~Author's Note~

Attention, lovers of Pokémon! I, Aardvark123, am proud to, like, present the next exciting, like, installment of Aureliano and Chrissie's Legendary Johto Quest Adventure! I hope you enjoy it; if not, like, what the Distortion Realm is wrong with you?!

~Chapter 8: Assault on Violet Gym! Chrissie's First Glorious Victory against the Forces of Darkness!~

OR

~Falkner has a Really Bad Day!~

"Help! Help! The gym's on fire! Run for your lives!" a young woman wailed, eagerly practicing what she preached as she fled through the streets of Violet City, almost crashing into Lauren on the way. (Don't ask why they're back in Violet City. Just don't, all right?)

"Oh!" gasped Chrissie and Snowy in perfect harmony.

"What is it?! What's the matter?!" demanded Lauren.

"The gym. Is. On fire," said the woman impatiently. "And possibly also under attack. Oh, if only there were three talented pokémon trainers around to help defend our beloved gym!"

"I hear there's a manectric stirring up trouble near the gym," a passing lavishly bearded man said gravely. "None of Falkner's pokémon'll be able to take it on. Oh, poor Falkner! He must be terrified! I bet he'd be so grateful to anyone who saves his bacon he'd let them have a Zephyr Badge."

A fire kindled in Lauren's eyes. "A gymnasium beset by the forces of evil. A maladjusted manectric stirring up havoc." She fist-pumped awesomely. "Inconcievable! We will tolerate this travesty not a second longer. Come, Snowy and Chrissie! We shall rescue the noble Falkner, or my name's not Lauren Geoheat, JUSTICE CONNOISSEUR!"

"Right behind you!" declared Chrissie, retrieving Chloe's poké-ball. "We'll show them what three random pokémon trainers can do."

"You two can't sit still for a moment..." said Snowy, thoroughly boggled.

"And no bad thing. Get moving!" snapped the bearded man, shoving Snowy in the general direction of the gym.


"Nnh..." grimmaced Falkner, screwing shut his left eye, which, due to the orientation of his head, had been thoroughly dazzled by that last discharge. "Pidgeot, return. You fought valiantly."

A beam of red light drew the limp, charred pidgeot into her poké-ball. Falkner narrowed his eye (the other one was still closed). Now, that's a manectric and a half. If I could just get Tropius or Dragonair...

As if sensing the gym leader's intentions, the manectric hurled a few crackling tendrils of lightning across the room, penning Falkner in and setting one of his few surviving cuddly toys on fire.

There was only one thing for it. "Skarmory, I choose you!" declared Falkner. With the usual flash of light, Skarmory burst out into the dishevvled room.

"Steel wing!" ordered Falkner.

Letting the steely essence of his soul flow into his wings, Skarmory rushed at the manectric.

"Oh, puh-lease." Paws blazing with electricity, the manectric biffed Skarmory in the nose, sending him flying right back at Falkner.

"Okay, change of plan. Use brave bird, then iron head!" ordered Falkner.

Skarmory nodded, steelified his head, leapt into the sky and charged at the manectric. There was no time to react; all the manectric could do was shut his eyes and hope for the best as Skarmory headbutted him clean through the wall.

"Ugghhh..." groaned the manectric. Then, realising he wasn't actually that badly hurt, he thunderbolted Skarmory until the poor metallic bird broke down in tears.

"Can't you just faint like a normal pokémon?" said Falkner tetchily, recalling Skarmory. He replaced Skarmory's poké-ball on his belt, and, after a moment's hesitation, grasped the well-worn dusk ball he'd had since his first stint as a sky trainer. "You're my last hope, Noctowl, apart from Starly. And she won't be much use if you're not." Falkner gave the ball a tender smooch, giving silent thanks for its non-toxic paint, then hurled it into the air. "Noctowl, stand by for battle!"


"Oh!" gasped Snowy and Lauren, as the heat of the burning gym suddenly washed over them. Smoke billowed from the gym's windows, tongues of flame tore through what remained of its walls, and the hot air balloon hovering by the roof didn't exactly look safe.

"Yes indeedy, that is one very-much-on-fire gym," said Chrissie. "Shouldn't we call the fire brigade?"

