Stealth Rock
With a sudden CRASH! right behind me, I just barely ducked out of that tunnel in time to avoid being crushed by that rolling golem. Reggie was safe, too, for the moment. But he wasn't doing too well against these rocky pokémon, they didn't get much rockier than the boulder with arms that we called a "golem."
"Sorry, Reg. I think this is one you'll have to sit out." I recalled him into his pokéball and flipped another one from my side just as the golem was starting to stir and regain its senses. As my foaming pokémon formed from the contents of my second pokéball, an idea quickly formed in my head. If that trainer wanted to play Indiana Jones with me, we'd see how well he liked it in return.
"Siggy, give that golem a Foamy Punch!" My golfoam, with his infinitely flexible body, slid into the small gap between the golem and the stone wall it collided with and, with a heavy wind-up, planted his fist into the golem's rocky body. Overall, the makeup of its body probably protected it from much damage, considering Foamy Punch is a non-elemental attack, but I wasn't aiming for damage. I just wanted Siggy to send that round pokémon pummeling down the tunnel like an 8-ball headed straight for the corner pocket. That ought to distract the other trainer.
Finally I had a moment to catch my breath. The Cuprum Gym was unlike any I'd ever been in. Granted the list for comparison was a short one, but that didn't change the fact that this gym was a series of labyrinthine tunnels inside a portion of a mountain. As I approached the next intersection, I recognized the mark on the wall where Reggie's Flamethrower melted through a portion of the ore a little bit earlier. I was going in circles, and all to find one person. This was going to be tricky.
Despite my reservations about teaming up with Valence and the rest of Team Omega, or perhaps in light of those reservations, I decided it would be a good idea to let off a little steam by going to Cuprum Town's Mineral Pokémon Gym. The gym was located on the south side of town where the mountain range began. It was a small little building that seemed to be nothing more than a wooden shack about a hundred meters away from the base of the nearest mountain. I figured maybe it was just a meeting place to get directions to the actual gym deeper in.
But inside I found two other trainers standing there with pokémon by their sides, listening to an elderly man who wore a long coat, a fedora, and sunglasses. Who says being dead keeps Humphrey Bogart from finding work?
"Ah, our third contestant!" the old man said excitedly. His energy level was obvious from the way he shook my hand, but his hand was all sweaty and clammy. It felt like sticking my bare palm in the open mouth of a shellder. "Now we can finally begin!"
"It's about time," one of the other trainers said. He didn't look like the patient type from the way he shifted his weight from one leg to the other repeatedly and continually folded and unfolded his arms across his chest. "Now can we do this?"
"Yes!" the old man said with his excitement still overflowing. "Now you three may challenge Mina for the right to a Copper Badge!"
There was nothing inside this little shack except the four of us and a single, cushioned chair. Well, there was a rug on the floor—oddly decorative considering the location. But then the old man slipped the rug aside and revealed a trap door. I should have guessed. "Let's begin!"
I think a little bit of his excitement actually faded when none of us did anything except look at one another. "Begin what?" the girl asked, clueless.
"Silly me! I forgot to explain!" The old man rubbed his face as if to start over. "All three of you will head straight down this ladder. In the room below, you'll find three tunnels. Each of you takes a separate tunnel, and you'll all seek out Gym Leader Mina, located at the end of the maze. If you find her, you battle her and earn yourself a Copper Badge! But don't think it will be easy. Not only will you have to navigate the maze; there are also trainers with highly skilled pokémon lurking around. If you aren't careful, you and your pokémon might get knocked out before you even find Mina! So go have fun!"
The girl shook her head lightly and muttered, "You and I have very different views on fun."
"Sounds great to me," the guy said. "What happens if we eventually run into each other?"
"Only one trainer can challenge Mina today. You must be the fastest in order to be the lucky trainer! My advice is: If you see one another, go a different way. Battling one another will only weaken your pokémon before you get into your battle with Mina, and she should not be taken lightly if you want a chance at victory. Now go!"
The tunnels sure convinced me there was a lot more effort put into the gym than I realized at first glance. I'm a terrible judge of exactly how far I walked, but between all the tunnels and crossroads I discovered, these catacombs had to stretch at least a kilometer into the mountains. I bet Mina was waiting at the farthest point to the south. All I had to do was figure out how to put the sun on my right and I'd be headed in the right direction. And anyone ought to be able to figure out the problem with that.
