Chapter 10: A Storm of Fire and Lightning
Early in the morning, Ashimi marched out of Vermilion City, much to Zero's surprise. "Weren't you ready to head to the gym?"
"I was," Ashimi admitted. She surveyed the area and found what looked like a good spot to fulfill her purpose. "But yesterday's pokemon battle videos made me think about the mishap with Zubat and Squirtle getting electrocuted, plus the fact that I've never actually battled with Chari. Those battles we watched were so epic, I want to battle like that too. It's true that I won't be battling with everyone at the same time at the gym, but thinking about what I won't really need to do at the gym, just reminded me about what I will need to do."
"Which is?" Zero prompted.
"Face a very electric pokemon guided by a gym leader, and my previous gym leader battle taught me not to lower my guard. Electricity, that's the theme of the Vermilion gym, so my usual main fighters won't have much of an advantage in their own element. Okay, so Furball is not actually an electric type, but he does use thunderbolt a lot. Luckily, I have a new power house on the team and it just so happens that she can learn the move dig. Chari, I choose you!" In a beam of red light, the Charmeleon emerged from her pokeball. "Look at those awesome claws, these will lead us to victory! Chari's going to be a super fast digger with some training and if she's underground, then she'll have the perfect defense against electric attacks. Then she'll jump out with her fire like an erupting volcano and win the badge! I know I was feeling impatient yesterday, but I'm still making pretty good time on the journey and the gym isn't going to get up and walk away if I spend a few extra days training. If there's something I learned by battling Sabrina, is that I need to be prepared. Everything felt pretty easy until that point when she took me by surprise, and I'm not lowering my guard again!"
Zero clapped, "quite the speech, but can you back it? I'll be able to sense Chari's movements underground with my pokedex functions and time her speed."
"Great! You're more useful than a regular pokedex app!" Ashimi cheered. It was clear to see that she was very eager for the training and so was Chari. "Ready Chari?" She pumped her fist in the air, the Charmeleon mimicking the motion with a determined roar."That's the spirit! Okay, look at what I do," Ashimi began moving her arms as if she was swimming. "Try doing this, but underground. Move through the ground as quickly as possible. We'll practice until you can glide through it as easily as if it were water!" Chari's eyes went wide. "Okay, bad comparison, not water," Ashimi laughed. "Um... lava? Mud? Pudding! You need to get strong until the dirt feels as soft as pudding!" That sounded much better than water, so Chari looked eager again. "Alright! Go everyone!" Ashimi called out the rest of her pokemon and Pichu jumped off her head to join the others.
"Everyone at once?" Zero blinked.
"This way the training will go by faster and they'll all get stronger!" Despite Ashimi's optimistic energy, Clefable was cranky as usual. She went to slap her trainer, but Ashimi caught her wrist and gave her a serious look that made the pokemon freeze in place. In a few years her glare might just be as piercing as Giovanni's, or almost. "You think I wouldn't be used to this by now? You can join us in training and become super strong, or you can go sit around being cranky, but if you ruin this for the others, back in your pokeball you go. If you insist on sticking around with us, you'll have to learn to be friendly." Clefable pulled her hand back and stomped away in a huff. She picked a comfortable tree and sat under its shade.
Ashimi turned her attention to the rest of her pokemon and instructed Chari, Pichu and Furball to start digging tunnels parallel to each other for some initial simple practice. Zubat didn't look quite up to the task of digging. "It's okay little buddy, your specialty lies in your speed," Ashimi tried to cheer him up when she noticed he was looking kind of uncomfortable. He wasn't as strong as the others physically, but he was very fast and had quite a loud mouth for screeching and using sonic waves. "We still need to work on some more attacks though, you have plenty of targets here. Air slash those trees with everything you have!"
Chari, Pichu and Furball popped out of the ground at Ashimi's feet. She observed the disturbed ground that indicated their path. "Let's keep practicing, push the dirt aside and move through it smoothly, try not to show it on the surface. That was just a straight line, but you'll have to move in more directions than that. Try to follow me from underground as I move around. Hey, Zero, can you do what I do and tell me how closely they're following us?"
"Sure," when Zero agreed, he didn't imagine what Ashimi would be doing.
"Okay, here we go!" Ashimi started cheering loudly and jumping like a Buneary, to make her location clear to the three pokemon following her from under the ground. "C'mon Zero, you said you would!" Zero looked around, confirmed beyond a doubt that there was no one else around, and followed suit. "Let's go Zubat, chop that branch over there with air slash!"
'She's really training them all at once,' Zero observed. 'Well, except the stubborn Clefable, but still...'
