Vocal Strain [Piers x Reader]

Chapter Twenty Three

          The air was filled with tension, along with the light fall of snow. In a small area on Route Ten, you stood across from your mentor, Grimsley. The patch that you stood on was empty of snow, caused by your first match against him. Piers was watching a few paces away, ensuring that the battle was fair. And by Arceus, had it been a sight. Metal had clashed to bone, fire and dirt had consumed the air, and the entire field had been raged into a chaotic fury. Piers had never seen you battle before, but he could tell that you were a force to be reckoned with. You were cold, analytical, and utterly quick witted. Any move that Grimsley had made, you came back stronger. But, Grimsley was a force to reckon with himself, having moves that could destroy the match in utter seconds. Still, you had won, before posing the question that you had posed. Why hadn't Grimsley taken the match seriously?

        Piers was astonished, staring at the person he had grown to love, the pokeball spinning on your finger and your eyes cold, threatening, and callous. The match had been more intense than any battle that he ever had. And yet, it hadn't been serious. He gulped.

        "I admit, I had expected the emotional state of your heart during your departure to chip away at your resolve, my little dream eater," Grimsley hummed out over the wind rippling through the path. "I am now aware of my mistake. We can start battling in truth now, little one." 

        "I already told you," you called out, voice echoing through the wind. "This battle is to show you that my resolve has not tarnished. You will lose by my hand, my Pokemon being the driving force of my power. To underestimate me is a mistake that you will not forget. I do not intend to lighten up, but if you finally plan to face me in truth, I only intend to let myself return to my true resolve. The one that I had held during our last battle and the reason you chose me as a member of The Elite Four." 

        Piers stared. Was he about to see you at full power?

        "I did truly miss that sadistic resolve of yours, little one," Grimsley exclaimed, pulling another pokeball from his pocket. "So, let me see it in its new light! Show me what Galar has added to your determination, my little dream eater! Enlighten me!" 

        Yet again, you tossed your pokeball to the sun, Piers eyes following it. Your leg raised and as soon as the ball was in your hand, Grimsley followed suit and you both released a new Pokemon onto the field. The two of you were in your own bubble, Piers only being a spectator to a new breath of life that washed throughout you. And it was as though he was seeing you in a new light. A beautiful light. 

        Blue colors consumed the field, Grimsley's Liepard appearing in as the color faded, alongside your Luxray. Grimsley's expression grew amused at the sight of your new Pokemon. 

        "I see," he hummed. "Is this one of the new cards that have come to your deck?" 

        You stayed in a widened stance, lowering yourself like a predator ready to pounce. Piers noticed that there was something different about you during this second match, something feral. You radiated an aura that could've consumed the region. This only made Grimsley grin like your partner Pokemon. 

        "New cards, unexpected events, and agonizing losses," you purred, voice low and laced with ego. "Something that seems to occur, when distance takes place. How about you, Grim? Are you prepared to feel some static?" 

        "There they are, my precious little dream eater," Grimsley cooed with love, but a hidden cockiness underlying his tone. "Oh, how I missed watching you become the monster that you hide within that emotional overflow. The absolute removal of all the bonds that you held. As long as we're on the battlefield, I become nothing to you. Nothing, but an obstacle that you yearn to get through. Oh, how people have yearned to be on the other end of this gaze."