way out; which she did with the help of the ref. Tam stopped in front of the Steelix girl and looked up to her as Sandra looked back to Tam, unsure of what the Poli girl wanted. She was surprised when Tam offered a hand towards her.
“Nice fight,” Tam said as she continued to offer a hand of reconciliation. Sandra looked at it for a long moment before she took it with a bit of a smirk.
“Yeah, not bad,” the Steelix admitted. The two ladies shook hands as they looked at each other with respect, “But we’re gonna have a rubber match,”
“You’re on!” Tam agreed as she turned and started towards the stands where her friends who’d cheered her on and helped her get over herself were waiting for her. She felt better for getting that Mankey off her back and proving to herself she could rebound and she could win while having to think on her feet. She knew that in the future she’d have other defeats, no one could go through four years of school and not lose a match or ten, but she wasn’t going to beat herself up over them anymore. She was going to use them to become stronger and drive towards her ultimate goal; winning it all in the pros.
“She’s a steel type and a ground type. I’ve got this!” Tamara Tellamapolou was one such young lady who wanted to be one of the very best when she got into the leagues. So far her record at the school, unbeaten, had given her a sense of being invincible. Her friends and teammates had started to worry about her attitude towards the fights since she’d started to get a bit cocky. Tam was about to start a match against another freshman who’d been talking smack about being the best and she felt it was her place to put the Steelix in her place.
“I know you have the advantage,” Molly Johnson, her best friend and teammate, told her, “But remember to go in with a clear mind,”
“Don’t worry about it, Mol. We’ll go out for pizza after this. My treat!” Tam grinned to the Combusken before she hopped towards the ring as she was introduced. Molly watched with some concern as a smattering of cheers came down to encourage the Poliwhirl. Tam made her way to the strains of her team’s theme song as she stood and looked across towards her opponent, a rather lengthy and grinning Steelix who looked just as confident.
“You both know the rules,” the ref said as he looked between the two girls, “Any questions before we start?”
“None,” Tamara said as she looked up towards her foe.
“Nope,” Cassandra “Sandra” Kowalski said in response as she smirked down at the Poli. Only a few inches separated the two but it felt like more thanks to the long tail that the Steelix sported behind her.
“Then head back to your corners and come out swinging when I give the signal,” the two made their way back and waited for the word to commence. Tam looked over to the stands where her other teammates and a couple of friends were and waved to them. Some of them waved back though others looked on quietly and wondered if she was setting herself up to much. The Poli looked back to the field that’d come up and frowned slightly as she realized that it’d changed into something she hadn’t quite expected; a rock field with a series of tunnels.
“Begin!” the ref called out as Sandra went into the field with a shot. Tam shuffled for a second before she entered as well and went on the hunt for her opponent. Moving along carefully she kept an eye out for where the steel type would hop out at her. She’d never really fought in an environment like this before and wasn’t sure what to expect, something Tam chided herself on before she came to a small fork in the tunnel. The Poli glanced to either side before she shrugged her shoulders and made her way down one of the options.
She didn’t make much progress before she heard a rumble coming from behind her. A quick glance over her shoulder revealed Sandra coming up fast behind her. The Steelix charged towards her head first and tried to ram the Poli. Tam reacted almost instinctively as she dodged out of the way and seemed to pop up behind the other out of nowhere. Sandra looked over her shoulder in surprise as Tam puffed her cheeks suddenly and sent a gout of water straight for her foe. Sandra hissed in pain as the water connected and sent her tumbling; her tail caught the Poli by surprise and smacked her into the wall of the tunnel hard enough that she started to choke on the water that hadn’t been properly evicted.
Sandra quickly spun about and moved into a defensive position as she waited to see what Tam would do. Tamara moved into a crouch as she coughed a few more times to get the water out of her system. She didn’t want to wait to long and rushed forward to swing her fist towards her opponent as it glowed with energy. Sandra moved backwards as swiftly as she could and dodged the blow; it was obvious that the Poli hadn’t collected herself fully after the botched Bubblesbeam attack. Sandra glanced to either side and grabbed some of the loose hunks of earth that had been knocked clear and Blasted them towards Tamara. The Poli brought her arms up across her chest to catch the bulk of the blow and send her skidding backwards. Tam decided she needed to get some distance to finish getting herself together and turned to move back down one of the tunnels. The Steelix wasn’t about to let it happen as she quickly slid past her to Block her exit.
