I don't own Pokemon but I sure wish I owned more zeal for updating faster and a clever disclaimer, alas I do not.
Boy this chapter turned out longer than I thought. Readers, you like long chapters right? ;)
Natalie woke with a start from a nasty smell coming from the other side of Taz's sleeping form, she uncurled herself from Taz's warm body and looked over to see Airwolf sleeping on top of Jeremiah. It was quite a funny sight and she couldn't help but giggle. When Jeremiah heard her, he pushed himself up casuing Airwolf to roll off him and land on the dirt with a thump. He flapped up flustered and looked over at her giggling at his abrupt wake-up and huffed acrimoniously. It was around this time that Taz stirred and stretched and looked behind him to see Silly with a small puddle of drool seeping out of his mouth, was that the source of the smell? She wondered.
"It seems to me that there is a lamentable side-effect when your Gloom sleeps so soundly he drools." Jeremiah said. Seeing her inquisitive look he elaborated, "Yes Gloom secrete an acrid drool to attract prey, some weirdo's even like that revolting saliva." He finished with open repulsion.
She couldn't help but mirror his disgust, not at Silly, but at people who would enjoy something so nasty. Silly must not have needed to attract prey since she fed him so this had never come up. She decided to return him and the smell instantly abated. The group breathed a sigh of relief and the Pokemon stretched while the trainers packed up what little they had.
"Ok we can go to the Pokemart right now, even though it's only a little past dawn they're open early because they cater toward trainers."
She yawned and stretched as she hoisted up her bag, "Well I don't plan to be a trainer that always wakes up this early."
He rolled his eyes, "You've been slacking so far I see. Yes trainers get up early because we use every bit of daylight we can get! You probably wouldn't last 5 minutes in a battle with a real trainer." he jibed.
Icy rage coursed through her veins and it was lucky for him that she was busy holding the bag and couldn't move fast enough to hit him but Taz beat her to it and knocked him to the ground before they even reached the city limits. Airwolf looked pissed as Jeremiah bounced up indignantly. "What was that for?" he yelled.
Natalie rounded on him with Taz right behind giving a glare worthy of a...Staraptor, to Airwolf as she snapped. "Listen up shithead! I don't care that you have had a rough past, I would think that would make you a little nicer to people who are kind to you!"
"No, no I-" he stammered.
"I HAVE BEEN TREATED WITH DERISION FROM ALMOST EVERY OTHER TRAINER SINCE THE START OF THIS JOURNEY!" She screamed. "Taz and I have overcome so much together, Silly too!"-
"CALM DOWN!" he interupped. She stopped but was still breathing hard, he looked at her bewildered, "I guess I won't be antagonizing you in the morning anymore." he trailed off.
Her breathing began to calm as she looked over to where Taz and Airwolf were now having a terse Pokemon conversation and she turned to him, "it's not that, it's what I said. Look how strong Taz is," the dragon looked over at her but then Airwolf smacked him with his good wing that had a metal covering on it and Taz belched an Ember at him. "I know he can do some stuff on his own, but we still work together. Don't I get any credit for having a Charizard listen to me? But no, except for Erica and Koga since he saved me, trainers always underestimate me and belittle me..." she looked at him and his guilty expression then said, "don't worry Jeremiah, and I'm sorry. I see now that you weren't ridiculing me but I sometimes wonder if I did all the training in the world would people still be mean to me?" She finished in a sorrowful whisper that was quite the contrast to her mood just moments ago.
Jeremiah did not waver at the change in tone, "Yes people can be cruel, you might as well learn that now. How come you haven't? Your family was killed!"
The sudden anger and brashness was ferly,"I-I just thought that love for T-" now she stammered.
"You just need to learn how to use their scorn for your adavantage." he said in a quiet voice. It seemed like he was reminising.
"How?" she asked.
"Why it is very simple. You will continue to train!" he yelled agitated making her jump and causing Taz and Airwolf to bring their conversation to an abrupt halt. "You will do MY training from now on and people will still underestimate us and we will crush them! I have dealt with the same crap that you have in training! I'll make everyone wish they never scorned us!" he said with a flourish.
Natalie raised her head and looked at him, his eyes looked so...cold. "What...what has made you this way?" she finally decided to ask.
He looked away and there was an awkward silence before he answered simply, "I've been hurt by Rockets too."
Her heart was pounding at the possibilities of what he meant. In the short time since they met there had already been close calls and drama, what could have happened in the past that would make all these hazrads of training seem like child's play? "I...what..." She couldn't find the words to respond.
"Let's go get supplies and leave." he said in a enervated tone. She could only nod.
