Four: Surging Onwards
The residential street where Chloe lived was deserted. Apparently, the odd drunken sailor stumbled across it, but she had never seen one. She had never been allowed out late enough to get the opportunity.
Fortunately, that made tracking Yamper much easier. She caught sight of its tail passing through the light of a street lamp before it disappeared around a corner. She followed and tasted salt on the air. A fresh breeze rolled and chilled her skin, reminding her short sleeves and socks were inappropriate night-time attire.
The street broadened and burst open to reveal a vast strip of concrete hosting a colourful collection of shipping containers. A little further on, the sea threw itself against the harbour, moon shimmering on the surface. Chloe followed Yamper through the containers until it finally stopped and barked incessantly. She stopped beside it and panted as she caught her breath. "Geez, Yamper. What's wrong-"
A lightning bolt struck close by, erasing all sound and sight. When it returned, she was assaulted by Yamper's excited yelps. Squinting through the night, she spotted two figures, one much taller than the other, giving out commands with dramatic waves of their arms.
"Another Thunderbolt, Raichu!"
"Thunderbolt as well, Pikachu!"
A burst of sound, followed by another flash – boy was she getting tired of those – and then an invisible force pushing her back. Her ears rang. The ruckus was surely loud enough to wake the entire neighbourhood. She might even be brought in as a witness. Little Girl Exposes Late-Night Pokemon Battle. School would be a riot once that headline got out.
Everything calmed long enough for her senses to return to normal. She made out Ash's familiar red cap and blue jacket. Opposite him was a muscular man in a tank-top. Between them was Ash's Pikachu and a Raichu she assumed belonged to the man. The Raichu's cheeks sparked. It looked mighty pleased with itself.
"Not bad, not bad," said the man in a gravelly voice. "You're definitely a lot stronger than you were the last time we battled."
"You too," Ash said brightly. "That was the strongest Thunderbolt I've ever seen!"
The man laughed. "You think that puny thing was the best we've got? Think again, kiddo."
The sparks flying out of Raichu's cheeks turned even more frenetic. Its long tail stood up straight into the air, like an antenna waiting to catch a lightning strike.
"If you've got better, then I can't wait to see it," said Ash, adjusting his cap. "Get in there with Quick Attack, Pikachu!"
Pikachu vanished from view and appeared again in front of Raichu, a second away from bodying it, but-
"Mega Punch!"
-a devastating punch to its cheek knocked him away.
"Now Mega Kick!"
Raichu's leg snapped outwards and planted into Pikachu's stomach with enough force to send it up into to the air. Pikachu landed with a heavy thud and clutched at its midsection.
The muscular man laughed. "What's wrong? Is this all the new champ of Alola can do?"
Alola? Champ? Wait, is Pikachu okay? Pikachu pushed himself off the ground, little legs shaking. A triumphant "Pika pika" announced he was back in action and ready to thrown down once more. She breathed in relief. Thank goodness...
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though," the man continued, his voice acidic. "From what I hear, the Alola League was some low class get-together which any scrub could enter. Winning something like that ain't gonna be worth much."
Chloe still had zero idea what an "Alola League" even was, but the man's tone was so condescending she had to the urge to march over and slap him in the face. Then she would demand he apologise to Ash... or so she imagined. In reality, the man was six feet of tightly packed muscle that could probably repel bullets. A slap would hurt her more than it would him.
Below her, Yamper pulled its lips back to bare its canines. Sending Yamper after him was an idea, but there was a very mean looking Raichu in the way, and she wouldn't want Yamper getting hurt.
In any case, the man was a top class jerk.
"You're as tough as ever, Surge." Ash's gentle voice kicked the anger out from underneath her. Rather than be angry and annoyed like she'd be, he was grinning. "But you should know, the harder the opponent is, the harder we fight!"
"Pika!"
The man – Surge, Ash had called him – clicked his tongue and smiled slyly. "Kid went and grew up on me."
Chloe remembered the cartoons and comics she used to read, where fighters would always declare their victory before performing their final attacks. Those final moments were always drawn out and deliberate, so she could keep up with the action. But reality did not resemble fiction at all. The battle's finale passed by in a blur of orange and yellow streaks, orchestrated by frantic instructions from Ash and Surge. Her eyes couldn't follow the action. Only the cries of Thunderbolt, Electro Web, Iron Tail, Mega Punch and Mega Kick told her what was happening.
She saw Pikachu appear against the black sky, suspended several feet off the ground.
"Time to finish this, Raichu!"
Surge's grin resembled a Sharpedo's. His Raichu mimicked his expression, showing off a set of surprisingly sharp teeth – a sight which would no doubt appear in her nightmares. It waited, tail upright, for Pikachu to come back down.
Pikachu's arms and legs flailed as it sought desperately to transform into a Flying-type and defy gravity. Alas, such miracles were impossible.
Chloe clenched her eyes shut as Pikachu descended. In a few moments, the cute critter would be booted out of the sky and into a shipping container, or even the ocean. There was nothing anyone could do about it.
But Ash hadn't given up. "This is our chance! Spin!"
