- N - = Nicky's part
- J - = my part
Chapter 013 - Items, items everywhere
- J -
Amethyst watched carefully as Rodent used swords dance.
"Mmh... This seems to have become a 'speed battle'." The purple-eyed woman thought, rubbing her chin. "Not what I had in mind, definitely."
Definitely, she was failing as master. Amethyst sighed. Didn't they have to train Rodent's defense instead of his speed? Well, the training would be based on more things other than battling, but still...
"I wonder if the poor Rodent will be okay after that seismic toss." Amethyst kept thinking, frowning.
He was. Badly hurt, but still standing. Rodent sure had lots of stamina inside his chubby body.
Toge was hit by Rodent at full speed. Quick attack? Amethyst smiled.
"Heh, that was an intelligent move." She said." It's always useful to know about attacks that enable you to attack first."
"In case your pokémon can't learn moves like those, there are items with the same function." The woman explained. "The more prepared you are, the better."
"And now, it's my turn again!" Amethyst exclaimed, amused for attacking in the second turn for the first time. "Rock smash again!"
Toge hit Rodent. It was close, the rat almost dodged it thanks to his speed, but Toge managed to hit him with the edge of his left wing.
"Did I mention that the more times you use rock smash, the more damage the user inflicts?" Amethyst asked. "You were lucky that Rodent mostly dodged it, Ms. Brown."
Alright. Next turn. Rodent attacked again. Why wasn't Amethyst surprised to see he was going his best move?
"She's using a stat-enhancing move. Laelaps himself loves to do it before he fights… but it seems slightly odd that an impulsive trainer like herself knew how to plan ahead like that."
"Yeah... You're right." The chestnut-head nodded. "Maybe, I have underestimated her. Although her knowledge is kind of small, she still knows a thing or two."
"Did your brother ever mention training with a girl like her, Amethyst? I remember seeing him fight at the Hoenn Battle Frontier – it seems like a strategy he'd use."
"Mmh, maybe. He talked to me about a lot of people, so I can't remember..."
She turned to the man who was now explaining some kind of story to her. "An impediment for safety"? Really? Amethyst had been half-listening, so she couldn't be sure of what had he said first.
"– it's a little like that Zangoose-Seviper thing, I'm quite sure. It must be a long-standing rivalry. It's not just Lucario who hunt down what we're seeking, but Aura guardians before me have been doing it in historical texts for years."
Lolwut? History classes now? Amethyst sighed (again).
"I'm afraid I can't tell you more, Amethyst."
Yeah, sure. Amethyst smiled mysteriously and stepped back to where Riley was. Standing on her tiptoes, she approached her mouth to Riley's ear.
"If you don't want to tell me the whole story," She whispered. "then why did you start telling it in the first place~?"
Amethyst talked again, louder, so Stephanie could hear her.
"I knew you would let your most powerful attack for the ending of the battle!" She exclaimed. "And, because I saw that coming, I had an ace up my sleeve myself as well!"
When the flames dissipated, Toge appeared amongst clouds of smoke. He was hurt, but in a better condition than anyone would have expected.
He was eating a berry...
"I made Toge hold an Occa Berry!" Amethyst announced. "I'm sorry, Ms. Brown, but if we manage to land this hit, we'll win! Metronome!"
Toge shook his wings. A few seconds later, he emitted a bolt of blue electricity that hit Rodent.
"It's shock wave!" Amethyst exclaimed, recognizing the attack. "A move that is unaffected by modifications in the accuracy or the evasion!
"To put it simple," She added. "it's an attack that never misses, like aura sphere, magical leaf or swift."
How could Stephanie and Rodent be so... unlucky? Amethyst sighed as she watched Rodent tremble on the floor. Toge landed, not putting his eyes away from his opponent.
"It seems that this battle is over." Amethyst said, seriously. "I'm sorry, Ms. Brown, maybe I shouldn't have used a... rely-on-luck move, because it made us too lucky."
The purple-eyed trainer put her hands on her waist.
"Moreover," She added. "in this battle all we have done has been increasing the speed... Specially you, Ms. Brown, who used swords dance. Knowing that Rodent's speed is already high by itself, why would you teach him a move like that?"
Then again, the teen looked as shocked as Amethyst when Rodent used swords dance. Maybe she didn't teach him that? But how was that possible?
"You should teach him some move like growl or something that makes the opponent's attack decrease." Amethyst said, somewhat pensive.
