Episode 14: A Race to the Bottom
"Freedom!" I yelled in cheer as I burst out of the horrid path. No more would that cliff-filled nightmare haunt my waking hours in addition to my sleeping ones. I could feel the chains of jaggedness loosen and fall away as I took in the volcano top before me.
"Nikki, are you okay?" Brook asked me, unaware of just how happy a day this was. Oh, how glorious this day was. From now on, this would be a day to remember, a day to go down in history. A day that would be known as 'jagged path is done' Day.
"He-he… Hahahahaha!"
"And he's done," I said aloud without bothering to say it psychically. The only one who would have been able to hear me would have been Nikki. And at the moment he was a bit busy with…
"Hahahahaha!"
That.
I let him be for now and took in the surroundings.
The top of Mount Chimney was breathtaking. It reminded me of that night I decided to head out. Those pokémon had told me about the volcano. How it felt like you could see all of Hoenn from the top. After having to be told what Hoenn exactly was, I couldn't believe it.
Now that I was here, I got what they were talking about. From up here, everything looked so small, with land as far as the eye could see. It would have been a pretty breathtaking moment…
"Hahahahaha,"
If Nikki would stop laughing like a maniac at least.
"Hey, could you knock it off?" I yelled at him mentally to no effect.
"Forget it Brook, Looks like he's going to be out of it for a while," Laura said as she walked past the still laughing Nikki. "There's a pokécenter over there, Nikki met us there once you calm down a little,"
Laura starting walking over to the small building. I hadn't really noticed at first, but there was a bit more stuff here n second glance. Not only was there a pokécenter, but there was also a few other small wooden buildings and sings scattered around.
"We'll see you in a bit then," Chis said as they followed after Laura.
"You coming Brook?" Gale asked from Chris's shoulder as they walked away.
"I'll pass. Better to wait for him to calm down out here I guess," I told the Buneary with a narrowed gaze. I was still a little bitter at her for not warning me about the whole, your body will hurt after exercise' thing.
I sat down and put my back to Nikki's leg as he kept laughing. I had a feeling that I was going to be waiting a while.
Nikki stopped laughing after a while, he didn't have unlimited lung capacity after all. I thought that this meant that we could move on.
I was wrong.
"So are we going to head to the pokécenter or what?"
"Brook, just… just let me have this for a little while more,"
I rolled my eyes and decided to kill a bit of time. There were a few other buildings and stuff up here, might as well see if there was anything else worth looking at.
I wasn't about to abandon Nikki though, just had to make sure to keep him in my sights.
The first thing I noticed was what looked like a bunch of humans and pokémon gathered around a signpost of some sort. I squeezed through, taking advantage of my short height compared to the rest of the crowd.
It was at this point that I realized that I never learned how to read human script. Now how was I supposed to read this stupid sign and learn what was on the board?
"Oh my, what's this?" A familiar sounding human voice said as the source of it walked over me. "A race to the bottom of the mountain down the slope? With each trainer being allowed one pokémon to aid them? And the whole thing takes place tomorrow to boot,"
Well, that was convenient, I would have to thank Linguini for reading that for me via Nikki later.
Wait Linguini?
"Oh, I will just have to enter this,"
No, I hadn't gone mad. It was indeed the oddly dressed trainer that we had faced off against on that boat ride. He hadn't changed a bit it seemed, in either mannerisms or clothing.
I still had no clue what he was trying to with that weird ribbon shirt.
"Oh hey, it's you," I chirped at him. While it felt a little weird to try and act friendly, I had my reasons. Mostly hoping that the shook of seeing Linguini again might snap Nikki out of this weird mood he was in.
At first, I thought that he wouldn't notice me, but after a second or two, he took note.
"A Kirlia with a green bandana?" He said as he placed one hand on his hip and the other on his chin. "Why does that strike me as most familiar?"
Maybe because you've seen a Ralts wearing the same freaking bandanna a few…
"Oh right, I fought a trainer with a Ralts wearing a green bandana just like that one. It was on that little boat trip from Dewford to Petalburg If I do remember,"
Did, did he not realize that I was the same Ralts?
"Yes I remember now, her trainer had a nickname for her too. What was it again? Oh yes, it was… what was it again?"
"Brook!"
I turned around and smiled. It looked like Nikki had finally snapped out of his little episode long enough to realize that I was gone.
"Oh my Nicholas Maple, what are the odds of running into you again?" Linguine turned with an unneeded amount of style as Nikki approached. Nikki stood over me and looked at Linguini with a confused look.
"Oh hey, you're…" Linguini closed his eyes ready to be recognized. "That trainer that I fought on the boat,"
That face Linguini made just now. That look, like he had just choked on a piece of food that he hadn't even known he was eating, that look made this entire trip up the mountain worth it.
