Episode 11: The Fall
I walked down the sloped road with a heavy heart. When Brandon had contacted me to have me meet him at Fallarbor while I was waiting for Brook to unlock her empathy sense, I had decided that I might as well challenge Flannery on the way there. I had confirmed it for Brandon and then hung up.
It was only later that I realized my mistake. Shroomish was weak to fire, Vimilky was weak to fire, Brook did okay against fire. That was two out of three pokémon that didn't do well against the next gym I was going to.
"Something wrong?" Brook asked as I felt something poke my psychic powers. A sensation that I had quickly realized was Brook using her new Empathy Sense.
The revelation that her Mom was the cause of the issue had been vile, but not unsurprising.
"Just thinking about what I told you earlier," I informed her. She smirked and crossed her arms.
"Don't worry, I'll just win the whole thing by myself," She boasted.
I found myself chuckling at her confidence but…
At what point did that cross into arrogance. It was easy to forget that Brook was both young and still undefeated. The only battle I'd ever lost was that two-zero lost where Brook hadn't even gotten the chance to fight.
As harsh as it sounded in my head, a part of me wanted her to lose to someone. Not because I wanted to crush her self-esteem or anything, but because I thought that deflating her pride might do her a world of good.
"What are you guys talking about?" Laura asked as she leaned her head in. I felt a small rush of guilt. Ever since I had gained the ability to talk to Brook, I kept forgetting that said conversations would leave the non-psychic girl out.
"Just… talking about what I told you about after I stopped talking to Brendan yesterday."
She winced, she knew full well what I was talking about. "Yeah, this next gym badge is going to be pretty rough. You sure that you don't want to just go through Mauville instead?"
"No, I'm sure I'll think of something by the time we get there. All I need is a plan and I'm sure I can win,"
Brook gave us a fake cough.
"Brook, just throwing you at the problem and expecting a win is not a plan,"
"Well it should be," She argued I laughed and after a quick translation, so was Laura. Brook broke her own silence to laugh as well.
With that out of our system, we kept moving through the Slopped path.
The path took its name from the fact that it ran alongside the slope of the mountain range that ran from Mount Chimney in the north to past Rusturf tunnel in the south. The path had been untamed wilderness only five years ago when Brendan had made his first pokémon journey. Then two years ago it was decided to turn it into a passable route by evening out a small section to turn it into a road. The only thing that they had added after that was a set of wooden stakes that had been planted on the eastern side of the road that they had then tied some ropes between.
The fact that it probably meant that someone had fallen off the side annoyed me for some reason.
Mostly because of how nice and natural the route would have looked without the rope railing. To my left was the mountain range reaching into the sky. We had gone uphill on the way here so were in the section of the mountains where the vegetation started to clear out. All we had to do was look up and we could see the red stone that usually his underneath.
To my right was the slope. The path itself had been cleared and smoothed out so the drop next to it felt steeper than it really was. The few times I had looked down I had seen a sea of dense forest followed by the route that stretched north from Mauville. If I looked really closely, I could see the mountains that contained the desert basin.
As for the area around the path itself, it was surrounded by shrubs and the occasional hardy tree. If anything it reminded me of a smoother and calmer version of the jagged pass that we would be taking after we left Lavaridge.
Oh boy was I not looking forward to taking the jagged path.
But before that, I had a gym leader to worry about.
I started thinking about the fight, but I found my mind wandering. Brendan hadn't been the only person who I had been in contact with while I waited for Brook.
I had also contacted Professor Birch to tell him about my encounter with May back in Rustboro. What he had told me had both comforted and worried me. This new paranoid behavior was not something new for May. She'd been acting a little strange for over two years now. But for some reason, it had really kicked into high gear in the last three months.
The Professor had no clue what had caused it and May insisted that she was fine and that her parents were imagining the changes in her. In fact what I had told them about May thinking she was onto some sort of conspiracy was the most information that they had ever gotten about what was up with her ever.
The fact that May had apparently trusted me that much was a little touching but also worrying. I made a note right then and there to ask Brendan about it when I saw him. Sure he wasn't as close to her as he used to be, but he had to know something. Maybe between what I knew, and what he knew, we could figure something out.
My musings about May were interrupted a little while later by some loud noises coming from further up ahead. The road bent there a little, so whatever was causing the sound was hidden by the mountain. While we couldn't see the source, it was pretty obvious what it was. Those were the sounds of a fight. Laura and I looked at each other and without saying a word, ran off to find out what it was.
"You know I'm worried that this is turning into a bad habit," I told her as we ran," She didn't respond, choosing instead to focus on her running. Which was probably the right option with what we came across when we came round the bend and saw the source of the noise.
There was a sole trainer standing on the path who was commanding a Taillow and an Electrike. Now, normally that would be enough to deal with whatever nature threw at him. However, the problem wasn't nature but a three pokémon that had them surrounded. A Geodude, Arron, and a Poochyena circled around the trainer and his pokémon. Off to the side were a group of people that we're probably these Pokémon's trainers. While we didn't know these people personally, assuming that they were responsible was a pretty decent guess considering that all of them wear wearing the distinct uniform of…
"Team Neo-Magma!" Laura and I yelled in sync.
All five of the trainers and their pokémon stopped to look at us.
"So did you guys like plan that out beforehand or what?" The oldest of the Team Neo-Magma grunts, an older teenager that seemed to be in charge, said with his hands in his pockets.
