It was late. News had spread across the city that Garang had lost, and with no other battles most classmates were heading to bed. Garrett was in our room, so after collecting our Moemon we returned to the room. When we entered, Garrett got to his feet and asked us for information. We gave him a quick summary and then showed him Olivia. When he saw her, he sat back down on the bed.
"Damn," he sighed. "Poor guy."
"At least nobody died from his mistake," said Quinton. "Arthur will take care of her."
"I really don't think I can, guys," I said. It hadn't even been 24 hours since Beauty's death. I certainly didn't feel confident in my own abilities.
"Please, even if you can't, we can," said Mandy. She shook Olivia's hand. "Mandy's the name. Sorry for trying to hurt you the other day. I was wild and crazy and I didn't know who you were."
Olivia had been fully healed, but she still recoiled slightly at the sight of Mandy's hand. "Olivia."
Mandy frowned. "Hey, it's alright. We're on the same team now."
"Let her be," said Stacy. Mandy didn't argue, and she walked away to let Olivia be alone.
Olivia tugged at my pants and asked to be picked up. I held her in and she buried into my arms. I could hear her muffled sobs. I just pat her on the head softly. I didn't know what else to do. I looked up to my friends for help, but they seemed as lost as I was.
"Garang was a good guy," said Garrett, trying to be helpful. "And he was lucky to have you as a Moemon. You'll make him proud."
"Don't bother," Hope snarled from the other side of the room. "All these water Moemon are the same. They can't handle the slightest challenge."
"Be nice," Garrett warned. "I don't want to have to put you in your ball again."
Gloria giggled. "Yeah, Hope, you better keep your mouth shut."
"This coming from the psychic Moemon," said Hope. "You're no better."
"Oh, I'm no better?" Gloria repeated in disbelief. She laughed mockingly. "I could crush you. I don't even need my powers."
Christine stepped in between them the moment Gloria finished. She glared at Hope. "We don't need to fight right now! Sit down both of you!"
"What do you care?" Hope snarled. "You aren't part of us."
"Right now she's better than you," said Jenny. Hope turned on her, causing her to recoil. Then Wendy stepped in between them smiling away.
"You're so silly," she said. "You just need to sleep. Sleep away."
Hope watched her bounce up and down, raising a confused eyebrow. She grew bored quickly, huffed, and sat down. With one opponent out of the way, Gloria glared at Christine.
"I don't need your help," she muttered.
"No? You were going to get killed by her," snickered Christine. "I don't care how tough you think you are. You're not strong enough to beat a dark type."
"Thank you!" Hope said. "Someone who gets it!"
"But I could crush you," said Christine, turning to Hope.
"You aren't helping," said Stacy, watching Hope attempt to get to her feet. Wendy acted quickly and sat on her lap.
"How are you so heavy?" Hope gasped, struggling to send the water Moemon away. Wendy simply sat and stared into space.
"Quit fighting girls," said Quinton. "You're upsetting Olivia."
"We need something to distract them," Garrett decided. "Cooped up like this, we're just going to fight each other."
"We can't train until tomorrow," I said.
"How long are we staying here?" asked Garrett. "Do we want to leave as soon as we can or wait?"
"I want to take my time," I replied. "I want to watch everyone fight Brock."
"I would like to wait for Maggie at the least," said Quinton. "Whether I stay or not depends upon you two."
Garrett shrugged. "Well, I mean I guess we could just stay a bit longer. You saw the museum, right? I'd like to check that out."
"It's amazing," I said. It was so large that it had taken me nearly the entire afternoon to fully explore. It was an excellent distraction. "I'd highly recommend it."
"Perfect." Garrett turned to his Moemon and announced that they would be going to the museum tomorrow. It was met with mixed results.
"I would like to explore the history of this region," said Quinton. "I do not believe it is a coincidence that we are encountering trainers exactly as we would encounter them in the games. The fact that it has been eight years since the events of the games is important, and I would like to find out why that is."