"Do you not remember my name?" He asked, the tears starting to form in his eyes. Or maybe that was just my imagination.
"No, I remember it. It was…"
Oh, this was just sad, might as well throw him a lifeline.
"His name was Linguini. How do I remember this and you don't?" I said as I rolled my eyes as I informed him privately.
"Linguini, Your name was Linguini. See I told you I remembered,"
The strange trainer narrowed his eyes.
"I can't shake the feeling that you cheated somehow. Well, no matter, how have you been since we met last?"
"Pretty good I guess," He said as winced a bit, "Few sore spots, but I have two badges, so I at least have that going for me,"
"Third badge curse?" Linguini asked with a pained look on his face. "With what's around here I'm guessing either Flannery or your Uncle," He suddenly got a pensive look on his face. "Now that I think about it, all three of the pokémon you used in our little battle had some sort of disadvantage against fire,"
"It was Flannery," Nikki said, confirming what Linguini was probably thinking. "It's fine though, going to take a bit of time and then double back for a rematch," He said sounding confident. "So what was everyone gathered around this board for anyway?"
"You're not going to believe it Nikki, There's this…"
"You are just in luck Nicholas Maple. You happened upon the top of Mount Chimney just in time for a most exciting event. For you see, every year, there is a race down the northeast slope of the mountain. The winner gets a trophy to their name and a small prize. I myself am planning to enter," He said with a flourish as he held his hand out towards Nikki. "Will you join me on the sloops? I have to admit that now that I've seen you again, I find myself wanting a rematch,"
Nikki looked at Linguini before looking over to the board. He read through it while nodding his head. "I can't believe I forgot about the race. Well, I can believe it, it's not exactly the biggest pokémon related event of the year. Still, it sounds kind of fun," He looked at Linguini and smiled. "You're on, I'll see you tomorrow at the slopes,"
"Good, I'll see you there," He said with another flourish before walking away. Nikki let out a weak chuckle before walking away as I followed behind him.
"A race huh? What do you think Brook," He asked once we were far away enough from the crowd to not look too weird talking to each other.
"This is going to be amazing," I answered honestly, "I don't even care about winning, sliding down the side of a mountain with you just sounds like plain fun,"
"You're still going to try your best to win this though?"
"Oh yeah, without a doubt," I gulped as I suddenly remembered why it was that I was banned from battles for the time being. "Well within reason of course. A race like this is not killing myself for,"
"Well that's good, say, did you know where Laura and Chris are. I know they said something about meeting up with us later, but I didn't hear them say where.
"Pokécenter," I said plainly as I pointed at the building in question. "We should head over there before they start worrying about you,"
"Don't you mean us?"
I gave Nikki the best dead-eyed stare I had.
"Nikki only one of us was laughing like a maniac into the sky, I was going to be fine,"
"Okay, you know what, fair." He said as we started walking towards the center. "Come on, let's see if either of them are up for joining the race too,"
"A race to the bottom of the slope? I think I'll pass,"
"Same here, the only pokémon I have on me is Gale and I'm not too sure how she could help,"
I narrowed my eyes at both Laura and Chris. "Cowards, the both of you," I declared then, only half-jokingly. "Guess it's up to me to win then,"
"Go for it. We'll be cheering you on, from the safety of the cable car of course," Laura said as she glanced back down at the small pamphlet I had brought them. "Have to say, wouldn't have expected you to go for this. Don't we have to reach Fallarbor to meet up with your cousin?"
"The slope ends pretty close to Fallarbor anyway so we're fine," I explained. "We'll make it a day early actually,"
"Oh, so it's fine then," Laura said as she laid back on her bed and yawned. "Wow, I'm tired for how early it is. So what's your plan for the race?"
"Well, the two options are either riding a pokémon down the slope or riding with your pokémon on a dirtboard. Khesen is two big and two small, Vimilky is a bit too heavy to ride with so that only leaves…"
There was a burst of white light that erupted from my chest and ran straight to the floor. The light faded away, revealing a short Kirlia. A mysterious white helmet with black visor hid their identity, even as their crossed arms and eyeless glare marked them as not one to be trifled with.
"Brook where did you get that helmet?" I said, not even bothering to keep the joke going any further then it had already gone.
Brook just gave me a look followed by a thumbs up.
What followed a moment later was a second flash of white light. Vimilky emerged from her pokéball and said something I couldn't understand as she slapped the back of Brook's head. She chirped something in response before taking the helmet off.
"Neither of you are any fun sometimes, you know that?" She told the two of us. Vimilky said something in response as Brook pouted and put back on her green bandana and ribbon.
