CHAPTER 4:ROCK WRECKER
There are many great things to wake up to in the morning: a cup of coffee waiting for you in the nightstand, Christmas presents at the feet of your bed, opening your eyes to your loved one smiling at you, and so on and so forth. Waking up to Havoc screaming isn't one of them. Max, Dawn and Vern and their pokemon could vouch for that. They were camping in the Petalburg Woods. They were a day's walk away from Rustboro.
"Five more minutes.", Dawn mumbled, withdrawing further into her sleeping bag.
Vern jumped out of bed, brandishing the thermos he kept with him when he slept, as if about to fight any intruders in hand-to-thermos.
Max tried to jump out too but only managed to get himself entangled in the bag further; he tripped and fell over.
"What's going on?" , Vern cried.
Havoc stopped screaming, out of breath.
"This. Nutcase.", he wheezed, gesturing to Metang, who was floating over Havoc.
"He. Woke. Me up. I thought someone was talking to me. When I opened my eyes, I found myself looking into a pair of red eyes. His eyes. And like, nothing was wrong, he just said yo."
"He greeted you and you understood him?", a puzzled Vern asked.
"Metang. Met-ang.", Metang spoke.
"I'm not understanding anything."
"It's probably Metang's developing psychic abilities.", Max explained as he extracted himself from his sleeping bag. "As psychic types grow more powerful, they are able to establish a mental link with their trainers. Thus, they can mentally communicate. They can also act as a medium between the trainer and other pokemon. Metang's a part psychic type. It's to be expected."
"Oh."
Havoc picked himself up. He looked at his Metang, and concentrated.
Anyone home?, he ventured, projecting his mental dialogue outward from his mind.
So you finally calmed down, then. About time, a voice in his head replied.
Am I speaking to Metang right now?
No, this is Deoxys. I've got Jirachi on line two.
Hilarious.
Yes, this is Metang. Sorry about the way I woke you up. I felt like something had changed between us, you know? I could feel your thoughts shifting and churning as you dreamed. I tried to communicate with you, which caused you to wake up. You know the rest.
It's all right. It's more than all right. You can read minds now!, Havoc mentally exclaimed excitedly.
I know, right?, Metang replied, sharing his excitement.
Can you also relay thoughts and words to other pokemon from me?
We won't really know till we've tried, will we?
All right. Let's try to talk to Treecko!
Say something in your head, I'll relay it to Treecko.
'Treecko, wakey, wakey. Havoc's going to use Mudkip in a battle instead of you..'
Treecko jumped up so fast and so high he hit his head against a tree trunk. When he saw Havoc, laughing with Metang, he realized what had happened. He started shaking his fist and "treecko"-ing at him.
A voice in Havoc's head piped up, What the hell, Havoc? I was sleeping!
Metang must've relayed what Treecko was saying to him. This mind link deal was turning out to be a pretty sweet ability.
Sorry about that, Treecko. Metang here just gained the ability to mentally speak to me and let me understand other pokemon as well. We were giving it a try.
Treecko just shook his head and looked the other ay.
"How's it going with the psychic link?", Max asked.
"Pretty well. I just understood what Treecko said to me, thanks to Metang. Can I link with other people's minds through Metang?"
"I don't think so. It's better not to risk trying. You might just cause serious harm to someone's mind."
"Yeah, I guess. Still, woohoo! I can talk to pokemon!"
"Yeah, you're a real pokemon whisperer. It's not like other trainers with psychic types can't pull of the same thing. Now help me out here. Wake up the pokemon. Oh, and Dawn too. I think she slept off again. I'll make breakfast."
"All right."
Havoc went about waking up the others. He didn't use Metang's newfound power, as he didn't want to scare them or annoy them by prodding at their minds like he had done to Treecko. Finally, he went over to Dawn. Piplup was sleeping next to her, while the rest of her team were wide awake and mingling around with the others. He woke Piplup up first, and then turned to Dawn.
"Dawn, wake up."
"Mm. Five more minutes."
"You just had five!"
"Zzz.."
Piplup addressed him, and thanks to Metang, Havoc understood. Leave this to me.
"Okay.", he replied.
He fired a Hydro Pump at Dawn, and she woke up instantly.
"Piplup, why?"
Piplup just gestured to her bag, as if to tell her to get ready already. He walked off towards the other pokemon.
