A/N: First Gym Leader, already? I know it's moving awfully fast compared to other stories, but it'll slow down later on, I promise. Patience.

I was actually expecting this chapter to take a lot longer, since I still had one project to do (which is now finished, faster than I expected); as well as the fact that my uncle is visiting and spends a lot of time on the computer. He's out for the moment, however, and I've taken advantage of that and finished the chapter far faster than I expected to.

This chapter's music recommendation: Enemy Attack, the boss theme from Final Fantasy X. I listened to it while writing the second half of the fight, and it works quite well to set the mood.

EDIT (05/10/09): Two things were fixed: first, the first footnote, which for some reason had heretofore been designated (2), has been changed to (1). Also, the statement that Karen had never battled a Trainer before has been changed to "never battled a Gym Leader..."

Also: Readers beware. Another user, under the penname ChristianWinstonChandler, has stolen the title and summary of my story and placed it under this category. DO NOT READ IT. It is filled with rather unpleasent and inappropriate content. In other words, for those of you that find my story by browing the Pokémon category, only click on this story's title if I, Diego Zeyon, am the marked author.

Good day.

Chapter VIII – Withstanding the Gale

'You're back,' says Joshua, staring warily at the Listener. 'I'm…honestly surprised. Is my story…my life…really that interesting to you?'

The Listener doesn't offer its opinions about Joshua's tale, but instead drops several berries onto the ground before the Grass Pokémon. It waits a moment, politely, for Joshua to take one, and when he doesn't it reaches down and plucks a Sitrus berry from the middle of the pile and begins to eat it.

'Trying to entice me, huh?' Joshua laughs, bending down to grab an Aspear. He chews it thoughtfully, staring at the Listener, who remains politely silent, waiting for him to begin.

It takes a few minutes, as apparently Joshua's not had breakfast yet, and by the time he and the Listener are finished, the bulk of the berries are gone.

Joshua sighs, settling down in a place where the dawn sun was shining and would continue to shine the whole day. 'Ready?'


Joshua

When I woke up in the morning the clouds were parting and the sun was shining down on Violet City, though the ground was still wet. Underneath trees it would doubtless still be showering.

I was still entwined in Karen's arms, the way we'd fallen asleep last night. I could tell from her shallower breathing, however, that she was already awake. Waiting for me, no doubt.

'G'morning,' I muttered.

"Good morning, Josh," Karen replied sleepily, stroking my leaf. It didn't hurt much anymore, for which I was grateful. Rina had taken my place at the windowsill apparently, curled up into a small brown bundle next to the outside world. I wondered how she was dealing with capture. For all that she put a satisfied face on for the rest of the world, looking at the way she got as close to nature and as far from man as she could, I figured there was still a little mistrust to be worked out.

But hey, she was a Sentret. I suppose you can't rush a species that's by nature the definitive fraidy-Delcatty. Well, aside from Delcatty themselves…

Karen left me in the bed, standing up and rifling through her bag. When she closed the blinds, I realized she was going to change here, and I, more self-conscious than any normal Chikorita, I rolled into the warm spot my cousin had left in the bed and shut my eyes. Tightly.

This was awkward, and Karen wasn't a Ninetales, so she should know what awkward was. In her mind, I assumed, I was too young to care what she looked like and Rina was wild so she wouldn't care about humans' appearances; and in any case we were both Pokémon, why would we care what she looked like?

"Hah?" My cousin picked me up. "What's up, Joshua?"

'Nothing,' I said, my eyes still shut.

She didn't say anything for a moment, probably thinking, again, what a weird Pokémon I was.

"Are you…trying to respect my privacy?" Here she laughed—she actually laughed—and I felt my cheeks burn, embarrassed. "I don't know where you'd have picked that up… some Pokémon at the Day Care, maybe…" She hugged me, and since I felt clothes on her shoulders I opened my eyes. "That's so sweet of you, Josh!"

Sweet? It's culturally a no-no for cousins to look at each other naked. Well, not if they're both toddlers, I supposed, but considering she was fifteen and I was, technically, older still, never mind the fact that I was a week-and-a-half old Chikorita, I think we didn't quite fit that condition. At least as a Pokémon I couldn't feel too bad about her looking at me naked.

…I'm sorry. I'm probably disturbing you, talking about this as I am. I'll move on.


It was going to be a partly cloudy day, I decided. The sun was still golden-orange in its rising, but thin, spent rainclouds still dotted the sky and occasionally impeded it. Karen stepped out of the Pokémon Center, stopped, and then started heading west, east, in the direction of the Gym.

