KKD: And now, here we are in the 21 chapter. To recap, Takeshi already got half of the badges needed for him to get into the Pokemon league, and he's within the home stretch.
Pikatwig: And home stretch means…?
KKD: I meant in this case, he's reached the halfway mark in terms of the badges. I didn't mean to say home stretch; that's more like when you're so close to the end you can feel it.
Pikatwig: Ah… okay.
KKD: Anyway, we've also seen glimpses of the future for Xion… but are they really gonna happen? Well, no spoilers for that my friends. Well, do you have anything to say before we get moving, aibou?
Pikatwig: Hmm… nothing that can come to mind.
KKD: Then let's get those disclaimers up.
DISCLAIMERS: KKD & Pikatwig only own Takeshi, Hana, Daisuke, Xion, Ino, Koyomi, and Kaito. The rest belong to Nintendo, Game Freak, the Pokemon Company, and their respective owners.
Hana: Last time, we arrived in Saffron City, Xion met up with this girl named Sabrina, who turns out to be the gym leader of this city, and also the second gym leader I know that entered the same contest as me. However, she lost to this girl with this fighting-type I've never seen before. Regardless, it looks like I'm entering the finals against this girl known as Maylene.
Takeshi: Meanwhile, I found there was a gym that wasn't a gym; it was more like a dojo that handed out prizes to those who beat their leader. Shigeru and I were forced to team up, and we won. He got a Hitmonchan, and I got a Hitmonlee that I nicknamed Bruce. Now, it's time for me to take on Sabrina.
Xion: Good luck to both of you.
Chapter 21: Mystery In the Air! Tricky Psychics!
"Alrighty, you're Hana's younger brother right?" Sabrina asked, having meet up with Takeshi at the gym.
"We're twins," Takeshi corrected.
"Well… you look like a younger brother to her…" Sabrina said.
"Yea… I get that a lot, and sometimes Hana gets told that she's my younger sister," Takeshi added.
"Anyway, you ready for our one-on-one battle kid?" Sabrina asked.
"You know it," Takeshi nodded.
"Pikachu!" Shocker added on Takeshi's shoulder.
"Alright Shocker, I choose you!" Takeshi responded, sending Shocker to the arena.
"PIKA!" Shocker responded as he took his place.
"Kadabra, I choose you!" Sabrina announced, bringing out her now fully healed Pokemon.
"Now this might be a challenge. Get ready, Shocker!" Takeshi called out.
"Pika!" Shocker nodded.
"Alright Shocker, start us off with Thunderbolt!" Takeshi ordered.
"Pika-CHUUUUU!" Shocker shouted, launching the attack at Kadabra.
"Okay then… use Pyschic" Sabrina ordered. Kadabra then redirected the attack right at Shocker, making him get two times the damage.
"Shocker!" Takeshi gasped as Shocker got back up.
"Alright then, Shocker, use Grass Knot!" Takeshi shouted as Shocker's eyes glowed green and grass formed around Kadabra, but it simply floated out of the way, with Shocker unable to get the grass to go high enough to reach it.
"Pika!" Shocker gasped.
"No way!" Takeshi gawked. "Grr… use Electro Ball!"
Shocker just nodded, jumping into the air as a ball of electricity formed on his tail, which was soon launched directly at Kadabra.
"Okay, I'm tired of playing around, time for the victory strut, Kadabra, use Disable and Encore!" Sabrina ordered as Kadabra performed the combo he used on Midnight earlier, disabling Shocker's Electro Ball.
"Okay… Shocker use Thunderbolt!" Takeshi ordered, as Shocker tried to used the move, but the best he could pull off were sparks shooting off from his cheeks.
"Pika?" Shocker gawked in confusion.
"Shocker you okay? Use Thunderbolt!" Takeshi shouted.
"Pika~" Shocker tried again, only to get the same results.
"Gah! Use Grass Knot!" Takeshi shouted, but Shocker couldn't use that move either.
"What did you do to Shocker?!" Takeshi yelled.
"Disable prevents him from using the move you ordered him to do, and Encore makes it so the only move he can use at all is the one you called out. So think about it," Sabrina responded.
"... not cool!" Takeshi groaned.
"I'm ending this, use Shadow Ball!" Sabrina shouted as Kadabra fired off the attack, hitting Shocker with everything it had.
This did away the last of Shocker's health, knocking him out!
