Chapter 10
We were in silence as we strode across the pale road. I was in the lead, Racade, behind, and Lucas, as always, in last. Racade sneezed when some sort of dust bunny flew in his nose.
Anyway, with the backpack behind me and I read the map, Lucas sighed.
"What?" I asked without looking up.
"I'm just bored."
"'Kay."
More silence. We jumped across a cliff and entered a cave in front.
It was more long than wide. I saw some bats and rocks and some sort of blue thing. The cave was dark and had a few puddles here and there. There looked like there was an entrance, but it was blocked off. The first thing we ran into was a big, bulky guy that watched us. I may be strong, but come on, this guy could rip me into shreds! I watched carefully. Finally, he spoke.
"'Ey kids. You got a hidden machine yet?" I'm assuming he asked every kid that.
"Nope!" Racade exclaimed. "What're you talking about?"
"Oh? You don't? Come 'ere." We walked to him and the hiker showed us a disk. It looked bigger and thicker than a TM. "This," he said, pointing to it, "is an HM. They'll never run out and break if you use them." Convenient. "So you can reuse them every time. If I'm correct, there are six out there."
Six? And they're hidden? Dang.
"So this would be Rock Smash, right? It's brown," Lucas said.
"Smart kid." The hiker laughed. Or, in this case, bellowed. "It is! You need it to get to Floaroma Town."
I scowled. My toe was already throbbing.
"Here's the catch though. You need to defeat the Oreburgh gym leader to use it."
What sort of messed up world do I live in? At least explain it logically how a DISK knows when you defeat a gym leader. I didn't bother asking, though.
"I'll do it! … Do we need just one though?" Racade asked. He snatched the disk out of his hands.
"Oh, you'll need two more." The hiker dug in his HUGE brown pack and took out two more brown HM06 Rock Smashes. He handed then to Lucas and I. I looked at it.
"Looks like we'll need it to get to where we're going," I said after a moment.
"Indeed!" Lucas exclaimed. "Okay, now I'm excited! Are we going or what?"
"Not until you defeat me!"
We all turned. A boy with a green camping outfit raised a single Pokeball up in the air, grinning. "Hiya. My name's Curtis. 'Round these parts, me and my friend defeat trainers who think they can whoop our butts. Can I ask for the boy in the red hat and looks stupid?" I liked this kid already.
"The name is Lucas!" he exclaimed angrily. Looks like someone can't handle the truth.
"This would be the right time to use your new Pokemon," Racade said. No duh, Sherlock.
"Well, hurry it up!" I shouted. "I need to move someday!"
Lucas winked at me as he turned to the kid and took out his Abra's Pokeball. He stood back, sighed, and threw the ball.
"Sleepy!"
Once out, the Abra -- Sleepy -- blinked up at Lucas. Curtis smirked, throwing out…
A Shinx. Is that it? A tiny, little blue and yellow bundle of fur? Is THAT what made him so… full of himself? I'm not into him anymore.
"Sleepy!" Lucas cried, "Use Teleport!"
Well, it teleported. An inch in front. I'm starting to think that the Shinx is a lot more likely to win.
"Shinx, use Tackle!" Curtis pointed to Sleepy as he yelled the order our. With a tiny "Shi," it charged, bumping into it and sending the Abra flying backwards.
Now, in most cliché stories, the Pokemon would get some sort of tremendous power strike and/or gain a new move to defeat the opponent with. Alas, this was not the case.
Sleepy lived up to its name. It fell asleep. Isn't that awesome? Just like with what's-his-face!
Lucas groaned to himself. No, this wasn't a simple status problem. This was one of those things that proves just how freaked-up life can get. Like those old Nationwide commercials. But enough with my superior comments, let's get back to the show. Or… story. Whatever.
"Return!" Lucas recalled Abra and sighed. "Go, Flamey!"
Maybe the berries made it hyper or something, but the thing was ready to battle. Seriously. Sadly, I can't make a comment to make me seem all smart, so just keep reading.
"Shinx, use Tackle again!"
"SHINX!" It narrowed its eyes and padded quickly to Flamey, tackling it. Flamey sniffed and laughed as well as a Chimchar could.