"It's two words, it's not too hard to synch that by accident," I argued for some reason. I wasn't sure why, but this guy just instantly got on my nerves.
"I guess you're right," He said dismissively. "Listen guys, I don't know how you guys know who we are already, but we're kind of busy. So why don't you guys just along and forgot you ever saw us?"
"Yeah I don't think so," I told him as Brook leaned forward with a savage grin that probably should have worried me. It looked like I knew what pokémon I was picking for this.
"You Neo-Teams are such a pain," Laura sighed as she took out one of her own pokéballs. "Do you guys not have anything better to do then mess with people?"
"You guys don't understand anything," He huffed. "This is supposed to be the part where I ask you to surrender and give your pokémon over, but honestly?" He glared at us. "That guy over there already pissed me off so I think that I'll just crush you guys anyway. Team, stay back. I've got these two handled."
He grabbed a pokéball off his belt and threw it right at us. We both jumped back as a Lairon appeared in front of us.
Laura's eyes narrowed as she suddenly took off running. She circled around the Lairon and took out a pokéball as she joined in on the other fight.
Looks like I was doing this on my own then.
"Okay, maybe not you for this one Brook," I told the pokémon that had almost no moves that worked well on steel types.
"I don't need a type advantage to take him," Brook protested as I physically keep her back.
"Maybe but how about a single move that he doesn't resist?"
"What about magical leaf?"
"It's a good move, but it works too slowly. Too risky," I pointed out as Brook gave up and let me grab another pokéball with my other hand. I wasn't sure which ball I got, I figured that Shroomish and Vimilky had about an even chance against something slow like a Lairon.
Shroomish appeared in front of the Lairon and glared at the much larger steel type.
"Okay Shroomish, let's take this guy…"
"Hey hold on for a second,"
I froze as I saw the Neo-magma grunt who was holding his arms in a 't' shaped cross.
"Are you actually calling for a time-out?" I asked not believing this.
"Don't worry it's a short one. So, a kid new trainer with a Ralt's on his shoulder and a Shroomish. Are you that Ralt's kid?"
"So what if I am," I told him as I thought back to my last encounter with Team Neo-Magma. Now that I thought about it, they had called me the Ralt's kid, or at least something similar.
"Well if you are then I got orders about what to do with you. I'm supposed to kick the crud out of you and all of your pokémon and then take back that Shroomish that belongs to us. Probably going take all of your pokémon while I'm at it,"
I kicked myself mentally as the Neo-magma grunt's words brought up some memories in me. I had gotten too comfortable with these guys. When I was just a kid, I remembered seeing the lost walk around Petalburg. Kids and adults alike whose trainer careers were cut short by one of the two teams.
It was a common story, promising trainer is ambushed by one of the teams. They are found the next day injured and all of their pokémon gone. The fall of both teams had led to a lot of those trainers getting reunited with their pokémon. For far too many however, that reunion would never come, their pokémon long since vanished, with no one with any clue where they were.
And here this guy was saying that if he won this battle, I would be next.
"Shroomish," I said as I pointed at Lairon, having decided to just ignore what the teenage Team Neo-Magma grunt said for now. I could let myself worry about it later. "Use bullet seed,"
Shroomish lowered his head as a blast of golden seeds blasted through the air and exploded on Lairon's metal hide. The dust from the blast got swept away by the breeze quickly enough. As it did so, it revealed a perfectly fine Lairon.
It looked like I might have done a little miscalculation.
"That the best you got?" The Neo-Magma grunt said. "Lairon, use stomp,"
The steel type charged forward before rearing back.
"Shroomish, dodge!" I yelled as Shroomish rolled out of the way. Lairon brought his legs down, causing the ground to shake. I tried to not imagine what would have happened if Shroomish hadn't gotten out of the way.
Looks like I had a tough fight on my hands.
I gulped as Shroomish took on the larger pokémon. I had wanted to go out there to teach the big guy a lesson. But as I watched Shroomish jump around the battlefield, taking the occasional potshot at Lairon, I found another reason.
Watching someone try to squish my mushroom buddy under their weight worried me. Lairon charged and stomped, Shroomish jumping, rolling, or running out of the way just in the nick of time. It was close, way too close. There were even times that I thought that Shroomish was really going to get caught under the metal lizard.
If Nikki didn't have a point about me not really having anything that could hurt this thing, I would have jumped in by now.
I opened a link to my trainer who was watching the fight anxiously.
"Stun spore?"
"No good, it needs a bit of a prep time which this Lairon won't give us. Plus it's too risky for us to risk it not working,"
Lairon stomped the ground underneath him and Shroomish rolled to the side, letting out a few bullet seeds once he was right side up again.
The dust cleared away quickly, revealing an unharmed Lairon.
"What about…" I tried to think of something my mind gave me nothing but blanks.
"Brook, I don't think we have too many options here besides…" He trailed off as his eyes darted to something, couldn't tell what. "I have a plan. It's a lame plan but its plan,"
"It's better than nothing I guess," I told him with a shrug.
"Okay Shroomish," He said as I wondered how 'lame' this plan could be. I mean if it managed to get Shroomish out of this mess, then it had to somewhat decent. "Concentrate of dodging for as long as you can,"
My trainer was right…
"That's such a lame plan!" I made sure to tell him the second after hearing about it.
"That's because we don't have to win, we just have to hold out until help arrives," He whispered to me so that The Neo-Magma grunt wouldn't hear him. Seeing that no further information was coming out of him, I decided to just sit down and watch Shroomish's fight.
