Chapter 13: Violet City
The next morning, Casey dropped by to inform me that she and Richard were taking Dana to the gym. Richard, who had official taken charge of teaching her ropes of combat, had finally deemed her ready to take on her first gym leader; Casey, who occasional offered nuggets of tactical advice, was somewhat more dubious, but if Dana didn't win, she would at least learn something from it (and maybe calm down a little bit!), so she went along for a ride. I volunteered to come as well, but the doctor wouldn't have it, so I would have to wait for the report in a few hours.
(-o-)
Dana cautiously opened the door of the gym… just a crack… she peered in and caught a glimpse of a large, imposing room with violet walls. The instant her head passed through the slit, a pair of young men in white karate tunics noticed her and called out a greeting –Dana yelped in surprise and scurried back away from the door.
Richard and Casey watched, the former amused, and the latter becoming increasingly annoyed…
"Alright," snapped Casey, grabbing the door and hurling it open. "Three tries should be more than enough!" she pointed into the gym. "In! Now!"
Dana was cringing away from Casey already. Looking at Richard for support did her no good: he only nodded in agreement with what Casey said. With a sigh that belied every ounce of her reluctance, Dana entered the gym.
"But what if I loose?" she whispered to Richard thirty seconds later, as the elevator spirited them up to the rooftop battlefield.
"It doesn't matter if you win or loose," Richard said. Then he considered this, and revised: "Well, it doesn't matter as long as you come out in the end. If you loose the first time, we'll go train some more and you can come back and try again. But you won't need to: you're ready for this, I can tell."
Dana smiled nervously and stared at the reflective steel of the elevator door.
Casey tapped her foot impatiently in the corner. She and Richard were next in line after Dana, but there would more than likely be a wait of several minutes in between each fight for Faulkner to heal his Pokemon. That was the only problem with traveling in groups: gym battles became like multi-car pileups.
After a few more seconds of cruising, the elevator eased to a stop. The door opened with a ding, and a chilly breeze billowed in, ruffling the trainers' clothes.
Dana, Casey, and Richard stepped out into the pale light of the afternoon. It was a cool, overcast day, and wind billowed over the dreary rooftops of Violet City. From the top of the gym, Dana realized that she was standing on the only colorful structure in town: the rest of the City was a monotonous spread of straightedge edifices, all the same shade of gray. She frowned, saddened. Her home town, another "air town", was green and colorful. Would the rest of Johto be like this?
"Dana!" called Richard. He was already halfway across the field, talking to Faulkner.
He remembered encountering the flying-type gym leader during his brief stay with the Hermes, but he made no mention of that previous meeting. Neither, in turn, did Faulkner. He spoke Richard and Casey as he did with all trainers who entered his gym: aloof and calm.
Dana trotted over to him, already digging in her pockets for her first pokeball.
"Who's up first?" asked Faulkner. With a flourish, his first ball appeared and enlarged in his hand.
"Me… I guess," said Dana, barely managing to suppress the stutter in her voice.
She did not know why she was so timid: in her training matches, she had felt fine and done rather well (according to Richard; Casey seemed to only admit this fact grudgingly). But… a gym leader? The fact that she was now facing such a monumental opponent cowed her completely. Dana felt like an ant staring up at the sharp beak of a ravenous eagle.
Eagle don't eat ants, she told herself suddenly. Dana frowned, then smiled slightly. They only eat fish. So I should be fine, right?
"Alright then, let's get started: it looks like I've got a busy afternoon ahead of me."
"Ok," said Dana. Newfound confidence was beginning to trickled up through her chest, oiling her throat and giving her courage. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. "Let's go!"
(-o-)
I peered around the open door of my hospital room. Right: an orderly wheeled a cart away at the very end of the hall. Left: no one. The elevator was right, but I was fairly sure that I could make it, just as soon as that damn orderly was out of sight…
My roommate was asleep, and I was becoming extremely bored as my medications wore off. I felt… better. Good enough to go watch a match, anyway. And I felt bad missing Dana's first gym battle, so naturally I was breaking out.
The second the orderly toddled out of sight, there was red flash and a friendly chime: Calypsa, my trusty Vaporeon, appeared at my feet.
She tried to squeal a greeting –it had been a while since she had been out of her ball for more than a few minutes- but I scooped her up and clamped my hand over her mouth as quickly as I could to stifle the noise. While Calypsa stared at my, confused, I was struck by a bout of dizziness brought on by my rapid moment. I wobbled a little bit, sliding out of the door frame and into the hallway, and I would have fallen over had Calypsa not pushed my back upright with her tale; with the same motion, she sprang out of my arms and back onto the floor. I clutched my head and cringed while she preened her sleek coat at my feet.
