Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 1, Episode 4, Chapter 4
"Do you remember our last battle, Louise?" Viola asked, with Santalune Forest to her back and Louise to her front.
"… Vividly," Louise shuddered, both at the memory and the sight of that dreadful forest. "Why?"
"Then you remember the referee talking about a practical challenge?" Viola crossed her arms, an expectant look appearing on her face.
"I think I remember something about that," Louise nodded. "I take it that's why we're out here?"
"You got it. It is a recent requirement, so I'm not surprised you don't know much about it. You see, every Gym Challenge has two parts: a test of sorts, and a battle. Normally, we do a test first, meant to test the knowledge of a trainer and the bonds with their Pokémon," Viola lectured to an attentive Louise. "Due to extenuating circumstances, we skipped the test last time, but, now that the forest is safe again, I feel confident that you can safely perform it."
"That makes sense. Not everything a trainer does is battle oriented."
"You catch on fast. Good, you'll need it here," Viola smiled and pointed out towards the forest. "Your challenge is simple, and, given how we met, quite appropriate. Somewhere in Santalune Forest lies a single Bug Badge. It is hidden, and your job is to find it."
"Sounds simple enough," Louise began to march into the forest, only to be stopped by Viola's outreached arm.
"I wasn't done explaining the challenge just yet," Viola's smile turned into a smirk, causing Louise to gulp. "There are two conditions to pass the test and thereby earn your right to battle me. One, you have two hours to not only find the Bug Badge, but to bring it back here. Two, no items or technology are allowed. You must work with your Pokémon and use the natural environment to find your way."
"What?! Why?" Louise shrieked. "Why would I go into a forest unsupplied? Even I know that's stupid!"
"Under normal circumstances, you would be right. However, there may be times where you don't have those supplies," Viola then began to count, extending a finger with each point. "You may run out, and the nearest town is miles away. A wild Pokémon may steal them. They may get damaged and need replacement. It may even be as simple as losing battery power or getting expired. The point is, Louise, trainers need to know how to survive without those supplies and still get to their destination."
"I…guess that makes sense," Louise reluctantly took off her back pack, pulling out Brennaraki and Aile's Luxury Balls. "No Pokéballs, either?" Viola nodded, and with a sigh, Louise released her Pokémon. As they came out, they quickly noticed the forest and sighed as well.
"I know, I know. But, we go in there and get the badge, and we never have to go in there again," Louise suddenly had a thought pop into her head and turned to look at Viola. "That is true, right? Even if I lose?"
"While I can't guarantee that you will never go in there again, at very least it won't be from me. If you pass a test, they don't get repeated." Louise nodded at this and turned, only for Viola to cough. "One more thing. My Pokémon have placed markers at the edge of the search area. The badge is within its boundaries. As for its location, head south to the far end of the marked area. There, you will find a small stump with the Bug Badge embedded on it. Here is a picture to help you identify it."
"Thanks, I guess…" Louise gulped as she took hold of the picture. As Viola indicated, the Bug Badge was indeed embedded into a small stump, hidden inside a small grove of trees. Based off the light cascading down from above, it must have a small opening in the canopy to let in sunlight. Putting the picture away in her pocket, Loiuse began to march back into the forest, only to pause right at its entrance. She looked back at a beckoning Viola before facing the forest once again. Taking a deep breath, her eyes steeled as she took her first step.
While Louise hiked through the woods once again, Saito and his Pokémon remained in the Gym itself, currently watching her progress on a giant screen. Viola had attached a video camera to one of her Ninjasks, and it was currently following her like a cameraman. Their attention focused purely on Louise's efforts, they barely noticed the door open until Viola sat down among them.
"Viola," Saito respectfully nodded, directing his attention back onto the screen.
"Saito," Viola nodded back, her eyes never leaving the screen. "In case you're worried, she's in no actual danger. We cleared the area of anything particularly powerful. If things get too hairy for her, my Pokémon are in the immediate area just in case something goes wrong."
"I figured," Saito shrugged. "To be honest, this sort of test is perfect for her."
