1 Hour later, 1 ride over the ocean, 1 long and exhausting trip, and finally the trio of trainers reached the shore of Olivine city again, exhausted, fed up and longing for a chance to sleep. That was all they wanted now. Sleep. Desperate, abiding, beautifully welcoming sleep. It called their names one by one, slowly lulling their eyes closed. It took a lot of mental fighting to ward it off. Ralph and Zephyr dropped to the beach, letting Joe, Winter and Silver off and allowing them to continue on walking. Winter withdrew Zephyr immediately, allowing him a rest. Ralph however would have to wait with them for their respite. Tiredly they continued on up the beach, heading back into the glistening ocean side city and towards the lighthouse. They took the lift to the top. They were too bothered to take the ladders. And, finally, after several hours of travel, they had finally made it back to where they started. They had made it back with the medicine and now they were delivering it.
"You got it!" Jasmine exclaimed, taking the pouch from Joe's hands and examining it quickly, looking surprised they had succeeded so quickly. "I'm amazed. You lot really are efficient." Joe smiled slightly, though he failed rather dramatically to look pleased due to his fatigued state.
"We can be." He said. His tone was too exhausted to sound cocky or smart. Jasmine smiled at him.
"I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am" She said, sounding overjoyed. "You've possibly helped just save a life. Thank you so much." She turned on her ankles back around to Ampharos, kneeling down by her friends side.
"Sorry we were a little late." Winter added. "There were a few incidents. Like giant whirlpools, and angry macho gym leaders." She smiled at Joe from the corner of her mouth. Joe smiled back.
"Don't worry about it." The gym leader told them. "Chuck's a real pain in the ass at first, but he's a nice enough guy after he thrashes you, or, of course, if you beat him. Either way once you battle him he acts like a normal human being." Jasmine paused. "Or at least close enough to one." Ampharos moaned in pain, its stomach grumbling sickly. It was barely able to lift its head of the ground now, its forehead wrinkled and its brain burning up. Jasmine placed the poultice under its snout-like nose, allowing it to inhale the strong medicinal scent.
"How long will it take?" Silver asked. "Before it gets well again, I mean." Jasmine looked to the three trainers who had made the deliver for her. She didn't need to answer them. Instead Ampharos itself answered their question. The smell of the potion was wafting up its tiny nostril and being received by its brain. Immediately it began to have its effect.
Within seconds Ampharos was already looking better than it had been. Its eyes seemed to regain a level of life they hadn't had earlier. It raised its head up, its stomach stopping its nauseating growling. Slowly it looked up at Jasmine, then its eyes turned to the lighthouse lamp, which had begun flashing and flickering. It was already losing power, and if it went out it would leave many ships in serious danger. The tall electric pokémon made a slight determined purring sound. It was like if someone had crossed a sheep's baa with a cat's meow. Then it began pushing itself back to its feet. Slowly it rose up, standing stronger on its large back legs, its long neck waiving slightly with the adjustment of balance. Then, undauntedly, it began stomping slowly forwards. Taking it time to get where t wanted, Ampharos moved forwards, heading for the humungous lamp stationed rotating at the centre of the glass walled room. Its body was still rather weak from the sickness, but it pushed on, impassably moving back to work. It stomped slowly to the light and tripped slightly, stumbling forwards. It reached out and stopped in front of the huge rotating bulb, closing its eyes so that the spinning light didn't bling it. It began to hunch up its body as sparks ran up and down its spine. Electricity formed in its furry wool, building up into a huge static cloud. It focused the jewel on its forehead onto the bulb, the small red oval shimmering with a yellow lightning tint. Then the man sized ampharos fired a single mighty bolt of electricity into it. The light flashed brightly, blinding everyone and everything in the room for a split second. The voltage had increased immensely. Quickly it began to dull again, so Ampharos kept going, releasing weaker and weaker bolts so that the light didn't go out, but neither did it blow up. It kept going, the light spinning still as it grew in strength. Eventually it was so bright it could illuminate a crescent moon on a foggy sea night. It was at this point Ampharos stopped. It took a step and admired its handwork. The lighthouse was running efficiently again. The light was fixed and ampharos was well enough to keep working it. Jasmine smiled proudly at her friend. Then she looked back at the trainers.
"I thank you for what you have done for us." She said.
Joe woke up the following morning, feeling exhausted. His head was aching slightly with tiredness, his legs and arms were recoiling from existence and through the simple room window light was coming through. Midday light. He quickly realised he had slept in. Joe reached out blindly to the end table by the bed and grabbed his watch. He managed to manoeuvre the item towards his face, turning it so he could read it.
"11:25 already?" He exclaimed in tired surprise. He sighed. "Must have been way past midnight when we got back then." He sat up slowly, holding his head as he felt his brain kicking itself back to life. His whole body seemed to have fallen into a weird kind of stasis overnight. His limbs felt like they'd been locked in ice. He budged his head a little to make his brain work faster. His memory was rebooting now. He remembered what had been arraigned the previous night. It came back to him like a flock of summer birds to a hot tropical island. He remembered that after he, Winter and Silver had given her the medicine for Ampharos she had made it better impressively quickly. Then she had made an offer to battle them at the gym, which Joe had obviously accepted. She hadn't exactly suggested any specific time, but as long as he went today Joe could imagine she was available to do so. He swung his legs of the bed and began getting dressed. He spotted Ralph lying asleep on one of the other empty beds. It appears someone, maybe one of Joe's friends, had been sleeping there not so long ago. But now they had left it and his crobat had moved it. Joe chuckled. He grabbed one of his shoes and threw it. The heel hit Ralph in the side. Suddenly he was awake, exclaiming loudly in surprise. Joe laughed. "Wakey Wakey, sleepyhead." He called, pulling his trousers up and putting his belt on. Ralph looked at Joe, seeing his trainer smile. A small disrespectful and annoyed growl came from his staring expression. Joe chuckled a little. "Come on, lazy!" He said walking over and retrieving his shoe again. "It's time to get rolling." Ralph rolled over and went back to sleep. Joe looked at his companion. "Come on now!" He exclaimed, grabbing Ralph with both arms and hauling him of the bed. "We've got some battling to do." Ralph kicked and screeched as he was carried away from the bed and out of the room.
