Re: Ribbons of Destiny (Trainer Fic)
Chapter 2: A Burning Passion
Denny wiped the sweat off his brow and the dirt on his face smudged with the motion. Niji was breathing hard, her fur was a little ruffled from the attack and there was still fear in her heart. Sitting back, her trainer hit the ground hard on his rump, still struggling to get his breath back after chasing after the fight.
“Good job Niji,” he said calmly, holding a Pokéball in his hand. “We caught one and you didn’t even have to land a single attack.” The Pokéball had a two in the center of the knob, and the Pokémon inside wasn’t struggling to escape.
After having left Pallet Town two days ago, Denny and Niji have been scouring the area north of Viridian City. With Niji not willing to engage in a battle, Denny had spent some time trying to deduce a way to weaken a wild Pokémon enough that a Pokéball would work. Coming up with the battle plan wasn’t that difficult, but actually getting it to work was a pain. After having five Pokéballs when he left Pallet, he was now down to two, and both were taken by Pokémon.
Niji floated irregularly onto Denny’s head, and nuzzled his hair, her heart racing in her chest from the last encounter.
The tactic being used was simple enough. Niji would dodge any attacks aimed at her, taking as little damage as possible. The attacking Pokémon would get weak and frustrated from having its attacks miss constantly and if Niji could maneuver her didges around environmental hazards, then the wild Pokémon could injure itself on those structures.
The plan had nearly worked the last three times, but after the Pokémon wised up to what was happening, it dashed off into the grass after it broke out of the first Pokéball thrown at it.
Luckily, on his last Pokéball, the tactic worked, mostly because they had found a very temperamental and stubborn Pokémon to fight. A Spearow.
Of course the problem was that fighting a Flying Pokémon was difficult, even for Niji. The little Mew had gotten her fair share of injuries from the fight, and her fur was matted with dirt and blood. Luckily the Spearow’s temperament had worked in their favor. After the thing had hit the ground and weakened from going after Niji multiple times, Denny had thrown his last extra Pokéball.
Both had waited in anticipation as the capture sphere rocked back and forth until it finally stopped moving and the knob showed a number. Two flashed as the light faded, and Denny knew that his second Pokémon was his. Now was the time to heal Niji.
The encounters had taken their toll on Niji, who still didn’t want to attack another Pokémon, even in retaliation for an attack making contact. Her fur was bloodied and frazzled, patchy in some places. The Mew was weaker, but Denny made sure that she was nowhere near death’s door like she was when he had first met her.
He reached into his backpack and pulled out a glass vial with a small white spray nozzle. The liquid inside was a deep red and Denny carefully brought Niji off of his head and let her sit in his lap. His legs were crossed and he carefully cleaned away the blood and dirt from her fur while applying the potion. Before planning this little strategy, he had seen how much damage Niji had taken against Giselle’s Squirtle, he made sure to stop by a Pokémart that specialized in healing medicens and other merchandise useful for Trainers. Because Giselle had gotten a good jump on him, because she had taken half of his current account, he didn’t have that much money to buy supplies.
But he used what he could.
Niji continued to avoid using any attacks and the Pokédex lacked any information on the Mew Pokémon because of her rairity. If he could find out any information on her, then maybe she could fight. But right now he had a Spearow, a Spearow that he had yet to name. And if he could train the Spearow, then Niji wouldn’t have to battle, and if he had one Pokémon that could battle, then maybe he could get on with a Journey to look at all the different Pokémon in the world.
Niji looked up at him, sensing some of his thoughts. There was worry on her face.
“Ah,” Denny mumbled before he gently pat the Mew. “Don’t worry Niji, you may not want to battle, but that doesn’t mean I’d ever get rid or think any less of you.” The reassurance made Niji purr.
“Heh,” he replied. “Let’s finish getting you healed. This is going to sting a bit.” With her fur cleaned, he took the potion and sprayed it on Niji’s wounds. The Mew gritted her teeth in pain as the potion started to cause her natural healing abilities to amplify. A few more minutes of carefully applying the potion to where Niji was injured and she was back to the image of health. She burst into the air, flying around in loops and mewing to show how happy she was and how good she was feeling.
Denny smiled but then opened his mouth in surprise as Niji ended up flying right into a bush. The little Mew either didn’t pay attention to where she was going, or just not used to flying for extended periods of time in intricate paths. He laughed as he helped Niji out of the bush and cleaned her off once more.
* * *
“Sooo…” Denny mumbled as he checked out his Pokédex. “Viridian Forest, between Viridian City and Pewter City. It has a lot of bird and bug Pokémon. A few rare Pokémon such as Pikachu have also been spotted occasionally with in the forest. Hmm.” He looked at the images of the Pokémon. “How about this one?” he asked Niji. “Think a Pikachu would be welcome to our little family?”
The Mew floated closer to the Pokédex screen and reached a hand through the image. Surprised when the image fizzled as her hand passed through, she looked again at the Pikachu image without touching it this time. Niji then turned and nodded at Denny, letting out an enthusiastic mew. He had stopped back in Viridian for a few more Pokéballs, what little he could scrape together with what meager funds he had left.