My little mushroom buddy was doing pretty well. Now that he was completely focused on dodging, he was getting faster at it. No time wasted on a bullet seed that did nothing meant more time to focus on getting out of the way. My heart pounded as I watched the dance go on.
"What the heck is the plan here?" I asked Nikki as Shroomish ducked underneath one of the Metal Pokémon's swinging legs. "He can't keep this up forever,"
"He doesn't, he just needs to hold out until…"
"Oddish, use stun spore!"
"Taillow, Electrike, use aerial ace and thunderbolt,"
Shroomish backed off and got clear as a red and blue blur smacked into lairon. The hit left the larger pokémon off balance, a perfect target for the bolt of lightning that hit him right afterward. While he was still recovering from that, he got a face full of the golden spores courtesy of Oddish.
"What, but my crew!" The teenage Magma-Grunt said as he turned around. Waiting for him was the sight of all three of the younger grunt's standing around, all of their pokémon out for the count.
"Guys?" He asked. All three of them looked away, not willing to meet his eyes. He growled before grabbing a Pokeball from his belt. He pointed it at his Lairon and yelled. "Team Neo-Magma, retreat for now,"
He recalled his pokémon all the three other grunts did the same. As soon as all of their pokemon were safe and secure, they made a break for it.
"Too bad we don't have a way to contain them," I told Nikki while sighing. "This whole, beat them, let them escape and tell the police thing, it's getting old already,"
"Have to agree with you on that on," He admitted. "Let's go see how our new friend is doing,"
We walked over to the trainer that we had helped out. It was a young boy, maybe a year younger than Nikki. He was crouched down, looking over his pokémon.
"They okay?" Laura said as she crouched down next to the small human.
"Yeah, they're okay. A little roughed up but okay," He explained as he petted both of his pokémon. "Okay guys, take a bit of a break," He said as he recalled them both. "Name's Victor,"
"Hey I'm Laura and this here is Nikki," Laura said before 'Nicholas' had a chance to say anything.
I knew that I should have felt bad about keeping the whole 'Nikki' thing going, but at this point, I found it too funny to stop.
"So how'd you get caught up in all this?" Nikki asked as I brought up me empathy sense. I grabbed the string, making sure to ignore the phantom emotions that I knew weren't real.
Oh yeah, there was some simmering rage there.
"I have no clue," The other Human admitted. "I was walking to Verdanturf when I got attacked by these guys. Apparently, they wanted me to hand over my pokémon and money for 'the glory of team Neo-Magma," He scoffed. "What a bunch of jerks, trying to scare people by pretending to be a new team Magma,"
Nikki and Laura looked at each other. I had a good guess as to what both of them were thinking.
"Might as well tell him. He already knows that much, might as well say the rest," I told Nikki.
"You've got a point Brook," He whispered to me. "Okay, so this might not be the first time we've met these guys,"
"What, these guys have done this whole Neo-Magma thing before?"
"No I mean that we've met people calming to be in Neo-Magma before," He explained as he gave him a few details from the last time we encountered these guys. As he told the story, I noticed Shroomish trailing after us with a downcast face. I made a mental note to talk to him later.
We helped the other trainer out a little more after. Nikki and Laura told him to contact the police once he made it to Verdanturf and to try and contact those two detectives that they knew.
With all that taken care off, we started making our way north again.
A few hours later we made it to a campground. The sky was starting to get dark and with Team Neo-Magma out there, it was probably a good idea to stop in a place here with other trainers nearby. We picked our own little place and made our camp, an activity that I never liked doing. I psychically dove another stake into the ground when I noticed Shroomish walking away towards the cliff edge.
"Is he okay?" Nikki asked as he walked up behind me.
"He looked a little down earlier,"
"Think he's okay?" He said as he looked at Shroomish in concern.
"Nikki, I'll go talk to him," I told him telepathically as I jumped down to the ground. "We'll do your psychic training tomorrow,"
"Yeah," Nikki said as he watched Shroomish walk away. "We can do this tomorrow. Go see Shroomish," I nodded and went after my mushroom buddy.
"Shroomish, wait up," I told him as I caught up to him.
"Oh, hey Brook," He said, looking down.
"You okay?" I asked him straight out.
"Well," he started before walking away. He stopped in front of the cliff edge and sat down. I followed after him and sat down next to him.
It was a nice view. The moon and the stars were out so there was plenty of light to illuminate the forest below us. The sea of green reflected the light, making swirls of silver as the leaves moved in the breeze. We just sat there for a while as I waited for him to say what was on his mind. After a little while, he finally said it.
"It's," He hesitated and looked away. "I'm getting tired of this,"
Tired of 'this'? Tired of what? Was he talking about traveling with us? That didn't sound right, so maybe he was talking about…
"Are you talking about how those Magma and Aqua idiots keep saying that you're 'their' pokémon?" I said giving my best guess.
"Yeah," He admitted. "I joined up with you guys to get away from having to go with those guys. And I like traveling with you guys but I also thought that I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore,"
"This seems a little extreme. We've only dealt with them like four times," The first time when we caught Shroomish, the battle later that day, the fight in the Treecko grove and just now. I'm pretty sure that was all of them. "You sound like you fight them every day,"
He lowered his gaze, making me worry even more.
"There was a part that I didn't tell you," He said finally.
"What is it?"
