Originally, I had started this chapter off with Jack falling out of his bed and hitting his head in the middle of the night, but not much follow-up to that. I haven't got much more to say, so enjoy and please review if you did! (and about me trying to upload more during the vacation, I didn't even expect myself to actually succeed in doing that.)
''hello'' = Spoken text
''hello'' = Thought text (always by the current perspective)
(Name) = Change of perspective
''hello'' = First fighter battle commands (Jack/Juli, depends on the current perspective)
''Hello'' = Second fighter battle commands (Whoever Jack/Juli is fighting, depends on the current perspective)
(Jack)
After training up for a good few hours I slammed open the door to Rustboro's gym with Gaudeo, now a combusken, by my side. The gym room was quite big, and Roxanne was sitting at the end, reading a book.
''Roxanne, I've come to challenge you to a gym battle!'' I exclaimed confidently.
Roxanne looked up, seeing me and Gaudeo in the doorway. She seemed to be evaluating us, checking if we were worthy.
''Very well, I accept your challenge.'' she said, as she stood up and put her book away.
''Alright! Gaudeo, I choose you!''
Gaudeo ran forward, onto the battlefield.
''Straight to the point, huh? I don't dislike that. Go, Geodude!'' Roxanne released a geodude from a pokeball, who landed on the battlefield as well
''You may have the first move.'' Roxanne said, calmly.
''Double kick!''
''Defense curl!''
Gaudeo ran in and kicked the geodude, who had curled up into a ball, right in the face. After regaining her balance, she kicked him from the side as well, forcing the geodude back a little.
''Use rock tomb, fast!''
''Growl! Don't let him get it off!''
Gaudeo 'growled', though it was really, more of a frightening roar. I had taught her to do so as a method of controlling the fight. And seeing how the geodude missed the rock tomb, it was working quite spectacularly.
''Good job, now another double kick!''
''Defense curl!''
Gaudeo rushed over to the geodude, who was trying to block the attack, but to no avail. Before the geodude could react, Gaudeo had already reached him and sent him flying into a wall.
''Alright! Nicely done, Gaudeo!'' I gave him a thumbs up, as she ran back to my side of the battlefield.
''Nosepass, I choose you!''
''Gaudeo, return. Go, Zigzagoon!''
''A... zigzagoon?'' Roxanne said, with a very skeptical look on her face.
''I know what I'm doing.'' I calmly responded.
''Well, okay then. Take your turn.''
''Growl!''
''This again? Don't be intimidated, use rock tomb!''
Zigzagoon growled, but the nosepass stood his ground and started aiming his rock tomb.
''Zigzag! Don't let him target you!'' Zigzagoon started running around in a fairly irregular pattern, until nosepass gave up and just threw it out to, but failed to hit him.
''Another growl!''
''Rock tomb!''
Zigzagoon growled again, then dodged the rock tomb. This repeated a few more times, until I thought the Nosepass had been growled enough.
''Zigzagoon, return. Gaudeo, go get 'em!''
I released Gaudeo from her ball and she happily ran back to the battlefield.
''Alright, double kick!''
''Rock tomb!''
Gaudeo ran up to the nosepass and kicked him twice from the front, but the nosepass stood his ground and threw a rock tomb at Gaudeo, which connected. Gaudeo was now stuck in between 3 rocks. But, even though I couldn't see her, I was positive she was okay. After she kicked one of the rocks away, it became evident that she was perfectly fine, barely a scratch on her. Zigzagoon's growls had really put in work.
''Another double kick!''
Roxanne, who was pretty much panicking at this point, hastily said:
''Block it!''
Nosepass frantically tried to get ready for Gaudeo, who was looking like a demon as she charged at Nosepass and easily kicked past his short arms and sending him flying into a wall. He lay there, knocked out. Roxanne ran over to him, whispering reassuring words to him as she returned him to his ball. she then walked over to me.
''Well done, trainer. You did an excellent job finding a way past the type disadvantage of rock to fire, as well as a rock pokemon's physical strength. Therefore, I present to you this badge, the stone badge.
''Yes!'' I cheered, as I accepted the badge. ''High five!'' I said, as I high fived Gaudeo. I grabbed zigzagoon's pokeball and said to it: ''You too zigzagoon, great job!''
''Zigzagoon!'' I heard from inside the ball.
''Alright, Gaudeo, let's go meet up with Juli!''
''Combusken!''
I started walking over to the door, until Roxanne stopped me.
''Hold up.''
''Yes, what is it?''