Joe and Ralph found Winter and Silver waiting in the reception of Olivine city pokémon centre, the same play they happened to have slept in that night. It appeared that they had barely been waiting long, their hair slightly ruffled and their eyes baggy from sleep. Joe smiled and waved at them, dodging an aggravated bite from Ralph who was still being dragged along in his arms.
"Morning." They both said in unison. Joe nodded back at them, saying the same thing back.
"How long have you been waiting there?" He asked.
"About five minutes." Winter told him. "You needed a lie in so we decided to leave you. It's already midday, you know."
Joe nodded. "I know." Silver spoke up now.
"So what's the plan?" He asked. "We battle Jasmine and then we're off again?" Joe smiled a little.
"Pretty much." He agreed. "Unless either of you have anything to add in?" He added. His friends said nothing. He smiled, letting Ralph go finally as he stopped thrashing and calmed down. "Great." He said. "Then we may as well get going now then." He decided. He turned and headed for the door. Winter and Silver got up and followed after him, bringing a slightly grumpy Ralph with them.
It only took a short walk for the trio to reach the Olivine city gym. The large building was practically at the entrance to the town, standing not very tall and not very proud a few metres from the main gate entrance. Joe stepped up to the door and it slid open. He smiled a little. He never truly lost the feeling of excitement he got when they did that. It reminded him of the first gym battle he had ever had. While it hadn't gone well the first time around he remembered having fun, and he had made the gym leader one of his closest friends. He sighed at the memories. He wondered where Rocky was now. He shook his head and stepped inside, his friends following, wondering what he was standing around for.
They all looked at the inside of the gym they had just stepped into. It was probably the most well-lit gym they'd been in ever. Every corner of the room had a light on it. There were no shadows anywhere. And there was also a horrifically annoying glistening light coming from certain areas. The light was reflecting of the metal floor. In some areas the floor had even risen up, like someone had built the gym on a small mountain range and covered it with liquid metal. In fact every part of the gym that wasn't the stadium, stands or podiums was raised steel ground. It was certainly a unique spectacle to see. Joe continued his walk forwards, down the carved out walkway towards the stadium. Standing at its centre, in her light long skirted green dress, was Jasmine, smiling excitedly as they entered in.
"Good Morning!" She called as they noticed her. "Hope you all rested well.
"We did thanks." Joe said back. He stepped onto the stadium. Winter and Silver held back. "So, about that battle you promised." He said. Jasmine grinned.
"Yes, I remember." She told him. "You wish to battle now, then." She asked. "Not, maybe, earlier this morning?" She raised a smart eyebrow. Joe looked a little embarrassed.
"I overslept." He told her. Her face went back to smiling.
"Don't worry." She told him sweetly. "I was just teasing. I'm free to battle any time of the day. Besides, you were exhausted last night. You needed the rest." She took a step back, practically sliding across to her podium on invisible skates. She raised a commanding fist to the air. "So, trainer, do you accept the challenge of this gym leader?" She roared. Joe stepped up to his own podium, Ralph flying up with him. He smiled and nodded.
"I do." He said strongly. Jasmine lowered her arm again. She reached for a pokeball.
"In that case, let's not wait around any longer." She unclipped a single pokeball and held it in her hand. "Let's battle!" She yelled, and she threw the pokeball.
For a gym battle it was over quite quickly. Jasmine released her first pokémon, a small and simple Magnemite. The singular floating riveted ball of steel with a single eye and two magnets rotated in the air, waiting for its opponent to appear. Joe sent out his pokémon of choice now.
"Go, Quill!" He called. His quilava appeared on the field, flashing fire from his back and spine. Quick was clearly excited for another battle. It had been a while since he'd been able to have one. Winter and Silver to up seating positions on the stands, watching entertained as battle began. Jasmine made the first command.
"Magnemite, Thundershock!" She called. Magnemite began sparking, creating a tiny pocket of electricity in its metallic body. Then it fired. The tiny bolt shot across the battlefield.
"Dodge!" Joe commanded. Quill calmly but quickly rolled aside, avoiding the bolt. "Now, use ember!" Joe called. Quill spat a small flicker of flame from his mouth, hitting Magnemite in the eye. The floating magnet dropped instantly, being defeated already. Jasmine withdrew her first pokémon, not seeming disheartened by the quick loss. Instead she reached for her next pokémon.
"Go, Magneton!" She called. This next pokémon was literally three Magnemites fused together into a living pokémon triforceIt hovered, anticipating its opponent's actions. "Zap Cannon!" She called. Magneton gathered a huge collection of electricity inside its body and aimed it, preparing to fire. When it did it sent a titanic ball of electricity across the field, causing not only the air to spark but also the floor to sizzle.
"Move!" Joe roared. Quill rolled aside, narrowly avoiding the scorching shock of the attack. He missed the cannon ball of static, but a few small sparks caught his fur and did some minor damage. He recovered quickly from it however. Joe thought quickly. This opponent was much tougher then the last one, that was obvious from its attack and stance. A simple ember attack probably wouldn't take it out quickly. She he'd have to use something stronger. Then he remembered the new move he'd been trying to teach Quill.
"Quill, use Flame Wheel!" He called. Quill seemed to look a little concerned, but he did as he was told. He curled up into a ball and began rolling towards Magneton, slowly gaining speed. As he rolled forwards his whole body caught fire, igniting like a barrel of gasoline as he sped across the field, a blazing rotating tyre track. He left a flaming trail behind him. The inferno quilava slammed, full rolling body, into Magneton, striking it from the air like a set of bowling pins. That was two of Jasmine's pokémon defeated already. She was clearly getting worried by this. He wasn't supposed to be winning so quickly. She withdrew Magneton, looking desperate. She had only one pokémon left and she'd barely done a scratch on Joe's team. She was going to have to rely on her only remaining ace. Thankfully it was a rather big ace. She unclipped her third pokeball.