“Heh,” he replied after changing the screen and trying to pull up a map of Viridian Forest. “It’s not going to be easy. The forest is big and a lot of people get lost in here. You still think we should?”
Niji nodded enthusiastically.
“Okay, then let’s go! Falco!” he tossed a Pokéball up and the ball exploded into light and energy. The energy formed into a small brown bird, with angry looking eyes, and a falcon like beak. Its wings were a light brown, bordering on cinnamon red, fading out to the tips. The head and tail contour feathers were an earthy tan with a pale gray underbelly. On the breast was a circular marker with a two in the center, similar to the one on Niji’s left thigh. With a flap of its wings and a loud caw, the Spearow took to the sky. Reluctant to follow Denny into a fight, he had been caught however. Although he had been healed and treated fairly by the human, trust was not something he was going to give away freely.
Falco soared above Viridian Forest, using the individual slotting in the wing primaries to control the air-flow over the wings. Spearows, like many predatory birds and bird Pokémon had excellent eyesight and could spot prey on the ground while a mile or higher up in the sky. The world may be in two colors, but the stereoscopic vision made up for the inability to see color. His new human trainer was looking for a Pikachu, and the Spearow knew what the electric rodent looked like. When it was a chick, its mother would bring fresh rodents for him to learn how to kill, sometimes it also included a Rattata or Pikachu among his food.
Flying up in the sky, Falco felt free. Spotting a small rodent from this height was going to be difficult through the tree canopy. Difficult but not impossible. The Spearow wasn’t alone in the skys above the forest however, there was another bird flying up this high. Falco recognized the body shape of a Pidgey, and knew that the other Pokémon wasn’t a threat to his talons and beak. Pidgey’s feasted on insects, opposed to the fresh meat of larger prey that Falco preferred. The other bird Pokémon was probably lost, but Falco didn’t have time to deal with it.
He flew silently on the wind, gliding and using his slotted feathers to control the wind rolling over his wings, decreasing the drag and increasing the lift. Falco’s eyes scanned the forest below, searching for the little rat that the human wanted to find.
Falco found it. A common tell of stripes along the back and an angled tail flashed from the cover of the trees into a bush. Nothing escaped Falco when he was free, and nothing would escape him even while being trained by a human.
Denny watched through the open break in the tree canopy. Falco had flown up and high before disappearing. The bird Pokémon had been gone for thirty minutes when Niji floated onto Denny’s head and uttered a mew of concern.
“Don’t worry, I don’t think Falco’s going to leave us. You saw how tough he was in the fight earlier.” He reassured her.
His own worries were silenced as he heard a loud caw from Falco high above them. Denny stood and watched the sky for the Spearow. The Pokémon circled above the break once, before flying off in a direction. Together, Denny and Niji raced that direction, both made sure to keep sight of Falco as he flew far higher and faster than they could run, and they lost the Spearow several times. Luckily Flaco kept track of them as well, sometimes the Spearow would let out a caw, that grabbed the human and Mew’s attention before continuing in the same direction.
Coming up on a clearing with several bushes, Falco circled the skies directly above and Denny assumed that this was the place where the Pikachu was. He motioned for Niji to stay silent as she floated close to him, and she put both hands on her mouth. Dropping low on his legs, nearly to a squat, he carefully started sneaking towards the bushes, keeping his eyes open to pay attention for the Pikachu.
Quietly he watched the bush line and the clearing, looking for any sign of movement. Despite needing glasses, usually his artistic abilities gave him an attention to detail and a perception that others usually were surprised at. He got closer and could see some movement behind the brush. Carefully he got into a crouch, and braced himself with his hands. Getting a little priming into his leg muscles, which were starting to cramp, he got ready to lunge his hands into the bush.
Which he did.
His hands scrambled around in the bush, trying to ignore the scratches that raked along his fingers and palm. Grabbing onto something with both hands, he thought he could feel the little electric rodent fight back and grab him in retaliation. He had a good hold and used both hands to make sure that the Pokémon wasn’t going to get away. Bracing himself, he tried to pull back, but what he had a hold of wasn’t budging, it even pulled him partway into the bush. Trying again he pulled up and out of the bush, sure he had the Pikachu in hand.
“Gotcha!” Denny and someone else shouted in synch.
It wasn’t a Pikachu in his hands. Denny had the hands of someone else wrapped around his own, in a similar grip that he had tried. He looked from the arms up to the body and then to the face of who’s hands he currently had.
The person’s face was thin, feminine with brown eyes. She was wearing a red-yellow hooded sweatshirt that was unzipped and revealed a light blue t-shirt underneath. There were two straps for a backpack around her shoulders and her hair was shoulder length, a red-tinted auburn. In her hair was a pin that resembled a flame, dark crimson that reflected the light through the canopy.
“He-hey!” Denny stammered. “You’re not a Pikachu!”
“Of course I’m not!” she shouted back. “And I would have had it if it wasn’t for you!”
“Pika?”
Both humans turned their heads towards the sound of a Pikachu looking at the two humans holding hands in the middle of the forest.
“Come here!” both humans shouted and lunged once more. Somehow ignoring the other and lunging for the Pikachu, the managed to crash into one another as the Pikachu simply got out of the way.
