Chapter 10
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any way!
Hmm, I like this new feature, hit counters, since they (almost) indicate if someone have read the story, or at least checked it… but enough of that! Thanks for the reviews so far, but I think the story needs a better summary. I still want some criticism and why not some hot flames? I've been playing Perfect Dark recently so you can expect some music clips from the game in this chapter.
One more note: If you have been confused by the dialogues I'll give you a description of it.
"Normal talk."
'Pokémon talk, that Bill understands'
'Thinking'
"Psychic talk"
I hope you get it.
"Man, it sure is quiet around here! Can someone put in some music? I'd really like some Rock music!" – Bill Anderson
"Pewter Gym Battle and the Revenge"
Inside the Pewter Gym, Jonathan and the trainer Hugh were preparing to battle.
"Okay, the rules are two Pokémon each, no switches during battle and the challenger, which is you, chooses Pokémon first, do you accept?" the tall, raven-black haired boy said.
"I accept, even if it's a disadvantage for me," Jonathan said, stroking his dirty blonde hair, thinking which Pokémon he should choose. 'If this guy is Dean's brother, I'm pretty sure he'll use at least one ground Pokémon but I can't take any chances… if I use Pidgey he'll bring out a rock type for sure.'
"Jon, give it all you got!" Bill cheered. The last battle between Dean and Jonathan had given him a kick, but he also needed to study the strategies all the trainers used, so he could use them himself while battling or when he battles a trainer who has found out his true identity.
"I will, Bill, just watch!" Jonathan replied, he was still thinking of which Pokémon he should choose. 'I should choose Rattata first and pray that he uses a rock type, and if Rattata wins the first fight he might call out a ground type, which in turn Pidgey is immune to,' he thought as he reached for the pokéball containing Rattata.
"About time! I thought you were going to stay there all day!" Hugh taunted.
"Yeah, but you gave yourself an advantage so I needed to think a little! Okay, Rattata, let's kick some ass!" Jonathan exclaimed as he threw his pokéball revealing his purple little rat, she sniffed around on the ground instead of getting into battle stance. "Rattata, it's not time for being curious! It's fighting time!" he shouted. She quickly turned her attention at the opposing trainer.
"What, you only have a Rattata? Well, sorry but I think my Geodude is going to win this easily, Go Geodude!" Hugh shouted as he threw his own pokéball revealing a rock Pokémon with two arms, it was levitating on the ground facing the Rattata.
'Hmm, Rattata might be faster than that Geodude that's pretty obvious but it also looks like it's very tough so I have to rely on her speed…' Jonathan thought, trying to make up a good strategy. Hugh, however, didn't want to wait for Jonathan to order his Pokémon to attack.
"Geodude, start out with a Tackle!" He ordered. His Pokémon dashed forward attempting to strike the rat with its powerful fists.
"Rattata jump out of the way right before it hits you and then use a Quick attack on it but don't bite!" Jonathan commanded, knowing that if Rattata was going to attempt to bite the boulder Pokémon. Since it was a rock, Rattata could hurt herself if she attempted to bite it. As the Geodude closed in to the rat Jonathan noticed that Hugh was smiling, had he anticipated Jonathan's counter when he himself ordered his Pokémon to attack?
Jonathan knew he had to pull off the technique he taught Rattata two months ago. "Rattata remember to dodge to the left. Right?" When he said left, he toned his voice up a little. Before Jonathan gave his Pokémon the new command, Hugh had anticipated that Jonathan would tell his Pokémon to dodge and Hugh was ready for that but now he didn't know which direction the Rattata was going to jump to, left or right?
"Geodude be ready to counter to the left with a Rock throw!" Hugh commanded, he wiped some sweat from his forehead. As Geodude punched the rat, it turned out that it had missed, but as it recovered from the miss, it threw some rocks to the left… and they hit nothing but air. "Dang, where'd it go?" he growled in confusion.
"Now use the Quick attack from above!" Jonathan ordered, ignoring Hugh's confusion. Rattata attacked Geodude from above and hit right on its head, what happened was this: when Geodude missed, Rattata jumped to the left and then jumped up in the air, leaving the Rock Pokémon confused as it thought that the rat would be on ground level after the dodge leaving it open to attack. It took some damage but it was tough, as Jonathan had anticipated, and he knew that he had to land more hits to win the first round.
"Impressive, really, but it will take more than one attack to defeat Geodude," said Hugh, impressed by Jonathan's action.
"Yeah, I kinda figured that out when I first saw it, heh," Jonathan remarked. "Rattata, Focus your energy!" He then told his Pokémon. The purple rat closed her eyes and concentrated for a second, a pale purple light enveloped her as she became temporary stronger.
"I won't let you do that! Geodude, Rollout on that rat now!" Hugh ordered his rock Pokémon as it began to roll at a high speed towards Rattata.
'Uh-oh, not good,´ Jonathan thought, 'even if Rattata dodges it, it will be too far away for her to counter it, guess I'll have her to dodge it until it's done with the rolling…' "Rattata use Agility and dodge it as much as you can!" he shouted. Rattata began to dart around raising her speed to the max and began to dodge the rolling Geodude with great difficulty since the rock Pokémon was rolling very fast. Hugh looked on as the Rattata was dodging his Pokémon and tried to find a pattern.
"Oh yeah! This surely is some real Rock 'n Roll! Wohoo!" Bill cheered, grinning at his own pun.
"Geodude, keep on rolling!" Hugh ordered his Pokémon to continue the attack, he had calmed down a little after Jonathan's counter and he had winded up a good counter against that rat. "Okay, Geodude, one more time!"
"Keep dodging, Rattata, and wait for a clean shot!" commanded Jonathan, he was getting anxious as Hugh was smiling again. Rattata dodged the Geodude once more but as it dodged Hugh shouted out a new order to his Pokémon.
"Now's your chance, Geodude, grab it and do a Seismic toss!" The Geodude stopped rolling and, almost instantly, grabbed the purple rat with one of its hands and held it up in the air a little, looking at its trapped opponent before jumping up in the air and threw the rat down with all its might.