"Yeah, she needed this," Viola trailed off as Louise entered a new area of the forest, carefully searching every nook and cranny for a clue. "I'm fairly confident she'll pass. Someone like her, once they put their mind to something, they'll do it, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes." At this, Viola and Saito chuckled.
"That sounds about right. She's stubborn to a fault. I have first hand experience of that…"
"Speaking of which, how's the arm?" Viola turned to look at Saito, who moved the arm in question around as a response.
"It's fine now, thanks for asking." Redirecting his attention back onto the screen, he watched as Louise came across a boundary marker.
"Stupid forest…," Louise grumbled to herself as she stared at the red boundary marker. It had only been ten minutes since the test had started, and so far it hasn't been off to a great start. Stomping her feet, Louise fumed before forcing herself to calm down. "Okay, just picking random directions isn't working. Think Louise, think. Small stump in a grove under a skylight… How am I supposed to find that if I don't know where I'm going?" As Louise continued to grumble, Aile chirped, took off from Louise's shoulder, and fluttered in mid air before landing back on the ground. Louise squinted her eyes, trying to find Aile's meaning, only for them for widen in sudden realization. "Aile, can't believe we didn't do this at first, can you fly above the tree tops and direct us to the nearest clearing?" Aile chirped in affirmation as she took off, speeding through the tree canopy.
"…You know, it is so nice that I don't have to bribe her to do anything anymore," Louise gazed towards the fresh hole Aile made, hearing a small yelp from Brennaraki in agreement. Soon enough, Aile came back down with a happy chirp, having found a tree that matched the description. "Good job, Aile. Tell you what, you take us to the badge, and I'll give you some honey as a treat." Aile let out a happy chirp at that news and began to fly off, Louise and Brennaraki following.
"She's learning," Saito observed as he watch Louise follow Aile's form. "She told me it took her nearly an hour to start asking Aile to help find you when she last went in. Here, it took ten minutes."
"Probably doesn't hurt that Aile seems to be much more willing to cooperate, now," at Saito's confused look, Viola chucked. "Please, I saw you two walk into the clearing and what Aile did. I recognized Aile's displeasure at being captured almost immediately. It appears that a brush with death caused her to appreciate her trainer more, and quell her appetite… You're still angry at her, aren't you?"
"A little bit, yeah."
With Aile now taking the lead, Louise and her Pokémon trekked through the forest at a much brisker pace, happy to finally be making progress. There were a few wild Weedles, Caterpies, and Scatterbugs that attacked them, but after only one or two attacks they were quickly driven off. During those encounters, Louise told her Pokemon to not interfere and to let each Pokemon take on one at a timing. Her reasoning was that the actual gym battle against Viola would operate the same way. In the end, It wasn't long until the group came across the clearing Aile had spotted, but upon closer examination found a distinct lack of badges. Although slightly disappointed, the three continued on.
"I think we're getting closer, now," Louise mused as Aile flew above the canopy once more, gauging their progress towards their now third clearing. As they entered, they sighed in resignation as they noticed a distinct lack of a stump. "Okay, this isn't working. We can't simply go from clearing to clearing hoping it is the correct one. Any ideas, guys?" Louise looked to her Pokémon, hoping they might have a suggestion. After a while, Brennaraki raised her paw, like a student would to a teacher.
"Yes, Brennaraki? You have an idea?" Louise asked. With the attention now on her, Brennaraki, using her paw for emphasis, began repeatedly pointing between herself, Aile, and Louise. At first, Louise was confused, but her face soon lit up in recognition. "Oh, charades! What are you trying to say? All of us together?" At her answer, Brennaraki happily yipped and nodded before proceeding to walk in place and crossing her arms in an 'x'.
"I don't… X marks the spot?" Aile shook her head and repeated her movements. "This isn't the right spot?" Brennaraki's glare at Louise made the young mage blush. As Brennaraki once again repeated her movements, Louise snapped her fingers. "Oh, us going together is not working out!" Brennaraki once again happily yipped and proceeded to walk over to Aile. Tapping the slightly confused bird on the back, Brennaraki pointed repeatedly to the sky, while she proceeded to sit down with added emphasis.