"Go, Steelix!" She called. The pokeball opened up and Joe was surprised by what he found himself looking at. It was like an onix that had been covered in molten steel and left to dry out again. That is the literal best description anyone could give this thing. Apart from not having the head horn and a bigger jaw and, of course, being made of metal and not rock, it was almost exactly the same in shape and size. And it was looming over the opposing side, placing Quill under a tall and quite intimidating shadow. Quill had stopped his flaming now, falling to halt and looking up at the beast before it. Jasmine smiled. "Now you're scared!" She said, speaking gleefully. She pointed her hand. "Steelix, crush him!" Steelix turned slightly, raising its tail up.
"Quill, use flame wheel but stay where you are!" Joe instructed simply. Quill began rotating on the spot, igniting again in a ball of fire. Steelix hovered its tail above him, preparing to squash the small fire mouse into the ground. Then its tail dropped, swinging downwards like an ungodly metal baseball bat (With a few stalagmites running down the sides). "Now!" Joe called. Quill sped aside, avoiding the tail as it struck the ground, making the whole building rock. But Quill was okay. He rotated and sped off, still blazing, rolling towards the metal giant before him. Steelix watched slowly as its opponents ran fearlessly towards it. Quill sped up, lit up and rammed right into Steelix's side. The titan toppled, surprising everyone in the room, even its own trainer. Steelix landed on its side, still conscious but rather stunned. Quill came back around for another attack.
"Iron Tail!" Jasmine yelled desperately. "Steelix lifted its tail up, glistening silver and furious. As Quill roled in it swung, wending the tail sliding across the frictionless floor. But, to its shock, Quill jumped right over the attack, taking a second to slow, place his feet down and push of the floor. The quilava leaped and rotated over the tail as if it was nothing. The last thing Steelix saw was the fiery ball of flaming pokémon sailing towards its head. Then blackness. Steelix collapsed, beaten already. The battle had been won, without so much as a few words and a single pokémon. Jasmine was so far past shocked there was no human word to describe it. She was in a state where she wouldn't have even been able to create understandable words anyway. Joe simply stepped away from his podium, smiling smugly, holding a hand out to pat Quill on the head as he extinguished again and returned to his trainer's side. Ralph gave him a small nod of awe as he came back in. Jasmine lowered her hands again and gave a small cough, finding her voice again.
"Well done." She managed to say, looking too stunned to say much else. She sounded like her voice had not only broken but shattered completely like thin glass. She withdrew Steelix, nearly dropping the pokeball as she did so. "I must admit…" She tried to say, stuttering a little, still in wild amazement. "I wasn't expecting you to be that strong!" Joe smiled a little.
"Actually, neither was I." He admitted. Jasmine puffed her mouth, not sure what she was supposed to do next. She decided to simply follow the rules and award him.
"Well…" She said, pausing for a long time. "I guess you've earned my badge then." She stepped from the podium and walked up to Joe, pulling out the small piece of metal from a hidden pocket. She extended her arm and placed the badge in his open hand. The small piece of metal dropped into it. "That's the mineral badge." She told him. "I'm pretty sure you know what badges are used for, but you show that one to Pryce in Mahogany town and he'll probably battle you afterwards." She explained quickly. Joe looked at the badge. It was a simple blue octagon with a silver border around it, nothing more and nothing less. Joe put it with the others.
"Thank you for the battle." He said politely. "I guess I'd better be going then." Jasmine nodded. She was about to say something to him when suddenly they were interrupted… by Silver.
He stood up from the stands, raised his arms up and yelled out "I wish to battle!" Jasmine and Joe looked up at him. Even Winter was looking at him surprised. The redhead boy didn't back down though. He was asking to battle a gym leader. Joe placed his hand to his forehead. Clearly Silver had forgotten that he'd never battled any gym leaders before. Jasmine looked up at him.
"Umm." She said, not too sure what she was going to say. "Sure." She said eventually. "But I need to rest my pokémon quickly. Do you have any gym badges?" She asked.
"No!" Silver called. She continued to look at him, her expression now becoming questioning.
"Okay." She said, extending the vowels. She waved a hand down onto the field. "Sure, I'll battle you." She told him. "Just let me heal my pokémon up first, then we can get started." Silver smiled, pumping his arm a little. Joe had no idea what had gotten into him, but he was acting rather weird… at least more weird then normal. He didn't usually try to battle gym leaders. Joe had to wonder what was going through his head.
Looking down on the battlefield from the stands Joe could get a pretty good idea of what Silver had been thinking. Clearly the boy had taken a look at Joe's battle and thought he could do the same. He couldn't. He was going to get thrashed. Those were the first things Joe thought as he saw him walk down to the field, carrying swagger in his pockets like loose change. Ralph perched next to him, also looking a little surprised. Joe turned to him to see his friend pulling a face mild confusion. This was a basic mental state for Ralph. Joe turned the other way to face Winter now. She was shaking her head. Clearly she had either seen or heard what Silver had been thinking. Knowing Silver he'd probably blurted it all out to her. Joe leaned on his elbows at the seat edge and looked to his friend.
"What is he doing?" He asked. Winter looked back at him.
"I have no idea." She told him straight. Joe raised an eyebrow.
"Did he not say anything before he stood up?" He asked. "Could you tell if he was thinking anything?"
"All he said was 'I'm not going to be weak anymore', then he stood up and outright challenged Jasmine." She shook her head. "He's going to lose so badly." She muttered.
"He doesn't want to be weak?" Joe repeated, thinking the words over. "Why would he say that? Why would he think he's weak?"
"Beats me." Winter told him. She pointed slightly at the stadium. "But we'll see how that end up soon enough." She told him. The two friends fell silent again and watched as Silver and Jasmine took up positions.