"Rattata, are you okay?" Jonathan asked his Pokémon. She jumped up, ready for the next command.
"Ouch, that's gotta leave a mark!" said Bill, feeling sorry for Rattata.
"Geodude, grab it again and squeeze the air out if it!" The Geodude grabbed the rat Pokémon, surprisingly quick, again and squeezed it with one hand, Rattata struggled to get off the grip but she couldn't. Jonathan was on the verge of panicking.
'Oh shit! What am I going to do? I can't lose the first round! She'll faint soon if I don't do anything… now I know! It may not be very effective, but enough to catch it off guard!' he thought.
"It appears your Rattata is losing…" Hugh pointed out to Jonathan while Rattata desperately tried to get off Geodude's grasp. It tried to bite it, but to no avail.
"Nah, I don't think so. Rattata, burn it with Flame wheel!" Jonathan ordered his Pokémon.
"Don't be stupid, Rattata doesn't know any elemental attacks and even if…" Hugh started but was cut off when Rattata produced a ring of fire around her and released it right into Geodude's face, catching it off guard but it wasn't injured, however. "Impossible! How could your Rattata know that attack? But alas, it won't hurt my Pokémon."
"Let's see about that, your Geodude needs to cool off! Rattata, cool it off with Water gun!" Jonathan knew that it was a little under the belt to call out a move the Pokémon didn't know only to confuse the opponent but then Hugh had played a little dirty himself using that grab technique.
"Geodude, throw it away! Quickly!" the other trainer shouted to his Pokémon. He didn't know if the rat knew the attack but if it did it could damage his Geodude heavily, if not knocking it out. The rock Pokémon threw the purple rat away as quickly as it could to avoid the water attack.
"Haha! It was a trick, Hugh, and you fell for it! Now Rattata, Quick attack it!" said Jonathan, he had turned the tables yet again.
"What? Hey! That wasn't fair!" Hugh protested, angry for that he fell for Jonathan's feint, and now Geodude was hit once again by the Rattata.
"Heh, well you didn't play fair either by trying to squeeze my Pokémon, right?" Jonathan retaliated, knowing that he was right. "Rattata do it again!" he said to his Pokémon.
"Grr, Geodude, Tackle it hard now for once and for all!" growled Hugh, he knew that the challenger had the upper hand now. Geodude missed the tackle only to be hit with another quick attack from Rattata. "Geodude, use Rock throw and attack it from a distance." Geodude began throwing rocks towards the rat and Jonathan saw his chance to win the first round.
'Now's my chance! But it might be too risky,' he thought first while his Rattata dodged some of the rocks. "Rattata, sorry for telling you to do this, run towards it and latch on from behind and use Hyper fang!" His Pokémon charged towards the rock Pokémon and jumped over it, latched on it from behind and bit it with all its might. She hurt her fangs a great deal but it was enough for the Geodude to give up.
"Yes! First round goes to me!" he cheered, but then knelt down to Rattata's level, "Rattata, are you alright?" he asked, worried if she had hurt herself after the attack. She nodded to show her master that she was still okay, but she had hurt herself after the attack, and therefore was weak.
"Geodude is unable to battle! The challenger wins the first round!" the referee exclaimed.
"Geodude, come back, you'll do better next time. First round goes to you then… nice tactic you used there by tricking me. How did your Rattata learn Flame wheel?" Hugh asked.
"One of her parents was an Arcanine."
"Ah, I see. But that won't help it this time! Go Sandslash!" Hugh shouted as he threw his other pokéball revealing the evolution of Sandshrew, it was yellow and had brown spines on its back and resembled a mole/hedgehog. The armadillo-like hide its predecessor had was gone, but it was more muscular though. But what was most notable, was the claws it had on its paws, they were bigger, and longer.
'Yes! Just as I suspected! His little brother used a Sandshrew and therefore, almost logically, his older brother would use an evolution of it! Now I can use Pidgey when Rattata faints,' Jonathan thought, even though his Pidgey was one of his weaker Pokémon, it was his best bet since he had to save his Ivysaur for the gym leader.
"Sandslash, use a Sand attack first!" Hugh commanded his Pokémon. The Pokémon threw sand in Rattata's eyes, blinding her. Using the advantage he had by Jonathan thinking he let out a new order, "Good, now use Swift!" Sandslash were glowing white for a second and then unleashed countless small stars from its body and almost all of them sailed toward Rattata.
"Heh, the stars are all over her! She's really famous!" Bill joked again, which caused Jonathan to get irritated.
"Quiet you! Rattata, try to dodge it!" he shouted, he knew that it was almost impossible to dodge the attack but maybe Rattata could try to dodge it as much as she could to minimize damage. That wouldn't be so hard if she wasn't blinded however, she used her good hearing to determine where the attack came from but to no avail, she was hit head on. Rattata fell on the ground after the attack.
"Ehh, Rattata? Are you alright?" he asked, she slowly got up.
"Persistent little rat," Hugh mumbled to himself. "Slash it now!" he ordered his hedgehog like Pokémon; it ran towards Rattata who still tried to get the sand off her eyes. Jonathan knew that she couldn't take another hit.
"Rattata, be ready to dodge to the right," he told her, she still blinked her red coloured eyes, trying to get the sand out via tears, she arched down and waited for her trainer to shout, "Now!" he shouted, and Rattata jumped out of the way right before Sandslash was about to hit it. After the dodge Rattata finally got the sand out of her eyes and her vision was clear.
"Quick attack now, Rattata!" he commanded yet again and Rattata dashed forward towards Sandslash which itself was recovering from the missed slash it had attempted. Rattata leaped on hit and bit the yellow Pokémon in the face. Sandslash screeched in pain and grabbed the purple rat with its clawed hand and glared at her with murder in its jet black eyes.
"Sandslash, Slash it now to finish it!" Hugh shouted and his Pokémon gave the purple rat a murderous look before raising its other claw.