"No need! I happen to be a conflagration connoisseur," said Lauren proudly. "Now, this is your common-or-garden house fire, albeit on quite a large scale. Our first step should be to remove as much heat and smoke as possible before we introduce any more oxygen to the fire. Snowy, we'll need Seel and Sneasel."

"Got it," said Snowy, retrieving his two poké-balls. "Snowy calls Seel and Sneasel!"

With a dual flash of light, the two ice-types materialised at Snowy's feet.

"Icy wind!"

Seel clapped her flippers together to build up some ice, looking on in bemusement as Sneasel did a weird icy dance, but both were able to send a frigid wind through the doors of the gym.

Immediately, a roaring column of flame whomphed out through the door, charring Seel and knocking Sneasel out cold. Snowy lost his eyebrows.

"...I did say before we introduce any more oxygen, didn't I?" said Lauren.

"Sneasel! Oh, Sneasel, speak to me!" wailed Snowy, cradling his limp, chargrilled pokémon.

"He was so young, so full of life!" sobbed Seel.

"It's all right! I've got burn heals!" declared Chrissie, snatching a burn heal out of her dungaree pocket. "It says "spray all affected areas", so..." She sprayed Sneasel's front. "Turn him over, would you?"

Snowy gently rotated Sneasel so his back was facing Chrissie, who gave him another spraying.

"Great! Now, uh, I'll need to do his feet..." Chrissie crounched down, aiming her bottle of burn heal at Sneasel's feet.

Lauren sighed. "Aerodactyl, I choose you!"

Aerodactyl burst out of his poké-ball, alighting on Lauren's head.

"Aiyeee! Too heavy!" wailed Lauren, collapsing under the weight of Aerodactyl. "Must you keep doing that?!"

"Sorry..." said Aerodactyl sheepishly.

"I could manage a sunkern, maybe a bulbasaur or a pidgey, but never you. Besides, balancing heavy weights on my head would make me a racial stereotype." Lauren cleared her throat. "Anyway, could you use sand attack on that burning building?"

"...That's it? Nothing to rip to shreds?" Aerodactly gave the building an appraising look. "Whatever floats your boat..." He gathered up some sand between his wings (it's best you don't know where he found it) and hurled it onto the fire. The sand was instantly turned into glass.

"Oookaaaayyy... How about rock slide?"

Aerodactyl nodded. "To me, slidable rocks!" Several large boulders materialised in the air around him, and with a wave of his wings Aerodactyl hurled the rocks into the hallway, smothering the blazing floorboards.

"All right! Now it's just a matter of-"

The roof finally gave up the ghost, sending burning wood and plaster spilling out over the rock-strewn hallway.

"...Oh." Lauren glanced over at the gathering crowd of gawpers. "Can one of you call the fire brigade, please?!"

"What fire brigade?!" a young man shouted back at her.

"We don't need one! There are usually enough pokémon trainers like you to sort everything out!" a woman clarified.

"Besides, most of our buildings are fireproof! We were due to upgrade the gym in a couple of weeks!" a weezing declared.

"Crud." Lauren contemplated the flaming gym, then Aerodactyl, then her own feet. She continued to contemplate her feet. "I love these boots!"

There could be no sensible objections to blue combat boots with green laces and grippy rubber soles, nor indeed to her orangey-pink socks.

"If only they had built-in fire extinguishers..."

Wait. That was it. A fire extinguisher sprayed a special foam over a fire, cooling it down and preventing it from getting the oxygen it needed to burn, while at the same time healing any people who'd been caught in the blaze. And what was it they always said? Quality, not quantity.

"Chrissie, give me a burn heal, quick!" shouted Lauren.

"Wha-? Uh, sure..." Chrissie handed over one of the small plastic spray-bottles.

"Right. Aerodactyl, when I give the word, use dragon claw on this burn heal as fast as you can. Got it?" asked Lauren.

Aerodactyl nodded. "I have no idea what you're planning, but it should work."

"Great." Now to see if that baseball course paid off. "Here goes!"

Chrissie glanced at Snowy, who shrugged.

Lauren hurled the burn heal over the building. Like an intercontinental ballistic spray bottle it hurtled into the air, the Sun glinting off its nozzle as it spun. Time seemed to slow down as it arced over the blaze, slowly but inexorably careening towards its zenith right above the gym-

"NOW!"