''Well, having observed you're battle technique in that fight, you seem like a very experienced trainer. But no matter how I look at you, you seem to be extremely new to pokemon battling.''
''Could you cut to the chase? I've got someone waiting for me.''
''How long have you been a trainer?''
''A few days.''
Roxanne looked quite surprised, then said:
''Could you refer us to the trainer school you attended? I think we can learn a lot from them.''
''I never went to trainer school, I attended a normal primary school.''
''Roxanned, looking dumbfounded at this point, then said:
''In that case, you must be extremely talented. Could you... come back here after you've finished traveling? I'm sure the students and even I could learn a lot from you.''
''So you want me to become a teacher here?''
''Yes.''
I smiled and said: ''I'll consider it.''
She smiled back as she said: ''Thank you. What's your name?''
''I'm Jack.''
''I'm sure you already know who I am, but I'll introduce myself anyway. I'm Roxanne, nice to meet you!''
''Likewise.'' I shook her hand and left the gym. Once I was a fair bit away from the gym, I looked behind me to see her waving and waved back. After a bit, she turned around and went back into the gym.
''Alright, let's get going then!'' I told Gaudeo, who happily joined me.
I was sitting there on a bench near a fountain in the park, waiting for Juli to finish up and come over. I had phoned her to tell her I was done, but she still had some things to buy. You see, neither of us had actually taken proper traveling equipment, like a tent, with us. When I said I'd go challenge the gym, she said she'd get some stuff we need using the money we got from the pearls. I saw Juli looking for me, so I walked up to her.
''Yo, Juli.''
''Jack?'' She said, as she turned around.
''Hi.''
''Did you beat the gym?''
''Easily.''
''That's nice, now take this.'' She pushed a bunch of bags into my arms. ''Ah, this too.'' She pushed even more bags into my arms. ''Good, now let's get going!'' She said, as she pointed to the mall.
''I thought you were finished.'' I said, as I divided the weight amongst my arms.
''Of course not! We've still got a ton we need to get!''
''But-''
''I'll have none of your whining! Let's go!''
''Okay...'' I sighed as I accepted my fate and followed Juli.
I threw the bags onto the bench and sat down beside them. Juli had been dragging me all over the place, so I was extremely tired.
''Are we finally done?''
''Let's see...'' She grabbed a list from her pocket. She started checking if we got everything we need.
''...Looks like we've got everything.''
''How are we going to carry these bags all the time though?''
''Hmmm. Good point. We'll need to find a way to get all of this into one or two bags.''
''We won't be able to carry those two bags, if we were even able to fit everything into them.''
''Damn... Didn't think about that.'' She sat down as well. We sat there for a while, trying to think of a way to get this to work.
''Can't we just leave some of it behind? We've got plenty of money, so we should be fine in that regard.''
''I already narrowed it down to basic necessities.'' Reaaaally?
Suddenly, we heard a scream from the side.
''STOP THE THIEF!''
Juli and I quickly looked over to the direction of the scream, to see an Aqua member running away from a Devon employee. I immediatly noticed the Devon employee was the same one I had helped back in Petalburg Woods, same with the Aqua member.
''We've got to stop him!'' I said to Juli, who nodded in agreement.
''Nincada, track him!'' I commanded Nincada, as I released him from his ball.
''Nin!'' He quickly scurried into the trees, in the direction of the Aqua member.
''Juli, get a room in the center for one more day and get the stuff there, I'll chase the Aqua member!''
''Alright. See you!''
''Yeah, see you soon!'' I said, as I sprinted to catch up with Nincada.
I was hiding next to Nincada behind a wall, spying on the thug, when I noticed Juli join up with me.
''That's him right there.'' I said, keeping my eyes on the Aqua member. Juli poked her head out from behind the wall to get a good look on him.
''Why isn't he leaving through the cave? You can go through Verdanturf and get to Mauville, where he should be safe, quite easily.''
''It seems he's blocked by some rocks. He's trying to get rid of them right now, but I think it'll take a while. He only has a Poochyena for it.''
''Can't we take him down easily then? One Poochyena shouldn't be a problem for you at all, since you have a Combusken with double kick.
''He might have more pokemon, but isn't using them in case someone's watching. He seems like a pretty tough guy himself too, so he could easily beat me up while my pokemon are preoccupied with his.''
''Then how are we going to take him down?'' Juli said, slightly distressed.
''We'll just prevent him from releasing the rest of his pokemon.''
''Shouldn't we just wait for the police?''