Dawn got out of bed and began to make her hair. The smell of sizzling sausages filled the air.
Dawn laid a blanket on the ground and set plates and cutlery. Havoc went around filling up each pokemon's bowl with the appropriate feed. Max fiddled with his PokeNav, checking on weather conditions and any important notices that might have been released regarding the path they were taking.
Over breakfast, our heroes discussed their next move.
"At our current pace, we'll reach Rustboro by nightfall.", announced Max.
"Great! I can't wait for my first gym battle!", Havoc exclaimed.
"After that, we'll head to Dewford by ferry, where a new contest hall's been built. Dawn and I can register ourselves over there, as well as try for our first ribbon. Havoc will take on Brawly for his second League badge.", said Vern.
"Will the two fo you have to compete for the same ribbon?", Max asked.
"Nope. Since I've earned five ribbons in Sinnoh, I'm now eligible to participate in Super Rank contests. Vern's just starting out as a coordinator, so he'll be taking part in Normal Rank contests."
"I see."
They finished their breakfast in silence. They packed up, returned their pokemon to their pokeballs and continued on to Rustboro. On the way, Vern came across a phantump as he refiled his thermos from a stream; after a short battle, Vern had caught the phantump, thus adding a grass and ghost type to his team. They stopped for Lunch a little after noon, and then pressed on. They reached the Rustboro South Entry Gate as the sun was setting.
The first thing they did when they got to town was check in at the Pokemon Centre. After dinner, Dawn took Vern to help him get the hang of how to make pokeblocks and pokepuffs, which helped improve a pokemon's various aspects in went to the room he was sharing with Havoc and Vern; he was tired from the week-long journey through the woodlands. Havoc went to the training courtyard to get some extra practice in before his battle with Leader Roxanne the next day. He'd scheduled the battle for nine the next morning. Havoc had been working the whole week on coming up with a technique for Metang to replace the bullet technique he had used when Metang had been a Beldum. He had almost perfected it. He'd picked out his team for the next day's battle as well.
As Vern and Dawn made their way back to the PC from the Pokeblock Palace(a chain of outlets that let trainers make pokeblocks and pokepuffs for their pokemon and experiment around with berries), they went through the yard to see if Havoc was done training. The yard was empty, no pokemon training was underway. However, in the corner, under a tree, dozing away was Havoc. He was surrounded by his sleeping partners. Metang was lying on Havoc's lap. Treecko napped, perched on Havoc's head. Mudkip had managed to find Havoc's pokedex and was sleeping on the ground next to Havoc, dex tucked between his arms; when he shifted in his sleep, his nose would press against the ID button and the dex would chirp, "This pokedex belongs to Havoc from Oldale Town."
Torchic rested on Havoc's right shoulder, slumped against Havoc's neck.
Vern was about to wake them up, when Dawn stopped him.
"Wait a sec. A moment like this deserves to be captured.", she said. Vern nodded and moved aside. She removed a camera from her bag and took a photo of the dozing pokemon and their trainer.
The two just looked on at the sight for a while longer. After a while, Vern woke Havoc up, and he returned his sleeping pokemon to their balls. He then proceeded to join his companions as they made their way to the rooms they had booked for the night.
"I'm here for my battle with Roxanne!", Havoc announced as he strode into the rock type gym the next morning, followed by his friends. The receptionist informed him that Roxanne was ready and waiting for him inside. She also directed Max, Dawn and Vern to the seating area for spectators.
As Havoc walked into the fighting area, he saw Roxanne at the other end of the hall, sitting at a desk, shuffling through papers.
"You'll have to fight your way to get to me!", she called.
"Fine by me.", Havoc replied.
Two trainers came forward.
"We'll be your opponents for today.", piped up your youngster.
"Before fighting the leader, you must face us to prove that you are worth her time.", added a hiker.
"Bring it!", Havoc commanded.
The youngster wasn't much of a challenge; Havoc's Treecko was able to defeat all three of his geodude. The hiker proved to be more difficult. Treecko had to use bullet seed several times to knock down the hiker's onix. Vern and Dawn cheered him on the entire time, while Max watched every move carefully, noting things of interest down in a pocket notebook he had bought along for the trip.
Finally, Havoc was done with the two trainers. Roxanne had been watching the battle, paperwork forgotten. She got up, and walked up to the opposite end of the battlefield.