Silver seemed rather excited, which probably wasn't a good thing. This was his first gym battle and he was battling the sixth Johto gym leader. This probably wasn't going to end well. Jasmine had taken ten minutes to place her pokémon into a healing device, then she'd turned back around and re-joined him on her side of the field. The two trainers took up stance, gripping a pokeball in their hand. The board on the side of the room switched on, bringing up the information needed for the battle. And then they waited, letting the other go first. In the end it was Silver who released his pokémon first.
"Go, Haunter!" He called. His pokeball touched down on the metal arena and popped open, releasing the limbless levitating spectre on the field. Haunter scratched its claws in the air, flexing its fingers, preparing to fight. Jasmine sent out her first pokémon, which turned out to be Magnemite again. There was a few seconds of anticipation, then battle began. Silver started off. "Haunter, shadow ball!" He called. Haunter formed a large ball of ghost energy in between its claws and hurled it at the floating magnet opponent. Magnemite floating simply aside, allowing the attack to pass by it slowly. Jasmine tutted a little. Joe and Winter facepalmed simultaneously. Ralph gave out a groan of idiocy. Haunter looked sad and Silver looked annoyed.
"Thundershock!" Jasmine instructed. Magnemite fired a weak bolt of static through the uncharged air, hitting Haunter and causing it to spark slightly. Silver clenched and unclenched his fists.
"He really should have seen that attack coming." Joe muttered. "He's just ruined any advantage he may have had." Winter shushed him.
"Give him chance." She told him. "The battle has only just begun after all. He may still win yet." They turned back to the battle. Silver was pointing his finger forth.
"Confuse Ray!" He yelled. Haunter spat a small ball of fast, rotating ghostly light at Magnemite, sending it flying towards the floating electric metal ball. The ray began spinning around Magnemites head, leading the floating ball of steel to spin with it, following the ray's movement. The small ball sped up its spinning, orbiting Magnemite like a satellite. It was starting to look like a weird kind of solar system display they were making in the middle of the field. Finally the ray faded away and Magnemite stopped spinning, leaning slightly on a pivot as it came to a halt. Its single eye rolled as its vision became mixed and blurred. The whole world was shaking and rotating. Now Silver had his advantage back. "Shadow ball!" He called. Haunter again fired the slow moving ball of ghostly energy. It flew across the field and struck Magnemite in the side as it tried to figure out where it was. The living magnet pokémon dropped downwards a little, the attack buffeting it and knocking out its electrostatic gravitation for a split second. Unfortunately the result of this attack was it gave Magnemite its concentration back. The small ball of steel shook its body and glared at Haunter, able to focus again with a clear mind.
"Sonic Boom!" Jasmine called. Magnemites magnets began to spin around on its body. Then it made a rupturing metal screech of a sound. The waves formed a jagged scar in the air, slicing straight through Haunter's body. But, to Jasmine's surprise, the ghost felt no damage. It just stayed floating where it was, looking unimpressed, and the scar of air passing through it harmlessly. Only when it faded away could she see it hadn't even touched it. The attack had just gone straight through. She cursed herself for forgetting normal moves couldn't hurt ghosts. Silver grinned to himself. He had gained a small advantage of time.
"Hypnosis!" He called. Haunter's eyes flashed pink and purple, swirling mysteriously as it glared down the opponent. Magnemite looked back at it, its single eye fixated. Then it collapsed in a sparking pile, its magnets vibrating to make an occasional snoring sound. Jasmine groaned. She pulled the pokeball back out and withdrew Magnemite again. She was going to have to train him a bit more if he was going to be a really battle pokémon. Considering he was her newest pokémon he was much less experienced then the rest of her team. But now it was time for them to get some practice.
"Very nice start." She spoke to Silver now, sounding slightly like a teacher. "You can at least take down one of my pokémon easily enough." She reached for another pokeball. "But now the real test comes up. Can you defeat the rest of my team?" Silver smiled overconfidently.
"Beat them?" He laughed. "I'll terminate them!" Jasmine grinned. That was the response she had been respecting. She wondered what other expressions he could show when she wiped the floor with him.
"Alright then." She said, holding her second pokeball up in her hands. "Then it's time for you to prove that." She threw the pokeball. "Go, Magneton!" She called. The pokeball opened and released the conjoined Magnemite trio that was an entirely different pokémon onto the steel field. Silver looked impressed.
"Holy Cow!" He exclaimed. "It's made friends!" There was a small snicker from the tiny watching audience. Jasmine grinned at the edge of her mouth.
"A perfect example of teamwork, I'd say." She told him. "Considering they're fused together they have to work together to get anything done." Suddenly she jumped back into the battle, throwing out her arm and making a command. "Magneton, Tri Attack!" She called. Each separate Magnemite that made up the bulky giant form began gathering energy from its magnets, forming three different powered balls of energy. One was fire, one was electricity and the third was ice. The three balls of energy conjoined at the centre of the pokémon and fired, flying at fast speed towards the opponent.
"Look out!" Silver yelled. Haunter was to slow to react. The attack hit it square in the chest, creating flashing sparks all around its body. The ghost rolled backwards, floating around in the air until eventually it regained levitation at the right height. Fortunately for Silver Haunter looked quite okay after the attack. He smiled. "Okay, now it's time to hit it back." He said. His thought process was a thing that big and bulky must move quite slowly. That would allow him to make shadow ball hit more accurately as it wouldn't be able to dodge as many as its smaller evolution. So, logically, that would make the attack more efficient. He pointed his finger again. "Haunter, use Shadow Ball!" He commanded. The one thing Silver had missed however was the steel types resistance to physical attacks. Haunter formed the attack in its hands, aimed it and threw it, sending it spinning across the battlefield and into the chest of the trio Magnemite, dubbed Magneton. The three pokémon recoiled and returned to their floating station, waiting patiently for their next instruction. Silver looked stunned. "What?" He exclaimed. "That did hardly anything!" Jasmine smiled a little.