I hadn't seen the other two trainers since we split up into the three tunnels, but I did come across two of Mina's gym members, I think. I only saw one of them, who attacked me with a vanillite and a shedinja—two pokémon who threatened me pretty well before Reggie turned himself into my biggest threat by absolutely filling the tunnel with fire. Turns out he can scorch me pretty well when he's not careful. Then there was a second guy I never saw who sent a golem after me like a living boulder. Now I was lost, annoyed, and sweaty. It seemed like a good idea to wander around with Siggy for a while instead of Reggie, just to keep my movement a little more subtle and the temperature lower for a while.
We got rid of the golem, but I decided not to follow it back to its trainer, mostly because I wasn't concerned with battling another trainer. I just wanted to find the gym leader, wherever she went, and get out of this maze. I thought I'd have the opportunity to get Elly some battle experience, but most of these tunnels were much too thin for my dragmor to worm around with any ease. And I found out the hard way that the mineral deposits in the walls were too heavy for her to burrow through. Plus, the more she tried, the more I worried about a potential cave-in. The risk to me and her didn't seem worth it when I could just suck it up and find my way through the tunnels.
Siggy and I wound up in the hottest tunnel yet. More torches than I'd seen total so far lined the walls of this tunnel. It was like a sauna. I wondered if there were some significance to it, but then I figured it was probably just because I was heading deeper into the mountains and the heaviness of the ore absorbed more light. Assuming my conclusions were correct, the gym leader was probably located in the darkest area. At least that was a more useful assumption than "head south." If only the walls were lined with compasses…
I thought about sitting down for a minute on a perfectly-flattened rock when I changed my mind because there was some kind of giant hermit crab underneath that started moving just as I stepped next to it. I'm definitely not easily surprised, but that may have caused me to stumble backward and fall into the wall.
"Siggy, use Foamy—AAAH!"
Apparently there was a trainer wearing the type of camouflage that involves obsessively painting his skin and clothes to resemble the exact texture of the copper mine. And maybe when his eyes popped open and he grabbed my arm it scared me so much I peed myself just a little.
"Scare you?" he asked me with a stupid grin on his… face?
"What was your first clue? Siggy, use Foamy Punch on that thing."
"Use Rock Throw." That weird hermit crab swiped its claws straight into the wall and scooped out a great, big chunk of copper. In a single swipe! That's crazy! Even if the mine was old and some of the rocks were loose, that pokémon's strength was incredible. I got an idea for how strong when the rock it threw met Siggy's fist. Remember when Siggy was able to punch open a door that had been rusted shut for a thousand years? Well, his fist shattered that copper boulder, but he dropped his hand quickly like he may have injured it in that collision.
The camouflaged trainer helpfully warned me, "You're never going to beat a rock-type by using normal attacks. Can't do that many times before the bones in your golfoam's hand breaks."
"I know," I snapped back. I hated hearing him say out loud what I already figured out. Plus I hated making a silly decision that caused Siggy to hurt himself. The only decision seemed to be recalling him into his pokéball for now.
"So what's next?" the trainer goaded. "Better hurry and choose before my crustle gets bored and throws the next one directly at you." He chuckled to himself and then quickly assured me, "I'm just kidding. That's against the etiquette rules of pokémon battling. But still, don't try to run past us because you won't get far. You don't get to skip past us if you want to battle Mina."
"I don't skip challenges. And I definitely don't want a bug that size chasing me through the tunnels. Bugs are weak to fire, right?"
"Yeah, see how that works," the trainer remarked sardonically. See, I wasn't sure if that hermit crab thing was part rock or not—and I forgot to charge my pokédex the night before—so I tricked the trainer into telling me whether or not Reggie would have an easier time taking that thing down. It was risky, anyway, since rocks would hurt him even more than they hurt Siggy. That gave me one good choice.
"Alright then. Let's go, Conch!" A moment later, my merman pokémon appeared in the dull light of that copper mine. He flopped around excitedly, looking really happy not to be in the water.
