Chapter 7: The Iron Maiden
A/N: So… Hi… My apologies for taking this long. Let's just say I haven't had much time to write, or think of the plotline over the course of this year until now. In any case…. I'm going to do my best to improve my writing overtime. All that aside, I present to you the next Chapter of Tale of a Legend. Voila. Alfa19
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Ethan woke up in quite an uncomfortable position. He had managed to twist his body overnight so that his back was pressed against the wall next to the bed and his legs bent close to his stomach by pressing them against the backboard of the bed. Honestly, he had no idea why he was in that position and nor could he remember what he had dreamt of last night.
He clambered out of the bed, groaning as he straightened his back, stretching his arms and legs. He managed to fit in a shower and change before he checked his watch and realized it was still six in the morning.
He sighed, leaving the room quietly and going down two flights of stairs before he heard activity downstairs. He crept halfway down the last flight of stairs, peeking down to see the table already set and all the curtains open, the farmer's wife already busy with her work.
He was about to walk back up the stairs to the third floor when he heard the door open and saw Steven walk in. He was dressed in a simple grey half sleeved t-shirt, the neck of which was drenched with sweat, and white running shorts. The clothes were close fitting, showing off his thin but stout figure, as he pulled earbuds out of his ears, unclipping his phone from his side and clicking away.
Ethan walked back downstairs, realizing that he was probably the last person to wake up at this point. He was on a farm for Arceus's sake, everyone here woke up early. He probably should have asked what time breakfast was. He decided to go down when he saw Steven sit down at the table, his sweat drying up now.
He walked down the remainder of the stairs casually, drawing up a chair and sitting next to Steven who as Ethan now noticed, wasn't really that tired. It seemed like he had barely broken a sweat. Maybe he had just been running for quite a while.
"Morning kiddo. What can I get you for breakfast?" The farmer's wife asked from behind a counter, the sizzling of a frying pan audible in the background. "Sausages, eggs, rolls, potatoes, pancakes, cheese, milk, cream, bread, fruit, or anything really."
"Just some rolls and a pile of sausages please. And some milk please." He replied, turning to Steven. "Good morning."
"And the same to you." Steven gritted his teeth, pulling his phone out and typing away, though what he was typing that was so long Ethan had no idea. "Sleep well?"
"Like a log."
Steven laughed, the first time Ethan had heard any loud or bullish noise from him with the exemption of the time outside the Tower. "I have to be in Olivine for my own reasons soon. As you can see, I'm travelling there as well. I'll depart on my Skarmory soon, but won't be going there directly. I just came here to meet Lance."
Ethan nodded absentmindedly as a plate was set down in front of Steven, full of tater tots and rolls with some cheese and fresh fruit to the side. By it the farmer's wife set down a tall tumbler of fresh, creamy milk. The older man took a sip from the glass, somehow not leaving a ring around his lips before speaking again.
"It should take you about a day and a half more to reach Olivine's north eastern corner. It's a massive city, not an urban sprawl like Goldenrod, but quainter… Today is the eighth of June. I plan on being in Olivine between the fourteenth and the eighteenth. Meet me there. From there we begin our own journey across Johto, maybe across lands you've travelled, and for the most part across wilds untouched by most."
"You see, whilst I would love to train an apprentice, my time in Johto is limited and there's other business I'll have to carry out at some point. At most this gives us a window of a month, with some luck." Steven went on, talking to him as he dug into his meal. He looked up for a minute after he was met with silence, his steel grey eyes analyzing the somewhat miffed look with which Ethan was staring at the wooden surface of the table.
"What? Too little time?" He asked, continuing on with his breakfast, startling Ethan, whom had drifted off into his thoughts.
"No that's not an issue. Any time training with you is a blessing. What I'm confused about here is…. How do I put this…?" Ethan stopped for a moment, struggling to find the right way to phrase it as a glass of milk was set down in front of him along with his plate.
"Thank you. Steven let's put it this way, sir. I can trust you very easily. You're the Champion of Hoenn. But what makes you trust me. What makes you think you can take me on as an apprentice, in fact what made you take me on. Honestly, I'm at a blank as to why you first gave a total stranger an egg, then offered to take him under your wing as your trainee." Ethan explained, picking up his glass and drinking.
"Ah…. That… I guessed it would come around to that eventually." Steven sighed, giving him the same look from the previous night by the fire.
"I'll just say this… I knew your father at one point. We met during our travels and we stayed in touch, through his service to the Indigo League." A hint of a smile formed around Steven's lips at the word service, slight enough that Ethan nearly missed it.
"At some point, once I've pondered upon things, I'll tell you everything I know about him. Only however if you develop into a sufficiently strong trainer to meet the requirements of the walk of life I intend to open to you. I'll ask you a question in return now. What is your ambition in life? Every trainer has traveled some stretch of land or sea with their companions at some point in their life but few make something of it." Steven's rebuke caught Ethan off guard as his fork missed every sausage in the plate by an inch.
"I want to become a powerful trainer. I want to take on the Indigo conference if I can and overtime get a chance to take on the Indigo League or join the Ace Trainer Corps." He replied, his resolve intact.
At this Steven smiled. "Then the path I will set you on, without a doubt, will be a strenuous one, but I will tell you one thing. It will unearth many answers for you, and twice as many mysteries. However, naught but a few things will go unanswered by the end of it, and those will be the things no one in history has ever answered."
"I'm going to ask what this path is." Ethan remarked, emptying his plate of the last roll.
"The very one you yourself wish to take. I intend to train you for the trials and challenges you will face in the path to become an Ace Trainer and eventually reach the Indigo League." Steven replied, dusting his hands off. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to wash up and be off. I have urgent business to attend to with Jasmine in Olivine City." And with that the silver haired man stood, reminding Ethan that despite his tapered speech he wasn't physically lacking either.
Ethan himself walked over to the sink, picking up a scrubbing sponge and getting to work on his plate before the farmer's wife scuttled over to him, snatching them from him and scolding him. He made his way up to his room, collecting his belongings and setting off downstairs to leave. He bade the farmer's wife, and the farmer, who had come inside for a cup of tea, sweating as though he had been working from sunrise, farewell, before reassembling his bike and climbing onto it. If he rode all day, he should be able to reach Olivine by night. And that was exactly what he intended to do. He first called out Riolu however.
"Okay, I know you can run as fast as I can pedal, but let's get some endurance training in. Run by me as I bike." Ethan instructed as Riolu, simply nodded, stretching to shake off the grip of sleepiness.
The day passed uneventfully, not many trainers traveling in the opposite direction, and those whom had been behind him hadn't caught up, and weren't likely to unless they took to the air or were riding Pokemon.
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He had been bicycling for about half an hour when he nearly crashed from having to shield his eyes from a flare of sunlight that went directly at his eyes. He looked up to see a glimmering silver object with red highlights soaring through the air. He recognized it as a Skarmory as it dove to pick up speed, much like the one Lyra's grandfather Jedidiah had had, but this one was much larger, seemed to be going much farther, regardless of the fact that the distance between them made it look like it was flying about as fast as he was pedaling.