"Flamey, use Ember!" Flamey blew out a few puffs of embers that caught onto Shinx and sent it packing. A statues effect: burn.
"What's going on?" I asked. Racade nodded like he agreed with me. He probably did.
"Didn't you guys read the board?" Lucas called, still focusing on the Shinx. Racade nodded again. Lucas rolled his eyes. "Well, this is one of the statues effects. Every turn, the Shinx will lose more health because it's burned. And…" he looked at the now-fainted Shinx, "it will faint if you give it enough turns without a Burn Heal." Curtis looked shocked.
"B-But…" The kid recalled his Shinx, sniffling. "I can't lose!"
"Sorry kid," I replied, grinning. "Give 'em the dough."
"Don't be mean!" Racade hissed. I kicked him in the gut. He groaned and grabbed his stomach.
Curtis marched over and the two fought because he refused to hand over the one-hundred twelve bucks. I had to take it from him and hand it to Lucas.
"You'll never defeat Diana!" Curtis shouted.
"Who's Diana?" Racade asked. On cue, a little girl that had a picnic outfit similar to Curtis's marched up. She looked like me, sort of. A frown plastered on her face. I kinda smirked.
"What'choo punks doin' to my friend?" she snapped, putting her hands on her hips, scowling. Curtis's eyes shined.
"Friend?" he said, smiling.
"Shut up!" Diana snapped again, slapping him. "Look noobs, this cave is OURS! I suggest you punks leave."
"Does it look like it belongs to you?" I asked, rolling my blue eyes. "I don't see a sign."
Diana marched up to me and tried to smack my face. I grabbed her tiny fists just as she tried to do so. "Nice try," I said, smirking wider, "but I'm smart."
She growled. "Whatever. I would battle you, but the blonde dork looks more interesting. And you're okay."
Racade grinned from ear-to-ear and danced kinda stupidly. Like, hop up and down stupid. "I wanna! I wanna! Go, Glompy!"
So he sent out the Turtwig that seized the moment to bite his head. Diana and Curtis looked at each other. Maybe Diana was sort of right. Racade's the noob…
She backed up and sent out her Pokemon. "Budew, go!" Not AGAIN. Another one of those tiny THINGS?! My respect for her drained. But, then again, they're both grass types, so no one's really weak to each other.
"Glompy! Tackle!" he shouted, jumping up and down again. Turtwig charged to the Budew, only to send it soaring, just like Sleepy and Flamey did. It ended up in one of those rigid rocks that stubbed my toe. In other words: ouch.
"Budew," Diana yelled, narrowing her eyes, "use Absorb!"
"Budew!" Budew hopped up and released those tiny green dots from out of the top of its green and yellow head. Seriously, you're all confusing me. I mean, yeah, it's cute, but why must you all cheer for it? You all suck.
Anyways, the attack really didn't do much. And because of its ineffectiveness, all hope Budew had to regaining health failed.
Racade smiled wider, if that's possible. He was having the time of his life. In fact, the guy was having trouble standing still. Well, it's that, or his ADHD was kicking in. But besides that, his orange eyes were, as far as I know, "sparkling with confidence and excitement." I think I need to wash my mouth out with soap…
"Glompy," he called, "use Tackle again and finish it off!"
"Tur!" Rushing towards it, Glompy smashed into the Pokemon and sent it crashing onto the walls of the cave. It slid down, fainted, as usual. Racade was cheering and whooping and making other ridiculous noises.
"YEAH! I'MA BEAT YOU NOW DIANA!" he screamed.
"SHUT UP!" I cried, throwing my bag at him. He fell with it in his face. "Let the girl fight!"
Racade stood back up and dropped the bag by his feet. He stood as Diana was screaming at her fainted Budew names I can't repeat.
"Return! Go, Psyduck!"
What NAME is THAT? PSYDUCK? And it didn't look any better. Why, its hands were on its forehead, just… standing there. Blank. Like Racade is at school.
"Glompy, Absorb!"
I can say that the battle lasted longer than what should be expected. I should say it was, in fact, a long battle. But, it wasn't. Once that Absorb hit the Psyduck, it fainted. It was pathetic. And it just… stood there! It was so sad. I shook my head in total disbelief. I think Diana knew it was coming, so she just sighed and returned it.
