Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, but I do own this story
Thanks to my beta DanielRedDragon for proofreading this story.
Water Around Mikan
I woke up with light filtering through the blinds, the events of yesterday flashing through my head. I wanted to groan and go back to bed, but I needed to get up.
Pikachu was up and out of bed before me, he bounded through the doors toward the lobby without me. I found this quite odd.
I quickly got dressed and followed him.
Camilla was already in the lobby, she was sitting down eating breakfast.
I went up to the counter immediately, there was something I had to do, something I had wanted to do for two days, but the last two days were busy, so I never had a chance.
'Hello, how may I help you?' Nurse Joy asked.
'I'd like to register for the Orange Island League please.' I said.
'Of course.' She replied. 'May I take your Pokédex for a second?'
I handed it to her, she scanned it on a computer before handing it back with a small case, on the see-through case it was dotted with small blotches.
'What are these?' I asked pointing to the irregular blotches on the case.
'They are the islands that make up the orange archipelago.' Nurse Joy explained.
There were so many, all in different sizes and shapes and they were all in random places.
I noticed that this case was smaller and not as elegant as the case for Kanto that I had back home.
'Thank you.' I said and made my way to the table where Camilla was finishing off her breakfast.
I sat down next to her and put my case on the table.
'Looks different to the one you had for Kanto.' Camilla said.
'It certainly is smaller, but that's probably because there are only four gyms instead of the original eight.' I replied.
Leaf came out with Tracey in tow a few seconds later. At that time people came out of the lobby a few at a time, or one every so often, this was the time people woke up.
'How long have you been awake?' I asked Camilla looking at her expression, it was sad and looked like it was a bad thing that had happened.
'A while.' She replied.
'ESP?' I mouthed as Leaf and Tracey sat down.
She nodded in confirmation, I would ask her about the dream she had later, plus I would have to call Riley later also. It looked like the dream was worse this time.
Camilla put on a brave face to attack the day head on.
'I'm going to call professor Oak.' Leaf stated. She stood up and made her way toward the phone.
'She knows professor Oak?' Tracey asked astounded.
'We all know professor Oak.' I told Tracey.
'You know professor Oak?' Tracey asked.
I sighed in exasperation.
'I have lived in the same town as he has all my life, Camilla has met him a few times and Leaf has worked for him a few times.' I replied.
'Professor Oak is a role model to me.' Tracey stated.
'Would you like to meet him?' Camilla asked.
'Would I?' Tracey asked in astonishment at Camilla's request.
Camilla stood up and took Tracey over to where Leaf was.
I saw Tracey bow and he looked fidgety while he was over at the phone. I laughed at how he acted, he was a bit jittery, maybe he was just nervous around a world known professor.
Camilla came back a few minutes later, leaving Tracey at the phone with Leaf.
'You should call Riley.' I told her.
'It wasn't that bad.' She replied.
'It didn't look like it wasn't that bad, it looked like you had been effected loads, plus you had been awake for ages.'
Camilla brushed my comment off, she wasn't going to give in, so there was no pint in fighting with her, she would call my uncle when she felt it got really bad, despite her being the one to suggest that we call Riley in the first place.
Tracey came over a few seconds later.
'Wow, professor Oak is amazing.' Tracey commented. 'I didn't know you knew him, I wish I could do something for you in return.' Tracey said.
He was truly thankful that we let him meet the professor, and now he wanted to do something for us.
'Sure.' Camilla said before I could reply.
It would be rude, but we didn't really do anything, Leaf called up the professor and Tracey was escorted over to the phone to talk to him, but now he wanted to do something for us.
I was a bit troubled by something, but I don't know how well Tracey knew the Orange Islands Archipelago.
Leaf came over, she gave me a look and I knew exactly what she talked to professor Oak about, her expression was sad, but the expression flashed away as soon as it came.
Now both Camilla and Leaf had a problem, but I couldn't do anything to help either of them. I felt hopeless.