"What were you expecting?" She asked. "You threw a ball at a steel type. A big steel type. Didn't you know they had tough shells?" Silver growled a little. He didn't like being talked down to by anyone. He clenched his fists.
"Okay." He muttered. "That means I just have to be smarter about this." Then he had an idea. "Haunter." He called. Haunter looked back at him. "How do you feel about playing martyr today?" He asked. Haunter did not like the sound of that. Silver smiled. "Sure you're up to it." He reassured him. "I want you to set up a curse on Magneton there. Doesn't have to be a big one, just one strong enough to bring it down after a few minutes. Can you do that? "Haunter still looked unsure, but it knew that when it came to its trainers command it had no choice but to comply. It nodded sadly. Silver smiled. "Great." He said. He waved a hand. "Well then." He said, slightly insensitively. "Get on with it. Use curse on that big steel triangle." Haunter sighed and turned back around. It clenched its claws and shut its eyes, focusing its energy on cursing it opponent. Jasmine saw the opening in the opponents defence and went in to attack.
"Magneton, use Zap Cannon!" She instructed. Magneton began forming a huge electric ball of impossible power in between its three bodies. The attack grew in size and scale, forming into an unstoppable force. It took focused and prepared to fire. When it did so the cannon ball was wide and shocking. Sparks flew everywhere. Haunter finished his move just in time to see its awe inspiring majesty flying straight towards its face. There was no time left to react. It took the ball straight to face. The explosion was like raging lightning! Haunter collapsed to the ground, static wriggling across its body like worms. The ghost had been exercised to a point of exhaustion, and now it had been vanquished. Silver groaned. He withdrew Haunter again, raising the pokeball to eye level and glaring at it.
"A nice try." He said loudly. "But try to do better next time." He clipped it back to his pocked. Jasmine raised an eyebrow.
"What did you just say?" She asked. He looked over at her.
"Nothing." Silver said defensively. "What's it to you?" Jasmine looked a little shocked.
"Did you just insult your pokémon?" She asked more thoroughly. Silver continued to look at her.
"I may have." He muttered. "Why should you care anyway?" Jasmine continued to look stunned. Then she shook her head, wiping a hand and swatting away the thought.
"Never mind." She muttered. "Let's continue. You send out your next pokémon."
"Already ahead of you." Silver smiled. He unclipped a pokeball and sent out his next pokémon. "Your turn, Kadabra." Kadabra appeared on the field, standing calmly and holding its spoon-holding arm up, focusing its mental energy onto that single piece of metallic cutlery. Jasmine looked a little impressed.
"More special attack tanks." She said. "Gotta admit, I was expecting you to have…"
"Weaker pokémon?" Silver asked, finishing her sentence. Jasmine rolled her lower lip a little.
"I wasn't really meaning to say that." She admitted. "But sort of." Silver looked at her.
"Don't judge a book by its cover." He told her.
"If it's a book written by Silver I'd definitely judge it by the cover." Joe whispered quietly. Winter laughed. The battle continued.
"Kadabra, use Psybeam!" Silver called. Kadabra aimed its spoon in front of its face like the crosshair of a sight. From the tip of the spoon a long spiralling beam of pink and yellow energy spun out quickly, expanding out as it moved. It struck Magneton, causing it to flinch up where it levitated. It took no physical damage, but the mental strain it caused had clearly tired it out.
"Fight back with Swift!" Jasmine countered. Magneton recovered from the attack and spun its three bodies in a rotation, causing small white stars to fly out from them. The stars grouped up and sped outwards, flying towards Kadabra. The psychic type could do nothing to avoid them. It was an unavoidable move. Instead Kadabra took the attack like a champ, the stars hitting it in the chest and causing a small amount of damage. Silver had a backup for this.
"Recover quickly." He instructed. Kadabra held its spoon gripping hand to its chest. The spoon began to glow white, the energy it was forming jumping from the shaped piece of flexy metal into Kadabra. The energy it created seemed to rejuvenate Kadabra, giving it more energy and strength to fight with. It already looked healthier. Kadabra may not be able to take many attacks, but with this strategy it wouldn't need to. Jasmine cursed quiet. And, as she did so, the curse Magneton had been afflicted with came into action. A grey aura appeared around it suddenly, glowing lightly and faintly around each body. Magneton flinched slightly, taking a sudden damage from the aura emitted around it. Eventually this would weaken it too much for it to continue in battle. Eventually it would fall. It was just a matter of time. Jasmine refused to let this get the better of her though.
"Screech!" She instructed. Magneton emitted a high pitched metallic screeching from its multiple magnets. The sound caused Kadabra and everyone else in the room to cover their ears. "Now, use swift!" Magneton spun and fired a collection of slicing star shapes at its opponent. The cloud of shimmering five pointed shapes flew through the air, locking in on their target and moving in a glittering curtain of light through the air. Kadabra was too busy trying to block out the screeching metal sound to bother defending itself. The swift attack knocked it off its feet, causing a hefty amount of damage. It was quickly back to its feet however, ready to attack back.
"Set up a Future Sight!" Silver instructed. Kadabra clenched its arms towards its chest, a pink aura glowing across its body. Then the aura faded again, disappearing in an instant, as if it had never appeared in the first place. Nothing happened. "Now quickly use a Restore." Silver continued. Kadabra kept its arms close, now glowing white with a quick flash of light. Again, the light faded quickly, except when it did Kadabra was looking a lot healthier for it. Now it was Jasmine's turn again.
"Zap Cannon!" She commanded. Magneton began to gather electricity to its centre point. Silver commanded Kadabra to wait. The psychic pokémon waited, patient for its opponents attack to be used. Magneton looked like it was struggling to stay up. The ghostly aura surrounding it was glowing slowly brighter, ever-so-slowly sapping the life from the giant collection of magnets. It wouldn't be long before it went out of this battle for good. But at this point it was unwilling to go down. Magneton fired, shooting a giant ball of sparking electricity from its centre and sending it blasting towards Kadabra mercilessly.