"Here… eighty bucks as promised…" she murmured. "But you'll never beat the gym leader."
Racade and I smiled. "We'll see!" he exclaimed.
I simply snorted and turned to the two. "Okay guys, let's get going. I wanna get the first badge over with."
----
The trip there wasn't hard at all. I mean, it was only a few inches until we stepped out into the sunlight that was Oreburgh City.
"Oreburgh! Here we are!" Lucas exclaimed, breathing in the ozone that was made from the coal mines. It was a decent sized town. A Pokemart, Center, and, of course, the gym. But what made the city special was the mines and museum. Lucas bent to look at the sign. "City of Energy," he read, blinking. Yeah, pollution. Don't these people know about global warming? Well, whatever.
We all stepped down a few steps, only to be interrupted by a brown-haired kid wearing a blue baseball hat, red t-shirt, and blue shorts. He raised his hands.
"Howdy, trainer!" he exclaimed. He really had a thick southern drawl. "If you don't have a single gym badge, other trainers will look down on you like you're a total noob, right?"
"That's Racade's territory," I remarked. Racade scowled.
"You're a bi-"
"ANYWAYS!" The kid's grin came back. "So, I'll show you where the town's Pokemon gym is."
It… was right there. Around the corner. Just… there. It was pointless. But the building wasn't as grand as Mom described it. It was two stories, maybe, but it was wide with a brown top and sliding doors. Oh, and a large white symbol that apparently was half a Pokeball proudly shined above.
The kid stepped inside for a moment, then came back out. "Sorry! The leader's not there!"
Racade gasped. "WHAT?! But…!"
"But the good news is, he's just south of here. In the mines. And there's Pokemon to catch. So if you guys need Pokemon, you can go catch." The kid laughed. "See ya!"
That was stupid. I scowled. "I'll kill the gym leader!"
Lucas nudged me. "Don't worry Dawn. We'll get down there. C'mon!"
----
We went to a Pokemon center after that. Huzzah.
----
Okay, sorry about that. So I had to take off my hat and plug my nose because the air was SO polluted! No wonder it's almost a barren wasteland! Learn to respect the environment, will ya? Racade waved across from us.
"Yo guys! Look! There's an opening!" He jumped up and down before running inside.
"Yeah, quit being so obvious…" I muttered, making sure Lucas was tagging behind me.
The sign read "Oreburgh Coal Mine: Beware of Busy Pokemon!"
No duh.
So we stepped inside. Racade was already running around in a circle waiting for us. "HEY GUYS!" He jumped up and down again. "C'MON!"
I sighed and stormed after him. "Slow down!" I cried. Lucas was sliding down the steps. What can I say? They were muddy. He groaned.
"Come on guys!" Lucas moaned, rubbing his butt to get the dirt and stuff off.
But Racade and I were already in the main room. We sped downwards, weaved through some rocks, and stopped by a…
Really, really, really big lump of coal.
Lucas caught up and gasped for breath. Racade jumped over and tugged out arms. "I saw a guy!" he exclaimed, looking like he was going to throw a party. "He was instructing other guys! But there were people in front, so I couldn't see much!"
"Murder!" I cried with glee and sped off with Racade in front and Lucas behind.
"HEY GUY I GOTTA-" My breath caught in my throat. I suppose it's a teenage girl thing, but even though the gym leader was… older… he was hot. The leader was standing in the middle of two rocks and his Geodude was right by him. His hair was some sort of mixture of purple-red, and his eyes were the same color. He wore a red mining hat, grey clothes perfect for mining, gloves, and glasses that slid down his nose every time he bent down to pick up something. He apparently heard my voice and looked at us.
"Uh… hi?"
I felt my face heating up. Oh, no… how could this be? I just screamed bloody murder in front of an angel! He scanned us and smiled. A pure smile. It made his features light up. It was not fake, but real. I felt nauseated.
"Trainers!" he exclaimed. "Watch this! Using the hidden move Rock Smash, a boulder blocking your way…" The Geodude next to him punched it and sent chunks of rocks and dirt flying around, "gets destroyed! Awesome, huh?"
