After thanking Alder for the millionth time, I left his home to begin training. I decided that while Lola was strong now, Sorrel, who rode on her back while she loyally followed behind me, would need some practice. So the best way to get him trained was to start at the beginning. I made my way back to Route 19 and I overlooked the grassland off the small hill I stood on. Though it was cold, much colder than normal, it was still a relatively nice day. I smiled and made my way down the hill to find someone willing to train with me and Sorrel, and I heard a familiar growl. I moaned in exasperation as Lola and I turned to the brush from which multiple Deino emerged.
"Don't you guys ever give up? Come on, Lola won 2 out of 3." I said while shaking my head, but something was off about the Deino. They didn't seem to be as aggressive as before. They calmly walked up to us, and Lola tensed herself in case she had to defend us. However that proved to be unneeded as the Deino laid down one by one and rolled over, exposing their soft bellies to us. Oh, so NOW they wanted to be friends? Go figure. But then, this was good, because I had an idea.
"Say guys, you wanna help us out? We want to challenge the gym in Aspertia, and I'd appreciate it if you helped us get ready." I asked them. The Deino barked as they rolled back onto their feet, smiling at us as they reared up, eager to make it up to us. Maybe they weren't such bad pokemon after all.
And so I spent the entire morning coaching Sorrel and Lola. The Deino took turns fighting Lola and Sorrel. Though I could easily have done a double battle format, it was important for Sorrel to get one on one experience and not have to depend on Lola for strength. And he didn't need to. Though he was a goofy little thing, Sorrel was a strong little Cyndaquil. I mean yeah, I knew what the Deino were capable of and that they were holding back quite a bit for Sorrel's sake, but they were still fighting seriously and so was he. That tiny little fire mouse gave them everything he had, and after awhile, his back erupted into flames while he cried out, firing little flames out at his current opponent. Lola and her opponent stopped sparring as, shortly after executing his newly learned Ember attack, Sorrel began to glow, and it wasn't from the flames on his back.
His tiny ball of a body grew long and slightly pudgy. His once thin nose becoming rounder while his limbs got more pronounced. As the glowing faded, Sorrel sat on his back legs, his arms hanging against his body. Sorrel opened his eyes to reveal crimson orbs, and he fell onto his forelegs as he let out a roar, flames erupting from his head and rump. I smiled as I hopped up and down in glee, having witnessed my first evolution.
"Look at you Sorrel! You evolved!" I shouted. Sorrel looked at me with his tongue poking out as he ran to me, barreling into my chest.
"Quilava!" He cried. I hugged him tightly, relieved that even though he wasn't a tiny Cyndaquil anymore, he was still the same adorable, Quirky little ball of fire and fur that Alder gave to me. I put him down and smiled as Lola joined us, and we looked at the Deino we had spent the morning with.
"Thanks so much you guys. We're ready. Wish us luck!" I said as I turned away, walking towards the Aspertia gate with Sorrel and Lola walking on either side of me. I couldn't help but smile as I heard the other Deino calling out to us, saying good bye and wishing us good will as we left the grass. Upon entering the gate, I greeted the Afternoon Guard and her two Arcanine, telling them of my intentions before leaving for the city itself.
Aspertia seemed strange to me now, even though it had only been a day since I left for my journey. With a shrug, I continued on the familiar roads until I got to the gym, and I realized that now was probably not the best time to bother Cheran, since he was most likely teaching right now. Looking at Sorrel and Lola, I smiled and began walking towards the gym anyway. Who said I need to challenge Cheran now? My pokemon were sweet and gentle enough, I`ll let the kids play with them while I tell Cheran about my adventure so far. I walked into the building and made my way towards the classroom, where Cheran was talking about battle ailments.
"Poisoning, Burns, Paralysis, Freezing and Sleep are the 5 main afflictions pokemon can get in battle. There is also Confusion, but it is not considered an affliction since pokemon can have it and one of the other 5 as well. They are all temporary though, and go away when your pokemon falls unconscious, or you take it to a pokemon center." I heard Cheran say as I stood in the doorway. He clearly saw me, and smiled, but carried on with his lesson knowing I wouldn't interfere.
"Now then, all of the conditions, even confusion, can be prevented by the pokemon themselves. Either by their type or ability. Your homework tonight is to figure out how each affliction, even confusion, can be prevented. Now then, I`ll be back in 5 minutes. Be nice." He said as he walked towards me while the classroom erupted into chatter. I stepped back so he could leave the classroom and close the door. Cheran gave me a warm smile as he observed Lola and Sorrel, and I couldn't help but return the toothy grin.
