Chapter 12: Work Hard at This One

(Jason Fremont)

On their way up to the Gym five days later, Jason and the others bore witness to two Geodudes escorting trainers back to the Center. Gina visibly grimaced at the sight, but it only served to excite Jason more. There was a small line outside the doors, and the group of four staked out a place in line to wait.

"I sometimes regret not getting a starter and going on a journey," Orion said as he watched a defeated youngster rush past them with a Geodude in tow.

"How many Geodudes do you think he has?" Jason asked, a bit baffled. "Here I was thinking the Gym Leaders only had one of each kind of Pokémon."

"That would make their job quite difficult during rush seasons," Zahlia commented reasonably. "Even if they keep a large supply of Revives and Potions, their teams would still tire out quickly."

"Makes sense," Orion agreed. Gina was very quiet throughout these proceedings. Jason nudged her.

"Nervous?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said with surprising candidness. "You?"

"Oh, yeah," Jason said, grinning. "But, excited-nervous."

"That's good. I'm more of the vomit-nervous."

Jason scooted away. "Give me warning so I can run away, at least."

"Har har."

It was about a half an hour later when it was their turn. Armstrong glanced up as the Gym doors opened. At least, Jason assumed this must be Armstrong. Gina had described him as a huge man, and this guy fit the bill—from what Jason could see of him, that was. The lights were all off, which he found odd, but Gina walked calmly over to a deceptively normal looking rock, and, after opening it, proceeded to flip a series of switches that quickly bathed the Gym in light. Jason gaped at Gina before Armstrong laughed aloud and said, "You remember that, I see."

"Yeah," Gina said to Armstrong, shifting uncomfortably and observing the dirt on her sneakers.

"Dude," Jason said quietly to Gina. "Major cool points. Do you want to go first?" She quickly shook her head and took a step back, motioning for him to go ahead.

"You sure?" he called, and Gina nodded vehemently, turning away and twisting a lock of brown hair around her finger. Jason shrugged. "All right then, if you don't want to…" he took a deep breath against the nerves and struggled to project an air of absolute confidence. "I'd like to challenge you first, sir!"

Armstrong nodded to him, wiggling his mustache back and forth like he was chewing gum. "Sure, son. One-on-one, or the Gym's usual?"

Jason frowned. "Um... one-on-one, I guess. I've got a level twelve B—"

Armstrong lifted his large hand to silence him. "No need to tell me what it is. Just need to know the level." With that the man sauntered off to the opposite end of the Gym and began rifling in what Jason could have sworn was an old shoebox. Jason exchanged an incredulous look with Gina, and she mouthed, "I know, right?" back to him.

Jason moved forward to stand somewhat awkwardly at the opposite side of the battlefield a second before Armstrong called, "you ready?" his voice echoing in the large, empty space.

"Yeah," Jason called, and cringed at the slight waver. He cleared his throat and, in a much deeper voice, repeated, "Yeah, I'm ready when you are."

"Alright then!"

A beam of red light flashed out from Armstrong's side of the Gym a split second before Jason jammed the button on his Pokéball as well.

The shape of Armstrong's Pokémon was absolutely enormous. Jason felt his heart sink slightly even as a surge of excited adrenaline coursed through his body. In a matter of seconds a young Onix had materialized, lifting its shining head from the ground and regarding Jason's (pathetically small by comparison) Bulbasaur. His Pokémon glanced back at him, fuchsia eyes wide with a look that unmistakably said, what are you, insane? Jason pointed ahead at the opponent and muttered quietly, "Dude, you'd better work hard at this one, okay?"

"Alright, Onix." Armstrong was already beginning and Jason swore colorfully in his head as he bit his tongue to keep from doing it out loud. "Let's try a little Screech attack!"

Onix straightened up even more, uncoiling its massive neck, and emitted a noise that Jason was sure could wake the dead. Clapping his hands fiercely over his ears, Jason watched as Bulbasaur staggered on the spot, burying his head under his front legs and shuddering. It seemed like eons before the sound ceased. Even after it was done Jason could hear the ringing in his head.

Amazingly, Armstrong hadn't covered his ears once throughout this ordeal. In fact, the man seemed bored. Jason could barely make out his sentence: "Your turn, lad."

"Right… right," Jason said, struggling to keep it together. "Bulbasaur, Leech Seed him!"