Vimilky said something else that I couldn't understand before rolling her eyes. I ignored her for the time being to ask the much more pressing question.
"No really Brook, where did you get this helmet?" I said as I picked up the featureless white helmet off the floor. It didn't even have any sort of logo or tag on the inside.
"No idea, it was just in my pokéball for some reason. Thought it looked cool so I put it on. It felt fitting with the whole racing thing," She explained as she sat down on the bed next to me, her legs crossed together as they swung back and forth.
I opened my mouth to point out how insane that sounded when I was interrupted by my Dex beeping. I picked it up and saw that I had a call of all things, and it was from Mica, the mad pokédex modder that had upgraded my dex. I clicked the button and a frantic looking Mica appeared on the screen. I noted that she was still wearing the same thick-rimmed glasses and black t-shirt.
"Hey, short stuff, how you doing?" She opened with. I had to admit, wasn't too sure how to answer that.
"Oh hey Mica," I said trying out a response. "I'm good what abou…"
"Yeah, that's great. Listen, have any of your pokémon found a certain purple and green helmet?"
I glanced down at the blank helmet on the bed next to me.
"Green and purple, no. But my Kirlia did find…" I said as I angled the camera at the helmet.
"Well, it looks like the color fading is still an issue…" She said as she looked off to the side. Based on the way she muttered afterward, I was pretty sure she was writing something down.
"Alright, I'm just going to cut to the chase. Where exactly did this helmet come from?"
"Okay, so you know how the pokéball transport system allows trainers to teleport and store their pokémon right?"
"Oh no," I could already see where this was going. "You tried to make your own version as a pokédex feature, didn't you?"
"Well look at the big brains on you," She said, looking unsarcastically impressed. "You got it figured out, machine still has a few problems. You know, like teleporting objects to semi-random locations, and making them lose all color,"
"Tell her it smelled like fresh baked bread,"
I jumped a little as Brook suddenly sent me the psychic message.
"Give me a second Mica," I told the crazy pokédex modder before turning to Brook. "What are you talking about?"
"When I first found the helmet, the inside and outside smelled like fresh bread. The smell went away after a little bit though,"
That only raised more questions.
"So apparently the helmet smelled like fresh bread when my Kirlia found it," I said as I turned back to Mica. She got a pensive look on her face before pushing up the bridge of her glasses with her finger.
"Oh, well at least that makes sense,"
And that just raised even further questions.
"So if you don't mind me asking…" I said as a question poked into my head. "This is all legal right?"
"Completely legal, as long as I don't try to make any money with it and make sure that anyone who uses it fills out a form,"
Yeah, I guess that made sense. She had told me roughly the same thing when she modded my pokédex.
But in that case, why did May tell Laura that Mica charged so much when she claimed that she could only do stuff like that for free?
"Hey, you okay kid? You look like you froze up there,"
"I'm fine, sorry about that," I said with a nervous laugh as I snapped out of my thoughts. Worrying thoughts about May could be shelved for a later date. "By the way, I'm planning on entering the race down Mount Chimney. The race is tomorrow, so watch it if you have the time I guess,"
She suddenly froze in place and for a second I was worried that the connection had cut out.
"Mica? Are you…"
"The stupid race is tomorrow?" She suddenly screamed, making everyone else in the room jump with how loud she was. "Going to have to let you go kid, I have some people who I promised to meet up with to watch the race with. See you around," She finally said before the call cut out.
"So," Laura said as she leaned over. "You get the feeling that she forgot your name?"
"Yeah I got that feeling," I admitted as I thought back to that conversation.
"Never a dull day with you guys huh?" Chris asked with a laugh.
"Not really," I admitted as I thought back on my journey, "We have plenty of dull days, but the not dull days just tend to be really, really not dull so it balances out I guess," I explained, trying to not think about that time Vimilky and I accidentally caused half of Dewford port to get blown up by a rampaging Aggron.
Not one of my best days if I had to be honest.
"Well, I'm going to leave my stuff here before heading out and preparing for the race," I explained as I set my bag down next to the empty bed. I grabbed everyone's pokéballs and motioned for Vimilky and Brook to follow me.
The helmet stayed where it was for now.
"So what's our first move?" I asked as the doors of the pokécenter closed behind us. Milk had chosen to go back into her ball, so it was just the two of us.
"Well the first thing we have to do is find a certain store," Nikki explained as he scanned our surroundings. He must have found what he was looking for because he suddenly started smiling. "There it is. Come on Brook,"
I followed after him and soon saw where it was that we were heading to.
It was a small store, with a large wheel at the top. Inside I could see a bunch of wooden boards with wheels on them.
We stepped in and were immediately met with an overly cheery and excessively friendly attendant.
