Chapter Four

The small pond on route 102 was a serene place. The boughs of various conifer stretched out, casting dancing shadows on the sandy banks that met with the sapphire pool. Lotad floated peacefully across the surface, and the odd marill would emerge and sunbake in the warm, sunny patches.

Amidst the peace and serenity shouts of excitement were heard, startling a few of the pokémon –specifically the ones termed 'rare', who were known to be quite wary of humans, such as marill or surskit- back into the clear sparkling depths of the water.

"Come on Ziggy!" cried a young boy with grazed knees. "Headbutt that water rat!"

The brown, striped raccoon pokémon swiftly shuffled towards Murdoch, its head lowered and ready for impact. Instead of feeling the impact of a soft, slimy body, it collided with a thick trunk of a looming oak.

"Murdoch, Water Gun!" Alice shouted from the sidelines, watching as a strong stream of water gushed from her pokémon's mouth.

Within seconds, the shaggy fur of the dazed zigzagoon was sopping. Its eyes were drooping, and it looked as if on the brink of exhaustion. It was coughing wildly, trying to rid its lungs of the liquid that invaded it.

Biting his lip, the young opponent withdrew the pokémon, replacing it with a poochyena that barked and growled upon materialization. It immediately ran towards the panting mudkip, fangs bared. And its speed was incredible. To Alice's eyes, the dark pokémon was just a black blur, dashing this way and that, confusing the girl and her pokémon.

"Poochy, use bite now! Rip its throat out! Tear it to shreds! Annihilate it!" screamed the over-confident, and slightly sadistic boy. Alice didn't quite know how to react to that statement. All she knew was that she was thankful that once this battle was over, she wouldn't be seeing this terrifying and morbid kid. Who knew someone so innocent looking could be so scary?

The poochyena lunged at Murdoch, and pushed its jagged fangs into Murdoch's hide. The tiny mudkip yelped in pain, screeching loudly. A dark violet substance emerged from the wounds, dripping onto the grass.

Murdoch was still within the poochyenas deadly grip when he fainted. The dog finally released Murdoch, licking its bloody maw, drenched with violet blood.

Alice ran forward, picking up the wounded pokémon, cradling it in her arms, whispering soothing words into its ears.

"Well?" asked the boy, hands on hips, in an expectant tone.

"Well what?" Alice asked, looking up from her friend.

"Are you going to send out your next pokémon, or are you going to forfeit?"

Alice bit her lip. Poochyena were of the dark-type category. Ralts were of the psychic-type. And it was common knowledge that dark overruled psychic. Sending out Vanora, despite how strong she had gotten during the course of the day, would be reckless and foolish.

"I forfeit," Alice said numbly. It was ever so slightly humiliating to say that, but it was better than putting another one of her friends through such pain.

The boy cheered, picking up his vicious poochyena. "Tenth win in a row! We're gonna get that badge soon!"

Wow, his tenth win in a row, Alice thought to herself. And this is my first trainer battle and my first loss. Alice sighed. She rummaged through her bag, looking for a potion bottle to apply onto Murdochs' wounds.

Despite their loss, Alice believed that Murdoch gained a lot from their battle. His speed had improved greatly, from the zigzagoon foe that had the agility of a raichu.

Murdoch's eyes opened a fraction, and he mewed softly. He was prepared for another few hours of training.

It was already almost 4pm when Alice and her companions entered the Petalburg City Pokémon Centre. While her pokémon were resting up, Alice looked for guidance in the dusty old tomes that littered the shelves of the lobby. They all stated that this particular gym was home of normal-type pokémon. So, according to her pokémons' levels, Alice's opponents should fall within the range of skitty or zigzagoon.

At the thought of fighting against another zigzagoon, Alice's stomach lurched. Murdoch was her stronger pokémon, and he still struggled considerably, despite winning that round. Although since that battle, he had grown a bit stronger, Alice doubted that he could beat a gym leaders' zigzagoon, which would, undoubtedly, be much more stronger than a typical trainers'.

She kept reading until it was almost time for the gym battle, then collected her pokémon and headed out into the quaint, clean street, admiring the picturesque view around her. The houses were not unlike the ones in Oldale and Littleroot towns, but there was a sort of modernism attached to the architecture at the same time. Alice supposed that it was because Petalburg was not far from the city, Rustboro, and had thusly evolved to the modernism that attracted so many to the cities.

Alice entered the plain-looking building that was the gym. It stood out from all the other buildings because of its lack of architectural detail and colour. Just a plain white concrete building with a few windows and a large set of oak doors.