“Ow…” the girl said, moaning in pain. “Why’d you have to get in my way?”
“Gah!” Denny replied trying to pull himself out from under her. “Whadda mean your way?”
“Because that Pikachu is mine, and you got in my way,” she pushed herself off of him, but pushing onto him, forcing Denny back onto the ground with an “Ooof.”
Not too happy, at the accusations and the extra injuries from her using him as a spring-board, Denny responded with “That Pikachu isn’t yours, we found it first! And you stopped us!”
“No you didn’t! We did!”
“Like Dodou you did!” he responded.
The two humans went at it, arguing each other over who’s actual fault it was for letting the Pikachu get away. Standing there for a bit, the electric rodent watched the humans before dashing off into the underbrush, while under the attention of the humans.
“Okay!” the girl said. “Let’s settle this! Loki!” Her head turned towards the other end of the brush and a bipedal lizard bound over the brush line before sliding along the ground. Its smooth, overlapping, scales were an orange color. On the ends of its toes were three straight claws, giving it a better sense of balance. Proportionately, it had large eyes, much like Niji’s, blue in color. Its hands did not end in claws, but three small little fingers and a numeric one was on his right shoulder. At the end of the lizard’s tail was a bright roaring flame. As it acknowledged its trainer, the Charmander showed a pair of small fangs on its upper jaw.
“A Charmander…” Denny muttered.
“Come on,” the other trainer commanded.
Denny’s mind raced. He only had two Pokémon. Falco, who was too high to hear him right now, and Niji, who didn’t want to fight at all. He couldn’t ask Niji to fight, and if he didn’t do anything this girl might just sick her Charmander on him. He has heard stories of Pokémon battles where the trainers had been targeted for attacks to try and demoralize the Pokémon and trainer from the battle. He’d even heard of some people who actually ride their Pokémon into battle, like an old-fashioned general onto the battlefield.
“Mew!”
To Denny’s surprise, Niji floated in front of him from wherever she had gone. She hovered a foot above the ground and faced the Charmander. Just like with the Squirtle, she was smaller than her opponent, by about a third the size.
“Niji…” Denny said softly. Does she really want to fight? I thought she didn’t want to. Niji, you don’t have to do this… Quickly he pulled out his Pokédex, and the screen showed a small window that was linked directly to Niji’s vital signs. Heart-rate, overall health, and how much energy she had for the fight.
“That’s more like it,” the other trainer said. “Loki, Go with a Growl!”
With a leer, the Charmander let loose with a low growl. The action usually intimidated their opponent into reducing their ability to attack, making the user appear more stronger than they are. Niji floated backwards from the growl, even more scared than she already was.
“Now, Ember!”
Acknowledging the order, Loki spread his footing, bracing himself. He inhaled, expanding his chest, then exhaled in a small roar. Small, wallet-sized bits of flame came shooting out of his mouth, all heading towards Niji. The Mew started spinning around, flying over and under the fire as they came near, this tactic didn’t last long, and normally didn’t against trained Pokémon. A few shots of the fire made contact with her fur, burning it and sending the smell across the small clearing.
“Niji!”
“Oh come on, no big strategy?! Stop taking the hits and do something!”
With his opponent weakened, Loki went and rushed Niji, intent on a full body tackle to knock her to the ground. It was a little impromptu, but even he wasn’t having any fun in this match. A good opponent and challenge was what he enjoyed, not someone who was so afraid of their own shadow as to not fight back. The Charmander lunged for Niji who was in pain from the fire and still afraid from the growl. She saw the fire lizard jump for her, and her mind went on instinct for a brief second.
Flipping mid-air, Niji twisted over Loki as he lunged for her, curling her body up into a tight ball, leaving her tail at the very end. As her rotation came around a full cycle, the tip of her tail connected with the Charmander’s head, hard. Really hard. There was a heavy smack sound as the ball at the end of Niji’s tail connected with Loki’s head and sent him straight back to the ground and she floated past.
Denny’s Pokédex started beeping a message and a new window opened up.
Pokémon Attack Detected.
Analyzing…
Analyzing…
Analyzing…
Finished!
Move Identified: POUND
Mew Pokédex Entry Updated.
Niji actually learned a move?! Denny’s mind screamed. Awesome. Maybe part of the reason that she didn’t want to fight, is that she couldn’t.
“Nice job Niji,” he said. The Mew turned around, worry and fear in her eyes which made Denny’s joy, for her learning an attack, turn to worry over how she was feeling about it.
“Don’t think it’s over!” the girl said. “Leer!”
Loki pushed himself off and gave the Mew a look that could turn people to stone. Niji floated back, even more afraid than she had been a minute ago.
“Now! Get at it with a Scratch!”
The Charmander was completely on the offensive, swiping his claws at Niji as she tried to dart and dodge through the attacks. Her fur was starting to get covered in scratches and her own blood, the fear running through her mind was clouding her rational judgment.
“Hey!” the girl trainer shouted at Denny. “Aren’t you going to give your Pokémon any commands?!” the two tried to keep up with the fight, which sent them running through parts of Viridian Forest, jumping over tree roots and scrambling through bushes.