For the first time in Bulbasaur's life he obeyed his command quickly and fiercely. There was no time for Poké-Yoga as a multitude of small, sticky-looking brown seeds exploded out of his leafy back. They were projected out like mini-rockets, and while most missed target, a few stuck to Onix like strange spitballs. Almost instantly, small, neon green vines erupted from them and began to wind their way all around the rock snake's body. One tangled itself in the long spine protruding from its head and draped down over its left eye. Onix now looked like it had a very fashionable new hairstyle. It was almost laughable, except for the fact that it was now Armstrong's turn.

"Alright, Onix. Use your Bide attack."

At first Jason's face split open into a wide grin. Three turns of free attacks! Things were looking up. "Okay, Bulbasaur!" he shouted as Onix coiled itself up and regarded the smaller Pokémon before it with steady, dark eyes. "Vine Whip!"

Once again Bulbasaur responded quickly. He shot out his vines, blistering them over Onix's flank with sharp, cracking explosions like fireworks going off in a tin can. The effect was good enough, but it probably hadn't taken out a third of Onix's health. Jason's turn ended, and Onix's gaze only seemed to intensify as the Leech Seed glowed all over its body and transferred floating bits of effervescent pollen over to Bulbasaur, who was now looking wary.

Crap, Jason thought. He had to get this thing to faint in the next two turns, or things would be decidedly grim. He struggled for a moment to think of some other offensive move that might do better, but Razor Leaf would be hazardous at best, as Bulbasaur was not very good at it, and Tackle would just be sad. Jason groaned softly under his breath and said, "Vine Whip, again!"

This time Jason could see a cringe of pain as the vines struck close to one of Onix' silently watching eyes. He had no way of knowing if he was doing a good enough job here, and his pride didn't want to allow him to check his Dex. He looked over at Bulbasaur though, who was crouched low, waiting for his final attack order before the Bide would end. Jason owed it to him to at least know where he stood in this battle. He dug in his pocket and drew out his Pokédex, and, glancing through the screen, saw that Onix still had over a third of its health.

Now he had a decision to make. Armstrong stood patiently, but was definitely rolling his eyes a little at Jason's hesitation. The Leech Seed glowed again and he felt frustrated watching the perfectly good healing pollen meet with Bulbasaur's still-fit body.

This was not good. Unless he could sufficiently weaken Onix to the point of K.O. in this next turn, the battle could well be over in one move.

However, if he stopped it would only prolong the fight, and he might not have another opportunity like this. Jason took a deep breath and said, "One more time, Bulbasaur!"

Bulbasaur really seemed to put everything he had into this final attack. The fierce sound of vine hitting rock echoed deafeningly and Jason had a brief moment to wonder how much hearing damage they'd sustain after this battle. That thought was very short-lived though, and his stomach sank through his shoes into the floor at the "neep neep neep" sound from his Dex; Onix was in critical health, but it had not been defeated.

Onix unraveled itself. It seemed scuffed up as all hell, tired and worn, but all of that vanished compared to the ferocity with which it regarded Bulbasaur. Jason barely had time to shout unnecessarily, "Look out!"

Onix shot forward without warning, releasing a burning torrent of red and gold energy as it did so. Jason could barely comprehend it; it was blinding, and a blast of heat rolled over him as if an enormous oven had just been opened. Bulbasaur leaped to avoid it, but it glanced off him and sent the small Pokémon flying back. Jason jumped up—he hadn't realized he'd fallen down—and ran over to Bulbasaur.

The Dex in his pocket was now making a point-counterpoint sound of "neep neep neep" and "boop boop boop." Both Onix and Bulbasaur were in critical health, but even with the pollen that floated over to Bulbasaur, Onix did not go down and Bulbasaur did not appear to be much better off for it. Bulbasaur struggled to his feet and Jason somehow got the feeling that he was embarrassed at his low health. He wasn't making eye contact with him, instead staring ahead with a strange expression, standing stubbornly on shaky legs. Jason realized that he, too, was shaking. He had never imagined a Gym battle would be this traumatic up close and personal.

"You're doing great," he muttered to Bulbasaur, hesitating for a second before resting his hand against his leafy seed. "But I can forfeit any time."

Bulbasaur stared ahead for a moment, then slowly turned to him. After a second he frowned and tilted his head to the side. To Jason the expression read, you're kidding me, right?

Jason shook his head. Even though it was the last thing Jason the future-Master wanted, Jason the trainer was a different story. "Any time. Dead serious."