Inside, the same secretary that had served Alice earlier looked up as she walked in, and flashed her a brilliant, gleaming smile.

"Hello there. Your appointment will begin shortly. While you wait, take a seat, please."

For some time, Alice sat twiddling her thumbs, waiting impatiently. She noticed that one of the lights was flickering slightly, and wondered if the secretary noticed that. Alice figured that after spending so much time in the building, he was sure to have noticed it.

She was distracted from her train of thought by a voice call out her name. She looked up and saw the secretary gesturing towards an open door.

Anxiously, Alice walked through it and discovered herself to be in a room that was quite plain, and unadorned. The floor was painted with the typical white geometrical lines that were seen in championship matches. It was everything she expected to be in the gym that catered for normal types.

On either side of the arena was a podium, and on the far side, she saw the figure of a tall male standing atop his pedestal. Alice quickly deducted that this was Norman, and decided that he was every bit as normal as his gym.

As Alice approached the podium, her fingers lingering above her pokéballs, she felt a nervous pang strike through her. She knew that this was not the last time she'd feel this way on her journey.

"This is a battle to win the Balance Badge from the Petalburg Gym. Each trainer may use up to two pokémon," called out the referee from the side of the bare field.

Norman looked at Alice, his bleak brown eyes boring into her own, giving Alice more anxiety as each second passed.

"The battle will commence now!" exclaimed the referee. "Send out your first pokémon now."

Alice fingered one of the balls that hung on her belt, then enlarged it and threw it towards the field, at the same time that Norman's pokémon started materialising.

Vanora was Alice's first pokémon to battle. Alice has learnt from the books in the Pokémon Centre that gym leaders usually saved their strongest pokémon for last, so she was wisely going to save her strongest for last.

On the other side of the field, a tiny cat pokémon was stretching out, rubbing its paw against its face, and against the sparkling coin situated upon its forehead. It then started skipping across the field daintily, without a care in the world.

Vanora, on the other hand, was motionless, save for her tiny chest heaving from the anxiety that was thrust upon her. But her face never showed what she was feeling, and remained cold and stern.

"Vanora, use Confusion," Alice said, her voice crackling, whilst Norman shouted with such vigor and confidence, "Meowth, scratch!"

The feline pounced gracefully, and bounded on padded paws towards the anxious ralts. Just as the meowths' paw was outstretched, with talons spread out, a purple haze surrounded Vanora, the glided towards the cat, which was now hanging in midair, frozen in time, claws reaching vainly towards its opponent. With both pokémon enveloped in the purple aura, the haze shimmering with ripples that surged through it, the two pokémon seemed to have switched mentalities; panic was strewn across the meowth's face, and Vanora seemed to be brimming with confidence.

A moment later, the purple haze disappeared and the cat fell to the ground, too dazed to retract its claws, and thus falling on its paws, breaking them and allowing for the claws to gouge themselves into the cats belly. A howl of pain echoed throughout the building as the meowth rocked to its side, pulling its inch long nails from its flesh with much difficulty. Viscous liquid of a burgundy tint soaked into the creamy fur, matting it as it slowly began drying.

It took a few more seconds for the wounded pokémon to gather its thoughts and pull itself up on its paws, but with its clumsily broken paws, that was an almost impossible feat.

Vanora looked back to her trainer and saw the elevated mood and the wildly excited look in Alice's eyes. Her only sign of anxiety was her teeth biting lightly at her bottom lip. Despite this, Vanora felt even more confident and grinned at her trainer. She knew this was odd, her overwhelming confidence. The ralts had always been a timid pokémon, prone to anxiety and cowering away in the face of danger. She thought herself to be insignificant and worthless. Whilst all the other ralts in the colony evolved and left for adventures of their own, Vanora was forced to stay behind, her fear of life preventing her from being able to learn how to defend herself.

Once more, the ralts called upon a purple mist that enveloped both her and the pained meowth. The cat became absolutely motionless, and looked to be a disgusting statue depicting pain and gore.

When the purple aura passed, the meowths' vision distorted, with all shapes becoming increasingly blurred and fearsome, with logic fighting against the senses, trying to get the gist of what his tired eyes presented him. But still, it swayed on broken paws, keeping its clumsy stance, determined to win the battle to gain the affection of its trainer.

"Meowth, use bite," Norman said calmly. Alice noted that the overflowing confidence was now gone. This in turn gave her an increased confidence. What surprised her most was the extensive extraneous damage that Vanora's Confusion attack had caused. Despite the many pokémon that Vanora had battled today, only three managed to be afflicted with the confused status. But they were only seedot and lotad, and the most their confusion affected them was when they stumbled over their feet, lumbering into rocks or trees.