"…I see where you are getting at… Aile, we need you to go out and find the stump. Don't just fly around and direct us to the nearest clearing. Go and search for the correct one, then come back and lead us to it. Okay?" At Louise's order, Aile chirped and took off, leaving Brennaraki and Louise alone.
"…What?" Louise asked as Brennaraki looked at her with a smug look. "Don't give me that look. I would have come up with it eventually."
Soaring above the treetops, Aile's mind swirled with a myriad array of thoughts: Which clearing housed the badge? Would they be able to make it there and back to the bug lady in time? What would they have for dinner that night, and would honey be involved? These questions all took a backseat to the one at the forefront of Aile's mind.
'Why? Why did she try to save me? Even though it was all my fault?' Aile thought to herself as she flew over another empty clearing.
Ever since she nearly caused the group to become Beedrill chow just a few days before, Aile had been consumed with guilt. Saito and the other Pokémon hadn't fully forgiven her yet, giving her sideways glares or offhand comments. All of which served to only amplify her guilt. And yet, for whatever reason, Louise did not seem to be holding it against her and just seemed to be relieved that she was alright. She couldn't wrap her head around it, even now.
'It doesn't make any sense…' Aile almost flew over another clearing, she was so distracted, but before she could, a bright shine coming from below caught her attention. Directing her gaze down, Aile spotted a tree stump, lying in a small grove. Excitement building, she swooped down to get a closer look. As she neared, the image of a brown, insect-like badge, enclosed in a glass container and embedded in the tree stump, revealed itself to Aile.
"Finally!" Aile spun with glee before quickly recomposing herself and speeding off towards Louise and Brennaraki.
'I might not be able to take back what I did, but I can at least make up for it,' she thought to herself as she neared her trainer, who upon noticing Aile's entrance, stood up with a smile on her face.
"Looks like they found it," Saito smiled and placed his hands behind his head. "Won't be long now."
"I guess so," Viola rose to her feet and walking to the door. "Tell me, how much did you and Louise train, yesterday?"
"Guess you'll find out," Saito's smirk caused Viola to chuckle lightly before heading outside. As she did, the smirk on Saito's face slowly disappeared, turning to a solemn, neutral frown. "Guess I'll find out."
As before, only now actually having the correct destination, Louise and Brennaraki followed Aile through the forest. A few more wild Pokémon made themselves known, but by this point dispatching them had become almost second nature. It wouldn't be long until the Badge was retrieved, and so Louise turned her attention to planning for the battle, her most important upcoming task.
'If it weren't for that Ninjask, then I could actually talk about my plan…' Louise thought to herself grumpily. Aile had noticed the camera-strapped Ninjask earlier, and it wasn't hard to connect the dots. Viola was likely watching them, ostensibly to ensure Louise was safe. She appreciated that, but it also made her frustrated, as that meant that any strategy discussion could be overheard.
'And if mother and father taught me anything, its that to never let your enemy, or opponent in this case, know your plan.' With the advice of her much more strategically-aligned parents in mind, Louise held her tongue, her mind running through scenario after scenario. They all held the same conclusion: that Surskit's Ice Beam, and more importantly its effect on the battle field, was the primary threat. She had to take it out or at the very least mitigate its effects. Otherwise, her efforts would be for naught. So focused on the upcoming battle, Louise barely even noticed a red and green bug with dull orange eyes crawl in front of her until she nearly stepped on it.
"Uggh, more bugs," Louise grunted as she stepped away from the insect, who appeared to take greivous offense at her choice of words, judging by the amount of noise it was making. Aile, minding her trainer's previous command, rested on a tree branch that overlooked the battle. "Brennaraki, send it away." With an equally irritated eye-roll, Brennaraki sent out a small flame towards the poisonous larvae, only for it to arch itself backwards, away from the fireball, and release an ear-piercing screech.
"Okay, wasn't expecting that… Brennaraki, box it in with Fi—" Louise stopped herself, remembering Viola's watching eyes. Not wanting to tip her hand just yet, Louise shifted tactics. "Use Ember on it. Try to box it in, don't let it dodge."