He recalled that Steven had mentioned his Skarmory earlier, looking up to see if he could spot the man sitting on top of the metallic bird. Sure, enough as it dove it did a three sixty, revealing Steven's head of silver hair, his slim form covered into a silvery body suit of sorts. He couldn't really tell much more from this distance, but as Steven bent his back to lie flat against Skarmory, Ethan noted that he was near invisible. Maybe that was the purpose of the suit.
He pedaled furiously, trying to see how long he could keep the bird in sight, before it dove once more, this time much closer, spiraling as it did, and shot off in a blur, having picked up the speed it needed. He slowed down a bit, checking the time. Steven had flown slowly, for reasons unknown, for around fifteen minutes.
He continued on for the rest of the morning, pedaling until about two in the afternoon, when he decided to take a training and lunch break. He found his way the top of a small hill, the height of the terrain receding the further he went. He set his bike against a tree, climbing off and releasing his Pokemon, one by one, Riolu jumping off the back of his bike, having climbed on every hour or so to rest for fifteen minutes.
"Okay everyone. Same things as last time. Lunch first, then training for… maybe two hours… At the rate we're moving, since I'm on my bike now, after recalling I have it," he grinned sheepishly at the last statement, scratching his head before continuing on. He pulled out his friends' food and his own, along with a red hoodie from his bag. It was getting chilly. He pulled it one as Feraligatr opened the tin of noodles for him, Typhlosion heating the food in the bags for itself and Riolu. Ethan had done some reading up on his Pokemon when he had had Wi-Fi access. Specter, naturally, didn't eat, which it never did in the first place. All of his other Pokemon did. Scyther were at some stage supposed to stop consuming anything but tree sap, which he noted his own had lumbered off to do. Feraligatr was listed as eating every week or so and eating a lot, by hunting, or eating regularly, which was done when it was with a trainer, but mentioning that the former was healthier. Typhlosion and Riolu were the only ones who were to stay on their current dietary track.
"Feraligatr, you probably know this better than I do, but research says your kind normally hunts and eats once a week." To which Feraligatr frowned and nodded after mulling it over. "Think you can go till tonight? You can gorge yourself at the beach in Olivine. Don't worry, I'll still keep food for when we're travelling."
After mulling it over for a little bit again Feraligatr nodded, leaving Ethan free to examine Riolu's progress after having eaten. The little cub was becoming adept with every move it was being handed to learn, even if its usage of aura and uses of it were limited. But right now, he needed to work a bit more on endurance, which came naturally with evolving into a Lucario, and gaining the steel typing and apparently, steel bones, as did the wider pool of uses for aura and the general increase in usage of it.
He walked over to Typhlosion, who was slowly but surely gaining proficiency with Solar Beam, charging up as much as it could or wanted to easily at this point. Now it was focusing on finding a powerful limitation to the size it allowed it to grow till. Then he walked over to Feraligatr, who was making progress with rain dance. By doing the same thing as the previous day, creating a tower of rocks and filling it as it drained, his improvement was showing. The column of water that was occupying it was being filled about half as fast as it was being drained, which was very good. Occasionally, Feraligatr would supplement it with water gun to raise the water level and allow itself to continue.
He made his way to the glowing boulder, where Specter was still resolutely trying to drain energy from it, managing a wisp on occasion now, but it was slow work. Ethan gritted his teeth, noting how the ghost never seemed to get frustrated with this menial task. What little energy it managed to drain back was probably boosting its spirits. Scyther had made good progress with Shadow claw, or what at this stage was more of shadow blade, but past evolution, would become Shadow Claw.
Its left blade was glowing a bright blackish purple as it attacked Riolu mercilessly, teaching the little cub to sidestep, block and simply avoid attacks, even from an opponent of his speed. The cub had scratches, some old and new, from the multiple times Scyther had managed to touch him and held back. Ethan noted that most of them had scabbed over and were older. There were fewer fresh ones. Scyther was still reaching and marking Riolu on a regular basis, but only cutting it about half the time, parting its fur the rest of the time. The thing about young Pokemon was that, like a human child, they could pick up skills very easily and essentially be molded into any style of fighting they were capable off. Ethan had to hand it to Scyther. The bug had been able to teach Riolu its fast-paced fighting style very quickly. The best part about it would be that if they mastered speed now, then when they evolved, they would naturally incorporate heavier hitting into that speed.
Ethan grinned as he leaned against his bike, watching the sun in the sky as it trailed downwards from the sky. Ethan pressed his hands down against the carbon fiber frame, recalling Brendan and his move to Hoenn. The ship they had decided to take from the Golden Rod harbor might have reached by now. They main question as whether Brendan had reached his new home. He wasn't living in any major city like he was used to, but rather in a small town surrounded by woods in walking distance of the other town where his father's gym was. According to what Ethan had been told by him, the town was about as small as, if not smaller than New-Bark.
He checked his watch, deciding to call off training a quarter of an hour early to give Riolu some rest before he ran with alongside Ethan. He walked over to all his Pokemon, recalling them, save Riolu. He picked the aura Pokemon up and sat him down on his left shoulder, walking back to his bike and climbing onto the saddle. He pulled out his phone, dialing in the number he knew would be in service until Brendan got a Hoennian number, at which point he would get a text, which he hadn't.
He pressed the phone to his ear as it rang, once, twice… four times…. Eight times. He sighed, reaching for the little red icon at the bottom of the screen when a voice shouted through the other end.
"HOLD THE PHONE" came Brendan's voice.
Ethan could hear Brendan panting and he wondered where he was. He could make out the screeching of some avian Pokemon in the background.
"Hi." Ethan replied, laughing on the inside as he pressed the phone back to his ear.
"Morning. Wait, sorry, evening!" Brendan greeted him, the signal a bit distorted.
"So, I take it you've reached shore?" Ethan asked, smiling as he waited for one of Brendan's usual sarcastic replies.
"Yes. In fact, I'm sitting inside the volcano in Fallarbor Town right now. It's quite pleasant in here really!" Brendan quipped, his voice mocking as always.
"Very funny. Where are you though, really?" Ethan replied as he felt Riolu scamper down from his shoulder and sit on the back of the bike.