A very subtle change seemed to come over Bulbasaur's face. He studied Jason very closely for a while. Then, at last, he snorted at Onix and faced forward, stretching his hamstrings first, then leaning forward to stretch his thighs. Jason burst into laughter.

"Are you ever going to attack?" Armstrong interrupted, as Bulbasaur rolled his neck. "I don't have all day."

Bulbasaur sighed and kicked some dirt up, prepared now for the final attack. "Right!" Jason called happily, every ounce of his pizzazz back in full. "You know what to do, buddy!"

Bulbasaur did not immediately attack. For a second Jason was confused beyond belief, but he saw why a second later. Onix had been hunkered low, ready, but at the pause it shifted just a little to get a better look. In that one second of curiosity, Bulbasaur struck. The vines shot out of his seed and Bulbasaur actually charged forward like a small turquoise Rambo. The attack seemed to get louder with each strike, and Onix, already weak from the Leech Seed and the endurance of the Bide attack, went down hard. It struck the ground, and this sound was the most deafening of all.

There was a moment of silence as Bulbasaur's vines hovered motionless in midair and the enormous cloud of dust settled around the Gym. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, Armstrong gruffly said, "Good job, lad," and recalled Onix quite suddenly in a flash of red.

The sudden absence of the rock snake in the Gym finally hit Jason, and he unfroze. "… We...?" he asked slowly as Bulbasaur, uncharacteristically worked up, crowed in triumph and sent a shower of pollen into the air. The glittering stuff floated down around them while Jason stood in muted shock. Armstrong was walking over to him, making slow progress across the Gym floor. Jason must have had a very dumbfounded look on his face, because Armstrong looked terribly amused as he shoved a hand in the pocket of his vest and extracted a small badge.

It finally clicked then. "Holy hell!"

Gina dashed over to him, grinning, and Jason turned to her for an unnecessarily huge hug-and-spin. Orion whooped and pumped his fist in the air, heading over to the two of them. Jason released Gina, who was laughing and staggering a bit, and jumped at Orion, who gave him a rib-cracking hug as well. Jason saw Zahlia's smile from across the room as she mouthed the words, "Good job," at him.

The celebration was not complete, though. Jason wiggled free from his brother and tackled Bulbasaur, who had drawn nearer to them. Bulbasaur's vines shot out and latched onto Jason's arms as a terrified look came across his starter's face. Jason tossed Bulbasaur and caught him, then dragged Gina and Orion into a three-way hug (or, four-way, as Bulbasaur was trapped in the embrace.)

They carried on like that for a while until it became apparent that Armstrong was waiting. Jason could not sit still even as he made his way to the sidelines, staring down at his first badge.

Gina was now up to bat, and Jason noticed through his victorious haze how uncomfortable she looked. "Same old?" Armstrong called, as if they had Pokémon battles every day after watching the game. He was rifling through the shoebox again.

"Level thirteen," Gina said, barely above a mutter, and Armstrong, who hadn't heard her over the clattering of metal on metal, grunted "Eh?" before Gina reiterated her response, louder.

"Go Gina!" Jason hollered, and he could see her cringe at the attention.

The two prepared to face off and Jason frowned as he saw Armstrong's selection. It was the Geodude again, and Gina had a strange, unreadable expression on her face as she stared at it. Armstrong laughed, seeming to correctly interpret her look.

"I'm not going easy on you. Geodude's a bit tougher than the Onix your friend here just fought."

This seemed to settle Gina down and she nodded sheepishly, as if to deny she had been offended a moment ago. "Ready," she said. For some reason Armstrong seemed amused by this.

"Alright then! Geodude, Tackle!"

Jason held his breath as the Rock-type sailed through the air at Charmander, who dived out of the way, avoiding most of the damage but getting clipped on his hindquarters. Staggering a little from the blow before righting himself, Charmander hissed fiercely at Geodude, who picked itself up and returned to its fixed spot on Armstrong's end of the Gym.

"Not bad," Armstrong said, nodding. "Your Pokémon's gotten better already."

"Ember!" Gina shouted, apparently too worked up to carry on a friendly conversation with her opponent. Jason let out a sharp breath. He had never seen this particular move in combat before.

