Chapter Twenty-Eight: Battle
Eve spent almost all of the following week training with her pokémon, doing her best to prepare for the undoubtedly tough battle with Brian. She wouldn't have bothered if not for Mark's assertion that the battle really would be important in the grand scheme of the politics; using his own election story as an example, he pointed out just how easily something like a good battle can change public opinion. Yet despite his insistence, he didn't help out with her training at all. At the urgings of Jasmine, the gym leader of Olivine City, he and Cynthia had headed over to her part of the country to campaign.
Jenna and Eve had originally been planning on joining them, but the sudden proposal for a battle had forced them to stay behind and avoid the campaign trail for a few days. And though Jenna hung around constantly and watched Eve's training in the forest just south of town, she gave no advice to her whatsoever.
Of all the rude comments and less-than-kind things Eve had endured from Jenna, this refusal to aid her in training annoyed her more than anything for some reason. And she made sure that Jenna knew it.
"Would you remind me again why you're just standing around watching me?" Eve asked on the last day before the big battle. She was feeling quite stressed about the prospect of the battle tomorrow, to the point that her usual kind ambivalence toward Jenna had turned into terse comments such as this. She instinctually reached up to place a hand on her egg, which normally calmed her somewhat; unfortunately, she remembered too late that she had left it back in her room at the pokémon center. This realization made Eve feel stupid for thinking that it was there in the first place, further souring her mood.
Jenna sat at the base of a nearby tree, brushing out the fur of Amber, her ninetales. "I'm supposed to be watching you. Remember? Sort of a personal bodyguard job. You're lucky to have me around." She didn't look up from the creamy yellow fur as she spoke; she always reserved eye contact for when she was particularly intrigued with a person or conversation.
~But you could at least be helping us train,~ Hannah said as she stretched her vines to extend their reach. ~Amber, you could help us, if you wanted to.~
Amber opened her eyes at this comment; up until now, she'd simply been enjoying the feeling of the brush moving through her fur. ~If you could last more than a minute in a battle with me, then it would be worth my time. As it is, I only train with those who can help me become more powerful as well.~
~I could last that long,~ Aiden growled; he seemed more agitated by the ninetale's presence than any of Eve's other pokémon. ~Don't you dare underestimate my strength.~
~I second that!~ Basil said, sparking defiantly. ~I bet I could take you on, for a while at least!~
The ninetales let her eyes roll past them and to Pebble. ~And what about you? Do you think that you would be a match for me as well?~
Of all the pokémon present, Pebble was probably the one most suited for a battle with Amber; he had power that came from his age, a thick and powerful body nearly eight feet in length, and an aqua tail attack at his disposal. Add to these a resistance to fire, and it would have seemed a great match up for him. Yet in spite of this, he replied, ~I won't exaggerate my strength. It couldn't match up to yours, I'm certain. Yes, I could last for a minute, but I hardly believe that the battle would be of much use to either of us.~
Jenna, who had obviously caught none of this conversation, now spoke up. "How come you're just standing around, Eve? Don't you think you should get back to training? The battle's tomorrow, in case you've forgotten."
"Then why don't you help me train?" Eve retorted, the frustration in her voice obvious.
"And what fun would that be?" Jenna replied, untroubled by Eve's strangely harsh demeanor. It was about as close to anger as Eve had ever been around her. "The win won't be worth nothin' if you don't work for it on your own. So go on, get back to training."
Hannah flicked her leaf in annoyance. ~Why don't we pick a battle with her? You know, force her to train with us.~
Amber's eyes flashed dangerously at this comment, though her body retained its perfect calmness.
Eve sighed. "No, that's probably not a good idea. Let's just get back to training."
~But Eve, I really don't like her being so mean to you,~ Aiden whined. ~She's being purposefully unhelpful just to see if she can make you angry, probably. Can't we just have a quick fight with her? I don't even care if we lose – I can't stand her being so rude to you.~
~Agreed,~ Basil said. ~You've put up with her for a while now. I don't like seeing you just accep such rude treatment, even if she did save the world once upon a time. Just one quick battle. Please?~
A spicy aroma emanated from Hannah's leaves. ~Count me in as well. We're not making much progress just talking about how annoying she is, after all.~
Pebble shook his head sadly, almost as if he was dealing with bratty children. Of course, considering that even Amber was a good twenty years younger than him, this was partly true.
