The sun was going down when Claire roused them again. She gave them a few moments to stretch before launching into her speech. "All right, guys, this is it. We're challenging the gym, so be ready." She paused. "I'm not sure what to expect, so I need you all at your best. Ready?" Tyler looked around at Leo, Miranda, and Olive and nodded with them. "All right," Claire said again, "this is it." She picked up their balls from where they lay on a shelf and put them inside one by one.
Inside his ball, Tyler looked at where the sun was. It just barely showed over the side of his rocky slope. He tried to imagine what would be going on outside. Claire had showed the gym to all of them, and Tyler thought it would take a few minutes to get there. He ran through what Claire had said told him. He was supposed to spray water on the ground so he could sense if anything touched it—but only if it was too dark to see. And then he was supposed to get ready to use Aurora Beam too. He paced back and forth. The whole idea worried him. He imagined paws or claws skittering around him in the dark, staying out of sight until they struck. I hope it's not really dark in there.
He kept pacing, running over what he was supposed to do over and over. Finally he forced himself to sit down and wait. It might be a while until he was actually sent out. He tried to calm down and keep his breathing even as the minutes dragged by. Then his ball flashed, once—Tyler started even though he'd been waiting for it—twice—he sprang to his paws—and then he was standing on a floor with lines through it. Details flashed through Tyler's mind as he quickly looked around: flickering light from a single candle, lines on the floor, the other trainer sitting with his legs crossed, a movement at the edge of the candlelight… What is it?
That reminded him, and Tyler quickly spun in a circle, spraying water on the floor. He heard a surprised noise from the other trainer and briefly saw Claire skip back to keep from being sprayed. Oops. At the same time, there was a splash on his right. It felt like he'd hit something, and Tyler marked the direction in his head. Facing forward again, Tyler started drawing on his energy, building it up. It was a little like taking a deep breath. He started focusing it in front of him, where a pinpoint of light appeared.
"Not yet, Vaporeon," Claire said. The other trainer said something at the same time, and Tyler felt a movement on his left. His opponent? But hadn't that been on the right? Another splash. That's definitely it. He started turning and backing away. "Careful, Vaporeon, they have—" Claire was interrupted as the other trainer snapped out an order, and a wad of goo shot toward him. Tyler jumped out of the way, but an unexpected collision caught him off guard and he went down.
"They have invisible walls! Be careful!" Claire finished. "There's one behind you and another one behind him." Tyler looked around as he got up and made out a line where the water on the ground ended. More goo splattered over him. "Vaporeon, Aqua Ring! Wash it off!" Claire sounded worried. He started releasing water and Claire added, "Keep moving." He did, just in time to dodge a third glob.
As Tyler shook the goo and water off, the other trainer called another order and his opponent moved into the light, coming for him. It had a squat, round purple body with some kind of red flower on top, and it smelled revolting. Another order came from the trainer, and Claire called, "Aqua Tail!" Tyler started to spin on his paws as his opponent tilted forward to point its flower at him, and he swept the water into the air to intercept a burst of powder. Some of it got past and he coughed as it settled over him. A few seconds later, Tyler started feeling numb all over, and he stumbled. Panic swept over him.
"Calm down, Vaporeon," Claire called reassuringly. "It'll be okay, don't try to move. Just focus. You don't need to move to use Aurora Beam. Just do it." Tyler clung to the calm in her voice. The flower belched out another burst of powder. "Ignore it," Claire said. "Aurora Beam. Give it everything you've got." Tyler nodded as well as he could, a point of white light already appearing in front of him. He took careful aim and sent the power streaking out in a rippling beam of rainbow light. The purple pokémon lurched to the side, but he still hit it dead-on. As Tyler's opponent staggered back and fell, the second wave of powder hit. He tried not to breathe as long as he could, but some of it still got into his lungs. "One more time, Vaporeon," Claire said, still in that calm voice. "Take it down. You can do this."