"I was gonna challenge you to a gym battle, but then I took an arrow to the knee." I said, causing Cheran to chuckle and shake his head in exasperation.
"it wasn't funny when I heard that from Cory, why would it be funny from you?" He asked with a mischievous glint in his eye. I could tell he was just playing, so it was just fine.
"Because the joke is in the random timing in which it was told?" I offered. Cheran looked like he was thinking before nodding.
"Very true. Anyway I accept your challenge." He said, sticking his head back into the classroom.
"Gym Battle everyone." He said, causing the children to break out in delightful screams. I was floored for a moment, having had my challenge accepted even during class. The children ran out of the room and formed a single file line while Cheran stood next to me in the back, with a smile, he directed the girl in the front of the line to lead us to the field. We all walked through the halls until we reached the back of the gym, going through a door that led to the gyms dusty battlefield. With a snap of his fingers, Cheran's class ran to the bleachers and found seats while he took his place on the high rise on one side of the field. I stood on my side of the field, and couldn't help the nervous and excited at the same time. After all, it was my first battle. Clyde showed up behind me and took his place in the middle of the field on the sidelines.
"This will be a two on two single-style gym battle. When both pokemon on one side are unable to continue the battle will end. Only the challenger may make substitutions. Begin when ready." He said in a professional tone. I couldn't help but smile as I looked at Sorrel.
"You're up first buddy, let's show Cheran what you can do." I told him. Sorrel gave me his trademark smile with his tongue sticking out, and padded to the center of my side of the field. Cheran gave a nod of approval as he pulled out a pokeball.
"Alright then. Here I come Vixen. Show me how far you've come." He said, throwing his pokeball. A Patrat emerged from it, and I was slightly disappointed. He was going to use the official gym pokemon instead of his own. That was a bummer. Oh well, at least I was still fighting Cheren. He would give me a good fight even if the pokemon he used weren't his pokemon. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, opening them with determination.
"Sorrel, start off with Quick Attack!" I commanded. Sorrel began to run at Patrat with lightning fast speed. Cheran was unfazed though, and he crossed his arms.
"Patrat, do it." He commanded. Patrat nodded and stayed perfectly still even as Sorrel slammed into it. That was odd, why wasn't it dodging or counter-attacking? Cheran wasn't one to throw a fight. What was he up to? I didn't have time to dwell on it though, I wanted to finish this quickly.
"Sorrel, now use Ember! And don't stop until it goes down!" I told him. Sorrel backed away from it and lit his head and tail flames, howling as he spit his small flames at the Patrat. The Scout Pokemon winced in pain, but still stayed strong as Cheran closed his eyes. When it started to glow, Cheran opened his eyes abruptly.
"Let it go Patrat!" He commanded. Patrat suddenly squawked as it brought its paws together, even while Sorrel's Ember burned it, and a ball of energy formed in the center of its paws. Thrusting its arms forward, Patrat unleashed a massive beam of energy at Sorrel, hitting him dead-on in the center of his chest and throwing him at my feet. Oops.
"Bide. I should have known. I`m sorry Cheran. Sorry Sorrel." I said, bending down to pick up the Quilava.
"Quilava is unable to battle, Patrat wins." Clyde said as Sorrel gave me an apologetic smile. I smiled back at him and shook my head, hugging him tight.
"It's okay buddy, you did great. Now take a good, long rest." I told him, recalling him back into his pokeball. Standing up, I gave Cheran a defiant smile.
"Wanna keep going?" He asked. I nodded as Lola trotted in front of me. She snorted and stamped her foot, obviously ready to go. Though I didn't spend as much time coaching her through the training with the Deino as I did with Sorrel, I knew she was independent and smart enough to have gotten what she needed from them. She was ready for this fight.
"You're in trouble Cheran. Lola and I have come a long way since you last saw us." I told him as Lola chuffed in agreement. Cheran smiled at us as he uncrossed his arms. He was going to take us seriously now.
"We'll see about that. Patrat, Bite!" He commanded. Patrat ran forward and leapt up, latching onto Lola's horn with its big teeth. Lola roared as she threw her head, trying to get it off. I gritted my teeth at the move, and tried to think quickly. Wait a second, the stand! The high rise Cheran stood on looked very sturdy. I grinned as I got an idea.