Pokemon conversation:
"What is your trainer's problem?" Airwolf cried vociferously. He was tired of the voilent mood swings when his trainer talked with this human.
Taz snarled, "I'll tell you what the problem is, my friend was gracious when dealing with the shit that her fellow humans gave her but no more! She has suffered enough and I will not let her be insulted anymore! YOUR trainer needs to watch his mouth!"
"Oh please, you think your trainer is the only one who has suffered? Why don't you think about what WE have been-"
The fire dragon ignored him and looked over when his trainer said his name but then Airwolf smacked him with a steely wing. "Listen to me you big lug!" he snapped. Taz responded by spitting an Ember at him which only further aggravated him. "You think your such a hot-shot? If I wasn't injured I would beat your ass!"
Taz didn't even growl this time, instead his voice was full of barely controlled rage. "It appears as though my mistress is not the only one who is underestimated around here. Yet I would think that creatures wouldn't be stupid enough to antagonize me. I will show-"
Suddenly the trainers yelling reached an alarming peak and the two of them fell silent.
After getting what they needed and healing up their Pokemon, during which nurse Joy chided them for getting Airwolf injured but impressed at how well they bandaged him up. Both Jeremiah and herself were very nervous during the encounter if she found out how Airwolf got injured. "Did he get a fracture in his wing? I've seen those emergency wrapped like this too."
"Uuh.." Jeremiah paused, then said "Well no, he... we were battling a Nidorino and it's horn punctured through his wing...a little." He said nervously. Joy gave him a sharp look and Natalie couldn't speak."I knew you would be mad at me since he got hurt like that. It's why I didn't come by at first but luckily she was there to help me so I didn't need to." He hung his head in shame. Both females had different perceptions as to what it was from. Joy insisted that next time they come to a center right away, all they want to do is help after all. The two of them nodded and no more was said.
After getting cleared from nurse Joy they headed East to the mountainous route in between Cerulean and Lavender. The grass was scraggly to begin with and now even that had faded into scarce weeds in the brown and tan canyon. Taz was flying just above the party and doing some marvelous manuvers around stalagmites and gliding right beside the walls. Natalie couldn't help but giggle at his antics, he seemed to be having a little too much fun simply 'being a guard' that he insisted on doing since Airwolf had been returned to his Pokeball, but at least he was getting exercise. Jeremiah was not of the same opinion.
"He will wear himself out, there are trainers with rock type Pokemon all through this canyon and route beyond! Call him down here." he barked.
She huffed, "He is getting exercise! Wasn't there some jactation about doing more of that earlier?"
"What I do is not simple exercise. It is specialized training against types that your Pokemon are weak against, for your Charizard there are many in this canyon. Get him down here and we will start now."
She nodded and called him then said, "I think we have already been doing that. If that is your special training." Taz landed beside them and Jeremiah asked,
"Oh? Do tell."
So she told him about the Brace given to her in Celadon and the battle with Graveler soon after. He at least seemed to be impressed with their victory then. When she told him how Taz fought off dozens of Tentacool to save her in between Celadon and Fushcia he looked impressed and pensieve. "Did you have the brace on when you fought the Tentacool?"
"Uuh..." she looked at Taz who shook his head. "I guess not, we didn't have it near the beginning of our training either when we mostly fought Ratattata either."
He paused then said, "I guess you have been doing this training, it is extremely advantageous for regular trainer battles and you will need an inordinate amount of endurance and power if you plan on fighting team Rocket anyway.
"Sounds great! Is that why you do it?" she asked.
"Let's get started!" he snapped. "You, ugly dragon, get that damn brace back on right now if you know what's good for you!"
Taz snarled and seethed, "Yourrrr not the bosssss of merrr. You figurrrr that out if yourrr know whatssss good forrr you."
Natalie translated then said in a brittle voice. "I must agree. We will do this training, Taz get that Brace from my bag on please." Taz gave a glare to Jeremiah but did so. "But I will order my Pokemon to do so. I don't order Airwolf around do I?"
"Fine, I'm just concerned you'll be to soft. Ths training is supposed to push limits." he said.
"We will be strong, aren't we getting started?"
He nodded, "order Taz to hit that different colored canyon wall over there with a Brick Break, he knows that right?"
She nodded and directed Taz to do so. he rushed over to begin but even his hardest hits hardly seemed to discommode the wall. Still he persisted. She watched him for a second but he was jesturing her over to a path that went steeply upward. They started on it keeping an eye on Taz who wasn't but forty feet away in the canyon.