Tyler focused his power again, trying to ignore the sick feeling that was starting to make its way through his numbness. Poison, he thought. Gotta finish this…end the fight. He hit the other pokémon with another beam just as it was getting to its feet, and it dropped facedown. This time it couldn't get up. Tyler felt relieved as his opponent disappeared in a flash, but then the enemy trainer pulled out another ball. It's not over…
"You did great, Vaporeon," Claire said. "Try to rest now." With that, he found himself inside his ball again. He carefully lay down, drawing painful breaths and trying to ignore the spreading poison. I don't think I like ninjas. Tyler knew Claire wouldn't be able to do anything to help him until the battle was over, so he waited, eyes closed, trying not to breathe too deeply.
After a while, the ball opened. He was back on the dark floor of the gym. The other trainer was still there, but the battle was clearly over. "Hold still," Claire told him, an antidote bottle already mixed and in her hand. She started spraying it over him like she had the night he was captured, and Tyler quickly absorbed the liquid. "Are you having a hard time breathing?" Tyler gave a weak nod. "All right, this one first." She pulled out a yellow spray. "Open your mouth. I need you to inhale it." She'd done this once before, so Tyler complied, coughing a little as he took as deep a breath of the spray as he could. "There you go." She poured the rest of it into a bottle of water and shook it before spraying it over him as well. His throat started to loosen up in the process, and feeling started to come back as he absorbed the second spray. Tyler stretched his stiff legs in relief.
"There you go. Is that better?" Tyler nodded again, rising to his paws. "Hang on. You breathed some poison spores too." She held the antidote spray to his mouth and he took a deep breath as she squeezed it twice. The vapor made him cough again, but he was starting to feel better. "How're you feeling? All right?" she asked. When he nodded, she said, "All right, we'll save the rest of this."
After that it was back in his ball. The sky inside had gone nearly dark now, and a half moon had appeared on the horizon. Normally he would be asleep by now, although he almost never slept in his ball—usually Claire would let them out for the night.
It took a while before his ball lit up again. Tyler jumped to his paws and waited, wanting to be ready this time. The red light flashed for a while. What is she doing? Finally his ball opened up again. Before he'd even taken a good look at his surroundings, Claire called, "On your left! Water Gun!" He reflexively turned that way and saw an indistinct serpentine shape moving toward him. Calling on his power, Tyler opened his mouth and shot a jet of water at it. The first one missed, so he fired again, catching it this time. It reared up, and Tyler flinched. It's an arbok! The memory of Mother facing an arbok—getting poisoned—hit Tyler as he started backing away from the menacing snake.
"Water Gun—again!" Tyler opened his mouth, but jumped as the arbok snapped at him. It's okay, he thought, trying to reassure himself. It's not close enough to bite me. "Come on, Vaporeon!" Claire called, adding to his thoughts. Tyler gathered his courage and fired another blast of water that caught the arbok in its outspread hood. At least this one seemed to hurt it, but now it came at him faster. Tyler backed away again, wishing he had water close by. "Vaporeon, circle around!" Claire called worriedly. The other trainer—a male, by his voice—shouted something too, and the arbok slithered sideways to cut him off from the water on the ground. At another order, it charged. Tyler froze up, and the arbok coiled around him and started to squeeze.
"Vaporeon!" Claire's voice was frantic now. "Acid Armor!" She had never called for him to do that in a battle before, but it was probably Tyler's only chance. He tried to relax in the arbok's grip, and his body started losing its form. The arbok immediately struck with its poison fangs; it broke Tyler's concentration and he turned solid again. Normally he would have been worried about losing, but all Tyler felt now was fear. It's got me, just like Mother…Tyler struggled in the arbok's grip, but it just squeezed tighter. He could feel pain spreading through him from the poison too. "Vaporeon, Aurora Beam!" Tyler couldn't even try. It's got me. That was all he could think about.
White light from his ball enveloped him. When its landscape appeared around him, Tyler crashed to the ground, shivering. He was sore from the arbok's crushing grip and the area where it had bitten him was throbbing with pain. He only felt it in a dizzy, detached way, though; he was lightheaded and breath came in shallow pants.