"Now, dodge!" Silver instructed. Kadabra flung itself aside, the blast of static shooting past and hitting the far back metal wall. Sparks flew everywhere, charging the metallic walls and floor with a shocking electric current. Fortunately it didn't reach the stands or podiums otherwise Silver, Joe and Winter may have been shocked by several hundred watts of electricity. Kadabra however came out from the attack perfectly fine, lifting itself off the floor with its psychic powers and hovering low over the metal field. "Psybeam!" Silver instructed. Kadabra aimed its spoon, focused its mental energy onto the tip and fired a rotating spiral beam of pink and yellow psychic energy from it. The attack hit Magneton's full body, causing it to shiver and shake. The attack proved to be the finishing blow. The three magnetic forms collapsed in on each other, clumping to the ground in a combined pile. Jasmine sighed.
"One more yanked down by an effective magnetic pull." She muttered. She unclipped the pokeball again and withdrew magneton from the field. "A good turn, Magneton." She praised it, soothing the pokeball with a kind hand. "Maybe next time." She clipped it back to her pocket. There was only one pokémon left on her side, and everyone knew who it was. She didn't wait to give Silver a chance to adjust for it. She unclipped the last pokeball and threw it. "Go, Steelix!" She yelled. The ball sailed through the air and landed, popping open and releasing the titanic metallic snake onto the field of steel. Steelix towered over everything, rotating its multiple metal body pieces in a tumble drier motion. Kadabra looked up at the towering beast. It showed no emotion.
"Stand your ground!" Silver instructed demandingly. Kadabra held its ground, unblinking and motionless as it floated in the air with a low humming linger. Jasmine tapped her feet and pointed a long nailed finger.
"Steelix, crush it!" She demanded. Steelix lifted its tail up at its side, then swung it around, lashing it like a medieval flail. The heavy tip slammed into Kadabra's side, flinging it across the room and into the wall where it impacted with a painful grunt. Kadabra collapsed to the ground a second later, the energy completely squashed out of it. Silver growled. He rubbed his heel into the ground.
"No!" He exclaimed in anger. "No! I can't believe it! You were so close! You useless moron!" He glanced to the other end of the field. Jasmine was staring at him, her mouth open.
"How can you possibly bring yourself to say those words to your own pokémon?" She asked, astounded. Silver looked back at her, unmoved.
"I just do." He told her. "After all, he did fail me. I'm aloud to get angry, aren't I?" If it was possible for Jasmine to look even more shocked then she already was she had somehow found a way.
"No!" She told him straight. "No, you aren't! Getting angry with your pokémon does nothing to help. It'll only make them angry back. Then where would you be if you needed them? They won't work with you, they won't battle with you. You may as well not even have them if you're going to treat them badly."
"Then how would I keep them in line?" Silver asked, sounding arrogantly ignorant. Jasmine closed her mouth now, giving him a stern stare.
"Trust and respect." She told him simply. "Maybe you need someone to really show you what those things are, as you are clearly someone who doesn't know them very well." She clicked her finger. Steelix lowered its hulking body towards the floor, bringing its head just above the ground and eye level with its trainer. Jasmine smiled at her pokémon. She stroked its slippery metal head with a warm hand, and Steelix smiled back. "Alright, Steelix." She said, speaking loudly and confidently. "No playing around with him anymore. Finish his final pokémon with all your power, you understand?" Steelix nodded stoically. Jasmine patted it twice on the side of the head. "Atta boy." She said, smiling. "Go get 'em!" Steelix reared back, shimmered in the bright stage lights, prepared itself for battle… and was suddenly blasted in the back of the head by a random time traveling psychic attack. It recoiled and fell forwards, hitting its head on the floor. Jasmine gasped in surprise. Silver smiled smugly to himself.
"Hey, I guess Kadabra isn't so bad after all." He turned to his unconscious pokémon which was still lying by the wall. "Good job, Kadabra!" He called. Kadabra made a painful call back, barely conscious enough to do so. Steelix was getting back up now, looking rather bothered from the sudden and surprising attack. Its mouth had become a menacing bare of teeth. Its eyes were narrowed at its target. But it had to wait. Silver still had his pokémon to send out. And he'd only just remembered that fact. He withdrew Kadabra finally and reached for his pokeball belt, pulling out his last of the three at choice. He looked sternly at it. "Looks like it's just you left, bud." He muttered. "Let's hope you can deal with this alone." He aimed the pokeball and threw it. "Go, Croconaw." The pokeball opened, releasing his starter pokémon onto the battle field.
Steelix grinned to itself. 'A small wet morsel.' It thought menacingly. 'This'll be easy!' It raised its tail in preparation. Silver thrusted his arm forwards.
"Croconaw, use water gun!" He commanded firmly. Croconaw swilled up its mouth and spat a large blob of water at the titanic foe before it. The attack hit Steelix with ease. But, to his surprise, Steelix showed no sign of being hurt. It was clear by looking at the board that it had taken damage, as its health had dropped by a small fraction. But Steelix was too bulky and tough to pay any attention to the attack, even if it proved to be super effective. Jasmine smiled. It was her tern now, and she had size on her side. And, as a smart trainer knows, size is everything in these battles.
"Steelix, use rock throw!" She commanded. Steelix slammed its tail into the ground, causing the steel to crack and reveal solid rock boulders underneath. It scooped one up with its tail tip and flicked it up into the air. Then, using its tail as a baseball bat, it slapped the rock ball at Croconaw, causing the air to roar.