Eve saw this motion, and felt more or less the same way. A battle with Jenna would probably only leave Eve's pokémon too damaged for battle tomorrow. "I appreciate the thought, guys. But I don't think it would help. So for now… let's go back to working on the accuracy of ranged attacks."
And though Jenna continued to train her eyes only on her ninetales, the grin on her face grew wider as Eve and her pokémon recommenced their training.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"Best of luck to you," Brian said as he shook Eve's hand. It was a Saturday, and they were in the center of Ecruteak Gym's main battlefield; since Morty took a break from gym battling every weekend, Brian had decided that this would be the best location for the battle. Seeing as it was the largest battlefield in the area – with stands to either side that could hold up to five hundred people – it had been a good choice. The gym was literally packed with curious citizens and political die-hards alike.
Eve nodded, smiling. "And best of luck to you, as well. Though I doubt you'll need it."
Brian let go of her hand and walked back to his side of the room, letting this last comment stand. Eve likewise strode nervously over to her trainer box, fingering the pokéball of the first pokémon she would send out.
As soon as the two trainers were in their respective positions, the judge shouted out, "This battle will be four-on-four, with no substitutions. Do the competitors have any questions?"
Neither Eve nor Brian responded.
"Then let the battle… commence!"
At this last word, they threw their pokéballs into the air simultaneously; the crowd watched in suspense as the red energy burst from their containers and took solid form.
On Eve's side, Hannah took the battlefield; she was by far the most psyched of Eve's pokémon due to the fact that she hadn't been in a true battle for some time now. Eve had thought it best to start with someone who was truly excited at the prospect of battling, as a way to boost her own confidence.
Perhaps ironically, Brian had chosen his croconaw as his first pokémon, making the first match-up a battle between two of the evolved forms of the Johto starter pokémon.
The good news is, Hannah has the type advantage, Eve thought to herself as both pokémon sized each other up. The bad news is that this is the weakest of his top four pokémon, if Mark's information is to be believed. Which means it will only get worse from here on out.
"Ladies first!" Brian shouted out from the other side of the field, a mocking tone in his voice; it was as if he was a completely different person from the man who had wished Eve luck just a moment ago.
~My pleasure,~ Hannah said. ~I think a poison razor leaf is in order, don't you, Eve?~
Eve nodded, even though Hannah couldn't see the motion. "You know what to do!~
Without any further ado, Hannah sent off a barrage of poison-laden leaves. Brian reacted quickly, however: "Water gun at the leaves!"
The croconaw opened his large jaws and sent a stream of water gushing forward; the water collided with some of the leaves head-on, slowing them if not completely halting their progress. The stream was too narrow to stop all of them from hitting, yet for some reason, the damage he took was completely superficial. Even after receiving scrapes from several of the leaves, he showed none of the obvious signs of fatigue that the poison should have caused.
The mist from the water gun probably washed it all off in the air, Eve concluded after a couple seconds of thought. Was that coincidence, or did he study up on my battle strategy and plan ahead? Either way, I suppose we'll have to move to another attack.
The time Eve had spent thinking this had lost her precious moments, however. Brian was already calling his next attack. "Get in close and use ice fang!"
Eve watched as the croconaw charged forward, water coalescing around his teeth and quickly turning to ice. "Defensive vine whip! Don't let him get too close!"
Six vines shot out from around Hannah's neck, each stretching nearly twelve feet in length. She had improved a lot on the use of her vines recently, even despite the relative lack of training she had had up until the last week.
"Switch to headbutt!" Brian shouted.
The ice melted from the croconaw's fangs as he lowered his head. Eve quickly saw what Brian was planning; with enough momentum, Hannah's strong vines wouldn't be able to stop the attack.
Slightly panicky, Eve yelled, "Grab on to him right as he hits – bring him down with you!"
Hannah did as she was told, though not without difficulty. This croconaw had quite a few years of training more than her, and his headbutt certainly packed a punch. Yet when he hit her, she somehow managed to reach her vines around his body, pulling him to the ground with her as she fell. Without Eve's direction, she quickly looped two of her vines around his jaws, effectively muzzling him; the other four she kept entwined around his body, making him immobile.
