Episode 4: A battle within, and a battle without
"Look there it is." Laura stood on the railing and pointed towards the island. It was close enough to make out the buildings that made up the resort. "We're here, Dewford town."
I folded my fingers over my eyes to reduce the glare and took a closer look.
"Oh, that's not Dewford town," I commented.
"What do you mean? That's Dewford island right?"
"Yep."
"And Dewford town is the only town on Dewford island right?"
"Right again."
"So that town on Dewford Island is Dewford town?"
"Nope."
She got off the railing, leaned towards me and put her hands on her hips. "Explain."
"Okay, so this is going to be a little complicated so get ready." I took a moment to organize my thoughts. "So this is how it works. Dewford Island works like this. What you see over there isn't Dewford town. That's Dewford resort. Legally, it's not actually part of Dewford Town. In fact, it's not a town at all. In spite of it having a pokécenter, a permanent population, and other things that towns usually have, it's technically privately owned land."
"Who owns it?"
"The people who own the resorts. It's the same set up as when people own those huge mansions in the middle of nowhere. Part of no town or city and answering only to the region itself."
"Except instead of a mansion they built a ton stuff that looks like a town but isn't a town?"
"That's right. Dewford resort takes up the entire north-east part of the island. The southern part of it blends into Dewford Town proper which takes up the South-east part of the island. On the North-west part of the island is Dewford Port, which is under the control of Dewford town in spite of not being adjacent to it."
"So how do you get there?"
"Cars have to take a road that rounds around the south part of the island. You can also walk over granite path to get from the resort to the port. That's the one trainer's do."
Laura gave me a raised eyebrow.
"How do you know all this again?"
"My family vacationed in Dewford Resort for the first time at that age where kids ask a million questions. We ended up getting a weirdly knowledgeable tour guide."
"So when I say that I have something to deliver in Dewford Town…"
"You want the real town on the South-east part of the island. Which is also where the Gym is so that's convenient."
We went back to our room and packed our things and got ready to wait for the boat to dock. As I did, I couldn't help but worry about Brook.
Raltses were known for one thing, their empathy sense. Their ability to sense other people and pokémon by their emotions. I glanced down at the pokéball on the desk next to me.
A Ralts never loses their trainer. It only took a few days for a Ralts to memorize a person's unique emotions. After being together for almost two weeks now, Brook should have been able to track me no problem.
Brook and I got separated last night, and I had to be the one find her.
We had spent most of the trip working on some 'special training' for Brawly. The ship had a small arena on the deck and both Brook and Shroomish had gotten some good training in. After we finished, we had gone out to enjoy the ships complementary dinner. Brook had gotten distracted by the ocean and I lost track of her.
I had spent a terrifying twenty minutes rushing around the ship, asking anyone if they had seen a lone Ralts.
Getting Brook that green bandana had come in handy. Her wearing it was what led me to her. She had been apparently been searching the ship for me as well. Mostly by just wandering around and hoping to get lucky.
It left the question, why hadn't Brook used her empathy sense to find me.
I held in a sigh. She had either chosen not to use it, was unwillingly to use it, or didn't know how to. Each one of those had some implications that I didn't want to think about too much.
I resolved to ask Brook about it directly once I had a chance. I just hoped that whatever the issue was, it wasn't too serious.
It took another hour or so for us to get off the boat. We landed on one of the smaller docks and we soon found ourselves on Dewford resorts brand new and increasingly famous Stone Walk.
The Stone Walk was a long road that went down the length of the beach. Meant for foot and bike traffic, it was paved in smooth, polished stone. On one side of the walk was a small waist-high wall meant to keep too much of the sand off the stone with the occasional opening that led directly to the beach. On the other side were the resorts themselves. While the majority of the resorts were made up of hotel rooms, the parts that connected directly to the beach were different. From where I stood I could see restaurants, spas, swimsuit shops, ice cream stores, souvenir shops and a few other kinds of stores.
However, it was all connected by one fact that neither of us could ignore.
"Dewford Resort," Laura commented.
"Truly the top vacation spot in all of Hoenn." I shot back.
"Beaches known the world over."
"A place to take in the sun and surf."
Laura and I glanced at each other.
"Let's get out of here." Laura declared.
"Agreed, we have nowhere near enough money to enjoy a place like this."
And like that, we started walking south down the Stone Walk. The Walk went down all the way to Dewford Town proper which was where both of us had to go anyway. It also helped that the Pokécenter in Dewford Town was right on the Stone Walk.
As such, we figured that taking the Stone Walk would be the best way to go. There was just one problem with our plan.
"Why is it so hot?"
"Whose idea was it to make a Stone Road with nothing to provide shade?"
"It's like six in the afternoon, the sun's behind the buildings. How is it still this hot?"
We were both drenched in sweat and dying from the heat. The worst part was that every few minutes we would pass an ice cream store that would tempt us in. But we couldn't, not in Dewford Resort. Not in a place where our wallets could be so easily emptied.
Laura grabbed my shoulder and we both came to a stop. "Nikki, if I die here," she said slowly. "Take Doduo and Oddish and bring them back to my mom. She lives in a tiny house on the outskirts of Fallarbor Town."
"We're not dying here."
She went down on one knee and punched the ground.
"You guys are idiots."
We both looked over to a kid our age sitting on the wall with an ice pop in his hand. He was dressed in a breezy white short with a blue strip and short jeans.
"The reason you two are baking is cause you're both wearing heavy backpacks." The kid told us.
"How far are we from Dewford Town proper?" I asked, hoping for a good answer.
The kid looked at our feet and then the buildings. He rubbed his chin for a moment and hummed.
"Take a step forward."
I shrugged my shoulders and Laura and I took a single step forward.
"Congratulation, welcome to the real Dewford Town. The part that isn't owned by rich people."
"Wait this is the boundary?" I yelled.
"Yeah," He pointed to the buildings. "That red hotel is the last one before the resort ends."
"So how far are we from the pokécenter?"
The kid smiled and got off the wall.
"Tell you what, I'll take you two there myself Name's Bruce."
"Sure thing Bruce. I'm Nikki and this is Laura." I froze for a second as I realized what I had just done again. I opened my mouth to correct myself when I was cut off by Laura.
"Mind if we buy some ice cream on the way?" Laura asked looking more like a five-year-old instead of almost-teenage she was.
