Chapter 7
Author's Note: This is word emphasis
-this is telepathic conversation-
Lavender Town:
After Blue reported in what he had found out about what was going on in Lavender Town they had decided to meet up there in two weeks instead of in Vermillion City, during the majority of that Citrine had been training her powers, and working on her bond with Eevee as well, whom had rewarded her kindness by evolving into Espeon, the psychic type Eeveelution. Espeon worked on her powers right alongside her trainer, and with someone, so to speak, to train with Citrine's telepathic abilities grew by leaps and bounds. This was also a boon for Espeon, as now she fully understood why her trainer was so concerned about Sabrina. She needed to make damned sure her mental fortifications were top notch. Espeon could help with that endeavor, and help her train up her other psychic abilities as well. Eevee hadn't known she had a psychic form to choose from until she evolved into it. She loved her new form, it helped her to bond more fully with her master.
They head to Mr. Fuji's home, whom had just lost his Doduo not that long ago, and Citrine stiffens, -Guys, Koga is here. Steel Types are immune to Poison Types, and most Poison Types are also Bug or Grass Types which means Blue's Charmeleon, and new Growlithe will be godsends in this battle to come. We'll need to stock up on Antidotes, and other healing items as well.-
-I'll go get what we need and we can divide amongst each other then. It's better we not give Koga too much warning as to what is coming his way.- Blue says. He had to admit, Citrine being a psychic was highly useful, it made planning so much simpler. Though he did wonder at what her mental defenses would be. He was surprised to see an actual Espeon, who wouldn't be in Kanto. Then again, Citrine had grown up in Johto until she ran away. Blue still didn't have the full details on that, he suspected that Red did though. He goes through all the knowledge he's gleaned from his Gramps, what were Poison Types weak to, like say Arbok for instance. He had looked up Koga's Trainer Page after Citrine gave him a heads up that he was working for Team Rocket. Koga happened to have an Arbok, so what would be useful against Arbok?
He smirks when he realizes that Espeon was going to be a massive boon against Koga when it came to Arbok. Arbok was weak to Psychic and Ground Type attacks. -Red, did you happen to catch a Diglett?-
-Why do you want to know, Blue?- Red replies through Citrine.
-Koga happens to have an Arbok, and that particular pokémon is weak to Psychic and Ground Type attacks.-
-I did actually, and Dor knows Dig now. Glet taught him how to use Dig.- Red replies, he was already heading for the computer at Mr. Fuji's house to look up Koga's Trainer Page. They needed to do some hardcore planning on how they were going to take him out. Citrine was actually going to be their best bet, as much as he hated to admit it. He and Blue would have to back her up, -Make sure you get several Full Restores. Keeping Haunter and Espeon in the fight is going to be vital.-
Blue sends back a silent acknowledgement. Citrine did happen to be their best bet on handling Lavender Tower and Koga. Already Citrine was having Misdreavus and Haunter talk to the local Ghost Types to get them on their side in all this. Koga was going to be in for one very nasty surprise when they finally went after him. They were taking the time to plan appropriately. In the dimensions where Yellow survived Blue had charged in recklessly, got his ass kicked the first time, and then possessed by a Gastly. With Citrine in Yellow's place things were turning out slightly differently. This Blue was actually concerned about Citrine's well being. It helped that he had found out about Koga being in league with Team Rocket before he got his ass handed to him, and then subsequently controlled by a Gastly.
Red was using his PokéDex to see what all attacks Dor knew. Dor was going to be his star in this along with Saur. Saur was part Poison Type, and Dor was fully a Poison Type. Dor could learn ground type attacks though, so Red was going to see if Dor had anything other than Dig, which could only be used ten times minimum, -Blue, don't forget Ethers and Max Ethers, we might need the ability to recover our pokémon's moves. Koga is a Gym Leader after all.-
It was through this that he learned Dor had inherited Confusion from his sire. He does learn that Dor can learn Mud-Slap through tutoring, so he heads outside, calls out Dor and Glet, giving them their instructions. Glet nods to show he understands. He wasn't the only one whom had gotten new pokémon. Citrine had caught a female Pikachu that for some reason she decided to name ChuChu. The only reason Red knew ChuChu was female was because the end of her tail happened to be heart shaped. Red knew the two weeks they'd all spent training could only be a good thing. Sure, Blue had an ego, but he even he was rightfully leery of dealing with an evil Gym Leader on his own. With Dor and Glet hard at work he goes back into Mr. Fuji's home, and sees Citrine working on her empathy by sharing her power with her pokémon, thus raising all of their power levels. She was getting better at doing it consistently too.
Citrine's style of battling would have to be immensely different from his own, as she needed to make sure she incorporated her powers. Trainers fought alongside their pokémon after all. Citrine only fought in battles and at gyms to get much needed money, she preferred defense to offense, healing to injuring. Hence why she had spent so much time reading books on how to heal with the things in nature when they had still been in Pallet Town. That didn't mean she was naive enough to believe she would never need to battle with her pokémon, far from it. Citrine knew when to use her healing knowledge for other applications. You never messed with Healers, as they knew the best ways on how to inflict pain as well. That was just common sense really.