"What are we doing up here?" she asked looking around. It was a small rise above the crevice that only extended a half-mile before it sloped down onto the path. There was a fairly narrow crack in the earth not far away to the right and higher rock walls to the North.
"I am going to educate you on how to do sixteens. This is an ideal spot, because if you miss a jump over that crevice over there then you fall." he said.
"You're going to do sixteens? What are those?" she asked perturbed.
"You are going to do sixteens. They involve running from this line," he drew a line five feet from the crevice ran and jumped over the crevice, "To this line." made another line five feet away on that side. Then he jumped back over and pointed "while jumping over the crack...sixteen times."
Natalie was dumbstruck. But she looked down at Taz hammering away at the wall and prepared to drop her bag to do them with a sigh.
"I wouldn't drop that bag, you might as well get used to do the drills with it now." Jeremiah smirked.
She gave him a glare that would peel paint but hefted her bag securely on her shoulders and went up to the line and ran..and jumped..and turned and ran and jumped...again. She was already tired by the time she did it five times and the bag's shuffling noise was annoying as it's weight. He kept looking at her until she stopped after doing it sixteen times gasping. "Well done. Your desire to work as hard as your Pokemon is apparent and valuable. After you do sixteen then you rest for forty-five seconds and then do it fourteen times, subtracting two each time. She didn't even want to waste her energy telling him how Arceus-awful this drill was and did hr seconds of rest. after she began the drill again he stopped looking at her and began to do push-ups on the ground. This made her feel better that he was working too but when she was about halfway done with the second set an ear-splitting roar startled both trainers. She ran over to where Taz was pounding the wall and...saw it collapsed? Nearby three large and angry Onix were attacking Taz!
"TAZ!" she screamed. He looked up at her distracted and got slammed with a Rock Throw. "GRRAAA!" he roared. She freaked an prepared to run down there but Jeremiah grabbed her.
"Order him from up here if you must, but this is the training!" he barked.
She glared at him, "Did you know they lived there?" He pointed at Taz so she called to Taz, "Can you beat them Taz?" But Taz was already up in the air and seemed to radiate an angry glow. He gave a her a claw up and proceeded to hit the Onix with Ember's strong enough to irritate them and sending Dragon Rages powerful enough to know the rock snakes into the canyon walls! It was lucky that Natalie wasn't standing on the uprise because of the tremor that the slam caused. Jeremiah wasn't so fortunte and fell on his face. She was about to laugh at his misfortune when there was another roar and a few more Onix charged onto the scene! "Taz look out!" But he already saw them and shot Dragon Rages in thier direction and smacked the oness near him with mighty Brick Breaks. Wait though...were those Dragon Rages? They seemed to be a more linear blue fire now. As she stared Jeremiah stood next to her, "this training is already seeing results it seems, that is Dragonbreath! Much more direct and powerful."
Just then an Onix snuck up beside Taz and hit him with another Rock Throw that really appeared to hurt Taz. " This training is going to get my Pokemon hurt-screw this." She pulled out Silly's Pokeball and ran down into the canyon. "Silly go! Use your Ice and Absorb to help Taz!" she threw the ball and Silly appeared. He screamed as an Onix was thrown in his general direction and shook the whole canyon. "No, no Silly use Ice and Absorb! You gotta help Taz! Please!" she begged.
Silly gulped but raced into the fray using his speed more for dodging than any strategy but his attacks did give Taz an edge to beat them with one Brick Break and sometimes two Dragonbreaths. The Onix's didn't take kindly to Silly's appearance and one of them charged at him glowing white. Silly shrieked and bolted out of the way while the snake collapsed shaking the earth. Natalie was practically clawing her face in panic at this point but Taz seemed to have gained a second wind after all the damage and was bashing Onix's left and right with Fire Punches and Brick Breaks. During the fray an Onix horn torn into his left wing givng it a wide cut causing blood to spill all over. She screamed and so did Taz and the Onix which the boiling blood fell on. A little over half of them got splashed and ran. Taz spewed an Ember onto his cut caterizing it. The Onix charged again and suddenly Natalie heard a Pokeball open and Airwolf swooped in and started whacking the Onix with his legs and wings. She didn't know what attcak that was but it detered more of the Onix. She was grateful for this until several of the snake stampeded towards her!