"No, don't do it! I forfeit that round, just don't slash her up!" the blonde trainer pleaded. Hugh ignored that and let his Sandslash slash at Rattata's face. It tossed her to the ground, three gashes were shown on her face, and she was bleeding.
"You asshole! Was that necessary?" Jonathan yelled as he recalled the bleeding Rattata. "Why'd you take your anger out on her when it was Bill who ticked your brother off?"
"Well, I had to repay the dept anyway," he retorted.
"Hey, Hugh, if you beat Jon that way I'll bitch you up!" threatened Bill.
"Take it easy, Bill, I got him," he said, "I hope," he mumbled quietly. 'Well, I knew she was going to fall sooner or later, but this calls for Pidgey. But the thing is that Sandslash is very strong and Pidgey could barely beat it, and I've only had him for three weeks,' he thought as he was going to choose Pidgey.
Finally, he made up his mind and picked up his pokéball containing Pidgey. "Well, I have one more left and I'm sure he'll kick your Sandslash's ass! Let's do this, Pidgey!" He threw his pokéball containing Pidgey.
'Shit! I didn't know he'd bring a flying Pokémon into a rock gym! This kid is pretty smart after all! And I who'd taught Sandslash Earthquake! Now it's useless!' Hugh thought, but he then realized that his Pokémon could easily overpower the bird using other attacks. "Alright Sandslash be ready to attack when it comes close!" he warned his Pokémon.
"Pidgey, try to blow it down with a Gust, and quickly follow up with a Whirlwind!" ordered Jonathan, he knew that Pidgey could execute those attacks as he had seen him doing them before. The brown bird chirped his name and flapped his wings trying to knock over the spiked mouse Pokémon, it only slid a little distance but it still stood up.
"Sandslash attack it now!" Hugh bellowed, he thought that Pidgey had finished its Whirlwind but the bird had only finished the Gust. As Sandslash charged the bird, who had started to flap his wings more violently which caused a whirlwind, the mouse was trapped in the whirlwind and it screeched as it spun around in the air.
Pidgey seemed to be happy of what it heard, neither of the trainers had understood what the mouse screamed out but Hugh was certain that it had to do with Sandslash's weakness. 'Oh no! I forgot that Sandslash is scared of heights! And I'm pretty sure that bird heard it scream that it was afraid of heights,' he thought worried.
"What, Pidgey? Is there something wrong?" Jonathan asked, he hadn't noticed that Pidgey had noticed that Sandslash was afraid of heights. Pidgey looked at his master and forced to smile, which looked rather comical. "I don't what you're trying to say but do whatever you want," he said confused as Pidgey nodded and waited for Sandslash to make its next move. The Sandslash, however, had fallen down when the whirlwind had ended and it was a little dizzy.
"Sandslash, snap out of it! Attack it again!" Hugh ordered, he was getting anxious because to his Pokémon's weakness against heights. But the Pidgey was fast enough to fly up to the spiny Pokémon and grabbed it with his talons, in a way so he would get stung by the spikes.
'What is Pidgey doing? Why take the opponent for a fly?' Jonathan thought, watching the bird fly higher. Sandslash tried to swipe him several times, but when the ground Pokémon accidentally looked down, it screeched in fright. It covered its eyes so it wouldn't look down, and Pidgey started to fly around the arena to scare it even more.
"No, Sandslash, not now!" screamed Hugh.
"Is it afraid of heights? Now that's some weakness!" Jonathan remarked, "Pidgey, I think that's enough," he told his Pokémon. He turned to face his opponent, "Unlike you, I know when a Pokémon is defeated."
"Shut up!" was Hugh's answer. Pidgey descended to the ground, hovering a half metre from the ground. He chirped something to the hedgehog Pokémon, which made it screech even more in terror, and let it go. Sandslash fell the short distance, and when he landed, he fainted because of the fright.
"Ehh, Sandslash, don't say that you… okay then, you won!" growled Hugh, angry of the humiliating loss.
"Sandslash is unable to battle! The challenger wins!" the ref said raising a flag, indicating that Jonathan had won.
"Yes, I won! Nice going there, Pidgey!" he cheered as he petted his, still unharmed, Pokémon. He summoned the bird back into his pokéball, looking at his defeated opponent.
"Whatever! You were just using the weakness of my Pokémon to win," he protested.
"What? It's called strategy, and that's what Pokémon battles are about," Jonathan retaliated.
"Well, if I'd chosen Sandslash first and then Geodude, I think I'd have the victory."
"You're right… let's just say I was lucky," admitted Jonathan. Hugh calmed down a bit
"But your Pokémon did well, and so did you. Good luck battling Greg, you might need it." He turned to Bill, "And you, please don't mess with my bro, he's still fresh when it comes to Pokémon training," he then said, leaving the gym to heal his Pokémon at the PokéCenter.
"Hey!" Jonathan said before Hugh reached the entrance. "Sorry about that with Sandslash, okay?"
"Heh, that's okay. I lost another battle due to his weakness for heights. But I'd like a rematch in the future," Hugh said before exiting through the door. Bill then came up to Jonathan.
"So the next battle is for the badge, right?" he asked, "I hope these n00bs will let you alone now."
"Hey, you're not a trainer so you should shut it!" Jonathan spat out, "But oh well, it's time to face the gym leader, I hope he accepts a one-on-one battle."
"Uh-huh, good thing you've been saving that Ivysaur for the last battle." They walked through the gym and met a man who seemed to be in the 20's; he had a grey sweater and grey pants. He also had a grey-blue cap on his head which covered most of his brown hair and he was a head taller than Bill.
Both Bill and Jonathan were certain that this was the gym leader Greg. He hadn't noticed them yet as he had his back turned against them
"I suppose you're the gym leader of this gym?" Jonathan asked. The man turned around, looking at the two boys.
"That's correct, and which one of you are willing to challenge me for the Boulder Badge?" he calmly answered.