"I'm in Lilycove city. It's the biggest port in Hoenn. Well the biggest international port. The waters in Slateport are too shallow around half its coastline, and the other half is near some very strong rapids I've been told, so apparently only Hoennian Captains who know the water sail through that port, and even then, it's only occasionally away from the city. Right now, we've got a day here to unwind before we start our trek through Hoenn to the other side of the region, where dad's gym is. He plans on going on foot, traversing rivers on his Flygon, as well as a few other terrains to catch up. He'll make it home before us honestly. He wants to get familiar with the land, more than can be done from maps and books, and to get a sense of the Pokemon around here, despite my encyclopedia." Brendan sounded a bit miffed as he spoke the last statement, but his tone changed quickly. "We're driving for some time though. My mom's sick of boats, but we have to take at least one to get home, so our debate is whether to take a ferry through the rapids to Slateport, from where we take another smaller boat to Petalburg, where Dad's gym is. That should take around six days, with the time taken to travel across the rapids. Our other option is taking the major land route around far North from here through some woods, and then down south, across a river and across a highway to Slateport, from where we go back down to Petalburg by boat. That'll take about two weeks, including three days for rest, and shopping by what my mother's saying, and includes all the time required to traverse rough terrain."
"Well…. Good luck either way. Which do you prefer honestly?" He asked, figuring out it would be better to end the topic on a lighter note.
"Honestly, despite how long it takes, I think my parents will pick the land route and I want to do that, because seeing nothing but the sea, pun intended, can get boring, after we've just done that for quite a while, might I add… Dad's leaning towards the land route because he doesn't particularly feel the need to roam the land beyond the radius which is the distance from Petalburg to the Volcano in Fallarbor, which would be everything directly north of home, and everything east as far as Slateport, which won't take him long." Brendan replied. "And it's a chance to see Pokemon up close here. All I've seen are a few Tentacool, and this water bird thing called Wingull. Occasionally its evolution, Pelipper. You'd think a region that's territory is more than half water would have some more fish at the surface of its seas." Brendan laughed. "So, what's happened to you? Everything in detail."
"Well…. I beat Whitney and she started crying like a little brat. She was passed out drunk when I first got to the gym. Then I met my cousin for a while, went to dinner with him, but that got interrupted by a rogue Tyranitar…. I got an egg from Steven Stone, it hatched into a Riolu who's sitting behind me right now. I went to Ecruteak and beat their gym leader, but not before I witnessed the awakening of the three beasts of Johto and the flooding of the ruins of the Burnt Tower, and right now I'm going west past the Miltank Farm, where I spent the night, saved the farmer, met Lance for the second time, the first was after the tower incident, And was accepted by Steven Stone as his apprentice." Ethan smirked to himself, knowing that Brendan would be backlogged with information, analyzing every open-ended sentence he had spoken enough to drive him to hell and back.
"Wait a minute, back up there buddy ol' pal of mine! Rogue Tyranitar in the middle of Goldenrod City? You saved the farmer at the Miltank farm? You met Lance twice? You met Steven Stone, he gave you an egg and you're his apprentice!? And most insane of all, YOU WITNESSED THE AWAKENING OF THE THREE FAXING BEASTS OF JOHTO!?" Brendan was shouting at this point, his rapid breathing over the phone. "Okay cut the Miltank-turds."
As Ethan remained silent, Brendan slowly came to the conclusion that he wasn't pulling his leg and spoke hesitantly.
"So, it's all really true then?" He whispered, sitting silently as Ethan confirmed it. "Well they say once between each full solar eclipse is someone who attracts chaos born." Brendan joked weakly, regaining his nerve. "Tell me everything properly by email, this call is dragging on too long to be good for either of our wallets."
"Bye." Ethan responded, seeing that it was five past four and slipped his phone back into his pocket after Brendan cut the call. "Come on Riolu, let's go!" He smiled as the cub jumped off the back of his bike, following him away as he pedaled furiously, covering ground as fast as he could. A workout for both of them. After about an hour, Riolu pulled itself up onto the bike.
Ethan slowed down, somewhat fatigued from the furious pedaling himself. He had however noticed that every hour or so, Riolu was managing to go a few minutes longer. Right now, it had been running for an hour and ten minutes. Slow and steady improvement for Riolu, but comparatively quick in retrospect, since any of his other Pokemon wouldn't be improving this fast. He continued on with Riolu like this, the cub running next to him on and off until finally around seven thirty, they reached Olivine City.
Ethan slowed down his pedaling, panting heavily. He recalled Riolu as he made his way through the city. People milled around in the streets. The area was lively and active, the paved cobblestone streets highlighted by the soft orange glow of the setting sun and the bright lanterns strung between poles around the streets. Stall were set up on all sides of him, small shops even in places. Not one of them looked temporary. He biked through the district until he reached a point from where he could see the ocean.
The city started to slope slightly downwards from that point, streets cut into the gentle slopes and buildings built on them. He could see down to the harbor, the coastline of Olivine deep enough for the entire thing to be used as an international port. Ships lined the harbor, some still coming in. To the left, by the lighthouse, were the fishing ships and boats, one or two still coming in with their daily catch, and to the right, from his view, were the passenger or cargo ships. At far end on the left, up on a high hill surrounded by jagged rocks, with a path cut into the side, was a massive Lighthouse. The beacon of light coming out of the windows was insanely bright, and rotating.
He biked down to the Pokemon center, spotting the roof halfway between the harbor and where he was right now. He stopped at the entrance, disassembling his bike and folding up the parts to sling back into his pack. The glass doors opened automatically as he approached them, revealing a well-lit and somewhat busy lobby with a tiled ceramic floor and couches near the entrance, arranged in arrays near the TV's mounted on the walls. At the end of the room was the nurses' station, next to a row of Storage System Computers. Ethan had had no reason up until now to use the system save for sending ultra-balls to Kurt, so he ignored those entirely, walking straight up to the counter and getting in line. Ten minutes later, he was standing in front of a nurse with light brown hair, dark and black eyes.
"How can I help you sir?" she spoke with a slightly sing-song accent, one that Ethan couldn't place.
"Could I get a room please, and get my Pokemon checked up?" Ethan asked, pulling out his trainer ID and handing the metal strip to her before she could ask for it, along with his five Ultra Balls.
"Sure…. Ethan is it?" She smiled, taking them. Ethan noted that her accent gave her voice a high, if not unpleasant pitch. A minute later she handed him an electronic key and his ID back.
"Great! Cafeteria's off to the left." She gestured with her left arm and a straight hand to the corridor on Ethan's left, "And your room is One-O-eight, on, access to ground floor rooms on the right side. The only rooms available are mass apartments. You'll be sharing with a few people. Pick up your Pokemon or if there's anything serious, their reports, in half an hour."
Ethan nodded, more than a bit tired, and headed off to the right, going to find his room first. It wasn't far, the fourth room on the left side of the corridor. He unlocked the door to find himself in a common lounge with a fridge and a stove in one corner, two couches arranged at a right angle and a TV opposite them.
There were three girls in the room, two identical twins, with black hair, tanned skin, lean figures and eyes that were a mixture of brown and green. They looked around twenty years old. The other girls had strawberry blond hair, skin as white as paper, grey eyes with a few hints of yellow, and looked to be a year or two older than he was. There were three doors leading out of the lounge apart from the exit, two of them ajar, and from the third entered a boy his age, with brown hair, skin that was slightly tanned, green eyes, and a red welt under his left eye that looked like someone had hit him.