"I think your fish is suffocating." I suppose excitement and suffocation are difficult to distinguish. "You really think he'll…"
"Use Bubblebeam!" Conch began sputtering heavily and quickly, but instead of just spitting all over the floor, he spewed a high-speed barrage of bubbles thick enough to fill the tunnel. The trainer told his crustle to use Smack Down, which apparently meant throwing that giant rock it was carrying on its back. That one was even bigger than the rock scooped out of the wall. But Conch's barrage was relentless, and the rock crumbled in the air. Pieces of it rolled down the tunnel as the poor crustle felt the constant pounding of powerful bubbles battering it from all sides.
I couldn't help chuckling a bit when the crustle staggered back and Conch was still ready to go again. "That'll do," I told him. I recalled him into the pokéball and looked down the tunnel. Before leaving, I asked the trainer, "Care to give me any tips?"
"Just that Mina's probably going to kick your butt."
"Any idea where that might happen? That's really the information I need."
"It's a maze. Find your own way."
"Thanks for the help. You're indispensable."
So I started my trek through the tunnel by myself, but at least there was only one way to go for now. Well, actually, there were two ways to go. And they both looked almost identical. Stupid crustle and its crazy meticulous trainer got me all turned around during that battle. I looked in both directions for a moment while that trainer gave me a stupid grin.
"Not sure which way to go?"
"You're very observant. I guess you've seen a lot of young trainers in here get turned around and end up going the wrong. Maybe you notice a few distinctions in our body language. Or maybe your first clue was when I asked you for directions just a minute ago."
"You're kind of mean."
"And you're dressed like a rock." Ooo! That triggered an epiphany. When Conch busted that boulder in mid-air, the rock shards all seemed to roll in one direction. I found the trail of them on the floor. Presumably, that would lead me deeper into the mine, and that was the direction I wanted to go.
Actually, I scooped up a handful of rocks and took them with me as I progressed through the tunnels. Just as I expected, I came across another crossroads very soon. This one was a four-way stop. But when I dropped those rocks, surely enough they tumbled ever so gradually in one direction. That's the way I decided to go, although I got a little nervous about the fact that the tunnel got narrower as I walked.
About twenty meters in, I encountered a stalagmite that reached all the way to the ceiling of the tunnel—a distance of almost four feet. It would be nothing remarkable except it started moving! I jumped back to avoid getting smacked by swaying limbs and had a chance to see the stalagmite better. It looked like a big, petrified tree with a face glaring at me. I recognized this one as a sudowoodo, which I knew more about than a crustle. For example, I knew that Conch would probably be able to incapacitate it pretty easily, but he was struggling enough to survive above water for so long. I made a calculated decision to hold off on calling him back until I found Mina.
Instead, I brought Siggy back out for another hurrah. With a little distance between us and the sudowoodo, I quickly rubbed a super potion on his wounded hand. I doubt it was any kind of miracle cure, but if it helped him deal with the pain any better I'd feel somewhat less guilty about the almost relentless way pokémon get used in battles. With my choices limited like they were by type and sheer size, I was really quite stuck using only Siggy and Conch in this gym. The risk to Reggie was too great and Elly wouldn't get anywhere.
Oh yeah… I guess I was also limited by sentiment and fear.
The sudowoodo struck first, charging forward and throwing all its weight into a wooden body slam. Siggy managed to squat and lean to one side and avoid the brunt of the assault, and his flexible body seemed to absorb the impact better than mine would have, but he still got hit and he looked clearly affected by it.
"Use Counter!"
From his squat position, Siggy popped back into the sudowoodo's lower belly with such force he ended up shoving that tree into the mine wall hard enough to shake chunks of the tunnel loose. It looked like he dealt out at least twice the pain he suffered from that exchange. The sudowoodo stumbled back and keeled over. It was still moving around, but its behavior was clearly less aggressive now as it sulked into the corner and immobilized itself.
"That was a good move, Sig," I told my golfoam while I rubbed another super potion on him. "You rest up now. I'll get you to the pokémon center soon." I rubbed his slimy head and recalled him into his pokéball for a well-earned reprieve. He could probably handle another battle if needed, but my preference was not to tax him any more than I already did.