"Why hello there," She said in a chipper tone as she moved around us, getting way to close at times. "Are you here to buy or rent a board for the big race tomorrow? In that case, we have plenty of racing boards all lined up on the wall over there," She finished in a pose that left her standing on one leg and with both hands pointing towards a wall filled with boards.
"Ye… yeah that's why, I'm here," Poor Nikki, he was clearly overwhelmed. And there was honestly something a bit sketchy about this girl.
I sighed and, using only the tiniest bit of my power, jumped onto the back of his head. He freaked out a little before realizing that it was just me. "Brook, what are you doing?"
"Calm down and remember why we're here. I don't trust this girl so keep on your toes,"
Nikki gave me a raised eyebrow at that.
"Sorry about my Kirlia, she's usually much calmer," Nikki said to the sales girl. "Yeah, we're here to buy a board, one for both us actually,"
"That's great," She said before looking away for a moment.
Now even after having my empathy sense unlocked with the help of Dense Flower, I was still a novice at it. I still needed to concentrate on a person I knew well to get it to work, and I was still miles away from being able to use it on everyone I met.
None of that mattered one bit, I was still able to feel the wave of malice that rolled of the girl in that moment she looked away.
"Well in that case," She said with a pretty smile on her face. My eyes narrowed as I dropped from Nikki's shoulders, this was it. "You'll also need to buy a helmet for both you and you're pokémon," She said as she somehow produced two helmets out of nowhere. She put them both in Nikki's arms before dashing away. "As well as some safety gear, maybe some tape, how about some athletic clothing, heck, why not a helmet mountable camera to record your race?" She said, objects appearing in Nikki's arms as she went on and on. By the time she was done, Nikki was carrying a mountain of stuff.
"I'll even throw in some insurance for all this stuff, just for you," She said with that same annoying smile like she was doing us the biggest favor in the world.
"Okay I do need some of this stuff, but not all of it. Brook, could you help me out with some of this stuff,"
"So this was her game, sell us useless stuff we don't need to make a profit," I said as I took some of the stuff off his arms. I blinked as I noticed two particular objects around halfway through the pile.
"Well, at least she had good taste in headwear. This helmet looks pretty cool,"
The helmet in question was mostly white, with two crimson- colored raised sections that were probably for holding the horns of a Kirlia.
"Listen, this is just pretty basic gear, every racer out there tomorrow is going to be using all this stuff at minimum. If you don't use it you're going to be at a big disadvantage," I didn't appreciate the know-it-all tone she was using.
"I've been dirt boarding before Miss, I think that Brook and I will be just fine," Nikki told her as he started grabbing a few things from the pile, mostly the helmets, safety pads and what looked like a hip mounted water bottle holder.
"If you say so," She said with a shrug as she took back all of the stuff she gave us except the things that Nikki was holding onto.
"Come on Brook, let's go look at those dirt boards," Nikki told me as the pair of us walked to a wall filled with boards that I had seen earlier.
They looked a bit odd. They reminded me of those skateboards that I had seen humans ride on from time to time. They were still a bit different though. They were a bit longer and in place of the small, smooth wheels they had bigger wheels with treads on them.
"So these are dirt boards," I said as Nikki took a board from off the wall. It was a dark blue, with a single green stripe going right down the middle. He took the board and looked at it from several angles before nodding.
"This one will do," He told me as he held the board out to me. "What do you think?"
"Looks good to me, but how are we both going to fit on it?"
"Well I have two ideas for that," He placed the board down and crouched to my level. He made v signs with both of his hands and placed them on the board. "We can either both ride on the board or," He placed one hand on top of the other. "You can ride on my shoulders,"
"Which one would work better?"
"No idea, I'll be taking this," He said as he set the board and the rest of the stuff down in front of the clerk.
Soon afterward, we were walking out of the store with all of the stuff in a bag.
"There should be a few smaller slopes on the north side of the mountain. Let's go practice for tomorrow,"
"Lead the way," I said as we walked towards the slope.
"Alright, you ready?"
"You know it,"
"Your helmet on right?"
"Yes it fine. Now let's go,"
I kicked off, Brook and I balancing on the board as it went down the slope. I weighed more than her, so it was up to me shift my weight.
The slope wasn't all that steep or long, meant mostly for people to practice on. It was mostly empty, the only other people I saw on the way up were a parent and child duo and a couple that looked like they were on a date.
"Shift right," I said as I started leaning slightly, Brook moving her body to match mine.
"Now left," We shifted to the side again, avoiding a small rock on the slope.
We shifted a few more times as I realized what our problem was.
Brook let out a squeak of joy as we came to a stop at the bottom of the slope. I picked the board up and the two of us started up the path to the top again.