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Denny muttered to himself, watching her. “It’s that Niji doesn’t want to…”
Chasing and swiping after the Mew brought Loki into a better position. Niji, however was cornered in a small grove of trees, her fear wasn’t letting her think of anyplace to go to escape from Loki’s attacks. She turned around and saw the Charmander standing there, a wicked smile on his face.
“Now we got it cornered! Get it Loki!”
“Niji watch out!” Denny shouted as he and the girl ran up to their Pokémon.
The Charmander dashed in, the little Fire Pokémon’s speed added in its favorable factor with a lot of trainers. With Loki running at her, claws bared and ready to strike, Niji curled into a defensive position, waiting for the attack to hit. The stress of waiting for the attack to hit, and the energy that she was building up in keeping her muscles so tensed, caused the Mew to lash out with her feet. Both of which ended up kicking Loki right in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying back by a few yards, and he landed right into his own trainer, sending them both sprawling on the ground.
“Niji!” Denny shouted as he ran up to his quivering and thrashing Mew. “Niji. Niji! It’s okay. Calm down, it’s over…” he tried to hold onto the Mew but end up getting kicked in the chin twice and had his face and neck clawed at. “Niji… you’re... Ow ow ow ow!”
Niji suddenly stopped. She could feel the surface thoughts of Denny, of pain and confusion, worry and fear for her. And she could also smell blood. It wasn’t her blood this time, it was his. Looking up at her trainer she saw that she herself had done a decent number on him. He was bruised and multiple sets of long claw marks ran criss-crossing across his face and neck. There was a bit of pain in his eyes from what she had instinctually done to him, and tears started to form in her eyes. She never wanted to hurt him, and now his face and neck were bleeding and bruised.
She grabbed onto him and started to cry. Despite the pain he tried to remain calm, for her sake. Denny gently pet the Mew’s dirtied fur as she cried in his arms, and while the other trainer and her Charmander moaned from the pain. All the while ignoring the fact that his Pokédex was flashing a message to him about winning the battle.
* * *
“So you’re actually from Pallet?” the girl asked as she leaned against a tree.
“Yup,” Denny replied as he cleaned Niji’s fur after the fight with the Charmander.
The girl, Rose Simpson, was a new trainer, just like Denny, and had gotten her license and first Pokémon from Professor Oak along with everyone else. She had taken the exam on the actual exam date, and then went back home to wait for the results. When she got them, she had come down with her parents to get her first Pokémon, driving all the way from Celadon. Her parents dropped her off in Pewter as opposed to starting from Pallet, as a lot of trainers sometimes did, going south to train in the Viridian Forest for her first few days of Pokémon training. She had already caught two Pokémon with the help of her Charmander.
As Denny started to finish up cleaning Niji’s fur, Loki walked up and started talking with the Mew. Charmanders were even tempered and really easy to raise for new trainers, and this one was trying to get to know Niji a bit better. He talked and made hand gestures towards the Mew, which didn’t know how to respond to the advances. Niji curled herself in around herself a bit more in Denny’s arms.
“Oh come now,” Denny said, petting Niji behind the ear. “The battle’s over. They aren’t going to attack us anymore. We can be friends.” I’m actually relived that Niji won a match. Now we have a little bit of money to spend on supplies whenever we get out of here, he thought to himself.
Loki started talking to Niji, encouraging the Mew to play around since their trainers weren’t fighting. Warily, Niji floated out of Denny’s arms and around Loki, the Charmander being friendly towards his new friend and tough opponent. Watching Niji fly and talk with the Charmander, Denny stood up and brushed the dirt and grass off his pants.
“So how long have you been in the forest?” he asked.
Rose pushed herself away from the tree she was leaning on. “A few days now. I figured Viridian Forest would be perfect for training before going against Brock.”
“Brock?” Denny said, slightly confused. “Who’s that? Some local trainer?”
“Local trainer?” Rose replied, slightly dumbfounded. “Brock’s the Pewter Gym Leader! You have to defeat him to receive the Boulder Badge. Then you need to get 7 more from the 8 Gyms around Kanto. It’s the only way to advance in the League!” Her outburst made Denny shrink back and gulp down the lump in his throat.
“Only way to advance..?”
“Yup yup!” she added. “There are several ranks in the League. In order to advance you need to catch, battle Pokémon, and collect Gym Badges. At the larger cities in Kanto you can find the Gyms. Once a trainer reaches the Earth Rank, they can compete in the Indigo League Championships.” Something clicked in her mind. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know that,” Rose said, leaning in closer and staring Denny in the eyes questioningly.
“Um… No.”
“You mean you didn’t take the exam to become a trainer?” she asked, perplexed. Most of the people she knew wanted to be trainers in order to battle others and gain a good ranking in the League.
Denny shook his head. “I took the exam to take care of Niji,” he admitted. “Plus it gave me a good reason to get out of Pallet and see the rest of Kanto on my own.”
Both of them were quiet as the wind picked up.
“You really didn’t think it through, did you?” she said.
“No,” Denny admitted.
“Even so…,” Rose looked over at Loki and Niji, her Charmander had managed to become friends with Denny’s Pokémon, not that difficult for Loki, who had already made friends with her other two. She looked at Niji, the Mew’s soft fur, and big expressional eyes added to her adorableness.