'Tracey, do you know anything about the Orange League?' I asked.
'Actually, I do, Jordan.'
'Well, could you tell me about it?' I asked.
'Sure, the Orange League is made up of four Gym leaders who, collectively are called the Orange Crew, and you need to beat all four of them and gain a gym badge from each, to earn the right to battle the Champion of the Orange Islands League.' Tracey explained. 'So, Jordan, you are thinking of taking on the challenge?' Tracey asked.
'Yes.' I replied. 'I want to be a Pokémon master.' I told him.
'Okay, the closest Gym is on Mikan island, so we could head there first.' Tracey said.
'That's great.' Leaf said. 'But how are we going to get there, we don't have the blimp anymore as it crashed on Valencia island, and the boat that brought us here is now on Valencia island, and so the sailor is also probably on Valencia island.' Leaf said.
'You do have a water Pokémon, right?' Tracey asked.
'I have a Blastoise.' I replied.
'That's perfect!' Tracey exclaimed. 'We'll ride Blastoise to Mikan island where you can challenge the Gym.' Tracey said.
My friends and I made our way to the beach where we let Lapras go.
I let out Blastoise.
'Hey, Blastoise, do you think you could give us a ride to Mikan island?' I asked.
Blastoise nodded in confirmation, he fell forward onto the waters surf and we all climbed on. It was hard to find a way to be comfortable on Blastoise, but we managed. We all sat cross-legged on Blastoise, all four of us on a water Pokémon. Blastoise didn't mind, and we all found it fun to ride a water Pokémon, this was an experience I did not have before. Not like this, I did ride Blastoise to the Seafoam Islands, and then to Cinnabar, and to an unknown island which Mewtwo was on, but not like this. This water seemed calm and not ferocious like the other times did.
Blastoise sped through the water in the direction of Mikan island.
According to Tracey, it was actually the next island, and the closest island to Tangelo island. This was a bonus. It was great that it was so close, after a few minutes riding Blastoise I saw an island appear on the horizon.
'That is Mikan island.' Tracy informed us. 'The main thing on the island is actually the Gym, not much there really. A Pokémon centre, like any other island, a few buildings and a Gym which is not near the buildings its off a footpath.'
So, we would have to walk a while before we got to the Gym. I didn't mind, I was eager to battle the first Gym leader and earn my first badge, that would be great for my first step to challenging the champion of the Orange Island Archipelago.
Blastoise reached Mikan a few minutes later, I was eager to battle the Gym leader, but I figured we'd probably go to the Pokémon centre first to plan how I would go up against this Gym leader. Never before had I planned out battles, so I don't know how this would differ.
I returned Blastoise and thanked him for getting us to this island, he would probably be our main mode of transport with us navigating our way around the Orange Islands.
We found the Pokémon centre pretty easily, it wasn't like the one on Tangelo island, that was a pain finding out it wasn't even in the town, it was actually on top of a hill.
As soon as we entered we noticed it was empty, no-one was in this Pokémon centre, but us. This was strange. Nurse Joy as always was behind the counter, but we were the only five in the Pokémon centre the rest of the place was vacant.
The shocked look on nurse Joy's face told us that this was normal for the Pokémon centre.
This made me wonder why there was a Pokémon centre on this island in the first place.
I suppose it was regulation to have a Pokémon centre on every island, plus there was Gym on this island, if you lost then you would have to retreat to the Pokémon centre to heal your Pokémon.
I gave nurse Joy a warm smile, she returned it and my friends, and I sat down at a random table.
'Pretty empty.' Camilla commented in a hushed tone.
'Not normal for a Pokémon centre.' Leaf agreed.
'Yeah, well this island is rarely visited, it has a hotel, so most people go there instead of coming here, it is quite a luxurious hotel, plus the only other reason people come to this island is for the Mikan Island Gym.' Tracey explained.
He was very well informed about the Orange Island Archipelago, he could be a tour guide of this place, if he could sail a boat.