Her thought were interrupted by Laelaps, who had come back with his trainer. Amethyst turned to them, willing to salute the strong Lucario...
...but when she saw Riley and Laelaps talking as low as they could, she stayed where she was. What were they planning? She remembered Riley's words. "An impediment for safety". Could it be...?
No. It wasn't time to think about that stuff. She turned to the blondie in front of her and handed her a type of potion.
"Here. Have a full restore." Amethyst said. "The most powerful potion, to be exact. Rodent will have to be at his best during this training. And we might battle again at the end of this whole training."
She gave Riley and Laelaps a sidelong glance. They were still talking. No, not only that. They had some kind of cloth in hands. She noticed that Riley had caught her looking at him, so she turned her head back to Stephanie and Rodent again.
"Just what the HELL am I doing?" She thought; she finally turned to Riley and Lucario. "Is there any problem? You two seem... worried."
Amethyst kept talking about other things so she wouldn't look like a meddler.
"I... I 'kind of' need your advice, Riley." She said, embarrassed. "It's my first time being a master, so... I'd thought of teaching Ms. Brown all the possible attacks Rodent can do to lower the opponent's attack or increase his own defense, and after that I'll show her all the items she can use for the same functions. Does that seem like a good plan?"
- N -
Brown gritted her teeth again as the Rock Smash attack grazed Rodent's side. Rodent instinctively broke into a run to avoid the attack, only to be smacked by the tip of Toge's wing.
Dammit, Brown thought, there was no way Rodent could really outmanoeuvre the Togekiss. Not when Toge was boosted by X-Speed. Besides, the Togekiss was naturally good – it had only taken the tip of Toge's wing, but was more than enough to intercept Rodent's running and send him tumbling and squeaking off to a side.
"Rodent? You okay?" She was tempted to run to him and check him for bruises, but she knew the rules – that would be a forfeit. Instead, she called from the side: "YOU CAN DO THIS! GET UP! GET UP!"
"Raticate!" Rodent called back, devastated by the Rock Smash, but still standing on shaky legs.
Rodent prepared himself for a Flame Wheel, only to find out as the smoke cleared that the Togekiss was protected by its held item.
"I didn't know berries could do that." Brown looked bemused. "Pwoah."
"Catiraaar…" Rodent growled, annoyed. The Togekiss was flipping its wings back and forth again. Tick tock. Tick Tock.
"That's Metronome, Rodent – you gotta be careful! Expect anything!"
A blue bolt of electricity escaped the flying-type, aiming itself towards Rodent. Hastily and instinctively, he began to run – maybe he could escape it. But as he turned a corner, instead of going straight and crashing against the rocks, the electricity turned to follow him.
Rodent was much too surprised to dodge it.
"NO WAY!" Brown gasped, "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"
"Ah, Shock Wave," Riley noted, before calling out to Brown, "You can't dodge Shock Wave. It always hits it target. Remember that well, Stephanie – Roark's Rampardos is infamous for its Shock Wave attack."
"I'll remember," Brown muttered, a little softer than usual.
Rodent struggled to keep himself upright, but his legs gave way and his tiny body squeaked onto the cavern floor. The battle seemingly over, Toge gracefully roosted on the ground.
Brown darted to the Pokemon's side, pulling the plump rat into her arms. "Hey, hey big guy," She whispered soothingly. "You okay?"
Rodent's fur was matted with sweat and smouldering slightly from the heat of the electric attack. What fur he had that wasn't standing up with static was in ragged clumps. Still, despite his injuries, the Raticate was downright furious. Brown recognised that face.
"You're mad at yourself for losing, aren't you?"
The Raticate refused to face her.
"When are you ever going to learn that I don't care if you're weak?" She ran a hand over his fur, patting and smoothening it down into place. Rodent purred, despite himself. "You're my tough little guy, and I'm never, ever going to hold a loss against you."
Rodent turned to look his trainer in her face. "Ticate?" He mumbled.
"You were just unlucky, not to mention you were fighting against a really really really strong opponent." She looked up at Amy, who was standing by her.
" Knowing that Rodent's speed is already high by itself, why would you teach him a move like that?"
"But I didn't teach him Swords Dance…" Brown looked at her Pokemon, a look of steely determination was written on the Raticate's face. "Sometimes, Rodent tends to do things on his own. When I was younger, lots of people were trying to teach me how to battle, but I never remembered their strategies very well. Rodent, however, he can."
Rodent looked mollified at the praise, but Brown was troubled at the idea that her partner wasn't entirely listening to her. If a pokemon didn't always obey his trainer's commands, the results weren't always the best.