"I am," Jonathan said "and I've defeated both Dean and Hugh, so I would request that if I could battle you one-on-one," he requested.
"You beat them, in a row? Well, I'm just going to check it, AARON!" he yelled. A junior trainer ran up to him
"What is it now, Greg? It wasn't me who started that Rock Throwing war!" he said, a sharp British accent coming out of his mouth.
"No, I'm not accusing you for… what? A Rock Throwing war? Anyway, I'll deal with that later, did that trainer beat both Hugh and Dean today?" asked Greg.
"Oh, yes he did, and he did it quite professionally, that was smashing!" the younger boy remarked.
"Cut the flattery," Jonathan said coldly, the younger trainer glared at him.
"Well, seeing that as true, a one-on-one battle it will be!" he said, a little more excited.
"Thanks, let's start!"
"Oi, lads!" Aaron shouted to the other trainers who were training in the gym. "It's a gym battle going on here!" A lot of younger trainers came running to see the gym leader battle.
"Before we begin, I would like you," Greg pointed at Bill, "to get up to the stands, seeing it will get too crowded otherwise."
"Okay, okay," he answered, with a slight of annoyance in his voice, and walked towards a flight of stairs that led to higher grounds where the battles could be watched from.
"Okay, now that that's done with, let's start the battle, one-on-one. Onix, show this rookie what you're made of!" he shouted, a huge, grey, serpent appeared from the gym leader's pokéball. Judging by the name, Bill presumed that it was a rock snake. Its very long body was boulders that were attached to each other, the bigger ones near its head and smaller the closer to the end. And lastly, it had a sort of horn on its head, probably being used for digging. Even though he only was watching the battle, he shivered at the sight of the Pokémon, at least this one was tame, but wild ones, he didn't want to think about that.
'Whoa. That's the biggest Pokémon I've seen so far!' he thought when he saw the Pokémon. He saw Jonathan shudder a bit too, that must've been due to fright of snakes, but, like Bill, he assured himself that this one was tamed to the least.
"Okay then, Ivysaur, it's your turn now!" he exclaimed as he threw his pokéball revealing the turquoise dinosaur with the pink-reddish bud on its back. He looked around for a while before smiling, battle time.
"Let's see how long your Ivysaur will last against my Onix! Onix, Head butt it!" Greg commanded his Pokémon. The huge rock serpent roared as it charged towards the Ivysaur, attempting to head butt him, since it was so slow Jonathan knew he had extra time of thinking as an advantage.
"Shoot some Razor Leaves at it, quickly!" Jonathan countered, Ivysaur shot away some leaves at the Onix. The leaves hit the huge rock snake and it staggered back a little, cancelling its attack. This surprised Bill, a lot.
'What? How could that big, overgrown rock snake take damage from puny little leaves? There must be an explanation of this,' he thought, dumbfounded by the attack.
Greg did his best to hide his astonishment, but failed slightly.
"Well, your Ivysaur is pretty strong, I must say," he stated, unable to hide is impression. "Onix, Dig under the ground and wait for my signal to attack!" he commanded his Pokémon. The rock snake burrowed into the ground and everything went quiet.
"Oh no, Greg is using the Dig attack again, do you lads know what that means?" Aaron muttered in his British accent.
"Don't even say it," threatened another one. They knew what would come after the match, filling holes of the battle field, which took ages depending on how often Greg used that attack.
"Ivysaur, be on your guard! It could come up any second!" Jonathan warned Ivysaur. The silence was almost killing him and he'd never know when the Onix would attack. Nothing happened and it was dead silent in the room until Bill broke the silence.
"Man, it sure is quiet around here! Can someone put in some music? I'd really like some Rock music!" Bill said, cracking another pun on purpose.
"Oi!" Aaron shouted, "None more of your bleeding jokes, lad! You're ruining the suspense!"
"Would you please shut your piehole?" Bill replied, imitating the British accent. "Or, I might give you a bleeding punch that'll send you bleedin', mate, and that isn't very smashing."
Aaron was about to reply, but then action took place on the battlefield, the rock snake came up from the ground catching both Jonathan and his Pokémon off guard. Ivysaur was hit and thrown away. He got up quickly and got ready to attack.
"Do it again, Onix!" Greg shouted, Onix burrowed under the ground yet again and everything went silent in the room again. It remained silent for a while until a rumbling startled Jonathan.
"Be on your guard, it might-" Jonathan was cut off when the Onix came up from the ground yet again.
"Bind it!" Greg bellowed, using the challenger's shock as an advantage. The rock snake wrapped itself around Ivysaur and started to squeeze. Jonathan had seen this before but he didn't know what to do and he knew that Ivysaur didn't know a fire attack so he could catch Greg off guard. "It seems your Ivysaur is losing," said Greg, watching the trapped Pokémon struggle. The rock snake moved its head closer to Ivysaur, looking while he struggled to no use.
"Now, Ivysaur, Vine Whip it in its eye!" Jonathan commanded his Pokémon, seeing that he had his chance. Ivysaur extended two vines that struck Onix' eyes, causing the grip loosen a bit, but not enough for Ivysaur to escape.
"Tighter, Onix, Squeeze the air out of it!" Greg bellowed. "And don't give it another opportunity to attack again!" The rock serpent started to squeeze the mainly turquoise Pokémon even more, preventing him to breathe.
"Try it again, Ivysaur!" Ivysaur tried to whip the rock Pokémon again but he missed, he started to feel weak because of the lack of air and he tried to whip it again while the Onix effortlessly dodged. Jonathan started to sweat in panic, he was so close on earning that badge, and yet so far.
"How sweet, it seems that rock snake has a crush on you, Rosebud!" exclaimed Bill, referring to Ivysaur. Ivysaur knew exactly who the voice belonged to, but he couldn't turn around to glare at him.
First Jonathan cursed under his breath for Bill's bad jokes, but got an idea from the last pun. "Ivysaur, use your Sweet scent!" Ivysaur released some pale green coloured spores which sailed towards the rock serpent. Onix smelled it and got relaxed by the lovely scent it felt, it released Ivysaur from its grip and sniffed around the room to catch the scent. Ivysaur backed away to catch his breath, casting an angry glance at Bill.