"That was amazing, never knew that I would be so good at this. Come on, let's do it again," I cringed as I got ready to explain the issue.
"Brook, about that," Her expression shifted before my eyes, going from joy to annoyance. "You didn't really… do anything,"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you just weigh so little that it didn't have any effect on the board,"
Even after all of our traveling, training, and proper eating, Brook was still a bit on the scrawny side. She was both a bit shorter and skinnier than an average Kirlia. From what the Professor had told me when I had brought it up, it looked like she would also be a small Gardevoir if she evolved again. All this meant that she didn't have that much weight to shift.
"I'm pretty sure that you could just stand completely still, and it wouldn't throw off the board that much. You also can't do that much from there."
"Well what about that other way, with me riding on your shoulders?"
"We might just have to do that. Plus, you'll probably be able to do a lot more from up there then from down here,"
We reached the top of the slope before long. I set the board down before crouching down. Brook jumped on my back, sitting on my shoulders, her legs wrapped around my arms and her upper body draped over my helmet.
I stood still a moment, making sure that her presence wasn't throwing off my balance too much.
"You ready to do this?" I said as I stepped on the board and eyed the slope.
"You know I am,"
I kicked off, Brook cheering as we started going downhill. I shifted side to side, moving just as easily as before. It looked like even with Brook's added weight, I was still going at roughly the same speed.
"Hey Nikki, are we good?"
I nodded, knowing full well what happens when you try to talk on a dirtboard from experience.
"Okay, so I'm going to count down. When I say 'now' get ready for a burst of speed,"
I had a bit of an idea of what she had planned. I didn't say anything, which Brook must have interpreted as a go-ahead because she started counting.
"3, 2, 1, now!"
I braced myself as I felt the promised burst of speed. I shook from side to side as I felt the sudden push into my upper back. I knelt down a bit, stabilizing myself so that the push came straight on instead of at an angle.
I sped down the slope. I blasted past the parent and child, past the couple, past my Mom, I passed everyone. At some point, the push cut out, but I barely noticed. At the speed I was going, I had all the momentum I needed to get to the end of the slope.
In fact, I think I may have had a bit too much.
"Oh no," I mumbled under my breath as we got close to the bottom of the slope. I swerved back and forth in an attempt to slow down before I crashed at the bottom of the slope.
"Brook, slow us down!" I said, taking the risk that I would bite my tongue.
"You got it," She said, sounding completely unconcerned. I glanced up and saw her push her arms out in front of us. She shot off a weak burst of confusion from those hands. The burst was enough to slow us down, but not enough to throw us off balance.
"Perfect, keep that up," I told her as she let out a few more bursts of psychic power. I swerved the board and planted my foot into the ground, coming to a complete stop.
"That was amazing," Brook jumped off my back and yelled in joy. "We are going to crush this race,"
"You do realize that I only dirtboard a few times a year and that a lot of the people who we're going to be up against have way more experience than us," I told her, trying to bring her down back to earth a bit. "We're probably not going to win this,"
"Don't care, we're still going to win this, I can feel it in my bones," She said as she placed her arms on her hips and let out a hearty laugh. Both the pose and the laugh looked off coming from something as small and high pitched as a Kirlia, but I decided to let it go.
Not like I had much room to stand on after what I did upon finishing the Jagged Path.
"Come on Brook, if we are going to win, we're going to need to get in as much practice as we can," I said with a laugh as the two of headed up to the top of the slope again.
As we walked up, I couldn't help but feel like I had missed something on the way down.
We got back to the pokécenter in short order. After a quick shower, meal, and talking to Chris and Laura, Brook and I got ready for nightly psychic training.
"Okay, are you ready?" Brook asked me as the two of us sat crossed legged on my bed opposite to each.
"Ready," I told her as we both closed our eyes.
The connection between us opened near instantly. Unlike the floating void of our last training session, Brook had gone for something a bit more solid.
"You like it, I based it off a movie that I watched once," She explained as she made a wide, sweeping gesture to the area around us.
Well, it was an interesting looking place, I'd give her that.
We were both standing on what looked the ramparts of an old castle. I looked over the side and saw a long expanse of clear water that reached the horizon. In fact, there appeared to be water in every direction.
"So either this castle is somehow floating on the water, or it takes up a whole island," I commentated as I draped myself over the side.
"It's the latter," She said as she balanced on edge of the rock. Down below, I could hear the sounds of the waves crashing against the stone. Still, there was something weird about what Brook said.
"When did you even watch a movie in the first place? I know that our collection at home doesn't have anything like this," I told her as I thought back to the small collection of movies we had at home.
"Did you know that one of the modification on your pokédex lets us watch movies while inside them?" She explained as she started walking down the side of the castle.