"Dodge it!" Silver cried in desperation. Croconaw shimmied aside in a swift movement, leaving the boulder to smash on the ground where it had been, shattering into many tiny pieces. Silver smiled with pleasure. "Now, get it back with Bite!" He instructed. Neither he nor Croconaw saw the horrible repercussions that would come from this action. Croconaw ran thoughtlessly out into the field, scrambling wildly on both back legs and front, snapping trap jaw open wide to crush. It charged as Steelix moved about, its tail sliding past its front. Croconaw spotted the tail tip, focused on it and leapt, pushing off the ground with his powerful back legs. He fell back down to earth, front legs forwards and jaw open wide. It bit down hard with both jaws into Steelix's tail tip, sinking its sharp crocodile teeth into its metallic skin. There was a crunch, and then there was a crack. And then there was a muffled scream. Croconaw had now felt the repercussions it had failed to notice before. It wailed in impossible pain. Its mouth was stuck around Steelix's tail tip, its teeth dug into the metal and aching as if a really bad dentist was trying to pull them all out at the same time without anaesthetic. Jasmine laughed slightly.
"Seriously." She muttered. "You didn't see that coming? You that one's your own fault as a trainer." She crossed her arms. "Steelix, I think it's time our friend went for a fly, don't you?" Steelix smiled evilly. It lifted its tail off the ground, bringing the grabbing Croconaw up with it. Then, with a simple and almost subtle flick of the tip, Croconaw was released from his hanging position and sent sailing across the field like a rotating crocodile skin handbag. Silver watched as his partner fell like a blue scaly meteorite, until he landed with an earth shattering impact. Fortunately for it there was no crater, or strike wave that followed, but the pain it felt was still very much real and very much painful. Silver growled.
"Get up, you mess!" He commanded. "It's getting the better of you! Get back up and show it who the real boss here is!" Croconaw groaned in response. It raised its head up, rubbing its snout soothingly. The pain on its jaws still felt like it was present. Steelix flicked its tail tip in the air menacingly, patiently waiting for its opponent to just try and attack it again. Croconaw glared the giant metal snake down. Then it charged, pulling a claw back with a glowing white shimmer.
"Screech!" Jasmine instructed simply. Steelix raised its head to the roof and began crunching and rubbing its teeth together. The metallic scraping created a horrific screeching sound. Croconaw's charge fell to a halt, covering its ears in pain as the sound deafened it completely. As this happened it was left completely vulnerable. Jasmine made her next command.
"Now, use Iron Tail!" She instructed quickly. Steelix swung its tail around, throwing more than half its body across the field and into Croconaw's side. The blue scaly aquatic reptile was knocked down flat, crushed by the force of the steel beast. Slowly it pushed itself back to its feet, looking wounded and breathing heavily. "Slam!" Jasmine roared. Croconaw had barely gotten back to its feet before it saw Steelix charging forth like a derailed train.
"Stop it now!" Silver roared desperately. Croconaw fired a water gun, but against Steelix's tough metal shell it did nothing. Croconaw was slammed aside, getting steamrolled by the huge metal tank. Steelix rolled on, turning back around and heading back to its side of the field. Croconaw was crushed into the ground, its eyes spinning. Silver growled deeply. His eyes were flaming with fury. "GOD DAMN IT, YOU USELESS SACK OF CRAP!" He screamed mercilessly. "GET! UP!" Croconaw groaned slightly. Slowly it pushed itself up from the pit it had been smashed into. As it raised to its feet it kept its head low, looking battered and bruised and barely breathing. But it stood there defiantly, like a reanimated zombie. Slowly its head rose up, looking at its much larger opponent. Its eyes were glowing with red flame. Silver smiled gleefully. "Now, take that monster down with all your might!" He roared.
Croconaw let out a low reptilian growl, like a T-rex with a vengeance. He took a step forwards. Steelix grinned to itself. It raised its tail. Croconaw took another step. Steelix glared menacingly as its weakened opponent refused to stay down. Croconaw took another step, this time speeding up its movements into a slow walk. Another step followed, along with another, and another. Steelix brought its tail swinging round. Silver closed his eyes, assuming he was done for. Croconaw didn't slow. It kept walking, even though the tail was coming straight towards it. Steelix's tail swung down and slammed Croconaw into the ground. Silver sighed. He had lost. He wasn't surprise. Jasmine smiled. Steelix grinned evilly. It lifted its tail away again. Then they were all surprised by something they would assume impossible. Croconaw was gone. It wasn't lying struck defeated on the floor. Steelix looked stunned, its tail flicking beside its head. Then it felt something light and harmless tap its head. At first it assumed it was a small rock, or a piece of material. That happened now and then. Sometimes debris would land on it, but it never took any harm. Then it felt a weird scratching sensation, as if it had an itch on the top of its skin. Again it ignored it. Steelix turned to its trainer, smiling proudly. It took it a few seconds to realise that Jasmine was not looking back, but rather at something on it. Steelix's eyes rolled upwards. Then it felt an impossibly painful slashing sensation inside its head. It screeched in serious pain. Croconaw was hanging on by its eyehole rims, digging a sharp claw deep through its steel head. The metal snake writhed in pain, trying to shake it off. Croconaw slid over its forehead, hanging in front of the monsters face like a long blue scaly fringe. Steelix glared at the prey before its eyes. It opened its mouth. And Croconaw took its advantage to the fullest. As Steelix's mouth opened Croconaw spat several blasts of water gun straight down its throat. Steelix began to choke. Then, with a grumbling and grunting gurgle, it slammed onto its side. Steelix was out. Miraculously Croconaw had pulled through and won. Jasmine was astonished, but not as much as Silver was. The redheaded trainer punched his fist so hard to the sky that he caused it to fracture and fall apart.
"YES!" He roared, using so much masculine power in one shout that he supposed puberty in a single word. "YYEEEESSSSS! I WON! I GOD DAMN WON! YEAH, BABY!" Croconaw jumped off Steelix's unconscious body, looking exhausted and fed up. It was too tired to celebrate. But that didn't stop Silver from running up to him and hugging him in a bear grip. "You beautiful pile of scales, you!" He cheered, bringing Croconaw close. The three foot tall bipedal crocodile gurgled with surprise, struggling to breathe. Silver didn't care. He hugged his companion like he hadn't seen him in years. Joe and Winter looked at them embracing in the middle of the field.
"Well I'll be damned." Joe muttered. "He actually won."