'And that's the only reason I am here, I don't care much for a hotel.' I piped up.
'I would feel bad if we went to a hotel instead of here, for about a year I have slept in Pokémon centres it would be weird to sleep elsewhere.' Camilla said.
Tracey thought he should change the subject to my first Gym battle.
'So, Jordan, how do you plan to tackle this Gym?' He asked.
Both Camilla and Leaf looked at him like he was crazy.
'What?' He asked.
'Jordan?' Leaf asked clearly surprised by Tracey's question.
'Plan?' Camilla asked in the same tone.
Tracey looked at the girls confused, then to me with a pleading look.
'Jordan doesn't plan before he tackles Gym battles.' Camilla explained basically.
'And with that attitude he reached the Kanto Pokémon League and battled the second member of the elite four.' Leaf added.
Tracey was still surprised, maybe some trainers would plan for their Gym battles, but battles aren't scripted, they are full of surprises and can have their tables turned with a click of the trainer's fingers.
'So, you're just going to go there with no plans and hope for the best?' Tracey asked.
'Yup.' I nodded.
Tracey was still baffled at our explanation, but I didn't really want to explain it again, plus it would be better if he saw me battle instead of me telling him, he would definitely understand as soon as I won my first Gym badge.
'You ready Jordan?' Camilla asked shooting up.
'Pikachu?' I asked.
Pikachu perked up its ears and apparently, he was oblivious to our conversation.
'It's time for our first Gym battle.' I said.
'Pika!' he said with as much enthusiasm as I was keeping inside me.
I was fired up for this battle. I hadn't had an official battle in a while and I was eager for this next one.
'Tracey, you know the way to this Gym, right?' I asked.
'Yes, you would like me to take you there?' He asked.
I nodded.
'Yes please.' I replied.
Tracey led the way out of the Pokémon centre, we met almost no one on the way, not only was the Pokémon centre vacant, but so was most of the island, it made me feel a little uncomfortable. Was it a good idea to take on the Orange Crew and eventually the champion?
It seemed-as if not-any people took on the Orange League, like it wasn't popular enough. I understood why, it was small, the Orange Islands were scattered below Kanto, the Orange Crew weren't that well known, there were only four Gyms, and the champion didn't move around much.
It was just as well, you could battle the champion whatever time of the year, the chairman of the Pokémon League hadn't officialised this Pokémon league as an official one, but if you did win this league, you got your name engraved on a trophy.
The walk to the Gym wasn't in complete silence, my friends and I talked about how I was rash my other Gym battles, mostly Camilla, she had been with me for most of them. Both Leaf and Tracey were surprised at some of them, especially Tracey as he had never seen me before a Gym battle whereas Camilla had, but Leaf knew how reckless I could be.
I didn't mind them talking about me, but as I got closer I got more nervous about this Gym battle. This was different to how normal Gym battles where, what if this wasn't even a battle and was instead a challenge? It was unexpected and if I declared that I was going to battle the Gym leader I had to accept to their terms.
Again, like many times before, I was getting nervous. This shouldn't be like me, you'd think after eight Gyms the nerves shouldn't get to you, but there's always something holding you back, doubt sometimes fogged my mind. Unfortunately, my legs always seemed to have other ideas, it's like my brain had lost control of them, because no matter what I thought, their destination and direction would never change, their movement wouldn't falter not for even a fraction of a second.
Pikachu noticed my change in mood.
'Pika?' He questioned.
'I'm fine, buddy.' I reassured him. 'Just the nerves.' I replied.
'Pika!' he replied in determination.
I cracked a smile, his enthusiasm normally lifted my spirits, he had never failed before and that hadn't changed now.
'You're right.' I said.
He seemed proud that he had once again won over with his enthusiasm in battle.
I stopped as soon as I saw a building that overlooked the ocean. It looked like a run-down bungalow.
'There's the Gym!' Tracey declared.
This didn't look like a normal Gym, but to be fair this wasn't a normal Pokémon league, no officialness, no way to tell them how to run it. That made sense.