I nodded absentmindedly. Lucas and Racade snickered at my obvious infatuation. I just hope he didn't notice it, too.
Apparently, he didn't. "Fallen boulders need to be smashed so they're out of the way. If you could get the badge from the gym in town, you'd be able to do this too. Of course, you'd have to defeat the gym leader first!" He paused, waiting for a reaction. We just stood there, because he seemed to think we didn't know he was the leader. "That'd be me!"
I blushed harder when he looked straight at me.
"My name is Roark. I'm sure you kids know this, right?"
"We're not kids!" Racade retorted. "I could show you my-"
I smacked him across the face. I don't think ANYONE needed to see anything he had. Roark looked at me, his smile fading. The look he gave me made me feel totally ashamed. How could this guy have such an affect on me?
"I'm sorry Racade…" I murmured, looking down. Racade almost dropped dead.
Roark recalled his Geodude. "Awesome! Looks like forgiveness is the key to go! So, um… hey, you're that contest woman's kid… er… Dawn?"
I gasped. How'd he know my name? "Yeah! I am!"
"Cool." Roark smiled again. That pure, gorgeous smile. "Yeah, I sometimes watch the Tube on the latest contest stuff. You do know your mom's not retired, right?"
"Yeah, I know." I smiled as well. Lucas seemed to peer at Roark questioningly.
"Yeah, you'll be a looker like your mom is." He shrugged. "So, you a contest gal, I'm taking? These men'll battle me?"
"Quite the opposite," Lucas snapped through gritted teeth. "SHE'S battling. I'm watching. I'm an assistant!"
"And I'm battling too!" Racade grinned, waving his hands up in the air.
Roark raised an eyebrow at Lucas, but smiled wider. "Can't wait. Well, you guys can follow me to the gym, okay?"
"Okay!" Racade and I exclaimed.
----
"I wasn't always the original person to be a gym leader," Roark explained as we set out. I tried keeping my eyes away.
"Really?" Lucas asked, forgetting he was mad at him. It's hard to stay mad at Roark. He's just a likable guy.
"Mm-hm. There was another dude… but I won't say his name."
"Aw, why not?" Racade asked, pouting. Roark laughed. It was a lovely laugh.
"Because, we're really close and he's sorta shy. So he doesn't want me, an outgoing dude, he says, to be blabbing about him to everyone. But you kids… I dunno, something's… different. You're not those kinds that just come up to me and demand to battle. You guys are… more… ah, I can't say it, really." His eyes shined. "But I just know that our battle will be a life-changer."
"For us?" I asked.
"Nah, for me." Silence. "What do you guys expect?" He laughed again. "Just 'cause I'm a gym leader doesn't mean my path is a stick in the mud. It can change. One day, I'm a gym leader. The next… a champion. Or a stay-at-home-dad. Maybe even a gym leader, all the same. But I should tell you this…" We all turned to him, "Life is so constructed that an event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation."
Lucas thought on that for a second. "But, Roark, I-"
"You don't have to." He shook his head. "It'll come to you all." Roark turned to look up into the sky as he walked. Racade tried that once. He crashed into a tree. I guess that's another thing that makes Roark so awesome.
"Yeah… you guys have a long life ahead. I do, too, my dad says, considering I'm only twenty, but sometimes the job kinda… stresses me. Makes me feel older, because all these people look up to me. It's like the gym won't give me a chance to show potential. Yet, I can't leave. … But, now that I think about it, I don't want to."
I smiled a bit. "You're really good at this 'being deep' stuff." Roark laughed.
"Yeah, well, I can fix my own problems just by talking to myself. Er… look." We all stopped in front of the gym building.
"We're here!" Racade exclaimed, heading in. Roark looked at me as Lucas ran in too.
"Dawn?" I looked up and felt myself blush again. Curse it…
"Yeah?"
He seemed to study me. "I think you've got your future in good hands. These guys… they're your life, right here."
"What are you talking-"
"I'll say it again. It'll come to you. Come on Dawn, we gotta battle."
My journal popped out and I wrote,
"Never, in all this time, have I seen such a guy!
I think Racade slipped…"