"You know I'm getting increasingly concerned about these mods as time passes," I told her as I followed after her.
"I'm sure that it's fine. Gives me something to watch and listen to do while training so I don't really mind." Brook suddenly stopped before looking down the side at the water below. She jumped to the side as spot she had been standing on folded away and became a descending staircase.
We started walking downwards. We were about halfway to the water when I started making conversation again.
"So, the race,"
The second after those words left my lips, the staircase below us smoothed out into a stone ramp. A wet stone ramp that probably didn't offer much traction when dry. Needless to say, we started sliding down at a brisk pace.
Despite the speed, we kept talking with the same calm tone that we had beforehand.
"I'm pumped, I know you've said that we're probably not going to win, but I don't care. I'm still going to give it my all, not because I'm scared to lose, but because I really just want to win," She explained as we hit the water without a splash. The stone ramp kept going, and we kept sliding downwards with it.
"As long as you know that win or lose, we're still a team," "Have to be honest, if I wasn't teamed up with someone like you, I think I might have given up after that second badge," I said as large crystals in the shape of the Knuckle and stone badge flew past us.
"Two is good enough for a lot of trainers' right?" She said as a crystal Riolu and Nosepass passes by us.
"Yeah, for ordinary trainers, two badges is enough," She said as I spotted what looked like the seafloor below us.
"Oh, and what makes you unordinary?"
"I have you on my team don't I? Can't be an ordinary trainer if I have an extraordinary pokémon like you on the team," I told her as we reached the bottom of the ramp.
"Thanks," She said as a huge smile broke out on her face. "Changing the subject for a bit, do you have any other ideas for the race tomorrow? We need to practice some psychic communication, might as well plan at the same time,"
And with that, we both started talking at the bottom of the sea.
I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and ready. I let out a yawn and did a few stretches while I waited for everyone else to get up. Based off how things normally went, it wouldn't be too long.
The humans in our little group woke up not long after, just as I predicted. I left my pokéball and quickly claimed the bathroom and the first shower.
The pokéball had everything a pokémon could need to maintain a level of proper hygiene above that found in the wild. However it seemed that hot water wasn't on that list, so I had just reached the point that I always took a hot bath in the pokécenter and hotel bathrooms whenever I could.
Now that I thought about it, I had never gotten the chance to try out those hot springs in Lavaridge that everyone talked about. I would have to fix that when we went back.
"So what are you two going to do?" Nikki asked the two other humans of our little group as we all ate breakfast.
"Well, Chris and I are going to take the cable car down to the bottom of the mountain. We'll be watching the race from there. I figure that we'll just meet up at the bottom of the car,"
"Sorry to say, but Gale and I are going to have to split off from you guys at that point," Chris explained before biting into his food.
"I'm going to miss you Brook," Gale told me, a tear in her eye.
"Hey Nikki, can you check your pokédex to see if Buneary can learn fake tears?"
Nikki didn't even hesitate, whipping out his pokédex without saying a word.
"Looks like they can," He said after about a second of searching.
"You guys are so mean to me," Gale said as her tears suddenly cut off. "I am going to miss you though. Not too often that I get to run someone through the wringer like I did you,"
"You are an evil little bunny you know that?" I told her as Chris let out a good-natured chuckle from his spot at the table.
"I don't think I'm going to get used to seeing Gale acting the way she does with you and you Kirlia," He told Nikki as he finished off his food.
The rest of us finished soon after, and before I knew it, we were standing at the edge of the slope.
I looked down at the slope from my spot on Nikki's shoulders and swallowed. I wasn't going to lie, we were pretty high up and this slope looked to go down all the way to the base of the mountain.
In front of us was an expanse of smooth red rock, broken up by the occasional outcropping that looked like it had been shaped to act as a ramp. Further down, we could see the point where the trees started, but lucky, the slope itself was clear of trees. Off to the side, I could see the cable car that would be taking the others down.
"You ready?" Nikki asked as we took our position at the starting line. There weren't that many other trainer pokémon pairs up here with us. I counted Linguini with that scyther of his, and maybe eight other pairs.
"Ladies and gentlemen," A voice said from a nearby speaker. "I hope you're all ready for this year's race to the bottom. It looks like all of the contestants have taken their place,"
The voice said a few more things that I didn't really pay too much attention to, until finally I heard the magic words.
"Racers, get ready,"
Nikki leaned forward as I adjusted myself on his shoulders.
"Get set,"
Nikki placed his foot on the ground, ready to kick off.
"Go!"
Nikki pushed hard and soon we were on our way down the slope.