"Lola! Use Headbutt on the high rise in front of you!" I yelled. Lola reared up and charged forward, lowering her head as she made contact with one of the support beams on the high rise Cheran stood on. But she herself didn't make contact. The Patrat that clung to her horn gasped as the wind was knocked out of it from being squished between her hard head and the beam which supported its trainer. Lola pulled away and made her way back to me, shaking the dizziness off her head as Patrat fell to the ground, rolling over in dizziness.
"Patrat is unable to battle! Deino wins!" Clyde said as Cheran recalled his pokemon. He gave me a small smile as he brought out another pokeball.
"Very clever of you, using the field to your advantage. I was surprised by your recklessness during the start of the battle but it looks like you snapped out of it. Now the real battle begins." He said, throwing the pokeball. A Lillipup burst out of the ball and ran around the field excitedly, and for a moment I was filled with the desire to play with it. But then Cheran snapped his fingers, and suddenly Lillipup calmed down, staring at me and growling. I smiled as Lola got into a fighting stance, and the battle began.
"Lola, Tackle!"
"Lillipup, Tackle!" Cheran and I cried. The two pokemon charged at each other, connecting blows over and over, with neither side giving an inch. I could hear the children of Cheran's class shouting encouragements, some for Lillipup and some for Lola. I couldn't help but smile as I realized, this was fun! Alder was right, there was nothing like a good battle. It didn't matter what the outcome would be, I was still having fun. That said, I really wanted to win.
"Lola, use Bite to get it away from you and then follow up with Dragon Rage!" I commanded. Lola grabbed one of Lillipup's ears and tossed it back, then she opened her mouth and released Dragon Rage. The blue and purple flames shot out towards Lillipup, but it was fast. Lillipup quickly ran out of the way of the Dragon Rage, barreling towards Lola and slamming into her side.
"You`ll have to do better than that if you want your first badge. Lillipup, Tackle again!" Cheran called. Lillipup barked as it charged at Lola, constantly dodging every move she made, much to her frustration. I wasn't too happy myself. How was I supposed to beat a pokemon that could move so much faster? I growled softly as Lola kept trying. I could hear her whimpers as she desperately tried to connect her attack so as not to disappoint me. I kept thinking, but I could not find a way to slow down that Lillipup.
"Keep trying Lola! Keep up the Dragon Rage!" I commanded. Lola screeched as she carried out my command, spitting fireball after fireball at the speeding Lillipup. Okay this was getting stupid. I could feel my left leg twitch in irritation in sync with my eye, and anyone who didn't know better would think I was having a heart attack, but this was pissing me off. I looked down at Lola's pokeball and clenched my fist, I couldn't give up, I wouldn't. And neither would Lola. I looked back at the battle and saw something strange. Her flames were changing color. Dragon Rage always produced a fire that had a blue-and-purple hue to it. But with each attack her fires grew more purple, and then turned into a reddish purple, and it was getting more and more red. I opened my pokedex and scanned her, then smiling at the data it told me. This attack, if I timed it right we might just slow that Lillipup down.
"Lola! Stop attacking and use Headbutt!" I commanded. Lola closed her mouth and charged at Lillipup, who easily dodged while Cheran scoffed.
"What are you doing? That won't work. Lillipup, finish this with Tackle!" He commanded. Perfect. As Lillipup charged at Lola, I smirked. It was just what I had been waiting for. As though she knew what I was planning, Lola stayed still like a good girl as the Lillipup got closer and closer. With another toothy grin, I threw my fist out.
"Now Lola! Use DragonBreath!" I commanded.
"What!?" Cheran cried as Lola tilted her head back, throwing it forward as a stream of pink fire erupted from her mouth. Lillipup was too close to try and dodge, and felt the full fury of Lola's DragonBreath. I couldn't help but cheer as her attack completely engulfed Lillipup, and I was still very happy even when her attack puttered out and the Lillipup remained standing. I was happy because even though Lillipup was still up, I could see yellow streaks crackling on its body. Lillipup was paralyzed.
"Okay Lola, let's finish this with Headbutt!" I commanded. Lola roared as she charged at Lillipup, who was unable to move when she collided with it. With all her power, Lola threw Lillipup all the way across the field, crashing into the support beam of the high rise Cheran stood on and slowly slide down. Lola panted in exhaustion as Lillipup struggled to stand. Damn! How much could this thing take? Lola can't keep up forever! But then Lillipup went down with a soft whimper, and Clyde raised his flags.