"Maybe we need to communicate better." She muttered.
Brown noticed Amy was offering her a Full Restore. Gratefully, she took the potion. She fumbled with the nozzle for a brief moment.
"Hold on… Just a sec…" She fumbled again with the Full Restore bottle. She'd never seen a potion this expensive or complicated before. "Got it!"
She pulled the trigger – which sprayed the medicine into her eye.
"OW! Ow ow ow."
In her lap, Rodent burst out laughing.
"Oh, shut up," Brown laughed, giggling at first, before lying with her back on the floor and gasping of breath between guffaws. "You're such a jerk, Rodent."
"Raticate," Rodent stood on his trainer's horizontal stomach, and tried to use the potion himself. It took five seconds of annoyed fumbling before he handed the bottle back to her.
Brown chuckled as she took the medicine. She aimed it, making sure the bottle was pointing the right way, into his multiple bruises. As if by magic, the wounds closed up, resealed themselves, and looked, for the world, as if they'd never happened.
Rodent wagged his tail, pleased, as he inspected his body.
"This is powerful stuff," Brown muttered, reading the label. "I mean. Wow. This is really really really good at healing stuff, Miss Amy. Where did you get it?"
She opened her bag, which was brimming with standard-grade purple Potions. "We just use these all the time. They're cheap, but they don't seem to work very well. Well, they did at first, when Rodent was a Ratatta, but now… it's like they barely work anymore. I don't know why."
Riley watched both young women talk, the beginning of a blush on his face.
Gently, he brought his gloved hands up to his cheek, where the feeling of Amethyst's breath had been just moments before.
"If you don't want to tell me the whole story, then why did you start telling it in the first place~?"
Because I can't tell you everything – and yet I still want to. I can't leave you in the dark forever, Amethyst, not like before. I could never do that to you again.
He didn't say it, although he wished he had.
Laelaps rumbled low in his throat. I know you like her, he seemed to say. What's keeping you both apart?
"Politics," he muttered. "Politics, a fox, and unabashed self-loathing at my past self's inherent lack of chivalry."
Laelaps blinked, bemused.
"The Zoroark's a problem. I worry it becomes smart enough to target us systematically. And if it gets to Amethyst…"
Laelaps chuffed. You fancy yourself as a superhero now, don't you? 'I'm sorry, Mary-Jane, but if the Green Goblin found out about my relationship with you, they'll kidnap you?' The Lucario feigned pathos, the back of his paw dramatically on his forehead.
The Lucario tilted his head to the blonde trainer.
Look at Stephanie Brown. You've read The Brown Effect, you know what's happened to her. That girl has been kidnapped, tortured, and been hurt more times than either of us could possibly want to imagine. She's still smiling.
Amethyst is no pushover, you underestimate her ability to go through hell and come back.
Riley looked away, the shadow of his hat concealing his eyes.
She's not a damsel in distress, Riley. And she loves you.
"I'm almost twice her age…" He repeated what he said on Iron Island, devoid of conviction. "It may not work out…"
Do you honestly believe yourself as you say that? Laelaps looked annoyed. The age difference isn't the problem. It used to be, of course, but what you have to deal with is the gap between the both of you right now. You pushed her away, and now she's afraid of coming back to you.
"It's not that simple," Riley muttered. "We may not see each other the same way…"
Riley, Laelaps sighed. I'm sure, deep down, you know you both still do.
The Aura guardian thought to say something in reply, but couldn't form the words. As much as he wanted to argue, he realised Laelaps was right.
It took him a little longer before he realized Amethyst was talking to him.
"…my first time being a master, so... I'd thought of teaching Ms. Brown all the possible attacks Rodent can do to lower the opponent's attack or increase his own defense, and after that I'll show her al the items she can use for the same functions. Does that seem like a good plan?"
"Amethyst," He blinked, then softened. "Oh, Amethyst. It sounds perfect – although I would recommend you show her the items before your next fight. The poor girls seems quite…"
He paused, looking at Stephanie, who'd begun to curiously unscrew the cap of the Full Restore bottle.
"…at a loss… with all the strange items she's seeing now." He chuckled. "Not to mention a little absentminded to begin with."
- J -
"When are you ever going to learn that I don't care if you're weak?"
Amethyst raised an eyebrow.
"Rodent isn't weak, Ms. Brown." She said, gently. "Just keep in mind than Toge is way more experienced. "Toge's been battling for... eleven years now. No more mystery."
