Shedding Skins

Chapter Thirty Seven

Eventual Progress

Azelea was a quiet town, where not much of anything ever happens. It was inhabited mainly by old people, beginning trainers and an unusually high population of Slowpoke. It was a sleepy town - that probably sums it up best. The town's sleepiness was a good thing - I needed calmness, not the excitement that a large city would offer.

I walked quickly into the Center and paid for a room for the night. I noticed that my money supply was starting to deplete. Brilliant. Somebody up there simply did not like me.

I dumped my bag and went in for a shower as usual and headed back outside. It was mid day, and although the sun was at its height, there was a very definite chill in the air.

I approached the double doors of the brick like Gym building and hesitated. It had been a long time since I had actually won a badge. How long had it been? Two months? I swallowed my fear, pushed through the doors and into the Gym and walked into...Myself?

I couldn't wrap my mind around this and I stared until it dawned on me; I had walked into my own reflection. Everywhere I looked, in fact, I could see my own reflection. A hall of mirrors. I had to hand it to the Gym Leader, that was inventive.

I spent the next thirty minutes or so trying - and failing - to navigate the hall of mirrors. The few Gym trainers I encountered told me I had to find the Gym Leader on my own, and wasn't allowed any help. I eventually stumbled into a large room made of mirrors, with the Gym Leader standing in the center.

"Hello," she greeted, striding over to meet me. She was in her twenties, with long, blonde hair and a cold, unpleasant look that instantly made me want to be somewhere else.

"I'm here for a badge," I told her, resisting the urge to turn and run from her stare.

"May I see your license?" She held out her hand. I handed it over. "How many Pokemon will you be using?"

"Two." Skyler wasn't on par with Ares yet but he was getting close, so I figured he could stand up to fourth badge Pokemon.

"Excellent." I could tell from the way Eve talked that she came from a background of money. A lot of money.

She went over to the back wall of the room and opened a hidden door that housed eight boxes of pokeballs. She carefully selected two pokeballs from a box with a the number four written on it in black marker and turned back to face me.

"Are you ready?" I nodded an affirmative. She threw one of the pokeballs and out burst a large, green and yellow tortoise. There were three long, brown ridges along its yellow, sectioned shell, which had two bushes growing on it. The shell covered not only its back, but its short tail and its broad head. I also noticed yellow, triangular protrusions on its beaked face.

A Grotle. Nothing that Ares couldn't deal with, but I would rather not send out my strongest team member first, so I dropped Skyler's pokeball instead.

"Dragonbreath!" I voiced my command as soon as he was out of the pokeball. This surprised Eve somewhat, and by the time she had ordered her Grotle to use withdraw, Skyler had already struck it with a jet of the blue-green fire. Ember may have been more effective, but the Grotle was too far away for it to have had any effect.

"Razor leaf!" She ordered. A flurry of sharpened leaves flew from the bushes on the Grotle's back, straight towards Skyler.

"Protect!" I retaliated. He had learned that while in Ilex Forest. An almost invisible bubble appeared and encased Skyler, protecting him from the leaves, which simply hit the barrier and fluttered to the floor.

"To the wall," Eve countered. I didn't understand this at first, until the Grotle ran in an awkward gait towards the mirror that served as a wall and multiple reflections appeared all over the wall. The reflections then started running, making it impossible to tell which one was real. Previously, it had been standing in the middle of the room, so was easy to distinguish, but that advantage was gone now.

"Dragonbreath!" While there appeared to be multiple Grotle, there also appeared to be multiple streams of blue-green fire when Skyler attacked. I didn't know what else I could do as I watched the illusions fly across the walls. I looked carefully, and found the real Grotle. I was about to point it out to Skyler but he hit it with a lucky shot before I had the chance.

"Bite!" I could tell that Eve was getting desperate. The Grotle's ranged attacks were all grass type and ineffective against a dragon like Skyler, so she was forced to send it up close to attack. That didn't suit Skyler too well. His shell gave him extra protection but also greatly limited his movement and hindered him up close.

"Ember!" I called to Skyler as the Grotle galloped in its awkward gait towards him, realizing that it was now close enough for said attack to work. Flames burst from Skyler's mouth, the Grotle ran into them and the bushes on its shell burst into flames. It tripped and collided with Skyler, taking them both to the ground before Eve returned it.

The next Pokemon that she brought out was considerably more worrying. It was a tall, black, muscular dog with a slim build and a long, thin tail that ended in an arrowhead. Its underside and muzzle were both tan and it had three bands of white on its back, along with two bands on each ankle and one around its neck. It had long, curved, cruel looking horns atop its head, a skull shape on its throat and sharp teeth and claws.

"Smog!" Eve used the same tactic I had used against her Grotle - issuing a command straight away to take the opponent off guard. It worked. A hazy, purple gas spread out over a large portion of the room and cloaked Skyler, temporarily robbing him of his vision.