She chanced another look. Pikachu tucked in his head, arms and legs and span around like a ball. The further he fell, the quicker the rotations became.
"Now, Iron Tail!"
A rigid tail shot out of the ball and sliced through the air. It whipped Raichu around the head, forcing all its weight down. The pair of them crashed to the ground, dirt exploding all around them and lingering as a cloud. Chloe couldn't see either combatant. She clenched her fists, fingernail digging into palms, as she waited for the cloud to clear. If she was this tense, then she couldn't imagine what either Ash or Surge were feeling.
When the cloud finally cleared, Pikachu was standing over Raichu. The bigger Electric-type lied flat on its back, looking up at the sky. "Rai..." it sighed with resignation.
Surge clicked his tongue and went over to examine the damage. "You still good?"
His Raichu sat up, head drooping this way and that. There was no it could continue fighting.
"It's our loss," Surge announced. He gave Raichu a hearty slap on the back. "Come on, buddy, on your feet. You've taken harder hits before."
"Rai..." was the drowsy response. Nonetheless, Raichu got back on two feet. Unsteady, but standing tall once again.
Ash walked over and knelt down to rub Pikachu's head. "Nice work, Pikachu."
Pikachu let out a contented "Cha!" and then flopped onto his backside. Ash chuckled and scooped him up like a proud dad congratulating his game-winning son.
Just like that, all the tension drained out of the area. Chloe collapsed against the shipping container, shoulder making a dull, metallic thump against the iron. She never knew Pokemon battles could be so intense. Sure, she had seen other kids at her school go at it, but their commands were not as quick or as precise, nor did their Pokemon strike each other with so much ferocity you could feel the impact standing yards away. Ash and Surge were on a completely different level of skill. Even her amateur eyes could tell that much.
She had no idea Ash – ever grinning, always blabbing about something, and always one stupid idea away from an accident involving electricity, fire, or both – was capable of such a thing. What did that jerk call him? Champion of Alola? You probably didn't become of champion of anything without some level of skill. Maybe she could ask him about it tomorrow. Tomorrow...
Her head snapped up. A dark sky, stars, a moon reflected in the water, an open window and an empty bedroom. Well past her bed time.
"Crap. Come on, Yamper. We need to get out of here." Yamper ignored her. "Hello, Yamper?"
Yamper's tail was wagging so fast it looked like it could fly off and smash a window at any second. It gave one excited bark after another. Chloe knew what that meant. "Oh no you don't!"
She made a desperate lunge for it, but she was too slow. Yamper slipped away and bounded into the harbour area, running past Ash's ankles, completing rings around Surge, zipping this way and that in a confusing flash of brown and yellow fur. She chased after it, until she was halted dead in her tracks by two pairs of eyes snapping in her direction.
"Um, hi? I'm just here to pick up my Yamper..."
Surge, the man she considered slapping moments ago, grew three sizes up close. He pinned her to the spot with his accusing glare. Even when he turned to Ash, she dared not move. "Friend of yours, kid?"
Ash nodded. "What are you doing here, Chloe?"
Unlike surge, he had no suspicion in his tone. She explained seeing a bright light from her bedroom window and Yamper running out of the house. She left out the part where she jumped out her own bedroom window. Perhaps it was the presence of an adult, but she had the unshakeable feeling she'd be in trouble if she admitted it. "I chased him to the shipping containers over there, and then happened to see you both battling." She bowed her head in apology. "I didn't mean to spy on you, or anything."
"Nah, don't apologise. We weren't exactly being quiet."
Surge scoffed. "No point being quiet with two Electric-types. Either go hard and wake the whole town, or don't bother fighting at all." Ash's smile suggested he didn't quite get it, but wasn't about to question it. Chloe felt a nervous chuckle bubble up her throat, but it burst into a thousand droplets at the thought of Surge thinking she was making fun of him. "Anyway," he said, rolling his neck until it clicked, "I'll leave you kids to it. Come on, Raichu. I need a drink."
Raichu groaned with the enthusiasm of a designated drive about to witness its buddy drink himself into a stupor.
Surge had one parting comment for Ash. "You'll be seeing me again, kid. Count on it. I gotta get my win back."
"Sure thing! I'm staying in the lab these days. Just swing by for a battle any time."
Chloe paled, because there was a good chance Ash wouldn't be there to answer the door when Surge came knocking, and she would have to entertain a grumpy guest out for revenge.
They watched Surge drag his Raichu towards a seedy tavern until they were out of sight. Chloe sighed and pinched the thin fabric of her shirt, suddenly hyper-aware of its weak defences against a chilly Vermilion night by the sea. All she wanted now was to go back home and curl up under her bed covers. If she could sneak back in without her parents noticing, that'd be great, too.
"Hey. You hungry?" Ash said, smiling at her without a care in a world. "There's a doughnut stand near here. I've been smelling it this whole time and really want to check it out."
Ash must have had the keen smell of a Growlithe, because all she could sense was pungent sea salt. She was about to turn him down – she really needed to get back home – but her stomach rumbled. It must have worked through dinner in record time after all the excitement.