''By the time they get here, he'll be long gone. Someone must've called them, but they weren't able to track the Aqua member down.''
''Ah, who cares. How are you planning to prevent him from releasing his pokemon though?''
''Don't worry, I've got a plan. Just watch. Gaudeo, come out.'' I whispered my plan to Gaudeo and Nincada, who nodded acknowledgingly.
Nincada shot a leech life at the grunt, which connected perfectly in his shoulder.
''AAAAAH,'' I heard him scream. ''who did that!?'' he turned around and caught a glimpse of Nincada, who quickly bolted back to safety behind the wall.
''Don't think you're getting away with that, brat!'' I heard him walk over to us and once we saw his shadow, Gaudeo jumped out from behind the wall and pinned him to the ground. Before he could realise what was going on, we'd already tied him up using escape rope.
''Round two, we win.'' I said cockily.
''Not you again... Want a repeat of what happened last time?''
''Nah, I'm fine. Zigzagoon,'' I released Zigzagoon. ''take down his Poochyena.'' Zigzagoon nodded and rushed over to the Poochyena, who was surprised by Zigzagoon and got knocked out in one hit. Meanwhile, the grunt was still struggling heavily to escape from the rope, but to no avail. I recovered the bag with the stolen goods and laid it down on the ground.
''Ummmm, Jack?''
''Yes, Juli?''
''Why do you two seem to know each other already?''
''He has tried to steal something from Devon before, but I stopped him.''
''Stopped!? You didn't do anything!'' The Aqua member said, slightly angry.
''If I didn't stop you, why did you have to steal the goods again?''
He gave me an angry look, then shut up.
''So that's the story.'' I told Juli.
''But why did he attempt to steal from Devon twice? What is he after?''
''That's a very good question. Let's have a look, shall we?''
I opened the box and found a bunch of papers inside, as well as some parts. I took out the papers, which had blueprints on them. I couldn't quite decipher what they were for. I showed Juli the papers too, but she seemed just as puzzled as me.
''What's this?'' I asked the grunt, pointing to the object on the paper.
''Why would I tell you?''
''Because you don''t have a choice. You can barely move and we can call the police at any moment. I don't think it would be very benificial for Team Aqua if a member was caught stealing, would it? So speak up! What are these blueprints for and why do you need them!''
The Aqua member cursed inwardly. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Juli
''Jack! I found it!''
''You found what?''
''The name of this thing! It's called a submarine!''
''Submarine? I've heard that name before...'' I tried to recall where I heard about submarines. ''Ah, I remember. It was on tv a while ago. It's a device that allows groups of people to dive without needing a pokemon with dive. It could have a big impact here in Hoenn, with all the water around here.''
''So team Aqua wanted to get their hands on this 'submarine' for financial purposes? They're just after money?'' Juli said.
''That seems quite logical.'' Not really though. Who would steal in the middle of a town for a bit more money? there's more behind this.
I was still looking at Juli, but saw a slight smirk on the grunt's face, from the corner of my eyes. I recall him saying something at our first meeting too. I believe it was: ''You can not grasp what we're trying to do.'' Something is awfully wrong here.
''That's right,'' The Aqua member said. ''we're running very low on money, we're close to becoming bankrupt even. We need to get the submarine finished and ready for sale before Devon, or we'll be ruined! So please, hand over the blueprints and parts and we'll all live happily!'' I don't believe this story. There's more behind all this, but he definitely won't tell me. dammit!
''Any company who will resort to stealing isn't worthy of staying in business.'' I let my anger out on this damn Aqua member. ''Juli, let's get going. I've had enough of this guy's shit.'' I put the blueprints back in the box and picked it up. I started walking away with it, then motioned for Juli to come along.
''Okay...'' Juli said, softly. I guess she was, for some unfathomable reason, worried about this guy.
''Hey, you can't just leave me like this!'' The team Aqua grunt pleaded. This gave me an idea, a way to get me known by team Aqua and figure out their goals.
''Oh we sure can.'' I walked up to the Aqua member, grabbing him by the collar and pushing him against the wall. ''Do you really think I can't?'' I dropped him, leaving his hands close to a sharp piece of rock. ''Bye bye!'' I said, as I waved goodbye to the grunt. I walked quickly, which made Juli fall behind a bit. I looked back one last time and saw him moving his arms to try and break the rope. A smile crept onto my face, as I focused my attention to the world in front of me once more.
This took suuuuuuch a long time to make, even though it's so short. If you liked it, make sure to leave a review. And I hope you have a wonderful day!
