Pokemon Cold Gray

by Blu Rose

(Rewrite of Pokemon Gray!) White understands Pokemon, but an incident left her with a crippling fear of them. Now she's on a journey with her brother Black to overcome it. But how can she while clashing with Team Plasma and the odd N?

26. A Battle in the Underground

Sun and Moon are officially out and I'm still writing a Gen 5 fic that began when Gen 5 was still relatively new! I seriously need to pick up the pace! (If only research papers could be ignored…!)

Disclaimer: Blu Rose doesn't own the Pokémon series, only this fic.

X-X-X

~An All Out Battle in the Underground!~

OR

~VS the Underground Boss!~

Several days passed without anything too important happening. I kept training, giving up catching a Grass type Pokémon. Besides, Shion had managed to fix at least one of her scalchop shells. And one Pokémon didn't need to be super-effective against another in terms of type to beat it. Training was all we needed—or so I told myself.

Cheren kept pushing himself. I swear, every day I saw him, he had a new bruise or bandage exposed on a part of his body. And he always said it was merely a result of training, which always worried me. Were his ideas of training always so rough and I just never had the chance to see it? Or was it an issue with his Pokémon…? I didn't know, because Cheren wasn't saying anything about it.

And Black…well, there's a reason why Black wasn't the one sparring with me or helping me find a Pokémon… When he wasn't walking aimlessly around Driftveil City, he was either lazing about in our room watching TV or watching something on a computer in the Pokémon Center's computer lab. No matter what I or his Pokémon did, I couldn't rouse him to do some serious training, but I didn't stop trying.

"Black, I know you're upset about the Alder thing, but you shouldn't let it ruin you like this!" I told him that morning as he watched TV with his Pokémon and Tiny.

"For the umpteenth time, this has nothing to do with Alder. I just…don't wanna challenge gyms anymore. I don't wanna be the champion anymore. It's…a bunch of things," Black said as he scratched his head, making his bedhead even messier.

"You've been telling me that this whole time, but I don't understand what those things are!"

"Nothing important."

"If they made you decide to give up your dreams, they're pretty important, don't you think?!" I snapped, making my brother flinch.

Black began to glare at me. "Look, White, I don't appreciate you taking this tone with me! If I wanna decide to not finish the Unova League challenge, that's my business!"

I put my hands up defensively. "Okay, okay! But even if you don't want to be the champion, I still think that you should challenge gyms."

"Why?"

"Because it will help you bond with your Pokémon! And it'll help them to get stronger! Even if you don't intend to challenge Alder, you should keep up your strength. Or else Team Plasma or something worse could cause you serious trouble because your Pokémon are too weak to—!"

It was now Black's turn to hold his hands up. "Okay, okay. I'll keep challenging the gyms. Will that get you off of my back?"

"Yes…" Sort of. I now had no reason for bothering him about challenging gyms, but I still wanted to know what else could've convinced him to give up aside from meeting Alder. But maybe, after training and challenging the gym, Black would realize that he couldn't abandon his lifelong dream of beating the league champion. Then he'd be willing to tell me what got him in a funk in the first place. "So, I guess you'll be challenging the Driftveil Gym first, as usual. While I was downstairs buying supplies, I heard the damage Team Plasma did was fixed enough that it could open again!"

Black arched an eyebrow. "Are you kidding? I haven't even trained since we got here. I'll just train the guys today and challenge the gym tomorrow." At that statement, his Pokémon cheered, making him jump in place. "I guess I'm the only one who wanted to stay indoors and relax for the rest of this trip…" Black stood up and walked towards the bathroom, saying, "You can still challenge the gym if you want, though. Good luck." He disappeared into the bathroom.

At that point, Kaito jumped off of the bed, landed in front of me and began shaking my hand enthusiastically. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! We were all so close to just attacking Black and hoping that would get the point across!" The Dewott exclaimed before he started hugging my waist.

"You don't have to thank me. You guys and I both benefit from Black snapping out this," I said as I began prying Kaito off. "Just make sure he trains while I'm gone."

Kaito let go of me and stepped back. "Of course! We won't let him slack off when he's barely gotten started!"

"Good. C'mon, Tiny." I called to the Pikachu. He jumped off the bed, ran over to me and jumped onto my shoulder. We left the room with Black's Pokémon wishing us good luck in our upcoming battle.

X-X-X

We travelled east of the Pokémon Center towards the Driftveil Gym. I'd seen the building once before while wandering around the city with Bianca, but its appearance still got me. It was large with walls that had been painted with a dull gold color and glass panes that, while shiny, were impossible to see through. It didn't look like the sort of thing that reflected the personality of a guy dressed like a cowboy to me. A pair of big red metallic doors opened when I stepped onto the mat in front of them and I felt a blast of cool air hit me in the face.

I stepped into the gym in complete awe. I didn't know what to expect, but…something that resembled a fancy waiting room with couches, coffee tables covered with magazines, potted plants in the corner, and several fancy-looking paintings on the wall was most certainly not even close to what I imagined Clay's gym would be. "Excuse me, miss. Is there something I could help you with?" And there was a woman sitting near the entrance dressed in a blue suit. She sat behind a counter, smiling politely and seemingly eager to help.

I looked around the room, searching for another door or an entrance into another room. When I couldn't see any, I asked the woman, "Is this really the Driftveil Gym? The one run by Clay?" I asked slowly.

"Why, yes. Yes, it is."

"Then where is the gym part of the gym?"

"Oh, you'll have to take the elevator. It's right over there, between those statues." The woman pointed over to a pair of gold statues with the Pokémon League symbol on them. Behind those statues was a panel of some sort, sticking out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the stuff in the room. "You just use that panel to activate it."

"Thanks, but…where does the elevator go?"

"Why…where else can it go but underground, miss?"

"Underground?!"

"Is there a problem, miss?"

I gulped and shook my head. "Not a problem!" I squeaked out as I approached the panel and stared at it. A set of instructions had been taped onto the panel next to a pair of buttons shaped like arrows pointing up and down, but it was easy enough to figure out on my own. I pressed the down arrow and gasped in surprise as the part of the floor I had been standing on began to shake and lower.