To be honest, this unwilling self-mutilation that the meowth was putting itself through was devastating –its yowls were had not stopped since its legs first snapped- and yet at the same time, Alice felt proud of Vanora's strength, regardless of the fact that the confused status was mostly a figment of luck, and had no connection to power.

The meowths' head bobbed slightly before falling down onto the ground, with a pained look painted across its rounded face.

"Norman's meowth has fainted; Alice's ralts is the winner," the referee called out, making Vanora's incredible victory official. "Norman, please send out your next pokémon."

The apprehensive pokémon could hardly believe the events that had just played before her. She knew how much this would mean to Alice, and she didn't need to look back at her master to feel the excitement radiating from her. Vanora couldn't feel much more happier than this. She had accomplished so much in the last few minutes, more than she had accomplished in the seven years prior to meeting Alice.

Norman grunted angrily, then withdrew the fainted meowth from the arena, replacing it with a pokémon that already began lazing about the moment it materialized from its pokéball. It refused to open its eyes as it stretched itself out into a comfortable position, filling Alice and her pokémon with confusion.

"You know what to do," Alice encouraged Vanora. The pokémon nodded, slightly worn out from the intense battle it had ended before.

The slakoth still hadn't moved, its eyes were still closed, and it barely seemed to be alive. Vanora summoned the familiar violet mist, her only offensive attack, and just like before, the vapour enveloping the lazy opponent. It didn't seem to notice the attack, and after the haze disappeared, it slowly started to make its way towards Vanora, large claws outstretched.

The attack caused substantial damage to the young psychic pokémon, much to both Alice's and Vanora's surprise. Deep gashes covered Vanora's right side, overflowing with an olive-tinted liquid.

Once again, Vanora conjured up the purple haze, and once again, the slakoth scratched Vanora, leaving behind nasty wounds on her pale grey skin. This process repeated once more before Vanora toppled over, her wounds leaking with her green blood.

"Alice's ralts is unable to battle, please send out your second pokémon," called out the referee.

Downhearted, Alice withdrew Vanora's crippled body, and replaced it with the energetic form of Murdoch, who skipped around.

Raising Vanora's ball to her lips, Alice whispered, "You did really well." And she meant it. She had never been prouder of the human-like pokémon; she was able to defeat a high levelled pokémon –a gym leader's, no less- all by herself. That was quite an achievement.

As Murdoch materialised, he mewed lightly, before springing forward, jumping about, preparing himself for the battle that lay ahead. To his surprise, his opponent just lay still, eyes closed, causing the cobalt pokémon to tense up, and raise its haunches.

"Murdoch, use Water Gun!" Alice exclaimed. Now that the battle had become a one-on-one, there was much tension. Though, Murdoch seemed oblivious to the atmospheric strain that swathed the simple arena; he was bouncing around excitedly, brimming with overconfidence. Alice hoped that that wouldn't be his weakness and thusly, her downfall in the battle.

Murdoch paused for a moment, only to bring up a jet of icy water that plummeted from his gaping mouth. The stream of water hit the target with such ferocity that the basking sloth pokémon managed to be flipped onto its back, and slide a few feet from its resting place. A groan of discomfort erupted from its furry mouth, and it slowly began crawling towards the energetic mudkip, which had resumed bouncing around.

"Slakoth, scratch!" Norman commanded, his clenched knuckles turning white. He was a gym leader, and though he had been defeated a few times, it was not something he particularly enjoyed; it was quite a stab at his pride.

The slow pokémon crawled, inch by inch, towards the bouncing mudkip, but was never quite able to reach it; Murdoch would simply skip over the lagging beast. The slakoth was showing signs of weakness.

"Slakoth, when it comes close, swipe at it!" Norman called out, wiping the sweat from his brow. It was infuriating how slow his pokémon was. It was an excellent pokémon, there was no doubt about it: its strength overwhelmed even the most powerful rookie trainers, but its speed –or lack of- meant for an easy defeat.

Murdoch continued skipping about, mocking its opponent. Every once in a while, it would expel a burst of water from its mouth, which would constantly hit the slakoth square on. But Murdoch's overconfidence got the better of it when he decided to jump merrily over the battered and sopping body of the slakoth. The mighty claws reached up just as Murdoch took his jump, and hooked themselves onto the crest upon his head, dragging him downwards, slamming him into the ground. With the slakoth's other clawed paw, it took a deadly swipe, cutting through the slick, thin membrane of Murdoch's outer layer of skin, and into his fleshy hide.