"Hey, you do that," I said, not terribly concerned. "Let me know what you find."
That next day, Garrett took his Moemon to the museum, Quinton searched the city and trained, and I trained nearly the entire day. I checked my watch after every battle watching the progress of the last few classmates as they traveled through the forest together. Maggie kept both of her Moemon alive, which was the important thing. The four of them came under some close calls, but only a single Moemon was lost.
"I guess patience paid off for them," I said. We were at Route 2, so I decided to greet them. I walked over to the forest entrance to see Maggie, Jack, Rebecca, and Lance were all fairly unharmed. When they saw me, they waved.
"Nice greeting," said Lance, grinning. "Were you watching us?"
"I was," I admitted. "I'm impressed. You guys all did well."
Lance winked. "You weren't the only one watching everyone. I've been taking careful notes."
I had noticed. Lance was one of the few of us to have actually evolved his starter. Of course, it was his only Moemon, but it being level fourteen Monferno was a great advantage against Brock.
"You can catch Moemon here as well," I said, motioning to the grass. "Just make sure you've healed and stocked up beforehand."
"Good advice," said Jack. "We'll probably be back here in a bit."
"I kind of want to catch it now," said Rebecca. Jack shrugged.
"Or we'll do it now." The pair of them walked into the grass.
"It's terrifying, battling," Maggie muttered. "I didn't think we'd win."
"You're probably the luckiest of us," said Lance, grinning and clasping her shoulder. "Only starter here with poison. You're immune to anything here."
"How did Jack take the loss of his Yanma?" I asked. He had caught it early in the forest, and he had lost it almost immediately afterward to the first trainer.
"He wasn't happy," replied Lance. "I think that was his first loss. We kind of left her there."
"Damn," I said.
"Hey, we tried to tell him to bury her," said Lance. "But he didn't want to look at her."
"I can relate," I said sadly.
"Were you there for Garang's defeat?" asked Maggie. "I… I never got to say goodbye."
"I was," I said. I waved at Olivia. "He gave me his starter."
"Really? That's awesome," said Lance. "Kind of wish other people could do that."
"Oh… so he's really gone," Maggie said. "At least he didn't lose his Moemon."
"He didn't," I agreed. "He trusted me to take care of her. I intend on it."
"That's some good news," said Maggie. "I'll see you around."
"I'll probably be just beating Brock and heading out," said Lance. "I don't want to stay in one place for too long, you know?"
"I wouldn't do that," I said. "I'd wait until you felt ready, and then wait even longer. You only have one Moemon."
"It's a strong Moemon," Lance argued.
"That's exactly what Garang thought," I countered.
Lance didn't seem fazed. "I'll think about it." He waved and left the Route.
A few hours later around midday, my classmates were showing clear signs of restlessness. Charlie had challenged Brock's protégé earlier in the day, and he fought Brock himself. Brock revealed his strategy to all of us watching. Whenever Charlie attacked his Onix, Brock would use Bide. If Onix got low, Brock would run toward her and use a single Super Potion on her. And then the Bide would end, and Onix would release her energy. It was incredibly effective. Charlie had only had his Cyndaquil, a Hoothoot, and a Metapod. None of them lived.
When both were dead, our watches flashed and Charlie disappeared. There was a deathly silence when the light faded and Charlie was no longer with us. The audience – those who hadn't witnessed a Challenger's defeat – were stunned. Those of us who had seen it were simply saddened. Another had fallen.
Some poor souls cleaned up the mangled corpses of Charlie's Moemon, and the battlefield was cleaned. Lance came forward next. He beat Brock's protégé swiftly and then challenged the leader himself. His Monferno was fairly strong, but with only having a single effective attack, he only had a singular, easily counterable strategy.