"Lillipup is unable to battle, Deino wins! The victory goes to the challenger Vixen!" He said as the kids reacted. Some cried out in joy at seeing Lola win, while others were disappointed that Lillipup lost. I myself was proud as I ran onto the field, tackling my tired little Deino and hugging her tightly.
"We did it we did it we did it! Thanks so much Lola! It's all thanks to you! We won our first badge!" I cried. Lola herself was happy as she licked my cheek. She won two battles in a row and learned a brand new attack in the process. Cheran seemed happy as well as he recalled Lillipup and strode over to us, clapping slowly.
"Well done, Vixen and Lola. You two really HAVE come a long way since I last saw you. You two have grown so much in such a short time, and so it is with great pleasure that I present to you the Basic Badge." He said as he held out the badge. It looked like the spine of a book. Fitting for a teacher. I grabbed the maroon pendent and stared at it with pride while Lola nosed my hand, wanting to see it too. I smiled as I grabbed Sorrel's pokeball with my other hand, letting him out of it. He was still tired, but conscious.
"Look Sorrel, Lola. Our first badge, and I couldn't have done it without either of you. Even you helped Sorrel. Bide only works if the pokemon takes damage, and since it took enough damage to take you out it was easy for Lola to take it down and bring out the next one." I said, reassuring my Quilava. He gave a small sigh as though he were still upset with himself about losing, but like me he forgot his sorrow quickly as I lowered the badge until he could see it. Sorrel plucked the little pendent out of my hand with his paws as he held it closer, as though reading some sort of secret on it. Sorrel then smiled as he handed it off to Lola, who nosed the badge and then gently took it into her mouth. As the bottom half of the badge stuck out of her mouth Lola smiled softly, feeling the weight of her accomplishment as she stuck her neck out, dropping the badge back into my hand with a soft chirp. I smiled and petted them both as I stuck the badge in my pocket. I`d have to find a better place to put it. Cheran smiled at me and put his hand on my shoulder while the kids gathered around us.
"You're all done here Vixen. You don't need me or your mother or Aspertia anymore. You need to leave, for good this time. You have proven to me that you are smart enough and strong enough to be on your own, and your bond with Lola is so incredible, we can rest easy knowing that you will be safe. Virbank city is the next closest gym. I think you can handle Roxie, but be careful, she uses poison types." He said as a little girl approached us. She tugged on my coat and I looked at her curiously as she held out pink berries.
"I was doing my homework during the start of the battle, because I didn't think you could win against Mister Teacher. I stopped when your Deino beat Patrat. She's really cool! I`m sorry for not believing in you. Take these as my apowogy. They are Pecha Berries. They make pokemon all better when they get poisoned." She said as she kept her hands extended. I smiled as I took the berries, putting them in my bag. I put my hand on the little girl's head and chuckled at her.
"Thanks so much! These will really come in handy." I told her. She beamed at me as she rejoined her class, and with one last smile Cheran nodded at me and walked to the children. There was nothing more to be said. Looking down at Lola and Sorrel, I grinned at them and recalled them back into their pokeballs, making my way out of the gym and to the pokemon center.
TBC
And there we go. Now the story has caught up to where I am in the game. God this was a long chapter. I'm sorry XD. I hope it was worth it though. And yes, my Cyndaquil DID evolve before the gym battle. And he actually beat both of Cheran's pokemon without a sweat. I decided to tweak the story a bit though to make it more exciting and down-to-the-wire. Also, I made a huge mistake in the previous chapters. The routes in black 2 and white 2 are numbered weird and it's actually Route 19 that connects Aspertia to Floccesy, not 20. I caught it only when I visited Bulbapedia to look up the wild pokemon. By the way, if you guys go to Bulbapedia and Google tries to stop you, just tell Google to go kick a Gyarados. A rogue ad is making a lot of pokemon sites go batshit, since images are shared among the pokemon information sites. You can proceed to Bulbapedia safely without the threat of a virus hitting you.
And yes, I know there were quite a few typos throughout the chapter. I think my favorite one was ""Alright then. Here I come Vixen. Show me how far you've come." He said, throwing his pokeball. A patriot emerged from it, and I was slightly disappointed.". I died when I read that part XD. But yeah, feel free to point out the typos when you see them, but don't let it take you away from the story. It's still pretty good even though my grammar is crap XD.
Onto the next chapter, as soon as I get more done in Black 2. This story only loosely follows the plot of Black 2, so I don't know how much we'll see Team Plasma, if at all. Only time will tell, ne?