Given my track record, every step I took through that dark and narrowing corridor was slow, cautious, and fraught with nervous pokes at every rock I came across. I'm nobody's fool, and there was no way those creepy rock pokémon were sneaking up on me by hiding in plain sight again!
Actually I didn't encounter any other secret pokémon. The corridor popped me out in front of an alcove with a table and a chair carved out of stone. Two bigger tunnels opened up on either side of me, but I didn't need to look any further. I was pretty sure the woman sitting in that chair was trying to fly a kite inside the mine, and that kind of behavior is only considered acceptable by people of high social status—like gym leaders. She had curly blonde hair down to her chest and she wore a sort of breathable toga-robe outfit that was white on the top and had a layered skirt with each layer a different shade of red or yellow or blue. Despite the springy attire, she had a thin, golden scarf wrapped around her neck twice, and it was still long enough for the ends to flow over the edge of the table.
"You found me," the woman spoke eerily. She looked at me liked I'd crossed pits of fire just for the chance to touch her hand or hear her speak. "Congratulations, future champion."
After a moment to get past my surprise, I cleared my throat and said, "Clearly you're talking to me because I am a future champion of pokémon. Also I'm a current champion of javelin throw retrieval. No one fetches javelins after they're thrown better than I do."
"Well, then I'm obviously in the presence of greatness." I liked this woman. She had a fun air about her, and not just because she was willing to admit my greatness. She was obviously some kind of weird to be hanging out deep in a copper mine all the time. The air was pretty hot and stale, which explained the light clothing she wore. I'd be feeling miserable if I'd been paying attention to myself instead of the maze.
But now, I was at the end of that maze. "Are you Mina?"
"I am. You are Gus, a member of Team Omega, aren't you?"
"Really just sponsored by them. I don't know how much of a member that makes me."
"Well, if they're paying your bills, they probably consider you a member. And you seem pretty skilled to find me so easily without following the string."
"What string?" She shook the roll of string in her hand—the roll that made me joke about her flying kites in the maze. Apparently, that string ran the length of the maze down the main path. As I traveled, I just kept taking the darker paths that sloped noticeably because I figured those were the two big cues. Or I could have paid attention a little higher off the ground and seen the string threaded along the wall that led straight to Mina.
"You didn't waste your effort," the gym leader assured me as she stood. "Following the string was the easy way, but it was available only at the cost of confronting stronger trainers and pokémon. The route you selected allowed you to keep your pokémon better rested, even if you did have to use a few survival skills to get here. Actually, your co-participants have already been eliminated from the competition. Their paths led them through some tough battles which they ultimately lost despite some truly amazing battles."
That was a pretty wicked idea in my head. I was smarter than both those other trainers who took the maze challenge? Well, I already knew that, but now I knew it for certain because I took the easy way while they took the hard way and lost. I could hear some wild rumbling farther down one of the tunnels that was either a mine collapse or a battle winding down.
"So I get to battle you now?"
"We've been battling all along."
"We have?"
"Of course. There are no wild pokémon wandering this mine. Everyone is trained by me, either directly or through my trainees. That sudowoodo you battled was one of my battlers. I think I hear another one coming right now."
The rumbling down the tunnel got louder and ended in a loud CRASH! A boulder slammed into the corner, but it shifted its position and began barreling straight for me. It was that golem that almost crushed me before. That must be the roaming pokémon Mina trained that ended up defeating those other two trainers, whether by itself or in tandem with other pokémon. No! It didn't matter how it happened! What mattered is that I was the only one left to win a Copper Badge, and I had to beat this golem to do so!
"Let's go, Conch!" My mergeant was excited to come out of the pokéball again, but I could see he needed to be back in the water soon. As mostly a fish, he wasn't really suited to battling on land. His gills can't absorb oxygen without water surrounding them, and spitting on himself wasn't good enough. The battle was likely to be a quick one, though, because Mina said her pokémon were already scattered through the mine for additional battles. We already took down her sudowoodo, for one. This golem would be a second. The others had to be knocked out by now.
Of course, there was the issue of all that speed the golem accumulated during its long-running Rollout. "We need a really powerful Bubblebeam," I told Conch. "All the speed and power you've got, okay?"