Aerodactyl's was off like a shot, his wings beating ten to the dozen as he rocketed towards the burn heal. In a split second he was upon it, filling his claws with draconic energy. There was no time to think, no time to make any special plans; there was just him, his target, and the prospect of an explanation from Lauren when he was done. So he struck, tearing the bottle to glistening shreds.


A million shimmering droplets of burn heal fell on the gym, sparkling like a fire-retardant rainbow as they sang through the air. As each drop fell, the fire grew weaker, the smoke grew paler and the gym cooled down. It was over. The darkness (albeit a very hot, glowy one) hanging over Violet City had faded, and Lauren and Aerodactyl were victorious.


"Whooooo! We did it!" screamed Lauren, neatly summing up that last paragraph. Aerodactyl flew into her arms, hugging her tightly, and she gladly hugged him back. "You were amazing."

"You were both amazing! How did you even pull that off?!" cried Chrissie.

"Well, burn heals heal burns, right?" said Lauren.

"Yeah," said Snowy.

"Well, not many people know this, but they're also able to completely extinguish a pokémon that's on fire. So I thought, why not apply that incredible extinguishing power to the gym?" Lauren explained. "And it worked!"

"Yay!" declared Chrissie. "But, uh... what about Falkner?"

The atmosphere instantly dropped back down to fear and panic.

"...He's still in there." Lauren swung around to the gym. "It could still be hot inside, so..."

"Chloe, let's go!" declared Chrissie, releading her totodile. "Use water gun on the pile of extra-crispy rubble!"

Cool, clear water spewed out from between Chloe's jaws, steaming as it struck the smouldering debris. Soon, the remnants of the gym were soaked.

"...Oh," said Lauren, blushing a little. "Should've thought of that earlier."


"What the Distortion Realm kind of a manectric are you?!" demanded Falkner, staring dumbstruck as Noctowl flopped limply onto the floor.

"The best kind!" the manectric replied, flashing a crooked grin.

"As if. The "best" kind of manectric would never hurt someone without due cause, and they certainly wouldn't burn a gym to the..." Falkner broke off, suddenly noticing the lack of fire. "Uh, what? How?"

The manectric shrugged.

"Well... I suppose Arceus is smiling upon us." Falkner cleared his throat. "Now what?"

"I destroy you," replied the manectric.

Falkner cringed. He'd hoped the manectric might've forgotten by now. Still, there was always a chance... "Starly, I choose you!"

Falkner's last poké-ball snapped open. The incorporeal pokémon inside leapt out onto the battlefield, blazing with light as it reformed itself into a tall, feathery bird, complete with red-tipped mohawk and massive talons.

The manectric's jaw dropped. "That's... not a starly."

"Y-you're a staraptor?! Did-? What-? How?!" cried Falkner.

"You left the experience share on," said Staraptor patiently.

"Oh." Falkner blinked. "Oh!" A confident smirk spread across his face. "Okay, then! Staraptor, show him the power of the skies. Use close combat!"

Staraptor flew at the manectric, lashing out with her claws, wings and beak as fast and hard as she could. Every bit of him she could find was soundly clobbered, until, after the duffing-up to end all duffing-ups, he collapsed at her feet.

"So sorry. I don't normally collapse at people's feet," said the manectric, giving Staraptor an apologetic thunder fang to the neck. "Nice of you to use close combat, by the way. I love it when my enemies drop their defences!"

Staraptor fainted, gasping for air all the while. Falkner could not believe his eyes.

"I don't believe my eyes!" wailed Falkner.

"And now for the leader," snarled the manectric, advancing on Falkner. "It's going to be a pleasure inflicting severe pain on you, Falkner. I'm a sadistic nutjob, you see; why else would I have taken this job?" He smiled. "Seriously, though, it's been fun. I'm almost sad to have to end our little meeting..."

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Triumphant music struck up out of nowhere as Lauren kicked down what remained of the door, glowing with righteous fury. "Your reign of terror is at an end, foul manectric! Prepare to faint!" She glanced over at Chrissie. "Be a dear and battle this manectric, would you? Snowy and I'll secure the rest of the building.

Chrissie went pail. "W-what?! Me?!"

"Yeah, you. C'mon, it'll be a life-changing experience!" declared Lauren.