"I take that as a yes."
He smirked at her. She wanted to reach out and snatch it right off his face, then throw it straight into the ocean. He was offering her free food, though, so she supposed she could let him off the hook. For now.
Chloe waited by the harbour's edge with Yamper and Pikachu, sitting with her legs hanging towards the water while Ash went and got the doughnuts. The two Electric-types were salivating at the prospect of a sugary treat. She took the time to examine Pikachu and take note of all the scrapes and dirt patching his fur. If she had a cloth with her, she could have cleaned him up.
Ash arrived with a paper bag dangling from his hand. He handed out his purchases, one doughnut for her and Yamper, and one for him and Pikachu, before taking a seat beside her. Yamper pawed at her thigh and panted with an expectant gaze, so she broke off a chunk and dropped it on the ground beside her. It gave a happy bark and feasted on it. She saw Ash hold his doughnut out for Pikachu to nibble and wrinkled her nose when he took a bite himself, utterly unconcerned about sharing food with a Pokemon. Just how much to they trust each other? Would Yamper and I ever be like that? She imagined herself eating food out of Yamper's bowl and nearly gagged. Do I even want us to be like that?
"So, hey," Ash said. "Did I annoy you earlier?"
She paused, thinking back to "earlier". It seemed like ages ago. "Yeah, you did. It wasn't your fault though, so don't worry about it."
"Really? That's good."
She waited for him to follow-up, but he was too occupied by his doughnut. They sat that way until the sounds of chewing got on her nerves. "Who was the scary guy from before?"
"Lt. Surge," he said through a mouthful. He swallowed audibly. "He's the gym leader here. I thought you knew."
"Well, I didn't," she huffed. Now he mentioned it, she did recall Vermilion having a gym leader who once served in an army and had a reputation for scaring off challengers. It sounded like a school rumour started by some overzealous battle enthusiasts so she never gave it much attention, but apparently it was true all along.
Ash smiled, the slightest of teeth poking through his lips. "Guess he's not as famous as thinks he is. Surge was the first really big challenge me and Pikachu faced, back when we were just starting out. Our first battle with him went so badly I didn't know what to do."
He held up the remainder of his doughnut. Pikachu took it with his tiny paws and gnawed away.
She left the remainder of her own doughnut to Yamper. "What did you do, in the end?"
"I almost evolved Pikachu."
He ducked his head, a little sheepish. She wasn't sure why. Even she knew evolved Pokemon tended to be stronger. She sensed there was a lot more to the story. "But Pikachu is still Pikachu."
"He didn't want to evolve. He wanted to prove to Surge and Raichu he could beat them as he was. And that's exactly what he did." He patted Pikachu on the head, right between the ears, where he liked it most. "I learned a lot from that. Things like: you shouldn't give up just because you've lost to someone tough. You can always try again, and keep trying, until you win."
She made a noise somewhere between impressed and curious. Ash had a way of making the simplest ideas sound profound. Now she understood why he was so keen on battling as an experience, rather than a means to an end.
He went on. "It's not just battling, either. I think it's the same with everything I do. I screw up a lot, but that doesn't mean it's the end. I can try again another time."
He spoke into a strong breeze that rolled off the sea and chilled her arms. She pulled her legs closer to her chest and hugged them. She was finding herself rather invested in Ash's impromptu philosophy lesson. Somehow, his words struck closer to home than she would have liked. Maybe because she had seen Ash screw up numerous times, but always bounce back, ready to try again. She pegged him as the easygoing and forgiving type; someone who never got too down about anything, and was always looking ahead to the next thing. "Dense" and "ditzy" suited him, too, before he started giving surprisingly well-thought out advice.
She felt rather dumb for making so many assumptions. But it's okay to be dumb, every now and again. Just don't turn it into a habit.
Ash stood up, brushing crumbs and sugar crystals off his shorts. "I'll walk you home. Mum won't let me hear the end of it if I don't."
"But your mum isn't even here."
"She'll find out, somehow. Trust me."
He was so serious she had no choice but to take him at his word.
They walked back in comfortable silence, with Pikachu and Yamper leading the way, their ears twitching to the sounds of the city's nightlife. Ash carried a satisfied smile, presumably because he got to have a battle and eat food. Chloe thought about asking why he was out so late in the first place, but then decided she was too tired to care. She had more pressing concerns, like how she was going to return her bedroom unseen by her parents, and what she was going to do when she Goh tomorrow morning.
She paused at that thought. In all the excitement, she had forgotten the whole problem was because of him and his bizarre questions earlier that day. Like a student who had realised at the last minute they had homework to do, she had to come up with an answer before morning.
"About Goh," Ash said, startling her with his mind reading powers. A more likely scenario was her worry showing on her face. Her eyes tended to narrow and droop a little, making her look like she was about to fall asleep. So her mum told her, anyway. "Don't worry about him."
She waited for him to elaborate, but he never did. The mischievous glint in his eye gave everything yet nothing away at the same time, if such a thing were possible. No matter how many times she poked and prodded him for an answer, he never told her what his plan was. She would have to wait until morning.