“Niji’s so cuuuuuuuuuuuuute!” she screeched and dashing right up to Niji, taking the Mew by surprise. Niji, scared, flew off around Rose and behind Denny, using him as a shield.
“Awe,” Rose commented. “She’s shy…”
Niji poked her head out from behind Denny’s shoulder, took a look at Rose, and then ducked back behind her trainer.
Denny smiled. “Yeah she is,” he turned behind him to hold his Mew. “You’re not the first one to claim that Niji’s cute and then try and take her because of that. So she’s a little shy around people who act like it.”
Rose’s smile disappeared from her face. She had been a bit over-anxious to hug and hold the Pokémon, and hadn’t considered that she would have frightened it. Walking slowly towards Denny and Niji, she kept her voice low and calm.
“I’m sorry Niji,” she said. “I don’t want to take you away from Denny, but you were just so cute that I just want to hold you and play with you.” She leaned in closer, getting in eye level with the Mew. “So may I please hold you?”
Niji was afraid. She looked at Denny, who held her gently. He just smiled, giving her his okay. Then the Mew looked at Rose, subconsciously scanning the female’s surface thoughts. She was being sincere, and wanted to hold Niji, but the Mew was still warry.
“Go on Niji, it’ll be okay,” he urged.
Slowly, the Mew floated out of Denny’s arms and into arms reach of Rose. Niji hovered there as well as she could.
“Can I?” Rose asked, making sure the Pokémon would let her.
Wary, slightly afraid of anyone besides Denny holding her, Niji nodded her head.
“Cuuuuuuuuuuuuute!” Rose squeeled again as she held Niji against her cheek. “You’re so soft and small, I wish I could have you around all the time to pet and play with!” Rose was spinning around with Niji in her arms, her mind on Cloud 9. Loki let out a chant of joy of his own at his trainer’s own happiness, the tail on his flame flickering.
“Hey Rose,”
The trainer stopped spinning around with Niji in her hands, the Mew’s eyes were spinning and the Pokémon was feeling really dizzy. “What?”
“You said you’ve been here for the last few days,” he grabbed his backpack and hefted it over his shoulders. “Any idea which way is out?”
She held Niji in one arm and pointed in some direction. “I came in from Pewter City, that way. About a day or two and you can be out of here if you go that way.”
“Cool, come on Niji,” Denny replied. The Mew flew out of Rose’s arms, wobbly and a bit dizzy from Rose twirling around with her. She fell on top of Denny’s head, her head still spinning. “We’ll see you around Rose,” and he started to walk in the direction that Rose had pointed.
“Wait!” Rose grabbed her stuff as well. “I’ll come with you.”
“Huh?!” Denny and Niji both looked at her, confused.
“I’m just about done here,” she looked at Loki who’s body turned into a bright red before the energy deformed and shrank. Condensing, the raw energy formed into a small sphere before the light faded, revealing a Pokéball resting on the ground. After forming into the Pokéball, it bounced, Rose gracefully grabbed the ball and placed it on her belt. “So I’ll go with you to Pewter.”
“Heh,” he replied. “Fair enough.”
“Besides, that means I can hold Niji more!” Rose enthusiastically added. Denny and Niji face faulted on the ground.
* * *
The next two days went by relatively fast. Viridian Forest was notorious for being a massive maze where trainers would get lost easily if they didn’t bring a compass, and didn’t stay for more than a few hours. Between Falco and Rose’s Pidgey, Zephyr, flying ahead and keeping the two on track, the two trainers managed to make their way out of the forest and soon saw Pewter City built upon a rock outcrop about 500 feet above the river valley below.
Pewter City was so named for the grey igneous rock that surrounded the town. Much was made from the rock, sculptures, memorials, even homes were carved from the resilient rock. Much of the valley that held Pewter was volcanic in origin. After several major volcanic eruptions, the massive collapse of a volcano caldera created part of the valley below. A river channel started cutting through the collapsed caldera and added to the formations below Pewter.
With the majority of the city perched upon the edge of a cliff, constant work and analysis of the rock was underway. Should the entire cliff-face fall, then over 60% of the city could be damaged in the land-slide. Cooperation between geologists, physicist, Pokémon, and the city ensured that Pewter would be undamaged. Trees and foliage obscured much of the city from the view of the two trainers, however once they neared the granite carved and molded buildings, they knew they were within the city proper.
The group wandered around, watching as Mankies swung from tree to tree on the edge of the city. Denny managed to use Falco to catch one of them, wasting two Pokéballs in the process. Of course Falco was temperamental, and that didn’t help much with the capture process.
Denny and Rose stopped at the Pokémon Center before continuing to the Gym. Rose wanted to battle Brock for his badge, and Denny and Niji were just following along as observers. Finding the Gym wasn’t difficult, there were signs along the sidewalks that pointed to where the Gym was.
The size of the Gym, made Denny surprised that he didn’t notice it earlier. A massive domed building was standing, separated from the trees that dotted Pewter. It was so huge that it dwarfed the near-by buildings. The Gym at its highest point was probably about four or five stories tall. In front of the dome was a square addition that had the words: Pewter City Gym, in large black, white, and grey lettering. Probably carved from the surrounding granite and gneiss.