With an effort, he tried to think about something else. I'm okay. A little. Except it still poisoned me and… No. Don't think about it. The poison was starting to get worse; Tyler almost wished he could just black out. Do something… Acid Armor. Go liquid. He shook his head, trying to drive the shivers away. When he could focus, Tyler started turning himself liquid again. He'd gotten faster, but still nowhere near the speed he would need in a fight. He shakily completed the change, and to his relief the pain disappeared. He didn't breathe in his liquid form, and that helped him relax too. I just want to be water right now. Not a vaporeon. Not anything. They can't touch me if I'm water.
Tyler's mind cleared as he lay still, and he started to feel ashamed of himself. I panicked. I shouldn't have. Claire won't let me get really hurt. Still, Tyler shivered again when he thought of the arbok, even in his liquid state. Mother had fought to keep an arbok away from him. That was how she got caught. Tyler didn't know what he could do against the huge snake pokémon. Just thinking about it terrified him. Calm down, Tyler. It's not like that anymore.
He waited miserably in his ball for longer than he'd hoped. Instead of opening, the ball started glowing with the warm light of the healing machine. Tyler reformed; he knew it didn't work very well on his liquid form. A low hum reached him as he solidified, and all the pain came back too. Tyler tensed against the pain for a moment, but he'd been expecting it and relaxed again, letting the healing light do its work. The bite marks and bruises slowly faded; as usual, it didn't do anything about the poison, but he did feel a little better.
Finally the light went out. A minute later his ball flashed and opened, depositing him in an examination room with a tired-looking nurse. She lifted his head with one hand, looking him over and running a hand across his neck. "Looking better, are we?" She pulled out an antidote and twisted the top off. "Here, drink this." Tyler tilted his head back, taking quick gulps as she poured it into his mouth. The nurse patted his head. "That should be it. You'll feel better soon." She gave him an oranberry from a bowl before putting him back in his ball.
Tyler carried the berry to one of his caves and lay down again. He bit into it, eating slowly while he waited for the antidote to do its work against the poison. It was taking longer than normal. Before he finished eating, his ball opened again. He was in one of the larger trainers' rooms in the pokecenter this time. A few trainers were on beds, already asleep with curtains pulled around them; Claire sat on the nearest, looking over her team. "I'm sorry, guys," she said tiredly. "This was my fault. I thought we were ready, but we weren't. Anyway," she added, turning to her bag, "Here's something to eat. Don't worry about tomorrow, we'll take the day off. Just get some rest, okay? Good night." With that, she reached out and drew a curtain around them before pulling out some clothes and heading to the bathroom.
As they all started eating, Leo heaved a sigh. "So, we lost. They were stronger than I thought."
"How far did we get?" Miranda asked.
"Not to the leader. I think I was the last one down, because Claire went to the pokecenter right after I lost." He turned to Tyler and Olive. "What about you?"
"I beat a koffing, but then I lost against an arbok," Olive said.
Tyler nodded and sighed. "The arbok beat me too." He looked away. "I…don't like arbok. I hope I don't have to fight another one."
"Why not?" Miranda asked, her voice uncharacteristically soft.
"An arbok poisoned my mother…That's how the Catchers got her." Tyler shook his head. "I don't like them."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
They kept discussing the events of the night until Claire came back. She climbed into the bed and turned on her side, and they fell silent. "Good night," Olive chirped softly.
"'Night," Leo murmured back.
September 21
This is actually for last night, but I was really tired and I just didn't feel like it.
I lost at the gym. We didn't even make it to Janine. I didn't really get ready like I should have, now that I think about it. The second trainer got Flaaffy and Typhlosion poisoned and just dragged things out, and they were both worn out by the third battle. I have to finish things fast next time so I can get them antidotes. I can't waste any time against poison pokémon.
I also feel bad because I was pushing them all really hard. I know Vaporeon wasn't ready for some of the moves I asked him to use, but I didn't know what else to do. I shouldn't have even challenged that last trainer, I knew we weren't going to make it. I let my team down. That's what Dad would say if he were here, and he's right.
