Part One: Chapter Seven
Leaf had already disappeared around the corner before Rain knew what was happening. Swearing, he scooped up Quinn in his arms and charged after her, Flame and Sparky close behind.
A day of running and hiking on an empty stomach was taking its toll on him and the others and he found his movements almost clumsy as he half ran, half stumbled through the maze. Quinn weighing him down sure wasn't helping him either, but there was no way he was going to leave his pokemon behind.
He could just see Leaf ahead, brown hair streaming out behind her. Occasionally, he caught a glimpse of the venomoth's glittering wings or one of Kojo's flailing vines before they vanished behind another grey wall.
He had to force himself to keep up with the girl and fleeing pokemon, but he could soon feel himself slowing down.
They were getting farther...
And farther...
And farther...
Wait, what was he thinking? He knew exactly what to do!
"Quinn!" He shouted, holding his squirtle out in front of him, "Use Water-"
But before he could finish his command, a whooshing noise sounded from behind him and a fireball was launched toward the fleeing bug pokemon, striking it in the middle of its back right before it could turn the next corner. With a final screech, it lost control and dropping Kojo before smashing into the wall before it.
He slowed down to a walking pace, doubling over in pain and tried and catch his breath. No prizes for who had just thrown that fireball. He thought to himself, casting a withering glare behind him at Flame and his pokemon. Of course, Rain had spent two hours teaching his own pokemon to use Water Gun and it took Flame what, two seconds to teach his own pokemon Ember? Naturally.
When they were both younger, they found a wounded growlithe on the outskirts of Pallet Town. Their town was too small to have a pokemon centre and they knew neither Flame's mother nor Oak would approve of them bringing a beaten and bloody pokemon into the house, so they swore to care for it in secret. They hid it under Rain's house, fed it, treated its wounds as best two six year olds could, and Flame used his freaky powers to reassure it.
Everything had gone smoothly for a week before Rain's idiot sister found them and ratted them out to his grandfather.
"Rain, what were you thinking? You could have killed that poor pokemon! And not to mention all the germs it could have on it! This isn't the sort of thing I'd expected from my very own grandson!"
But did Flame get the same tongue-lashing as Rain did? The two of them were in on it; they'd had an equal part to play in the entire incident.
No, Flame was praised. Of course, not in front of Rain. But he'd overheard his grandfather talking to the other boy, but that wasn't the worst part.
"Don't tell Rain I'm telling you this, but I'm proud of what you've done. Not every child would have been willing to take care of a wounded pokemon they'd found. I understand that you may have felt pressured into it by Lake - I know he can be sometimes - but you did the right thing in looking after it and putting up with him."
What the hell had be meant 'pressured into it'? So not only did his grandfather think he was a rash idiot, but he had also thought he was a bully! And 'putting up with him'. Oh, real subtle, grandpa...
Still fuming over the memory, he forced his glare away from Flame and onto the floor in front of him. If Flame still wanted to play that stupid game of Look-Who's-So-Much-Better-Than-You even here, that was fine with him. Though in his opinion, that was just plain petty. This had quite possibly been a matter of life and death and even then, Flame couldn't help but steal Rain's spotlight.
At least he couldn't steal his grandfather's attention any more in the maze.
Leaf was cradling her pokemon in her arms, blinking back tears. The only reason Kojo wasn't desperately trying to wriggle out of her grasp was because he seemed to still be stunned from when the venomoth had dropped him. His eyes travelled over to the wild pokemon's still body where it lay slumped against the wall, dust from its soft wings had left an almost comical imprint where it had collided. Blinking dazedly, the pokemon rose to its feet, staggering a few steps before collapsing back onto the floor.
Flame cautiously approached it, Ignus looking ready to spit another mouthful of fire at it it it dared to move a muscle. Leaf hurriedly scurried a few paces away from it, stumbling to her feet and backing away as if the bug pokemon was a horrific monster.
"I guess this is a lesson to you," Rain said, narrowing his eyes as he looked down at the shaking girl, "keep an eye on your pokemon. They're not invincible, you know." he could hardly blame her though, she obviously didn't know the first thing about pokemon. She didn't know how to battle them, how to talk with them, heck, she didn't even know how to hold them. Why in the world did Ice choose her to be left in the maze alongside him, Flame and Sparky? At least him and the others showed signs of being promising battlers, she cried throughout the fight with Ice, not issuing one command to her bulbasaur. The only positive Rain could see in her was that she could run fast, but that was a selfish skill that did nothing but scream 'self-preservation'.
Leaf wiped at her eyes with her sleeve, "I just left him alone for a few seconds, I thought he'd be fine..."
Rain actually rolled his eyes at her words. Naïve, unskilled, inexperienced, painfully dependent... Leaf Rosenstern was completely and utterly hopeless.