Just like the last time, Conch spewed enough bubbles to raise a blinding veil of mist throughout the tunnel. Each one popped hard against the golem as it powered its way toward us. The pain of the water attack was apparent as the golem flinched with each strike and lost track of its trajectory, suddenly rolling into the wall and ricocheting back to the other wall. Finally it flipped over after a failed attempt to climb the wall only a meter away from Conch. The golem was splayed on the ground for a moment, shaking off what must have been a very upset stomach. Do golems even have stomachs? Ah, probably not the best time to discuss it.
"Use Self Destruct," Mina requested. I wasn't sure if she was serious about using an attack that sounded as explosive as Self Destruct in such a confined space, but I pretty much got my answer when she took cover behind that stone table.
"Use Fish Kick. Quickly!"
As soon as the golem got to its feet, it closed its eyes and began to squeeze its body tight as if it were about to rip a big one. It may be getting tired, but it still had a lot of power left if we let it blow. Fortunately, Conch had enough strength left to initiate his signature water attack: the Fish Kick Propping himself up with a display of forearm strength only seen by break dancers and Popeye, he whipped his tail around front and slammed into the golem with enough force to shake loose all the water particles in his tail and create a light mist that was absolutely welcome in this stale mine air. The golem shot back through the tunnel it came from like a billiard ball. The collision with the back end of the tunnel shook it so much that's where it released its Self Destruct energy, far away from us.
Mina seemed disappointed. "That was unexpected," she admitted. I think she may have been looking forward to the explosion more than anything else.
"Is that it?" I asked. "We beat the last of your pokémon, right?"
"Not yet, Gus." She reached into her toga and tried to make me lose track of the battle while she pulled a pokéball. "I always keep one with me to guarantee a real pokémon battle for whichever challenger reaches me. Go, Baki!"
The pokémon she released looked to be six feet tall—or maybe only five feet plus one foot it hovered over the floor. Its body was stout and black, with stubby legs and arms shaped like cannons. Its head was enormous and covered with a ring of pink eyes that circled its entire head. Obviously this thing was literally able to see out of the back of its head. Actually, the way it kept spinning around I wasn't sure which side was the back of its head.
"And Baki would be a…?"
"You don't know what a claydol is?"
"Ah, of course. Ground and psychic. I read about it somewhere. I just didn't remember it. So… fire's still out. I guess I'll have to switch to Elly to keep a fighting chance." As soon as I looked down at Conch, I became aware that he was gasping heavily. I'd heard the sound the whole time, but I didn't put it together until just then. It wasn't quite a sound like he was suffocating. More like… he was learning how to breathe.
I'd seen this kind of thing twice before. Conch was evolving.
His upper body expanded as he gained some muscle mass in his shoulders and chest. His head elongated a bit as his face thinned, giving him the clear look of having a fish head. But his tail underwent the biggest change. It shortened tremendously as the mass redistributed itself into two sturdy legs. His feet were still webbed, though the scales seemed to draw into his leg significantly and give him a fleshy appearance. I couldn't believe it, but Conch was actually evolving to survive on land!
"There has to be enough battery left for this," I decided as I pointed my pokédex at him.
055-Fishtain
Lagoon Pokémon
[Water]
Average Height: 4'2"
Average Weight: 262.4 lb.
By shrinking its gills and growing lungs, fishtain is able to survive both on land and underwater.
I didn't get time to check out the details before my pokédex shut itself off. But this was awesome! My excitable water pokémon adapted to his preferred environment and made himself much more useful on land. He took to his feet very quickly, stumbling only a couple of times before he was able to dance in place like he'd been bipedal all his life. He looked ready to rumble!
"Just remember," Mina warned me: "A pokémon that just evolved is often weakened by the process."
"According to the pokédex, mergeants store a lot of energy right before evolving. I think Conch will be just fine. But you should also remember that ground-types are often weakened by water attacks."
"True enough. But Baki is also a psychic-type. You'll have to get to him before you can hurt him. Do you have what it takes?"
Baki struck first when Mina called for Extrasensory. His head began spinning around 360 degrees while every one of his pink eyes shone brightly. If that weren't creepy enough, Conch became very tense suddenly, as if gripped by some invisible force. Both pokémon shook violently for a moment, but only Conch showed any kind of negative effect. He swooned as noticeably as if his head had been squeezed in a vice.