Rose and Denny walked in, she checked in with the receptionist at the front desk and then made sure she had the time set for her match ready. It was still early in the season, and whether Rose was actually ready for the fight or not was still unknown. He himself had not done much, if any, training with his Pokémon. Niji was afraid of fighting, Falco just had a bad attitude, and his newest addition to his team didn’t even have a name yet.
“Thank you for registering,” the receptionist said. “We will contact the leader, and he will meet you in the battle arena at the end of the hallway.”
Maybe if Niji saw someone else battle, she wouldn’t so be afraid of it, he thought to himself as he and Rose walked down the corridor to the opening of the main arena.
If Denny was curious about the size of the building on the outside, the answer was what was the dome hid. The battle arena was massive and took up the entire dome interior. Massive rocks and boulders littered the arena. There weren’t even any seats or any indication of places for spectators to sit. A circular set of lights shone down upon the arena, giving the boulders jagged shadows across their surfaces. In the center of the arena, from what could be seen, was a Pokéball design etched into the ground.
Denny let out a low whistle. “This place is huge.”
“Huge, and rocky,” Rose stated. “I’m not sure what type of Pokémon Brock uses.”
“What do you mean?”
“Each Gym Leader specializes in a Type of Pokémon. As part of the League a trainer has to be able to defeat the Gym Leaders. However it’s difficult since the Gym Leader’s types aren’t advertised that much. The information even from veteran trainers is kept secret from any new ones just in case they just use an advantage only from Type alone…” Rose would have continued but was cut off by a deep voice from the other side of the arena.
“Your Rank in the League is also about your skill against the unknown strengths of your opponents. A trainer isn’t given a warning about what Pokémon their opponent is going to use.” Denny, Niji, and Rose looked across the arena to the person standing on a rock several yards away. The man had a square jaw, wild spiky hair, and closed eyes resembling a kitsune. A camouflage tank-top showed off the muscle of his arms and chest, while large pants with three pockets along each outer side of the legs.
“I am Brock,” he said. “The Pewter City Gym Leader.” Brock looked at both trainers standing there. “Um… which one of you is my opponent?”
“I am,” Rose stepped forward. “Rose Simpson.”
“Very well. Select your Pokémon, and we shall get this match underway!”
“Um… Excuse me.” Denny interrupted raising his hand. Brock looked at him, or at least turned his head in Denny’s direction. “There anywhere I can sit while you two go at it?”
“Just grab a seat on any rock,” Brock replied with a smile, pointing over at a set of clumped boulders. “You should be safe over there.”
Should be safe? Denny thought. What kind of a fight is a Gym Challenge anyway?
With Denny and Niji sitting on top of a collection of three similarly sized boulders, he was surprised that he had a good view of the arena. The lights illuminated everything fairly well. There was enough light, that Denny decided to pull out his sketchbook, packed away in his pack. Niji sat carefully in Denny’s lap until he pulled out the book, then she floated up onto his left shoulder as he prepared to draw. Drawing on a whim wasn’t unusual, as the urge to draw had been clawing at him since Viridian Forest and the fight between Niji and Loki. There just hadn’t been time, or a place for it.
As Rose and Brock got ready to square off, Denny had started sketching.
“This is a regulation Match. You can use as many Pokémon as you like in this fight, I will use only two. The point is my defeat through your effort, you’ll win this Gym’s Badge if successful.” Brock held up a small object in his fingers, the Badge itself. “Understood?”
Rose nodded, as she reached for a Pokéball, her Pokédex in the other hand. “I got it. Zephyr!” She threw the sphere with a slight curve, sending it towards a boulder. Exploding into a blast of light and energy, it started to condense in mid air, showing a figure that was stabilizing itself with a flapping motion. The Pokémon that formed was a light tan in color, with a streak of black around the eyes, and a cream colored underbelly with a two mark right between the breast. The Pidgey formed and flew into the air, skimming the boulders.
“The first challenge of this season,” Brock admitted before flinging his own Pokéball into the air. Waiting until it was closer to the ground before dematerializing, the energy crackled and condensed into a spherical form sporting two appendages. As the light faded, the Pokémon resembled a head with a pair of arms jutting out by the edges of the mouth. It had large eyes and a wide mouth, and made completely out of rock. The mark of three was visible on top of the Pokémon’s head. “Geodude, start it off! Tackle!”
The rock Pokémon floated low along the ground, grabbing onto rocks for boosts to its speed, its speed increasing and throwing himself at the Pidgey. Geodudes could float at certain levels. The mineral content of their bodies is mostly magnetite, and using the earths own magnetic field, can alter their composition to repel or attract the earth around them. This advantage reduced the friction beneath them for attacks that required movement and motion.
“Zephyr, Sand Attack!”
Geodude was gaining ground, and gaining it fast. Flapping his wings, Zephyr kicked up a layer of dust and sand that was knocked off of the boulders and rocks covering the battle arena. The kicked up and blasted into Geodude’s face, blasting and eroding part of the rocky Pokémon’s body. With his vision decreased, the Geodude missed his target, flying past and hovering along the ground until he was able to stop.