"Oooh! It's moving, White!" Tiny exclaimed, sounding happier about this than I felt.

"Yes, Tiny. Good job pointing out the obvious," I said as the elevator slowly went down a metal shaft. The shaft eventually stopped, but the elevator kept going and our surroundings began to resemble a mine shaft: dirt walls, hanging lamps and lights, other lifts that led to metallic platforms connected by ramps. I tried to focus on the number of platforms and not how far below solid ground was. When the elevator stopped next to a platform, I gave a sigh of momentary relief, before I remembered I'd have to go through this ride several more times.

"Oho! So you're the first trainer we get on our first day back in business!" A voice called out. I looked up and saw a man approaching us. "I'm the gym guide around here. Shocking, isn't it? An underground gym! They say Clay had this done so he'd always remember his climb from the bottom to the top. In fact, Clay's at the bottom of this mine shaft!"

"S-seriously?! Why is he at the bottom?!" I snapped, not looking forward to the descent.

"I just told you why."

"That's not what I—! Oh, never mind! So what do I have to do to get down to Clay?"

"Well, there aren't any trainers, so…just take the right elevators until you find the one that goes straight down to where Clay's waiting."

"Sounds eas— Wait a minute. Did you say there aren't any trainers?" The man nodded. "Is…that normal? Because every other gym I've been to has had trainers around."

"Oh, well, it's not like this is how we normally operate. It's just that the people who work at the gym are also people who work under Clay in his other profession—mining. After this whole hullaballoo with Team Plasma, no one's available. They're either busy working in other places or they quit because they think using Pokémon for mining's wrong. But good ol' Clay refuses to lay down and wait for them to come back! Instead, he just changed up his usual way of doing things!"

I gulped. "Oh, did he? How so?"

"I could tell you…but I don't wanna spoil the surprise. Besides, Clay would get angry at me if I spilled the beans. And that man is scary when he's angry." He stepped aside and held out his arm, gesturing for me to get going.

I placed Tiny inside of my bag before I stepped past the guide, intending to carefully walk across the platforms. There were no trainers to worry about, so why rush? "Hey, that's good! Right, White? We technically only have one person to fight."

"Yeah, but it's the gym leader. And that guy made it sound like he's gonna compensate for the lack of trainers somehow. I can't help but be a bit worried hearing that…"

"But we did all that training, so I know we'll win! Just keep telling yourself: we're going to win a badge today!" But I was a little too busy telling myself not to look down or think about how far down the ground was.

X-X-X

After several minutes of slow, careful walking, we were on an elevator going further down into the earth. The lights around and above us became replaced with a light coming from the bottom of the mineshaft, and the walls of dirt became walls of pure black rock. When the elevator finally reached the bottom, it was in front of a road made of stone, lined with pieces of clear green crystals that shimmered in the very bright lights that had been set up along the walls. The road led up to a piece of raised rock large enough to be a suitable battlefield.

"Remember: we're going to win a badge today!" Tiny repeated as he patted my arm from his place in my bag.

"Right. We're going to win this!" I whispered as I walked up the path and to the top of the stone. The top of the stone had been painted to resemble an official battlefield, and standing in the center was Clay, with his arms folded across his chest as he tapped his foot impatiently.

"Hmph! Well, if it ain't the little missy! Ain't that a surprise?" Clay said with a smirk. "You sure did take your sweet time comin' down here. What's the matter: afraid of heights?"

"When they're that high up, yes. And my name is White Ketchum!" I snapped. "And I've come here to challenge you for my fifth gym badge!"

"Fifth, huh? It's not exactly impressive, but that shows you're experienced. Good! I doubt some greenhorn fresh out of trainer school would be able to stand up to my current methods!" Clay pointed a finger at me. "Since there ain't any trainers to make sure the wimps don't get through, I've changed my usual bathe requirements to a 6 vs 6 battle to make up for the difference!"

"Wh-WHAT?!" I shouted. "But I've only got five Pokémon! And really, how does you using 6 Pokémon make up for not having any trainers?!"

"It makes up for it because I say so! And no one's sayin' ya can't fight me with just five Pokémon. Just make sure you knock out all six of my Pokémon before I knock out all five of yours!" Clay frowned. "What? Did you think I'd make this easy on you? A real Pokémon Gym's gotta have some sort of challenge! It's not like I'm askin' ya to solve the meaning of life or risk your life!"

I groaned and held a hand to my head. "Fine, fine…! I accept your conditions!"

Clay's smirk returned. "Good! I've been itchin' for a Pokémon battle to cheer me up! I hope you're at least entertaining, missy!" We then went to opposite sides of the battlefield to begin preparing. "ALRIGHT!" Clay bellowed loudly, frightening me as he held out a Poké Ball. "For my first Pokémon, I choose ONIX!" In a flash of light, a large snake-like creature appeared. Its body was made up of giant gray stones that looked smooth to the touch, and it easily towered over everyone else on the battlefield. I couldn't help flashing back to that Steelix from a few days ago, even though that creature was more frightening to look at and more dangerous to be around. "Now, I don't whip out my Onix for trainers with a measly four badges, so you should consider yourself lucky! Or maybe unlucky…!"

I checked my Pokédex for information on Onix. They were Pokémon known for digging underground tunnels and evolved into Steelix, which explained the familiarity, but they were Rock/Ground type, meaning it was even weaker to Water and Grass type attacks than the average Ground type. I had been planning to save Shion for Clay's ace, but I wasn't sure if the others would be able to handle a Pokémon that big–especially when the obvious weakness was dangled in front of me and it seemed like Clay wasn't just easing into things.

"Go, Shion!" In a flash of light, the Dewott appeared in front of me. A single scalchop shell was hanging off of her body, the only one she'd been able to restore during our days of training, but she'd gotten used to wielding one shell and was happy to have even one in her possession.