I should probably write about something else too, but all I can think about right now is our gym challenge. I might as well figure out how to get ready for next time. One thing I didn't do is train at night. Duh, Claire! You're going to challenge a gym at night, maybe train your pokémon for it? And I'll need to figure out ways for Murkrow and Vaporeon to break out of an opponent's grip. And I guess not hold back as much with Typhlosion and Flaaffy's big attacks. Keeping them back isn't worth it if we can't make it to Janine.
Whoops, Typhlosion just woke up. Is it breakfast time already? Well, gotta go. Gonna figure this out later.
As Claire had promised, they didn't do any training that day, although it was obviously on her mind. Tyler was just relieved not to have anything to do after the previous night. She took them to a small park, one of the few grassy areas in the town. It even had a little pond, and Tyler was delighted to find a marill bobbing in the reeds. "Hi there," he called, swimming over.
"Um, hi. What are you doing here?" the marill responded cautiously.
"Not much. Just, you know, stretching my fins."
"That's your Catcher over there, isn't it? You're sure you're not here for me?"
The words stung even though that wasn't the reason. Tyler shook his head vehemently. "I'm not here to catch anyone. But…yeah. She's my Ca—I mean, my trainer."
"Well, as long as you're not here to fight or catch me or anything, I guess it's okay. Why are you out here?"
"We aren't doing anything today," Tyler told the marill. "By the way, what's your name? I'm Tyler."
"I'm Lawrence," the marill replied. "Why aren't you doing anything? Catchers are always doing stuff."
"Well, we went to a gym last night." Noting Lawrence's uncomprehending look, he sighed and added, "It's a challenge for trainers. We have to beat eight of them to…never mind. Anyway, we lost last night."
"I don't get it," Lawrence said. "What difference does it make to you? …She doesn't punish you, does she?"
"What? No! Of course she doesn't!"
"Well, do you get anything out of it if you win?"
"Well…I don't know," Tyler said.
"So why do you do it then? Why do you even stay with a Catcher?"
Tyler thought about it. "I used to wonder the same thing. Before I got caught. And…I guess I still don't really know. But it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Claire cares about me." He sighed. "And I guess I'm getting used to it. It's not like I can go anywhere."
"Oh." The marill looked at him. "You're not like I expected, you know."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean for a Catcher's pokémon. I guess…I thought you'd be meaner. Or something. Sorry." The marill looked embarrassed.
"I don't think it's like that," Tyler said. "But they're not all like Claire either. Some of them…" He gritted his teeth. "Some of them deserve to be called Catchers."
"What if you could leave? Right now?" Lawrence asked him.
Tyler hesitated. "I don't know. Part of me wants to. A lot of me wants to. But at the same time, I'd feel wrong about it." A memory came to him. "I had a friend, a quilava, out in the wild. His brother, actually," Tyler added, glancing over at Leo. "He told me once that we all have a path to follow that will keep us from getting lost. Maybe that's why." He nodded. "I think I need to see this through." And one day, I hope I'll get another chance to find my family.
Tyler said goodbye to the marill and submerged, letting himself drift underwater. He wondered how Carson and Kara were. Had they gotten away? Did they find Zahna? Would they be all right? …Had anyone ever found out what happened to him?
What about Skylar and Sasha? And Mother and Father? Tyler still didn't know if his other siblings had gotten away, but he didn't think so. They would have come back. His parents had been captured for sure. They were out there somewhere. Maybe they had to fight for the Catchers who'd taken them. I hope not. Maybe they weren't, though; Carson and Kara hadn't had to. Tyler still didn't know what the Catchers had been doing with them and the other pokémon. All I can do for now is get stronger. So that's what I'll do.
Tyler stayed in the pond for as long as he could, coming up periodically to see if they were waiting for him. Claire left him alone until the early afternoon; the next time he came up she waved him over. Tyler swam to the pond's edge and stepped out of the water, absorbing the drops that still clung to his skin and giving a satisfied sigh. He hadn't been able to stay in the water like that for a while. It had been nice. He padded over to where the other three pokémon had already assembled.