“She is in trouble,” Molly said as she watched from the stands. The field in question wasn’t the most audience friendly so several cameras were set up through the tunnels to broadcast the events overhead for those watching to see. Tam’s friends watched on worried for their friend who’d had one bad turn used against her.
“Yup,” Arthur “Art” Horton, her boyfriend, agreed with Molly. He’d warned her about not being more careful about being more prepared and now it was coming home to roost.
Tam looked up and did her best not to panic as she furrowed her brow ridge and inhaled again ready to send out another jet of bubbles. She figured that she could get rid of her excess water still causing her trouble and get in an attack at the same time. Sandra saw her cheeks puffing again and lowered her head as she charged forward to Iron Head at the Poli. Tamara hadn’t expected such a straight-forward answer to her attack but sent out the Bubblebeam attack anyway and hoped it was powerful enough to slow the other. The two attacks clashed into one another as the water bore into the Steel type. Sandra hissed at the pain but pushed forward against it and used to rock around her to push past the stream.
If there was one way to describe Tam’s style it was physical. She was used to mixing it up-close and taking the fight straight to someone and as such she wasn’t used to fighting from a distance and using her ranged moves with any great regularity. Most of the time this wasn’t a problem and she was usually able to use her Bubblebeam attack to compliment her rough and tumble style well enough. It wasn’t quite working out for her here as she was faced against someone else who wasn’t afraid to fight against it to get in close to fight. The stream soon petered out which allowed the Steelix to plow through and connect solidly with the Poliwhirl and sent her flying backwards. Tam landed with a thud on the ground as she looked up a little dazed from the attack. She scrambled to get back to her feet just as another Rock Blast came in and just managed to dodge the attack.
Breathing heavily and on the defensive for the first time in a very long time Tam watched as her foe moved in an almost snake like fashion and waited to find the best way to attack. Tam brought her hands up defensively and did her best to circle, though the tunnels cut her off from being able to get any real flank on the other. Eventually she muttered to herself and decided to charge in with her usual tactics and swung her charged fist once again to punch at Sandra. This time the blow landed solidly and sent her opponent spinning; which worked against her once again as the massive tail of Sandra turned and connected with the wall. Unfortunately Tamara found herself between both as she hit hard enough for her to have the wind knocked out of her. The Steelix noticed she had the advantage and pressed her tail against the wall harder. Tam swung her fists weakly as she tried to gather herself without being able to breathe well. It didn’t work as her arms started to go limp and hung, the Poli on the edge of losing consciousness. The referee stepped in and separated the two.
“The match is over!” the ref quickly said, “The winner is Casandra Kowlaski!” The Steelix gladly let the Poli go as she collapsed to the ground before she moved down the hallway back towards her corner. Tam sucked in several breaths as oxygen started to flow through her body again, though she was unable to raise her head just yet. The ref bent down to check up on her even as the Steelix caught Tam’s attention.
“Toldja I’d smack you around!” Sandra gloated over her defeated opponent. Tamara raised her head enough to look towards the other before the ref warded the Steelix off. The Poli lowered her head again and gripped her stomach before her eyes closed tightly and a few tears made their way into her eyes. The ref helped her to her feet and over to make sure she was fine. Physically she was okay, but emotionally…that was another matter entirely.
Inside the locker room Tamara sat bent over with a towel over her head as she tried to block the outside world. Her teammates who’d been there and a couple of friends had made their way down to talk to her and try to offer supportive words. The Poli didn’t really want to hear any of it as she did her best to hide away from any of it. Those around her weren’t giving her much of a choice, however.
