Sorry for being so late. Had a research paper due - the first of three for the semester. Writing a fanfic is a nice change from writing about scientific articles.
I'm taking another writing class, plus my friends have been giving me a lot of helpful feedback on my latest stories (they never actually read my fanfics). A lot of the stuff I write needs to be severely edited, as with anything that's important. So fanfics are a really nice change. I have fun writing a chapter, I edit it once, and I don't have to worry about all the other big, complex writing stuff. And once a chapter's done, I don't worry about it much anymore, though I will go back and fix a few things occasionally (beyond the usual grammar mistakes).
Hat and Bandana
"I think that's a good Idea," Lucario said, nodding. "I'll get the two of you registered as a rescue team. You can start training with Tyranitar, and then you can go on rescue missions. In the meantime, we'll ask around and try to find some Pokémon who might be able to help you find information about yourself. You can visit them during some of your other missions."
Lucario reached out his paw and pulled a couple papers across his desk before lifting them up. "Lopunny!" he called.
Lopunny peered through the doorway and cocked her head.
"Do you know where the rescue team submission forms are? I thought I had them here."
Lopunny smiled. "You really are hopeless with paperwork, aren't you? They're in the bottom right drawer, in one of the middle files."
Lucario sighed and pulled the drawer open, leafing through the pages. "Right." He pulled out a sheet of paper. "You can fill this out. Should only take a couple minutes."
Link took the form and began to fill out his half of the information. Then he handed it to me. Charmander hands aren't built for writing, but I managed to write "Cara" as my name. I stared for a couple seconds at "Species" before I wrote "Charmander." I had absolutely no idea what to write for "Level" and "Attacks Known."
Lucario looked up and saw my confusion. "You can leave that blank," he suggested.
"Thanks," I mumbled. I filled out the rest of what I knew and then looked at the bottom section of the form.
"What should we name our team?" Link asked, looking at the line at the bottom.
I tapped the pencil against the desk as I thought. I suppose ordinarily I would have chosen a name that I associated with. Something I liked, or something I was good at. That was almost impossible at the moment, though.
"Can you think of anything?" I asked Link.
He shrugged.
I glanced around Lucario's office, looking for inspiration. My eyes fell on his bookshelf and I scanned the titles. For half a second, my eyes landed on the word "Avalon." I quickly stopped and scanned back along the row, but I couldn't find it. Then I realized that what I'd seen was a book called "Geography of Valeron." Vareron was probably some place around here, I figured. But why had I thought it said Avalon?
"Hey, do you know what Avalon means?" I asked.
Link shook his head, but Lucario looked up. "It's a place, isn't it? An island from a fairytale, or something?"
I nodded slowly. I could vaguely remember something about that. So, I guess fairytales didn't get dumped out of my mind along with my real memories. I hesitated, and then placed a pencil against the page.
"Team Name: Avalon."
"Hmm," Link said thoughtfully. At least he didn't seem to disapprove.
That left one blank spot on the paper: and empty square labeled "Team Badge."
"We get to design our own badge?" Link asked.
Lucario nodded.
"Well," Link said, taking the pencil, "Rescue Teams help Pokémon, right? So, we're showing people the way, like the North Star does. Maybe our symbol could be a star." In the square, he carefully sketched out a star with eight smoothly sloping points.
"Looks like there should be something inside the star," I suggested. Link nodded. "Or," I muttered thoughtfully, "You could give the star wings, or something. That'd be cool."
"Ooh, I like that!" Link said enthusiastically. He quickly sketched two feathery wings on either side of the star. We nodded to each other and grinned.
"Oh, that's interesting," Lucario said, taking the paper from us. "We'll get your rescue badges to you by the end of the week, and then you can start going on missions. You should get as much training as you can from Tyranitar until then."
"Good luck!" Lopunny called to us as we left. We waved to her.
"So," Link said once we were outside. "Tyranitar's Gym is pretty close to Arcanine's house. Do you want to go there now?"
"Okay," I agreed. We went to the large building that I'd noticed before. It seemed to be made mostly of rock with the front of the roof roughly shaped like a Tyranitar's head. I followed Link in through the front door. The room seemed much smaller than the outside of the building let on. Then I realized that there were large walls set up about ten feet away from the door. It was probably a partition to the training room, because we could hear loud thumps and growls coming from the other side.