"Hi. The name's Aaron. Aarons Ross." He walked up to Ethan and shook his hand after a second.
"Ethan. Sorry, but have you ever trained an Aron?" he asked jokingly, hoping the person in front of him had a sense of humor. Aaron was a six-foot three plank of fitness, and his belt was fixed with three pokeballs, an Ultra ball, and two great balls. His arms were thick, all the excess fast chiseled off of them to reveal muscles that made Ethan shiver. He noticed that even his V-Neck was slightly strained. To his relief the older boy, from his voice, broke into a smile immediately.
"As a matter of fact, three. Two are Aggrons now. Third is their little kid." Immediately Ethan got the sense that he was easy going, which confused him as to how such a lax, calm person, had gotten into a fight. "The little one gave me this welt. Juliet, my Gardevoir, managed to catch it before it did much more than touch me. Still, it's made of iron. Or steel. I'm from Hoenn by the way."
"Nice to meet you. Ethan Photon. I'm from New-Bark Town, down in the South East of Johto." Ethan replied, at ease now.
"There's a second bed in the room I came out of. The other two rooms are the girls'." Aaron gestured towards the door he came out of, taking a seat on one of the couches.
Ethan walked through the open door, finding a small room with two twin beds in opposite ends of the room, with small bedside tables between them. He removed his pack form his back, slinging his small backpack into the shelf in the bedside table. He dropped the large pack of camping equipment and clothes by his bed and let himself fall face first onto the bunk. He hit it with a loud smack, causing the girl with blond hair to peer in the door.
He lay there peacefully for a minute before heading out of the room with a change of clothes in hand to go to the communal showers. He found his way there and ducked into an empty stall. Around a quarter of an hour later he was back in the room, sitting on the couch with the others, whose names he had learned, watching bad comedy shows.
Another girl had in the meantime appeared, presumably coming from the shower since she had a towel wrapped around her head. Ethan still didn't know the color of her hair. Her skin was naturally dark, not too dark though, but enough to tell that it was natural, and her eyes were a sparkling hazel. That was Angelina. She was nineteen and a trainer from Cianwood City, on her way east to take on the gym circuit after taking a gap of a year between her fourth and fifth gym battles.
The blonde was Katie, who was from Mahogany Town, was seventeen years old, and battled as a hobby. She wasn't pursuing the gym challenge, and was on her way out of the region to meet some relatives. The twins were Lucia and Linda, from Goldenrod, whom hadn't specified why they were here.
Aaron had said he was in Johto to deal with some family work, and on vacation, and was headed out back to Hoenn in two days from the harbor, and had said that he was eighteen years old. By the time half an hour had passed since he had arrived, he was feeling pretty hungry. He stood up, nodding in everyone's general direction and walked out, heading to the lobby. He walked up to the same nurse form before and handed her his ID, getting it back with all of his Pokemon.
"All of your Pokemon are pretty much fine. Nothing a little healing serum couldn't fix. Have a good night." The nurse had said. With his pokeballs clipped to his belt, Ethan walked down the other corridor to a wide-open room filled with tables with benches on both sides, and a sign hanging from the roof which said 'POKEMON FEEDING AREA AT THE BACK!"
Ethan followed the signs directive, making his way to the back, where a sign hung saying, "Please do not leave Pokemon here unsupervised. Humanoid Pokemon which do not weigh in excess of two hundred kilograms may be taken with their food to the front of the room. Talk to breeders for type specialties."
Ethan sighed, walking over to a free breeder wearing the Pokemon Center's pokeball pattern apron and tapped her shoulder.
"Um… HI… Could you help me out here? I need food for a Riolu, a Typhlosion, a scyther who drinks sap and a Feraligatr who's at the gorge itself once a week stage." He greeted her. She was dark skinned, and her beady black eyes darted all over Ethan's face for a moment before she nodded and walked away to a closed door, gesturing for him to follow.
"Fill this crate with seafood from those freezers while I find food for your other Pokemon." She said, scrawling "Feraligatr" on the crate with a marker and walking away. Ethan nodded to no one in particular, setting about the menial task of filling the crate, which measured about two meters by one for the bottom, and was about a meter high.
Once he was done, he wiped his brow off, noting that the breeder had been standing behind him for a while. He raised an eyebrow at this to receive only a shrug in reply, along another crate, sectioned through the middle with Typhlosion on one side and Riolu on the other, and a pouch of sap about as long as his arm and as wide as a book. She helped him drag both crates out of there and set them down in a corner, before he thanked her and she walked off.
He released his Pokemon, save for Specter, who didn't need to eat and sat down on a small bench. "Good work today guys! You're all making real progress!" Ethan encouraged them as they ate, interacting with each of them. He scratched Typhlosion's belly, Feraligatr behind a scale, sat with Riolu and fist bumped the flat side of Scyther's blade. He couldn't really do much about the last one.
Another quarter of an hour later he was out of the Pokemon feeding section with his Pokemon secured to his belt again. He approached the front of the cafeteria again, filing into line and claiming a plate of seafood and a coke. He looked around, finding an empty table near the counter, a low rectangular one with benches attached at both ends.
He took his tray there and sat down, digging in. He emptied the first plate quickly, going back for seconds, this time adding a bit of macaroni and cheese to the side. He sat down once again, picking up his fork and spoon. A few minutes later however, a shadow crossed his face and he looked up to see Aaron sitting down opposite him with a tray. Settling down next to him was a Pokemon that he didn't recognize.
It was a feminine Pokemon, quite literally the closest Pokemon to a human, looking much like a girl. Green, hair Ethan decided to call it despite knowing it wasn't fur or hair, covered its head and trailed back over it in one curl, splitting in two and coming to ends right over its shoulder. From the front the green hair made a thick filled in V over its pure white face, with sparkling red eyes on either side. Its arms were made of the same green substance as its hair, and its chest was the same white as its neck and face, but the white separated from its body at the waist, flowing out like a dress that wasn't spread to far, with a gap lower on revealing a green layer of the same kind of dress. From the front, Ethan could see a red sliver on its chest, but when it shifted slightly Ethan realized it was all but that. Its chest was completely flat, as was its back, but protruding from both sides was a triangular red spike, the tip pointed slightly upwards at the thin edge, and the upper side at a ninety-degree angle with its chest.
"Hey. Juliet, this is Ethan. Ethan this is Juliet. She's a Gardevoir." Aaron explained as his Pokemon shifted to the other end of the table. Ethan noted that it had a mouth, but the food in its plate was simply disappearing slowly.
"Honestly it's been a bit weird sharing a room with three or four girls for a week." He dug around in his pocket and placed a golden badge on the table, catching Ethan's eyes.