She felt somewhat guilty. Should she have let Stephanie win? No. That would have made the teen feel even worse.
"Moreover," Amethyst kept thinking. "it will be better to battle again at the end of the training, so Ms. Brown will be able to use the items I'm going to lend her now."
"And I know you haven't asked me," The young woman added. "but I think you and Rodent have a good communication. It's just that... well, maybe Rodent is quite and independent pokémon, after all? It happens with some humans, too. Even though they can be very close to their friends, some of them simply won't need anyone for certain things."
Amethyst smiled. She knew well... because she was that kind of person. Although Amethyst had some friends in each region, she always preferred to work alone when it came to important stuff. Maybe Rodent was the same?
"Oh, my-!" Amethyst screamed when Stephanie sprayed the potion into her eye. "Are you okay? Do you need help?"
Amethyst was awfully worried about the brown-eyed girl, but both the teen and her pokémon seemed good-natured about that. Rodent seemed to feel better thanks to Stephanie, and they managed to, finally, spray the potion in the correct way.
"How cute." Amethyst thought, giggling.
Maybe she was worrying too much...
"Oh, I bought it at a regular Pokémon Shop, of course." The chestnut-head explained. "I have all the badges from Johto, so they let me buy whatever I want; yes, this is a privilege you acquire when you get the eight badges from some region."
"And my brother has earned a lot of money from all his victories." Amethyst added. "He lends me some, hehe."
Of course, Riley wasn't going to answer her previous question, so Amethyst's attention was entirely Stephanie's again. However, the tiny woman gave them a sidelong glance, again. They were still muttering! Can you believe it? They seemed housewives!
Anyway, they weren't positioned as before, so it didn't seem to be such a huge secret, but still...
It took him a while to realize Amethyst's question, sure.
"Oh, Amethyst. It sounds perfect – although I would recommend you show her the items before your next fight. The poor girls seems quite… at a loss… with all the strange items she's seeing now. Not to mention a little absentminded to begin with."
"Okay, thank you!" Amethyst nodded, smiling.
She thought of turning to Stephanie and Rodent to start to explain them, but now that Riley and his Lucario had stopped murmuring, she approached the biped-dog pokémon.
"Hi, Laelaps!" She exclaimed happily, patting his head. "I hadn't seen you in the whole day, hehe! I hope you're alright!"
Amethyst knew that Laelaps wasn't the type that liked cuddling, but she simply couldn't resist. The purple-eyed woman turned back to the blondie and approached her and Rodent.
"Okay, Ms. Brown," She said, sitting next to the teen. "as I already told, you can only buy this type of powerful potions when you have all the badges. But don't worry! I'll lend all my full restores. I can always buy more, after all."
The woman handed the girl five full restores, hoping they would be enough.
"Now, onto items you can use in battle!" Amethyst announced, lively. "You saw me use that X-Speed item, didn't you? Well, the most popular item to rise your pokémon's defense is X-Defense. Just in case you're interested, there're also X-Attack, X-Accuracy, X-Special... Well, you get the point."
Amethyst took a X-Accuracy (the last one she had) out from her bag and handed it to Stephanie so she could see it carefully.
"You can buy these at any regular Shop." Amethyst explained. "They're pretty cheap. The only inconvenient is that they stop making effect when you switch pokémon... although you don't have to worry about that since you only have one pokémon."
The young woman looked for something inside her bag. Suddenly, she smiled and looked at Stephanie.
"You're lucky, ms. Brown!" She exclaimed. "I still have some Iron left!"
Amethyst took a pot with yellow cap and some vitamins inside.
"Each boll of these adds 10 Defense EVs to the pokémon." Amethyst explained, a boll between her fingers. "To put it simple, Iron increases your pokémon's defense. You're lucky because, not only you can only acquire it at the Department Store, but also they're incredibly expensive!"
She handed Stephanie the pot.
"These vitamins also make pokémon friendly." Amethyst added, smiling. "However, don't abuse it. One or two bolls should be enough for Rodent. Oh, by the way, Iron isn't like X-Defense, which only makes effect IN battle."
Amethyst took a list of items out from her bag and showed to Stephanie.
"Look," Amethyst pointed at two items. "those are the pink bow and the silk scarf, both boost the power of normal-type moves. They might interest you..."
"Now, onto berries!" Amethyst announced. "But, before we continue... Do you want to take some rest, Ms. Brown? I think you might need some time to process all the information I've just given to you..."