"I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it." Winter said, nodding, her face stunned and white. "But he really did it. I don't even know what to say about that."
"I don't think there's anything to say." Joe told her. He turned to Ralph. Before that second he had no idea that a crobat could look flabbergast, but right now he was looking into the face of genuine purple surprise. Joe looked back at the field, shaking his head.
Jasmine was in a stupor at this point. Her eyes were so open they were practically poking out from her face. She blinked twice, inhaled, and exhaled. Silver looked at her, grinningly arrogantly.
"I do believe that's one gym badge you owe me." Silver stated outright. He held his flat hand open, waiting for his reward. Jasmine looked at his hand, then at his face. She turned her head to the right, looking at her defeated Steelix lying in a metallic coil on the iron floor. She turned back to Silver, seemingly regaining her professional cool. She coughed, prepared her throat and readied to talk.
"Well, under the circumstances…" She began. "The result of your victory within this hall against me would normally result in you being gifted my gym badge as a result, signifying your defeat of me."
Silver whooped happily. "All right!" He cheered.
"However." Jasmine said suddenly, her professional smile fading away. "Due to certain breaches of battle rules I noticed during our fight, and, under the power I have within this location, I have decided that you, my opponent, will not be leaving this place with a gym badge to your name." Silver's mouth dropped.
"What?!" He exclaimed. His voice was an oncoming fury. "You can't do that? I beat you!" Jasmine shook her head.
"I can if I decide to." She told him straightforwardly.
"As a gym leader, it's your job to hand out badges to trainers who defeat you in battle." Silver told her enraged at the very idea she was suggesting. Jasmine looked at him calmly and folded her arms behind her back.
"I can, and I can give you the very reasons why I am doing so right now!" She told him. She raised a finger and pointed to it. "You abuse and mistreat your pokémon. You give them no respect or love to keep them on your side. You do not respect them as living things. You are rude to them. You treat them like they are just tools. You do not respect their power. You do not make them feel confident. Instead you shout and swear at them. You give them no confidence in yourself. You act recklessly and are a liability to everyone around you, purely because you do not think about what decisions you make, before you make them. You are a terrible trainer and a terrible person." She inhaled, finishing her point. "And because of that you do not deserve to have my gym badge. You don't even deserve to be a trainer!" Silver looked Jasmine in the eyes, standing straight and menacingly in front of her.
"Who the hell are you to tell me how to be a trainer?" He demanded, clearly trying to keep his cool. He wasn't succeeding. Jasmine folded her arms.
"That's my decision." She told him. "You can either accept it or you can scream and shout like a kid. Either way, you aren't getting a badge." Silver was steaming at the ears. His feet began to move, his hands clenching into fists.
"I think it's time we went." Joe said, shooting up from his seat and running onto the battlefield. He, Winter and Ralph ran onto the field and grabbed Silver by the arms as he stomped towards Jasmine. They tried to drag him away but he proved to be a struggle to hold back as he shoved his finger through the air at the gym leader.
"You cheating bitch!" He roared viciously. "I'll see you tried for this. You are so sued, you hear me! Sued!" Joe and Winter dragged him out through the front door, leaving Jasmine stunned next to her unconscious Steelix in a wrecked and destroyed gym. She was wondering what the foundation was going to think of this situation.
"Sit down, my brothers." Archer said. Proton and Petrel sat down in their chairs in his office, siting at the desk in front of their boss. Archer sat on the opposite side, his face mask on, Ariana standing next to him with a sinister smile. "As I'm sure you're aware, Ariana here has succeeded in her mission in capturing the legendary Lugia." He stated.
"Yeah, we know." Proton said, sounding bothered. "She hasn't shut up about it since." Ariana shot him a look.
"Pipe down, boy." Petrel warned him, his voice not raising in tone. Archer continued with what he was saying.
"And, now that we have most of the plan already underway, there's only one thing that still remains in our way." He tapped his fingers on the desk. "And I'm sure you know who it is." The commanders all nodded.
"That boy." Proton stated.
"And his friends." Ariana added for him.
"Exactly." Archer told them. "He's a pain, but not immortal. He is just a child. Dealing with him shouldn't be tough, even if he's stronger then he may seem." He leaned into the desk. "That is why I'm sending you three, and you three alone, to face him and defeat him." Proton and Petrel looked at each other.
"Uh, that would be an honour, boss." Proton said nervously. "But…"
"But the two of us have already tried to battle that child and his friends." Petrel spoke up for him. "They know our tactics and our methods. They'd be expecting us. They know how to fight us."
"And that is why I'm sending you both at the same time." Archer told them. So they can face you both at the same time. And besides, they've never faced Ariana before." He turned to his second in command. "I trust that she will deal with him if you two fail." Ariana smiled slyly.
"He won't last a second in a battle against me, sir." She said confidently. Proton tried to speak up.
"But, sir, we don't know where he is." He told him quickly.
"Actually we do." Archer told his commander. "Ariana's team ran into them at Whirl Island. That would suggest they are either leaving Olivine and arriving at Cianwood, or leaving Cianwood and arriving at Olivine. The only place they can be past there is route 39 and 38. And fighting them there should be no problem. You'll be away from anyone they can call for help."
"But…" Proton tried to argue.
"And you can take the blimp, of course." Archer added. Proton looked at his boss.
"Sir, it's not ready." He argued.
"It will be." Archer told him. Petrel looked at his boss.
"Even if we fight him, what do you expect us to do with him?" he asked, his posh, uptight voice protruding from his lips in a solid sound form. Archer was clearly smiling behind his mask.
"Do I need explain everything to you morons?" He asked. "When you find the boy I want you to defeat him, and his friends if you need to. Then, when you've done that, bring them back here so I can deal with them." He tapped his fingers together. "As much as I hate to admit it he is the last part of our plan. Bring him to me…" He stated sternly. "And I'll make sure that we, Team Rocket, need nether worry about any trainers, or police or even gods ever again!"