"That day we met, that wasn't the first time I met those humans," He sat down on the ground as I did the same. "I was wandering around the week before that. I got spotted by them when I wandered a little too close to the human town." He shuddered in what might have been fear. "They spent almost the entire week tracking me down and chasing me. I couldn't rest without them trying to grab me. Just imagine trying to get a little rest and suddenly a human comes crashing out of the bushes and trying to grab you,"
"So when we met up with you and I offered to take you with us…"
"It was the way out of having to deal with these guys and have a chance to rest for the first time in a week," He said finally.
We both sat there in silence. Nikki walked over after a while. He opened his mouth to say something but I shook my head before he could say anything. He nodded with understanding and backed away.
"So," I finally broke the silence. "What do you want to do?"
"I want to get them to stop chasing me," He admitted. "Traveling with you guys was supposed to fix that and it kind of did. Fighting them every once in a while is better than dealing with them every day, but I'd rather never have to deal with them ever again,"
"Shroomish," I said carefully, "I didn't ask you what you wanted to happen. I asked you what you wanted to do."
He looked up and gave me look that seemed to say 'go on'.
So I did.
"When I decided that I wanted to get out, I got out. I wanted to get away from the person ruining my life and after they pushed me too far, I did it. It was scary and I'm pretty sure I almost died twice," He flinched at the mention of me dying. "But I did it because I dared. So that's what I'm asking you, what do you dare to do?"
He grumbled as he mulled it over in his head. He opened his mouth to give an answer more than once, but he changed his mind and said nothing every time. Finally, he came to his answer.
"I want to fend them off. I want to be able to fend them off by myself,"
Fend them off by himself? Made sense all things considering. But for that, he needed to start training more. Milk was okay, but she really only did the basic training that Nikki had us all do. I was the only one who really pushed themselves more than that. Having a sparring partner offered some new opportunities that I could take advantage of.
"Um, Brook, are you okay," Shroomish suddenly said, breaking me out of my thoughts of training.
"Oh yeah, why?"
"Because you suddenly got a really happy look on your face. What were you thinking about?"
I blushed and admitted to my thinking about how the two of us could train together.
Shroomish got a weird look on his face before breaking out into laughter, something that I'd never really seen him do before.
"What's so funny?" I asked him pretending to be greatly offended. Of course, the fact that I could easily switch to actually offended depending on his answer went unsaid.
"Your first response to learning this big internal problem I'm having is to suggest combat training," He said while laughing. "It's just so you."
I let him get the laughter out even as I rolled my eyes. I led him back to the group soon after.
We ate a quick breakfast and put our stuff away. After having to deal with those Team Neo-Magma guys from yesterday, I wanted to hurry up and get to Lavaridge. Especially since we probably weren't going to get lucky and meet up with another trainer on the road there. That last fight would not have gone down that way if Victor's two pokémon had not been there.
Which was why Laura and I were walking up the road at the crack of dawn.
"And to think," I said to break the silence. I waited for Laura to turn around before pointing at the pokéballs on my chest. "These guys get to keep sleeping,"
Laura chuckled before nodding. "To be fair, we are the ones who get to play mission control while they do the fighting,"
"I guess that's true. To be fair, I don't think things would go well if we switched the rolls." I chuckled to myself at the thought of fighting myself while Brook gave commands.
"I'd think if it came down to it, I'd win," Laura said cheekily.
"You sure about that? You might be bigger than me, but size isn't everything,"
"No, I'm just pretty sure that Oddish would make a better trainer then Brook,"
I thought back to what Brook said yesterday about throwing her out and expecting a win counted as a plan.
"If Brook was the trainer, I'd get annihilated every fight," I commented, making Laura snort with laughter.
"Yeah, you would wouldn't you?"
"Okay, I am not just going to take this,"
There was a bright flash as one of the pokéballs opened up. I closed my eyes to the flash. When I looked back, a miffed looking Brook was standing on my shoulder with her arms on her waist and leaning forward.
"Looks like she heard us huh?" Laura said, trying to hide a chuckle.
"Yeah, she did," I said as I went to rub the top of her head. She scowled and knocked my finger aside.
"I would make an amazing trainer," She claimed. "We'd win like every fight.
"And would your plans consist of throwing me at our opponents and expecting a win?" Instead of getting embarrassed as I expected, Brook puffed up and scoffed.
"Of course not," She sounded like she was explaining the simplest concept in the world. "After all, you're not me,"
And there it was, that pride again. That pride that worried me. I decided to just let it go, no reason to make this trip awkward when we had some Team Magma wannabes skulking around.
We stopped for lunch, and for dinner as well a few hours later. I was in such a hurry, that I even cut short the usual training session I had with my pokémon.
Brook was less than happy about that, swearing that we could easily handle whatever Neo-Magma threw at us. When I told her that I didn't want to risk it, she just responded by saying that she'd finish the training in their common area.
I felt a little bad about treating them like this. Especially after Brook explained how Shroomish wanted to get strong enough to protect himself from the Neo teams. It was hard to not pity the mushroom once I knew more of his story.
Fortunately, I think Shroomish understood why we were in a hurry. Vimilky didn't really care either way but had seen the Lairon and had no interest in fighting something like that.
We reached the second campground with plenty of time to spare before sundown. Something that I was perfectly fine with considering our situation.
"What was even the point of rushing to get here?" Brook commented from my shoulder as we walked over to a free campsite.
"The idea is that Team Neo-Magma can't attack us in the middle of the night without alerting all the other trainers here," I explained to her again, this time with the added benefit of being able to point at the three other trainers who were also setting up their tents.