Murdoch was trapped between the outstretched talons of its opponent, with deep gashes overflowing with blood so violet it looked to be wine. It mewed in pain as it attempted to free itself from its prison, but the slakoth toyed with him, the way an ekans toys with a rattata before devouring it. A wide grin of satisfaction spread across the slakoths' russet face, and it swiped once more at the whimpering mudkip.

"Murdoch, get yourself out of there!" Alice almost screamed out; she was so on edge that she couldn't keep a straight composure, or keep her anxiety in check. She knew that something bad like this would happen, and it could cost her first badge.

"Slakoth, finish it off," Norman said calmly. He could see that he was now dominating the battle, and victory was inevitable. With his pokémons' great strength, he was sure to win after a few more attacks. As long as the mudkip stayed imprisoned behind the makeshift bars of the slakoths' claws.

But Murdoch's skin was slimy, constantly secreting a viscous goo. After flailing about for a while, he managed to get his crest unhooked from the keratin scimitars that held him in place. After that, all attempts of keeping Murdoch at bay were futile. The tiny mudkip jumped up onto the slakoth's head before pouncing as far as he could, narrowly avoiding a slash from those gleaming claws.

Alice expelled a breath of air that had caught in her throat. Murdoch had a chance now, but he was badly wounded, leaving a trail of blood that looked to be liquid amethysts, sparkling under the bright lights that hung high above.

"Murdoch, use Water Gun!" Alice called out, feeling slightly giddy. She began imagining how amazing and how awesome it would be to win her first badge on her first try. She imagined what her parents might say to the news: "Well done Alice! We knew that you'd be able to conquer your nerves and obtain your first badge. And look, it's only been two days. Oh, we're so proud of you. Hayley managed to get her first badge on her second day too."

Alice gritted her teeth at the string of negative thoughts that now started to plague her mind. She didn't want to hear from her parents about how much her older sister had achieved. She didn't want to lurk in the shadows of Hayley's fame and popularity. She wanted to be known as Alice, not Hayley's Sister. Which is why it would mean so much to her if she won this battle. After getting her first taste at losing earlier that day, Alice felt bitter, and hated that feeling.

She watched as Murdoch stayed far from his opponent, circling it and shooting jets of water at it. Angered, the slakoth tried clawing its way through the torrents of water sprayed at it, a feeble attempt at a shield, but failing, as the water battered it about. The jets wet coming from all angles, it seemed to the pokémon. Water was getting into its curved nose, and into its mouth, suffocating it. With its lungs slowly filling with water, the slakoth's movements became less profound, and it lumbered its way towards its mocking opponent.

The battle ended shortly after, when the slakoth could take no more of this torture. It collapsed, with water surrounding it, breathing laboriously. Closing its eyes, it signalled its defeat, which caused shivers of excitement streaking up Alice's spine.

She waited for those crucial words, the words that would make this real. "Norman's slakoth has fainted. Alice's mudkip is the victor. The battle goes to Alice of Oldale."

Norman stepped down from the podium and made his way to the other side, towards Alice.

"Congratulations," he said weakly, a strained smile on his face, taking her hand. "This is a big achievement for a rookie. I hope you have learnt much from this battle." He pressed something into her palm, something hard and cold. She dared not release her grip until he left, scared that her emotions might frighten him, and the referee.

"Murdoch?" Alice called out to her pokémon, who had resumed skipping around happily, ignoring his brutal injuries. He turned his head when he heard his master's call, rushing obediently to her side, jumping onto her leg. "You did it Murdoch," she said breathlessly. It was a surreal feeling, one she could not comprehend. All that she could think of was that she had won. She was only a few steps behind Hayley, and gaining on her fast.

She left the gigantic arena and entered the lobby, where the receptionist stood behind his counter, waiting with a smile.

"Well done," he commented. "I knew you could do it." Alice blushed, seeming unsure of that. "Here is your prize for defeating the gym leader." Alice saw a thick wad of cash in his hand, which he handed to her.

"Wow..." Alice whispered, bewildered. She knew there was a money prize, but not that much. There must have been about $200. Even when she left for her journey, she had only received $50 from her parents (and subsequently lost half of that when she lost the battle against that macabre child earlier that day).

"Oh, if you think this is a lot, you'll be surprised when you reach your last few badges. Depending on your pokémons levels, you can get upwards of $3000."

Alice was speechless, and continued to be speechless until she left the building and opened up her clenched fist, revealing the silver badge in the shape of two small circles, connected with a thin rod. It looked perfect to Alice.

"Well, Murdoch, I think we should get some rest. Tomorrow will be a long day," Alice said, walking towards the direction of the Pokémon Centre.