"A Water type, eh? Typical." Maybe, but I felt like she was the best option against a challenge like this, and since I already had less Pokémon to lose than Clay, I figured I had nothing to lose by starting off strong myself.

"Shion, Water Pulse!"

"Rock Tomb!"

As Shion placed her hands together to fire off a Water Pulse, the Onix slammed its tail down and caused the battlefield to quake. Large stones rose out of the ground and trapped Shion in a sort of mountain just as she fired a burst of water, the attack breaking against the stone instead.

"Now break 'em down with a Slam!" At Clay's command, his Onix slithered forward, raising its tail.

"C-cut your way out with Razor Shell!" As the Onix drew closer, the upper half of the Rock Tomb was cut off and Shion was revealed to have her scalchop in hand. "Dodge, dodge, dodge!" I exclaimed frantically as the Onix swung its tail. It seemed to make contact, but to my surprise, Shion managed to cling onto the larger Pokémon's tail despite the blow. "Alright, Shion!" I cheered as the Dewott dangled up into the air. The Onix made to slam its tail down on the ground and Shion jumped off in time to avoid being smashed in the process.

"Trap it with Rock Tomb, Onix!" The Onix prepared to slam its tail on the ground once more.

The moment it hit the ground, I shouted out, "Move now!" Shion darted to the side to avoid getting stuck in another rock trap. "Razor Shell!" The Dewott jumped at the Onix and slashed at it twice with her shell. It gave a baritone cry of pain before falling over, causing the arena to shake when it landed. "Alright! Way to go!" I cheered Shion on.

"Don't think you've won just yet, Missy. Onix, Payback time!" Clay shouted. His Onix began to glow with a purple aura before its tail quickly grabbed Shion and slammed her down on the ground. "Bwahahaha! How do ya like that?! I've fed my Onix a diet of Passho and Rindo berries to help toughen 'em up against his worst weaknesses: Water and Grass types!" Clay spoke proudly.

"Passho and…Rindo…?" I repeated, unable to hide my annoyance. "Whatever! No diet's gonna stop us!" As if stirred on by my statement, Shion got up and assumed her battle stance, but I could tell that she had been seriously hurt by the Onix's attack. And I couldn't really tell how much damage that Onix had managed to brush off, but Shion's attack obviously hurt it a lot. "Change of plans: Iron Tail Whip!"

Shion suddenly turned her back on the Onix, bent over, and began wagging her tail in a cute fashion. "Hey, hey~! Look at this!"

"Onix, don't you dare…!" Clay trailed off. The Onix wound up dropping his guard and inched closer to Shion, lowering his head to get a better look at her cute display. "Will you get away from that thing?!"

"Now!" I exclaimed, prompting Shion's tail to take on a metallic shine under the lights before it struck the Onix hard across his face, making him fall over once more. "I doubt you expected someone to come along prepared to handle Onix's Rock typing, didn't you?!" I allowed myself to be cocky.

"Dagnabbit, Onix! Don't you got any sense?!" Clay roared, admonishing his Pokémon.

Onix raised his head and looked back at his trainer to growl out, "Sorry…"

"Don't look at me! Look at them!" Clay's Pokémon immediately looked back our way. "We got no choice! Consider this your punishment for not paying attention! Bind 'em up!" Despite being injured, the Onix's tail attempted to grab Shion and succeeded after a few tries.

"Spray it with Water Gun!" I instructed.

"EXPLOSION!" Clay roared. Before Shion could even attack, the Onix roared and glowed with a bright white light before exploding in a violent manner. Dust was kicked up on a powerful wind and I wound up closing my eyes and covering my ears out of instinct. When everything calmed down, the Onix was shown to be lying on the ground, charred and hopefully only unconscious, with Shion looking the same while still held loosely in its tail.

"What…WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!" I couldn't help yelling at Clay. "What sort of person makes their own Pokémon explode like that?!"

"If I were one to give up easily, I'd have made Onix use that from the start! But I ain't! If anything, my Pokémon and I are stubborn to the core! If we're gonna go down, we'll go down fightin' and try to take our opponents with us! And as much as it pains me, that's just what Onix did!" Clay exclaimed as he held his hat over his chest, like he was honoring a comrade who'd fallen in battle. He then put his hat back on and gave me a hard stare. "Now quit whining and get ready for my next Pokémon!" He exclaimed as he returned his Onix into his ball.

I growled under my breath as I returned Shion before she hit the ground. "You did great. I doubt either of us were prepared for that." I slipped her ball back into my bag and waited for Clay to send out the next hurdle.

"Alright then! You're up next, Sandslash!" In a flash of light, Clay's next Pokémon appeared. It was a yellow creature with a pair of long claws on each hand and a back covered with brown quills. According to the Pokédex, it was a pure Ground type known for rolling up into a ball and defending itself with its hardened quills.

"Go, Eve!" I sent out the Eevee, who growled in an attempt to be intimidating.

"Aw, ain't that a cute Pokémon? Sandslash, do your Swords Dance!" The Sandslash ran towards Eve and began slashing at Eve in a halfhearted manner, allowing her to dodge its attacks. Its slashes were done in twirls and spins as it kept up with Eve. "Now, Crush Claw!" Its claws glowed and it lunged towards Eve, giving one quick slash that was quicker than its other attacks. When it made contact, Eve was sent tumbling over to the side of the battlefield.

"Eve! Are you okay?!" I called out, wondering if that single blow was enough to knock her out.

Eve got up and shook her head. "I'm okay!" She proclaimed.

I gave a sigh of relief. "Okay then! Mimic it and use Crush Claw!" Eve darted towards the Sandslash and claws of bright white light seemed to form around her front legs. When she jumped at her opponent, the claws slashed away at it and sent it rolling back. In response, it rolled up into a ball for a moment before uncurling, now on the ground on all fours. "Now use Swift!"

"Go underground!"