"Alright," I said a moment later, when I had regained control of my balance. The hallway was, thankfully, still abandoned. "Hey Calypsa. I'm gonna need some help, ok? I need you go ahead of my and keep sniffing for people, ok? If anyone is coming, bark to warn me…"
(-o-)
"Dive in for a Peck, Pigeotto!"
"Ah!" yelped Dana. Treecko uttered a similar shriek. "Quick, Treecko get out of there!"
The grass Pokemon bounded into the air like a leaf caught by the wind, as far away in any direction from where it was as it could manage… there was a golden-brown blur and Pigeotto impacted the spot where it had been moments before. The bird Pokemon pulled up from its dive out of foresight and landed powerfully on its scaly feet. It tossed its head up to search for Treecko, and its main of flowing red hair billowed impressively in the wind.
Treecko clung to the wall that bordered the stadium, a few yards away from its foe. Pigeotto cawed loudly as it caught sight of the grass Pokemon, and Treecko squealed loudly and began hauling itself up the wall, which was about twenty feet high.
With a single wing-beat, Pigeotto was below it, looking up with its beak wide open.
Faulkner sighed, as if embarrassed by the ease with which his opponent was being defeated.
"Knock it down with Gust," he ordered.
Pigeotto cocked one wing, as if bored, then brushed it forward, sending a dust devil sailing up toward Treecko…
"Now jump, Treecko!" countered Dana.
Treecko released its sticky hold on the wall and pushed off, up, with its wiry green legs. The grass Pokemon was hurled into the air, and the Gust spun itself out on impact with the wall…
"Pound!"
Treecko flipped once, with uncharacteristic elegance, and descended like a green comet. Its bushy green tail slammed into Pigeotto's surprised face and the bird Pokemon was thrown a few yards, where it landed on its side. It twitched for a few moments, but showed no signs of getting back to its feet.
"Pigeotto is unable to battle!" declared the white-clad referee, raising his right arm to indicate that Dana had won the first round. "Treecko and Dana are the victors."
"Yes!" yelled Dana. Treecko sprinted to her side and they jumped into the air together, pumping their fists in the air.
The ref continued: "Round two will now commence."
Dana forgot to land on her feet and wound up sprawled on the ground in surprise.
"Round what?" she asked, dazed.
"Round two," said Richard. "You have to beat three of Faulkner's Pokemon to get your badge."
"Oh," said Dana, helping herself up. "Well… we can handle it, right Treecko?"
The grass Pokemon crowed in agreement.
"Alright," she continued. "Bring it! Let's go round two!"
"Not so easy on her this time," Faulkner said to his next pokeball. "Go, Skarmory!"
With a burst of light, a seven foot tall metal creature, which looked like a cross between a condor and a jet fighter, appeared on the field. Treecko's eyes widened and it stepped inconspicuously behind its trainer.
"Let's go," declared the gym leader. "Sandstorm!"
Skarmory's terrifying cycle-shaped beak snapped open and let out a horrendous sound. Dana glanced behind her and Treecko had fled to the back of the arena and was already climbing up the wall… the bird Pokemon raised its head to the sky, continuing its harsh call, and the atmosphere around the battlefield changed: the wind picked up instantly, and Treecko was thrown back to the floor. Sand worked its way into the sky, and in seconds, the tower was surrounded in a twisting shroud of brown: Sandstorm.
The grit bit into Treecko and its trainer alike, but the grass Pokemon was more adversely affected. It squeezed its eyes shut to the keep the sand out, and looked pained.
"This isn't going to work, is it?" Dana asked her advisors.
"Treecko can still fight," Casey told her. "Don't give up just because the weather changed: keep pushing him. After all, you've already got one victory under your belt."
Dana nodded gravely, but headed her advice.
"Treecko, use Quick Attack!"
The grass Pokemon sprinted forward bravely, shuttering its fear of the steel colossus before it, but it was a vain attempt: Treecko was affectively blinded by the sand. Skarmory didn't even have to move to evade the attack. Treecko charged wide and wound up bowled over by the wind.
Faulkner nodded to his Pokemon, and it took to the air in a flurry of shining wings. The gym leader was somehow unaffected by the painful tempest. Dana, on the other hand, shielded her eyes with her arm and tried to follow Skarmory up…
"Treecko, get ready, it's gonna come down at you!"