"Use Bubblebeam!" I shouted to my new fishtain. But he flinched at the command instead of completing the move. The Extrasensory attack did a number on him. "Bubblebeam!" This time Conch was able to get his head straight. He took in a deep breath and began to spew a high-speed stream of bubbles, much larger than they were when he was a mergeant, and moving much faster.
"Use Earth Power!" Baki dropped to the floor and released a good bit of force into the ground. A small burst of lava popped out of the ground in front of him and fried many of the bubbles headed toward the claydol. Then another burst a few feet ahead, followed by another in rapid succession right in front of Conch. Finally one exploded directly underneath my fishtain, shaking him down to the ground and drenching him in dirt and magma. But Baki didn't get away unscathed: Those bubbles he didn't pop slammed into him pretty hard. It was difficult to read pain on his face, but for a moment he couldn't levitate as high as he usually did. That was a sign of pain, I think.
"Ancient Power." Mina spoke more calmly now that Conch looked beaten. "Three attacks should finish this." She could be right. Baki's whole body seemed to shine with incredible power.
"Rolling Kick, Conch!" While Baki was building energy, Conch pushed into the air using the strength in his new legs and somersaulted along the floor, planting his legs into Baki's gut. The force of the attack so surprised Baki that this time he flinched and stopped mid-attack. "Now finish it with Fish Kick!" Conch moved to a squat position and then pushed up hard with his powerful legs, completing a full backflip in the air while slamming his foot into Baki's chin and trailing a high-speed blade of water behind his legs. That attack shoved Baki into the ceiling, where he lost his ability to levitate and slammed right back down into the ground. After an attack like that, he was much slower-moving and struggled to get back up.
Then again, I may have mistaken as pain what was actually just a lack of legs to help him get back up. After swirling around on the floor for a moment, Baki did a kind of roll maneuver to climb the wall just until he got his levitating spinning-top-like peg-leg over the ground and took to the air again. I reeeeally thought that would have done more damage.
"Use Psyshock."
Baki didn't move any differently from his previous motions, but suddenly Conch was flung into the wall just past my head. He was pinned there for a moment when something started pelting him repeatedly. I couldn't quite make out what it was, but it was relentless as it struck Conch from all sides seemingly simultaneously. And while I thought it would be a short attack, it just kept going and going until finally I had to recall Conch into his pokéball. His evolution was pretty awesome, but that claydol had too much power behind it.
"You're not out yet, are you?" Mina asked.
That was a tough question. I could use Reggie here because his biting attacks would be effective against a claydol, but he wouldn't do well being hit by some of those ground attacks. Technically I could summon Elly, but if she couldn't move too well, then even with her stamina, she'd just be a sitting dragmor. Siggy was already done for the day. That left me only one choice. I was still scared of the idea, but right at that moment, I finally decided I wasn't being fair. I went through the trouble of catching it: I really ought to raise it right.
I lost track of how long I spent staring at that pokéball before Mina got my attention again. "Oh! Right. Come on, Sigilyph." A moment later the red energy comprised a living, flying glyph. The sight of it still stung a little, but I had to admit, it looked like a fighter. It seemed to know already that we were in a battle.
"Another psychic-type," Mina noted. "This battle should be intriguing."
My assessment of the situation was that I had the edge because she was on her last pokémon, and Baki was already wounded by Conch. Of course, Baki was not only in his element because of home field advantage, but also because we were inside a mine shaft and he was a ground type. Sigilyph was a flying type without any room to maneuver.
"Whip up a Sandstorm," Mina commanded of her claydol. Baki's entire body began spinning rapidly, and then dust and debris from the walls began whipping around at high speeds. It was a thick sandstorm, too. I lost sight of Mina immediately, and less than five seconds passed before Baki disappeared. And I wasn't even sure what move to retaliate with!
"Um…? What kind of psychic moves are there?" That was just great, Brain! I bet it quit right then as a passive-aggressive way to hurt the Sigilyph I was so scared of. It wasn't the pokémon's fault I suffered heat stroke!