"Sure thing, in fact, I know an amazing ice cream place on the way to the pokécenter."
"Sure lead the…" I was interrupted by a flash of white light.
Now I wasn't exactly sure what this eye-scream was. But with how they were talking about it, I knew I wanted to try it.
"Hey Brook." Nikki rubbed the top of my head with his finger, making me purr. "Heard us talking about ice cream and wanted some?" I gave him a chirp and smiled.
"Can Brook even eat ice cream?" Laura said, earning her a glare from me.
"It's fine," The new human said. "This place also sells stuff that's safe for pokémon."
"Well, that's good. The last thing I need is Brook getting sick right before my first gym battle."
The thought of having to sit out a battle due to illness sent a shiver down my spine. I would never let myself live it down.
We began walking down the weird stone road that I'd watched Nikki and Laura walk for the last hour or so. Of course, unlike my sun drowned trainer and his friend, I had done so from the cool comfort of my climate controlled pokéball.
I looked over to the sea. Just a few days ago it was a far off impossible location that only existed in my dreams. I'd seen it for the first time just yesterday but I found myself still being fascinated with it. And of course, sailing it had been something beyond even my dreams. And of course, we would need to board a boat to leave the island as well.
I couldn't wait to set sail again.
"We're here." The boy declaring loudly snapped me out of my thoughts. In front of us was a soft blue two-story building with a large sign above the door. It was some sort of green circle inside some sort of brown cone.
Was this the fabled eye-scream that Laura wouldn't stop talking about?
"Yay, ice cream," Laura answered my question for me by walking up to the door and swinging it open.
"Hey, Uncle I got you some customers." The kid said as the three of us followed Laura in. The inside was a cold respite from the heat outside. A few tables clustered the left side of the room. On the opposite side was what looked like a table with a bunch of brightly colored stuff behind a window. Behind the table was another human, this one much older. He was dressed in a loose white shirt.
"Hey, Bruce, new friends?"
"Maybe, traveling trainers looking for the pokécenter. Wanted to stop for eye-scream on the way, so I brought them here."
"Let's see here, cone or cup, do I want any toping, maybe I could do a waffle cup and…" Laura mumbled to herself as she looked intently at the things behind the glass. She glanced up towards the board on the wall and just starred.
Nikki shook his head and I found myself agreeing.
"Bruce told me that you also sell stuff that's okay for pokémon to eat?"
"You got that right," The man nodded. "Most of my flavors are safe for most pokémon to eat. If you're getting something for your Ralts then you should be fine."
"Sounds good," Nikki looked over at me. "What do you think Brook, how about Combee honey flavor?"
"Really?" I chirped at him with a glare.
"Okay then, how about plain vanilla. It shouldn't be too sweet." I nodded as to agree. "Well, you heard her, one medium-sized plain vanilla cup for both of us."
"One plain vanilla, got it. What about you girlie, what will you be having."
"I'm going to die." She mumbled as she kept looking at the board.
"Excuse me." The older man sounded concerned.
Laura took in a breath.
"I'll have full sized double quadruple chocolate executioner with the works and extra nuts."
The store fell silent.
"What?" Both Nikki and the smaller human asked. I would have done it too but I couldn't speak human.
"You're right kid, you are going to die. One full sized cup with eight scopes of chocolate, two scopes of each kind, all our chocolate toppings and extra nuts.
A few minutes later Nikki and I could barely touch our food as we watched Laura tear into her gigantic cup.
Both of the other humans looked from off to the side. The smaller one looked scared while the larger one just looked impressed.
"It's the size of your head, how are you still eating?" Nikki asked as he pocked at our food, which I had to admit, was pretty good. It wasn't as good as those pancakes that Nikki's mother had made the day we had left, but it was pretty good.
"Knowing that," She said in-between bites. "It's free if… I finish it… helps."
Nikki and I finished our food and excused ourselves and left Laura to finish her… quest.
We walked over to the wall next to the Stone Walk. He laid me down on the wall as he sat next to me. The stone felt really nice underneath my feet. I laid down and felt the comfy heat almost lull me to sleep.
"You're going to get sunburned if you do that." He told me as he angled himself so that he was blocking a bit of the sun for me. "Hey Brook there's something I wanted to ask you about."
He took out that machine that I had seen him pull up from time to time. He pressed a button on it and it flashed to life. He fiddled with it a little before finding whatever it is that he was looking for.
"It says here," He pointed at something on the screen, "That Raltses are able to sense the emotion of the people and pokémon around them. Have, have you ever been able to do that?"
Sensing emotions?
I put my hand on my chin and thought. There was a strange feeling I got whenever I opened myself to use my powers, but I don't think that was what he was talking about. The only other thing I could think off was a faint memory from when I was just born. I remembered opening myself up but in a different way. Nothing happened and I never really tried doing again.
I shook my head.
"Can you do it, like, at all?"
I shrugged. Just because trying it so long ago hadn't worked didn't mean that it wouldn't work now.
"Want to try it?"
I figured that there was no harm in trying. Being able to sense things just by their emotions sounded pretty useful for battle anyway.
I nodded and closed my eyes. Once again I opened myself up to the sea of power around me. I felt the power pool into me like usual but instead focused on the power in the area around me.
Just like the Petalburg, Dewford was a collection of orderly boxes filled with chaos. The sea, on the other hand, was still strange to me. The power there was split in two. The area above was calm and empty, the power there flowed openly like a gentle sea breeze. Fitting all thing considered. But the other half, the underneath part.
It was chaos incarnate. Power swirled and flowed everywhere with no rhyme or reason. It was a little like the chaos of the forest but worse. In the forest, I could latch onto and keep myself steady by finding the underlying order of nature. The order within chaos that was wholly absent there.
When I had first seen it back on the boat, I had tried to get a closer look. When I did so, I felt myself get sucked in by the arbitrary ebbs and flows of the powers. I reached out to take hold of some of the power, thinking that doing so would help me handle this.
Instead, I felt the power latch around me and pull. I was dragged into the underneath, power torrenting all around me. It buffeted me, the power hitting in random strikes that overwhelmed me.
I had no choice, I cut myself off and snapped out of my trance. I almost collapsed but Nikki had been next to me at the time. He had caught me in time and I hadn't hit the floor.