"I've been thinking about last night," Claire began. "I don't blame any of you for losing…it was my fault. We're gonna challenge the gym again, but not for a while. I want to be ready this time. One thing we're gonna be doing is battling at night. No more day battles for a while. I talked to some other trainers this morning, and they agreed to train against us starting tonight. Next time we take on Janine's gym, we're gonna have some surprises for her."
They trained night after night, learning how to battle different opponents in the dark. Sometimes they would be under the moon, or sometimes in the shadows or even inside a building called a warehouse with all the lights off, leaving it pitch black. When they weren't battling, Claire had other things for them to do. She had Tyler work on getting faster at turning liquid and using aurora beams, as well as using water on the ground to follow opponents' footsteps better so he could aim even if he couldn't see. She told him that using aurora beams more would increase the limits of his energy, so he practiced liquefying in his ball in the mornings, then firing aurora beams down the slope until he started to get tired. It did seem to make a difference, and as his energy increased Tyler noticed he could absorb more water too. The exertion left him hungry, but Claire made sure they all got plenty to eat and he could still rest during the day before having to battle.
As they trained, the shadow that had been hanging over them after losing against the gym was lifting. Tyler felt better about how he was doing, and Leo, Miranda, and Olive all seemed more upbeat too.
After more than a week, Claire pronounced them ready to challenge the gym a second time. "I'm so proud of you all. You've worked really hard. Ready to take Janine?"
"Yeah!" Leo roared, and they all joined in, Tyler included. I know what I'm doing this time, he thought. He'd pushed himself to hit harder and faster with both his water blasts and his aurora beams, and he wasn't worried about the dark anymore, except against flying opponents. The only move he still didn't feel ready to use was Acid Armor—liquefying still took too long, except maybe against a big, slow-moving opponent. Claire wanted him to master it, and he could see how much it would help, so he kept practicing. This time, things are gonna be different.
Claire had them all drink an antidote before they went in. "This should help protect you from poison for a while," she told them. After that they went to the gym. It was dark, so Claire let them all walk down the street with her, passing under streetlights until they reached the large doors of the poison gym. "All right, this is it," Claire said. "We can do this. I believe in you." With that, the trainer returned them all to their balls.
Tyler sat still, trying to remember every detail from the last time, anticipating the feel of the planks under his paws, the sparse light from the candles, and the invisible walls he'd have to avoid. He took a deep breath. I'm ready.
Tyler waited until his ball started flashing red again. His pulse quickened, but he stood up slowly, trying to keep calm. After a few seconds, his ball opened, and he found himself facing the purple pokémon—he'd found out it was called a gloom—from the first time. This time it was out in the light.
Tyler immediately took a fighting position, half crouched so he could dodge at the first sign of an attack. "Wait for it," Claire instructed. The other trainer shouted an order and Claire immediately called, "Aurora Beam, now!" As the gloom ran closer on stubby legs, Tyler focused, aimed, and fired, sending it staggering back a step. As it recovered and came at him again, Claire ordered, "Catch it with Aqua Tail!" 'Catch it' was one of the techniques they'd practiced that week. Tyler covered his tail fin in water before whipping it around to fling a wide spray of drops toward his opponent. At the same time, the gloom's flower belched yellow paralyzing spores. The water and spores met in the air, but Tyler's move swept most of them away. He ran left to avoid the stray spores; a few got on him, but the small numb spots were just annoyances. He looked hopefully at the gloom, which had been hit by most of the spray, but the spores in the water didn't seem to affect it.
"Vaporeon, Water Gun!" Tyler nodded and hit the gloom with a blast of water. He was waiting for another order when the gloom disappeared into its ball and the enemy trainer sent out a large spider pokémon. "All right, Vaporeon, it's Typhlosion's turn now," Claire called, and a moment later a white flash enveloped him too.