~His jaws are only powerful when biting down, not opening up,~ Hannah said proudly as she brought herself to her feet, still keeping the croconaw tightly within her grasp. As much as the croconaw struggled, he couldn't escape from Hannah's grasp or open his mouth even an inch. ~What should I do now?~
Eve grinned with relief. "Nice bind attack! Now throw him down to the ground and use body slam on him!"
"Use iron tail on the vines!" Brian ordered in response. Using his still free tail, the croconaw managed to hit her vines before she could throw him, forcing her to withdraw them; yet she ignored the pain and carried out her body slam attack anyway, hitting him as hard as she could before quickly backing off again.
"Are you all right?" Eve asked.
~Yes, I'm fine! But you're wasting time! Order another attack while I have the advantage of distance – I'm not going to be able to make it if he lands an ice fang!~
Just as Hannah was saying this, Brian indeed ordered another charge with ice fang, hoping to catch Hannah and Eve off guard.
"Then, uh, razor leaf! No poison!" Eve shouted, panicking again. Before Brian could react, the salvo of leaves launched itself from Hannah's leaf as she twirled it above her head. Since she wasn't focusing on adding poison to them, the leaves were both faster and more accurate. Croconaw was forced to a stop just a few feet away from Hannah, turning so that the leaves hit his back instead of his face and stomach.
"Get away, croconaw!"
"Use vine whip, Hannah!"
Croconaw quickly tried to run as the leaves suddenly stopped, yet he soon found himself tripping on one of Hannah's vines as all six of them began beating at his body. Already weakened from the razor leaf, the croconaw found himself unable to push himself back to his feet as Hannah lashed at his back.
When Hannah finally withdrew her vines, the water-type was all but immobile.
"Brian's croconaw is unable to battle!" the judge cried out, provoking many boos from the crowd; most of them were the more radical supporters of Rocket Corporation and Brian.
Brian shrugged it off as he returned his croconaw. "Don't you think you ought to tell your pokémon what to do, not the other way around? That bind attack wasn't even your plan."
"If Hannah or any of my other pokémon can improvise, then I don't see why I shouldn't let them," Eve answered. "After all, they're the ones battling. Surely they have a better sense of what to do than I do." Yet despite the sense in this answer, more discontented shouts were coming from the bleachers. It was practically unheard of for a trainer to let their pokémon do anything outside of their direct orders.
Brian seemed to ignore both Eve's response and these shouts, and instead proceeded to call out a large, metallic bird-like pokémon.
That would be skarmory… By the looks of things, this battle is going to go back and forth depending on who has the type advantage.
Before Eve could think of what to do, Brian ordered a wing attack. The skarmory dove with incredible speed, easily striking Hannah before she could even think to dodge. It knocked her to the ground. After a couple of tense seconds, it was clear that she wasn't going to get back up.
The crowd cheered as Hannah was recalled. Eve let out a breath as she picked her next pokémon, trying her best to calm herself. That skarmory is strong… Of course, Hannah had already taken damage from that headbutt and iron tail attack, but still…
Basil was her next choice; if Mark was right in his guesses on what pokémon Brian would use, then this skarmory would be the only pokémon other than croconaw that electricity would be strong against.
"Agility!" Eve shouted right as Basil appeared. She'd taken Hannah's earlier criticism to heart; she couldn't hesitate in a battle. "Your goal is to keep Skarmory from hitting you with any physical attacks!"
Basil began to dash around the battlefield, sometimes changing direction so quickly that the eye kept on looking at his original course for a second or two before realizing he wasn't there.
"Gust – blow that runt into the air!" Brian said. The skarmory flapped his wings powerfully; the wind slowed Basil down for a moment, but he quickly adjusted his course to use it to his advantage, letting it speed him to as close to Eve as he could get. At this distance, the gust didn't have as much effect, though it was still strong enough that Eve had to bend into it to keep from being blown over.
As quietly as she could so that Brian wouldn't hear the command, Eve said to Basil, "Charge, then a thunderbolt attack. Just keep on using thunderbolt whenever Skarmory is far away, and go with agility whenever he's close."