He had made sure I was alright and after a bit of charades I had managed to explain to him what happened. For the rest of the voyage, I had been careful to not stray too deeply into the underneath.
But I had learned my lesson and I hadn't fallen in since.
I looked away from the sea and focused on my immediate surroundings. I then reduced it even further, so that it was just the people around us. I reduced it again so that it was just Nikki, Laura, and the two other humans. One finale reduction and it was just Nikki in my range.
It was hard, but I could see him. He was a formless mass, and the only reason I could tell it was him was because I knew ahead of time that he was there. He was a multi-colored weird blob-like thing that only suggested a human form. I looked deeper into him, trying to feel him. As I did so, I realized something strange about him.
Instead of a blob with no real texture, Nikki was made up of what looked like strings. Tiny streams of powers that crisscrossed and bound themselves together into a mass. And sticking out from where Nikki's heart would have been, was a single thread just floating in the void in front of me.
Somehow I knew that all I had to do was pull the string and Nikki's emotions would unravel and be able for me to read.
I reached out towards the lone string, when I hesitated. As my hand got closer, I started to feel a foreboding feeling that was somehow familiar to me. But I kept going. Even if it felt weird, it was still something that I wanted to do.
I touched the strand and the world went black.
I floated in the void. All of the power around me had faded away. I saw something in the distance, a memory of another time. Even in the darkness of the void, it still felt dark. It was expelling a purple haze, and it was getting closer.
It floated in front of me and the purple mist formed tentacles that wrapped around me. I struggled, but no matter what I did it was no use.
"Let me go!" I screamed into the void. Instead of following my commands, it instead formed one more tentacle that slowly approached my forehead.
It touched me, and I screamed.
Useless, worthless, the one who ruined everything. I hate you, hate you, hate you, I hate you with all I have!
"Stop, please!"
You disgust me, you are a useless child that should have never been born. I hate you, hate you, hate you, I hate you with all I have!
"Please let me go."
You cost the rest of us everything. We would have been fine if wasn't for you. I hate you, hate you, hate you, I hate you with all I have!
"But what did I do, why did you hate me?"
I spent every day and every night in fear of you, of fear of the monster I'd birthed. I hate you, hate you, hate you, I hate you with all I have!
"Mother what did I do?" I let out one finale scream into the void before I felt the last of my strength leave me. My limbs went slack, and I felt myself fade away.
"Brook!" I yelled out as I caught her as she collapsed. I froze as she started shrieking. I picked her up and she reacted by latching onto me.
"What's going on?" Laura and the others rushed over to me.
"I don't know, she tried out that empathy sense you told me about and then this happened."
"She needs a pokécenter." Bruce's uncle told us. "Bruce, take them there now!"
"Alright right this way." Bruce ran off with Laura and I chasing after him. Brook's shrieks of pain slowly got weaker and weaker, until they eventually stopped.
"We're here." I breathed out a thanks to Bruce as I rushed into the pokécenter.
"Hello, can you help my Ralts?" I asked her as I held Brook out.
"What happened?" The nurse asked with her eyes narrowed.
I explained everything about Brook's empathy sense as quickly as possible. As I did so, the nurse's eyes softened until they only held concern.
"I see. It doesn't sound like a physical issue. In fact, it looks like she already recovering." I looked down at Brook who had opened her eyes and was struggling to pull herself up.
"Brook are you okay?"
She put on a weak smirk and gave me the shakiest thumbs up yet.
"If she's feeling better, you might want to return her to her pokéball so we can do a full examination." I followed the Nurse's instruction and watched anxiously as Brook's pokéball went in alongside Shroomish's.
"Well," The nurse said as she read off the screen. "Looks like she's fine physically. Whatever the issue was, it was probably psychological in nature. I would recommend not using her empathy sense until you've had a chance to see someone about it. Another trainer with a member of the ralts line maybe."
She handed me back Brook and Shroomish. I thanked her for the help and clipped both of them back onto my breast pocket.
"So what did she say?" Laura and Bruce had been waiting for me near the entrance of the pokécenter. Brue took a step back to let Laura and I talk.
"She said that the problem was psychological." Laura's eyebrow rose.
"What do you mean?"
I explained how I had been worrying about Brook's empathy sense. Up to the disastrous attempt at using it that led to Brook screaming like that.
"So what did she recommend?"
"Don't have Brook use her empathy sense until she's had a chance to talk to someone about what's wrong. She specifically meant someone with a member of the ralts line on their team."
"You know anyone like that?"
"Kind of," I grimaced at the idea. "He's a friend of a family member and he has a Gallade." Part of me was reluctant to ask Brendan to contact Wally. The older boy had been a friend of a friend for years now. Trying to make it on my own and get out of my cousin shadow didn't exactly work out if I was asking him for help for every little thing.
But this was serious. I would have to be a terrible trainer if I let something as dumb as pride keep me from getting my first pokémon the help she needed.
I resolved to contact Brendan to pass a message to Wally later that day.
Of course, it was at that moment that I realized something that would probably be the cause of my death. I decided to forget about it for now.
We walked out of the center and went to the sea wall. I sat down and took out Brook's pokéball. I sent her out and immediately steadied her with my other arm.
"How are you feeling?"
Brook gave me a tired grin. She was covered in sweat and despite her grin, she looked exhausted.
"Hey we can talk about what happened later, do you want to just rest for now?"
Brook bit her lip and looked off to the side. After a second or two she let out a sigh and nodded.
"Just come out of your pokéball when you're ready," I recalled her and go up.
"Well, it looks like you two have it handled from here." Bruce rubbed the back of his head. He told us how to get to the gym from here and went back home.
"You going to go contact that friend of a family member?" Laura inquired as we watched Bruce head back up the Stone Walk.
"Kind of, I'm going to contact the family member to pass a message along."
"Come on then, the pokécenter has camera phones that we can use. Way better than a voice-only pokégear. Hey, what's wrong?"
"Well, you see," I said as the thing I forgot caught up to me. "I haven't really contacted my family since I left Petalburg."
"What why? I thought you were just calling them when I wasn't paying attention because you were one of those kids that gets super embarrassed when they tell their parents 'I love you' or something."
"What? No, I just kind of, sort, forgot my pokénav on my desk the morning I left on my journey."
There was a moment of silence.
"So is that like a pokégear or…?"