"But I don't-! Chloe wouldn't stand a chance! Snowy, back me up here," protested Chrissie.

Snowy shrugged. "You're the title character."

"Well, I guess..." Chrissie took in the manectric. He was a scary one, certainly; all scars and tattered fur and inexplicable glowing red eyes. And he seemed strangely familiar. "Hey, wait a minute... Are you the manectric from before?"

~Flashback time, yo! I have to let you know, see, in case you're too stupid to figure out what a flashback looks like.~

"Um... guys," said Chrissie, "why is there a manectric eating our breakfast?"

"I don't know, but he isn't continuing. Oi, you! Leave our food alone or I'll mallet you into next week!" shouted Snowy.

"You wouldn't be the first to try," growled the manectric, giving Snowy a painful shock. "Nor will you be the first to succeed."

"If you're desparate enough to steal food, you probably need the love of a good pokémon trainer to get you back on track," said Lauren. "I recommend Chrissie."

Chrissie's eyes went as wide as saucers. "What? Me?! I... uh... I only started last week, and Variskor's always complaining about me rubbing his feathers the wrong way. I wouldn't know how to raise a manectric."

"We'll see about that." Lauren looked at the manectric. "Do you think this girl could be your trainer, by any chance?"

"Absolutely not," replied the manectric. "Hasta la vista, you fine, gullible chefs!"

~End flashback!~

"You!" shouted Chrissie, anger coursing through her veins like hot chocolate. "You foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!"

"I wouldn't anger him, Chrissie. He's ferocious," Falkner warned her. "And come to think of it, didn't I ban you from the gym?"

"What gym?" asked Chrissie, glancing at the smouldering wreck surrounding the inexplicably unharmed battlefield.

"Good point..." said Falkner. "Nevertheless, he defeated four of my strongest pokémon. He had the type advantage, fair enough, but that's quite an achievement."

"Got it." Chrissie considered her pokémon for a moment, then retrieved a poké-ball. "Variskor, I choose you!"

Yeah, yeah, flash of light, pokémon bursts into reality, yadda yadda, same old story, ANYWAY: the mighty hoothoot leapt into the air, his wingbeats sounding out a perfect bass rhythm to accompany the awesome soundtrack. I recommend "The Heroes of Hoenn", which is part of the animé soundtrack from the advanced generation. I think it first shows up while Our Heroes are chasing one of the evil teams in Mr Briney's speedboat.

"Variskor, I know you love to fight. I know you pour your heart and soul into every battle, never stopping for a moment... Well, right now, I need your strength more than ever," said Chrissie. Falkner silently face-palmed. "No matter how this battle goes, I want you to know I love you, and I'm proud of you. And stuff." Chrissie cleared her throat. "Let's do it. Use wing attack!"

Variskor soared high into the air, then descended on the manectric, wings glowing with energy. He whacked the manectric right in the face, knocking him head-over-heels.

"Good things come in small packages, do they?" chuckled the manectric. "I kinda like you, Variskor. You're feisty. Still, feistiness is no match for the kind of strength I have!" Without a moment's warning, lightning flared up on the fur around his neck, forming into a vicious thunderbolt. Variskor launched himself into a rolling dive, narrowly avoiding the bolt, then pecked the manectric right on the nose.

"All right, time to wrap this thing up! Uproar, let's go!" ordered Chrissie.

"HOOTHOOT! HOOT!" shouted Variskor, blasting the manectric with sonic waves. He fell to his knees in agony, curled up in a little ball and fainted.

"YES!" Chrissie rejoiced. "That was amazing, Variskor! Now, um..."

"We tie him up," Falkner supplemented. "Or put him in a poké-ball, maybe. Either way, we shall need to restrain him."

"Good thinking," said Chrissie appreciatively.

"Don't suck up, you impudent brat. It doesn't suit you," said Falkner heavily.

Chrissie stuck her tongue out at him.

"That suits you a bit more..." said Falkner unsurely.

Chrissie beamed like a slice of watermelon.

"Whatever." Falkner retrieved a poké-ball from his pocket. "This should do." He tossed it at the manectric. The ball struck home, snapped open and engulfed the manectric, falling to the ground with a decisive clatter.