His red cheeks sparked with electricity for a moment, as did the small sunburst mark on his head where Eve had transferred Raikou's gift of power into him; though it had faded in the past weeks, it obviously still contained all the potential power that Basil would have if he ever chose to evolve. Then, once he had accumulated enough power, he sent off a powerful blast of electricity that arced towards the flying-type. Basil couldn't have missed even if he tried; Skarmory was practically a flying lightning rod.
The bird shrieked in pain, its cry halfway between the call of a fearow and the grinding of two pieces of metal together. He dropped a few feet in the air, but he gathered himself before completely plummeting to the ground.
"Quick attack!" Brian said.
"Agility!" Eve responded quickly, knowing that Basil's small body would be no match against the sharp mass of Skarmory.
Though the skarmory was fast, this small size of Basil and his already boosted speed worked to his advantage; he dodged, then quickly followed Eve's plan and sent off another thunderbolt, though this one was weaker than the first.
"Razorwind!" Brian ordered.
"Endure it and use thunderbolt!" Eve said. And though the wind did actually hit Basil with enough force and with enough of an edge to badly cut him in several places, he ignored the injuries and instead focused on sending off yet another powerful thunderbolt. This time, Skarmory crashed to the ground, unable to recover.
Brian withdrew his skarmory without even waiting for the judge to declare him incapable of battle. He threw his next pokéball into the air, and the red shape of the energy that took form in front of Basil was nearly a foot taller than Eve; it was by far one of the most intimidating pokémon Eve had ever seen, at least as far as size goes.
It was large, red, four-legged pokémon, though his abdomen was so thick that he seemed more like a quadrupedal wall than an actual living, breathing pokémon. Two volcano-like protrusions sprouted from his back, and his mere presence made the temperature of the room go up considerably.
"Basil, back off!" Eve commanded, inwardly wondering whether she should just withdraw Basil now. After all, his only really damaging attacks were electric, and camerupt had ground as one of its types.
Brian knew that Eve was in a tight spot, and he wasn't about to go easy on her because of it. "Magnitude."
The ground of the battlefield began to shake, so much so that Eve could see small fissures appearing in the sandy ground around the field's marked limits. Basil had no choice but to dig into the sand for dear life, though he might as well have been grabbing onto water for all the good it did him. He was knocked violently back and forth as the ground shook, the camerupt managing to keep up the quaking for nearly a minute before allowing it to die down. Eve was knocked off her feet as well, and suffered much the same problem as Basil.
Brian, for his part, had the sense to kneel down before the quake started, bracing himself against the ground to keep himself upright. Both Eve and Basil were still recovering as he stood up and ordered the next attack. "Flamethrower."
Still too shaken to move, Basil was hit with the full force of the flames. Eve didn't even wait to see if he would be okay after the flames were gone; she quickly returned him to his pokéball before the fire could do too much damage.
Eve trembled as she pushed herself to her feet, due in part to the magnitude just a moment ago, and in part to the brutal beating that Basil had just received.
Of the two pokémon she had left, only one made sense to use against a ground and fire type. "Pebble, it's your turn!" she said as the serpent appeared.
Brian looked at him curiously for a moment. "A dratini? Since when did you have one of those? I thought your only pokémon were a bayleef, a pikachu, an arcanine, and a gastly."
The mention of Blight hurt, but Eve didn't show it. "He's just a new friend I met a couple weeks back. Guess I haven't really battled with him at all yet. But you're up for it, right, Pebble?"
Pebble gently rocked back and forth, so slightly that it was almost imperceptible. ~Of course. It's always been a good way to pass the time.~
"All right, then. Dragon rage!"
A small sphere of bluish-purple fire formed just in front of Pebble's snout, then launched itself forward into Camerupts face. Though small, the dragon-type attack packed a punch, and it took a few moments for Camerupt to shake off the shock of the pain.
"Another magnitude, then," Brian commanded.
The ground began to shake again, though not quite as violently as before; Eve didn't react quickly enough, and was knocked off her feet again. Pebble, on the other hand, seemed to sway with the shaking, letting his supple serpentine body absorb the convulsions of the earth.
Eve struggled to get to her knees, doing her best to ignore the bruises that were already developing from the first magnitude. "Get close, if you can, and use aqua tail!" she shouted.
