Chapter Seven
Well, my next Pokémon would change how I'd fight for the rest of the battle. Not to mention I'd be fighting against a Pokémon that would give no indication of Jane's plans. I still hoped I made the right choice when I called out my next Pokémon.
"Electrike, on point!" I called out. Probably the fastest Pokémon I owned that wasn't weak to electric type attacks. Plus, I think I had a strategy for taking that annoying piece of programming down.
Porygon had the same look on its face it had when it was dodging Mukip's Ice Beam. "Electrike, don't move no matter how tempting it gets." I told the canine.
Porygon then shot a beam of multi-coloured light at Electrike. What move was that? I couldn't even guess what type it was.
"Electrike, dodge with Quick Attack!" Electrike using the boost of speed the move provided ran directly behind Porygon who made mechanical motions to turn.
"Now use Thunder Wave!' I called out, happy Electrike knew the attack. I had needed something to do on the subway ride here after all. The weak burst of blue lightning barely managed to hit its target, bringing the Porygon down to the floor.
Jane started calling the shots now, deciding her judgement was better and had "Porygon use Charge Beam!"
I didn't order my electric type to dodge, knowing what would happen. Electrike raised its tail in the air, absorbing the attack. I then went for the finishing strike, having been waiting for this moment nearly 24 hours.
"Spark!" Electrike rushed straight into Porygon, body crackling with electricity. When the green Pokémon collided with its target, Porygon had a major electric shock pass through its system.
As Electrike bounced back using the force of its own momentum, I waited for the ref to call Porygon out. No dice. Damn piece of outdated antivirus!
While unable to move from its spot, Porygon knew moves that could attack from a distance and had the stamina to keep going. Jane wasn't letting me win without a fight.
"Psybeam again Porygon!" Another multi-coloured beam went shooting in Electrike's direction.
Well, now or never. "Electrike, Signal beam." I calmly stated. Electrike formed a yellow, blue and pink ball of energy in front of its snout that a beam of the same colours darted out from.
Electrike and Porygon's attacks met in the center of the battlefield and because they looked so similar I couldn't tell which the stronger move was. I started weighing my odds about whether things would go in my favour.
Porygon then fell flat on its back, unconscious with the weird swirls in its eyes so typical of Pokémon defeated in battle. 'Porygon is unable to battle! The challenger wins!"
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This was the most significant moment of my life. If Taillow had knocked put me into a coma where I'd only dream of success in the Pokemon League, don't wake me up.
Jane made her way over to me, new badge case and gym badge in hand. "Markus, I proudly present you with an Urban Badge for defeating me."
The badge was designed to look like a skyscraper with a rectangular gray body punctuated with cobalt blue to represent windows. And it was mine. The badge case I'd been given was black and rectangular, with a red stripe towards the right hand side. When opened up, it had space for eight badges, set up in two rows of four.
I set my gym badge- I couldn't stop saying that in my head- in my new case and exited the building, a triumphant smile on my face.
At the Pokémon centre, I went on the video chat terminal, as I had some questions for Professor Pine. I dialled the number I'd been given less than a week ago- had it only been that long? - and I waited for him to pick up. His face popped up on the monitor and I could tell I'd disturbed him in the middle of something important.
"You imbecile! This window popped up and I was so startled I may have aggroed the entire mob on me! This better be important." He said. His face was so close to the camera I could tell he hadn't shaved for several days.
"Sorry for disrupting you Professor, but I had some questions and wanted to send you a couple of Pokémon." I said rather sheepishly. Had he been playing an online game when he was supposed to be doing research, on grant money?
"Fine, questions first. Puttnam, Markus, right?" The professor reluctantly agreed.
"Well, my Mudkip knows the move Ice Beam and my friend's Charmander knows Aerial Ace. We haven't taught the moves to either of them. Could you maybe explain this to us?"