As Eve flipped in midair, the Sandslash began digging furiously into the rock. It managed to dig a hole quickly enough to escape underground, avoiding the ray of stars that had been fired by Eve. The Eevee looked around warily and I did the same, keeping my eyes on the ground. Eventually, I saw the earth behind her become disturbed. "Jump forward!" At my call, Eve leapt forward and narrowly avoided being stabbed by the Sandslash's claws as it jumped out of the ground. "Now, use Swift!" Quickly, Eve fired a ray of stars that hit the Ground type in the face and made it fall to the ground in a daze. "Quick Attack!"

"Aerial Ace!" The Sandslash dodged to the side to avoid a headbutt from Eve and spun around to deliver a spinning uppercut on Eve. It jumped a few feet off of the ground in the process and Eve eventually fell to the ground, landing on her back, while the Sandslash landed gracefully onto its feet. "Crush Claw!"

"Block with Crush Claw!" I shouted as well.

The Sandslash charged at Eve while she was still on her back. Its claws glowed just as claws of energy formed around Eve's paws and she rolled back onto her feet. Both Pokémon charged at each other, swiped their claws at each other and made contact—Eve's claws striking the Sandslash's stomach and its claws striking her in the back. After a few seconds in that position, they both suddenly fell over, twitched a bit, and finally stopped moving.

I found myself able to breathe once again before returning Eve to her ball. It was really close. Too close. If Eve didn't make that last hit or strike it hard enough, the Sandslash would've remained conscious long enough to do some damage to another Pokémon and make things harder. "You were awesome. I'm so proud of you."

"Dagnabbit! Another double knockout, and I wasn't even tryin' to do that! You sure are lucky, Missy!" Clay said as he called back his Sandslash. "Let's see if your luck holds out against my third Pokémon! Get going, Golett!" In a flash of light, he sent out a Golett that looked no different from Black's. Mars wasn't exactly weak against Ground type moves because of his Bug typing, but Golett was resilient against Poison type attacks. But he knew Pursuit, and I had the mind to teach him Gyro Ball from one of the TMs at our disposal. Also, I could always try poisoning Clay's Golett and relying on that to help make its stamina dwindle… "HEY! Don't go spacin' out on me, Missy!"

"Alright, already!" I shouted as I grabbed Mars's ball from the bag and sent him out into battle.

"A Whirlipede? Here I was expectin' something daintier from you, Missy. But dainty don't exactly describe you, now does it?"

My eye twitched. "I'll show you dainty!" I muttered under my breath. "Mars, Poison Tail!" Mars revved up and sped towards the Golett, the spikes covering his body glowing bright purple.

"Heh! Golett, Fire Punch!"

I flinched. "Fire what?!" The Golett held up a fist that suddenly caught on fire. Mars didn't have enough time to react and pull back, so he wound up getting hit by the Golett's flaming uppercut with enough force to send him flying over the hole-riddled battlefirled and back over towards me. "Mars! Do you hear me?! Are you okay?!" Mars only responded with a groan as his body shook, then he suddenly fell over, unconscious.

"That's how it's done, Golett!" Clay exclaimed as his Pokémon pumped a fist in the air. "You stunned by that, Missy? My Golett's got an ability that packs more force behind his punches!"

Wordlessly, I returned Mars to his ball and stared down at it sadly. "I only thought about the moves that would match his type, not what might severely harm you. I should've figured that would happened, considering anything his Pokémon had prepared for a Grass type Pokémon would work on you…"

"You gonna keep cryin' or are you gonna finish what ya started?"

I glared at Clay and growled under my breath. I felt Tiny tapping my arm as I slipped Mars' Poké Ball back into my bag and looked down at him. The Pikachu had an expression reflecting concern. "So, um…I know math is a human thing…but there's only two of us left that are conscious…and four of them left that are conscious… The difference is a bit scary, but I know we can win if we try! ...Really!"

I sighed. "Thanks for the vote of confidence…but I'm not really feeling it."

"Don't say that! The moment you stop feeling it, I feel like I should stop feeling it! And if no one's feeling it, how can we feel the feeling necessary to feel our way to victory?!" I gave him a blank look of confusion and the Pikachu frowned. "The fight's not over until all of us are unable to fight, right? If Panacea can't finish this fight, then I'll finish it for everyone's sakes! Type disadvantage or not!"

Clay cleared his throat in order to get my attention again. I pulled out Panacea's Poké Ball and sent her out onto the battlefield. "An Audino, huh…? Runnin' outta options, are we?"

"I still have options!" I exclaimed. "Panacea, Shadow Ball!" Panacea held out her paws and formed a ball of ghostly energy. She fired the Shadow Ball at the Golett and the attack made the Ghost type skid backwards a bit. "Again!"

"Golett, Bulldoze!" As Panacea formed another Shadow Ball, the Golett raised a foot and began to stomp down on the ground. That stomping somehow managed to shake the battlefield, and I swore the surface was rippling with each stomp. The stomping managed to disrupt Panacea's attack and she fell down on her bottom. "Now, Gyro Ball!" At Clay's command, the Golett pulled in its limbs and head, so that it now resembled a big ball. It quickly rolled forward, its body shining with a metallic sheen.

"Stop it with Psychic!" I commanded, but Panacea was still struggling to get onto her feet. The Golett collided with her and sent the Audino tumbling back.

"Knock it out with Mega Punch!" Clay shouted as his Golett's head and limbs popped back out. The Automaton Pokémon ran towards Panacea, aiming to punch her, but it was suddenly surrounded by psychic energy and sent flying back.

Panacea finally got to her feet, but she still seemed slow. "So sorry…Miss White… I feel a bit sluggish…"

"What sort of move is Bulldoze…?" I muttered as I took out my Pokédex to look up the move.

"NOW AIN'T THE TIME FOR READIN'! NOW'S THE TIME FOR FIGHTIN'!" Clay bellowed, making me drop the Pokédex in surprise. "Golett, slow it down some more with Bulldoze!"

"Slow down?" I watched as the Golett stomped the ground once more, knocking Panacea down once more. If the problem was that she moved slower than the Golett now, Panacea simply had to follow a battle strategy fit for a slower Pokémon. And since Golett's attacks aside from Bulldoze seemed fit for close combat, all she had to do was hold out and hit it with one powerful attack. "Panacea, Shadow Ball!" The Audino slowly sat up, panting heavily.