Charmander's new Ember attack exploded from the impossibly small Pokémon, showering Geodude with sparks and small flames of smoldering heat. Gina wiped sweat from her brow. The heat scorched a nearby rock, causing mirage ripples to waver through the air around them. Jason squinted and struggled to see through the shimmering air to assess Geodude.

Much to his surprise, the Ember attack had had a pretty good effect. The Rock-type was looking a bit worse for the wear, scuffed around the edges and sporting a very large, charred black patch across its left arm. It appeared to be wincing, if a boulder's facial expression was anything to go by.

"It looks like it's been burned," Orion muttered to Zahlia just as Jason came to the conclusion himself. "That's good for Gina! Hopefully with it wearing out quicker this won't be so difficult."

Zahlia nodded absently, but Jason's eyes were fixed on Gina's face. She didn't seem to be as relieved as Orion was. In fact, she was looking rather pale, not taking this as a sign to relax in the slightest. This made Jason nervous, and not for the first time that week he wondered how her last battle against Armstrong had gone.

Armstrong was speaking. "Alright, Geodude. Let's finish this—Body Slam!"

Jason cringed as Geodude shot forward and landed with a sickening thud across Charmander's flank. The Fire-type hadn't had time to dodge. Gina uttered a strangled sound of dismay and frustration, rifling in her pack for a Potion bottle. Geodude lifted off of Charmander, but as it turned to leave it staggered in mid-air. It looked as though Geodude had tripped on absolutely nothing, and Jason knew it was the burn acting up. He'd been fighting the urge to bust out his Dex for the whole battle, but couldn't help it any longer. He peered through the viewfinder and saw that Geodude still had about two-thirds of its health.

Charmander, on the other hand… well, it didn't take a PokéManiac to see that Charmander was barely clinging to consciousness. This was what was known as Death Row to most trainers—the Potion-wasting, torturous last rounds of a mismatched battle, where the losing trainer spent all their turns providing healing items to a Pokémon only to have that Pokémon shot down to within the red zone again the very next turn. Death Row ended one of two ways: when the Pokémon's trainer ran out of Potion and decided to just give up, or when a surprising turn of the tables occurred, which was rare.

Gina got up from a still woozy but mostly healed Charmander and regarded Armstrong evenly, but with no small amount of dread on her face. Armstrong was staring at Geodude, however. Jason wondered if the man bothered to carry extra Burn Heals. If he did, he should be using one now, because each passing moment Geodude was looking more and more disgruntled and distracted by its charred arm. Armstrong returned his attentions to Gina and Charmander and said, "How's about a Tackle Attack, Geodude!"

Geodude shot forward; Charmander poised to leap out of the way. Yet, amazingly, Geodude stumbled yet again and hit the ground a few inches from the orange lizard. It had missed.

Charmander's expression was something like holy crap that was close, and Gina appeared to breathe again. She didn't waste any time, though. The next order of "Ember!" was shouted, and Charmander executed the attack without hesitation. The Fire-type seemed tired though, and even though Geodude was in closer quarters to the flames it was able to shrug off the brunt of the assault.

Armstrong fumed. "Alright, get over here you!" he barked to Geodude, who obediently hovered over to the man. Armstrong fished around in one of the pockets of his enormous cargo pants and removed what appeared to be a dusty, slightly cracked, half-empty bottle of Burn Heal. Jason's mouth fell open. So he'd had a Burn Heal all along and had merely decided it wasn't worth taking the precaution?

It was Gina's turn now, and predictably the girl called out the order of "Ember!" again. Jason wasn't expecting Geodude to sustain a second damaging, health-depleting status effect; that would have been too much to ask for. However, this second attack seemed to cause the Rock-type considerably more damage than it had before, probably because the other Pokémon was weakening. Jason fidgeted in place on the sidelines. Gina might actually have a chance to turn this battle in her favor.

The second he thought it Jason wanted to take it back. It was as though he'd jinxed the match. Geodude's Tackle met target this time, and Charmander was sent flying through the air. He landed on his back with a sickening crack against a brittle rock that crumbled from the impact. Gina swore under her breath. Armstrong was looking confident.

Then something happened between Gina and Charmander. Gina had been rifling in her pack (for a Potion, no doubt) when Charmander shakily pulled himself to his feet once more, shook out his head and shot Gina a venomous glare. The girl was heading over to him with a purple bottle, but she caught sight of Charmander's look and paused. Charmander snorted steam as if scorning Gina's Potion and turned his back on her, fixing his teal eyes instead on his opponent.