"Just keep your pokemon close, and then make sure you keep close to one of us." he told her, "Because as far as I've seen so far, you'd be dead on your own." Sure the truth hurt, but it was the truth nonetheless. If Rain was going to tell somebody that they were useless, he wasn't going to waste time and effort breaking it to them in a nice, slow manner. If she was useless, she was useless, there was no reason for him to beat around the bush.
Leaf's pretty little mouth opened, though she was saved from having to say anything by Sparky, "Big words coming from you, what have you done for us since we came here?"
Rain folded his arms across his chest, if the girls wanted to start a competition seeing who could land the most stinging insult, so be it. "More than she has. If you don't remember, I was actually battling Ice instead of screaming and crying."
"I've never battled, ok?" Leaf said, her voice wobbling as she spoke, "I'm sorry if I'm not as good a trainer as you expect me to be."
Right, right, sure she was. Rain knew the girl was anything but sorry. People like her were everywhere; they'd apologise, indulge in a little bit of self-depreciation to make herself look more humble. But she didn't mean a word of it. This didn't mean she'd magically pick herself up from her feet, all this conversation would do was get Rain off her back for a little while. She'd still look to them for her to lean on as soon as the next bump in the road came along. It was just the kind of person she was, her entire upbringing conditioned her to be like this, something that even the maze wouldn't be able to undo. Dependency like that was ingrained just too deeply to be washed away.
"I've never had a serious battle like that, either." Rain told her cooly, "But you didn't see me falling over and crying."
Leaf stood straight up, Kojo tucked under her in arm in a position that was obviously painful for the bulbasaur as it struggled in her grasp. Either she was stupid or she didn't care, but she didn't appear to notice this at all, her sparkling emerald eyes were fixed on Rain.
"I'm trying!" her voice rose until it was almost a shriek, "I know I'm out of my depth here and I know I can't rely on you three all this time! I'm trying, ok? I'm not as strong as the rest of you are, so I do depend on you!' here she went again, with the oh-so-noble self-deprecation, "But I promise I'm trying to do better than that! Give me a chance!"
"I'll give you a chance when I see you pulling your weight." Rain told her. Part of him pondered the other ways he could counter her speech. He could do what she was doing and pour out all his weaknesses. Like how she was pointing her finger at him and labelling him as the cruel, unprovoked bully; he could point the finger over Flame and describe to her how the mute had been a royal thorn in his side for half his childhood. He could pull the good old 'Freudian excuse' and, in a fit of fake tears, explain that it was because his grandfather - his guardian - never gave him enough attention as a kid. Maybe he could sigh and look tired, lie and tell her that the stress of Ice bearing over them was making him crack. Or he could break through Leaf with a piercing question that she had no hopes of responding to. A shameful part of him enjoyed the sadistic pleasure he was getting out of watching this spoilt girl flail pathetically.
Sparky rested her hand on Leaf's shoulder, "It's ok, breathe." she told the hysterical girl in a soothing voice, turning her glare on Rain. Right, so now he was the bad guy. Had she already forgotten about their masked kidnapper who was the reason behind all of this in the first place? If it wasn't for Ice, they wouldn't have been forced to put up with each other like this.
Fortunately (or unfortunately), Rain was saved from having to hear whatever the blonde was about to say when all four of them where knocked off their feet. Rain found himself skidding painfully across the rough floor before coming to a sudden halt as he slammed into the wall, Leaf knocking into him before he could get back up.
Dazed, he pushed himself to his knees. The venomoth was back on its feet, purple wings outstretched. Rain guessed that what had just hit them was a Whirlwind attack, and judging by the way its wings were glowing faintly in the artificial lighting, it was just getting ready to use...
Rain grabbed Quinn and shoved Leaf back down to the ground as the venomoth unleashed its Razor Wind attack, leaving deep gashes in the stone. He heard Leaf swear in a very unladylike manner as she clambered to her feet. She looked ready to run, but then she caught Rain's eye and her expression hardened.
"Kojo, attack!" she commanded, pointing a trembling finger at the bug pokemon. She blinked in surprise when she realised she couldn't see her pokemon anywhere. The two of them glanced around before catching sight of him cowering behind Flame.
Rain snorted, "Looks like you're not trying hard enough." he told her bluntly, "Quinn, use Water Gun!"
Thankfully, his pokemon obeyed him without hesitation. A jet of water shot from his mouth, drenching the venomoth's face and flinging it backwards.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Captain sparking with electricity before unleashing a Thundershock at the large bug. A ball of flames followed suit from Ignus's mouth, but the venomoth shook it off. Clearly, the first Ember attack had taken it by surprise. But now it wasn't distracted by its previous attempts to lose them and was ready to take a hit.
"Water Gun!" he commanded again, but the venomoth was quicker than he thought. It was already back on its feet and well out of the way before Quinn's attack could hit it. With a sweep of its scaly wings, a fine yellow powder was scattered across the path, stinging Rain's nose when he inhaled.