“Everyone loses at some point, Tamara,” Molly brought up again, “You really shouldn’t take this defeat so hard,”
“Yup,” Art added as he sat down next to Tam and rubbed her back gently.
“Not like it’s the end of the world to lose a fight your freshman year,” Christopher Flynn, a fellow classmate of theirs, threw in as he leaned against a locker.
“It’s not just that I lost, guys,” Tam finally spoke up from under her towel, “its how I lost. It was embarrassing,”
“Well, you did let your guard down,” Molly said after a moment and tried not to be accusing with her tone.
“Seemed like you broke out of your game plan,” Art added, “Something to learn from though,”
“I shouldn’t have to learn from it though!” Tamara said as she looked up from under her hiding place, “I should be good enough by now to just do what I need to do!”
“You’re acting like you’re a twenty year veteran of battling,” Art said as he arched a brow at her.
“I’ve been training for years!” the Poli cried out as if it answered everything.
“So have I, Tamara,” Molly pointed out, “But you do not see me saying I should be undefeated,” Tam stood up and glared at her friend.
“Just don’t understand,” The Poli grumbled as she stormed off towards the shower with her towel gripped tightly in her hand. Her friends watched as she walked off without any other words. They all looked at each other and wondered if they should chase after her but any thoughts of going after her stopped when they heard someone behind them speak up.
“Even the strongest of Arcanines must occasional lick their paws clean,” the kids all looked towards the familiar figure of Tam’s Grandfather, Hori Tellamapolou.
“…what?” Chris finally asked, still not quite sure what to make of older Poli’s sayings; which wasn’t anything all that uncommon.
“Pride can be both bad and good for someone,” Grandpa Hori responded, “In this case it will be both for Tamara. Give her time work through it all and be supportive when the time is right,”
“How will we know when it is?” Molly asked, just as confused as the others even though she grew up with the older ‘mon’s sayings.
“You will,” was all he said, “I’m going to be waiting outside at the car when we’re ready to go!” He suddenly said cheerfully and headed out of the locker room. The kids all just watched in uncertainty about what just happened.
“No, you do not ever get used to it,” Molly answered Art and Chris who looked at her questioningly. They all shrugged their shoulders in some way or other and waited for Tam to get out of the shower and ready to go. They just hoped that they’d be able to do something for her when the time came.
A few weeks had passed since the battle and Tam hadn’t been in any matches. She’d managed to build herself up a bit of a buffer thanks to the fact she’d put herself into so many already. She hadn’t dodged any practices though her teammates could tell that something was bugging her. She’d thrown herself into the training sessions with abandon and pushed herself harder than before. The rest of her team had talked to their coach, Grandpa Hori, about it and asked if they should talk to her about it. Her grandfather had shaken his head and said now wasn’t the right time to confront her about it yet. They reluctantly went along with it, even though several of her friends were also worried by her actions.
For her part Tamara hadn’t stopped doing what she normally did. She knew she was coming off as more distant and seemed distracted to those around her but she couldn’t help it. The match continued to weigh on her mind as she ran through it over and over again to try and figure out what it was that had tripped her up. Her thoughts went between blaming herself and giving her opponent credit. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to admit that maybe her foe had just been better that day, but her thoughts kept going back to what it was that she had screwed up on, what opportunity she had blown and she couldn’t shake the feeling it was her. Perhaps, she thought, she just hadn’t been strong enough.
To the wonderment of the kids many of the adults around Tam seemed to see it as a phase that she was going through and that she’d work her way out of it. They were worried and feared that maybe the adults were understating what was going on; that they didn’t know what was actually happening to her. Whether it was her grandfather, her parents or Art’s parents who were her bosses they all seemed to assure anyone who expressed concern that she would be just fine once she worked her way through it. To say it was a bit frustrating for the kids was something of an understatement, though.
“Good job tonight, Tamara,” Mr. Horton, Art’s father, said to the Poli after an evening at the Sweet Kiss Candy Shoppe. Tam worked for them doing various sales and stock jobs as well as basic prep for the candy; she just wasn’t allowed to do the actual baking. She was perfectly fine with this since Art was much better at it anyway.