"What? Hey! Onix, snap out of it!" shouted Greg, he didn't know that his Onix would let the Ivysaur of its grip when it felt the scent.
"Now shoot out some Sleep powder!" Jonathan said, knowing that he could get himself an advantage. Ivysaur took some deep breaths, still recovering after the squeezing before, and released some more spores, but in a different colour, at the rock snake. Onix accidentally inhaled the sleep powder thinking that it was the sweet scent and began feeling drowsy. It wobbled around a little before falling to the ground, sleeping.
"What? No! Hey, wake up!" Greg shouted in confusion at his Pokémon, which was sleeping.
"Finish off with some Leech Seeds, Ivysaur!" Jonathan commanded, knowing that Ivysaur could absorb the left of Onix' stamina this way. Ivysaur sent out three bright green orbs that connected to the huge serpent, and then extended his vines, connecting where the orbs where. He was now sucking the life of the huge snake, which twitched every now and then, but stayed asleep.
"I forfeit," Greg slowly said, returning his soon to be beaten Pokémon.
"The gym leader forfeits the match, the challenger wins!" the ref exclaimed.
Jonathan jumped in joy, and so did Ivysaur. "YEEEAAAH! We won, we won, we won!" he cheered along with his Pokémon.
"Great going, Jon! That battle was smashing!" Bill shouted, receiving a glare from both Aaron and Ivysaur.
"Very clever, indeed, I never thought that you'd change the situation so suddenly," Greg said to Jonathan.
"Actually, I never thought that too. What I really planned was that your Onix would loosen the grip and its concentration so Ivysaur could get in another attack."
"But that didn't happen, did it?" he said as he beckoned Jonathan to come to him. "Come here, kid, so I can give you the Boulder Badge, good luck on the oncoming gyms," he finished.
"Yes! Thanks!" He held up the badge, showing it to Bill. "You see, Bill? I got the badge, Woo! Let's celebrate!" he exclaimed.
"How?" asked Bill.
"We're going to the café and drink us full on soda, man!"
"Oh yeah! I'm in for sure!" Bill agreed, running down the stairs to Jonathan. When he approached his friend he noticed that Ivysaur was growling lightly at him.
"Ivysaur, calm down!" Jonathan scolded.
"Nice battling there," Bill remarked, trying to get on Ivysaur's good side, but when he noticed the glare he received, he added, "Rosebud!" Ivysaur's eyes widened in anger and prepared to lunge at the insolent teen. But a red beam called him into his pokéball.
"Bill! You really need to settle down with Ivysaur! It's a "he", and he certainly doesn't want to be called Rosebud! Don't be such a killjoy, let's go to the café!" Jonathan suggested, upset over Bill's urge to make fun of everybody in his eyeshot.
The gym leader looked at them and shook his head, "to be young again," he muttered. "Okay, trainees, it's time to clean this up! You two fetch the spades, and you two organize the digging. There are more battles coming up today, so keep the challengers busy, okay?" he ordered. Being a gym leader had its advantages and disadvantages, such as commanding practising students and such, and cleaning the gym after badge battles. And Greg didn't want to think about the damages the Rock Throw war had caused.
The two boys were walking down the street heading for the nearest café so they could buy a large stock of soda they would be drinking for the rest of the coming hour. However, their happiness faded away quickly when they heard an all-familiar voice.
"Well, I assume you're Bill J. Anderson, if I'm not mistaken." They both turned around to see the female police officer with the curly blue hair, eyeing him suspiciously.
'What now? I haven't been involved in crime here, yet,' he thought before answering. "Yes, I am Bill Anderson. What's the problem?"
"It is you, young man, and if I'm correct, you were the one who was attacked two days ago by a Scyther, is that true?" she started, looking at Bill very suspiciously.
"H-how do you know, officer?" he replied.
"The doctor informed my cousin in Viridian, who warned me of you, you're quite the trouble some boy, I've heard," she stated.
"Hey, just because those Rocket thugs decide to rob places I'm at," protested Bill.
"In either case, if you have been aware of Scythers being after you, why did you enter the forest anyway?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously again. Before Bill could answer, Jonathan stepped in.
"That's because I convinced him to," he started. The officer swiftly turned her attention to the blonde, younger teen.
"And why did you do that? Didn't you know that he had been attacked by Scythers?"
"Yes I did know, but I asked him to tag along with my journey and in order to get here, we had to cross the forest! The fact is that he first didn't want to but I convinced him to anyway and I told him that if we kept ourselves outside its territory it wouldn't attack him."
"And yet he was taken to the PokéCenter," she stated matter of factly.
"But, officer, come on! This guy's got amnesia! He doesn't know where he is!"
"That's no excuse, those Scythers have been more aggressive this week and we don't want them raiding a city because of one boy stirring them up!" the officer scolded, glancing at Bill.
"But wouldn't it be unwise for them to attack Pewter? Rock Pokémon are pretty effective against them," Jonathan countered.
"I wasn't talking about Pewter!" she spat back, obviously more irritated. "I'm referring to Viridian! You don't play around with Pokémon like Scythers!"
"Have they ever raided a city?" was Bill's question.
"No, but we're suspecting it because of their raised activity in the forest!" She looked sternly in Bill's eyes. "Listen well, if you as much as enter that forest again, I will have you charged for attempt on Pokémon agitation. And if they ever attack Viridian or Pewter, you're suspected of it. Got it?" she growled.
Bill nodded slowly, clearly scared of the officer, he didn't want to end up behind some bars now. "Yes, officer."
"Good, remember, I will keep my eyes on you, even if you suffer from this amnesia you claim to have, I will bring you in if you're suspected." With that she wheeled around and left.
"Jeez, Jenny's such a killjoy!" Jonathan exclaimed when the police officer was out of earshot. "Hey, Bill, are we going to the café or not?"