"Charmander," Gina began, muttering so that Armstrong wouldn't be able to hear her from across the Gym. Jason could barely make out what she was saying. "… got to be kidding me. You need to heal up!"

Charmander snorted yet again, and Gina hissed, "Don't you give me that! I'm not making the same mistake twice."

Jason could have sworn that the glowing flame at the tip of his tail flickered, sputtered, and grew higher for a moment. The trainer and Pokémon engaged in a silent battle of wills until Armstrong grew impatient.

"Come on, girl," he bellowed to her over the dusty, charred Gym floor. "What's taking so long? It's your turn!"

Gina growled at Charmander to get over here now, but Charmander abruptly turned his back on Gina once again. The Geodude was looking grouchy and tired. "Charmander," Gina hissed. "Don't you dare… if you think I'm giving you an attack order, you're cr—"

The second he heard the word "attack" Charmander let loose a torrent of burning, quick-flying little flames, a considerable amount more than his first attacks. Geodude writhed under the onslaught, attempting first to move out of the way and then to shield itself with its rocky arms. Gina was shouting something Jason couldn't hear, Charmander's attack was deafening and the temperature of the room was rising steadily. Then suddenly one noise rose above all the others.

Thud.

It took Jason a little while to realize what that had been. He leaped to his feet and struggled to see through the smoke until he noticed that Geodude was no longer floating in midair… and that there was a new, slightly different looking boulder lying face-down on the ground.

Had she done it?

Gina's thoughts seemed to mirror his. For a long moment every eye was trained on Geodude, waiting to see if the Pokémon was really down for the count. Collective breaths were held and Jason caught movement out of the corner of his eye as Orion and Zahlia moved forward to stand beside him and get a better look.

And then—Jason's heart sank into his stomach—Geodude stirred. Gina seemed to deflate and Charmander stiffened, the not-yet-grown spines on his back shooting straight up in shock, much like the hackles of a dog. The living boulder pushed itself up with two chiseled arms, began to hover towards Charmander… and abruptly collapsed in a heap, upsetting a flurry of dust.

There was a small sound from Gina's Pokédex.

It was Jason who broke the silence seconds later. He let out a strangled whoop that quickly mutated into an all-out cheer as he punched the air fiercely. Orion lifted a shaking hand to his pale brow to mop the sweat there, a wan smile of intense relief on his face. Gina collapsed to her knees in the dust, staring blankly ahead as Charmander first sauntered, then sheepishly edged over to her. After a pause he nudged her hand with his nose.

This seemed to snap Gina out of her reverie. She only stared blankly at her companion for a moment before scooping the creature up in a sudden hug.

"You disobedient ass," Gina said, the end of her sentence turning into an exhausted, half-delirious laugh. Charmander evidently had wanted praise, but not this much physical affection. As Gina rubbed his head he struggled to get out of the embrace.

Armstrong made his way over to them, stopping only to recall Geodude. He paused while Gina went through her gradually growing hysterics. Her laughter increased until she was shaking her head and covering her face with one hand in a vain attempt to get a hold of herself. Jason danced around on the balls of his feet, not wanting to interrupt the delivery of the badge but itching to go over and congratulate them.

Once Armstrong had the young trainer's attention again, he commented lightly, "Well, good job girl! You more than earned this." He tossed her a shining slab of pewter grey, which she caught in one outstretched hand. "Congratulations on being one of the first Charmander trainers to beat me this year!"

Gina muttered something incomprehensible, which Jason did not hear since he was now busy shouting. Orion laughed aloud suddenly and Jason, alerted to his brother's presence, threw himself at him and began pounding him on the shoulder.

"She did it!" He crowed and, catching sight of Gina approaching them, "You did it!"

The two engaged in a victory dance as Bulbasaur and Charmander lay down wearily on the Gym floor near each other, communicating in tired little grunts. Zahlia, smiling, kneeled down by the Pokémon and Orion headed over to the ecstatic trainers.

"Come on, guys. Lunch on me, anywhere you want in town."

Jason grinned ear-to-ear at the thought of free food, but the smile faltered for just a moment when he saw Zahlia look at her phone and jog out the doors of the Gym. The confusion was brief though, as Gina retaliated to an earlier noogie by messing up Jason's spikes. He launched himself into the war and Orion, laughing and apologizing to the next challenger standing uncertainly at the doors, dragged them out into the sunlight.