"Your Pokémon's too slow to attack quick enough to stop my Golett! Get in close with Gyro Bal and use Fire Punch!" Once again, the Golett retracted its head and limbs and rolled towards Panacea, just as she began charging her Shadow Ball. When the Golett was close enough, Panacea fired the Shadow Ball and forced the Automaton Pokémon to roll backwards. The Golett landed on its back, and when its limbs and head popped out, its inner light had dimmed. "Dagnabbit! You actually knocked 'em out!"

"Alright! Panacea, are you still in fighting shape?" I called out to the Audino.

"I'm…winded…" She panted.

"Okay… Get some rest and try to get back your wind," I said before returning her into her ball. "Now I just have to hope that Tiny can attack at least two of Clay's remaining Pokémon without worry." I looked down at Tiny. "It's your cue! Go for it!"

"Roger!" Tiny proclaimed before jumping out of my bag and dart out onto the battlefield.

"HUH?! A Pikachu?! Heh-heh…! BWAAAAHAHAHAHA!" Clay laughed as he held onto his stomach. "Oh, that's…! That's a good one, missy!"

"As someone who's prepped up his Ground type Pokémon to defend against their possible weaknesses, you don't think I'd prepare my Electric in case this happened?" I said with a frown.

The gym leader smirked. "Well, considerin' you're some greenhorn trainer gal who probably thinks she's quite the hotshot…!"

"My Pokémon have also managed to knock out three of yours already! If it weren't for this 6 vs 6 rule, I'd have beaten you already!"

"Ha! I doubt that! Get ready for my fourth Pokémon!" Clay shouted as he adjusted his hat. "C'mon out, Palpitoad!" In a flash of light, he sent out a Palpitoad. The large, bipedal toad Pokémon wasn't exactly a new sight, but the color of this one was different. The bumps covering its head and body were bright orange and the rest of its skin was a cyan shade of blue. The Palpitoad introduced itself by croaking, the bumps on its body shaking a bit.

"Tiny, Swift!"

"Palpitoad, Muddy Water!"

Tiny spun around and fired a ray of stars at the Palpitoad as it turned its back to him. The Vibration Pokémon took a blow to the back before slamming the ground with its glowing blue tail. Columns of dirty brown water rose all over to the battlefield. Tiny dodged a few columns of water, but he was unlucky enough to be propelled into the air by one that rose beneath him. The columns dispersed and Tiny fell to the ground, coughing out water.

"Knock it out with Mud Shot!" The Palpitoad's cheeks bulged before it spat out a basketball-sized hunk of mud at Tiny. But he managed to roll out of the way in time, so the worst that happened to Tiny was getting mud splattered onto him. "Keep firin'!" The Palpitoad continued spitting out blobs of mud at Tiny from a distance and Tiny continued dodging the attacks by running around the battlefield, even managing to jump over the holes made prior.

Finally, after having had enough of being on the defensive, I called out, "Tiny, use Swift!" While in midair, Tiny flicked his tail in his opponent's direction and sent a bunch of stars zooming towards the Palpitoad.

"Darn it, keep still! Palpitoad, use Muddy Water!" Clay's Palpitoad struck the ground with its tail again and caused pillars of dirty water to rise up. Once again, pillars of brown water rose up everywhere on the battlefield, and Tiny wound up getting propelled into the air by one of them. "While it's airborne, use Mud Shot!" Clay's Pokémon took a deep breath and fired a ball of mud at Tiny as he fell back down. The attack hit and the mud exploded as Tiny was forced back by about a foot before landing into one of the holes. "BWAHAHAHAHA! Good effort, missy, but it wasn't enough!"

I ignored him and focused on the hole. "Tiny! Show yourself now!" My heart sank a little bit. Had that attack done more damage than I thought it would? But it shouldn't have been able to! Now my heart was dangerously close to dropping into my stomach. "Tiny! TINY!"

Tiny's head suddenly poked up out of a hole. "I'm here! I'm still here! These things are confusing!" He suddenly noticed the Palpitoad that was very close by. "Uh-oh…"

"GRAB IT, GRAB IT!" Clay shouted and his Palpitoad broke out of its stupor. It lashed out its long pink tongue to wrap it around Tiny's head. Out of impulse, he released some electricity and zapped his attacker, which naturally had no effect on the Ground type. "Now slow it down with Icy Wind!" While it tongue was still wrapped around Tiny, the Palpitoad breathed out a visible misty wind. When he got enveloped in the mist, Tiny shuddered.

"Try and use Swift!" I shouted, thinking that it would hit despite Tiny's eyes being covered. Still flailing, the Pikachu flicked his tail and fired some stars in the direction of the Palpitoad. The stars hit it right in the face with enough force to make it fall over and release him. Tiny fell flat on his face and took a while to get up, as did the Palpitoad. The latter, however, looked like it was on its last legs. "Now, Quick Attack!"

"Supersonic!" Tiny dashed forward like a yellow blur and slammed headfirst into the larger Pokémon. The Palpitoad looked as if it were going to lose balance and fall onto its back, but it regained its balance and surprised the Pikachu by vibrating its bumps and unleashing a high-pitched noise. "Now, Mud Shot!"

"Quick Attack again!" I unconsciously crossed my fingers, praying that Tiny hadn't been confused, or that if he had, he'd break through it and manage to land the final blow. As the Palpitoad drew in another breath in preparation to spit out more mud, Tiny took advantage of the moment to tackle headfirst into it once again. Once again, the Palpitoad lost its balance, but this time, it fell onto its back. It was still conscious by the way it twitched, but too exhausted to move again. "YES!" I shouted, throwing my arms up into the air. "Two left! Way to go!"

"We're almost there, White!" Tiny exclaimed as he looked off to the side.