"Can a pokégear call people by wirelessly connecting to the phone network?"
"Yes?"
"Then yes, like a pokégear." I rubbed my face to try to soothe the headache that I knew was coming. "I can't believe that I left it on my bed. I double checked and triple checked to make sure that I wasn't forgetting anything and I still forgot something."
I let out a sigh as I dragged myself back into the pokécenter and into the now barely used phone room. It was a rectangular room with a large desk set by the wall that went down the length of the room. On the table were a row of phones separated by dividers to prevent eavesdropping.
I knew that people used phone rooms like this before things like pokégears and pokénavs became popular. In my entire life, I had never seen one used, ever.
I sat down at the phone, cringing as I head the chair creak under me. The swivel in the chair must have been old and rusty with how much noise it made with every little movement. I took the phone and hovered my fingers above the keypad.
I gently tapped the pad without actually pressing any of the buttons. I hummed a little song and tapped my feet a little before the worrying sound from the chair stopped me.
"I don't know my house number," I admitted to myself finally. Why would I; my number was saved to the pokénav anyway? Before this very moment, I had no real reason to memorize my house number.
I glanced at the small phone book on the desk. Although maybe 'book' was a bit of an overstatement. It was more a small pamphlet. I shuffled through it to pass a little time. The longer I spent pretending to try to remember my number the less embarrassing it will be when I walked back to Laura having not talked to my mother.
The phone book had the standard list of numbers you would expect from a public phone room. Well at the very least the phone book was new. A quick glance at the inside of the cover told me that it had been published this year. That meant that at the very least, the numbers were probably correct.
I saw numbers for police stations, schools, local business, other pokécenters, gyms, and even someone selling their service as a 'witch.'
I paused, my fingers caught mid page turn.
I furiously flipped back a few pages and slapped the book open on the page I wanted. I grabbed the phone and punched the numbers in.
I heard it ring and after a few seconds, I hear someone pick up.
"Hello, this is the Petalburg gym, how may I help you."
"Uncle Norman?" I asked hoping that it was him.
"Nicholas? Where are you?"
"I'm at the pokécenter in Dewford."
There was a short pause on the line.
"Well, that was fast. Anyway, it's not important right now. Why are you calling the gym instead of your mother? She's been worried sick since you won't accept her calls."
"Yeah about that," I felt my face get flushed. "Could you do me a favor and tell me my house number please?"
He went silent on the other end of the line for so long that I thought line cut off for a moment.
"Don't," He said suddenly, startling me and almost making me drop the phone. "Don't you have it saved on your pokégear?"
"I do." I nodded even though he couldn't see me.
"So what's the problem?"
"I kind of, sort of, forgot my pokégear in my room the day I set off."
I could hear him take a deep breath on the other side of the line.
"Alright listen carefully and write this down if you can." I made sure to memorize the number, thanked my Uncle and hung up.
I punched in the number as quickly as I could before I had the chance to forget it.
It was a memorable call, my mom chewed me out, promised to mail me my pokénav to the pokécenter here in Dewford and gave me the chance to speak to Brendan.
"Hey Nikki, how's the journey going." Brendan's smile almost made it harder to do this.
"Not well, I need you to do me a favor," I told him as I felt my pride shrivel and die inside of me. "Could you get in touch with Wally for me?"
"Wally, any particular reason why?"
I explained to him the whole fiasco with Brook's empathy sense.
"That does sound serious. I'm sure that I can get Wally to lend you a hand if he's not doing anything at the moment."
"Thanks Brendan, I really mean it."
"Don't worry about it. And maybe next time, don't forget your pokénav on your bed." He teased.
"See you later cousin." I hung up the phone and walked away.
"So any luck?"
I told Laura that the family friend was probably willing to help us and that my mom was going to mail me the pokénav.
"So we're going to be stuck here until it arrives then. Sounds fine by me, gives me more time to goof off on a tropical paradise."
"Didn't you say you had something to drop off here?"
"Yeah but it's not a high priority or anything. I was actually thinking of doing it while you had your gym battle."
"What about you?"
"What do you mean?"
"When are you going to get in your gym battle?"
"Oh, I'm not going to challenge the Hoenn gyms."
There was a short pause as I processed what she said.
"You're not going to challenge the gyms? You need at least two badges to get most jobs. What are you even traveling for then?"
She smirked as she took off her backpack and got out a small case. She clicked it open and I saw five empty spaces and three pieces of metal that I didn't recognize.
"Kanto badges?"
"That's right, those there are the soul badge, rainbow badge, and thunder badge." She suddenly got a heavy look on her face. "Trust me that last one was a nightmare to get. As for why I'm traveling."
She smirked.
"I'm planning on seeing as many of Hoenn's sights and attractions as possible."
"So you're on a region-wide sightseeing tour?"
"Pretty much."
For some reason, her cheesy smile pissed me off.
Before I could respond, we were interrupted by the sound of a commotion coming from further down the Stone Walk.
It was Bruce, standing in front of what looked like two older guys.
"Brucie, just give up man," One of them said as he laid his arm around Bruce's shoulder. Bruce shifted his shoulder, knocking the arm off him.
"Hey now Brucie," The other said. "The quicker you cough up the cash the sooner we can leave you alone."
"Hey what's going on?" All three of them turned around to look at us. The one who hadn't put his arm around Bruce narrowed his eyes.
"Nothing that matters to you tourist." He said with a sneer.
"Oh hey guys," Bruce said as he walked over and took a spot next to us. "Not much, just dealing with these two idiots." She sounded like he was trying to sound friendly while keeping his rage in check.
He was not doing well.
"Hey who are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you two!" He said finally losing his cool. "Think you can just walk around the Stone Walk and intimidate people for money, you have some nerve."
"We do what we want punk!" One of them yelled as he took out a pokéball. "What are you going to do about it?"
"We owned you the last time we fought," The other one took out two pokéballs and waved them around in a mocking dance. "What makes you think this will be any different?"
"Hey everyone, what's going on?" A voice from behind the three of us ended the 'right-before-the-fight' atmosphere right then and there. Both of the thugs gulped and started freaking out. They put away their pokéballs with the speed of an unladen Swellow and held up their hands to show that they were empty.
We turned around to get a look at our new ally.