Pebble had absolutely no trouble moving quickly towards his target, even considering the still-quaking ground. As soon as he was close, he shifted his weight to the front four feet or so of his body. Water quickly formed on his tail, seemingly leaking from his skin; once it was sufficiently coated, he slammed it into Camerupt's head.
The hulking pokémon actually staggered with the force of the super effective blow. Pebble, though unevolved, easily contended with Aiden as the strongest pokémon on Eve's team.
Brian ordered a flamethrower, but before Camerupt could recover, Eve asked for the first attack that came to her head: bind. Pebble slithered onto Camerupt's head and neck – easily the weakest parts of his body – and began to squeeze with all his might.
Camerupt tried to shake him off, but his neck didn't have the mobility to get much speed into its throes. Pebble stubbornly kept his grip. Brian, visibly worried, ordered Camerupt to use lava plume, but Camerupt didn't hear this command. Pebble had quite cunningly made sure that his body covered both of Camerupt's ears, making him essentially useless due to how conditioned he was to only attack on his trainer's orders.
Eventually, his struggling slowed and stopped, and he collapsed to his knees. He simply couldn't get the oxygen that he needed to his lungs.
"Camerupt is unable to battle!" the judge declared. "Brian, you are down to your last pokémon!"
Pebble slithered back to Eve's side of the field when Brian recalled the camerupt to his pokéball. Eve wanted to congratulate Pebble, yet she was almost wordless with awe; even after training with him, she hadn't quite realized until just now exactly how powerful eighty years of experience made a pokémon. Especially a dragon-type.
"It's been an impressive battle," Brian admitted as he threw out his last pokéball. "But I'm afraid that's the last of my pokémon that you'll defeat."
A pokémon almost as tall as camerupt appeared, though it was not nearly as large thanks to the fact that it was bipedal. It was covered in brown fur, the only exception being the cream-colored ring on its stomach; it had long, powerful arms with sharp claws on its paws, and a very fierce expression on its face.
Despite its relative size, Eve was afraid of this pokémon more than any other on Brian's team. Even without Mark's warnings, she could sense that this pokémon – Brian's ursaring – was much stronger than any of his others.
"Slash!" Brian said.
"Dragon rage!" Eve replied as the hulking pokémon ran forward with surprising speed, hoping to maybe stop him before he reached Pebble. Though Pebble launched his attack with plenty of time to spare, the ursaring hardly even flinched when it hit. He just kept on charging forward. He swung his paws downward just as he reached Pebble, putting all his momentum into the blow; the sharp claws dug deeply into Pebble's side, opening a large gash a foot below his head.
Yet despite the blood now running down his body, Eve could tell that Pebble wasn't quite ready to give up.
"If you have it in you… Then use twister!" Eve said.
Pebble straightened a little bit, tensing as energy in the form of wind began to rotate around his body, kicking up the sand on the floor. The small dirt devil quickly turned into a full-fledged twister, with such strength that Eve felt herself being pulled into it. With a flick of his tail, Pebble made the twister move towards ursaring, find its target, and begin to revolve with a grim resolve around the pokémon, completely obscuring him from view.
Over the roar of the wind, Brian shouted, "Charge out of it and use thrash!"
After a few moments wait – perhaps as Ursaring struggled to get his bearing in the center of the twister that raged around him – he managed to escape from the funnel of wind. This last twister had obviously done a good bit of damage, judging by the cuts along much of his body and the slight trembling that filled his limbs.
Yet he didn't let this stop him as he found his target and ran forward yet again, this time slamming down his arms onto Pebble's body in an almost blind frenzy.
Knowing how much damage this would probably do, Eve rapidly recalled Pebble to his pokéball before the thrashing could continue for long. With that wound, Eve didn't want to force him to endure too much. She was down to her last pokémon now, and despite the fact that Ursaring was already worn down, Eve somehow doubted that she could win. Aiden was strong, but this Ursaring probably had attacks that could take him down in one or two hits.
"All right, Aiden, fire blast!" Eve said immediately as Aiden emerged from his pokéball, already in fighting stance.