I let out an excited yell as I felt the air rush past me. Once I got that out of me, I looked on either side of us. After a few seconds, the racers had split in two. In front of us was a pack of a few racers competing for first. Around us was a second pack trying to come in last.
To our right was a trainer that had had the same idea as us. He was riding with some sort of skinny grass type with a yellow face that had their limbs wrapped around their shoulders.
To our left was a trainer that looked even a little smaller and younger than Nikki who was just straight up riding a blue pokémon covered in yellow fur.
The riding trainer and I locked eyes before she suddenly turned away said something to her pokémon. The blue pokémon barked something that I couldn't make out before the pair sped up and started putting some distance between us.
She looked back at us for just a moment. At that moment she dragged her eye down and stuck her tongue out at me.
"Get ready for a boost," I told Nikki as I started focusing my powers into my hands. As much as I could, as fast as I could. I could hear the world begin to distort with the amount of power that I was putting into there.
Nikki adjusted himself and I unleashed my psychic might. It felt like there was a sudden explosion behind us as we were sent flying forward. Nikki screamed as he started swerving from side to side.
"Brook, why?" Nikki yelled as he stabilized us just as we rushed past that rude kid from earlier.
"Because a lesson needed to be taught," I said as I looked behind us and saw a trainer riding with a small orange coated pokémon with a black body at the front of their board. The pokémon was shooting a beam of white at the ground right in front of the pair, turning it into ice.
Felt like cheating to me but no one was saying anything about it so I guess it was fine.
What mattered more was the fact that they were building momentum. I wasn't about to let them overtake us. I started charging my power again.
"Get ready for another boost,"
"Wait why?"
"The two behind us are gaining on us,"
"That might not…"
Nikki stopped talking for some reason, so I figured that he had changed his mind on this. I charged my power in my hands once more.
I screamed in my mouth as I rolled my tongue around in an attempt to dull the pain. Just like I had told Brook before, I talked in the race and bit my tongue.
What did she say she was going to do again?
Oh right.
Oh no.
"Let's go!"
I shifted and felt another explosion of force come from behind. As we boosted forward, we started leaving the backpack behind and started gaining on the front pack. Which was nice.
Less nice was the way we blasted forward in an uncontrollable frenzy. I shifted left and right, trying to stabilize myself as the stone path zoomed towards me.
Okay, so I think that I had a handle on this and was that a ramp?
I screamed internally as we went up the ramp and boosted off. I glanced downwards and saw three racers looking up at me.
Well, might as well take advantage of the situation. I ducked down and grabbed the side of my board and tilted it a bit before letting go. I hit the ground and wobbled a bit, but kept going even as a girl on a Dodrio started running alongside me.
I leaned to the side as one of the heads reached out to try to bite me. With Brook busy keeping me going fast, it was up to me to avoid the hits. I kept leaning leftwards as the Dodrio kept pushing me.
I made a quick glance to the left and saw that I was going to be pushed right into the trees. I needed to get out of this right now. But how? I couldn't really slow down with Brook boosting me along. I needed to speed up, but I couldn't exactly tell her that with my tongue like this.
Or could I?
I took deep breaths, trying my best to calm myself while going down the side of a mountain protected by nothing but a helmet and a few pads.
Once I was as calm I was going to be I tried to open my mind to Brook. I could feel the barest hints of a connection, but that was all I needed. I stabilized it the best I could while avoiding another snap from the Dodrio.
"Brook, speed us up," I told her as the connection broke. I had to hope that I got the message across, or we were going to eat some bark.
"One speed up, coming right up,"
I grinned as I felt a new burst of speed. I wasted no time, cutting in front of the girl with the Dodrio and continuing until I was on her other side. Both the pokémon and rider were buffeted back as the psychic blast hit them both. She must not have appreciated us passing her, because she charged right after us. She couldn't run right behind us, but she could still come at us from an angle and nip at our heels.
Well, I wasn't in the mood for any heel nipping. I waited until she got too close, and then swerved so that Brook's psychic power would hit them full on. They fell back and I took the chance to charge forward. By the time the girl with the Dodrio recovered, she had fallen behind to the end of the front pack.
There were only four more teams in front of us now. The front two trainers were ridding on boards along with their pokémon, a Shroomish and a Nincada. They were really going at it too. The trainer with the Shroomish was shooting off bullet seeds, which the Nincada team either dodged or cut in midair. Every once in a while, the Nincada team would answer back with a gust of what looked like silver wind. On their heels was a young trainer riding an Absol of all things.
Brook's power wasn't going to do anything to that Absol, and the front two racers were going at it way too hard for me to cut in. In fact the longer I watched the pair, the more I worried that someone was going to die by the end of this race. Either way, I really only had a single option. Try to maintain my position in fourth until an opportunity appeared.