I was still nervous, of course. Yeah, I know I keep bringing that up, but I was. This was the first of the many Gyms in Johto, but it was also the first of several that Chikorita were useless in, including Aaron's, Kain's(1), and my brother's.

And yet now, the combination of clear sunlight and humid air made me feel completely confident. The rational part of me told me that this was going to hurt; the irrational part decided it didn't care.

I was still trying to reason this out when I realized that I no longer felt sick. Mew's bane had apparently caught up with me yesterday, in the heat from Dominic's ruthless battles below us, but now I felt better than ever. Had he decided I'd repaid my debt? Or was he just being nice, giving me a chance in a battle that I expected to lose? I wouldn't find out until later, and in any case the question was pushed out of my mind as we entered the Gym.

There was a soft carpet on the floor, which was mostly purple except where Karen was standing, where it resolved itself into a black field with white Zephyrbadges upon it. This design followed a path of sorts, up to the receptionist's deck and off in two other directions—one path for the spectators, one for the challenger. Said receptionist was a thin woman who looked to be in her late forties, with the kind of drawn, bony face that made her look like being in a Flying Gym was the right thing for her. Her gaze, as I'd expected, was piercing, but when she spoke it was gentle.

"A challenger?"

"Yes, ma'am," replied Karen. She hadn't spoken much on the way to the Gym, and now I realized why. Her voice was shaky: she was just as nervous as I was. I felt terrible for assuming I was the only one with nerves, but now wasn't the time to apologize, nor, I figured, would she understand my intent if I tried.

Bird-lady looked down at her roster. "Well, you've got good timing. He's free." She pointed to her right, our left. "That's the door for challengers; give him a moment, though, Falkner doesn't get around like he used to."

She returned to her computer-based Solitaire game, and began to ignore us. I prodded Karen, and she, realizing that the receptionist was done with her, nodded and followed the receptionist's instructions.

The Violet Gym is one of the two Flying Gyms in the country; the other is in Hoenn, and used to be run by the world-famous Winona. Falkner had never achieved the fame (or perhaps more appropriately infamy) that Winona had for being a ruthless Trainer; within regulations his Gym Pokémon couldn't exceed level seventeen, so he had little chance of this. I don't know how the Fortree Gym is set up, never having been to Hoenn, but the Violet City Gym is like a large dome—a very wide, very tall dome. There was only one battlefield, set in the center of the room, filled with sand, but empty space abounded around and above it(2). There were windows—more accurately, large rectangular holes through birds could come and go. There were bleachers to both sides, wooden, but finished a deep plum; they were empty, and I wondered—for the first time, but not for the last—why so many seats were necessary, when most Trainers traveled solo and therefore had no audience.

There was a shuffling sound from the other end of the hall—it echoed in all the empty space, and carried a sad quality that I couldn't quite identify. Karen (and I by proxy) turned toward the sound, and both of us set our eyes on Falkner Aaronsen.

Falkner is arguably the least-known Gym Leader; his reputation dropped like a Rock-type after Winowna gained her Gym in Hoenn; he had inherited the Gym from his father, had carried on the older Aaronsen's love of Flying Pokémon; and yet he had toiled in Winona's shadow, and for naught. Most people—even in Johto—didn't know what he looked like.

The Falkner we saw was not the arrogant, fiery young man that Gold had challenged. This Falkner was old—past fifty, maybe close to sixty, his hair fading to violet-tinged silver. He was limping—he favored his right leg, and used a cane in time with his left. His clothes looked only slightly shabby, but not worn out, as though he favored them. His eyes, however, did not look as old as the rest of him: clear and focused they were, like a Noctowl staring down its prey. On his right arm (the one not occupied with the cane), and in such a relaxed state I could swear it was a part of the man, was a Pidgey. When it saw me, its eyes became as focused as its master's, and I quailed in Karen's arms.

"A challenger." Falkner's voice echoed back from the empty bleachers. "It's been a long time since I've had a challenger."

His voice was strong, like his eyes; Falkner's physical age belied his emotional one, and I realized that this was no old codger that would be a pushover to defeat. An old man he may have been, but Falkner was still a Gym Leader.

Gingerly, Karen set me down, and I, in response to his words, took a closer look at the bleachers. There was a fine layer of dust on the tiers that I could see, as though the seats had been empty for several days. I wondered what Falkner considered a "long time."

"How many Pokémon do you have?" Falkner barked at Karen.