But then I noticed Sigilyph wasn't getting hit by the sandstorm. It was just hovering there with one eyes trained on the spot where Baki disappeared and its other eyes darting around as if assessing the environment for an appropriate response. I couldn't figure out what it was doing at first. Was the sandstorm naturally held back? No, that wasn't it. If anything, the sandstorm was pushing forward, but it reached a certain point and seemed to reflect backward.
"Wow. That's quite a shield," I commented dryly.
"That's a strong Reflect," Mina said. Her voice was tough to hear over the roar of the sandstorm. "Use Extrasensory to get around it!"
I knew that move, but I didn't know any kind of counter to it. I just watched and waited for Sigilyph to get hit by a psychic wave, but nothing happened.
"What's wrong, Baki?" From the sound of it, it wasn't just me unable to notice a psychic attack. Baki never let one go. Why not? And why was the sandstorm easing up? With every passing second, the sandstorm lightened dramatically until it faded completely. Baki was on the other side settled on the ground, leaning on the wall for support. He wasn't unconscious, but he definitely looked beaten down. What could do that to him? Wasn't he pretty much immune to the negative effects of that sandstorm?
Suddenly I heard it. With the sound of the sandstorm gone, I could hear a soft noise that sounded roughly equivalent to dragging fingernails across five different chalkboards. It was hard not to hear it! What in the world was that noise? Is that what prevented Baki from using his psychic attack? Was Sigilyph using some kind of synchronized noise to interfere with the claydol?
When Sigilyph relaxed and turned back to look at me, I was almost without words. "Dude, you are one frightening creature. Remind me never to get on your bad side." As I lifted the pokéball to recall my creepy pokémon, I added, "Good work, though. Thanks." Now I was even more scared of him. I didn't even give any commands. How powerful was that sigilyph?
"Impressive," Mina said as she laid her hand on top of her pokémon and recalled him into his pokéball. She stood and gave me a little half-amused smile. "Congratulations, Gus. You earned yourself a Copper Badge." She held out a brownish, circular badge.
"Impressive," Mina said as she laid her hand on top of her pokémon and recalled him into his pokéball. She stood and gave me a little half-amused smile. "Congratulations, Gus. You earned yourself a Copper Badge." He held out a brownish, circular badge.
And I'm not sure why I make these arguments, but I said, "Really? I only beat three of your pokémon. It feels like I got off easy."
"It's true that your cohorts defeated and weakened some of my battlers for your pokémon. Maybe they got off a little easy, but you went through the effort of finding your way here by yourself, and did so much faster than anyone else. Personal growth and training is just as important as the growth of your pokémon. And your mergeant even evolved."
"But it feels weird wearing something that says I beat you if I didn't beat you at full strength."
"This is how I choose to battle," she confessed. "At most gyms, you must defeat a few trainers before you must then defeat the gym leader. Here, I reverse the tables and attempt to be the one to defeat three young trainers. I failed; I only defeated two. You earned this badge because you taught me that my pokémon and I are not as strong as I want us to be. Letting you broadcast our loss gives me motivation to be stronger."
In retrospect, I still don't know if I like that explanation, but it made sense—after all, I was trying to weaken my own chances by declaring everyone had to fight me head-on with full strength instead of accepting that they were all trying to help me grow. Maybe part of me was waiting for that perfect battle where everyone fights with all imaginable talent, exchanging blow for blow ultimately ending with a victory by whomever strikes first. There's a chance I was idealizing the pokémon battle. In reality, trainers had good days and bad. This was one of my good days. My proof? I got a Copper Badge!
I'll admit this fight wasn't as visually satisfying as the sharpedo, but I'm happy with it. I really like the Fish Kick and all the flipping Conch keeps doing. I guess it comes from watching Power Rangers as a kid. I'll take any feedback on the fights if someone has an opinion. Next time, Gus will meet the Omega General who will lead him on his first mission into the recently discovered Gnome Temple. What could await him in there?
EDIT: If you are reading this starting from 10/22/2012, then you read the extended version in which I added to the end of the fight. It makes the evolution less convenient and helps establish something for the near future. Plus it's a chance to see Sigilyph in its awesomeness!
Trivia: Fishtain = fish + captain
This continues the trend of naming this aquatic line after army ranks. Technically, captain skips a whole bunch of ranks and makes Conch an officer. But it would have been quite silly to call the next evolution a "staff fishgeant," don't you think?