Link walked around to an opening in the wall. I followed him, and both of us peered inside. A moment later we leapt back in alarm as a huge rock came flying at us and landed a few feet from where we'd been standing. Link and I exchanged alarmed glances, and cautiously crept up to the opening again.
Two Pokémon were engaged in a fierce battle. They were dodging around and kicking up so much dust that it was hard to tell what was going on. One of them was a Tyranitar. It took me a minute to realize that the other was a Honchkrow. Although Tyranitar had the type advantage, Honchkrow had the advantage of height and speed. It was a pretty even match. And a pretty fierce one as well.
Tyranitar roared and lifted a heavy rock from the floor. With a mighty heave, he hurled it at Honchkrow, who used Night Slash to shatter the boulder into pieces. Bits of rock rained down and Honchkrow darted in with Wing Attack. Tyranitar caught Honchkrow's leg and threw him to the ground. Honchkrow's feathers began to glow with Steel Wing, and he whipped his wing up. As the same moment, Tyranitar's arm came down with hammer-force. The two Pokémon stopped within an inch of each other. For a moment, they remained rooted to the spot. Then they slowly backed away. They bowed to each other, and then Honchkrow turned and walked out of the arena. He barely spared us a second glance as he passed. And the moment he was outside, he flew away.
Panting heavily, Tyranitar walked towards us. He paused as he saw Link and I peering around the corner. Link was staring at Tyranitar in awe.
"Oh, Hi," Tyranitar said, moving to the front room. "Did you come here to train?"
Link nodded, eyes wide.
Tyranitar shrugged, taking note of Link's expression. "Honchkrow and I are old sparring buddies." Tyranitar hesitated and looked after Honchkrow, a troubled expression on his face. "He's been a bit off recently, though. Guess it's to be expected."
"Cause Honchkrow was attacked by Mewthree," Link reminded me in a whisper. "He lost the rest of his team." I nodded, recalling what Lucario had told us.
"Yeah," Tyranitar agreed, heaving a deep sigh. "Anyway, how can I help you?"
"Oh," Link said. "We just applied to create a rescue team, and Lucario told us to come here and train until we got our badges."
"Right," Tyranitar said. "I recognize you," he said, and paused.
"Link," Link clarified.
"Yes, Link," Tyranitar repeated. He looked at me. "I haven't seen you around here though."
"I'm Cara," I said.
"She's a friend of the family, so Arcanine's letting her stay with us," Link explained.
"Welcome to Charm Town," Tyranitar said."
"Thanks."
"I'm afraid your work will be cut out for you if you form a rescue team," Tyranitar said, sounding rather dark. "These are hard times."
"That's why we want to do it," Link assured him.
Tyranitar smiled. "Well, in that case, why don't we check you guys out? See your potential. Come with me."
We followed him into the arena, and he ushered us to the center of the ring. We waited, wondering if he'd come at us, or send another Pokémon in to battle us. But he simply stared.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" He said finally. "Go on!"
We stared at him blankly.
"Well, fight each other!"
Alarmed, we exchanged glances.
"It's customary to bow before a match," Tyranitar informed us.
We hesitated, and then the two of us bowed. And still neither of us moved.
"Come on!" Tyranitar exclaimed, annoyed. "How can you expect to fight together if you don't know each other's strengths? And don't you hold back, either."
I hesitated, then opened my mouth and let out Ember.
Link easily dodged. I stopped my attack and looked over at him. But I wasn't fast enough to react as he used Thundershock.
"Gaaaah!" I shouted as the electricity struck me and coursed through me, making me tense, and then collapse on my knees. A moment later, something struck me and sent me sprawling to the ground.
"First match goes to Link," Tyranitar called.
Wincing, I pushed myself to my feet.
"Are you okay?" Link asked, concerned.
"How do Pokémon do this?" I muttered.
Tyranitar walked up to us and stared down at me. "I'm afraid that wasn't very impressive."
I grumbled in frustration. I would have liked to tell him that Link had a lot more experience being a Pokémon, but I managed to keep my mouth shut.
"She's a beginner," Link explained.
"I can see that," Tyranitar muttered.
Link looked at me oddly. "You did really well when we fought that Staravia."
"Oh, were you the ones that helped Surskit and Caterpie?" Tyranitar asked.
We nodded.