"Pikachu is unable to battle, Kadabra wins, meaning the winner of this battle is the Gym Leader Sabrina!" the announcer exclaimed.
"...You've got the guts, kid, but you don't have the actions to back it up. Try again some other time," Sabrina told Takeshi.
He simply walked over and picked up Shocker, and began to cry, tears falling onto Shocker. Sabrina was a bit surprised by this sudden attitude change.
"What's wrong?" Sabrina asked.
Takeshi said nothing and left the gym in tears…
Meanwhile, Hana was on stage for the final round of the contest, Shadow already set as Maylene came up.
In the audience, Xion smiled, set to cheer Hana on, but… she saw Misty in her gym leader attire for a disguise, but Xion didn't recognize her.
"So, you ready Hana?" Maylene responded to our best-Pokemon-coordinator-to-be.
"More than. Okay Shadow, shine time!" Hana responded as Shadow roared at the ready.
"Go on Hitmontop!" Maylene shouted, summoning her Hitmontop.
"What is that Pokemon?" Hana asked.
"A Hitmontop, I got it as a prize from the fighting dojo here in Saffron City," Maylene answered before the timer started.
"Okay, Shadow, use Shadow Sneak," Hana shouted, causing Shadow to duck into his name sake.
"Use Rapid Spin!" Maylene ordered as Hitmontop got onto his horn and spun like mad.
"...Now, Poison Jab!" Hana commanded as Shadow used the same move that finished off Nidorina.
While this didn't finish Hitmontop off, it did manage to poison it, still costing Maylene points. However Hitmontop didn't last much longer, succumbing to the poison in a few seconds, costing Maylene the round, and granting Hana the victory.
She got the Saffron Ribbon, meaning she needed one more Ribbon to get to the Grand Festival. With a smile, Hana walked out of the Contest Hall, and placing the Saffron Ribbon with the others she had earned on the way.
"Alright, one more left, wonder how Takeshi did in that gym battle," Hana pondered before seeing him in a depressed state, walking off to the Pokemon Center. "Takeshi?"
"..." he didn't say a word.
Hana just followed him into the Pokemon Center to try and get some answers out of him.
"Dude, what's wrong?" Hana asked.
"...I don't wanna talk about it," Takeshi sighed as he handed Shocker to Nurse Joy to be treated.
"You… lose?" Hana asked.
Takeshi just sighed and nodded in response.
"Oh boy here we go… you and your 'lose-and-quit-habit' is kicking in again!" Hana responded.
"...Eh?" Takeshi gawked, surprised she recalled that.
"I'm your sister…" she reminded. "I may have had my fair share of issues, but did you already for yours?"
(Cue Flashback)
One time, when Takeshi and Hana were six, they were playing a board game with their mom, and Takeshi lost.
"This is no fun, I quit!" Takeshi complained.
"Takeshi, you only played this one time," Takeshi's mom reminded him.
"Hmph!" Takeshi replied walking away.
"I guess I win…" Hana said.
(Change Flashback)
A seven year Takeshi was playing a new video game he was waiting a long time for, he then moved quickly, but lost his last life and was on the game over screen!
"Oh c'mon! Now that game's cheating!" Takeshi complained, turning the system off.
"Takeshi… you said we'd play together!" Hana complained in response.
"If I couldn't get through, what makes you think we can do it together? I'd be useless," Takeshi sighed.
(End Flashback)
"You are not quitting and going home!" Hana shouted, going as far as to slap Takeshi across the face.
"Itai…" Takeshi winced, surprised by Hana's sudden behavior.
"You are not quitting! You've dreamed of this your whole life! YOU WILL NOT QUIT!" Hana snapped.
"...You're right… you're right, this HAS been my dream. Thanks Hana, I'm gonna go back to that gym as soon as Shocker's all healed up. Only this time… I'll be ready," Takeshi smirked.
"You won't be going anywhere for a while, it's not safe to be in the city at night, Team Rocket Grunts have been everywhere, so nobody is allowed outside at night," the Nurse said.
"How do you know that?" Takeshi asked.
"The news, the gym leader…" she replied, as Takeshi sighed and then saw Daisuke reading a news paper.
"She's not wrong," Daisuke told them, showing them the headlines.
"Ai…" Takeshi groaned, as Hana looked around, and saw Xion wasn't back, then the young girl walked in.
"Hey guys, got lost… sorry," Xion apologized.
"Phew! That's a relief. I thought we were gonna have to come and save you again," Hana sighed.