His jaw must have opened with shock as he saw it. It was a plain golden shield, the sides straight and at a slight gradient, but they turned into smooth curved which joined into a point at the bottom. Running through the center was a V shaped depression into which was fitted a green piece of glass with the Hoenn Crest, Ethan assumed from his knowledge, carved into it and a gold version fixed into the carving. By the sides of the V were strips of Green Glass, five on each side, except the lower three on either side were sparkling more and had a few veins of white in them, actual emerald.
"You're an Ace Trainer!" Ethan's eyes widened as he said the words, causing Aaron to smile. "You're a level 3 Ace Trainer!"
"That I am good sir. I'm on vacation right now though." Aaron replied, leaning back before realizing he was on a bench.
"Wow! That's my goal! What Pokemon do you have? How long have you been an ace trainer?" Ethan's face went red with embarrassment as he realized he probably looked like a five-year-old meeting someone in a superhero costume.
"Don't worry I don't mind the questions." Aaron replied well naturedly. "I've got six Pokemon on me right now. I have Guardian and Bastion, my two Aggron, and Iron, the little one. Juliet here. And I've got a Gorebyss and a Huntail, siblings, who refused nicknames. At home I have a Flygon who stayed home because she laid more than a few Trapinch eggs before I left. I've been an ace trainer for two years now. I came to the conference when I was around sixteen and a half for the first time after skipping my chance to barely make the conference at fifteen and a half, and I made it to third place." Aaron replied as Ethan scrolled through the data Brendan had complied on Hoenn Pokemon from all sources, not finding Gorebyss and Huntail in it yet.
"Here." Aaron pulled his own phone out and showed Ethan two picture, clearly taken with an underwater camera. The water around them was dark, evidently, they were as deep as humans could go with a Pokémon's aid.
The first one showed an eight-foot-long pink serpentine Pokemon which grew wider from a thin tail towards its head, which was large and flat, about a foot and a half wide at the most. It had a strand extending from its head, the same pink with purple around the end and a pointed snout, as well as a similar smaller strand below its head. It had two white stripes on its lower tail and two shells fixed to its body before that. At the end of its tail was a flat purple shell shaped fin, not too large.
The other showed an eleven-foot-long sea serpent with a blue hide that looked tough, and orangish white spots ringed with orange dotting its body at regular intervals. Unlike the previous one its body was for the most part at a constant thickness, which only a slight difference between middle and the tail, the end of the tail being larger and shaped like the previous serpent's head. Orange fins lined the top of its back, and its head was massive, about three feet tall, and it had two of the orangish white circles where nostrils would be. Its head was round from the top with an orange fin fanning outwards attached to it. Its jaw was squarish with small orange fins attached to each side. The most impressive part of it, and the scariest was its jaw. Or rather its jaws. It had three visible teeth in the upper jaw, at regular intervals, one in the center, one on the left, and one on the right. Its lower jaw had one tooth at each end, larger than the upper ones. This was at the front only.
"The pink one is Gorebyss, and the other is Huntail. They're siblings because they both evolve from Clamperl. They're both insanely fast swimmers, and you won't find them anywhere but the deepest reaches of the oceans in Hoenn. Clamperl take special conditions under the pressure of the depth of the ocean to evolve. There are other ways however. One ability they both have, is without the move dive, to allow them to carry a human as deep as they can go into the ocean themselves. Huntail is outright dangerous because of its jaw. I've seen a Huntail close its jaw around an empty oil pipe underwater, brand new and not in use yet, and puncture it, rip out a piece of the pipe and crush it. Gorebyss however, is deadly. They attract people and Pokemon with their beauty, and they're efficient with their tails, even more so than Huntail. You'll never see one's mouth though, unless they're trying to eat, in which case if it's you they're trying to eat, you're dead. They have hundreds of razor-sharp teeth that can kill anything hidden away inside. They honestly look like they don't have mouths. It can't do what Huntail can, like open its jaws one eighty degrees, or crush steel, but it's deadly alright." Aaron shuddered for a second, presumably at the memory of watching Gorebyss eat, before putting the pictures back in the pocket with his phone. "That's nowhere near how far they can dive. I had these developed today when I went diving. If you're ever in Hoenn give me a call."
Aaron scribbled a number onto a piece of card and handed it to him, putting his tray on the rack and leaving. Ethan did the same, going straight to bed and collapsing. If he wanted to take on Jasmine tomorrow he would have to be rested.
|\/|~^-_-_-^-_-_-^~|\/|
The next morning…
Ethan woke up to see Aaron still lying in bed and feeble rays of light passing through the curtain. He checked the clock on the bedside table. It was seven in the morning. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. It occurred to him then as he was about to draw the blankets back up that he may as well get up and schedule a battle with Jasmine as early as possible. So, he got out of bed and walked out with his clothes to the showers, changing and getting ready. He made his way out to the cafeteria, finding the lobby empty save for one person who was waiting impatiently as a nurse explained something to him. He wandered over to the Cafeteria to find its glass doors chained shut with a padlock, even over the regular locks in their metal frames. A piece of paper he had missed yesterday was taped to each one, listing the timings for the Cafeteria on it. It was Sunday today and it didn't open until nine. Inconvenient. As he walked back out of the corridor, a nurse flagged him down from the station. Frowning, he walked over to her.
"Yeah sorry, the cafeteria's locked and staff won't be here till eight thirty. But there is a café that's open at this hour. It's on the street above us, or rather behind us. Near the gym. You'll see it." The nurse smiled. She looked like a little girl, or a cheerleader with that ear to ear smile and the blond eyes and blue hair. She was ridiculously short, probably around five feet exactly.
"Thanks." Ethan replied sleepily, walking out the door and into the light of day. He squinted as the sun rose from his left, allowing the lighthouse to cast a massive shadow across the harbor which was already busy. He walked up the road to the West, following the incline. Now that it was daylight, he could see the roads and understand the city structure better. The city was built onto the slope down to the harbor and the roads were all sloping as well, running either East or west and making a one eighty turn to continue lower in the opposite direction. The Pokemon Center was on the second street from the top, out of eight. From what he could see, after the fourth street it was flat. The third street was mainly shopping and other things, and the flat areas and the fourth street were mainly residential, with a market area much like the one at the city limits before the slope started, near the piers that were accessible to the public. The harbor extended out beyond that, ending Olivine's reach in the deep waters.
He climbed uphill to the west and then turned East onto the next road, a street of small cafés, and office buildings, including the Olivine city gym, a massive city he had passed last night with marble pillars holding up an extension of the roof mean to provide shade for a few meters outside the doors.
He walked up to the massive doors, reading the timings on an engraved plaque by the door. It had opened around the time he had woken up. He pushed open the massive steel doors which were riveted around the edges, letting it swing inwards and cause a draft. The hall was lit up, and there was a girl sitting at the receptionist's desk. Ethan could see a railing, which indicated a viewing balcony, and a sliver of dirt beyond that which indicated a very deep field. That also meant large Pokemon. He walked up to the girl, a dark-skinned girl with black hair and black eyes.