"Dodge and use sweet scent," Brian said, apparently unconcerned. The Ursaring moved with his surprising agility out of the path of the strong but narrow blast of fire, then used his sweet scent attack; though there was no visible way to tell what he was doing, an almost sickly-sweet smell suddenly filled the air, emanating from his brown fur.
Aiden's eyes drooped a little bit, almost as if he was thinking more about the good smell than the danger of the battle. "Come on, Aiden, snap out of it!" Eve shouted. "Use fire fang!"
To Eve's surprise, Brian still seemed unfazed as Aiden ran forward. "Take the hit. Keep on using sweet scent."
Aiden charged forward with the speed and grace that only arcanine and a few other species of pokémon possessed; and he bit down with a power equal to his loyalty to Eve, which was such a bite that it would have given even a feraligatr a run for its money. Yet despite the flames that licked up from where Aiden was biting down on Ursaring's arm, the ursaring continued to use his sweet scent attack. Because of how close Aiden was now, he was breathing in the fumes directly. His body became noticeably more relaxed, even as he kept his tight hold on the arm.
Eve suddenly had a very bad feeling about where this was going. She wasn't one hundred percent sure what sweet scent did, but she didn't like how calm Aiden was. That sort of attitude was absolutely not good for a battle.
"Aiden, let go and get back far away!"
Aiden did as he was told, but his movements were sluggish; he had only managed to turn himself around when Brian ordered an attack that Eve had only seen a couple times before: hyper beam.
The ring on Ursaring's stomach glowed for a second as Aiden tried more frantically to escape. The fire-type's efforts were in vain, though; he still moved fast, but not with nearly as much of the unpredictable yet smooth movement of before. Ursaring opened his mouth and fired off a beam of pure energy before Aiden had gone even twenty feet.
This beam hit him mainly in the back of the legs, and the slight explosion that came from energy meeting matter caused the arcanine to tumble forward for a good ten feet before skidding along the sand for nearly twice that length.
Eve clenched her fists and waited, hoping that the blow hadn't been as bad as it had looked. But Aiden didn't get up. That one attack had been enough to knock the regal pokémon out.
"Eve's arcanine is unable to battle – Brian is the victor!" the judge shouted, though he was barely heard over the roar of approval of the crowd. Nearly two-thirds of them were Brian's most radical supporters, all of whom probably would have challenged Eve to a battle if Brian hadn't won.
As Eve withdrew Aiden to his pokéball, she tried to bite back her disappointment. She had never been a very competitive person, but for some reason, she really had wanted to win this battle. Perhaps this was due to Brian's charisma; part of her felt that maybe she'd earn more of his respect if she won, and for whatever reason, she really wanted that. Or maybe she felt as if this had been more than just a battle between two people. Though she might pass it off as an ordinary match, the truth was, it had really been a battle of ideologies. And in that battle, Eve and her beliefs had lost.
She tried not to let this disappointment show as she walked back to the center of the arena to shake hands with Brian once again.
"It was a good match," Brian said as they met, his attitude completely cordial. "You're pokémon are really strong, especially considering how short a time most of them have been with you. The only reason why I won is that I've trained my Ursaring for nearly fifteen years now."
Eve's brows slightly furrowed in response. "Fifteen? But you're only, what, twenty-five?"
"Not even that," Brian said, grinning. "Only about a year older than you, I think. I'm twenty now. I actually caught my teddiursa on the day that my parents were killed, and perhaps because of that coincidence, I've trained him almost nonstop ever since." He finally dropped his hand, but before Eve could turn and head over to where Jenna was waiting on her, he added something else in a low voice. "Eve… Do you believe that there's ultimate good and ultimate evil?"
The teen scowled again in response, looking into Brian's eyes as if she were trying to see into his soul. "Yes, actually, I do. But both are hard to see directly. Humans and pokémon are inherently good, but also inherently flawed – it's hard for one to completely overcome the other. Or so I think."
With a grave look on his face, Brian replied, "Well, while I can't speak for the good, I do want to give you a warning that the bad isn't quite as hard to find as you might think. I can't say much, but… Let's just say that the shadows in the hearts of many humans are stirring. I'd watch your back if I were you."