A boy about a year younger than I came up to us. He had black spikey hair and was wearing a tucked in yellow t-shirt with red shorts.
He looked like he was going to teach me something, but like I had to listen, like it was something important that would guide through the rest of my life.
'Hello.' He greeted us. 'I am Senta and welcome to the Mikan Island Gym, before you go up against the Gym leader I am your first challenge.' The boy who was Senta informed us.
I knew these kind of people, cocky, hard minded, thought they were supreme to anyone who they just met.
'I issue a battle with you trainer, for your ri…'
'Senta!' A female voice called.
Senta cringed at the voice.
A girl a little older than Tracey appeared, she had brown hair that draped on either side of her face and fell to her jaw, and the back part of her hair was in a short ponytail. She was wearing a black vest top and a salmon pink dress that fell to her shins. Her eyes were quite intimidating, she definitely showed that she was a Gym leader.
'What have I told you?' She asked.
'Sorry, sis.' He apologized slowly moving behind her.
'Who are you?' She asked looking down at me.
'I am Jordan Hale of Pallet Town and I am here to issue a battle with you.' I replied.
'A battle you want?' This girl asked.
'Yes.' I nodded. Letting go of a breath I didn't know I was holding.
'I am the Gym leader, I must accept your challenge, but because I am the Gym leader I have my own rules about the challenge.' She said challenge the second time carefully as if it was a word that she had picked out carefully. 'Come with me.' She said.
As we followed her she introduced herself.
'My name is Cissy of the Orange Crew and I am Mikan Islands Gym leader. I guess no one explained to you, Jordan Hale of Pallet Town.' She started. 'Here in the Orange Islands we have Gym challenges, not battles.' She added.
No battles? I thought.
'You see, most trainers think that battling is the only thing that matters for a Pokémon, but here in the Orange Islands we have a different way of approaching how to pit Pokémon against each other. Here, we help Pokémon with their skills and not have them endure through battles, this is better because no Pokémon gets hurt and it helps a Pokémon with all their abilities.' Cissy told me.
This was strange, but I guess I had to accept whatever skills she was talking about, plus what she told me got me thinking, maybe that battling wasn't all what it was, maybe Pokémon had other attributes that could be perfected.
I never thought of it that way, but to be fair the last battle I lost was against Brock the first time I battled him, so I guess that I didn't really need to perfect the other Pokémon's attributes, but if I had to use them to earn this Gym badge I would.
We made our way to the front of the bungalow and I saw a large table with cans on it, what was going to happen here?
This was strange, and I don't think it was going to get any easier.
'Welcome to my Gym challenge, another regulation I have is, only water type Pokémon are allowed to be in my battle so if you don't have one the you forfeit the battle until you have one.' Cissy told me.
I only had Blastoise, but I'm sure he would be able to do anything Cissy threw at us.
'Why don't your friends watch from behind us, don't want them to be getting in the way.' Cissy said.
My friends nodded and went to stand the opposite side to me as the cans on the bench.
'So, what are we doing?' I asked.
'On those benches is a target range, you will use a water type Pokémon to shoot all the cans down, you have three towers and six shots, all cans must be knocked down, the winner will be whichever of us has the most shots left after all he cans have been knocked over. And you must use a special attack, no physical attacks are allowed.'
This seemed pretty simple, all I had to do was hit down three towers in three goes.
'The challenger may go first.' Cissy continued.
I was going to go first, this put more pressure on me than I recently anticipated. I thought I would be going second.
'Blastoise, I choose you.' I called.
Blastoise came out and looked at the cans.
'Blastoise, use Hydro Pump to knock over those cans.' I said.
Blastoise eyed the cans and he went on all four before using his Hydro Pump to blast the first tower.
All the cans fell over. I was happy that his accuracy was on point, but what's more is he knocked down all six cans from the first tower, now all he had to do was knock the other two towers down without failure.