"You know, I'm feeling a bit down, I think I'm off to the library to read some more," said Bill.
"Oh well, there goes that celebration." Jonathan looked up at the sky, it was already getting orange. "You know, Bill, I think I'll go to the Centre and get some sleep, I've been awake since 5 this morning, to eager to hear about our status."
"Really? Well, I always seem to get out from sticky situations, my guardian angel has been quite active this week, heh, see ya until then, Jon," he said as he left his blonde friend and headed to the library.
"Don't be up to late reading books, Bill!" Jonathan answered back.
Bill responded with a short wave over his shoulder as he walked towards the library.
'Man, I really need to get some sleep or I'll pass out.' Jonathan thought. 'Hmm, the sun will set very soon, hope Bill doesn't get too caught up in those books.'
Meanwhile, Bill had entered the library and picked one of the books. He had, again, chosen the 'Pokémon of Kanto Region Encyclopaedia' and began reading it, starting from where he ended last. While he was reading he thought about his revenge plan on that Scyther, if he had to do it, it had to be tonight! He didn't care what that cop told him, that Scyther would pay! An urge of revenge started to boil up inside his chest; he slammed the book shut and rushed angrily out of the library.
When outside, he started to think of how he would get out of Pewter unnoticed, well that problem was already solved, he could just use the Stop Watch from a safe distance from people so he could slip out without being noticed. He peeked into the window of the library to see what time it was, it was 8:31 p.m. He knew he had to do this now; this was his only chance since his friend wouldn't suspect him since he'd be sleeping by now.
When he was outside, the sky was turning more purplish orange, soon the sun would set and night would come. He could see the moon, it was a full moon, and this was good, now he wouldn't have any problems of seeing in the dark. He found a silent, dark place where no people could be seen. He took out his watch and before he pressed the button. He suddenly heard someone sobbing not far away, he went to investigate who, or what it was and when he found the source of the sobbing he got surprised.
"Pat? What are you doing here? And what have happened?" he asked her, he recognized her from the PokéCentre in Viridian a couple of days ago. She was crying over something, but he didn't know what. He noticed that her shirt had two cuts in it but she hadn't been harmed. He was certain that she, too, had been attacked by the Scythers.
"Why would you care?" she snapped, not looking at him. She was sitting down against a wall curled into a ball.
"Why wouldn't I, Pat?" he asked.
"How do you know my name anyway?" She said, looking at the one who spoke to her, she recognized him immediately. "Bill, right?"
Bill nodded, "pleased to meet again, Pat, did you have problems with Scythers too?" he inquired
"How do you know?"
"It's pretty obvious seeing those two cuts there," he remarked.
"It's not like you would care anyway!" she snapped again as she turned away from him, continuing her sobbing.
"Hey, now you listen here, Pat, I've been attacked by those Scythers twice! Now you tell me what happened!" he almost shouted to her. She gave in and started to tell her story.
"Well, it started when I left this morning from Viridian and figured that if I hurried through the forest, I would get here in one day but in order to do that, I had to cross the Scyther territory." She took a couple of breaths before continuing. "I actually made it through their territory without being seen, or so I thought, because when I was not far away from the end of the forest one of them appeared in front of me and threatened me." She took another couple of deep breaths.
"So I used my Pokémon to fight it, it was pretty tough but I won. When I was about to capture it, it jumped up and looked at me, I didn't know what it was going to do but suddenly it shrieked a cry that echoed through the whole forest. I heard Scythers from everywhere and I knew they were approaching… fast… and." She started to sob again.
"What happened, did they do anything to you?" Bill asked, comforting her a little. This wasn't his style, but he did felt sorry for the girl, after what he had been through.
"No not really, but the Pokémon I had outside my pokéball, was Pikachu and I thought that I could defeat most of them with the help of him. But there where more of them than I thought, probably twenty or so of them and I knew I was in a hopeless situation. The leader of them, it had a different colour, looked at me very viciously and then looked at Pikachu." She started to cry, tears flowed down her cheeks.
"What did they do to your Pikachu? Did they kill him?" Her breathing started to get more rapid, making it difficult to speak.
"No… he looked at them and charged forward while he unleashed some electric attacks but they were too many of them, they easily overpowered him with slashes and attacked him from behind and. But then, when he was beat up and I was about to call him back into his pokéball… they… they… they prevented me to do so… they slashed at me… but I… I didn't get hurt at all but… but… they… they…" She stammered, hiccupping every now and then, she took a deep breath before continuing.
"They took him from me! They forced me out of the forest while my Pikachu still was in there with them!" she cried out loud, tears still flowing down her cheeks. "And... and if I reached to call out another of my Pokémon… they threatened to kill me… one of them slashed at me again… only to intimidate me… and here I am."
"Have you told anyone else?" Bill wondered. She shook her head.
"No… what do you think people will think about me. You must think I'm a terrible trainer, and Pikachus are so cute, you know," she said, sobbing.
"What? What do you mean with that?" asked Bill, having seen the Pokémon in the Encyclopaedia, "They're rats, or mice if you look at them in that way!"
She gave him a fiery glare before going into a slapping frenzy. "They're not rats! They're cute, I say, just because you're older doesn't mean you decide, you meanie!" she yelled at him.
"Ow! Ah! Damn! Oh, hey, stop!" he yelled, grabbing a hold of her hands. "Now, look. Why don't you go to the PokéCentre and get some sleep and try to report the incident while you're on the way," he suggested, holding her hands. She calmed down a bit before answering.
"Well, no one said training Pokémon would be easy… but, what if… what if they kill him? I will never forgive myself if they do… and… and…"
"Schhh-sh-sh-sh," he hushed her, trying to calm her down. "You need some sleep, Pat, seriously."
"Okay… if you say so." She got to her feet and walked towards the centre. "Aren't you coming along?" she asked.
"Nah, I got to do something important for a guy a couple of blocks away, I'll come back soon!" he lied as she left. He took out his watch again and looked around yet again. No one here, he pushed the button and everything went still around him. Now all he had to do was walk out of the city.