"Brawly you made…" Bruce stopped once he saw the reason that the two idiots had freaked out. To be fair, both Laura and I had our jaws dropped as well.
"Oh not much man, just messing around."
"Yeah messing around."
"Well, that's good." The Dewford gym leader said as he used his shoulder to adjust the fridge he was carrying on his back. The machop next to him grunted as it carried a much smaller microwave in its arms. "I've been hearing about some troublemakers on the Stone Walk recently. You five wouldn't happen to know anyone like that would you?"
The man barely even sounded tired.
"Nope, doesn't sound like anyone we know, right bud?" Idiot One softly elbowed Idiot Two.
"That's right, we haven't seen nothing."
Brawly narrowed his eyes at the idiots. He looked over at the three of us as if he was expecting us to answer too.
We told him that we also hadn't seen anything worth commenting.
"Kay then, if you say so." With that done the two idiots excused themselves and ran away as fast as they could. Brawly smirked as he watched them leave before adjusting the fridge again.
"Well, I have to go finish transporting this for Mrs. Nancy. She asked me to help move some of her old stuff now that she's moving into her kid's place."
"Oh, that's nice of you," Bruce commented before suddenly looking like he remembered something. "Oh, are you going to be doing that all day? Because I'm pretty sure that these two trainers were planning to challenge your gym."
"Oh no just him," Laura cleared up before we could start any misunderstanding. "I'm just along for the ride."
"Well this should take me most of the day, but I'm free to take challengers all day tomorrow. What number badge is this for?" I clamed up as the gym leader talker right to me.
Yeah, sure my Uncle Norman was a gym leader too but he was Uncle Norman first and foremost. This, on the other hand, felt different.
"It's my first badge, Brawly, sir." I wasn't sure why I added the sir at the end. Just slipped out I guess.
"Hey, relax man, what's your name kid?"
"Nichols Maple," I told him, a part of me happy that I finally had the chance to tell someone my actual, real name.
"I thought your name was Nikki?" Laura chimed in.
"Nikki's a nickname. I thought I told you."
"Wait are you Norman's kid?" Brawly cut in.
"No, Uncle Norman is my dad's older brother," I explained for what felt like the thousandth time in my life.
"Huh, never knew that Norman had a brother," Not a lot of people did. Being overshadowed ran in our part of the family, even if dad never showed any signs of bitterness. "Well, I'll be looking forward to our match. See you tomorrow Nikki." I cringed at the use of my nickname.
He walked off, fridge still on his back like it was no big deal.
"So that's what Brendan meant when he said that he was intense. Have to say, not what I would have guessed."
"So what now?" Laura asked. I glanced down at the pokéball clipped to my shirt.
"I'm going to head back to the pokécenter and wait for Brook to finish resting."
At the mention of Brook, Laura's smile fell.
"Alright then, you do that. I have a few things to take care of before I turn in my package. I'll see you later tonight. Try to get us a room overlooking the beach."
She walked off, heading south. I worried for a moment that she would end up getting lost, but figured that in a town like this, she could always just ask for directions to get back to the pokécenter.
I didn't get the chance to really take in the pokécenter the first time I saw it. Mostly due to panicking about Brook. It was built like one of the smaller hotels in Dewford resort. A larger base floor and then a tower sprouting from the side of the building closest to the beach.
I asked the nurse in the front and showed her my trainer I.D. for verification. As far as I knew, you had to have a trainer I.D. to use any of the pokécenter's facilities. I still wasn't sure why I had been able to get Brook checked the way I had without showing it.
I asked the nurse and she told me that a nurse could check over any pokémon if they deemed it an emergency. With how panicked I had looked, and how much pain Brook looked like she was in, she had decided that my situation counted.
"By the way, my friend wanted to know if we could get a room facing the ocean. Standard room with two beds if you could. I know that they're all probably full, but I still have to ask."
"You're just in luck", she smiled. "One just opened up a few minutes ago. The pair that were staying there just left." She entered something into her computer and a small drawer in her desk popped open. "Here you go," She took out a keycard from the drawer. "You're room number is on the card."
I thanked her and headed upwards.
Our room was on the fourth floor. Just high enough to get a nice view out the window but low enough for the ride up to be nice and quick.
I set my bag down and sat down by the desk and chair next to the window. I brought out Brook's pokéball and set it down on the desk. Brook liked the sea, that much was for sure. The happiest I'd ever seen her besides the day we met was the first time she got a good look at the sea from the boat.
It would be a nice thing for her to see when she came out. In the meantime, I decided to wait for her.
By the time I woke up, the sun was gone. Looking out the window I could see the long shadow of the building looming past the sand and into the sea. I came out of my pokéball and stretched out my arms. I felt better, I could barely even remember what happened earlier.
Well, I could remember parts of it. Trying to access that 'empathy sense' thing that Nikki had been talking about. It had actually gone pretty well at first. I had the 'sensing people' part down. The only issue was when I tried to identity Nikki's emotions.
When I pulled the string, the world went dark and the next thing I remembered was coming to in Nikki's arms.
Speaking of Nikki, he was on the bed, fast asleep with his book open and covering his face.
The desk and the bed were pretty close. I leaned over the side and glanced down. I backed up and put myself in a starting position. I burst into a run and jumped at the edge of the table. I tumbled onto the bed and crashed into Nikki's side.
To my surprise, he didn't wake up. I climbed up to my feet and went over to his head. I took careful steps as I walked, trying to not make too much noise.
"Oh yeah he's out cold," I smirked at the sight of a certain red and white ball still clipped to Nikki's shirt. I took a deep breath and opened myself up. I relaxed as I felt the sea of power around me. I hadn't messed up my power earlier.
I grabbed Shroomish's pokéball with my telekinesis and brought it over to me. I set it down on the bed and clicked the circle.
"Hey Brook." Shroomish shook himself a bit like he had just woken up and was trying to keep it that way. "You feeling better?"
"You… you saw all that?" I felt my cheeks heat up.
"Yeah, it sounded pretty bad." He said nonchalantly. "Figured you wanted to talk about it. Why else get me out of my pokéball?"
"I just wanted your help waking Nikki up." I cleared up, hoping that it would be enough for Shroomish to drop it.
"I see. You want to talk about it anyway?" He said, refusing to drop it.
"Maybe later Shroomish," I told him with a glare. "For now, help me wake Nikki up."