After some time, they stopped for lunch, then resumed their training again. Ashimi started marching instead of jumping as the underground movements improved. They spend the whole day at it, then returned to the pokemon center for some much needed rest and bathing. Chari was, understandably, not too fond of water, but Ashimi managed to coax her into carefully washing with a sponge.
Ashimi returned to her training the next day as well, delaying her gym battle again. She continued practicing digging with Pichu, Furball and Chari and more slashing with Zubat. Clefable was out of her pokeball, but still unwilling to cooperate. They moved all over the area surrounding Vermilion City, until they had enough digging practice. Then it was time to move to the next level. "Flamethrower! Thunderbolt!" Pichu and Furball dug up a hole and let their electricity flow upwards through it. Chari didn't even bother digging herself up and instead blasted through the ground, creating a small volcano shape, from which flames burst. "Alright! You're doing great! You too Zubat, keep slashing at those trees! Chari, Pichu, Furball, don't stop moving, again, thunderbolt and flamethrower!" The pokemon moved underground, once again releasing their attacks into the surface with great force. "Okay, one more day to work on the timing and speed, then we'll be good to go." Ashimi decided.
The last day of training before the gym battle passed successfully, Ashimi practiced with a sort of hide and seek game where her pokemon were supposed to avoid being found underground while she tried to guess their position. Zero would tell her if she had been right, while the pokemon dug more tunnels and used already made tunnels to move around.
xoxox xox xoxox
Finally, Ashimi went to the Vermilion gym at last, with Zero tagging along to watch. It didn't take her long to introduce herself, state her business and declare, rather loudly, that she intended to win a thunder badge. Soon she found herself on the opposite side of the battle arena of gym leader Volt, who called out his first pokemon. "Go Raichu!"
"I'm so looking forward to this battle!" Ashimi could barely contain her excitement. She wanted to see if her training would pay off. Albeit Sabrina was on a league of her own, Ashimi still learned from her to always be prepared. "Chari, I choose you!" The Charmeleon eagerly stepped forward. "Let's get things started with a flame thrower.
"Raichu, dodge it and use thunder!" Volt knew that his Raichu was strong and fast. Though the opposing Charmeleon looked strong, he was still feeling confident.
"Be careful Chari, out of the way!" Chari dodged, just barely managing to get away from the electric currents. Her fire had missed, but this was only the beginning and she had plenty of tricks left. "Use inferno, make a wall of fire!" with a big flaming breath, Chari isolated herself from Raichu on the other side of the arena.
"Going into hiding? That's not going to work, Raichu, break through that firewall with thunder!" Volt called out. Having learned from a previous experience, Raichu didn't get too close to the fire and instead tried to ready his electricity to go the distance.
"Chari, stay moving, rapid fire flamethrower!" From the wall of fire, which Chari continuously fed emerged a series of fireballs like cannon blasts from the walls of a fortress.
"Dodge it Raichu, stay moving too!" Volt urged. The Raichu ceased his attacks and instead went on the defensive. Volt wasn't alarmed though, he knew Raichu had plenty of stamina and his opponent was making a big effort to keep the flames going. 'She'll tire out in no time, then we'll finish her off,' he thought.
"Her flame is decreasing..." Zero quietly observed.
"Chari, break through!" Ashimi made a digging motion that Volt didn't quite catch, as he couldn't see beyond the light show of the battle. As Chari ran, releasing fire balls, the wall of flames slowly diminished, as she was no longer feeding it. She aimed at the floor until she broke through the flooring and dug into the soil beneath.
When the fire wall was gone, Volt was ready to send Raichu on the attack. Raichu was both fast and strong, but he tended to stop moving when he focused his power, even if he could react quickly and keep running immediately after. Chari could spit out a barrage of fireballs at a full run. "Where did she go?" Volt looked at his opponent, Ashimi looked as if she was in deep concentration. "Underground..." Volt realized. Ashimi appeared to be examining something in the arena, but her line of sight didn't correspond to anything but empty space. That boy who was with her, Zero, met Volt's eyes with his unusually colored gaze and chuckled.
Ashimi gave Zero a sideways glance, read something in his expression and fixed her gaze on Raichu, so as to not give away Chari's underground position with her eyes. Then suddenly, she shouted, "now!"
Volt didn't have time to think about how odd Zero's eyes were and wonder where he got those contact lenses, because he could only assume that's what they were. He wasn't sure what Ashimi was calling out for her pokemon to do, but he knew it couldn't be good for them. "Raichu, move!" The electric pokemon darted away, but the sudden burst of flames from the broken floor caught him in the hind legs and tail. Then just as suddenly, the Charmeleon was gone. "Don't stay still, Raichu, there's no way she can dig faster than you can run. Raichu shook off the pain and kept running this way and that. "Looks like our little friend's too scared to come out, go get her out, quick attack!"