Xion then walked up and fell asleep on the ground, with an injured Midnight floating over to the nurse to be healed.
The next day, Takeshi was up, and he was set to go and train when…
"What the?" he gawked as he saw a Pokemon egg next to Shocker and Midnight, both of whom were still asleep. "Another Egg?"
Xion, Hana and Daisuke all walked in next.
"What's up?" Xion asked.
"Just take a look at this," Takeshi answered, showing the Pokemon Egg next to the two Pokemon.
"EH?!" Xion gawked.
"Well… they are in the same Egg Group from what the Professors managed to analyze about Munna." Daisuke whispered to Hana.
"Oh," Hana nodded.
"And this means… Midnight's a mommy!" Xion said happily.
"Well… that's a surprise…" Takeshi noted. "Wonder how they'll react…"
They didn't need to wait that long, Shocker woke up and reacted rather scaredly and fell right off of the medical bed.
"PIKA?!" Shocker gasped in shock.
At that moment, Midnight yawned and woke up herself before seeing the egg next to her, and she was happy about it.
"Mun!" she smiled.
Shocker then back away slowly in surprise, and then curled up into a ball.
"Hey, take it easy there, Shocker," Takeshi responded. "Now the only question I have is… who takes the egg?"
Shocker then got up and began to roll it away, but Midnight used Psychic to stop him.
"Pika?" Shocker gawked.
Shocker then tried to move away with the Egg. Hana sighed and then the group walked out to see what the two were doing.
"Shocker's being the male who's trying to run away from being a dad because he made the girl have the kid by mistake, while Midnight on the other hand is trying to be the responsible parent since it is her kid, despite being a mistake" Xion said, much to everyone's shock at her observation of this.
"O-Okay, how'd you know that?" Takeshi asked.
"My mom told me that's what I was. She had cops track my dad down for almost a month!" Xion said while giggling, not fully understanding things…
"...Seriously?" Hana gawked.
"Yep," Xion nodded.
"Wow…" Daisuke gawked.
"Hope Shocker can snap out of this soon; we've got training to do for the gym rematch," Takeshi responded, as Shocker then shocked all of the trainers, yelled at Midnight and then ran and hid in the Pokemon Center. "O…kay…"
Midnight then handed the Egg to Xion and floated in after Shocker, who then ran off, as Midnight chased him.
"Ai!" all four trainers said annoyed, as they ran after them, Hana picking up Midnight, and Takeshi picking up Shocker.
"STOP IT!" both exclaimed.
"Seriously Shocker, I can't keep going with you like this; we've got a rematch to train for," Takeshi told Shocker.
Shocker then zapped his trainer, almost like trying to say he wasn't going to be in the rematch.
"Ugh… guess I'll need someone else…" Takeshi groaned, collapsing to the ground.
Mew watched from above annoyed, and then floated down over to Takeshi. "Not your day is it?"
"Guess not…"Takeshi groaned, while he was surprised by Mew's appearance, he was still in pain from Shocker zapping him.
Later, Takeshi decided the best way to train for a Psychic-type gym with any Pokemon, was to actually practice against a Psychic-type Pokemon. And so, Xion was happy to have Midnight help him with that.
"Alright, let me see… Psychic's are weak against Bug-types along with Ghost-types, and those Dark-types. Don't know which Pokemon are Dark, and I have no Ghost-types, so it looks like it's Gaim's time. C'mon Gaim!" Takeshi shouted, summoning Gaim to the field.
Shocker was sitting by Takeshi's side, not helping with training one bit.
"SCYTHER!" Gaim roared, staring down at Midnight.
"Hope you're ready for this, Xion," Takeshi smirked.
"Oh I am! Midnight use Psyshock!" Xion shouted.
"Gaim, Double Team and then Fury Cutter!" Takeshi shouted as Gaim moved too fast for Midnight and suddenly, the mantis suddenly slashed down on Midnight with his claws.
Midnight then stopped floated over and then began to yell at Shocker, but the electric mouse just ignored her.
"How the heck am I gonna get practice if Midnight's constantly gonna talk to Shocker like this?" Takeshi gawked.
Everyone groaned annoyed.
Later Takeshi went back to the gym, ready to try with Gaim.
"Okay, Sabrina! I'm here for my rematch!" Takeshi announced, getting her attention when he walked in, but she was surprised his Pikachu wasn't with him, when all of a sudden…
"CHUUUUUUUUU!" was heard as Shocker charged into the gym.