I couldn't help but smile as we climbed on top of him. Well, I climbed on top of him and then had to help Shroomish up. He wasn't going to be able to do it himself otherwise, since, you know, he had no arms.
Nikki mumbled in his sleep as we stood on his chest. I shuffled over to his face and grabbed the book with both arms. I pulled it off him slowly and carefully. Or at least I tried to. At some point during that, I lost my grip on the book. My eyes widened as the book fell to the side and I lost my balance. I fell as well, right into Nikki's face.
"What's going on?" Nikki mumbled as he opened his eyes. Eyes which were literally right next to mine. "Whoa!" He shifted back in surprise of waking up to something right in his face. Shroomish let out a similar cry of surprise as Nikki's movement made him fall off.
Even if my vaguely formed plan had failed, I still couldn't help but laugh at Nikki's face.
"Brook why?" he said as he rubbed his eyes before he suddenly stopped moving.
"Brook!" He leaned forward and picked me up. "Are you okay?"
I grinned and nodded. I would have done the thumbs up but my arms were a bit stuck at the moment.
"What happened?" He asked as he sat me down on the bed. He crossed his in front of me and Shroomish waddled towards us, forming a triangle.
"Okay, how am I going to do this…?" I mumbled to myself as I tried to think of how I was going to explain what happened without words.
One very long round of vague psychic communication later, Nikki had a rough idea of what happened. Afterword's he told me that he had found a trainer with Gallade that he thought might be able to help me figure out what happened to me. We wouldn't see them for a while, so I wouldn't be using my empathy sense in battle any time soon.
Which lead us to one finale topic.
"Do you think you're up for the gym battle?" Nikki asked me, the look of concern plain to see on his face.
Was I? I thought I was. For everything that happened earlier today, I felt better now. Plus it was a good chance to show off the training that we had done on the boat.
I gave Nikki the thumbs up.
"Alright, then how about you Shroomish?" He asked our other teammate. Not sure why he bothered, I could totally handle this on my own. Still, I guess it was good for him to get some more experience in.
"Yeah, I'm good to go."
"Shroomish, he can't understand what you're saying."
"Oh right, forgot about that."
He nodded at Nikki instead.
"I'm really starting to wonder what you two talk about." Nikki tried to sound annoyed at us, but the smile on his face gave him away too easily. "So since we have a match tomorrow, think it's time to talk strategy."
We both nodded.
"Okay so Brawly tends to go a bit easier on people challenging him for their first badge, but he's no pushover. We can't underestimate him. Now he's pretty well known for using…"
We spent a good chunk of time, just talking about the plan for tomorrow. Laura came back near the end, looking suspiciously satisfied.
We ate dinner and got ready for our first gym battle the day after.
I went to sleep confident, knowing that I had nothing to worry about.
I stood outside the gym alone. Well, mostly alone. Brook and Shroomish were in their pokéballs, but my human companion had ditched me for the day apparently.
The gym itself was a normal looking building with a large board on top that said 'GYM' in big dark brown letters. It was right on the Stone Walk, right across from the beach.
A part of me noted that I hadn't gotten off the Stone Walk since landing on Dewford Island. On one hand, I felt a bit crummy for staying in the tourist section of Dewford for my entire stay. But on the other hand, I had to hand it to the Stone walk, I'd never needed to get off it for any reason.
Oh well, it wasn't like I wouldn't get a chance to explore more of the town at some point. If I couldn't do it this time, I could always just come back and explore on a future visit.
I walked into the gym. The inside was plain, looking like a mix of a dojo and a human gymnasium with a large regulation size arena in the center of the room.
Brawly himself was off to the side talking to an older girl dressed in workout clothes. The sound of the door opening must have caught his ear because he cut off his conversation and waved me over.
"Oh hey Nikki," He greeted me jovially. "Nice to see you, I've been looking forward to having this battle since yesterday." He gestured towards the girl. "This is Tessa, she'll be the refereeing our match."
"Nice to meet you," I held my hand out for her to shake. "My names Nicholas Maple, from Petalburg."
"Maple? Petalburg?" Her eyes widened at the name and city. I held back a sigh. "Any relation to Norman Maple?"
"Yeah, he's my Uncle," I told her matter-of-factly. "It's not a big deal." I tried downplaying it and hoping that it wouldn't get brought up too much.
"Alright then," She said with narrowed eyes. "But if you think that being a Gym Leaders' nephew is going to get you special treatment, then you have another thing coming kid."
I rolled my eyes. If I had been planning to take advantage if my familial connections, I'd have challenged this gym a year ago with a Torchic.
"I wouldn't expect anything else." I protested.
"Well said Nikki," Brawly crossed his arms and smiled cheekily. "Go take your position on the far side of the stadium, let's get this started."
We stood across from each other on opposite sides of the field, Tessa standing to the side halfway between us.
"This match between Nicholas of Petalburg," She managed to work in a quick, subtle glare" and Brawly of the Dewford Gym will now begin. Both battlers are to use two pokémon each. The first to knock out both of their opponent's pokémon wins. As gym leader, Brawly must choose his pokémon first."
Brawly smiled and took out a pokéball from his belt. If every account of his battles ever were any indication, there was at least a ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent chance that it was a machop.
"Go," Brawly threw the pokéball in the air as it split open "Machop, let's put this rookie through his paces!"
The machop appear in a flash of white with one knee on the ground. He stood and flexed at me.
I found myself satisfied that I had guessed right even if it had been near impossible to guess wrong. It didn't even help me that much, I knew what pokémon I was going to start with either way. I wanted to save Brook for the second fight with whatever pokémon he saved for last, probably a makuhita. Which logically left only…
"Take the field," I threw my own pokéball, "Shroomish!
Shroomish landed and let out a shrill cry and starred Brawly's Machop down.
"Machop, start things up with a karate chop," Brawly ordered.
Machop ran up to Shroomish, raising their arm mid-run.
"Shroomish, get ready for it."
Brawly grinned. "Are you really sure that asking your Shroomish to doge is the best move."
He had assumed that I meant for Shroomish to get ready to dodge. Perfect.
Machop's hand swung down on Shroomish. He gritted his teeth and clenched up as the chop hit the top of his head.
"Now's our chance Shroomish!"
"Wait what?" Brawly cried out.