"Hi I'd like to set a time for a gym battle with Jasmine." He greeted her, handing her his trainer card.
"When?" she asked.
"Half an hour from now. I just need to grab a bite to eat." He replied as she penciled him in and handed back the trainer tag, nodding.
"Be here then." She stated simply, going back to transcribing data off of a massive register.
He walked out the doors, noting how the massive doors were just as hard to swing inside initially, until he got a good grip on the handle. Then they moved easily. He walked out and looked across the street at the line of cafés there. There was one two shops down which was open, one or two early birds already there. He walked down to it and went straight to the counter, ordering a blueberry muffin and hot chocolate. He took them and sat down at a table on the sidewalk, staring at the gym as he ate.
Finally done, he walked to the door, getting a grip on it and pushing it in, surprised at how easily it opened. The receptionist looked up to see him and simply gestured at a glass elevator in a corner by the balcony. Ethan walked the distance to it, some fifty feet and stepped in, looking out in awe. The pit was about fifty feet deep and at the bottom was a packed earth battleground with the lines drawn on it in white chalk. Two metal platforms were nestled in the ground, with railing around them, one at each end. Sitting in the platform at the other end was a young woman in her early twenties with pale skin and brown hair tied back in two braids.
"I hope the door didn't bother you!" she greeted him, standing up and walking out to the center of the platform.
"It was heavy I guess." Ethan responded carefully.
"Not really. It's hollow. There's an electromagnet inside each one that locks them together. They get deactivated when the pressure and heat sensors in the handles are activated. Or you could use the buzzer next to the plaque." She shrugged simply.
"So, you must be Steven's new apprentice." She looked at him oddly, as if examining a specimen of… rock, judging by the gems on display in the wall.
"What makes you think that." He replied, deciding to see how it would play out.
"Well he mentioned he was taking someone with four badges on, with a lot of potential. A boy of around sixteen or fifteen. Clarisse passed me your information. He said this boy might challenge me." Ethan assumed Clarisse was the receptionist.
"Still, it could be anyone." He replied, hoping to get a good laugh out of Jasmine.
"Yes. But It helped that he also slipped me your name." she grinned, revealing dazzling white teeth and broke out into laughter. Ethan smiled. It was always good to meet someone with a sense of humor.
"Since you have four badges, you'll be taking on a team I keep prepared for trainers with four to six badges, in accordance with league rules. Three on three. No switching mid battle. Either of us can switch when the other loses a Pokemon. Climb into the metal platform on your side." She instructed him once she had stopped laughing, sauntering over to her own platform.
He walked over, jumping over a section of the railing before realizing there was a gate in it, with agate in it, and deadpanning. He picked at his belt, pulling off three ultra-balls and setting them aside in depressions in a table next to him. The platform shuddered for a minute before it started rising slowly, all the way to the level of the floor of the entrance. Ethan peered down to see the battlefield, now fifty-six feet away, give or take an inch, counting his own height as well.
He readied his first ultra-ball as Jasmine gestured to a massive screen in the wall, showing a countdown clock. He gritted his teeth, waiting as the timer ticked down to zero before hitting the release button on his Ultra ball. Specter formed in the middle of the arena, grinning and cackling as he did a backflip. Forming on the other side of the half-line was a floating metal sphere with a massive eye in the front, part of the curve of the sphere, a screw fitted halfway into the top of its body and the same in the bottom. Attached to its sides were two magnets. It was a Magnemite. His mind raced. He had seen one before in a televised tournament that had taken place here in Olivine. He grimaced. It was an electric and steel type. It would have been better for him had he started out with Typhlosion and switched out once he knocked it out. Nonetheless what had happened had happened.
He felt Specter brush against his mind, linking them mentally so Jasmine wouldn't hear him. At least he wouldn't have to shout for a while.
'Specter, start with shadow ball to see how much it works. Then barrage it.' Ethan thought as instantaneously, Specter began charging up a shadow ball rapidly, dodging a thunder shock he had heard Jasmine order.
'Don't fire this one off! Sneak up on it somehow and ram it into it. Unless you're in close range, it'll dodge because of its speed and levitation.' He thought frantically.
Thankfully, the link seemed to be working as Specter dodged the shock, and then next one, feigning to be too busy dodging it to attack, whilst it was charging up the Shadow ball and closing in on Magnemite slowly.
"Mite! Use discharge!" Jasmine shouted as Haunter struggled for a moment and faded out of existence, electricity sparking around Magnemite's magnets.
Ethan watched on, heart pounding as Specter appeared behind Magnemite, the shadow ball absolutely massive now, and slammed it straight into the steel/electric type, sending it careening off to one side as it released discharge. Thankfully, due to Specter's hit causing it to be pushed away, the ghost avoided the larger charges in the inner rings of discharge, despite getting caught in the outer rings of electricity and getting shocked mildly.
Specter floated up, more than a few curse words forming in its head.
'Now isn't the time for swearing! Hit it with a dark pulse to get it off course and then hit it with barrage it!' Ethan ordered, watching hopefully as his spirits soared.
"Mite use thunderbolt!" Jasmine shouted.
Specter managed to release a dark pulse quickly and knock Magnemite off its feet, that thought had Ethan frowning since it didn't really have limbs, and then start a steady barrage of Shadow Balls, pushing it back to the wall on Jasmine's side of the arena.
Then Magnemite managed to avoid one and its magnets started spinning rapidly, firing off an electric charge in no time that hit an off-game Specter right in the chest. Ethan watched in horror as the ghost dissociated, before remembering that that happened all the time. He relaxed as Specter's gaseous form recollected and reformed into a very ticked off ghost. But Ethan could see beyond the damage through its mind. It had been dealt a strong blow. The Gengar line were fast, and hard hitters, but were very vulnerable, metaphysically speaking.
'Specter use confuse ray, get an edge on it!' Ethan though hurriedly as Jasmine shouted another order which he missed.
The Haunter readied the attack, and ring of three purplish orange orbs the size of oranges floating around him which were sent spiraling towards Magnemite, following it every which way.
'Will-O'-Wisp!' Ethan followed up as its readied ghostly flames, Magnemite's magnets whirring in charge as it was relentlessly chased by the ever closing confuse ray. Each fired their own attacks, the bolt of electricity passing between the flickering flames as they went their own ways, each meeting its target. Specter dissociated again, unable to avoid the attack.
'Specter end this with the biggest shadow ball you can muster!' Ethan instructed as a barrage of rocks floated above Magnemite before striking it as it lost control of the attack in confusion.
The apparition was seriously looking fatigued now as it poured its energy into the shadow ball, approaching Magnemite cautiously, the latter's magnets whirring. It slammed the sphere into the electric type's back as Jasmine shouted.
"Mite explosion!" She shouted. Ethan's eyes widened as she ordered an attack that would work in confusion anyway. The area around Magnemite exploded, knocking the apparition out, as well as knocking Magnemite out
He reached for his ultra-ball as the wisps of gas just drifted about, recognizing them immediately as an unconscious Specter.