"Flamethrower!" Raichu dove into the tunnel, only to jump back as he was assaulted by a burst of flames. Raichu rolled around, putting the fire out, his fur was scorched, but he wasn't out of the battle yet. 'Chari's stamina is low from all the fire she used, her flame...' Ashimi mused. 'I can't use any more fire attacks, I've already pushed her too much and I'm not about to cause her to faint from over exertion. But she's strong, she can finish this in a different way while her fire recovers.'
"You know, don't you? You watched her train, calculated how long it would take to dig," Zero knew that the tunnel was bigger than it appeared to be, there was space set up for another surprise attack. "You followed her without seeing her, and you know how much stamina she has." It was normal for him to have that information due to his peculiar nature, but for a regular person to know all that, they would have to pay very close attention and have sharp instincts. 'Using a lot of fire early on, digging the tunnels in advanced, using the last of the fire and making it look like fire was their intended final offensive move. It would be hard not to focus on all that fire, but it's okay that it's used up, because it did what it had to do. Fire from a fire pokemon is too predictable, Volt would expect it the second he saw Chari. The display of power didn't fit the true defensive strategy or the finishing move, which wasn't meant to be a fire type at all.'
"Almost there... Come out, Chari!" The Charmeleon emerged from the tunnel at her trainer's signal.
"Raichu, Thunder!" Volt immediately attacked without a second to waste.
"Down Chari!" Ashimi urged.
"Not this again!" Volt was getting very fed up with the strategy. He wasn't going to send his Raichu to get blasted with fire again, but he had to do something. Yet before he could think of what to do...
"Come out and finish this!" The arena burst open as Chari jumped out. no more fire, she had used too much before and her flame was still recovering, but through her panting, she could still fight. "Dragon claw!" Raichu tried to run, but the pain of the earlier burns made his normally speedy movements feel sluggish. Chari attacked with everything she had, putting her all into the finishing blow, slicing away with her sharp claws.
For Raichu it was too much, he had fainted. "Raichu..." Volt watched in disbelief. "C'mon Raichu, get up! We almost have her!"
"It won't work... Chari may be tired, but don't you see Raichu's burns? He'll just hurt himself if he tries to use his speed..." Ashimi pointed out.
"Raichu...return!" She was right, Volt realized. "It's not like your pokemon is doing much better though, look at her flame."
"I know... Well done Chari, come and rest," Ashimi recalled her pokemon as well.
'I used to think power was all I needed, but my father's story about his battle with Ash Ketchum made me think that I also needed speed. The speed to strike fast and the power to strike hard. It's not enough, Ashimi rendered Raichu's power ineffective and chipped away at his speed. No matter what advantages you have, they can be lost... Perhaps that goes for you too, brother, someday, I'll beat you,' Volt quietly thought.
"Hey! Earth to gym leader Volt! Do I get a badge?" Ashimi waved her hand in front of his face.
Volt was woken up from his thoughts to see that his opponent had made her way across the arena and now stood in front of him waiting expectantly and impatiently. "Yeah," he presented her with a thunder badge, "you earned this."
"Awesome! I got another badge!" Ashimi cheered and made a victory pose. She looked over to Zero who gave her a thumbs up and smirked, it would look cocky on an older boy, but on this small creature with doll-like eyes and multicolored hair, she thought that any expression could only look cute. She would have to get him a cute little gijinka hat to wear sometime soon. Her smile suddenly faded for a moment as if something was missing. Johnny wasn't there to cheer for her, though he must be feeling better from his cold by now.
Her pensive look turned into stubborn determination. She was still angry at him, she recalled. She had to prove that she could take care of herself. Then she laughed when she noticed that Volt was watching her, as if trying to figure out what in the world was going through her mind. "It was a fun battle, we'll have to do it again sometime, okay?" She quickly blurted out the words before anyone had the opportunity to ask her what her silence and the expressions that rapidly crossed over her face were about, not that Volt could possibly have a clue anyway, but Zero could be rather observant if he wanted and he knew about Johnny.
"Yes, I would like a rematch one day," Volt agreed. They shook hands in good faith and Ashimi left the Vermilion City gym with one more badge.
xoxox xox xoxox
Later, it didn't surprise Ashimi too much to see Volt when she and Zero were leaving the pokemon center, after Chari recovered. Given their battle, he had a good reason to be there and probably dropped off Raichu while she and Zero were celebrating with ice-cream. Ashimi had left Chari at the pokemon center and since she wasn't sure if a fire type who used up nearly all her fire recently would like an ice-cream cone, she brought her back a cupcake instead. "Hey Volt, got your Raichu all healed up?"