"Yeah, but how do you know that those three will help us. Team Neo-Magma could easily attack us here and take advantage of the confusion."
"Brook I know you're just looking for reasons why we should stop running and fight them head-on."
"But we can totally take them though!" She argued, not even trying to hide her intentions at this point.
"Brook stop, I'm not going to risk you guys in a fight I'm not sure we can win,"
"What do you mean 'not sure we can win'? You have me on our side, what else do you need to convince you that we can mop the floor with these guys,"
"Brook get it through your thick head! You are not strong enough!" I yelled, my patience having reached an end.
"Not strong enough, was I not strong enough when I got you the two gym badges in your pocket? Was I not strong enough when I handled those Team Neo-Aqua idiots? At what point since we started traveling have I been not strong enough? Unless you haven't been paying attention, I've won each and every fight I've been through!"
"And that's great, but just because you've won every fight so far, but that won't be true forever," I snapped. "One day you're going to go up against someone who's going to be stronger then you and if you're not careful, it's going to be someone who wants to actually hurt you!"
I was going to keep going, but I stopped. Brook was glaring at me, her red eyes burning. He growled as she dissolved into light and went back into her pokéball. I unclipped the pokéball from my chest and looked into it.
I'd never seen Brook look at me like that. It was a little terrifying, to be honest.
I glanced up and lit up when I noticed that everyone else was looking at me. The second I met their eyes, they all looked away and did their best to look busy and uninterested. I rolled my eyes and went back to setting up camp.
"Go ahead," I sighed after a short while. "Say what you want to say,"
"Don't you think you were a little too harsh on her?" Laura asked as she finished the last of the preparations. "I mean, I can't hear her directly but I can figure out what you guys are talking about by paying attention,"
"I'm just, worried. I have a point. She's going to lose a fight someday. It might not be tod…" I glanced upwards at the sky that was already darkening into night. "It might not be tomorrow, it might not be the day after that, but she will lose eventually,"
"And you think she's not ready for that?" Laura asked as she sat down on one of the logs surrounding the fire pit.
"I know she's not ready for that," I told her as I sat down across from her.
"I think you were still a little too harsh with her,"
"Yeah I think so too," I looked over at my other two pokémon who were looking at me. "What do you guys think, did I go too far?"
Shroomish gave me the answer I expected, a swift nod in agreement. Vimilky, on the other hand, surprised both Shroomish and me by shaking her head. Shroomish spoke a few words to her which Vimilky replied to with a few words of her own. They went back and forth for a little before the stopped, Shroomish donning a pensive face while Vimilky ginned smugly.
"So you think I had just the right amount of harsh?" I asked Vimilky and again she shook her head. "Wait so if it wasn't too harsh, and it wasn't the right amount of harsh…" I said piecing together what she meant. "Are you saying that you think, I wasn't harsh enough?"
Vimilky finally nodded as she grabbed her portion of the food and started chowing down. It didn't look like I would be getting any more of her for now.
Seeing that the conversation was over, for now at least, I sat down to eat myself. A few bites in and I realized something. I unclipped Brook's pokéball and set it down in the tent. I put her food out next to it. I was still angry with her, and she probably still with me. That didn't mean that I was going to take away her dinner.
When I came back, the food was gone and the pokéball had moved slightly from where I left it.
It was the morning of our third and final day on the trip and I was still fuming. Who did he think he was, saying that I wasn't strong enough? I'd show him. Watch, next gym fight I was going to take on all of the gym leader's pokémon by myself. That'll prove who's strong enough.
For now though I was just content to stay in either my pokéball or the common area. I was in the middle of some light target practice when Milk came up to me.
"Hey there Brook, you training hard?" She asked even though she knew the answer.
"You know what me going hard looks like, and this isn't it," I pointed at the targets hanging in the air. "Look, they're not even moving,"
"So what, you just making sure you don't get rusty or…" She left the rest of it unsaid, knowing full well that I could guess what she was talking about.
"Okay yeah, I'm doing this to blow off some steam," I admitted as I fired a confusion at another target. The bolt of psychic power hit its mark as the center of the target caved. The wooden dish shattered in what had been a satisfying crunch yesterday.
Now it didn't feel the same.
"Listen, Brook, you're a decently smart Ralts. You know that Nikki doesn't think you're weak. You know that he's just worried about us."
"Yeah, I know. It's just frustrating,"
"Brook, can you tell me the truth about something?"
"Sure what about?" What could she be wanting to ask me?
"I saw that Lairon that Shroomish was fighting. Did you really think you could beat that thing?"
"Of course I think I could have. Don't tell me you don't think I could have managed it?"
Milk watched me silently, as though she was thinking real hard on her answer.
"All I'm saying," She said finally "Is that I wouldn't have wanted to fight it and I can't imagine someone who would,"
I didn't know how to respond to something like that, so I didn't. I kept silent as another batch of targets appeared in front of me.
"Brook, you don't have to listen to anything I say. I'm not the boss of you and to be honest I'm really glad I'm not the boss of you,"
"Hey!" I snapped my head at her, that last line having brought me out of my silence.
"But if you are going to listen to me, then listen to this. Nikki was only trying to look out for you. You're lucky that he's your trainer and not me because I would have acted way worse,"
"So why don't you?"
"Because like I said," She said as she turned around and walked off towards the connector between the common area and her own pokéball. "I'm not the boss of you,"
With that said she jumped into the connector and in a flash, she was gone.