"Two." Her voice was still tense, as was the rest of her. My respect of my cousin grew as I recognized her determination and resolve; I doubt I, were I in her place, would have been able to even hold the old man's harsh gaze.

"Fine." Falkner turned his head and whispered something to the Pidgey settled on his arm, who fluttered onto the field.

I looked up at Karen, wondering if she would call me out first. She was biting her lip, staring apprehensively at Rina's PokéBall; her gaze twitched up to the Pidgey, then back to the Ball, then finally settled on me.

"Go for it, Josh."

My heart was in my throat, but for her sake I steeled myself and stepped into the ring.

"Before we begin," Falkner began, "what's your name?"

"Karen, s-sir. Karen Ashlocke."

"Ashlocke…" I noticed a faraway look in the old man's eyes. "You wouldn't be from…Azalea, would you?"

"Uh… Yes, sir." I stared at him, and I figured Karen was doing the same. How would he know that?

"I remember your father," said Falkner, and just like that, the tension in the room was shattered.

"Really?" asked Karen.

The old man laughed. "I remember, him and his Pikachu… I was so mad, I thought they'd started to give out Electric-type starters… It was still a fun battle. One of my favorites, to this day."

"He talked about that, actually." Karen actually seemed amiable now, and Falkner, for all his gruffness, began to seem more like a grandfatherly figure. The Pidgey's gaze hadn't left me, however, and nor had I forgotten that this would eventually turn into a battle. "He said you looked like you were going to explode, you were so angry…"

Falkner cackled, in the way only old people could. "Well, maybe this is fate's way of giving me my justice."

I heard Karen gasp behind me, and I shifted into the ready stance that Myst had taught me. There would be no blind attacking this time: I had to focus, or it would all be over.

Falkner barked a command like a Fearow diving for its prey: it was so fast I heard Karen gasp again in confusion, and then I couldn't see.

Sand Attack!

My eyes were burning, and I lacked sufficient limbs to rub at them. While I was busy shaking my head to clear my eyes, I heard Falkner shout again; wind tore into me, and I felt myself being blown backward, head-over-leaf, and rolled to an ungraceful stop.

"Josh!"

'Karen!' I shouted back, getting to my feet and trying to focus on the Pidgey. My eyes were still burning, but I forced myself to look anyway. Come on, Karen, give me an order!

She did. "Tackle!" I ran at the Pidgey, who had settled on the ground after the Gust attack, but it flew up and out of my reach. I spun to a halt, staring up at it.

'Hahaha!' it cried, flying circles about me. 'Stupid no-wings cannot fly!'

"Razor Leaf!" Karen cried, and I, grimacing, obeyed. The leaves, though, as they separated, did not hurt this time, and I wondered if it was the adrenaline or just the fact that my body was getting used to the attack.

"Dodge!" snapped Falkner.

"Again!" shouted Karen. And I did so twice more; but the annoyingly agile Pidgey fluttered around all of the attacks.

"Gust!"

"Dodge!"

Karen was frazzled already: I could hear it in her voice. She had never battled a Gym Leader before, and was unused to the quick thinking it doubtless required. She was acting on reflex, as was I. The Pidgey and I stared at each other, and I could feel Karen's eyes on me. The match was a stalemate for now, but I knew I couldn't keep up much longer.

"Tackle!" Falkner ordered. The Pidgey swooped over my head, but I turned, trying to keep an eye on it. It made a U-turn, and very suddenly, the Chikorita in me noticed, there was a bird coming straight for me.

"Razor Leaf!" said Karen, spying an opportunity. I found myself caught between two opinions—ignore her and move, or follow her orders. At the last second I chose the latter, and this time the leaves did not miss.

The Pidgey cried out in pain as the leaves tore at its wings; it veered off to one side, and I followed.

"We got it on the run, Josh!" Karen Murkrowed(3). "Tackle!" But the Pidgey rose at the last second, and I had to nearly sit down where I was to stop from passing outside the boundary.

'Hahahah!' I heard the Pidgey mock me again. It turned the flight into another Tackle, and I froze, until Karen shouted the next command, and I obliged.

A purple, dust-fine powder erupted from my neck buds, forming a cloud right in front of me. I leapt to the side, to avoid the Tackle, and shifted in time to see the Pidgey burst through the cloud of Poisonpowder, coughing.

"Razor Leaf!"

The Pidgey was already woozy—Poisonpowder is nonlethal, but extremely painful and very fast-working. It made no attempt to dodge my attack, and after a moment it nosedived into the ground and did not move again.