"Never underestimate a Magnemite!" Jasmine called across the room with a smile as he recalled Specter, simply nodding. He fingered the two ultra-balls, picking one as the timer started to tick down, Jasmine having recalled the fainted Magnemite.
He released Feraligatr onto the field, knowing full well that Jasmine would probably not have any other electric types available, and readied himself for battle. Sitting in the middle of the field, preening, was a large metallic bird, not larger than Feraligatr mind you, a good two feet smaller, but still large. Its wings were red from the underside, and its eyes yellow.
Another Skarmory. He had now seen two in two days. Feraligatr was obviously the better choice for this battle, because whilst Typhlosion had the type advantage to hold over its head, it was useless without the range that of his team only Feraligatr and Specter possessed. So far.
"Feraligatr, Water gun!" He shouted across to the massive beast as it fired off three bursts of water, one after the other, as the avian took to the sky. Of those, only the second managed to mark it.
"Mory, hit it with steel wing! Let's see how tough that scaly hide is!" Jasmine shouted as the metal bird pivoted in the air and changed course, heading rapidly for Feraligatr. Ethan's heart sank. He knew Feraligatr was too slow on land to dodge these types of attacks.
"Feraligatr! Bat it with your tail if you can and then use rain dance!" He shouted out, hoping the former would work.
Skarmory approached Feraligatr, cutting through the air like a knife thrown from the balcony and went straight for it, wings shining silver. Feraligatr turned at the last second, still getting hit in the back by the attack, but denting Skarmory's left wing with its spikes. On top of that, it slammed its heavy tail up into Skarmory's chest and sent it flying, dazed as well.
Immediately the water type focused, forming rain clouds in the gym as water started to pour down, slowly at first, but the storms grew stronger as Skarmory regained its bearings, flying up high as Jasmine issued a command Ethan failed to hear.
"Feraligatr look out!" Ethan shouted as two identical twisters formed in the concave areas of Skarmory's wings, firing off at Feraligatr. The giant water type fell flat into the now foot high pool of water, keeping as much of its body out of the water as it could so that it could swim, and pushed off.
The twisters hit the water level, sending sprays in every direction, indeed even a few hit Skarmory. Ethan flinched as one of them hit Feraligatr dead on. The water was still too shallow for a seven and a half foot bipedal Pokemon to swim comfortably. Feraligatr was sent flying back into the wall from the force of the twister as they died down, leaving the water in choppy waves.
"Feraligatr, Ice beam!" Ethan shouted.
The gator stood up slowly pressing its back straight against the wall before reacting as Skarmory homed in on it, flying in on the unmoving target with another steel wing. The water type forced its massive jaws open, ice undoubtedly forming in the depth of its throat as Skarmory neared. The avian, still unaware of the charging attack, rushed forward.
Ethan's heart skipped a beat as Feraligatr fired off a massive beam of ice, about as wide as his arm, at the Avian, sending it flying back into the wall, careening about as it tried to fly again. Immediately the water level started to rise again as water once more burst forth from the rain clouds anchored to the ceiling.
Ethan watched as Skarmory prepared itself to do something, wings and beak gleaming in a rusty color this time as it circled lower and lower, until it was at the water's surface, flying straight at Feraligatr.
"Ice Fang!" He shouted, hoping Feraligatr would be able to break away from rain dance in time, and it did, but not without consequences. Skarmory's beak pierced Feraligatr's hide, drawing a little bit of thick blue blood, and its right wing hits its back, but Feraligatr caught hold of its left wing with Ice fang and sent it flying once again. This time when Skarmory took to the air again it was flapping its left wing frantically.
Ethan watched as it let out a screech so loud the sound waves became visible for a moment, the pulses hitting Feraligatr hard, and once again into the wall. There was now a depression in the right wall which vaguely resembled Feraligatr's back. He wanted to jump for joy however as he saw how much of the battlefield was submerged now. Judging by how much of Feraligatr's body was underwater, he was going to say about four to five feet, closer to five, which was deep enough for Feraligatr to swim quickly.
"Feraligatr! Swim!" Ethan shouted, forgetting attacking for the moment as Skarmory fluttered around, its flight and speed impaired. He grinned like an idiot as Feraligatr dove into the water, submerging itself completely except for the occasional spike from its back being visible as it swam around the now flooded arena, very easily able to avoid any attack that would come its way.
"Mory Metal Sound!" Jasmine shouted, trying to defy the laws of physics as once again Skarmory let out a screech that could make anyone's ears bleed.
This time however, nothing happened to Feraligatr, who merely stuck his head out of the water after the attack and made a gesture resembling cocking an eyebrow, before diving back in. The water had caught the sound waves and protected Feraligatr from the damage, letting it hear only a Skarmory's normal cry.
"Mory use twister!" She shouted, letting Skarmory take it sweet time and form multiple twisters to fire off at the water, sending it all churning as the twisters touched the ground, forming whirlpools. The constantly moved about, randomly, chasing their target in the water.
Then Skarmory released another set into the water, and after that another, trying to force Feraligatr out. The third set managed to catch Feraligatr unawares, and threw it out of the water and into the roof, where it stuck for a moment due to the spikes in its back and tail.
Ethan watched as it plummeted from the roof, regaining its bearings and steadying itself to land in the water and swim, weary as it was. It crashed into the flooded arena a moment later, disappearing under the choppy waves as it started swimming again, staying on the move. Ethan waited until it popped its head out again to give it orders.
"Feraligatr! Ice beams and Fangs!" He shouted across to it before it dove back underwater, emerging behind Skarmory, who had dove at the sight of its target, and fired off, letting it know what it thought by crunching down on its tail and sending its flying into the wall behind Ethan as tendrils of frost coated its tail.
"Mory! Steel Smash!" Jasmine shouted from across the arena as it took to the skies again, flapping hurriedly to stay aloft. It picked up height, rising to the roof of the central room before spiraling down again, one wing glowing red, the other silver, and its beak red as well.
"Water gun!" Ethan called out, letting a stream of water fire from inside the ocean. The pent-up pressure carried it straight at the avian, which in its fury didn't even move to avoid it, instead letting gravity allow it to maintain its velocity as it bore through the attack. Once the stream it died down, Ethan noticed that the red sheen had disappeared from its beak. One wing was still rusty colored in its glow, the other glimmering silvery white.
"Feraligatr, Ice Fang!" He shouted as they made contact.
Skarmory's good wing hit Feraligatr straight into the back, increasing the strain to avoid buckling as the gator clamped its freezing jaws onto its bad wings, drawing screeches from it. They stayed in a stalemate like that for barely a few seconds, but it seemed like an eternity to Ethan as he tried to process what to do.