I glanced over at the Absol rider who apparently had the same idea as me. We both hung back as the battle in front of us raged on.
It was pretty impressive to look at, to be honest. It also looked pretty terrifying, so I felt like hanging back was the right…
"That bird racer is back,"
I glanced back at Book's warning just in time to see the Dodrio snap all three of their beaks at me as the rider gave me a sneer, Looks like she wasn't too close happy to see me.
How was I going to get her off my trail this time? I doubted that the same trick would work twice.
Just as I was thinking about my problem, the top two racers started another fight. Could I maybe use them…?
I did my best to calm myself, I needed to make sure this got across.
"Brook, I signal, give everything,"
"Understood. And let me just say that I am so proud on your progress in the psychic arts," She messaged back, releasing a small knot of tension that had built up in my stomach for a second. With the plan set, I began to put in in motion.
I leaned from side to side, making sure that the Dodrio rider was chasing after me. After a few sways, I was pretty sure that I had her chasing at my heels. I looked forward and saw that the fight between the top two racers had calmed down a bit. We were also pretty close to the end of the track. If I was going to overtake them, it would have to be while they were preoccupied with their next fight.
I glanced at the Absol rider who met my gaze. They knew the same thing I did. We both got ready and watched the two riders as they started approaching each other, intent on starting another round of battle.
"Now!" I told Brook as she unleashed the strongest blast she could, rocketing us forward. Next to me, I could see the Absol kid rush forward, keeping pace with me. Behind me, I could hear the slapping sound of the Dodrio and their rider chasing after us.
The Absol rider and I slipped past the two top racers as they launched their attacks at each other. I could hear the sound of a small explosion behind me as the Dodrio rider probably took the brunt of the blast.
The sudden burst from The Absol rider and I rushing past them, as well as the explosion from the Dodrio rider, must have taken the two fighting racers by surprise. I didn't hear a single sound of battle as I rode away.
I could clearly see the finish line from here. A black and white checker mark banner stood on two poles. It was all down to me and the Absol rider. We glanced at each other one last time and came to a silent agreement.
No more tricks, no more moves, no more distractions. From here on it was a contest of speed and nothing else.
I rushed forward, pulling forward, only for the Absol rider to push just ahead of me. We went on and on, neck and neck, until we neared the end of the track.
I was ahead.
They were ahead.
I was ahead.
They were ahead.
I was ahead.
They were ahead.
I was…
We crossed the finish line, Brook and I just a split second faster than the Absol rider. I speed past the finish line into a large circular pit designed to help the racers slow down. I raced around the pit, slowing myself as the crowds cheered.
"And the winners are Nicholas Maple of Petalburg and Brook the Kirlia," I heard announced on the P.A. as Brook and I came to a stop. I climbed off the board and took in the cheers as Brook laughed and waved at the crowd.
"We did it Nikki!" She almost yelled into my mind. Even with the pain from mental scream, I couldn't get mad at her.
I would have said something to add to the victory if my tongue still wasn't stinging.
However, I quickly found that I didn't have to say a thing, as I was suddenly picked up by someone who had been right behind me.
"Nice work you two," I glanced down and saw that it had been my Dad that had picked me up. Funnily enough, him placing me on his shoulder had made us a two-man and pokémon tower with Brook at the top.
"Oh we are so proud of you both," My Mom said from below.
"Never took you for a racer little bro. Maybe Brook, but definitely not you," Ali added before laughing.
Was I wondering where the heck they had all come from? Heck yeah.
Was I not going to question it until after the celebrations were done? Also heck yeah.
It took a while to explain that Nikki bit his tongue, but once he did the rest of the conversation went so much smoother.
"I still can't believe that you managed to win," Chris said as Gale sat by his side.
"Well, I knew that he had it in him," Laura said with a grin.
After the race ended, we all gathered up in a small pokécenter at the base of the mountain. Most of the people who had come for the race had already left, so we had plenty of space for everyone.
Chris, Laura and Gale found us pretty quickly after the race ended and had found themselves invited along. All it had taken was a quick introduction on Nikki's part and the rest had accepted easily enough.
We had even found Linguini, who had even apparently finished almost dead last. Even in his defeat, he still managed to act like himself.
It was nice meeting all of Nikki's family again. His parents spent most of their time gushing over me and even his Sister couldn't resist patting my head a few times.
It felt nice, really nice.
Nice enough to make me feel dumb for thinking that they would tolerate Nikki kicking me out of the team. He was right, his family would have gone off on him.
We spent the rest of the day mostly hanging out enjoying our time. By this time tomorrow, Chris would be heading south along with Nikki's family. Sam and I would be heading north, towards our meet up with Brandon.