"…I'm behind you, Tiny…" I mumbled more to myself than to my Pikachu partner. I wound up returning him into his ball, thinking that he needed a while to recover from the confusion and the exhaustion. When he didn't resist and pop out, I figured he wanted the same. I slipped his ball back into my bag and took out Panacea's. "Just two more. If we can hold out for just two more…"

"ALRIGHT! Krokorok, it's your turn!" Clay bellowed as he sent out his fifth Pokémon. The desert crocodile Pokémon stood there looking like a giant Sandile on two legs, its arms folded across its chest like the trainer behind it. "Ya wanna give up while ya still can?" Clay taunted me while his Pokémon seemed to be chuckling to itself.

Without a word, I sent out Panacea, who seemed to have recovered a bit since her last bout. Thank goodness for an Audino with Regenerator. The Krokorok growled and narrowed its eyes as it stared at Panacea, and she stepped back a bit in response. I paid it little mind and thought about my options. I'd taught Panacea an attack that would be effective against Ground types, but considering how this fight turned out, there had to have been a chance that Clay anticipated it and not only taught his Krokorok the right move to counter it, but also feed him a diet that made him more resilient to such attacks. But it wasn't as if Panacea had any other attacks that'd be useful against someone who was most likely skilled in close combat, and she couldn't keep the Pokémon at bay with Psychic or Shadow Ball because those would be ineffective. But there was at least one trick that might work.

"Panacea, Attract!"

Panacea folded her paws together and gave the Krokorok a pleading look. "H-hello… Please take it easy on me, sir." I wasn't entirely sure how, but the big lizard began blushing and bowed his head to stare at the ground. Thank goodness it wasn't a female.

"Dagnabbit! Why don't you play fair instead of relyin' on a bunch of tricks?!" Clay shouted.

"Not tricks! Strategy!" I corrected the man.

"Strategy my behind! Krokorok, Sand Tomb!" There was no response from his Pokémon, who was too busy looking at Panacea and then looking away from her out of embarrassment. "KROKOROK!" Clay's bellowing snapped him out of the cycle. The Desert Croc raised his head and roared loudly. The wind picked up and a twister of sand formed around Panacea. She cried out in pain, covering her eyes with her paws even after the wind died down and the sand drifted around her like a cloud. "Now, Crunch!" The Krokorok ran forward before jumping at Panacea, opening his mouth wide before clamping his jaws down on Panacea's head.

My natural reaction was to gasp as Panacea flailed in the Krokorok's maw. "Q-quick! Icy Wind! Right down his throat!" After a few seconds, the Krokorok released Panacea and stumbled back, coughing out a thick, visible mist as it held its throat. Panacea, after landing on the ground, got to her feet only for the sand swirling lazily around her to suddenly become another small twister of sand before dispersing into floating sand once more. Luckily, while this was happening, the Krokorok was busy stepping back, hunched over and shivering.

"Talk about crafty, missy," Clay commented.

That wasn't craftiness. That was just being fortunate. I technically wanted to teach Panacea Ice Beam, but maintaining a beam for a prolonged period of time seemed to be more difficult for her than an instant "mental push" or "firing a ball of energy". Icy Wind was weaker, but more controllable—and in this case, it allowed Panacea to launch an unavoidable attack on the Krokorok's innards. …Now I hope we won't get in trouble if there's any health problems with it.

Still, this was an opportunity to attack. "Alright! Step back and make a cloud of cold air to help slow the Krokorok down!" Panacea took a deep breath and breathed out a visible cloud of cold air rather than a gust of wind. The Krokorok cried out and his shuddering increased in intensity.

"Use Incinerate to warm up and burn that Audino!" The Krokorok reared his head back, still shivering, and opened his mouth wide. Flames rose up from his throat to gradually form a ball of fire and the Ground type's shivering ceased. There was the Grass type counter. "FIRE!" A fireball propelled by a stream of fire was shot out of the Krokorok's mouth, dispersing the cold mist…and missing Panacea so badly that all it hit was the wall of dirt and rock behind me.

The Krokorok fell on his knees, crying, "I can't do it! She's just too darn cute! I'm just a male, Clay! A male in love!" Clay's Krokorok continued to sob.

"What the—?! KROKOROK! Snap out of it and attack! Use Thunder Fang! Crunch! Sand Tomb! SOMETHING!" Clay screamed, but his Krokorok continued crying. His face turned red and he began to stomp angrily, shouting obscenities that were barely understandable.

"…Ah! Quick!" I exclaimed, pointing at the Krokorok. "Secret Power!" Panacea held her paws over her head and the earth beneath her began to shake. Chunks of rock seemed to rise up and gather above her head and compacted to form a ball of rock. With a cry, she swung her arms downward and flung the rock at the Krokorok, who was too busy crying to dodge or defend himself. The rock wound up hitting him square in the snout and he fell over, unconscious. "Yes!" A cry of pain from Panacea suddenly made me aware of the twister of sand swirling around her violently. When the sand dispersed, she fell over, her breathing ragged and shallow. "Oh, no, no, no…!"

Clay cooled down a bit and began to smirk. "Well, well! Looks like we're both down to our last Pokémon!" He returned his Krokorok to its ball and muttered, "You should know better than to get seduced in the middle of a fight…" He looked back at me again. "Down to my last Pokémon… I don't know whether to be impressed or upset that you got this far, missy! But it's all over now!"

I ignored the threat as I returned Panacea into her ball. "You did a lot of hard work. I only hope it wasn't for nothing." I slipped Panacea's Poké Ball back into my bag and took out Tiny's. I sent the Pikachu out on the battlefield, now lucid after some time alone and looking a bit beat up and dirty from his last fight. "It's all on you, now! Do your very best!"

"I'm countin' on you, Excadrill!" Clay shouted as he sent out his final Pokémon. The Excadrill bellowed as it flexed its metallic claws. Its eyes fell on Tiny and it began to smirk. "This is gonna be easy pickings for you! Bulldoze, now!"