"You've proven yourself. I accept your challenge!", Roxanne announced.
The referee started, "This is a three versus three single battle. Substitutions are allowed. The battle will end when one side has no more pokemon that can battle! Begin!"
Roxanne sent out her geodude.
Havoc sent out Treecko.
"Magnitude!", Roxanne ordered.
"Jump and propel yourself upwards using bullet seed!", Havoc commanded.
"What the heck is he doing?", a confused Max asked no one in particular.
"What make Havoc an exceptional battler is not how well he has trained his pokemon, but how well he puts them and their movesets to use.", Vern explained.
Dawn just watched on. These unorthodox tactics reminded of a certain trainer she had previously travelled with..
As Treecko launched into the air while Geodude used Magnitude, Havoc issued his second command: "Land on top of Geodude!"
Treecko made landfall on Geodude's head, the one place on the battlefield that wouldn't be hit with magnitude, and firmly gripped his opponent.
"Follow up with growl and bullet seed again."
"Shake him off with rollout!", Roxanne ordered. Geodude managed to shake Treecko off and used rollout. It made contact, but Treecko seemed unfazed. Growl had lowered Geodude's attacking ability; plus, Rollout, when first used, it is not very powerful; it is a move that gains power through successive use. Growl had lowered the damage of rollout, so Treecko wasn't hurt badly. Treecko used bullet seed. Bullet seed was a chain attack, so it wasn't hindered by Geodude's ability, Sturdy. Geodude's ground-rock typing meant it received four times the damage. Geodude wasn't able to take the barrage, and collapsed. Roxanne recalled and thanked her pokemon.
"Lileep, get in there!"
Havoc recalled Treecko. Lileep was a defensive pokemon, and he wanted to end the battle quickly before Roxanne could spring any kind of trap on him. He'd need to exploit type advantages. He knew exactly who he'd need for the job.
"Metang, let's do this!"
"Astonish!"
"Use Protect, Metang! Follow up with Twin Wrecker!"
"There's no move called Twin Wrecker!", Max exclaimed.
"It must be the replacement he came up with for Beldum's bullet technique, now that Metang has evolved.", Dawn guessed. Her guess was right.
Metang's socketed arms began to rotate in a circular motion; slowly at first, but then gaining velocity at an alarming rate, as Metang used Psychic to propel his arms even faster. Once his arms were rotating as fast as he could handle, Metang charged at Lileep at full speed.
"Use curse!", yelled Roxanne, in a bid to raise defense and attack.
Metang crashed into Lileep, arms pummelling Lileep furiously. His arms were glowing faintly.
"He's using metal claw!", Vern realized.
"And with his arms rotating at those speeds, Metang is hitting Lileep Arceus knows how many times! As if that's not enough, Metal Claw has a chance of raising attack with each hit. Each blow is more powerful than the one before! Holy crap!", finished a flabbergasted Max. He began to scribble furiously in his notebook.
Dawn watched, a grin beginning to form on her face. Oh, this guy was a carbon copy of him, all right, making the most of every move.
Lileep gave out a few moments later; her defence increase hadn't been enough to shield her from the onslaught, neither had she had a chance to launch a counter attack. Roxanne was shocked by the trainer standing before her. Just who and what exactly was she dealing with here? Lileep was her gamechanger, stopping challengers in their tracks with her Curse/Toxic/Leech Seed combo. This guy had put an end to Lileep before she could even get started with the carefully devised combo!
"Lileep is unable to battle! Metang wins!", announced the ref.
A moment later, Metang fell to the ground, winded from the new technique. He hadn't fainted, but he wasn't in fighting form either.
"Thanks a lot, Metang. You were fantastic out there. Take a break; you've more than earned it.", commended Havoc.
Anytime., Metang replied as he went back to his pokeball.
"Probopass, come on out!"
Roxanne had called out her final pokemon.
"Mudkip, I choose you!"
Out came Mudkip, ready to deal some damage.
"Ram him!", ordered Roxanne.
"Dodge it! Low Kick!"
Mudkip dodged the charging Probopass by a hair's breadth and retaliated with Low Kick, which struck the Compass Pokemon in the back.
"Mudkip can't learn Low Kick!", Max exclaimed.