He was defeated the same way. Two hits to a biding Onix, and then Brock used a Super Potion, and the Bide crushed the Monferno. And I'm not being hyperbolic; that tail of hers seemed to expand to the size of a small boulder and whipped down on the poor teenager's body. The Monferno was completely flattened. It was messy. I heard some of the audience retching when the tail was lifted and pieces of the fire Moemon dripped off. The Onix herself screamed in shock.
"Damn it," Lance shouted. He looked at the audience. His eyes locked with mine. He managed a half smile. "You were right."
I couldn't smile back. I just looked back at the pile of blood and bone that used to be a girl and felt sick. I didn't even look as Lance disappeared. I was right. I fucking warned him.
That was it for the day. Brock closed the gym prematurely to allow Onix to recover. The rest of us regrouped at the Center.
"Fuck," I heard Nick mutter. "That was so fucking brutal."
"I don't want to think about it," Hannah cried. "I don't want that to happen to my own."
"From the sounds of things, I'm glad I was in the museum," said Garrett. He had found us a few minutes after we arrived. We hadn't heard from Quinton since that morning. "Was it bad?"
"It was the worst death I've ever seen," I replied. Looking around, I saw a lot of pale, terrified faces. There were also a lot of uneaten plates of food. I felt the same sickness.
"Are you going to be okay?" Garrett asked.
I shook my head. "I just need time."
"Seems like everyone's needing a lot of that," Garrett muttered. "Everyone except my Moemon. They were bored as hell at the museum. It really ruined the mood."
"Then train," I said dismissively. I really wasn't in the mood to give advice. "I can't control them."
Garrett snorted. "Neither can I. It'd be scary if they weren't so adorable."
"Just wait until they're fully grown adults and can crush a little girl beneath a boulder," I muttered.
"Do you mind?" Andrew asked from the table behind us. He had turned to glare at us. "Have some respect."
"Sorry," I said. "I just wanted to prove a point."
"It was really that bad?" Garrett asked.
"Do you really need to ask?" I replied. "Look at everyone. We're miserable."
"We need people to win," Garrett decided. "I'll be that person."
"Don't do it," I muttered. "You aren't ready."
Garrett pulled out a Moeball and smiled confidently. "I caught a Petilil. Named her Lily. She's my ace. We can't lose."
"What level is she?" I asked. "If she isn't fifteen, don't bother."
"I'll train all day," said Garrett. "We'll be ready by tomorrow night."
I looked at my friend with concern. He had never seen Brock in action. He didn't know what he was up against. He saw my concern and felt defiant, walking out of the Center swiftly. I didn't feel like chasing him. I didn't want to see him lose, but I didn't know what I could say to stop him from making a dumb decision.
That night, after a bit of training, I was called over by Quinton, rushing toward me. He had a newspaper in his hand which he thrusted into my arms. I read the headline and felt a chill.
"'Challengers Enter Kanto,'" I read. The article described Mike's defeat the other day with a rather disturbingly detailed description of his Moemon's remains. It then described Mike disappearing. There was further description of Garang's defeat and subsequent disappearance. Brock was quoted as well stating that there were multiple Challengers. A young trainer from the Viridian Forest was also quoted.
"The worst news is that this is region-wide," said Quinton. "The secret's out."
"Wonderful," I sighed. "As if this day couldn't get fucking worse."
"We aren't going to be safe," Quinton decided. "The good news is that there are no descriptions of any of us. It only mentions those defeated. Nobody knows who we are."
"Who knows what the trainer told them," I said. "Who knows who has that information?"
"Let's try to think positive," said Quinton. "Have hope that we won't be in danger for a while."
Think positive? After everything I just experienced, being positive was the last thing I wanted to be. "Fine. I hope we aren't fucked by people with extremely strong Moemon tomorrow. Is that good enough?"
"What's wrong with you?" Quinton asked.
I vaguely described Lance's Monferno. Quinton immediately understood and patted me on the shoulder reassuringly. He told me to get some rest and we'd talk in the morning. I was fine with that, although I doubted I'd be able to sleep. I left him for the hotel.