I watched as the Excadrill raised a foot to stomp the ground. As it lowered its foot, I shouted, "Now, jump!" Tiny jumped over the oncoming shockwave traveling beneath the earth came towards him. "Double Team!" Tiny began to zigzag across the battlefield, creating illusions of himself as he did. The Excadrill was busy keeping track of the growing number of Pikachu that it didn't realize that it was surrounded by six of them.

"Dig underground!" Quickly and effectively, the Excadrill used its claws to dig a hole and burrow underground. "You ever play Whack-O-Mole, missy? Well, prepare to get whacked!" After a few seconds, the ground began to shake and a spinning drill shot up out of the ground beneath one of Tiny's clones, making it disperse before quickly disappearing back underground.

"Dodge, dodge!" I shouted frantically, causing the Pikachu and his copies to scamper around in a panic. That in turn allowed them to be picked off gradually by the drilling Excadrill, until Tiny was surrounded by a collection of large holes circling around the center part of the battlefield, so close together that they seemed more like a strange-looking moat.

I was prepared for the Excadrill to strike from below and to warn Tiny to move at the slightest breaking of the rock beneath him. But instead, it jumped up out of one of the holes, its body compacted to the point of resembling a drill with a brown body, released itself from its form and landed in front of Tiny. "I figured out how your lil' mouse is still conscious despite being hit with—among other things—a Ground type attack. Shucca berries! You fed that mouse Shuca berries! Crafty little gal, ain'tcha?"

I didn't say a word, but I'm sure the look on my face confirmed it was the truth. Yes, I had fed Tiny Shuca berries out of a paranoia that there was a chance that I might have had to use him in a match during my time in the gym. I paid a bundle for them, too, the man selling them telling me that it was more difficult to grow certain kinds of berries in Driftveil, let alone Unova. Even if I had the time, I couldn't afford enough to build up an incredible resistance like Clay's Onix had, but enough to ensure that he'd get a few of hours of relative safety to ensure he wouldn't get knocked out in one or two attacks. Of course, now that Clay knew that, he'd probably opt for attacks that were more effective than not-so-effective Ground type attacks.

Clay smirked as he pointed forward. "Alright, Excadrill! Use Slash!" His Excadrill spread apart its claws and quickly slashed Tiny across his face. Tiny fell over, but landed on his feet, refusing to go down. "Don't let up! Keep at it!" The Excadrill raised a set of claws to strike once more.

"Flash, now!" A bright light shone from Tiny's body, blinding the Excadrill. It held its claws over its face and stumbled back. "Bind it with Grass Knot!" The tip of Tiny's tail shone bright green before he slammed it into the ground. Several glowing green vines broke through the rock and grew longer to wrap around the Excadrill's body.

"That won't save ya! Excadrill, kill those weeds with Poison Jab!" The tips of Excadrill's claws glowed bright purple. Slowly, it struggled against its bindings to touch one of the vines. A Poison-type move would likely weaken and wither the vines.

"Quick, use Rock Smash!" Tiny turned his back on the Excadrill and struck its body with his tail. He only got in a few hits before the Excadrill succeeded in crossing its arms enough to touch the vines binding its arms. In an instant, the vibrant green vines became brown and dead. The Subterrene Pokémon broke free and struck at Tiny across the face with its poison-tipped claws. Despite the attack, the Pikachu kept standing.

"I'm impressed to see a dinky little mouse with such spirit!" Clay spoke up, hoping to distract me. "Too bad I gotta crush it! Excadrill, show it how you smash rocks!" His Excadrill smirked as it pulled an arm back, preparing to thrust forward.

"Dodge and use Rock Smash!" As the Excadrill thrusted its claw forward, Tiny ran behind it. With its legs still bound by the remaining vines, the Excadrill wasn't able to keep up or turn around properly. With that opportunity, Tiny began attacking the larger Pokémon with quick, tenacious strikes of his tail. The more blows he landed, the more pain the Excadrill seemed to be in. It wasn't really able to respond to Clay's commands, which he kept bellowing out, in time. Then, with a final strike of his tail, the Excadrill cried out before falling forward and not attempting to get up.

"…DOGGONE IT!" I wound up falling silent as Clay began ranting unintelligibly. It was like when that Excadrill fainted, all the energy left my body. I wasn't even sure when I'd slumped to my knees, but I wasn't upset over the relief it gave to my jelly-like legs. Tiny had resorted to doing something similar, and probably at the same time as me: he was sitting behind the unconscious Excadrill, slumped over with his tails drooping but still conscious—if hanging on by a sliver. If I had more energy, I would've told him how proud I was of him. "What the heck are you doin' down there, missy? Pick yourself up off the ground!" I raised my head and found myself staring up at Clay's surprisingly pleased-looking face. "That's the sort of things losers do, not winners!"

I blinked in surprise and, with a bit of effort, got up onto my unsteady legs. I returned Tiny to his Poké Ball and couldn't help but smile. I wondered if he knew how grateful I was for overcoming such impossible odds. I wondered if everyone knew…how grateful I was for them pushing themselves to succeed. I then looked at Clay, expecting him to just give me the badge so I could go back to the Pokémon Center and recover.

But boy, did the satisfied look on his face creep me out after seeing him so angry during our match. I almost didn't recognize him without a scowl on his face. "Hahaha! You're pretty tough for a young'un, missy! Glad to see you're not just a pretty face who lucked her way into getting four badges! Nope, you've got an imposin' battle style—you and your Pokémon!" The smile on his face was then replaced by his familiar scowl. "Of course, that don't mean I like losing! I went all out on you—and I'm glad I did! Nothin' like an all-out-battle to cure what ails you!" He then reached into his vest, saying, "For showing how tough you are, you deserve this Quake badge!" He held out a badge that reminded me of a hill that had been cracked in half—the inside of the badge reminded me of earth and stone, and the lower half had a small green stone in it. I took the badge from Clay and stared at it before he punched me in the shoulder. "I like you, missy! You've got potential! I don't know how much potential, but…if you think you can go, go wherever! If you think you can do something, keep doin' it! Do things the way ya want! The only person who decides yer own limits is you. …Now, get outta here! I gotta fix up this battlefield before the next trainer comes along!"