She froze at the sight of them running at her and the very earth rumbling beneath her but Taz's panicked roar snapped her out of it and she leapt up the path to the uprise but the shaking caused her to almost fall! She jumped with strength that alarmed herself and grabbed onto the ledge nearby as the snakes rushed underneath her. Jeremiah saw what happened and was soon next to her pulling her up. She was shaking all over but stumbled over to see what was happening below. Airwolf being in the battle cut Taz's burden in half and soon all of the Onix were getting thrown down. Silly was using Absorbs and Ice a lot but he was mostly dodging Onix when they turned white, making them smash into another. she didn't know when their numbers had gotten so astronomical but the battle and retreating was reaching all up and down the canyon! She wanted to help her Pokemon but wasn't sure how. Suddenly about twenty feet from where Taz and Airwolf were fending off Onix, Silly took a lot of damage when one of the white tackles actually hit him, luckily it made that particular Onix faint upon impact but Silly was trapped under the weight. She procured Silly's Pokeball and recalled him before he was trampled by more snakes stampeding away from Airwolf and Taz. Before he was returned though he gave a her a look of dejection.
She was distracted from this by a "I WILL NEVERRRR GIVE UPRR!" Taz roared at the top of his lungs. By this point he had to ground every so often because of the caterized tear in his wing. Airwolf was desperately dodging the last remenants of the Onix's attacks and was slamming them with metal-cover wings now, but they were finally down to two-to-one.
"You can do it Taz!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. She wasn't sure if he heard her over the din but he threw one last Brick Break strong and desperate enough to throw his last Onix seventy-five feet away in the direction they came from. Natalie screamed in approval and Airwolf and Taz cheered as the last Onix ran away.
Natalie and Jeremiah clambered down from the cliff and she ran over to Taz and gave him a huge hug. Jeremiah proceeded to praise Airwolf as well. "Taz you were amazing! You beat...I don't even know how many Onix!" that reminded her, she released Silly and tried to give him a hug but he blasted her with Ice and knocked her backwards. Leaving her stupified. Taz growled but Silly turned his back on them.
Sitting on the ground lost she stammered "What...what's wromg Silly?"
He huffed, "Yoom send me gloto a terrifoming battom without gloing oom what's going om gloo the gloonly reason yoom did was so I couloom help Taz. Isom gloom all I'm glorth?"
It was a rare moment when Natalie was just as lost as Jeremiah even though she could understand him. She sat there stunned into silence at her own Pokemon disliking her now when she heard the growls of both Taz and Airwolf but it was surprisingly Airwolf who spoke first.
"So, letor me get starrait. Rapou want battor raptore, but when sta let's torou even raptough you no rapike situaptor then you no battor want?" Grasptor Pokemon cowaptors." Airwolf sneered.
Natalie barely caught that and it seems like Jeremiah could inately translate what Airwolf said and finally had some understanding of what was going on. Her heart was pounding again and she was sure that this one day alone was going to shave years off her life from sheer pain and panic. She almost started to cry but tried to hold it in. When Taz saw this he finally snapped.
"She is trying to prrraise you! Teamsss are supposed to help each otherrr!-"
"Thoom no teaoom!" Silly vociferated loud enough to stun everyone into silence, except Taz,
"Trrrainersss alwayss use starterrss most! If you wantsss all attention be starterrrr forr someone elsess!" Taz snarled at the huffing Gloom.
Silly got up to walk away but Natalie yelled "NO!" and he froze. "I'll do better Silly, I just... this was supposed to be training for Taz." Silly's eyes got icy at this. "But I didn't know how bad it would get..." she looked over at Jeremiah "Why didn't you tell me what you were planning? Now I have this mess!" she cried her eyes wet now.
Before Jeremiah could anwser Silly did "don't blaoom hoom glainooer. Yoom just no knoom glat you doing." he sneered.
The dam finally broke and Taz seared Silly with a huge Ember tha KOed him. She broke down crying and Taz growled to Airwolf that they should leave him behind. Airwolf mumbled something to Jeremiah but he hushed them and patted her on the back. Then he said, "This training was a success, for Taz. Airwolf was always well enough to help out and I knew that Gloom could help too."
She sniffed at the mention of Silly and he continued, "Airwolf tells me, and apparently the two of them agree, that Silly is being ungrateful. In all my time with you, you have never abused or even yelled at Gloom. I knew that Onix would appear, granted not that many, but I didn't know that your Gloom would get all huffy for battling in circumstances that he didn't like."
"What did I do? Can that be all that's wromg?" she sobbed.
He paused then said, "I don't know, but we're burning sunlight, already half the day is gone. Return Taz and your Gloom and we can sort it out later.
She sniffed and wiped her eyes and did so, thanking Taz one more time. He only looked upset, instead of proud like he should have been. Then the two of them and Airwolf walked on for the rest of the day in silence.
hoped you liked it. I'm actually really proud of the action scene and the Pokemon scene at the end. :) Review and tell me what you think! Constructive critisism is welcome.