I guess my last conversation with Nikki could have gone better. It made sense for him to be worried. The little he said about the old Magma and Aqua teams did make them sound terrifying. If I was any other pokémon, I'd be freaked out too.
But I wasn't any other pokémon. I was Brook the Ralts, the undefeated champion of two gyms and future strongest pokémon in the world. I knew what I had to do. I had to prove to Nikki that these Neo-Magma chumps were nothing to fear. And of course, the best way to do that would be to crush them under my feet.
I smirked as a new round of targets appeared. I took aim and fired, the crunching sound once again satisfying.
It was around noon when they caught up to us.
When we came around the bend, I didn't think twice about the small groove of trees coming up. If I had been asked about it, then maybe I would have said that it was a nice little place. Maybe I would have even stopped here for lunch if we weren't in a hurry. We passed underneath them and I almost didn't notice it.
But I got lucky, and I did notice.
I didn't hear them at first, at least not directly. No the first thing I noticed was the sound of some rustling leaves.
The slopped path could be pretty windy but the breeze had died down for now. I grabbed Laura by the shoulder.
"Wait," I said as I looked upwards towards the trees that had made the sound. Among the branches, I made out what looked like four figures watching from the behind the leaves.
"Run," I whispered as pushed Laura to give her a running start. I followed right after her.
"We've been spotted!" I heard one of them yell from above us. It was a voice that I wasn't familiar with, so it was one of the three younger grunts who had spoken.
"Forget about chasing them," A much more familiar voice said. "Just us your pokémon to cut them off," The older grunt said as all four jumped down from the tree and onto the road behind us.
The other three Team Neo-Magma grunts didn't say anything else, instead just pointing at us and calling out their pokémon.
"Geodude,"
"Poochyena,"
"Aron,"
"Go!" They all said at once as they tossed their pokéballs. All three pokémon appeared in front of us, cutting us off from escape.
"Good luck getting out of this one kids," The older grunt said as he tossed out his own pokéball. His own Lairon appeared in front of him, ready to go. "This time you don't have another trainer to help you,"
I grabbed all three of the pokéballs on my chest and threw them out. If losing here meant having all of my pokémon taken away, then there was no way I wasn't going to give them the chance to decide their own fate. Laura must have thought the same because she sent out both of her own pokémon to help.
"Alright, let's do this!" Brook suddenly yelled both aloud and telepathically. She pointed both of her arms downwards and boosted right at the Lairon.
"Brook wait!" I yelled knowing that it was too late. "Don't go on your own," I said just as I noticed a small green and tan blur following after her.
"I've got Shroomish," Brook said back. "Don't worry Nikki, We'll beat this thing and prove to you that these guys are nothing," She said as she came out of her burst and shot a confusion at the Lairon. The bolt hit the Pok1mon and did no visible damage. "You won't have to be afraid anymore,"
This, this could end badly.
I looked down at the only other pokémon next to me, Vimilky. "Vimilky, go help out Laura with the three pokémon blocking out path," She nodded and ran back to help in that battle, leaving me to face the Lairon with Brook and Shroomish.
Brook landed on the ground as Shroomish came to a stop next to her. The two of them stared down the Lairon. The steel type was looking at the two of them in what looked like anticipation.
"You sure you want to send one of your pokémon away. You're going to need all the help you can get against me," The older grunt boasted as he held his hand out. "Lairon, crush these guys,"
The Lairon charged forward at Brook and Shroomish, causing both to jump away in opposite directions. "Brook, try to keep them busy, fight evasively. Shroomish, you just hang back for now," I told them.
"Nice to see that you've come around," Brook said smugly as she boosted around the Lairon, keeping them from getting a good hit on her. "But are we really doing this plan again? I know it worked last time but it's still a lame plan,"
I rolled my eyes, we apparently still weren't done with our conversation it seemed. She could at least try to act a little seriously.
I held in my breath as I watched Brook dance around the much larger and sturdier pokémon. Constantly, using Boost to get out of the way of its stomps and charges. It was even more nerve-wracking than watching Shroomish do the same. The little mushroom couldn't take a hard beating, that was Vimilky's thing, but he could take a hit way better then Brook could.
Shroomish had had room for error in his fight, Brook had nothing of the sort. One hit and she was going down. But I needed the most agile member of our team to keep the Lairon busy. I needed Brook to make an opening for Shroomish.
Brook landed right in front of the Lairon who reared back before slamming their legs down. Instead of dodging to the left or right like I would have expected, she aimed her arms downwards and boosted right at the Lairon's face. She cut off the boost just as she got close, and threw her hands out. She latched onto one of the holes in the steel types face and grabbed on.
The Lairon roared in rage as Brook grabbed onto his face, blocking his sight. Without their sight, they were wide open, exactly the chance I had been waiting for.
"Shroomish, use stun spore. Brook, boost out of the way of the spores,"
Brook took a moment to say anything something to the Lairon that sent him into a rage. Brook just laughed as she let out the strongest confusion she could, blasting her away from Lairon just as the spores began to rain down. The Lairon roared as it started freezing up, the spores locking up his muscles.
Brook landed next to Shroomish. She said something to him which Shroomish nodded at. She placed both of her hands up while Shroomish lowered his head.
Seeing what they were planning, I yelled out the cue to fire.