He goes over to her, and she automatically leans back against him as he sits behind her. He knew how exhausting it was for her to use her empathy like this. Thankfully she would have time to recover from this before they went into the Tower. They needed to plan accordingly after all. They couldn't just rush into this, they needed to at least have a rough outline of what they needed to do. Since they knew Koga was Team Rocket they figured they had something going on with Lavender Tower, and then the leader of the pokémon in Lavender Tower appears before them when Blue gets back with all of their items. Citrine cocks her head to the side as she 'listens' to Gengar. -Apparently Team Rocket is using the people of Lavender Town's belief that every strange thing is caused by the Ghost Types in the tower, along with the ghosts of the dearly departed pokémon as well. Gengar is more than willing to help us teach these fools a lesson. Once we get them out of the Tower the ghosts will Keep Them Out!-
Red and Blue assimilate this information, and once they're ready they storm the Tower. Citrine cocks her head to the side even as Blue has his Growlithe use Odor Sleuth to make all the ghosts corporeal. The ghosts have to make it look good for the grunts and Koga. Blue and Red make short work of the underlings. They were so pathetically weak it wasn't even funny. Citrine frowns as she subtly casts out with her telepathy, -Guys, Koga is not in the Tower. Somehow they have tech in here that allows him to see what is going on. It is his Arbok though.-
The male Pallet Town Duo nod grimly, and they continue to battle their way through Lavender Tower. Blue was glad Citrine had them stock up on healing items, or this would have been a whole lot harder, though it had been Red to add Ethers and Mega Ethers to that list. Being flown by some of hsi Zubat Koga frowns, that girl that reminded him of Agatha was here, along with the boy that had battled him at first, but who was the other lad? They had also come prepared, and how they were finding, then defeating all the...Koga curses internally, he had finally remembered Agatha did in fact have a granddaughter around the girl's age. However, he had no intentions of bringing Agatha's Wrath down upon his head for letting her granddaughter's location be known. Agatha was an Elite Four for a damned reason.
The girl had gotten the Ghost Types and ghosts to work with them, which was not in the plan. It threw in an odd shaped cog amongst the round ones. When his Arbok attacks it was the girl to deal with that problem with an Espeon of all Pokémon! Arbok was weak to Psychic attacks. They'd done their homework before heading into this, which meant one of them had done some recon on the area. They'd found out he was here somehow, and made rough plans that could be adapted accordingly to deal with him, and his Poison Types. It was well known he happened to be a Poison Type Specialist after all, and his Trainer Page would list every pokémon he happened to have legitimately anyhow. Seeing the girl and her Espeon rip through his Arbok like wet tissue paper was not something he liked to see.
Koga leaves before he can see Citrine collapse into Red, she'd bolstered Espeon's power with her own to deal with Arbok that much quicker. " She alright? " Blue asks Red.
" Wait until there's less chance…" Red answers.
Blue understood the hidden message, the answer was sensitive, and Red did not want the wrong people learning about this. Blue could live with that, he knew Citrine would have practiced her powers well away from the sight of Pallet Town's citizens, less chance for someone to see something they shouldn't, and make some very bad conclusions for Citrine anyhow. Pallet Town did get its share of tourists thanks to his Gramps. Red scoops her up into a princess carry, Haunter was visible now, and Espeon leaps up onto his head. Once back at Mr. Fuji's he thanks them for their hard work, and allows them to stay at his place while Citrine recovered from using her empathy in such a manner. Once alone in the house, and having Pika short out electronic means of spying, if there were any, Blue arches an eyebrow, " Citrine can use her empathy to bolster the power of her pokémon. She hasn't had much practice with it just yet so it wears her out, especially to the degree she did so to help Espeon out against Arbok. "
Espeon was curled up by her trainer's head, mostly to keep unwanted psychic guests out. The Lunar Wing kept her nightmare free, which was nice, it meant she could get actual healing sleep, though she still preferred to curl up with Red. " That would make her an extremely dangerous enemy in the right circumstances, especially if the wrong sort of people get a hold of her. "
Red sighs, " I know, it's why I was actually relieved you were with her during that bike race, Blue. I know you can kick ass with the best of them below Gym Leader level. "
Blue's eyes narrow, " You can bet I'm going to be training even more, we have to minimize the need for Citrine to do something like this again. I'm not naive enough to believe she'll never have to do so, hence why she needs to practice doing so with someone that won't take advantage of her subsequent vulnerability. " Blue states, " Just how much of herself did she keep hidden anyhow. She always was reading, but the books always looked like popular fiction stories. "
Red smirks, " Dust jackets only, she'd read every book on natural healing she could get her hands on, along with anything about pokémon, from their moves, habits, habitats...stuff like that. She doesn't just stick to Kanto region either, she branches out as much as she can. "
Blue considers this, he supposed it made sense for her to hide in plain sight. He wondered just how much of it was ingrained habit from her life before Pallet Town. " Save up your money and buy a PokéGear so we can stay in touch easier. At least enough that we can know where to meet up. "
Red looks at him, " I will, you may be Arrogant, but at least you do have the skill to back it up, plus 'Trine trusts you. You have no idea how major that is, Blue. Misty only got the bare bones of Citrine's past, you actually know who she is. "
" Later, Red. Take care of her. Oh, head for Celadon City next. I'm gonna go back near Vermillion for the moment, hit up the Power Plant. I don't have a pokémon that can light up Rock Tunnel just yet. Misdreavus can use Flash though, so you two are good in that respect. " Blue states, and heads off, " I'll try to stay close enough to get to you two should you need back up. "
Red watches him go, Blue may rub him the wrong way at times, but he seemed to genuinely care for Citrine, almost like another sister. Red did know Daisy Oak, Blue's older sister, so he could easily see Blue filing Citrine under the sister category.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Pokémon Adventures.