Stun Spore.
The effects were instantaneous, Quinn tripping over himself almost as soon as the paralysing powder hit him. Ignus tried to press forward, but her movements were far more sluggish than before. Captain gave an indignant cry and fired another Thundershock at the venomoth. The wild pokemon chittered angrily and knocked the pikachu away with the back of one of its wings.
Now, Rain was extremely glad he'd managed to teach Quinn a long-range attack. Unfortunately, the Water Guns that his squirtle was spewing out in rapid succession - although each hit its mark - seemed to be doing hardly any damage. The only attacks that seemed to be doing anything were Ignus's Embers, but their effect was dampened from the fact that the venomoth had been soaked through by Quinn's attacks.
Leaf was screaming for Kojo to attack. Just 'attack'. She probably didn't know what kind of attacks her pokemon would know but at that moment, Rain was a little too preoccupied with making sure his own pokemon didn't get killed to give her any life advice.
The venomoth's scales were glinting again as it prepared to launch another Razor Wind attack. Rain braced himself to snatch Quinn out of the way again when he heard Leaf scream:
"Kojo, Vine Whip!"
Her pokemon didn't hesitate. Although the Stun Spores had slowed it down considerably, the venomoth had been rendered immobile as it was charging its next attack and didn't have time to move before Kojo had wrapped his vines around the bug pokemon and slammed it into the floor.
Rain couldn't help but blink in surprise, "How did you know he could learn that?" he questioned.
Leaf just shrugged, looking a little embarrassed, "It was the only Grass-type move that I know." she mumbled, looking down at her feet.
Miraculously, the move had somehow managed to distract the venomoth long enough for Ignus and Captain to land a few more hits on it. Finally, Rain could see that the effects of the constant barrage of attacks was starting to weaken the giant bug.
Quinn spat out another Water Gun, striking the venomoth in the side of its head but also extinguishing Ignus's next Ember attack in the process. Rain ignored the glare Flame shot at him. Maybe if they kept chipping away at the wild pokemon, they could eventually win this...
His hopes were washed away as soon as that thought crossed his mind. The venomoth let loose another Whirlwind attack, sending their pokemon tumbling in all directions before scattering another dosage of stun spore with a flap of its wings.
Rain cursed and pulled the collar of his shirt over his nose. Despite the fact that Stun Spore's effect on humans wasn't as potent as it was on pokemon, he wasn't overly fond of breathing the stuff in.
"The wings!" Sparky gagged as she inhaled a mouthful of spores, "It- ack!" she doubled over and coughed into her hand, but Rain understood where she was coming from.
Leaf, miraculously, seemed to understand too. "Kojo, Vine Whip again! Aim for the wings!"
A pair of green vines wrapped tightly around their attacker, this time immobilising the pokemon rather than tossing it into the ground. Unable to use its wings to fight, the venomoth instantly panicked and squirmed in vain to get free. The remaining trainers didn't even need to issue a command to their pokemon, the three starters took great pleasure in launching fire, water and electricity at their now helpless opponent.
There was a loud hissing and crackling sound, as hot water was met with Captain's Thundershock and the steam cleared to reveal the now fainted venomoth.
Kojo's vines retracted and Leaf all but squealed in victory, flashing Rain a smug look. Lake just rolled his eyes as Quinn limped back to him. They didn't have much to celebrate, now their pokemon had been worn down. If another wild pokemon attacked them right now, they'd be done for.
On top of that, something was nagging him though. Something about that venomoth's attacks...
"Razor Wind and Whirlwind aren't moves that a wild venomoth can learn." he said aloud, drawing everybody's attention away from their tired pokemon. Living with a pokemon professor had made Rain pick up a few things over the years. Of course, he wasn't a complete nerd, but there were a few seemingly useless facts that he'd managed to learn, "Moves like that can only be taught to them with a Technical Machine."
Sparky immediately understood, "So that venomoth wasn't wild," she said, "and that probably means means..."
"It was another one of Ice's pokemon." The amount of venom in Leaf's voice surprised Rain as she went on, "He's not going to leave us alone, is he?"
Rain eyed the fainted venomoth, a part of him wondering whether or not is was just pretending to be beaten and waiting for them to let their guards down long enough. He wouldn't put it past Ice to try and play dirty like that.
"We should keep moving." Sparky said, glancing around as if she expected another one of Ice's pokemon to appear at any second, "Maybe we'll find healing supplies up ahead." even she didn't sound like she believed herself with her final statement, but Rain was just as happy as anybody else to get as far away from Ice's venomoth as possible.
Rain picked Quinn up, the squirtle was still suffering from the effects of Stun Spore and Rain could tell that he wouldn't be able to keep up with them on foot. Without a word, the four of them carrying their pokemon tentatively made their way around the motionless venomoth as they carried on their journey into the unknown.