"You trainers are so strange," said Mandy. "You're Challengers, yet when a Moemon dies you feel horrible about it, even when you didn't cause it. You should be expecting it."
"Why should I expect it?" I asked. "I don't want any of them to die!"
"Yeah, but you're a Challenger," Mandy argued. "It's inevitable."
"I didn't choose to be a Challenger," I said. "I didn't want this! I just wanted to go on a Pokémon journey!"
"What's a Pokémon?" Mandy asked.
"It doesn't matter," I looked for help. "Aren't any of you guys sad seeing that?"
"Of course," answered Rose. "I feel sad that those poor Moemon were caught by those trainer. But I am not surprised. I am expecting to see far more brutal deaths provided I survive that long."
"How could that be the slightest bit okay?" I asked.
"You kidnap us from our homes and then feel poor when bad things happen to us?" Rose asked. "How is that okay?"
"I didn't want to kidnap you," I said. "I mean, I didn't!"
"I didn't want to go with you, yet you plucked me from my home and my family," said Rose. "You surrounded me, threatened me, and captured me."
I must've looked horrible, because Rose suddenly looked at me softly. She sighed. "But I am here now, and I will stay with you until I die. But I will not have you act the victim when you have gotten yourself into this situation." She walked right up to me and stared me dead in the eye. "There is only way to proceed from here. We will avenge your friends, and I will not hear another word otherwise."
"But-"
"Not a word!" She interrupted. "Now enough with the pity. You are our trainer, and you will act like it!"
I couldn't find the words. I looked at the others, and they were looking at me with concern. They let me mellow in my thoughts. It took a lot of internal fighting, but I slowly nodded. I was going to avenge them.
"I won't let any of you die," I promised. "Not to Brock."
"Now don't act crazy," Mandy smirked. "You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep."
The moment I woke up, I looked at my watch. Quinton's habit of checking it had rubbed off on me, and I wanted to keep careful tabs on all of the remaining Challengers. Last night, twenty-three of us remained. When I woke up, I saw to my horror that there were only twenty-two. Frank had been eliminated.
"What the fuck?" I muttered.
"Oh, you saw." I turned in surprise. I usually woke up alone. Garrett was sitting at the edge of his bed filling his backpack. "Yeah, Frank got ambushed around midnight while you were asleep."
"Ambushed?" I repeated. "By whom?"
"By a Zubat of all things," said Garrett. "According to Quinton, Frank only had his Vanillite. She was low in health, and then he encountered a Zubat. Apparently it came out of nowhere, poisoned his Vanillite, and he couldn't make it to the Center in time."
"Shit, just like that?" I asked. "What did Quinton say?"
"He just said that Frank shouldn't have been training so late at night with one Moemon and no healing items," said Garrett. "I guess it was just really bad luck at a bad time."
"And Frank's out," I said. "Unbelievable."
"Quinton wasn't surprised, if that means anything," Garrett shrugged. "So I guess Frank never had a real chance."
"It doesn't change the fact that…" I stopped. I realize I'd said this before. All this talk about how Moemon didn't deserve this. It just… wasn't worth it. "Garrett, have you been watching Brock fight? Do you know what he does?"
"People have told me," said Garrett. "I have a plan." He waved. "See you tonight."
I waved back and watched him leave. I looked at Stacy who was sitting on the bedpost, staring at the door. "You don't have any input?"
She looked at me. "What would you have me say?"
"Anything, really. You Moemon never seem to speak. You should have something to say."
"It was a matter between you trainers," said Stacy. "I do not know this Frank, nor apparently will I ever. What happened to his Moemon was sad, but he took a risk he was not prepared for."
"If we train, we'll pass her body," said Mandy. "Are you prepared?"
"Can you handle it?" Christine asked. "Do you need more time?"
"No," I decided. "I've spent too long sulking. We need to get stronger. Dangerous people might be coming, and I want to prepare for them."