“Huh? Oh, thanks Mr. Horton,” she replied with a small smile. Art arched a brow at the distracted reaction but didn’t say anything as he worked on prepping some more of the candy for the night. Tam moved over towards her things to get them out of the way after the older Skitty had left the back room. As she slid her jacket over to another table something fell away from it and clanged hard to the floor. Tam had already made her way several feet away before it landed and looked back with a bit of horror that it’d fallen out. As she reached for the small bag Art had already picked it up the Lucario gave a glance to see Tam’s reaction. The Poli tried to hide any as she reached for it to take from him.
“What’s in the bag?” He asked as he moved his lollipop from one side of his mouth to the other.
“I-it’s nothing,” she said as she reached suddenly for it again. Art twisted his arm to keep her from being able to snatch it away. He gave the small pouch a squeeze to get a feel for what was inside.
“Doesn’t feel like nothing,” He said as he lifted the pouch up, “Won’t mind me seeing if it’s nothing,” He added before he started to open the pouch. Tam flinched as though she was going to try to pull it away from him but stopped and just watched him, almost pleading. For a moment Art considered just handing it over to her and not asking, but he knew something had to be up and needed to see what was going on. With a flick of his fingers he opened the pouch up and let the contents inside tumble into his hand; the Water Stone that landed there gave him pause as his eyes went wide.
“You bought one?” He asked in shock as he looked back to the Poli. Tam had backed off and looked like she was torn between running or not. Tears started to reach her eyes as she couldn’t meet his.
“I…yeah. It seemed like a good idea,” she told him as she spun her back to Art so she didn’t have to look at him, afraid of what she might see if she did.
“Why?” He blurted out the question and put the stone back in the pouch, “Isn’t the whole, you know, evolution thing a big deal for you?”
“It is!” She quickly answered, though she didn’t turn to face him, “I mean, yeah, I want to prove I’m good enough to get a Water Stone. I just…I thought about it after the loss and I realized that why I lost was…I wasn’t strong enough…”
“….what?” Art asked in disbelief, “Not strong enough?”
“Why else wouldn’t I have won, Art?” She asked and finally turned to look towards him, almost begged to be told she was wrong or what scared her more was she hoped that he’d tell her she was right and should use the stone. The idea, possible as it was and much as the stone might make her stronger, still terrified her that she’d just ignore everything she’d planned. Instead Art sighed and handed her the stone.
“Dunno what to tell you, Tam,” he answered, “You lost, it happens. I’ve lost fights ‘fore, so if I follow what you’re sayin’ then I’m not strong ‘nuff either,” Tam took the stone as it was offered to her and looked into the Lucario’s eyes. He honestly looked like he wasn’t sure what to say, or if he could say anything that would help her right now. Tears began to stream down her cheeks.
“I was weak…” she said before Art suddenly enveloped her in a tight hug.
“Shhh, no you weren’t. Ya did fine in the fight,” He assured her. The Poli shook her head as she buried her face into his shoulder.
“Not the fight,” she sniffled, “I…I thought I was too weak, so I was weak and bought the Water Stone, even though I knew I shouldn’t!” Art sighed and continued to hug her tightly, “I’m just, it’s so stupid ya know? I’m so worked up over losing one fight. One fight! But, I just…I can’t believe it on some level and feel like I shouldn’t have, but I’m a freshman…I’m a kid! I shouldn’t be thinking I’m invincible!” Art smiled since he was glad to hear she realized it, even if she struggled with the fact.
“That why you bought the Stone?” He asked, “To make yourself stronger?” She nodded her head weakly.
“I…I…I thought I was anyway,” Her lip quivered, “I mean, bigger stronger, right?”
“Kinda how it works on the outside,” Art nodded in agreement. Tam sighed as she picked up his meaning.
“Doesn’t help me in other ways, yeah,” she admitted. Art gave her a squeeze then pulled back enough to look her in her eyes.