Then, before he could say anything, Feraligatr tightened its grip, drawing a loud screech form Skarmory before tossing it a few feet into the air and diving. IT came back up a second later as Skarmory crashed downwards, left wing frozen for the most part. Ethan watched in awe as Feraligatr spun in midair, its tail coated in a thick layer of water, which slammed into the bird and sent it flying first into the wall and then crashing into the water.
"Ice beam!" Ethan shouted, hoping Jasmine wouldn't have time to react.
"Hyper Beam!" She shouted.
Ethan had no idea if either Pokemon had heard them through the water. He could see Feraligatr swimming swiftly towards Skarmory, which was fluttering its wings as it managed to get its head above water, badly injured at this point. Not to say that Feraligatr wasn't. One could only be thrown into walls so many times.
Ethan watched as Feraligatr batted the bird out of the water, each with their chest glowing. It jumped out of the water itself and fired off an ice beam, which hit Skarmory squarely in the chest, sending it careening as the ice bounced off its chest, freezing the water's surface before either landed. Then Ethan had to shield his eyes as Skarmory fired off a beam so powerful, and so blinding, even with his hand over his shut eyes, he could still see reddish light, not the usual black darkness when one covers closed eyes with hands.
He opened his eyes to see Skarmory standing upright on the ice, defiant and triumphant as Feraligatr collapsed, face first onto the freezing floor. He picked up the ultra-ball, recalling Feraligatr and looked at Jasmine, who shook her head. She wasn't going to change Pokemon.
"Typhlosion, flame wheel!" He shouted, releasing Typhlosion directly into the air.
Already in motion, the fire type curled up into a wheel, setting fire to its whole body as it slammed into Skarmory, melting a hole in the ice and let it sink. Then it sprinted back to Ethan's side as Jasmine recalled her collapsed Pokemon.
"I'm sorry but it's over for you now. You fought well!" She called out, readying a black pokeball with two bumps on it. "Rusty! Battle ready!"
Ethan could feel a rush of wind as a massive amount of air was displaced, a massive serpent, about thirty feet long, formed on the ice, crushing it and letting its tail sink into the water, only somewhat perturbed by it. Ethan pulled out his phone immediately, scanning it and waiting as it popped up in Brendan's databases.
Steelix. They evolve from Onix. Quite literally iron bodies made up of connected boulder like sections, like Onix's body, but with spikes protruding from some of them. Its head is massive and flatter, and it has a weak spot below its jaw, in the hollow of its…. Neck? Whatever, an ordinary adult Steelix is about thirty feet long. They can burrow at about sixty to seventy kilometers an hour. Known as the Iron Snake Pokemon. They're weak to contact force, but physical attacks, you may as well be hitting an iron wall. Their defense is about as high as it gets. Bear in mind that they're easy to land hits on. Aboveground, they're some of the slowest Pokemon around. They're only fast underground.
Ethan bit his tongue to stop himself from swearing as he stared 'Rusty' down. Rusty was about thirty feet long, and not one part of it was rusty, every single corner and crevice of its iron body polished till it shone. Its jaw was perpetually revealing its massive platinum like white teeth, ready to crush anything they touched. From three or four of its bodily sections, a massive spike protruded on the left and the right. Ethan bit his tongue again as they started spinning.
"Typhlosion, all out with flamethrower and flame wheel!" GO!" he shouted, sending the fire type spinning all over the field to land hits on the amused Steel type. The flame wheels didn't do so much, but the flamethrowers were doing visible damage. Until Rusty slammed its rotating tail into Typhlosion, sending it into the wall, all the way, and knocking the breath out of its lung. Rusty was hurt, its hide was even melted slightly in some places, but it could easily take the jimmy out of Typhlosion.
"Typhlosion, up its body with flame wheel!" he shouted, hoping to get an edge on it as Typhlosion sped up its rotation and ran up Rusty's body before Rusty could do anything.
"Brick break into its jaw, followed by flamethrower!" he shouted as Typhlosion approached, Rusty reaching up and slamming its tail into itself to crush Typhlosion. The fire type avoided the attack, letting Rusty hit itself hard and stun itself, before slamming into the concave crevice below its jaw with glowing rusty limbs, and then as it fell, firing a flamethrower into it.
Now Rusty was actually hurt. Granted half the damage was from its own hit, but it was something. Typhlosion fell, curling up into a wheel as the Steelix's haphazardly swinging tail began to glow silver in an actual iron tail and batted it back into a wall. Typhlosion was seriously getting hurt now.
"Typhlosion! Evaporate everything!" He shouted as Typhlosion paid attention to the cracked and melting ice below its feet, flaring up overheating its body to not only melt everything but evaporate all the water too.
The ice beneath and around Typhlosion turned to steam so fast the water never touched it, the steam shrouding it and hiding it from sight as the ice around Rusty turned to water first, causing it to make a pained, creaking sound. Then it turned to steam, obscuring all vision.
"Typhlosion! Same thing, once more!" He shouted, letting Typhlosion flare up and sprint up Rusty's body. The Steelix tried to hit it again, this time cutting it badly, but still hitting itself. Ethan could hear his heartbeat until a loud smack sounded across the arena, the sound of Typhlosion crashing it the crevice of Rusty's jaw covered in fighting type contact force, then fired a flamethrower into the same crevice. Rusty creaked in pain, screeching once before Jasmine shouted.
"Rusty flash cannon, then Hyper Beam!" she called out.
Ethan's heart sank and a glowing silver pillar of energy hit Typhlosion square in the chest and sent it flying into the wall. Then Rusty unleashed hyper beam on Typhlosion, the white column even brighter than Skarmory's. Unable to move to avoid it, Typhlosion took the hit, bearing the brunt of the attack and slipping out of consciousness.
"And the battle is mine challenger! But you fought well and I have some interesting things to tell Steven about you! My team for four to six badges is a bit tougher than some. I'm known as the Iron Maiden for a reason! My defense is an unmovable wall, and my Pokemon are like broadswords. A blade easily able to block anything, and deal heavy hits with every move. You should be able to take on Chuck with a day of training in the caves by Cianwood though. Then come back to me." She called out as he recalled Typhlosion immediately, whispering to the ultra-ball as the platforms sank down to the ground.
He nodded at her, sprinting to the elevator and getting in to rush back to the Pokemon center. He pressed the button repeatedly, as if it would make the elevator go faster, and sprinted out of the building as soon as he was up, running down the now slightly busy streets to the Pokemon Center. It was nine now. He dashed in the doors and to the nurses' station, unclipping the three ultra-balls and running to a nurse.
"Hi could you heal these three please, I took on Jasmine." He said, handing them in with his trainer tag. Then he went to a map to see where Cianwood was.
Olivine was up in the north west of the region, and its entire south side was a coastline. Cianwood was at the bottom of the map, directly south and far down, past even the treacherous Whirl Islands. She had said that he should train in the caves by Cianwood. Indeed, the map depicted cave networks and cliffs by the beach town, allowing with a massive blot where construction as being signified further west. Well then to Cianwood it was.