Blastoise aimed for the second tower and managed to knock that one down also. I was getting exited with this going how well it was I could win this Gym battle no problem, but I couldn't get too cocky or prideful, I just hope Blastoise wasn't feeling too proud.
He turned to face the last one and he managed to knock it down.
One can was wobbling and had not fallen over, if this can didn't fall over I had the possibility of losing.
The can wobbled for a bit longer before it finally fell.
Blastoise had done it, he had knocked down all the can towers, all eighteen cans, each one took one shot I had three shots to spare.
'Well done Blastoise.' I congratulated him as he stood back up.
'Seadra, let's do this.' Cissy called out.
Cissy called out a Pokémon that Camilla had. I remembered that Camilla's Seadra had been great in the battle against Rachel. Rachel had originally caught a Horsea, but gave it to Camilla as Rachel would have an Omanyte.
'Go.' Cissy called.
Seadra knocked down all three can towers pretty quickly. I was so glad this wasn't a speed test else Cissy would have won.
'Well done Jordan, you matched my Seadra, so we will move onto the second part of my challenge.'
Second part? I thought, how manty parts were there?
'In this part, clay pigeons will fly out the top of the building, you will have to knock more down than I, there will be five and no shot limit' Cissy explained.
I supposed this part of the challenge was a little harder, but I would do my best and so would Blastoise.
'You got this Blastoise.' I told him.
The first clay pigeon came out without warning, but Blastoise was quick to responding and shot at it. It broke on contact with Blastoise's Hydro Pump.
The next four came out randomly, but Blastoise hit the other four on the first try, just like the first, he was a natural at accuracy and power.
'Well done Blastoise.' I congratulated him again. Five out of five. I was on a roll, there was no way I would lose now. I just had to hope Cissy would hit four or less. Five would call for a tiebreaker.
Cissy's Seadra was on point will all five shots also, so it was still a tie.
'Okay, Jordan, you have shown that you are definitely a skilled trainer, but seems we are at a tie, this last challenge will decide if you are worthy of the Coral-Eye badge or not.'
I never knew the name of this badge I also had no idea what it looked like, but I was determined to find out.
'We will be doing a sea-ride race.' Cissy said. 'Each of us will pick a water Pokémon and we will have to stand on this Pokémon the whole way through the race, we will race to the buoy out in the ocean, go around it and come back, the first Pokémon to the shore wins.' Cissy explained.
I would have to stand and keep my balance on Blastoise since he is my only water type Pokémon, but I wondered who Cissy would use, she couldn't really use Seadra, could she?
Cissy returned Seadra.
'Blastoise, you're up.' She said.
So, this would be a Blastoise race.
Blastoise laid down on top of the water and I went to stand on top of him. I gained my balance on him pretty quickly, but I knew I would have to stand the whole way through else I would lose, and the Coral-Eye badge would not be mine.
Cissy's younger brother Senta will be the judge of the race.
'On your marks, get set, go!' Senta called.
Both our Blastoise set off at the same time and for the first few seconds they were evenly matched.
I knew that this would be the hardest challenge that Cissy gave me, she was an experienced Gym leader with a Blastoise whereas I was only a trainer with a Blastoise.
Me and my Blastoise had been together since day one when it was a Squirtle. He and I had been through so much, we had grown together, we had been together longer than me and Pikachu had, granted Pikachu was my best friend, but I had had Blastoise the longest.
Cissy's Blastoise started to get the advantage.
I was having trouble trying to keep up while balancing on the back of my Blastoise.
My Blastoise was determined to win as it started to get a little faster. Every time Blastoise got faster it got harder for me to stay standing upright. I had wobbled a few times and we hadn't even reached halfway yet.
I could see the buoy, it was in the distance a little red shape.
If it was that far away I didn't know if I would be able to win this.
I was thinking about forfeiting this match, I was beginning to think that this race was hopeless for Blastoise and I.
Before this challenge I was determined to win, now I was pondering if there was any point in trying if Cissy was winning.