"Yes..." Volt replied, as if his mind had been elsewhere, yet there was a look of realization in his eyes, as if he had found exactly what he was thinking of looking for, or rather who. "Actually, I've decided to go on a journey. My father was away on business at Johto, but he'll be back tomorrow, I'm sure he won't mind stepping out of retirement for a while and taking care of the gym." He couldn't ask his mother to mind the gym, her team of pokemon didn't fit the theme at all. With Wailord, Steelix, Beartic, Mamoswine, Snorlax and Aggron, she didn't have a single electric type. As for his older brother, he wouldn't even ask, General Electro would surely be busy with Team Rocket stuff that Volt would likely have a hard time justifying, if he ever tried, which he wasn't going to. He somewhat understood the necessity of Team Rocket to an extent, the world had become dependent on it after all, but was that truly the only answer?
"Really? Maybe I can battle him!" Ashimi cheered.
"Figures..." Zero commented with some amusement.
"Hey!" Volt crossed his arms in indignation. "I'm the official gym leader and you already won a badge, isn't that good enough?"
"Oh, it's not like I'm in a rush to leave Vermilion City. It won't take long to..." Ashimi paused. A part of her wished she had kept the car, but he knew she would be tempted by its speed. While Jonathan loved speed as much as any teenager, he could control the need for it with the notion that if they had an accident Giovanni would have his head. As for Ashimi, deep down she knew her impatience would get to her and she'd probably run over a few unfortunate pokemon with some crazy improvised shortcut, then she'd feel bad about it and her grandfather would scold her because she could only have the car for the journey if she didn't drive it until she was sixteen, or until he thought she was ready and said it was okay if he decided to shorten her wait. "Actually, it might take a while to get to Celadon City if we're walking at least part of the way, so I should be on my way after all."
"Do you mind if I come?" Volt asked, taking Ashimi by surprise. "I want to train harder and it's been a while since I had my Indigo League journey," he elaborated. He couldn't explain it, but his determination to become a better pokemon trainer was stronger than ever.
"I don't mind, you could give us a ride on your car," Ashimi suggested hopefully.
"I don't have a car, I'm only thirteen..." Volt pointed out.
"What!?" Ashimi exclaimed in surprise. Zero blinked at her reaction more so than Volt's revelation. She figured he probably had Volt's age on a file or something and already knew, or he was honestly somehow not surprised. Given that Volt was looking at her strangely because of the outburst, she continued. "You're taller than Johnny and he's fifteen, and not a short fifteen year old either."
Volt crossed his arms, unable to understand what was ever so unbelievable. "some people are taller than others," he stated in a matter of fact tone.
"Yeah, I guess, and I suppose you're still not as gigantic as your father, probably won't be..." Ashimi mused aloud.
"Hey!" Volt wasn't sure how to react to that, but he knew he should form some sort of complaint.
"Oh, I didn't mean that in a bad way. I think Surge is totally cool. I wouldn't have considered battling him if I didn't have a lot of respect for him," Ashimi assured.
"That... That's not it..." Volt frowned. Strange as it was, he was actually bothered more so by her theory that he would never be as tall as his father, his older brother was. It was silly, yet it was another thing in which he couldn't beat his brother. Sure, he was tall, but in comparison to Surge and Electro he was short, never mind that most people were tiny by that comparison.
Ashimi waited for him to elaborate, but when he didn't, she shrugged it off. "Let's get walking then, we have a long way to go!" She headed out of the pokemon center with Volt and Zero following.
Zero watched the scene unfold, ever observant as was his nature. 'I bet Ashimi misses that friend of hers, Johnny, and she probably doesn't remember her little outburst right after we left Saffron City which ended in her ranting at her cellphone, without actually having a call active, and blocking him. She's probably wondering why he won't text her... Oh well, she'll figure it out eventually.'
"What are you snickering about, Zero?" Ashimi looked back at him as they made their way down the street.
"Nothing," Zero put on an innocent smile. Ashimi brushed off her suspicions and continued on her way, yet the mischievous glint in her eyes made his AI algorithms yield the result of strongly recommended caution.
To be Continued
There you have it, Ashimi won another badge. Though she does tend to rush in on many occasions, she is also capable of planning and plotting when the side of her that takes after Giovanni surfaces. No mini-bio in this chapter. Most of the important characters have been introduced already. There's Volt's brother, General Electro aka Thor, but he's more of a supporting character and there's the suspicious individual Dorme had been investigating, but there's not much I could say without spoiler so yeah... See you next time! Chapter 11: Unexpected Alliances