“Just keep in mind yer Tamara and ya work hard at it,” He told her, “Don’t knock the hard work or give up on it. I’d hate to see those legs let go,” Tam smirked at the joke and lightly hit his arm.
“Hey, you’re supposed to be more supportive, ya know!” she joked a bit back. He gave a grin and a wink.
“I’m the one holding you up right now aren’t I?” He shot back. She hit his arm again though not quite so lightly.
“You know what I mean,” she shot back and tried to pretend she was upset, tears still streaked down her cheeks though she found herself feeling a bit better.
“You’re a great girl, Tamara,” Art said suddenly more seriously, “Yer strong, good looking and fun to hang out with most of the time. Don’t take yourself to seriously, okay?” Tam looked at him for a long moment as if she wasn’t sure about something, but eventually nodded her head. She knew it might not be the easiest thing for her, but she had to let go and not be so uptight about everything. It hadn’t exactly been any fun for her the last couple weeks worrying about why she’d lost. With a deep, cathartic breath she exhaled and wrapped her arms around Art tightly once again. He returned the hug just as tightly for a long moment.
“Thank you,” Tam whispered to him. He responded with a smile and leaned over to kiss her cheek. The two held the embrace for several moments before they reluctantly parted.
“Should probably get back to work shouldn’t we?” He nodded in response. Tam let out one more sigh before she turned to head back to her work station when she suddenly felt a hand smack her on the backside. The Poli jumped for a moment and turned almost ready to yell at him for doing that after such an emotional moment. Instead the smirk on his face just made her giggle…a giggle that helped her become even more relaxed and felt like it lifted a great burden off of her shoulders.
A few weeks later Tamara found herself back in a familiar place; she waited in her corner for the referee to give the signal to start the battle. She hopped lightly from foot to foot as she thought about the words her rematch opponent, Sandra, had said to her. ‘You sure you want another beatin’?’ the Steelix had asked. Without smirk or smile Tamara had nodded she did and agreed to a match using the same arena as before. She knew she needed to face the same challenge in order to prove to herself she could face it. The plan going in was definitely to win, but more importantly for her was to prove to herself she wasn’t scared of possibly losing again.
The call from the ref went out and Tamara made her way cautiously into the battle area as she reminded herself to stick to her battle plan. Crouched low and listening for where the attack might come from the Poli tried to keep herself calm. Fear and doubt threatened to creep back into her thoughts and forced her to quickly banish them before they took over. She didn’t have to wait long before a familiar rumbling could be felt through the tunnel. She turned around just in time to duck a swing from the Steelix’ tail and jump back.
“Not bad,” Sandra admitted as she fell into her own battle stance. Tam grinned a bit before she moved swiftly towards her opponent. Sandra grinned back as she thought the Poli was falling back into the same thing that lost her the match in the first place. Lowering her head the Steelix charged forward with her skull lowered to ram and ready to meet the Poli Head on. Instead, Sandra found herself connecting with the side of the arena and landed on her patoot with a grunt. She quickly looked around to see where Tamara had gone and blinked when she found the Poli up close.
Sandra wasted little time in swinging her tail at Tam to prevent her from getting away as well as to try and smack her against the wall. The satisfying thud sound she was hoping for didn’t happen as her tail hit the wall. She looked towards it and blinked as she found the Poli clinging to her tail. The Steelix smirked and shook her tail multiple times to try to get Tamara off of it. Try as she might the Poli wouldn’t go anywhere as she clung there waiting for an opportunity. Finally Sandra got an idea and grinned malevolently towards Tam before she twisted and twirled and swung her tail for the ceiling as the Poli looked up and saw a very hard rock barrier coming ever closer. The tail thudded into the solid rock hard and shook the entire arena as those in the audience watched and waited for the dust to clear to see if Tam was okay.