The only thing I could do to win would be to somehow cheat, but I would not cheat. I didn't know how so, it was kinda impossible.
Cissy pulled slowly further away, and I began to think that this would definitely be impossible if I didn't have an advantage soon, or if Cissy faltered.
Cissy turned around the buoy with a sharp turn and started to head back toward the shore.
I followed a few seconds later, but my turn wasn't as sharp or as fast as her turn was.
Cissy looked behind her at me trailing, she kept pulling away, she turned back and wobbled, she was losing her balance, but unfortunately, for me, she was able to regain her balance and pull away further still.
I felt a pulse underneath me, it grew large in font of me and I realised a wave was forming, this was an obstacle I did not want to deal with this would only slow me down even more.
The wave was about the height of Blastoise as it rocked under Cissy, Cissy's expression was hidden from me, so I didn't know if this would have been a problem for her or if she would use it to her advantage.
The wave grew massive as it reached the shore.
Cissy's Blastoise rode up the wave that was slowly growing.
There would be no way of me winning if I did the same. I had a crazy idea and I might possibly lose the race, but if I followed Cissy then I would definitely lose the race, my method had to work.
'Blastoise, ride through the wave.' I said.
Blastoise didn't question my motive, but I was sure he seemed it was weird, but when were my methods orthodox, most of my battling methods weren't heard of or were weird, so why shouldn't my challenges have some of that flare in them also?
Blastoise pushed through the wave.
I felt the water shaping around me as Blastoise pushed his way through.
We emerged on the other side, there was no sign of Cissy, not even on the shore, I looked up and saw her riding the wave down.
She was descending really quickly even though she was behind us quite a bit, but that didn't stop her gaining on us as quick as she was, she had used the wave to her advantage.
The shore was five short metres. I could make it before Cissy caught up with me, right?
Everything seemed to slow down as every metre passed.
Cissy was gaining at least three metres for every metre Blastoise and I travelled.
Blastoise and I finally found the shore and I saw Cissy line up right beside me.
This was close, as I was too busy trying to win the race, I didn't know which of us reached the shore first.
Senta looked at us.
I was waiting for the answer.
I jumped of Blastoise as Senta announced the winner.
'By a very close margin Jordan Hale of Pallet Town wins the wave race.' Senta said.
'Yes!' I exclaimed. 'Well done Blastoise.' I said.
He let out a guttural growl in happiness.
I had won my first Gym challenge in the Orange Islands. It was one of the hardest challenges I had ever had to face, it was even harder than most of my Gym battles in Kanto.
'Congratulations, Jordan Hale, you have definitely proven yourself as a great trainer and you are deserving of the Coral-Eye badge.' Cissy said she handed me a pink badge in the shape of a clam shell with a small blue gem in the middle of it.
It didn't look like much of a badge, but it was to show that I had challenged the Mikan Island Gym and I had beaten it successfully.
I was glad, but I couldn't celebrate just yet I had three other badges to collect before I could even think of battling the Orange League champion.
'Congratulations, Jordan.' Camilla said.
'Well done.' Leaf agreed.
'So that's and Orange Gym challenge.' Tracey said.
It was obvious he had never seen one in action before, but that didn't matter. I guess it was right of him to see me battle, he had battled with us anyway.
'The next Orange Crew member you should battle would be Danny, on Navel Island, but there a few islands between here and there.' Cissy told me. 'Maybe you should explore them, since you are in the Orange Islands it wouldn't hurt to have a look around.' Cissy offered. 'I have a friend who can give you a boat ride in that direction.' Cissy continued.
'Thanks.' I said.
All four of us went to the Pokémon centre before we boarded the boat to the next island.
Here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy it, I hope how you like the Gym challenge turned out especially since its different from he anime. Anyway, I still have both polls up, one more chapter and one of them will be taken down, so if you want to vote go to the polls on my profile.
Until next time.
Chapter Eight: Pokémon With No Joy