It was the first plan that I came up with on the boat. I knew that Shroomish had no chance to dodge an attack from Machop. So our best bet was to let the attack hit and take advantage of the close range. Shroomish breathed in and released a stunspore right into Machop's face. Machop staggered back, their hands trying to get the spores out of his face.
"Shroomish, shoot him with some leech seeds." The seeds emerged from Shroomish's head and launched at Machop. The seeds latched onto Machop and sprouted into vines that wrapped around them. The vines glowed red and there was a loud cracking sound as machop acted like they'd just been shocked. Shroomish glowed the same hue as the vines as the barely formed bruise on top of Shroomish's head faded away into nothing.
Teaching Shroomish leech seed on the boat was super worth it.
"Shroomish, tackle him." Shroomish shifted his head down and launched himself at Machop. He hit Machop right in the gut, knocking the superpower pokémon flat on their behind.
"Shroomish finish Machop off! Get close and use absorb!"
"Machop, get up and hit Shroomish with a karate chop!"
Shroomish, sensing the amount of urgency in the situation, calmly waddled over to Machop.
Machop punched the ground, trying to use their fist get off the ground. However as much as they struggled, they would stop either from the spores freezing their muscles or the seeds activating and shocking them.
Shroomish tapped Machop's arm with his head and started glowing green.
After a few seconds of dealing with stun spores, leech seeds, and a continuing absorb, Machop collapsed to the ground.
"Machop is no longer able to battle, Shroomish wins." Tessa looked impressed despite herself.
"Machop return," Brawly looked impressed as well as he returned Machop to his ball. "I have to say, you're doing pretty well for a new trainer. You're Cousin or Uncle teach you any of that?"
"A few things here and there, but you don't grow up around a gym leader and future champion without picking up at least a few things."
With one pokémon down and one left to go, I reached for Brook's pokéball. His makuhita was up next, and I was sure that Brook could handle it no problem. This match was so in the bag, that I was about to break through the fabric. What could possibly make me lose this…
I stopped myself from finishing that thought. I was getting full of myself. I needed to keep a cool head and hold off the celebration until after I won.
Still, I hoped that I had managed to shut my thoughts up fast enough to avoid having jinxed this match.
"Nicely done dude," Brawly said as reached for a pokéball on his belt. He stopped halfway through before suddenly getting a weird smile on his face. "In fact, I think you need a something a bit more challenging."
I had jinxed it.
He went for a different pokéball on his belt and held it up.
"Let's so how you do against something unorthodox." He said as he tossed the pokéball. "Go, Riolu."
A strange pokémon I had never seen before appeared on the field. They were a blue, canine-like pokémon standing on their hind legs. They had big black floppy ears and what looked like metal half-spheres on their paws. They took a martial arts stance and glared at Shroomish.
"I got this little guy from an eccentric dude dressed like his pokémon. I've been training him up for gym battles and I feel like he's ready for his first match."
I looked at the Riolu. He looked much faster than Shroomish did and there was no way that Brawly would fall for my Shroomish trap twice.
"Shroomish, return," I called Shroomish back. Not only because I didn't think that Shroomish could win this, but because I knew of a certain Ralts that had to be convinced to not take on both of Brawly's pokémon by herself. "Go Brook!"
Brook appeared on the field and looked over at her opponent. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, as though sizing up the Riolu.
I sized up this 'Riolu' in front of me. He didn't look like much. Even if he wasn't the opponent we had planned for, I still felt confident.
I bet that if I had future sight, I wouldn't have found a single future in which I lost. Still, as the eventual winner, I had to be gracious in triumph. I also had to make sure not to beat him too badly.
"Hey," I called out, trying to be friendly before the slaughter started. "Let the best battler win."
"Don't worry," he barked, "I will."
Change of plan, I was going to crush him. I closed my eyes and opened myself to the power around me. I let it flow into me and clenched my fist. These hands of mine were filled with a great power and it was all for him.
"Begin!" The human in the center called out, starting the fight.
"Riolu, use bulk up."
"Brook, use confusion." I blasted Riolu as he flexed his muscles. I raised an eyebrow as Riolu failed to move in response to the blast. He still took damage though, so I was ahead in my book, even with his bigger muscles.
"Riolu, use quick attack."
"Brook dodge."
The dog burst towards me and I pointed my arms to the side, jumped and boosted away. I landed to the side. My feet barely touched the ground when I heard the gym leader yell.
"Riolu, chase that ralts!"
"Brook keep dodging."
I looked back and saw Riolu coming right at me. I gulped, re-angled my arms, and sent myself flying away from Riolu and towards the gym leader.
We were on opposite sides of the arena now, reversed from when we had started. Riolu had stopped chasing me, looking like he hadn't wanted to keep it up if I could dodge this well. I smirked at him.
"Brook now, use confusion!" I sent two blasts Riolu's way.
"Riolu, use quick attack to dodge then get in close."
To my annoyance, Riolu managed to avoid both attacks perfectly and was now coming straight at me.
"Brook, boost over him."
What? That would leave me a sitting duck and leave him free to jump right at me facefirst.
Oh, I saw the plan now.
I angled my arms low and jumped, an explosion of psychic energy sending me flying above Riolu's head.
"Riolu, quick attack into the air," Brawly called out as Riolu kicked off the ground and flew straight at me.
"Brook use confusion, the strongest you can manage!"
Riolu's eyes widened as I pointed my arms at him. Time seemed to slow down as the green tinted blast of air erupted out of me. The blast hit him square in the chest. The air must have gotten forced out of him because he gasped after I hit him.
However, there was one small problem. I had expected the blast to send him back to the ground. Instead, he was still flying at me, just with not as much speed as when he had started.
Even with the air forced out of him, he managed to keep his wits together and twisted in the air. He hit me in the chest with his shoulder, paying me back for earlier.
I coughed up a bit of spit as I felt my lungs empty. We both fell to the ground. I managed a pair of small blasts that slowed me down enough to land on my feet. Riolu instead tested in the air and landed on his feet naturally.
We both stood roughly where we had started the fight.
There was a small break in the fight as we just stared at each other from across the field.
"Brook you okay?"
"Riolu, can you keep going?"
We both gave our trainers an affirmative.
"You're… pretty… good." I told Riolu in-between pants.