Brennaraki nodded then proceeded to do as instructed. She shot out three fireballs towards the insect, scorching the ground around it, the heat making it unable to dodge. Hissing, the Insect spat a glob of sickly greenish gunk at Brennaraki, who nimbly dodged over and shot out another fireball. This one glanced the top of the Bug-type's head, who hissed in pain before curling into a ball and launched its self towards the fox. Brennaraki leapt to the side, dodging it entirely, before launching yet another fireball at its retreating form. Undeterred, the spinning Insect gave a sharp turn and quickly barreled straight through the fireball and narrowing missed Brennaraki as she jumped out of the way at the last second, causing the Insect to overshoot and slam into a tree, causing it to uncurl and proceeded to hiss angrily at the pair.
"Alright then… Brennaraki, alternate between Psybeam and Ember! Don't let up!" Louise ordered, wanting to rid herself of this pest. Brennaraki, now annoyed, shot out a series of psychic waves and fireballs, alternating between each. In turn, the strange pillbug responded by spitting more of that green gunk and darting forward as a spinning ball again. This continued for a few minutes with the insect switching between trying to run Brennaraki, and occasionally Louise, over and lobbing globs of mucus whenever it was uncurled. The Insect was fairly good, Louise would give it that. She might even have considered catching it, had she had access to her Luxury Balls. But, given how she didn't have access to them, she had to pass on the opportunity as Brennaraki was starting to wear the pillbug down.
The Insect apparently realized this after eating another fireball during one of its spitting attempts and seemed to decide on an all or nothing attack, curling back up into a ball it launched itself forward, but instead of directly running straight at Brennaraki it rolled around the area seemingly building up speed. When it finally went for Brennaraki it uncurled and shot forward at the fox and latched onto the foxes leg. While yelping in pain, Brennaraki didn't miss the opportunity since the Insect was finally still and not spitting at her and immediately launched a Fireball and Psybeam, causing it to immediately screech in pain and release its hold. When it recovered the Insect apparently decided that it had enough and as quick as it could, started scuttling for the trees.
"Good job, Brennaraki," Louise congratulated the fire fox, who turned around to smile at Louise. As she began to walk back towards her trainer, however, a sudden jolt erupted from her leg, and with a whimper of pain, collapsed.
"Brennaraki!" Louise cried out, rushing towards her fallen starter. Aile, now concerned, flew down from her perch to get a closer look. "What's wrong!" Louise comforted her starter as the two looked her over. Gently guiding her hands over Brennaraki's leg, Louise stopped as she felt the area where the insect bit her, and gasped as she felt some of that greenish mucus matting some of the fur around the wound.
"She's been poisoned," Louise concluded, pulling the barb from her Pokémon's leg. She reached for her bag, only to grasp empty air. "Oh, no…" Louise gasped. Without her antidotes, they couldn't help Brennaraki, who continued to whimper in pain. She desperately looked around the forest, hoping for something, anything to help her Pokémon, only to stop at the branch Aile used as a perch. As she did, the memory of Aile's untimely feast came to mind, only instead of frustration coming forth, it was inspiration.
"Aile, do you know what a Pecha Berry is? It's a small, pink, heart shaped berry with two green leaves on top," Aile quickly nodded in immediate understanding and darted off into the wood, leaving behind Louise to comfort Brennaraki.
"It's going to be okay, girl. It's going to be okay," Louise rubbed the top of Brennaraki's head, calming her somewhat. It wasn't long until Aile flew back, carrying a small branch with Pecha Berries proudly front and center. Her faith in her Pokémon rewarded, Louise gently pried a berry loose from the branch before feeding it to her Pokémon, who struggled to push it down but managed to do so. After a few tense moments, Brennaraki opened her eyes and got to her feet, her previous pain subsided.
"Oh, thank the Founder," Louise hugged her starter in relief before rising to her feet. "Come on, we're almost there," she called out, with both Brennaraki and Aile sounding off in approval. Pocketing a few of the extra Pecha Berries into her pocket, just in case, Louise and her Pokémon marched further into the forest. The rest of the trip was uneventful, with no other Pokémon making themselves known. Eventually, the group reached a small grove of trees, with the unusually large and malformed stump lying in its center. Sighing in relief Louise started jogging towards the stump only to stop dead in her tracks when it started moving.