With a victorious grin the Steelix pulled her tail down to look for the bested body of her foe…only to blink in surprise when once again there was nothing there. Sandra looked around to try to find the Poli; only to see her smiling right at her. Sandra growled and started to take a step forward before Tamara pointed upwards towards where the tail had impacted the ceiling. Sandra looked up and blinked a few times before she looked back to Tam very confused as to the big deal. It was Tam’s turn to grin as she punched the side of the tunnel with a solid Brick Break as a moment later the ceiling started to rumble and caved in above the Steelix. Sandra tried to scramble out of the way but it was too late as dozens of pounds of rocks fell on top of her and buried her under its weight. Tam wasted little time as she puffed her cheeks and sent a Bubblebeam over the pile of stone and soaked it completely. Once finished she crouched and waited to see what came next until the pile shimmied and shook as the Steelix’s head finally popped out.
“The match is over!” the referee called out, “Tamara Tellamapolou is the winner!” Sandra’s eyes looked like they weren’t looking all in the same direction as she was definitely knocked out. The combination of the pressure from the rocks falling and the water attack looked like it’d been enough for Tam to get the unique victory. The Poli girl smiled broadly as she made her way out of the arena and towards the post-match check up where she also waited for Sandra to make her way out; which she did with the help of the ref. Tam stopped in front of the Steelix girl and looked up to her as Sandra looked back to Tam, unsure of what the Poli girl wanted. She was surprised when Tam offered a hand towards her.
“Nice fight,” Tam said as she continued to offer a hand of reconciliation. Sandra looked at it for a long moment before she took it with a bit of a smirk.
“Yeah, not bad,” the Steelix admitted. The two ladies shook hands as they looked at each other with respect, “But we’re gonna have a rubber match,”
“You’re on!” Tam agreed as she turned and started towards the stands where her friends who’d cheered her on and helped her get over herself were waiting for her. She felt better for getting that Mankey off her back and proving to herself she could rebound and she could win while having to think on her feet. She knew that in the future she’d have other defeats, no one could go through four years of school and not lose a match or ten, but she wasn’t going to beat herself up over them anymore. She was going to use them to become stronger and drive towards her ultimate goal; winning it all in the pros.
I really liked this story. The two fight scenes were pretty well done and both characters were done with respect to their personalities and fighting styles. Tam's internal conflict was a bit much in some places, but with a girl like her in the state she was in, it made sense. The moment involving the water stone was the best scene because it had two characters who had to make a very important choice, but were unsure of what to do next. It was almost humorous how Tam was being emotional tormented by losing and Sandra was probably drinking a slurpy while this was all happening.
All in all, great work and I look forward to seeing more from you.
All in all, great work and I look forward to seeing more from you.
Glad you liked the story! For Tam this was a moment when, and this may seem dramatic but that was part of the point I was going for, her view on the world shattering. Her ego had grown to the point she honestly believed that she had a shot at going through her four years at the school without a defeat. She got smacked down to reality and it took her a while to adjust to it. High school can be really dramatic when things don't go your way, and for her it was a girl of strong emotion coming to grips with how things really work, and not how things should work in her mind.
And yeah, Sandra probably was just like, "Yeah, 'nother victory for me! Yup,"
And yeah, Sandra probably was just like, "Yeah, 'nother victory for me! Yup,"
D'oh, why didn't I comment on this before now? Stupid, stupid.
This story, however, is not stupid, and as I said while reading it before, I enjoyed it very much. As I mentioned, you got Sandra spot-on, and Tamara's reaction to the loss and the emotions she was going through were pulled off very well. While it's easy to see she's overreacting, it's also very easy to relate to how she's feeling and sympathize with her, and that, sir, is awesome.
Like Fav said, there were some grammatical errors here and there, but nothing too cloying and it's very easy to overlook.
Overall, yes, this was an enjoyable read, yes indeedy.
This story, however, is not stupid, and as I said while reading it before, I enjoyed it very much. As I mentioned, you got Sandra spot-on, and Tamara's reaction to the loss and the emotions she was going through were pulled off very well. While it's easy to see she's overreacting, it's also very easy to relate to how she's feeling and sympathize with her, and that, sir, is awesome.
Like Fav said, there were some grammatical errors here and there, but nothing too cloying and it's very easy to overlook.
Overall, yes, this was an enjoyable read, yes indeedy.
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