"I could… say… the same… about… you." We had both taken some hard hits, there was no point in hiding that.
"Still… going to… win though." I smirked as I crossed my arms like I had started the fight.
"Keep… dreaming." He smirked back as he took the same pose that he had started in.
"Riolu, use quick attack."
"Brook, use confusion." We replayed the earlier parts of our fight. Riolu dodged my attacks with sheer speed and I dodged him by boosting out of the way. We made a complete circuit around the arena when I realized that I couldn't keep this up.
Nikki apparently agreed with me because he gave me different command this time.
"Brook, use confusion on the ground, as many weak blasts as you can and as fast as you can."
"Riolu, get in close and use force palm." The blue dog ran at me, palms forward and crackling with energy.
I aimed downwards and unleashed a barrage of weak psychic attacks on the dirt floor of the field.
Riolu stopped in place as the dust covered him. Both trainer and pokémon covered their faces from the dust cloud. Riolu growled and kept charging at me anyway.
"Brook now!" Strategy number two that we had come up with. It was meant to be used against makuhita but this worked anyway.
Riolu reached the place where I had been standing. He thrust his palm forward through the dust. The dust was blown away, revealing nothing.
"Riolu, behind you."
He turned around just in time for me unleash the strongest confusion I could manage.
Strategy number two. It had been meant to be used against Brawly's Makuhita, but it worked perfectly here. Use confusion to kick up a dust cloud, and use the dust to disguise a teleport to the foe's behind.
Follow up with a strong enough confusion and you had one Riolu taking a face full of psychic energy. I even managed to get him to step back this time. He was really hurting now, all I needed was one more hit and this fight was over.
"Riolu, use force palm while they're still close."
"Brook, teleport into the dust." Time slowed down for me as I felt the sea of power around me. I found a suitable spot in the dust and willed the power to form a path between where I was and the where I wanted to be.
I felt myself turn into pure psychic energy for a split second before I found myself where I had wanted to be.
Teleport was a magnitude more exhausting than just boosting out of the way, but it was instant and got me into cover.
Specifically, a spot where the dust hadn't been blown away by the force palm but still pretty close to Riolu. I got ready to hit him again and finish the fight.
"Riolu, use quick attack." Riolu dashed away from where he had been standing. At first, I thought he did it to avoid my attack, but to my surprise, it looked like he was coming right at me.
He jumped right as he was getting close and went through the air, foot first, the dust parting as he came. I didn't have time to dodge, the best I could do was angle my body so that he wouldn't hit me directly.
It worked, sort of. Instead of hitting me center mass, he had kicked my arm. It fell to the side, aching. Somehow, I knew that I wouldn't be using it for at least a little while.
"Wait how?" I heard Nikki exclaim a question that I really wanted to know myself. With all this dust he shouldn't have been able to see me. However, it looked like Brawly wasn't going to just tell us.
"Riolu, force palm!"
Riolu landed on the ground and sent his palm straight at me. I raised my other, still-useable arm to block. It wasn't the best plan, but it was the best I had at the moment.
My knees almost buckled as the palm made contact. Lightning coursed through my veins and I was pretty sure I heard a distant screaming noise that sounded like my voice.
"Brook are you okay?" I heard Nikki yell. Somehow, I knew that there was only one answer I could give.
"I can still fight!" I yelled into the sky despite knowing that he couldn't understand me. Still, I think he got the message. I growled at Riolu, who as just standing in front of me with an idiotic look on his face. I growled, deciding that I needed to punish him for underestimating me.
Both of my arms were useless at the moment so that was out. Instead, I gritted my teeth, swung my head back, and then head-butted Riolu right in his stupid face.
I saw splotches of color in my vision as we both stumbled away from each other. I could feel my veins tighten, how dare this upstart not fall after that. I said that he needed one last hit, not one last good hit.
"Riolu, use force palm to finish this up."
The dog recovered before I could and came at me, palm first like before. Somehow I knew that I would have to do. Both of my arms were useless so no confusions. My head was killing me so there was no way I could focus enough to pull off a teleport.
But we had one last trick up our sleeve and somehow I knew Nikki knew what I knew; we had to use it. I dug deep into myself in preparation for one last all-or-nothing attack.
Riolu's palm was close enough for me to feel the sparks when I heard the command.
"Brook, burst now!"
I drew as much of my inner power as I could and tried to pool it. I knew that I couldn't do it, but I didn't have to. I raised an eyebrow as I noticed that I managed to pool a bit more power than the last time I had done this. But it was nowhere near enough to use it properly.
A sphere of green psychic energy exploded out of me. I just barely saw Riolu's look of surprise as the sphere got him.
Every time I had hit Riolu before this, he had managed to stay still and not go flying.
That hadn't gone so well this time around. He was sent flying back, sailing past a stunned-looking Brawly. He landed, knocked out and out of the arena.
"Riolu is no longer able to continue." The human said, "Nikki is the winner."
"We won!" Nikki punched the air in celebration. I chirped and punched the air with him. Or at least I tried to, arms still didn't want to work with me.
"Riolu return." I waved my crushed opponent goodbye as he was recalled into his pokéball. Nikki ran onto the fields and picked me up.
"We did it Brook, well you did most of the hard parts, but we did it."
"You trained your Ralts well." Brawly told us as he and the other human approached us, "You've more than earned this."
He dug into his pocket and took out a small case containing what looked like a dozen or so pieces of blue metal that were vaguely shaped like a fist. I knew what they were, not from sight, but from hearing Nikki talk about them.
"I hereby present you with this knuckle badge," He said as he took out one of the many badges in the case and presented it to us. "This first badge symbolizes that you've learned the basics of pokémon training, and marks you as a real trainer."
I smiled. That badge was also our first step to entering the pokémon league.
Nikki accepted the badge and put it into a blue case that I had seen him looking at from time to time. He tanked Brawly and told him that he wanted to take me to the pokémon center right away.
"We did it Brook, one down, seven to go. Right partner?" He told me as we stepped outside.
I chirped happily before wincing in pain. My arms still stung a bit from that kick and force palm.
"Looks like you could use some rest." He told me as took my pokéball out. "You ready to take a nice long rest?"
I didn't bother answering him, instead opting to just fall asleep. The last thing I felt was the pokéball drawing me in. I had to rest for now. Like Nikki said, one down, seven to go.