Almost robotically, I went back over to the elevator and blocked out my trip back up to the top floor of the gym. I was so exhausted, and I wasn't even the one fighting! Were all six-on-six battles like this? I prayed I wouldn't have to go through something like that again for a good long while. In fact, my Pokémon deserve a break for a day or two on top of a reward for pulling through against Clay.

X-X-X

When I was right in front of the Pokémon Center, I suddenly remembered Black. I'd promised him that I would help him train. I hoped he wouldn't mind if I said I was too tired to help him out. As I entered the Pokémon Center, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw something I found too strange and shocking.

There was Black. And there was White Oak. Speaking to each other. They were too far away for me to hear their conversation, but they seemed to be getting on well based on their expressions. Black looked happy. Oak was smirking, for some reason, before Black said something that made her face turn red as a Tamato berry. She quickly shoved him back and ran upstairs to the second floor, quick as a flash. Black stood there in shock for a few seconds before he glanced my way and noticed me. He approached me, saying, "Hey! …You look exhausted. Was it that hard?"

"…Black, do you know who you were speaking to just now?" I spoke for the first time since winning against Clay.

Black blinked and stared at me innocently. "Um… Oh, you mean that girl? Her name was White Oak and…hey, why are you looking at me like that?"

I gave a shuddering sigh. "Black…I think we need to discuss something very…important."

X-X-X

"…And that's that." I took a deep breath and stared at Black, who was sitting on the edge of the bed in front of me. The moment we returned to our room in the Pokémon Center, I'd just told him all I knew about our dad's past life in Kanto, where he'd been for the last half a decade, as well as about White Oak and our meetings before now. What upset me was that he took the news rather well. He looked so calm when I wanted him to look a tad bit upset—or even excited over the news about our dad's true identity. "Well?!"

"Well, what? I already knew about Dad being the champion of the Indigo League and doing all that junk back when he was a kid, and I knew White Oak was somewhere in Unova. It's not news to me," Black answered simply.

My jaw dropped from surprise. "H-How?!"

"Well, how'd you find out?"

"…The internet," I muttered out of embarrassment.

Black nodded and smiled, showing he sympathized. "Same."

"A-aren't you the least bit upset about it?!"

"Why? What do you care if Dad didn't tell you about what he did in his youth? Mom didn't tell you she was a champ, either."

"Wait, Mom?!" I shook my head, unable to imagine my own mother as a former Pokémon League champion any more than my own father. …Well, maybe a bit more, with the comments of her being a veteran trainer. It was just hard to imagine that both of them were such people… "No, wait! Does Dad know you know? Does Mom know about Dad? Am I the only person in this family who didn't know about this?!"

Black frowned. "You didn't care about Pokémon League stuff when I found out! And talking to you about Dad was like talking to a brick wall in those days. You just didn't care." Point taken.

"…So why didn't they say anything then?"

"For Mom, I guess it was a 'been there, done that' thing. For Dad…I guess he just didn't like the attention. He doesn't seem like the sort of person who could handle all the attention a celebrity like a Pokémon League champion has to endure. I mean, before he vanished years ago, Alder was everywhere on TV." That sounded valid. Dad wasn't exactly anti-social, but he never seemed to like being the center of attention for people outside of the family.

"And why do you know about White Oak?" I asked sternly.

"Because I talk to our dad, White. He tells me things about the people and things in Kanto when I do. For instance, a couple of years ago, he told me the daughter of a friend of his started her journey. So amazing, right?" Black spoke sarcastically. "He told me that this girl who finished the Indigo League was now challenging the Unova League and to be friendly to her if I met her because she was gentler than she acted." That's a lie! Oak's anything but gentle! "Today was the first time I met her. She was nice enough to help me train my Pokémon. A better question though is how come you were making rivalries with White Oak and not telling me in the first place?"

"B-because I thought she was some crazy stalker at first! I didn't even know she knew Dad until we talked in Nimbasa! And then she talked about wanting to be rivals because he and her dad were rivals and dared me to look him up online and I was more concerned about our dad not saying anything about his past life! And then you started acting weird and saying you didn't want to be champion anymore and I was just worried about you!" We stared at each other in silence before I spoke again, "Does Mom and Dad being champions have anything to do with—?"

"No, it doesn't." Black's voice was flat as he interrupted me. "Now, let's change topics. You never said how you fared in your gym battle against Clay."

I really wanted to ask more, but I figured Black wasn't going to spill about those things that bothered him. But even as I told him about my hardships in the Driftveil Gym—minus the battle—I was thinking of how I could get him to confess. I was seriously wishing I was born with the ability to read minds rather than understand Pokémon, because I couldn't fathom what on earth had such an effect on Black that topped our parents' secret lives…

X-X-X

Notes!

In BW2, Clay uses a Sandslash instead of Palpitoad for his gym battle and adds an Onix in Challenge Mode. In the Pokémon World Tournament, he uses a Golurk (represented here as Golett).

Passho berries reduce damage from super effective Water type attacks, Rindo berries from Grass type attacks, and Shuca berries from Ground type attacks. In the games, though, their effects are for one attack only.

When used on rocky terrain, Secret Power's animation resembles Rock Throw.

Onix learns Payback via TM and Explosion via breeding (Gens III and IV only), Move Tutor (Gen 3 only) and TM (Gens 1 and 3-6). Sandslash learns Sandstorm and Aerial Ace via TM. Whirlipede learns Gyro Ball via TM. Golett learns Bulldoze and Gyro Ball via TM and Fire Punch via Move Tutor. Krokorok learns Incinerate via TM and Thunder Fang via breeding. Palpitoad and Audino learn Icy Wind via Move Tutor. Audino learns Ice Beam via TM. Excadrill learns Bulldoze and Poison Jab via TM. Pikachu learns Grass Knot and Rock Smash via TM.

X-X-X

This chapter is the reason why I don't bother with six-on-six Pokémon battles. I mean, remember to review for Blu and Pikachu!