Though it looked around as much as it could, Treecko could not hope to detect any sign its opponent. Neither, Dana realized, could she: the sand was growing thicker, and she could only see Treecko as a pastel blur behind a silky veil of blown earth. Dana caught a flicker of movement as it cast its gaze around, searching for the shine of metal…
Dana saw it first: a white blur descending directly at Treecko's front, down through the sand.
"Bullet Seed straight ahead!" she called.
Treecko's green silhouette tilted its head up and fired a volley of tiny wooden missiles. The Seeds, made invisible to Dana by distance and sand, ascended quickly, on a collision course with Skarmory's chest.
Dana heard Faulkner call out something, she could not be sure what over the wail of the wind: the white form of Skarmory vanished, only to reappear instantly behind Treecko, out of the path of the Bullet Seeds.
The bird slammed into Dana's Pokemon and sent it flying. Treecko landed a few yards from Dana's feet and reluctantly began struggling up. Dana grabbed its pokeball, and aimed to return Treecko.
"Don't," said Casey. "It can take more."
"What?" Dana shouted back. "Are you crazy? Treecko doesn't stand a chance. I need to try someone else…"
"No you don't. Treecko is easily as fast as Skarmory, you just don't know how to harvest that speed yet."
"Well gee, that's useful information now!" retorted Dana.
Casey closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. "Keep Treecko in battle, and keep it going. Don't let it stop."
Dana turned her attention back to Treecko and snorted.
"Treecko, will you give it one more try?"
The grass Pokemon, which now crouched at her side, nodded.
"Alright," Dana sighed, obviously reluctant. "Let's try and get in close, ok?"
"Don't stop running," Casey added. "If you do, Skarmory will be able to lock in on your position and dive for a lot of damage. If you don't let it get that chance, you might get an opportunity of your own to strike."
While this conversation took place, the storm began to ease: the sand became less and less opaque, and slowly, the luminous, thorny steel-bird Pokemon materialized on the far side of the field.
Faulkner pointed strait at Treecko. "Steel Wing!"
Skarmory pulsed forward, its lustrous wings beating frantically.
"Get moving!" called Dana.
Treecko nodded quickly and was gone, a green blur arcing around the silver one. The two turned and circled each other at a distance. Occasionally, features appeared starkly on the rushing forms, eyes, arms, beaks… Suddenly, the two rushed each other and crashed together. Again, Treecko was sent flying and Skarmory stood triumphant, its head cocked confidently. What no one noticed was the faintly glowing green residue left on the bird Pokemon's chest.
Treecko tumbled to a stop, and this time, didn't seem to have the strength to get back up. Dana bit her fingernail, but still didn't notice the stain on Skarmory's skin.
Summoning an ultimate reserve of strength, Treecko clenched a miniscule green fist: the residue on Skarmory's chest detached itself and flew into Treecko's hand. It flashed briefly, and the radiance spread over Treecko's skin. When it faded, several of his scratches and bruises had vanished. Skarmory, on the other hand, reacted as though it had yanked forward. The Pokemon stumbled, landed face-down on the field, and began struggling awkwardly back up.
Casey smiled, and whispered to Richard, "I think that Treecko is a better fighter than Dana knows what to do with."
"What was that?" Dana asked her Pokemon.
Treecko grinned cheekily.
"I'd say it was a Mega Drain," said Richard. "Very impressive."
Dana cried out happily and began a bout of pre-mature laudations for her Pokemon.
Faulkner sighed and gestured his Pokemon back to its feet.
"This isn't over yet."
(-o-)
"Hey!"
Oh damn.
"Run for it Calypsa!"
Together, my sinewy water Pokemon and I bolted for the door. We had almost made it out of the lobby undetected… almost. But that was of no matter now, the exit was in sight!
Two twin chimes indicated the deposit of two identical Pokemon: a pair of bulbous pink forms, both clad in charming nurse hats and clutching at the eggs in their apron-like stomach pouches, blocked our way. Two orderly Chanseys, affectively sealing off the door. Well, somewhat affective.
"Water Pulse!" I called quickly.
Calypsa obliged happily, and the resulting burst of water blew the unfortunate Pokemon out of the way and opened the door in one fell swoop.
"Sorry!" I called back at them. And I meant it: but I had somewhere to be, and they had no right to stop them. I came to the hospital for help, which I no longer needed… probably no longer needed: I guess I'm not sure of myself at all today. Ah well.
I switched Pokemon quickly, summoning Gusto, my entertainingly ravenous Lickilicki, who could be coerced into carrying me to the gym at high speed for the toll of a few hot dogs later in the day. And so, in a flurry of stubby pink legs, we set off at top speed for the purple tower where my friends were fighting their first gym battle of Johto.
Hopefully I would get there before anything interesting happened.