The Pokémon looked like a Beetle but only if a Beetle could grow arms, legs, grow a meter tall and have horns that looked like they could break a tree in half that were currently twitching ominously.
Louise gulped and took a step back to review her options. Brennaraki was still hurt from the fight with that pill bug earlier, Aile would be lucky to annoy the Beetle, much less beat it, and time was running out so she couldn't get into a drag-out fight with him. Running away wasn't an option, even without the time limit, which in itself made waiting it out untenable. Louise was stuck, unable to fight, flee, or be patient. With only one option remaining, Louise nervously waked towards the Pokémon, wringing her hands.
"Um, excuse me," Louise called out to the large beetle, who continued to stare at her with a menacing stare. Seeing how he didn't immediately attack her for talking, Louise continued while taking a cautious step forward. "I need to get the badge, so if you could just—" a sharp click from the beetle interrupted Louise, giving her an answer.
"Okay, so you don't want to move," the beetle shook its head and continued to guard the stump. Now closer, Louise was able to get a better look at the stump, and noticed several bite marks marking it.
"You're guarding your food…" Louise whispered. It made sense now. Protecting a food source was instinctual for any creature, and a Pokémon would be no different.
"Maybe…" Louise looked over what she had to offer, rummaged through her pockets and pulled out the excess Pecha Berries, presenting them as an offering. Sniffing the berries, the Pokémon took hold of a berry and tasted it, carefully chewing the berry to extract the most flavor. Once it finished, it nodded and took the rest of the berries from her and moved back into the forest, pleased with the food given. With a sigh of relief, Louise carefully waked up to the stump before spotting what she came for: a single Bug Badge, encased in an embedded glass dome.
"Okay," Louise took a deep breath before opening the case and taking hold of the badge into her hands. "Time to earn this."
As the two hour mark started to get close, Viola patiently waited at the entrance to Santalune Forest. Updates courtesy of Ninjask let her know that Louise had found the Bug Badge. Now, the only question was whether or not Louise would get back in time, a worry that dissipated as soon as Louise emerged triumphant from the forest.
"So, you've finally arrived, and with ten minutes to spare. Was starting to get worried," Viola called out with a smirk. "Do you have it?" At this, Louise proudly pulled out the Bug Badge, holding it out in triumph.
"I think I've earned that battle now," Louise smiled.
"That you have. Let's get your Pokémon checked up at the Pokémon Center first, though."
"Thank you."
Hello, everyone! Here is the latest episode of Outsiders. Now, some of you may have wondered just what I meant by a Practical. While that may not have been the best word to use, in short before every Gym battle, each prospective trainer must undergo a trial to earn the right to battle for the badge. Its an addition we created to expand the role of the Gym leaders beyond a simple boss fight. Each trail is meant to impart a lesson that is important for Louise's, and Saito's, growth as characters. Every Gym Leader will have a different pre-battle trial, some more elaborate than others, but all are meant to expand their characters.
Now, onto the Q&A:
PokemonFan93: That is the main thing that causes Saito to not believe her, besides the whole Meeting Arceus thing. He can understand magic, he can kind of understand her being a noble. She's certainly haughty enough to show it. But coming from a world where Pokémon are nonexistent is a bridge to far for him. Pokémon being around is just too culturally ingrained. Louise used her full name because its a holdover from her days back in Tristain. Even now, she places great importance and pride in her family, and that is something that for the time being she will continue to do.
Sakura Linsel: Ash 17 to 18 in this story, but he is a background character. He is "Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Story", as this is not his story. Its Louise and Saito's. Arceus called him boy because to him, everyone are children. His children, and while they may squabble among themselves and some do terrible things, he leaves them alone to their own devices. He isn't a micromanager, unless either the whole world is at stake, then he usually does subtle methods to contain it, or if Void magic is involved. Then he takes a more direct approach.
Now, next chapter is the Gym battle itself. Louise vs Viola, Round II. Who will win? Find out next time on Outsiders!