When he arrived to the outside of Pewter he continued to walk towards the forest, The environment was so eerie when time was stopped, no shadows, and he could see some Pokémon running about, except that they were frozen in the middle of a run. When he arrived to the edge of the forest he pushed the button on his watch, starting the time flow again.
'This is it… no turning back now,' he thought, he realized had forgotten to change into Pokémon status, how could he be so stupid? Well, he remembered it so he put his hands together and whispered 'Pokémon' to himself slowly as he felt powered up, the same white light enveloped him as he was charging up. After the change, he felt a little dizzy, everything seemed much brighter, he didn't know his night vision had been improved, it was fortunate for him that he possessed that ability.
Remembering the incredible speed that Scythers possessed, according to Jonathan, Bill put his hands together. He felt a rush of electricity painlessly surge through his body, increasing his speed, he needed all speed he could get if he were to face the Scyther leader. When he was done with the charging, he punched lightly in the air, his punches were faster than before, but he had been used to it when he trained with master Zahn.
'Let's see how tough you are now, you little bugger, now that I possess higher speed,' he thought.
He took a deep breath before entering the forest and he entered it. He thought about the poor Pikachu that the Scythers had taken away from Pat, why had they done that? They didn't know that Bill and Pat knew each other, but he got pissed when he heard that the Scyther took her Pikachu.
Walking through the forest wasn't very pleasant; every now and then, he heard rustles from bushes and he thought he saw movements in the forest. Then something came up on his mind, how would he find his way to the Scyther territory? It was getting darker and darker and if he got himself lost, there would be no way he would get back to Pewter fast enough without raising any suspicion. Thanks to his improved night vision, he wouldn't trip on anything.
He kept walking in one direction hoping that he would stumble into the territory, but he was aware that it was a certain Scyther he a bone to pick with and if another Scyther managed to call them all… he didn't want to think about that. He heard movements in the forest again, his heart began to beat faster, and he was on his guard just in case something would attack him.
As he walked, he heard a twig snap, it was clear that he had stepped on it himself, but the sudden sound made him jump up and scream in surprise.
'Easy now… I'm in Pokémon status so I'm probably safer than I was before, I hope,' he assured himself, trying to calm down.
After a couple of minutes walking, he wondered if this really was a smart idea, it was very dark now and the moonlight plus the night vision didn't help out very much in the forest. Then he noticed a movement a distance away from him, even though it was dark, he knew that it was a Scyther. It had probably been watching him for the last two minutes before revealing itself; it had hoped that the human would be scared of its appearance. Bill however didn't let it scare him one bit, he just walked calmly towards it with a sly smile on his face.
"About time, you overgrown bug, you took your time but at least one of you showed up," he said with a very confident tone in his voice.
The Scyther, who didn't appear to be the one that Bill sought, got caught off guard when the human simply walked towards it. Was he planning something? It had to threaten him to show him who it was, this human must've been mistaking it.
'One more step and I'll kill you, human!' it said to him, while it got into its fighting stance. Bill stopped in his tracks, surprised over the fact he understood what the bug had said. He felt strange upon understanding it.
'Good, good. You incompetent humans can do something right after all.' It chuckled while it had its blades ready to strike.
"You know what? I didn't do what you told me to… and I know you won't kill me," Bill said to it while he started to advance again. The Scyther moved up one of its natural weapons to intimidate Bill into stop advancing but he didn't stop. This human was disrespecting it, a lot, and it was about to get angry.
'I warn you, human, leave this area immediately or you will face grave consequences,' it threatened.
"You're not scaring me, Scyther, and when I decide to leave, I leave, whether you want me dead or not," he said calmly while getting into fighting stance. The Scyther had noticed the human was answering straight on its threats and this made it wonder a little.
'How come you understand what I'm saying, human?' it asked him curiously, yet interrogative.
"Is that really important to you, wimp?" he retaliated.
'Do you really know what you're dealing with?' it hissed at him, it was about to lose its temper, 'are you aware that I can take you out before you even land a hit on me? You won't be able to keep up with my speed!' it growled in anger. Bill just chuckled at that.
"Heh, let's see about that," he said, knowing that Scyther would attack any moment now. Bill's comment struck the Scyther's nerve; it remained silent and motionless for a second before dashing towards him ready to cut him in half. Bill, however, noticed that after he had enhanced his body with lightning his reaction was much sharper. The Scyther travelled at such a slow speed that he was able to dodge with ease.
'Impossible! How could a mere human…? Ah-HAH! You must be one of those psychic humans! But, to your demise, I'm trained to take on psychics like you.' It charged him again attempting to slash him, but this time Bill had other plans, instead of dodging to the side he hopped back a few times making the Scyther miss by mere centimetres. Directly after he had hopped back he pulled his fist back and landed a Mega Punch right into Scyther's face while it was recovering from the second miss, it staggered back from the blow but it didn't fell down.
While it was stunned Bill dashed forward and kicked it two times in the stomach and one at the head which made it first lose its air after the first two kicks and then after the third kick it staggered back even more. After that Bill had finished his Sonic Kicks he turned around charged up for a Mega Kick, he didn't want waste any 'Special Assaults' on a mere minion of the leader. While his foot was glowing white, Scyther had recovered from its dizzy state just in time to receive a Mega Kick in its stomach making it fall down, the air totally knocked out of it.
"Me, a Psychic? Maybe I'm a Psycho," said Bill, his voice shivering with rage as he looked down at the fallen Scyther, it coughed a little before it tried to get up. Bill planted his foot on its upper chest to prevent it from getting up, it was clear it was already weakened. "No, no, no, you better stay down for you own good." It tried to swipe him with one of its scythes to no avail, he simply grabbed its blade like hand by the side that wasn't sharp and twisted it around, forcing it to roll over on its stomach.