Breathing heavily, and with my scent filling the immediate area, I turned back to look at Falkner with a "how-about-that-for-justice?" look on my face. The Gym Leader's face held no expression as he recalled the Pidgey; he looked at me for a moment, mumbled something darkly, and looked away.

"That was the easy one." And so saying, he tossed out another Ball, which erupted with white light, forming into the shape of a much larger, much scarier looking Bird Pokémon.

Pidgeotto.

The mystery of Falkner's Pidgeotto has, to my knowledge, never been solved. Violet Gym regulations state that the Pokémon that the Gym Leader uses in Gym battles cannot exceed level seventeen, unless the challenger is using Pokémon over that level. I heard Karen scan the thing with her Pokédex, and sure enough, the Pidgeotto was only level twelve.

That was fine, except for the fact that Pidgey don't become Pidgeotto until level 18, and there is no way known to man for Pokémon to lose levels.

At the moment, I wasn't too concerned with all of that. All I saw was a Pokémon who stood taller by almost a foot, and who weighed significantly more than I could, and that, most importantly, could fly.

I said a word that a Chikorita of my age shouldn't have known.

"Josh," I heard Karen start. "You've got to keep moving—"

"Sand Attack!" interrupted Falkner, and then "Quick Attack!"(4)

In quick succession I was blinded and slammed into, and I scrambled to find purchase before I was pushed out of the arena.

When I was able to open my eyes again, everything seemed murky and out of focus. I hoped dearly that the eye damage wasn't permanent.

"Quick Attack, again!"

Karen got "Poisonpow—" out before the Pigeotto hit me, but I'd begun to attack on reflex before the massive bird even got to me. I expected it to veer off at the last second, either to avoid the toxic cloud or to stop the pain, but it did neither.

There was a split second when I realized that there was suddenly a Pidgeotto in my face.

Then I knew nothing at all.

Karen

I had to leap out of the way to avoid the Pidgeotto, its momentum carrying it straight through to the Trainer box at the edge of the field. It banked off to its right and settled down back on its side of the field.

Josh rolled to a stop at my feet, and I knelt down and gingerly picked him up. The Chikorita was unconscious, but recoiled in pain as I softly touched his head, looking for any serious injuries. A bruise was forming on the side of his head, and his eyes, when I checked them, looked extremely irritated.

"Bring out your other," said Falkner, all the friendliness gone from his voice.

"One moment," I snapped, unusually bold. How dare he rush me when my sweet, honorable little Chikorita was injured!

"Chikorita," he whimpered.

"Shh," I told him gently, and then let Rina out onto the field.

The Sentret screeched in terror as soon as she saw the Pidgeotto; she turned toward me, and I could see fear in her eyes.

"You've got to fight," I told her. She stared at me, seeming incredulous.

"Quick Attack!" snapped Falkner.

"Quick Attack, but circle around it!" The Pidgeotto was a higher level, but Rina was still faster: the Sentret turned the Quick Attack into a speed boost and dodged to the side, then flung herself at the Bird Pokémon.

This resulted in the Pidgeotto suddenly having an angry, frightened Sentret on its back. Falkner gasped as his Pokémon's flight wavered with the addition of this new weight, but he quickly saw past it. "Turn over, Pidgeotto! Get it off!"

"Scratch!" I told Rina quickly, and she managed to get two decent attacks off before the Pidgeotto flung her off.

"Sennn!" she cried, tumbling.

"Recover!" I told her quickly, and she did, flinging her tail out below her and landing on it with a breathless "Tret!"

"Sand Attack!" The Pidgeotto landed and spread its wings.

"Move!" Rina dodged again, springing up into the air off of her tail; the sand passed harmlessly under her. "Defense Curl! And roll forward!" The Sentret tucked her tail up with the rest of her body and contracted herself into a small sphere, and began to tumble forward. "And now, Quick Attack!" She turned the roll into forward momentum, and then she was just a brown blur.

Falkner and his Pidgeotto were both caught completely off-guard. I had picked up the theory of the move watching a Contest Battle on TV. I would have been surprised if he'd never seen the move before, but he had failed to anticipate it, and it cost him the battle. Rina bounced right off of the Pidgeotto; the Bird Pokémon tumbled backwards and skidded right through the bounds.

There was absolute silence in the dome. Then, "You won."

Falkner's voice was flat, but he was obviously upset and scowled as he called the bird back to his side. It wasn't even knocked out. I'd won on a technicality, an old rule that had existed since before even my father's time. But regardless, I'd won.