Before Eve could ask him what he meant, Brian strode off towards the crowd to greet his followers and probably give them another of his own heart-stirring speeches. She stood speechless for another moment, watching him as he walked away; then she turned, picked out where Jenna was at the edge of the crowd, and headed towards her, her mind still trying to decipher the meaning behind what had just been said.
Almost as soon as Eve stepped off the battlefield, Jenna grabbed her hand and practically dragged her towards the door of the gym.
"Huh? What's up?" Eve asked, temporarily bringing herself out of the reverie.
"You wanna get your pokémon to the pokémon center for healing, don't you?" Jenna said without turning around. "Well, if we hang around here too long, then the crowds and the press will never leave you alone. I don't want to wait around here all day." As she said this, she pushed her way through two or three of the reporters in question, all of whom had been planning on catching Eve as she left the gym.
Eve somehow doubted that this was why Jenna was so anxious to leave, but she was still too distracted with her own thoughts to care much. She simple followed Jenna through the streets until they made it to the nearby pokémon center. Almost as soon as she had dropped off her pokémon for care, Jenna started pulling on her hand again, very heavily suggesting that they ought to go hang out at the park for a while; Eve insisted on grabbing her aerodactyl egg first, but otherwise went without complaint. She had nothing else better to do with the rest of her afternoon, after all.
It wasn't until they were in a rather isolated grove of trees in the park that Jenna finally got to what was really on her mind.
"You know, Eve, I was actually kind of impressed with your battle," Jenna said as she pulled herself up onto a low-hanging tree branch and sat up there, her back against the trunk. "I mean, don't get me wrong: if you didn't have strong pokémon, you would suck as a trainer. You have absolutely no strategy. But what surprised me was how resolutely your pokémon stood up against their opponents. I'm certain Basil would have faced down that camerupt without flinching, if he'd had the chance. And you've only had Pebble for a couple weeks, yet he refused to back down even after getting that gash."
Eve was so shocked at this apparent compliment that she didn't respond until a couple moments later. "I think that's sort of just how Pebble is. He doesn't seem like a pokémon who would back down from a challenge, as long as it wasn't complete idiocy to keep fighting. And Basil… Well, he's Basil. He'd fight a wailord in the ocean and still not surrender, even considering his size."
"No, no, no. You don't get it," Jenna said, for once looking straight at Eve. "Yes, part of it is their respective personalities. But all of your pokémon fought with a sort of commitment that I don't see very often. I can't believe I missed it up until now; I guess this was the first real battle I've seen you in, so that gives me an excuse. Anyway, do you know what it takes to make a good trainer? Or, rather, do you know how it is that someone like me can become the strongest trainer in the world by the age of fourteen, when other people train their entire lives and can't even beat the pokémon league?"
Eve shook her head.
"Here's the deal. Part of it is training, and lots of it. I've had most of my pokémon since I was six or seven, and training has literally been our lives ever since I first captured them. But another part of it – the part that separates dedicated but unsuccessful trainers from truly remarkable trainers – has something more to do with how you relate to your pokémon. Maybe it's just because you can talk to them, or maybe it's something else that people like you and me and Cynthia share. And Mark and Brian, for that matter. And probably Hope, as well. Anyway, my point is, the normal bond between humans and pokémon is mediated by the pokéball, and the bond is fairly superficial in that sense. But for people like you and me, the link is different. Your pokémon don't battle for themselves, as a lot of trainers' pokémon do. They battle for you. The same goes for my pokémon with me. Even if I released them all right now and destroyed their pokéballs, they would battle for me against any adversary, even to their dying breath. Do you get what I'm saying?"
Eve lowered herself carefully to the ground, resting her back against another tree's trunk. She rubbed her egg thoughtfully and said, "Actually, yes. I've never really thought about it, but… What I guess I'm saying is, I've talked to a lot of trained pokémon. Most will say they love their trainers, but they'd have no issue going back to the wild. But your pokémon – and Brian's, and Cynthia's – they all talk about you guys and even just look at you in a different manner. I've never consciously noticed it before. How did you figure it out?"