"Agreed," added Stacy. "We must be stronger."
Eating breakfast, I discovered that my Moemon were close to leveling up. We had to cut our training short due to the matches, but only just too short. Stacy and Christine were level 13, and Olivia was level 15.
"Well holy shit," I whistled when I discovered it. "What are the odds?"
"What's wrong?" Christine asked. I explained, and when I mentioned evolution her eyes lit up in joy. "You mean it? We're going to evolve soon?"
"Yeah, I think you all will," I replied. "This should brighten up my spirits!"
We reached Route 2, and I started checking my Moedex religiously, keeping a close eye on Stacy's experience. It didn't take many battles for her to level up. I noticed that Stacy was looking nervous as well, stepping tenderly in the grass, peering inside. At the last battle, she was visibly sweating and hesitating, as if she was unwilling to evolve. But then she tensed, jumped into the air, and rocketed at a spot in the grass. There was a scuffle, a large amount of dirt was picked up, and a body was thrown away. Stacy jumped out of the grass and dusted her dress off.
"How much left?" She asked calmly. Her eyes couldn't hide her excitement.
I looked. "Negative two points," I said, grinning. "Welcome to level 14."
She blinked and looked down at her hands, stretching her fingers out as far as possible and examining them. "Disappointing," she muttered. "I don't feel any dif-" and then she exploded in a white, blinding light. We shielded our eyes from the blast and waited for the light to subside.
And there she stood. She had grown at least ten years, looking to be in her mid-teens. Her dress changed, being more detailed with various frills and laces and pearls sewed on, ending just above her knees. Her boots had been replaced with yellow sneakers, and she now wore black stockings. She had grown in height, now reaching to my chest, and her hair – though as a child had been curled up similar to Starly – had now dropped to below her shoulders. Her wings had grown in size as well, but they looked far less awkward on this teenager than the child.
"Now do you feel different?" asked Christine.
"Very," she said, and we all started at her new voice.
"You look amazing!" said Olivia cheerfully. "I'm so happy for you!"
"Thank you," she said. Even she seemed surprised by her deeper voice. "Arthur, do you mind if I test my new body?"
"Be my guest," I said. I felt a surge of pride as I watched her rocket into the air. She soared majestically through the sky, looping, corkscrewing, falling into a steep nose dive just to pull out just above our heads. She slowed to a stop and hovered above our heads. But the most amazing thing was that she was actually grinning, smiling with joy and excitement.
She descended and landed gently on the ground. She admired her wings once again, and then she ran up to me and gave me a big hug. She lay her head on my chest and whispered, "Thank you. I could not have achieved this without your help."
"You did this on your own," I said. "This is all you."
"Girls," she said, looking down at the little girls before her. "You must evolve. It is an amazing feeling."
"You're making me feel short," Mandy frowned. "I won't be evolving for a while."
"Me next!" Christine said, hopping in place.
"I don't know," I said teasingly. "It's getting late. Maybe we should stop for the day."
"It's getting late," I said teasingly. "Maybe we should stop for the day."
"Noooo!" Christine said, tugging my leg impatiently. "I want to evolve!"
I sighed dramatically. "Okay, if you insist."
"Stop teasing," she replied, seeing through my clever façade. "Or I'll burn you!"
"Oh, but if you burn me, I won't be healthy enough to train you," I said. "Then what could you do?"
"Train without you," Christine frowned. "I'm strong enough."
"You are strong enough," I agreed, smiling. "Soon you'll be even stronger."
Arthur:
Christine the Charmander
Stacy the Staravia
Mandy the Mankey
Rose the Budew
Olivia the Oshawott
Garrett:
Gloria the Ralts
Jenny the Joltik
Hope the Houndour
Veela the Venonat
Debbie the Deerling
Lily the Petilil
Quinton:
Melody the Beldum
Wendy the Wooper
Brianna the Shroomish
Flora the Pineco