"Brook us magical leaf, Shroomish use bullet seed. Both of you give it everything you have!" Shroomish unloaded with the strongest bullet seed barrage I had ever seen him use while Brook gathered up energy in her arms. It formed into a swarm of leaves that hung above Brook's head. She threw her arms forward, sending all of the leaves to the immobile Lairon who was already taking a pounding from the bullet seed.
The already present swarm of seeds was soon joined by a new swarm of glowing leaves. The combined force of both swarms was enough to create a ton of tiny explosions, each one making a modest smoke cloud.
The effect of all of those attacks was that a massive smoke cloud erupted from Lairon, covering both pokémon and criminal trainer.
The three of us stood ready as the smoke cleared. We weren't about to take a chance and lower our guard now.
A wise choice because when the smoke cleared, both the Lairon and his trainer were still up. The trainer looked pissed that we hadn't gone down easily. Meanwhile, his Lairon looked at all of us with a look that seemed to say 'now I'm angry.'
"You have some strong pokémon there kid," The older grunt told me. I decided not to respond. "Maybe I should stop going easy on you,"
I gulped as he took out a second pokéball from his pocket.
"Time to make this a real double battle am I right?" The teen grunt tossed the pokéball so that it landed next to his Lairon. The ball opened and then there was a Mightyena next to the Lairon. To make things worse, it looked like the Lairon was starting to break out of his paralysis.
The fully evolved dark type and mid-stage steel-ground both flashed us some sharp smiles.
"Okay so brook, try to keep Lairon in check. Shroomish, you go for…"
"Mightyena, on the Ralts! Lairon, handle that mushroom!" The grunt cut me off as both of his pokémon came at us. Brook boosted upwards out of the path of the dark type's jaws while Shroomish went back to his old game of avoiding the Lairon.
It was a game that I rather he not play.
"Man, you're really looking for a beating aren't you? I mean are you even trying to hit me. I'm starting to wonder if those fangs are just for show," I told the overgrown mutt as I once again boosted out of the way if her jaws. For as slick as she looked, she really wasn't that fast.
"Then why don't you hold still for a second brat. Let me show you how I can use them to break bones."
I made a humming sound like I was thinking it over. I wasn't of course, but I needed to put up appearances if I wanted to make her mad.
"Yeah sure, why not?" I said as I landed on the ground and stood motionless.
The Mightyena raised an eyebrow.
"Are you mocking me?"
"What? No, not at all. You said you wanted to show me what your fangs could do so I'm giving you a chance to show me,"
"Brook, what are you doing?" Nikki screamed at me, making me roll my eyes.
"Relax, it's all going to plan, focus on Shroomish," I told him telepathically as the Mightyena circled around me, testing my reaction to see if I was serious about letting her hit me.
"Time to go give you a lesson in pain you brat." She suddenly announced as she charged right at me. I smirked before aiming straight down and boosting at the last second. The only lesson she'd be teaching is a lesson on how to chew on air.
Oh, that was a good one. Better use it now while it's still fresh.
"Looks like the only lesson you'll, be teaching is how to chew on air, you mangy mutt," I yelled as I sailed over her.
To be honest, I had no clue what 'mangy' even meant. But what I did know, was that it could be used as an insult on canine pokémon.
Well, I guess it, didn't really matter. The mightyena was snarling in rage, so it had worked and that was good enough for me.
I was going to say it outright, I had no clue what Brook was doing. I kind of got the basic gist. Make your opponent angry so that they make mistakes you can take advantage of.
The only issue with that was that Brook didn't really have a move that could capitalize on an opening like the kind she was trying to make. Magical leaf took too long to set up against a fast opponent like a Mightyena. Disarming voice would do too little damage, even with the type advantage. Plus Brook had to stop moving to use it and I was sure that she understood that that was too big a risk.
Of course, the perfect move for the situation, confusion, had no effect on dark types.
Despite our earlier argument, I found myself needing to trust Brook. I forced myself to divert my attention from that fight to the one going on next to it.
Shroomish was playing the same game of keep away as Brook. Or at least, the same base game. Brook's version sounded like it had way more taunting on it then the silent affair Shroomish was going through.
It was all just so frustrating. Neither one of my pokémon could do major damage to their opponent, but both said opponents were to slow to get a hit in.
I glanced back behind me. Last time I had gotten bailed out Laura and Victor's pokémon.
As I took stock of the battle I realized that no help would be coming any time soon.
Oddish and Doduo had teamed up to fight the Geodude and Aron. They were holding their own well enough, even if the Aron was doing a good job at keeping Oddish from getting a good hit on their Geodude.
An even fight that didn't look like it was going to end anytime soon.
Vimilky on the other hand, looked like she had her hands full with the Poochyena. The dark type was running circles around her, Vimilky relegated to taking the defense.
I wasn't worried that Vimilky was about to go down anytime soon. The few bites and scratches the Poochyena managed to land left Vimilky unscathed. It was clear however, that Vimilky wasn't able to get her own hits in.
She'd be able to tough things out until she got help. But I shouldn't expect her to be able to help out with either of these fights any time soon.
I looked back to Shroomish. He was still doing the dance to avoid the Lairon, but I could tell that he was getting tired.
Shroomish jumped to the side as Lairon swung their head. He must have landed wrong, because he froze when his foot hit the ground.
And that little freeze was all it took.
"Shroomish!" I yelled as Lairon reared back and stomped on him. Brook yelled something too, before boosting right at the Lairon's face and shooting a confusion at point blank range.