She grinned. "Instinct. How else do I figure anything out? Anyway, here's the deal. I wasn't planning on telling you this, but after seeing that battle, it somehow seems like a good idea. So here goes. You've asked me before why I want to meet Ho-oh so much. Contrary to what you might think, it's not just for excitement, though I won't deny that my life can always do with some spicing up. But you see, there are a lot of legends about Ho-oh – including the Raikou, Entei, and Suicune one – that talk about the restorative powers of his fire. I figure that if he can do stuff like revive three pokémon at once, then he might also be able to fix what's wrong with my body. And as I said before, I'd really rather not die anytime soon. So I desperately, desperately want to find Ho-oh and get him to help."
Looking up at Jenna and meeting her eyes, Eve asked, "Why didn't you tell me before? Didn't you think that I'd want to help you more if I heard that?"
Jenna made an indignant noise in her throat. "I didn't want your pity. I still don't want your pity. By Arceus's Plates, I'd never want to get something because of weakness rather than strength. Giratina might as well take my soul to the dark world the moment that happens, seeing as I wouldn't be able to live with myself after that. I'm just telling you now as a friend to a friend. And if you let me meet Ho-oh only because you feel sorry for me, then I swear you might as well just not offer. Because I will know, and then I'll probably refuse to go. And I'll beat you to a pulp because you pitied me, too."
Eve's jaw practically dropped. She was absolutely stunned. Jenna, who had been so rude to her this past week, was actually openly calling Eve a friend. As if that weren't enough, she was finally revealing why she wanted to go see Ho-oh. And as if that weren't enough, she was saying that she'd rather die than be saved out of pity.
And all of these stunning facts culminated to one single conclusion in Eve's mind, completely blowing away all the doubt of before: Jenna was the one who could help her summon Ho-oh.
"Jenna… From a friend to a friend, let me ask you something," Eve said.
The girl – this strongest trainer in the world, though she was only in her twenties – tilted her head questioningly. "What?"
"Are your pokémon ready for a battle, should one arise?"
Jenna didn't hesitate in the slightest. "Of course. They always are."
Eve smiled. "Then here's the deal. In a couple days time, once my pokémon are healed but before Mark and Cynthia get back, you and me and our pokémon are going on a little trip to Bell Tower. We're going to meet Ho-oh. And do you know why I've finally decided to take you?"
"If it's pity, then I swear I'll beat you down right here and now," Jenna replied, her glare intense.
Eve actually laughed in response; something about this sudden change in the relationship between herself and Jenna made her almost giddy with a sort of happiness. "No, hardly. But the thing is, I need a human with me who can help me to summon Ho-oh. And based on what you just told me, I think that you represent power well enough to be that human. That is, only if you're willing to risk your life, because something tells me that neither Ho-oh nor Raikou nor Entei will be happy to know that I'm still not planning on destroying humanity."
"Sounds like an interesting story, that one does. Glad to hear that you don't hate us regular humans so much that you'd listen to nonsense like that," Jenna said as she jumped down from her tree and crouched down beside Eve. The smile on her face was broader than Eve had ever seen it, though it did next to nothing to hide the almost insane light that shone from her eyes. "Either way, count me in. Risking my life is my specialty."
"Glad to hear it," Eve said, a smile on her face as well. "But if we're friends now, you probably want to hear the whole story, not just that interesting little bit. So let me let you in on the secrets of all my scheming with the legends."
Man, are you guys lucky that I'm dedicated. I've abstained from playing Kingdom Hearts the last three evenings just so I could write this chapter, and it's killing me. Then again, most of you probably don't give a magikarp's scale whether I update or not, considering YOU'VE NEVER REVIEWED!
...Just kidding. I really don't mind it that much, though I'd appreciate it if you took the time to review at least once just to let me know what you think so far. I mean, I've got at least thirty or so people who have read up to last chapter and who I know have never reviewed (since there aren't that many people who review... by the way, those of you who have reviewed before are awesome ^_^). So yeah. Oh, and please remember that if I do miss a Thursday sometime in the near future, then I'll just skip that week and jump back on schedule the following week. I'm thinking it'll probably happen soon, since I really want to keep playing Kingdom Hearts, because it's AWESOME.
Sadly, I didn't enjoy writing this chapter until after the battle... This helped to remind me why I don't have very many battle sequences in this fanfic. They just aren't fun to write for me, except in some special circumstances. But next chapter... That will be a different matter.
Thanks for reading!