"Hah!" Falkner cackled after a moment. "Like father, like daughter. Both of you managed to pull of some pretty spectacular moves. And I have to say I'm impressed with that Chikorita of yours. He thinks fast."

He shuffled slowly around the battlefield, and pulled out a Zephyrbadge. "Here, then, young Ashlocke. Your first badge."

He handed it to me, and I stared at it for a moment before stuttering out a "Th-thank you, sir."

He grunted. "Good day." And just like that, he turned and shuffled out.

"Chikorita," whimpered Josh again. I'd practically forgotten the Chikorita was in my arms!

I was out the door to the lobby faster than a Buneary down its hole, but I was forced to stop to avoid running into the boy from Sprout Tower the day before.

Dominic Keaton.

He was clapping slowly, sarcastically, with a half-grin on his face. "Well done, eh, rookie. But Falkner's jus' the firs' step: yeh've a long way to go yet."

"I can't fight you now," I told him irritably.

"Nae, I doubt y'can. Nor do I expect ye to. But I'd be careful on the way to the nex' town, ye ken?"(5)

And on that disturbing note, he turned and left. In my arms, Josh growled weakly, as though able to tell the youth was there and hating him. I pushed Dominic out of my mind and rushed out the door for the Pokémon Center.

Joshua

You know how you're never aware of time passing when you're asleep? If you don't dream, you can close your eyes what seems one moment and open them again, and it's morning.

That wasn't quite the case here. I wasn't aware of time passing until there was a reason for me to, but as soon as consciousness—or some good imitation thereof—returned I realized that I'd been out for several minutes.

I also realized that instead of there being a Pidgeotto in my face, there was a Mew.

"You're back," I said, surprised.

"Don't think I'm done with you yet," he said, ignoring me. "I let you off because I'm not cruel: I wanted you to have all the advantage you could get in that battle."

"Why?"

"For Karen's sake. Not yours."

"And why do you care?"

"Because she asked me to."

"Karen?" I realized he couldn't possibly be talking about her. If she was talking to Mew, she would have known who I was. "No… Then who?"

Mew didn't answer. The pink feline floated around me, his eyes never leaving me; but nor did mine leave him.

"Who?" I asked again. "Who would be able to talk to you that gives a Rattata's rear about either me or Karen?"

"Don't expect to feel any better for the next few days, either."

"Mew, stop ignoring me!"

The blue eyes were icy, and behind the ice was a storm. I knew I was pushing it, but I didn't care.

"I'm sorry, alright? Totally, honestly, sincerely, I am sorry I pulled on your tail." I took a breath, tried to think of something else to say, and failed.

Mew seemed to be chewing on his tongue in thought.

"Can you please stop making me feel ill? I miss all the important things." Well, as of that point I'd really missed only one important thing, but it couldn't hurt to overstate things.

"I'll… think about that," he said, sounding almost uncertain. The void, such as it was, began to fade, and my vision was filled with the rainbow color that signified a Pokémon Center's healing machine. As the rest of my mind was washed away in bliss, I thought I heard, faintly, "…and thank you for apologizing."


(1)Aaron and Kain: Aaron Spreigh, the Azalea Gym Leader who replaced Bugsy when the other became a full-fledged scientist; despite his name, he has no relation to the Sinnoh E4's Aaron, who also trained Bug-types; Eric "Kain" Ravenwood, the Blackthorn Gym Leader who replaced Claire after the other retired.

(2)Empty space: National battling rules mandate that no Pokémon may set foot outside the battlefield in a Pokémon Gym. This law obviously has loopholes: Flying Pokémon may pass in and out of the bounds as they please, as long they aren't touching the ground. In most cases this is an advantage to the challenger, except in Violet and Fortree Gyms, where the tables turn. Despite the fact that this law has been in place since before Red's time, no one has ever seen fit to change it.

(3)Murkrowed: Once again, this could be either extremely obvious or extremely subtle. If you can't figure it out, it's like "crowed." Get it? It's terrible, I know…

(4)Quick Attack: I'm breaking my own rule here (Pidgeotto is LV. 12, and Quick Attack isn't learned until LV. 13), but I wanted there to be some kind of difference between Pidgey and Pidgeotto other than the obvious evolution. Besides, how Falkner got a level 12 Pidgeotto is a mystery anyway: why not compound it? Ha, ha…

(5)"Yeh ken?": For those of you who don't know, the word "ken" is often synonymous with the word "know."

Until next time.