"I was probably better during that because I could actually get close to my opponent. He didn't use any attacks like Thundershock that could hit me from far away."
Tyranitar stared at me. "Usually Charmander aren't as good as close combat. Their fire attacks make them more effective for fighting at more of a distance."
"I guess," I murmured.
"Why don't you try it, then?" Tyranitar said. "No special attacks. Just go at each other with tails and claws."
I really didn't feel like doing this, especially when I saw a leftover static spark flash between my fingertips. But I stepped up to face Link again and the two of us bowed. Link charged forwards first and grabbed my arm. It happened almost automatically. I clamped my hand down on his wrist, ducked, and twisted his arm around until it was behind his head. Startled and off balance, all I had to do was give him a little push and he toppled onto his back.
"Match goes to Cara," Tyranitar announced.
Link got to his feet, wincing.
"Where did you learn that?" Tyranitar asked.
I opened my mouth, but had no idea what to say.
"That looked like an aikido move," Tyranitar said. "I've never seen a Charmander use anything like that before. Usually just fighting type Pokémon. Charmander have such short arms and legs that I would have thought such battle techniques would be wasted on them."
Once again, I had to stop myself from responding something stupid, like "my arms and legs were never this short before."
"When you evolve," Tyranitar continued, "it might be more helpful. And it's definitely good to know such things if you're against water Pokémon, and such. But when you grow stronger, you'll get some powerful fire techniques and you'll want to spend some time on those. I'm not saying you should stop that aikido stuff you're doing. Link, you might even benefit some from it. But fire attacks will be much more helpful to you in the long-run."
I nodded glumly.
"So, to start," Tyranitar said, "why don't the two of you just practice your Thundershock and Ember attacks? We'll get a couple targets set up for you. And you can have a couple practice battles in-between. When you've grown a few levels, then I'll start putting you through some of the courses here."
Several Magnemite hovered into sight from behind the walls that surrounded the arena. They were carrying several metal poles and disks between them. Within a few minutes, they had set up a pair of targets for Link and I to use.
"All right," Tyranitar said, turning and walking out of the arena. "Have at it."
…
The two of us shuffled home that evening, aching all over and practically carrying each other into Arcanine's house. I'd been zapped by Link's electricity many times over, and Link was thrown repeatedly to the ground by my self-defense moves. When we opened the door, something came flying out of nowhere and crashed into Link.
"Link, Link!" Pachirisu exclaimed. "Is it really true that you made a rescue team?" Her eyes were wide and sparkling in amazement.
"Yeah," Link groaned, pushing Pachirisu off of him. I helped drag him to his feet.
"Did you go on a dangerous mission and get beaten up by wild Pokémon?" Pachirisu asked, tail wagging.
"We were training at Tyranitar's gym," I explained. We helped steer each other into the living room and we collapsed onto the couch.
"So Tyranitar beat you up," Pachirisu suggested.
"Hehe. No," I said, smirking.
"We beat each other up," Link said, smiling wryly.
"Are you not friends anymore, then?"
"We were just practicing with each other," Link said.
"But then," Pachirisu started.
Furrett appeared from behind the couch. "Down, girl," he said. "Give the poor boy a break." He pushed a protesting Pachirisu out of the living room.
"She seems rather attached to you," I noted, grinning.
Link only sighed. "I hope Arcanine makes dinner soon."
After we ate, Link beckoned me to follow him. We went upstairs and into his room. He moved to the back corner where there was a small chest. He opened it and began digging through the contents. Eventually he pulled out two things: A hat and a bandana.
"I've been saving these for a while," he explained. "In case I ever found a partner to form a rescue team with. The bandana boosts attack." He held up a dark blue bandana with edges that were bordered with a yellow lightning pattern. "And that hat boosts defense." He held up what looked like an old-fashioned aviators cap.
"Well," I said, "the scarf is definitely yours, with that lightning pattern. I'll take the aviators cap I guess. Theoretically, I might be flying someday."
Link nodded and handed me the hat. I turned it around, examining it. Then I pulled it onto my head. Link laughed.
"I suppose it looks stupid," I said.
He shook his head. "It looks cool."
"So, put your bandana on."
He tied it around his neck.
"Nice," I said.
Both of us broke out grinning.
"Just think," Link said, "Next week, we get to go on our first mission!"