A minute later, he was sent out again, once again against the gloom. He could tell their first encounter had weakened it. Before he could do anything, though, it started glowing green. The green glow surrounded him too, and suddenly Tyler's strength started draining away through the spores that had stuck to him. He gritted his teeth, determined not to stumble. Gotta stop it. "Vaporeon," Claire ordered, "Aurora Beam! Quick!" It was a little hard to keep it together with the gloom sucking his energy, but Tyler managed to get a beam together and strike his opponent with a burst of multicolored light, breaking the connection. Some of his strength immediately ebbed back up and Tyler shook himself, trying to drive the lingering weakness away. "One more Aurora Beam, Vaporeon!" The gloom started to glow again, but before it could complete the attack Tyler hit it again, taking it down. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
The other trainer nodded and returned the gloom to its ball before congratulating Claire and moving out of the way. Before putting Tyler back in his ball, Claire knelt to check him over. "Are you feeling all right, Vaporeon?" He nodded before stretching his shoulders where a couple of stun spores were. "All right. You rest for a while," she told him with a smile, patting his neck and then returning him to his ball.
Once inside, Tyler let his breath out and lay down, wanting to conserve his energy so he'd be ready the next time Claire sent him out. It went better this time, Tyler thought, looking up at the stars. Then another thought occurred to him. I faced the gloom again like last time. I hope the arbok isn't next. He shook his head. It probably won't be, right? I beat the gloom the first time, but not the arbok. Leo would be better at fighting it.
It took longer than Tyler expected before he was sent out again. This time he was in a larger area, with several candles or torches hanging from the ceiling. The trainer they were facing was dressed more ornately too. This must be the leader! We made it! He pulled his mind back to the battle and looked at his opponent. It had a yellow, humanoid body with a ruff like he'd had as an eevee. Tyler's first thought was relief that it wasn't an arbok. It was…about Miranda's size. And there was…something…dangling from one of its hands that drew his gaze. The more he looked at his opponent, the harder it got to focus. What should I…be doing? Tyler didn't know.
A voice pierced the fog in his mind. "Vaporeon!" He reflexively looked back toward Claire for a moment, and his mind started to clear. A battle. Right. Keep an eye on the enemy. He looked back toward the advancing pokémon.
"Vaporeon! Vaporeon!" Claire's voice came again, insistent. What is it? Tyler didn't move. It was hard to think about anything. He vaguely heard another shout, then the noise went away. A few moments later, something struck him in the side. Tyler flinched at the unexpected impact, turning toward the source. "Vaporeon! Look at me!" Claire ordered. He started to turn away again. "NO!" his trainer shouted, sending another jolt of surprise through him. "Come. Over. Here. Eyes on me." Tyler started toward the girl, haze lifting from his thoughts with each step he took. Behind him, he heard the leader say something, and he glanced back. "Don't," Claire warned. "Keep looking at me." She kept talking as he came closer. "Listen, Vaporeon. You can't look at it, it's a hypno, it'll put you to sleep. Here's what you have to do." Claire lowered her voice. "When I give the word, use Water Gun. Don't go for the hypno. Put out all the lights, fast. I'm not gonna be able to see what's going on after that, so you'll have to fight it on your own. Use water like I taught you. As long as you're not looking at it, it shouldn't be able to put you to sleep." She looked at him for a moment. "You got all that?" Tyler nodded. "All right. I trust you, Vaporeon. You can do it." She stood up straight and shooed him away. Tyler turned halfway around, carefully averting his eyes from the hypno. "All right, Vaporeon," Claire murmured. "NOW!"
Tyler spun, looking upward and lining up the first light. He drew on his energy and spat a burst of water. As soon as he knew he'd hit it, he turned and ran toward the second light. He repeated the process for the last two, circling around the hypno in the process. As he doused the last candle, total darkness fell. He spun away from Claire, who he'd been facing as he finished, and ran to the middle before turning a circle and spraying water across the ground. Once he'd done that, Tyler lowered his head and closed his eyes, stretching out with his water sense instead. After a moment, he made out movement from the hypno as it took cautious steps, moving in his general direction. Tyler's mind was clear now. I'm ready for you this time.
As the hypno approached uncertainly in the darkness, Tyler built up a blast of water, letting it loose when he was sure he couldn't miss. There was a gasp of breath from the darkness, and a thump that reverberated through the water. Got you. He moved forward. At the last moment he had the idea to keep the water still with his power, so his steps made barely any noise at all. The hypno was moving again, probably standing up, and he launched himself in its direction when he got close. It felt like he hit it in the stomach, and he heard a grunt before it hit him in the head with a fist.