“Now, Quick Attack!”
In a blur of speed and feathers, Zephyr sped in towards Geodude.
“Defense Curl!”
Wrapping his arms around himself, Geodude turned himself into a sphere of rock and stone. A light sheen reflected from the Pokémon seconds before the Pidgey slammed into him. Hovering above the ground, the attack sent Geodude flying backwards, banking and ricocheting off of several boulders, leaving basketball sized indentions where he connected. Zephyr was slightly injured from hitting the mini-boulder Pokémon, but his attack did little to nothing against the Geodude.
“Use Rock Throw!”
Un-curling from his “travel-sized” defensive position, the Geodude used his arms to grab onto one of the boulders he was going to go past. Swinging around, the Pokémon used his momentum to re-orient himself to face Zephyr, separate the boulder from the floor, and then toss it straight at the bird Pokémon.
“No way!” Rose exclaimed as she saw the boulder break up as it came flying towards her and Zephyr. “Get out of there with Agility!” Her orders came as she herself was running to get out of the way of the attack.
With a similar burst of speed, the Pidgey started dodging the broken up rocks that came flying off from the hurled boulder. He couldn’t avoid all of the damage as he was pelted with debris and rocks hit home on his body. Bird physiology is interesting. Their skeletal structure is pneumatic, giving their bones additional strength compared to mammals of the same size. Bird Pokémon have similar physiology to normal birds, and Zephyr’s stronger bone structure actually helped him to avoid receiving any broken bones from the geologic barrage.
The main boulder crashed down and broke apart around where Rose had been standing. Now she was moving around, trying to keep an eye on Zephyr. Brock was doing something similar, however he was running around the arena, jumping from boulder to boulder, keeping the higher ground for his vantage, while Rose had the ground view.
“No wonder he said should be safe.” Denny muttered as he watched the dust cloud rise from the impact, and he could feel the shockwave under his rump.
“Take Down!”
Geodude started grabbing onto boulders and rocks, gaining more speed with the reduction of friction from his hovering. The rock Pokémon was heading straight in for a reckless attack, ignoring his own safety.
“Gust!”
Zephyr, despite the bruises from the Geodude’s previous attack, started flapping his wings rapidly, picking up dirt and rocks from the arena and sweeping them towards Geodude. The wind and abrasion didn’t stop the rock Pokémon as he became faster, and then launched himself at the Pidgey, hitting the bird Pokémon hard and sending him crashing down to the ground. Zephyr was bruised, injured, and tried to force itself up to stand on his feet. He wasn’t completely out of the fight, but how much more fight he had left in him was still in the air.
“Rock Slide!”
Geodude curled up once more, and started bouncing around the arena, sending large chunks of boulders into the air, each one arching towards the weakened Zephyr.
“Mirror Move!”
The Pidgey let out a series of chirps as a reflective surface seemed to materialize between him and the Geodude. Rocks started hitting the surface, and were rebound back at the Geodude, however the attack wasn’t able to repel all the rocks as Zephyr was pelted with a magnitude of rocks himself. Zephyr’s strength had been weakened with the fight, and the Mirror Move was a powerful ability that would send attacks back at the users, however because of the Pidgey’s weakened and young state, his own attack wasn’t as effective as it could have been. The Geodude, however, was completely covered in a mass of boulders larger than his own body, while Zephyr was only half buried. Zephyr stumbled around, trying to stay up, but couldn’t. He collapsed upon the rocky ground.
As his body fell, his form dissipated into red colored energy. The energy turned into the Pokéball and the ball bounced into the air, towards Rose. She caught the ball and skidded to a stop to consider her options.
That’s what happens when a bird goes up against rock. But at least I was able to get him down to one Pokémon left… She rolled the options over in her head. “I’ll go with, Loki!” and she threw a new Pokéball.
The light and energy formed into the energetic Charmander. The fire salamander narrowed his eyes and growled, ready for anything, his tail burning strongly.
“Okay, we’re ready Brock. Who’s next?!”
“Geodude, now!”
A bulge started to form just in front of the boulder pile, following the movement of something underground. The uplifted path curved towards Loki, as the Charmander and his trainer watched in surprise. Geodude burst forth from the dirt and gravel of the arena floor and slammed into Loki from below the Charmander’s feet. Loki flipped in the air, bruised from the attack and dug his claws into the earth to stabilize his trajectory. His attempt left a yard long trench up to the base of a boulder behind him.
“Now, Submision!”
Geodude came flying towards Loki, using more of the rock formations as a means of increasing his own speed.
“Leer Loki!”
The Charmander narrowed his eyes and gave the Geodude a look that could freeze anyone in their tracks. Such a diversion wasn’t particularly useful, but it did distract the Geodude enough that Loki could get out of the way, by scrambling up the boulder behind him. The Geodude slammed into the boulder as Loki made his way to the top. Now standing on top of a boulder, the Charmander glared down at his opponent, who had broken a good chunk of the boulder with his face. Loki laughed, his tail burning fiercely, and the Geodude looked up at the reptile with an injured face and glared.
“Strength!”