"It looks like the fathers of the two knew those moves. You see, when trainers breed Pokémon, sometimes moves they taught the father are known from the offspring at birth. It sometimes happens to starters native to distant places, because we need more breeding stock parents to keep up with the demand. Therefore, we hire out trainers to help. Both attacks are useful and you should be glad to have them." The professor explained like he was giving a lecture.
"Alright, what about the fact my Electrike knows Signal Beam? Manetric can't learn that attack, Wild Pokemon don't crossbreed and Electrike don't have it as an egg move." I told him.
"Well that's more the area of expertise of my colleague living near New York. From what I do understand however, sometimes Pokemon dream of moves in their sleep and wake up knowing them. This brings up another point you may not know. A Pokemon can learn as many moves as it's able to, but only four are permitted to be used in a battle at the same time." The professor said continuing with his lecture. I began to nod, taking it all in.
"Now you wanted to send me some Pokémon? Which ones?" he asked, remembering I mentioned it from earlier.
"Yes, I want to send you my Kricketune, and my, huh I can't decide. My Taillow I guess." I told him, pulling out their Pokeballs and hooking them up to the matter transporter, which was a chamber that held enough room for three Pokeballs to be transported at once. I was about to press the button when Trevor ran over and interrupted me.
"Is it too late for me to send Raticate to you as well Prof?" Trevor interjected.
"No that's fine. Macullen, Trevor right?" Trevor nodded in response. Raticate's Pokeball was put in the transporter and confident Carly wouldn't interrupt we pushed the button. One flash of light later, the chamber was empty. As we signed off the chat, Carly walked over to us, making everyone accounted for.
"Are you packed?" I asked Trevor.
"Of course. Why wouldn't I be? Do you know where the next gym is?
"C'est dans Montreal." I said in my best French. "It's a long distance even by bike, without stopping to train, and there are fewer Pokémon centres the farther we get from here. We may have to camp.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let us be off!" Carly yelled in a dramatic fashion as we left.
We biked out of the city, weaving through traffic and along the highway, being careful not to lose one another. Well, I was. Trevor wanted to ditch Carly and made every possible attempt to do so. As we left the city, the surrounding area was less urban and more rural.
By mid-afternoon, we'd come up to an empty field. We stopped here to rest, and I'd never seen such clear skies. Is this why people take a few Pokémon and explore? To see what an amazing place the world could be?
I took the opportunity to explain the current situation to my team. "Alright, the three of you are going to be the main core of my team for the next little while. Kricketune and Taillow are going to be taking a break."
Mudkip was the only one to somewhat understood what I meant. Then again, neither Turtwig nor Electrike had actually met any other Pokémon I owned. My own fault I guess. I was supposed to train them to be a team, not only bring them put when I needed them.
"Alright, this is your chance to get to know each other. I'm watching you." I told the three. After letting them run lose I saw Carly's team had changed.
Instead of a Cascoon, Carly now had a Beautifly. The bug type now was like a gray butterfly with a curled up proboscis, bright patterns on its wings and stubby limbs. One thing that hadn't changed was the murderous look it gave me. This was only punctuated with the sudden shooting of its proboscis that just fell short of my neck. May I never be in the general vicinity of that bug. EVER.
A least I finally saw what sort of personalities my Pokemon had. Mudkip never went more than a few feet away from me at any given time. Electrike was dashing all over the place, eager to say hi to anything nearby with a pulse.
And Turtwig just stood there, unmoving with that same blank stare on its face. I honestly worried for that little guy, because he didn't seem to connect with anyone and after finally consulting my Pokedex on the matter, I had learned my current team was all dudes.
One thing quickly became clear to me that could end in no good. I had lost track of Trevor. Despite being effectively in the middle of nowhere, Trevor could be causing horrendous amounts of mischeif in the field. I mean, virtually anyone can build a flamethrower out of body spray and a lighter.
Or a Charmander's tail flame!
When he did finally turn up, I could only hope the people he was talking to were friendly.
And that's a wrap folks. Now you still have until 24 hours after this chapter appears before I close the rival personality poll. I also have nothing in reserve so I can't be keeping up with the constant posting you may have gotten used to towards the end of August.