Bill had lifted his foot so he could roll it over and twisted its arm even more. "Now you listen here, you little feeble excuse for a bug, if you as much as try call you your friends I will make you regret it, I will break every bone in your body, then I will rip them out and not letting you die, got it? Good. Where's your territory? I have a bone to pick with your leader," he asked while he twisted the blade even more, making it whine and cringe in pain.
'What…what are you?' it asked him terrified, this only made Bill twist the blade even more.
"I'm asking the questions! What I am is not important for you! Now which direction?" he growled while still twisting its arm slowly, it kicked its legs, indicating the pain it was going through.
'If you let go of my arm I'll show you the direction, please, it hurts!' it begged, Bill loosened the grip on its arm slowly and let it stand up.
"Don't try any tricks," he said coldly. The Scyther was shivering of the sight of that human, it didn't know if he was human but he looked like one. It pointed its scythe to the southeast. "Thank you… so now I suppose I should be leaving, there's nothing more than I hate than unreliable persons/Pokémon, which reminds me." He turned to the Scyther and sent a lightning quick punch to its face which caught it off guard making it fall on the ground face first. Bill grabbed its other arm and twisted it around.
'What is this? I helped you! Why are you doing this to me now?' it protested, trying to get off the arm lock.
"Because I'm not stupid, Scyther, I know that when I've left, you will call your friends. And I have to stop you from doing that." He grabbed one of its wings and held it out stretched. "Such a fine wing, isn't it? I bet you really care for them, hmm?" he stated, his insane voice coming back.
'Hey! Let go of my wing!' the Scyther growled, trying to beat them. But Bill had a firm grip on the wing.
"You're pretty useless while lying down face first, the scythes are useless," he stated, letting to go the scythe he held. He ran his finger on the wing he had outstretched. "Don't be afraid, this will only hurt a lot," he ensured, lifting his foot, lowering the wing.
'No, no, don't do tha-' The Scyther's plea was interrupted by a sickening crunch. It tried to scream but couldn't, the shock was so sudden, and it couldn't get any air. Bill had slammed his foot down on the wing, breaking it in half. He knew he had to shut it up before it started to scream, he quickly covered its mouth as it began screaming a moment after.
He felt the vibration of the muffled scream inside the wounded Scyther's mouth, it didn't attempt to swipe him since that would only worsen the break. Bill lifted it up, dragged it to a nearby tree and banged its head on the tree trunk, the muffled scream raised one pitch, and it started wiggle more. He banged the head into the trunk one more time, this time it fell silent immediately, the body went totally limp. He let go of it, watching it fall down in a heap.
He looked at the fallen praying mantis, wondering if he had gone too far. He saw a crack on its forehead, but it had only fainted, since it was still breathing weakly. He didn't want to look at it anymore so he proceeded to the direction the Scyther had pointed to.
He walked through the dark forest, his night vision helped him a lot, but he could still get lost. He then heard something, it sounded like it was something that was sleeping, he proceeded very carefully, he could be near now. He finally reached a clearing, he saw Scythers, Scythers everywhere, and they were sleeping.
He didn't know if they were light or heavy sleepers but if he woke them all up, he'd be dead, what he had to do was to find the leader and take it to a more secluded area away from the other Scythers. All he knew about the leader is that it was dark green instead of lime green; it also was a little taller than the other Scythers. He walked around quietly trying to identify the leader but couldn't find him.
'Man, I've been looking for that leader but I'm pretty damned sure I've checked everyone more than twice now!' He looked around the area and walked away from there, but when he walked away from the sleeping area he found a lone Scyther sleeping against a tree. He approached it carefully and looked at it for a while; it had dark green skin colour, Bill's heart jumped in excitement when he realized that he found the leader, at a semi secluded place too! He kicked it lightly to wake it up.
"Wake up, you son of a bitch," he said to it, his voice shivering crazily again. It remained sleeping; he got a little nervous because of that he didn't know if the Scyther was pretending to sleep or not, that it would attack him if he tried to wake it up. He looked at it again and tried to get rid of his fear. 'C'mon, you kicked that other Scyther's rear end, Bill, get it together!'
He gently patted it on its round shoulder, "C'mon, wake up," he repeated, a little more nicely. "I said, WAKE UP!" he almost shouted at it before kicking it harder, making it fall down from its sitting position against the tree. It woke up from the impact of his foot and quickly scrambled to its feet. It looked at him for a while before recognizing him.
'YOU!' it shouted, Bill noticed that its voice was darker than the last Scyther he'd met.
"Yeah, me," he replied, trying to stay calm, but got nervous when he saw the look in the Scyther's eyes. It was different from the other one he had faced.
'You really are an interesting one, barging into my territory, waking me up,' it stated angrily.
"I've got some bones to pick with you," was Bill's reply, yet he started to shiver in insecurity.
'Ah, I see, you've come to receive the gift from me,' it said, seeing the confused look on Bill's face, it added: 'Death, and I'm looking forward to that!'
"Don't be so sure on that…"
'Here you go again, challenging me,' it growled.
"Yup, and I'll taking you down!" This made the dark green Scyther chuckle.
'I tell you what, I'll let you do your move first, and I won't defend it in any way, but first,' it flew up on a branch, away from Bill's reach.
"Hey, get down here! I want to fight!" Bill demanded, but it ignored him. It took a deep breath and screamed.
'Scyytheers, wake up! INTRUDER!' it screeched, Bill had to cover is ears from the ear-splitting cry. When the noise had ended he found himself surrounded by Scythers who were ready to cut him up if he made the slightest movement. The leader jumped down from the branch and landed in front of Bill.
"You… you cheater! I should've suspected you'd do that!" Bill growled at the Scyther which had woken its minions up. It jumped down from the branch.
'On my grounds we play by my rules, GET HIM!' it ordered its minions as they charged towards Bill, who knew that this could be the end…
To Be Continued…
A/N
So now trouble is stirring up for Bill, this is surely the beginning of a very long night. But this rewrite was complete, not much was changed here, except for deleted dialogues in the end of this chapter, and more depth in the gym battle.