Tyler shrugged off the hit, backing off again and circling slowly around. As he searched for another opening, the leader—Janine—shouted and order and the hypno started a droning hum. It was oddly disorienting, and Tyler shook his head, trying to dispel the effect. He took a step toward the hypno and almost fell; his balance was way off. Aaron used to do this to me, Tyler thought, swaying on his paws. Have to do…something it can't dodge. Break its concentration. He risked another step forward, carefully setting one paw in front of another; it took a few tries for him to place it solidly. He focused on his water sense. It was hard to judge directions, but he knew the hypno was close to him. Using a water gun or aurora beam was out of the question. Tyler knew he couldn't aim. I'm close enough for an aqua tail, though. I think. He took a deep breath, preparing to move.
The hypno heard him; he felt a lurching footstep in the water. Now! Tyler reached out with his power and pivoted, sweeping the water around. The droning cut out as he fell over, breathing hard. I think that worked. He pushed himself back up, shaking the dizziness away.
From the other side of the room, he heard, "Hypno, Disable!" Oh no, you don't. Before it could do…whatever it was about to do, Tyler found it again in the water. Tyler opened his mouth and blasted it with a water gun attack. There was a flash as it fell back.
Oh no, you don't. Before it could do…whatever it was about to do, Tyler found it again in the water. It's still down. Aiming low, Tyler opened his mouth and…stopped. He couldn't remember how to fire a water blast. That's the simplest attack I know…Why can't I think of it? He tried, almost coughing in the process. What's wrong with me?
Claire's voice rang out in the darkness. "Forget about using moves, Vaporeon! Just take it down!" He nodded, even though he couldn't see her, and charged. Figure out why later. He was still worried, but right now he was going to end the fight. The ripples shrank as he approached—the hypno was standing up. Tyler slammed into it, bowling it over. He rolled to his paws and came at it again, nearly running the hypno over. He came to a stop and opened his jaws to bite, and his teeth came together on what felt like its nose. The hypno started flailing awkwardly to get him off. Tyler backed off a step and waited for it to get off the ground before slamming his tail into the hypno and knocking it down again. This was something he could do without Claire's help.
Tyler didn't feel any movement in the water now, and he looked around expectantly for a ball to reclaim the hypno. He waited…
"Vaporeon?"
"Hypno?"
Right. They can't see. Tyler threw back his head and howled his victory. "All right, Vaporeon!" Claire's excited shout came back at him.
"Not bad," the leader remarked. "Hypno throws most opponents off who think they can win by just powering through all my poison-types with brute force. I'm excited to see a creative strategy like this. You're not winning that easily, though! I am still the poisonous ninja master!" As she said this, a finger of white shot out and sucked the hypno back into its ball. "Let's see how you handle Crobat when you can't see!"
There was a flash in the air, then silence. Tyler waited with a sinking feeling. The leader's voice broke the stillness. "Crobat, use Cross Poison!"
"Vaporeon, use…Aurora Beam!" Where? Tyler glanced around hopelessly. Maybe I can use it for light. He started drawing on his energy. I hope…I can remember this one. That was still unnerving. Tyler was still able to focus his power, though, and he looked around as his energy started expanding into rainbow aurora waves. Still nothing he could see…then something slashed across his back from behind. Tyler reflexively went into a tumble, losing control of his power. The energy flared out above him into a full aurora for a few seconds. He sprang to his paws again, looking around in the brighter light. There! A dark shape hurtled toward him from above. Tyler dodged, but it followed his movement and slashed him again. He set his jaw against the pain, taking it silently. What do I do against this thing?
The aurora was fading now. "Vaporeon, Water Gun!" Claire ordered. "Everywhere!" Tyler faltered. I—I can't. The leader said something too, and Claire made a frustrated noise. "All right, come back, Vaporeon." The light swallowed him up again, leaving Tyler alone in his ball again.