"Shocker?!" Takeshi gasped.
"Pika," Shocker replied walking into the field.
"...Hmph, looks like you're ready to get serious, huh?" Takeshi smirked.
"PIKA!" Shocker confirmed.
"Very well," Sabrina smirked. "Kadabra, go!"
With that, Shocker was faced with Kadabra once more.
"Okay Shocker, use Grass Knot!" Takeshi shouted.
"Alright, use Role Play!" Sabrina shouted as Kadabra pulled the same maneuver as Shocker, both causing just as much damage as could be expected to the other.
"Okay use Thunderbolt!" Takeshi ordered as Shocker sent the Thunderbolt at Kadabra.
"Okay, use Disable and Encore!" Sabrina smirked.
"Wait…. I don't have a plan for that! Shocker move!" Takeshi panicked.
However the attack hit, but some smoke appeared just as Kadabra used Encore.
"I'm doomed, well, try and attack anyway," Takeshi responded.
Shocker then pulled off Electro Ball… wait what?!
Not only did he pull off Electro Ball, but it managed to impact onto Kadabra, paralyzing him in shock.
"What just happened?!" Sabrina gasped. "How could my plan have failed me?!"
"...Well either way, it looks like Encore didn't work, which means I can have Shocker use his signature move. SHOCKER! VOLT TACKLE!"
"PIKA!" Shocker nodded, charging all the way across the field, electricity covering the mouse as he ran before tackling Kadabra with all of his might; while Shocker got recoil damage, the resulting blow was enough to put Kadabra out of commission.
"Kadabra is unable to battle, Pikachu wins, meaning this battle goes to the challenger: Takeshi!" the official announced.
"WE WON!" Takeshi cheered.
"PIKACHU!" Shocker added.
Midnight floated over with the egg and hugged Shocker, and Shocker, instead of pulling away actually blushed.
"What's with the egg?" Sabrina asked, calling back her Kadabra.
"Long story," Takeshi answered as Sabrina approached him.
"Regardless, you won this gym battle fair and square, and as the victor, I hereby give you the Marsh Badge," Sabrina smiled, handing him the badge that was shaped like a circle within a circle both colored yellow, she then gave him a kiss on the cheek, as well as another TM. "The kiss was for good luck in the last three gyms, and the TM contains the move Psywave, for any Psychic Pokemon you may get."
"Uh… thanks…" Takeshi smiled, blushing a bit due to the unexpected kiss. "C'mon Shocker, let's go."
The group then left the gym and then Xion sat on a bench and placed the Egg down, when the sun began to set, they were then dragged into the gym by one of the gymhands, but Xion noticed she left something outside: the egg!
"OH NO!" she gasped, not knowing someone managed to find it first…
Hana: Oh man, this is bad. I forgot the Rocket HQ is here in this city, and so that explains a whole lot. Not only will leaving the city be bad, but now we have to worry about Misty, the stupid Rocket trio, and now, we have to do something to retrieve Midnight and Shocker's Egg before it hatches!
Shocker: PIKA!
Takeshi: Someone's being a protective dad.
Xion: But what can we do?!
Hana: Jikai, Pokemon Neo Yellow Version: Shock the Midnight! The Egg Rescue!
Pikatwig: Nice name for the next chapter, since the Egg is Shocker and Midnight's.
KKD: Yep, makes a lot of sense. I just hope our team gets it back and the group are able to keep it warm before it hatches. And I can only assume Xion will hang onto the egg should they get it back?
Pikatwig: We'll see. Anyway, what'd you think of this chapter?
KKD: Very impressive, shows more backstory on our lead, and gives him more incentive to keep going and be the best. But also… seeing as the Psychic gym is finally beat, I wonder if Mew will finally issue the challenge to test if Takeshi's ready to have her on his team.
Pikatwig: Dunno. Anyway what'd you think of the brief moment between Sabrina and Takeshi?
KKD: Actually, I had no clue in where you were going with that one.
Pikatwig: Still… what'd you think of it?
KKD: Kinda cute… I guess…
Pikatwig: Anyway, next time things will kinda heat up.
KKD: So until then, check out the rest of my stories, as well as Pikatwig's to see what else he's about. And to put a twist on what I say in our team up on his story, if you don't know him… you will. ...So until next time readers…
KKD & Pikatwig: Jaa ne!