"That's that, then. We'd better take him to the police before he wakes up, though. He could still break out," said Falkner gravely. "By the way, young lady... thank you for the, um... stuff. You've certainly raised Variskor well; well enough, indeed, to place you among the finest flying-type trainers in Johto."

Variskor turned bright red.

"Oh, it was nothing really," said Chrissie modestly. "I couldn't just let you suffer, Falkner. That's not what pokémon trainers do."

"It was nothing? You don't want a badge, then, I take it."

"Uh- actually, um, yes, why not?"

"Oh, no, you clearly don't want one. There's no need to-"

"I want one! I do! I so very much want a badge! Oh, please let me have one!"

"Okay, then," chuckled Falkner. "I think I've got a couple on me..."


As Snowy followed Lauren around the gym, he couldn't help but wonder what "securing the building" actually meant. As far as he could tell, it involved wandering aimlessly around, checking inside every room and helping themselves to a few jars of jam which had escaped the blaze. They'd be good on toast, no doubt, but they didn't seem to be doing any actual securing.

"So, um... how secure is the building now, would you say? I mean, we've been securing it for a good while now," said Snowy.

"Pretty secure," replied Lauren. "We should check the cellar, though, see if anyone's still hiding."

"Right." Snowy thought for a moment. "Where is the cellar, exactly?"

"Um," said Lauren, "beneath the building, obviously."

Snowy gave her a withering look.

"Well, it is!" Lauren protested.

"And just how do we get there?" Snowy enquired.

"The... the usual way," said Lauren, trying to sound confident. "A ladder. Or stairs. Or, um... Maybe we could ask the people in that hot air balloon."

Snowy did a double-take. "Hot air balloon?!"

"That one, right there," replied Lauren, pointing through a ragged hole in the ceiling. The hot air balloon was fairly small, consisting of a basket big enough for four or five people suspended from a giant parasect-shaped balloon.

"Oh, that one. I never noticed that before..." said Snowy. There was no reason to have a hot air balloon hovering over a gym, was there? Particularly a burnt-to-the-ground gym. Unless...

"Lauren, you don't suppose they could've...?"

"Probably. I mean, it's obviously a Team Rocket balloon," replied Lauren breezily. "If they come in for an attack, we'll know they're up to no good. And if they don't attack us..." Lauren frowned. "The entire universe will've gone completely topsy-turvy."

"They don't seem in too much of a hurry, though," Snowy pointed out. "I can't help but wonder what they'd have to say for themselves..."


"Mmmffflmff!" screamed Jane, struggling furiously against the harsh, expertly knotted ropes binding her. If she could just bite through the gag, she'd have a few choice words for these balloon-jackers.

"Oh, stop whining. I'm paying you handsomely for this, aren't I?" Marietta pointed out.

"Mfff-" She had a point. Jane grudgingly relaxed, nudging Jerry and Parasect so they'd know to do the same. Unless they didn't understand nudges, which was a risk, given their upbringings.

Satisfied, Marietta turned her attention to her husband. "Lysander, has my son left the building yet?"

"Not yet." Lysander did not look up from his binoculars. "He's certainly taking his time... oh, wait, look!"

Marietta rushed over to the side of the balloon, just as Chrissie, Lauren, Snowy and Falkner exited the gym. The gawpers still outside the gym cheered, took selfies, asked them all kinds of questions and gave Falkner the details of a few good builders.

Lysander and Marietta slowly averted their gazes from the gym, both simmering with rage.

"Those wankers," said Lysander murderously, "are not my son."

"That girl..." Marietta spat. "Must she always ruin my plans?! If Aureliano cannot receive a Zephyr Badge..."

"You need not worry. I have a contingency plan," said Lysander mysteriously.

"Oh?" said Marietta.

"A plan," Lysander elaborated, "for this very contingency. For the sake of dramatic tension, I shall not bore you with the details, save that it involves..." he flasked Marietta a wicked grin, "watermelons."

Marietta blinked. "Watermelons?"

"Indeed," Lysander confirmed. "I have contacted Natasha, the Melon Master of Hoenn, and she has agreed to supply me with melons galore. When Aureliano gets wind of this plan, he may well wet himself with glee. And well he should, for, in a matter of weeks, Suicune will be ours!"

"Let us hope so," agreed Marietta. "Otherwise, Arceus and I shall have words."