"Looks like it's mad," The Neo-Magma chuckled as Lairon flinched slightly at the attack and otherwise didn't move. "Don't worry about the pokémon, its fine," The grunt said as the Lairon shifted to show Shroomish under their feet. "I made sure to make it real clear to the big guy that this mission was a strict capture mission,"
Brook landed in front of me and glared as the mightyena took a spot next to the Lairon. I never knew that something with a snout could look that smug.
"So what are you going to do now kid," The grunt said as he walked up to the Lairon and patted them on the back. "Of you give up now and just hand over your pokémon, we'll go easy on you,"
I had to think of something. I couldn't let things end like this. I had to…
Was Shroomish chanting?
"It won't end like this. It won't end like this," Shroomish kept chanting in wheezing pain as his eyes fluttered.
I clenched my fist. He was having trouble keeping his eyes open.
"It won't end like this. It won't end like this."
You're right Shroomish, it won't end like this. I was going to get you out of this and then we were going to mop the floor with these guys.
I raised my hand and got ready to do something that I would probably regret. Warmth had pounded it into my head that humans were nowhere near as durable as us. As such, we weren't supposed to use attacks on them. Of course a part of me felt as though this could be a justifiable exception.
But just as I started charging up for the attack, I saw something that made me stop. Under Lairon's foot, Shroomish was glowing a pure shade of white.
"What is, no way…" The Neo-Magma grunt trailed off.
"It can't be, but it is," Nikki said before breaking into a mad grin. "Looks like we have a chance to turn this around!"
As Nikki talked, Shroomish grew in size. He grew and grew, and he kept growing until Lairon had to choose between getting off or being flipped over onto his back. The steel type grumbled as he choose the former and backed away a little. The mightyena and human matched him and took a step back as well.
By the time he finished growing, he was even taller than Nikki. Then as quickly as it had started, the white glow faded, giving me a good look at Shroomish. The stumpy little Mushroom had been replaced with a tall, lanky mushroom with a long tail. Om both of his feet were long red claws and on each arm was what looked like a pair of pincers.
I knew what this was, Shroomish had evolved.
The lucky mushroom had done it before me.
"So you got lucky and had one of your pokémon evolve mid battle, big deal. You're still going down," The grunt said, looking not as sure of himself as he had a few moments ago.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Nikki said, having found some steel for his spine. "After all, you do know that Shroomish gets a new typing after evolving right?"
Shroo… I guess it would be Breloom now, vanished in a puff of smoke. A split second later, he reappeared to the side of Mightyena, delivering a devastating punch onto her side. The dark-type cried out as she was sent down.
"What?" The grunt yelled.
"So fast," I yelled too.
"He's almost too fast to see," I heard Milk freak as she fought the Poochyena.
"Breloom, show them the Mach punch of a fighting type!" Nikki commanded, making Breloom break out into a mild smirk.
Breloom vanished again, now in front of Lairon. Before the metal lizard even had a second to react, he punched it right in the face. Lairon staggered back from the force of the blow.
"Now follow, up, keep the pressure." Nikki urged
"Understood," Breloom replied as he ran forward. His voice was deeper than it had been before he changed. He ran slightly past Lairon before spinning on delivering a powerful punch into Lairon's back.
"Lairon don't let him get you," The grunt tried to interject only for Breloom to step forward and deliver a quick jab with his other pincer.
The cry of pain coming out of Lairon told me all that I needed to know.
He was about to go for another hit when he saw something that freaked him out. Wonder what it was.
"Brook look out!" Nikki yelled out. I looked behind me and came face first with a mouth full of teeth.
"Brook, duck!" I heard Breloom's new voice say. I didn't bother hesitating. I ducked as a green blur sailed overhead. The blur hit the mightyena and revealed itself to be Breloom delivering a kick to the dark-type's face.
"Nice job Breloom," I cheered as the dark-type went flying back into the Grunt.
"No, not Breloom," He said as he watched the Neo-Magma grunt pushed the Mightyena off him. "I've figured it out, my name is Khesen,"
The grunt panicked as he recalled his downed pokémon. Khesen put up his fists and narrowed his eyes. The Neo-Magma guy looked conflicted for a moment before also recalling Lairon.
"Team Neo-Magma, fall back for now!" He yelled as he started running. The other three grunts recalled their own pokémon and made a run for it.
Both Nikki and I walked up to Khesen as the Neo-magma guys ran off into the distance. I boosted and jumped up onto Nikki's shoulder. As I landed, I saw Milk running over to join us.
"Those were the guys you were so afraid of? We took care of those guys no problem," I said telepathically to Nikki while also saying it out loud for Khesen and Milk. I had no idea why all three of them started rolling their eyes at me, it was a good point.
"You did a good job, Breloom," Nikki said, trying his best to ignore my solid logic.
Khesen flinched as I realized that translator duty fell to me once more.
"He says his name is Khesen now," I explained to Nikki who nodded in understanding.
"Finally, figured your name out then? Good for you Khesen," Nikki said before trying to reach up and pat Khesen on the shoulder. Something that he had a bit of an issue with now that my little mushroom buddy was taller than my trainer.
Eventually, Nikki gave up and simply declared that they still had a few more hours until we made it Lavaridge. To celebrate his newfound height, Khesen decided to walk alongside us for the rest of the way there.
A few hours later, and we emerged from the mountains into Lavaridge Town. A town nestled into the mountains that held some famous hot springs, an herbal remedies store, and most important for me, a Gym where I would crush and conquer our way into a third Gym Badge.