Taking advantage of Loki’s current position, the Geodude grabbed onto the boulder that the Charmander was standing. With leverage and strength, the rock Pokémon heaved the boulder up and out of the arena floor, with the Charmander still on top, clinging for his little life.
“Ember!”
Unable to inhale and call the flame from within, Loki cracked his tail like a whip, sending bits of flame towards his opponent. Geodude felt little as the flames touched his body and scorched his skin. Rock was resistant to flame, and with that Geodude had the advantage against the Charmander.
“Now Seismic Toss!”
“Ember once more!”
Loki cracked his tail again, sending a rain of flaming embers down upon the Geodude, making contact with the rock Pokémon’s body. The flames hit Geodude’s head and lower arms, leaving burn marks where they made contact. Not dismayed by the fire, Geodude heaved the boulder and used his body as a leaver, throwing his strength in with his arms. Something was wrong. His body was hot from the two fire attacks, weakening his rocky arms, causing Geodude’s throw with the boulder to be off.
“Bide!”
The boulder shattered as it connected. Breaking apart into shards of what it was, the damage dealt was not as much had Geodude maintained complete control of the attack. Loki took the hit as the boulder connected with the ground, shattering. After the rocks loosened up, Loki was clinging to the side of another boulder, energy swirling around him. He glared at the Geodude, energy coursing through the Charmander’s small body and his tail burning like the sun. The energy from the attack was absorbed and condensed into the aura surrounding the fire lizard. Launching himself from the rock face, Loki used the energy to give him a high-powered attack at the expense of his own health.
“Defense Curl!”
Connecting with the curled Geodude, Loki sent a massive burst of energy through the defensive mechanism. The resulting recoil sent Geodude flying backwards, bursting through several boulders before coming to a stop, wedged inside of the last. Right by where Denny and Niji were sitting, causing the two to jump and avoid being hit. Loki breathed hard, his flame not burning as brightly as before, but still a roaring flame. The Geodude was stuck inside the boulder. A large amount of damage had been done due to the last-second timing of the attack, and the rock Pokémon couldn’t continue. His body broke down into energy and recalled into the Pokéball before rolling out of the middle of the boulder and then bounding into Brock’s hand.
“A fair technique,” he admitted as he grabbed his second Pokéball. “I never thought this early in the season we’d find some advanced strategies.”
“We’ve been working hard on our battle plan and quick reflexes before coming after you.” Rose replied. “I knew it wasn’t going to be a cake-walk.” Loki chimed in an agreement.
“Indeed,” Brock replied before throwing his next Pokéball. Seconds after being released, the ball exploded into light that seemed to fill the whole arena. The energy threatened to keep expanding until it started to condense into a solid form. Several spheres formed, lined up one after another. One, at the far end, had a strange structure that protruded from the upper edge. As the glow faded, it was shown that each sphere that had formed was a separate segment of the body, all solid rock. The Pokémon that appeared was a massive snake made of several boulders and the number one at the center of the head crest..
“Onix!” Brock shouted. “Double-Edge!”
A grey aura surrounded Onix, her body curling and charging more energy. She snapped forward, launching herself full speed at Loki, energy warped around its form.
“Watch it!”
Loki dove out of the way as Onix came rushing by, slamming full force into a set of boulders. The massive rocks shattered from the impact, sending pieces flying all across the arena. Loki was hit by the barrage of rocks and debris from the attack, and was lucky enough the energy didn’t completely vaporize him.
“Slash!”
“Screech!”
Loki rushed in, his small claws poised and ready to rake across the Onix’s boulder skin. The Onix, just a bit faster than the Charmander, curled her head back, and let out a nails-on-chalkboard pitched sound wave that stopped Loki in his tracks and blew him backwards from the force. Everyone’s ears were ringing, everyone’s except for Onix’s that is. The rock snake was immune to her own screech, commonly using it to disable her prey before attacking.
“Bind it now!”
Onix started to curl around Loki, who was holding his hands over his ears, still in pain from the other Pokémon’s attack. Encircling the Charmander, she constricted her boulder-like coils, encasing the fire Pokémon in hard-edged, crushing rock.
Rose was unable to hear herself, let alone expect Loki to hear her attacks. As her ears cleared, she could hear Loki shouting out in pain.
“Loki, Rage!”
The Charmander was in a world of pain right now. Pain that he was starting to turn into anger, and that anger gave him strength. With each constriction from Onix, Loki’s anger grew, and so did his strength. He thrashed around, biting at whatever his mouth could reach, kicked, and started to roar in frustration. Onix continued the hold, slowly clasping her coils tighter and tighter around the Charmander, sucking the life out of him.
Rose’s Pokédex was beeping at her, warning her of Loki’s low energy and health. She knew Loki could pull through the fight, however being able to do so may not have been the best of plans. Now she saw her first Pokémon, losing this fight at the risk of his own life. He was starting to be consumed by the Rage, and anything else but orders to attack could get ignored.
“Loki return!”
Loki’s body turned into energy and then condensed into the Pokéball before bouncing back towards Rose’s hand. The Onix uncoiled and slithered around the arena, blending in with the rocks scattered across it. Rose reached for her next Pokémon, her last effort against this Gym Leader and his rock Pokémon.
“I choose, Nymph!” and she threw the ball high into the air.