"Protect!" I couldn't think of anything else to do.

"Thunder fang!" The Houndoom dived into the smog, teeth crackling with electricity. I heard a sound like shattering glass - it was the sound of Skyler's barrier breaking - followed by a crackle and a hiss of pain from Skyler.

Eve didn't give the Houndoom any more commands, instead it attacked Skyler of its own accord with a combination of bites, thunder fangs and embers. None of the attacks were particularly effective, but the dog attacked so ferociously and relentlessly that it overwhelmed Skyler nonetheless. To make matters worse, Skyler couldn't defend himself because he was still blinded by the smog. The canine on the other hand was less reliant on its vision.

I returned Skyler when I realized it was hopeless and would only result in injury on his part. That left me with Ares. A bug type against a fire type was not good, but at the same time, a bug type against a dark type was an advantage. However, after looking at that display of viciousness and ruthlessness from the Houndoom, I knew it was no pushover.

I decided not to use my previous tactic, and instead let him size up his opponent for a while after I released him. The Houndoom bared its teeth and snarled, raising its hackles. Ares darted from ground to ceiling to wall repeatedly, observing his opponent.

"Howl," Eve said quietly, a thoughtful look on her face. She knew she was up against a stronger opponent and was trying to figure out how to win. Despite how assuring that was, I didn't take my win for granted.

"Double team," I called to Ares, a strategy forming in my mind. He obliged and appeared to split into two as the Houndoom let out a chilling howl. The Houndoom didn't seem worried by this.

"Sludge bomb!" I think Eve had figured out already that her best chance to hit a fast, flying opponent was some form of projectile attack. The Houndoom opened its mouth and spat a solid ball of purple at Ares, who was on the left wall. It flew towards him much quicker than I would have thought possible, but Ares darted over to the opposite wall and evaded the attack. The sludge bomb hit Ares' double team and it blinked out of existence. I didn't care. I had just thought of a better plan.

"Supersonic!" Ares had gotten very good at using this attack successfully as of late. He beat his wings so fast that I could hardly see them and an irritating ringing rang throughout the room. Even though we had clamped our hands over our ears, Eve and I could still hear it, although it was muffled enough not to have any effect on us. The Houndoom wasn't so lucky.

"Sludge bomb!" Eve repeated. Instead, the hound tripped and slammed its face off of the reflective floor.

"Fly!" Ares knew what this command meant, so he started flitting around the room, his reflection appearing everywhere and moving along with him, so that it looked like we were in a room of dragonflies.

"Sludge bomb!" Eve commanded, managing to contain her temper. The Houndoom got startled by one of Ares' many reflections and tripped over its own feet.

"Bug bite!" The real Ares darted past and latched onto the Houndoom's side with his jaws and drew blood, managed to lift it a few feet into the air and then dropped it.

"Dammit!" Eve screamed, finally losing her cool. The Houndoom managed to get its feet. It looked like the confusion had worn off.

"Sonicboom!" I called, sure now of my victory. Ares started rapidly beating his wings again, creating a different sound this time. This was higher pitched and painful as opposed to irritating. I clamped my hands over my ears, as did Eve, but the Houndoom had no hands to block the sound and just gave out an anguished howl.

I thought that was the end of the battle, but then something else happened. The floor, ceiling and walls all simultaneously shattered, blowing shards of glass everywhere. I had not meant that.

Before I knew what was happening, a Gallade was standing in front of Eve and had formed some kind of domed barrier above us all. The pieces of glass hit the invisible dome and slid harmlessly down to the ground around the edges of the room.

"You are lucky that we are not all dead," Eve practically snarled at me. She was annoyed both at her loss, and at the wreck I had made of the room.

"I didn't mean that," I said in my defense.

"Here, have these." She held out a handful of money in one hand and held a badge and a TM in the other.

The badge appeared to be a stylized green X with the letter E written in white where the two parts of the X bisected. I noticed that the top parts of the X were sharp and the bottom parts were wider and rounded. The badge was actually a pair of Gallade arms crossed over in the shape of an X. I pinned it to the thigh of my jeans along with my other badges.

The TM contained the move sludge bomb. I noted, with a pang in my chest, that the move would have been ideal for Naja.

"May I take you license," Eve demanded, clearly not happy with me. I handed it over, she signed one of the remaining five boxes on the back and returned it to me.

"Thanks," I said.

"You are welcome." She had a way of saying that which made it clear I was in no way welcome. "Also, you now have a class three license," she went on. "Well done." I didn't miss her sarcasm.

"Great."

"Leave, please. We have cleaning up to do," she said. As she said this, her Gallade raised its arms above its head and the shards of glass started floating back to the walls, floor and ceiling. The shards of glass melded together when they came into contact and within ten seconds the room was back to what it had been like before the battle. I was impressed.

So, after winning my first badge without Naja and Cerletti, I walked back to the Center.