The first thing he did was check himself over. The slashes hurt a lot, and familiar pain was spreading. That's definitely poison. He went to fill the depression with water, then remembered that he couldn't. Tyler gritted his teeth in worry. That hypno…what did it do to me? He settled for releasing water through his skin. He immediately picked up something wrong with the water, and the slashes refused to heal when he lay in it. This isn't good.
All right. One thing at a time. I have to figure out what happened to me. Tyler thought back to his fight with the hypno. It was going to use 'Disable.' I guess that's what this is. And then I attacked it…wait, did I? And…wait. There was a flash. The first time? Did I forget? Things were starting to make sense now, a little. I remember! …I have the same memory twice, except I did use a water gun the first time. I know I did. But then it made me forget that happened…and then I couldn't remember Water Gun either. Tyler shivered at the idea. But I remember now, right? Please let this work. He raised his head, took aim at a rock, and sent a jet of water into it.
Tyler was so relieved that he melted into the pool he'd made. It's back. I didn't forget it forever, the hypno could only keep me from remembering for a little while. He didn't do anything else for a minute. Okay. What about this poison? There wasn't much he could do about that, except hope the antidote Claire had had him drink earlier helped. It seemed like poisoned water wouldn't heal him either. I guess I'll just have to wait.
That turned out to be it. Claire didn't send him back out again. After a while, his ball lit up from the healing machine, and then the nurse opened his ball to give him another antidote for the poison. As soon as he appeared in the room, all of his water splashed to the floor around him, making the nurse stare at him in surprise. After a moment she collected herself and gave him the antidote. Once he had finished it, she pointed indignantly at the water on the floor and made him clean it up before putting him back in his ball.
Tyler rested his head on his paws and tried not to fall asleep. It's late. He knew Claire would probably send them out again before the night ended, though. As he'd expected, his ball opened a few minutes later. They were in a different room than before; this one was smaller and didn't have any other trainers. Only Miranda and Leo were there with them.
Claire gave them a tired grin. "We won." She held up a shiny purple object. "We got the Soul Badge." Their trainer glanced out the door. "Murkrow's still in there. She got hit really hard by Janine's weezing's Explosion attack. The nurse said she'll be all right, but it's going to take a while longer for her to heal." Leo cast a concerned look toward the main room of the pokecenter. "Anyway, that's all. We'll celebrate tomorrow." Claire yawned. "Good night, everyone."
Here's how the battle went down:
Claire's team: Typhlosion (good condition), Vaporeon (good condition), Flaaffy (somewhat weakened), Murkrow (weakened)
Janine led with an ariados, and Claire sent out Typhlosion. It was over quickly. Next was Janine's weezing, which kept tanking Typhlosion's hits and belching poison gas, so Claire switched and had Murkrow harry it for a while. Then...it used Explosion. Next out was a venemoth; Claire used Flaaffy to leverage the electric-flying advantage. It worked, but Flaaffy got worn down (by the venemoth, but also by the weezing's residual gas) and then Janine's hypno took her out. With her only dark-type, Murkrow, in bad condition, Claire sent out Vaporeon, since she'd been training him to fight in the dark and his water attacks didn't give off any light, which should keep him safe from hypnosis attacks. That strategy almost blew up at the beginning; Claire barely managed to snap Vaporeon out of it in time (by throwing a spare potion at him). Once she got Vaporeon to douse all the lights it went pretty well; as she'd expected, there wasn't a lot the hypno could do in the dark. Then Janine sent out her crobat. Since it wasn't on the ground, Vaporeon's sensing strategy didn't work, and he had barely any chance of ever hitting it. The crobat had no such problems. Claire finally switched back to Typhlosion, who had two advantages: 1) he had fire to see by and 2) he knew Lava Plume, which nailed the crobat hard every time it came in for an attack. Even being disoriented by Supersonic didn't stop him; Claire just had to tell him when to attack, no aiming necessary. Janine's last pokemon was another ariados. You can guess how that went.
Also, as far as the poison gym leader having a hypno, I figured it could fit under the category of being a ninja and messing opponents up. It makes sense that a ninja gym leader would have one pokemon purely for the purpose of curveballing challengers' anti-poison strategies.