"A tutor can teach it to Mudkip. Havoc must've gone to a tutor. Probopass must be hurting real bad right now. It takes quadruple damage from fighting type attacks. Plus, Low Kick inflicts damage depending on the weight of the opponent. More weight means more damage. Probopass is a heavy pokemon, so Low Kick would've hit even harder. Havoc had planned everything.", Vern mused.
"He's still standing.", Dawn muttered.
"It must be Sturdy!", deduced Max.
"Probopass, hit it with Magnet Bomb!", shrieked Roxanne. With a smile, she added, "Sorry, challenger, but this ends now. Magnet Bomb never misses."
"I beg to differ. Mudkip, send that bomb packing with Aqua Tail!", called Havoc.
Boy, was he glad he had run into that move tutor on his way to the yard for training! The tutor had recognized Havoc from the video of him defending Professor Birch, and had been more than happy to help a 'fine young man' like him with his pokemon's movesets.
Mudkip took aim, and hit the incoming Magnet Bomb with Aqua Tail. Magnet Bomb ricocheted off Aqua Tail and flew off into a wall, making a hole.
"Mud Slap!", Havoc shouted.
Without missing a beat, Mudkip used Mud Slap on his opponent.
The strain of being hit by two quadruple damage-dealing attacks was too much for Probopass. It collapsed.
It took a moment for the ref to catch up, as he was still gaping at the hole in the wall.
"Probopass has fainted. Mudkip wins!", announced the ref, who had finally regained his composure.
As Havoc was about to recall Mudkip, Mudkip suddenly began to glow white. There was a bright flash of light. When the light stopped, in Mudkip's place, stood a newly evolved Marshtomp.
"Nice! You decided to evolve, huh?", Havoc shouted joyfully, as he rushed to give Marshtomp a hug. Marshtomp returned the hug fiercely, untill Havoc was wheezing from lack of air. Marshtomp let Havoc go quickly, grinning sheepishly and rattling off an apology while his trainer took large gulps of air. As he saw Roxanne approaching him, he recalled Marshtomp, thanking him for his efforts.
"Well, you beat me.", began Roxanne. Max, Dawn and Vern broke into applause, happy for their friend's victory.
"I suppose I did.", replied Havoc. He was unable to contain himself any longer. He broke out in a small jig, shouting "Yowzah!" at the end. Once he was done, Roxanne continued with a small smile, "For successfully beating me in a pokemon battle, I bestow upon you the Stone Badge!"
Havoc accepted it, grinning madly the whole time. He took out the case Professor Birch had given him when he had left Littleroot, and extracted a badge case from the depths of Birch's case. Gingerly, he placed his newly earned badge inside the badge case, above a small label saying 'RUSTBORO:STONE BADGE'. After he had placed his case in his jacket's inner pocket, Roxanne continued, "Your next challenge awaits you in Dewford. You'll need to hail a ferry if you want ot get there. I'll speak to Mr. Briney, the captain of the Crasher Wake, to get you and your friends rooms aboard his ship. It'll be a few days' sailing before you get there."
"Thank you."
Roxanne held out her hand, "It's my pleasure."
"One more thing."
"Yes?"
"Um, about the wall-"
"It's fine. Don't worry about it."
"Okay.."
Havoc shook her hand, and bade her, the ref and the trainers he had battled earlier goodbye. As he left to meet his friends, who were waiting for him outside outside, the ref spoke up.
"That kid's going places.", he observed.
"He sure is.", agreed Roxanne.
As Havoc made his way outside, he saw that a small crowd had gathered around the hole in the wall that had been made during his battle with Roxanne. He could see Gabby reporting outside, no doubt talking about the hole and exactly what could have caused it. He hid his face(he didn't really feel like dealing with Gabby or explaining himself right then) and walked in the other direction, where his friends were waiting.
"That was freaking amazing!", Max squealed as he tackled Havoc with a hug.
"You were superb!", praised Vern, giving him a slap on the back that made him wince.
"You fought really well, Havoc!", added Dawn, who gave him a high five.
"Thanks a lot, guys!"
As they began to walk away, making plans about what to do next in Rustboro, the damaged wall collapsed completely, along with a portion of the roof. The gym looked more like an auditorium now.
Roxanne could be heard shouting, "Arceus damn it, Havoc!".
"Oops.", muttered Havoc. The four friends exchanged looks, debating silently what to do. After some deliberation, they made a decision.
The foursome ran off, laughing.