Chapter 10: You win some, you lose some
Ethan gazed out the window of the helicopter at the white sands of the beach town known as Cianwood City, his destination before the ship he had been traveling in had been drawn into the whirlpool. He shuddered as he felt a cold breeze pass over him, reminding him of the draft cavern under the ocean floor.
Father Leonardo had called Cianwood's coast guard to come and take him to land, considering their own had been in Olivine at the moment, doing the monthly groceries. The deafening whirring of the chopper's blades drowned out everything but the roar of the wind in the open doored aircraft. The pilot glanced back at him, shouting something inaudible and gesturing out to land as the vehicle tilted off to the left, veering towards a large empty stretch of land atop one of the cliffs surrounding the town from two of its four sides. Ethan could see a climbing path worn into the near vertical face of the cliff, facilitating access to what he could see was a helipad, with the lines painted on, and a tourist attraction in the form of paragliders sailing down from the cliff and eventually making their way to two recipients at the bottom, waiting to walk them up the cliff in bundles.
"We're landing up here! We'd rather not blow sand all over the city!" The pilot called out, this time audible to Ethan, as the helicopter veered dangerously to the right again, shifting until it was right in position a wide area on the cliff with a massive letter H painted onto it inside an equally massive ring.
Ethan's stomach lurched as the nose of the craft dipped, giving him a spectacular view down the center of the helicopter and through the windshield. Ethan watched as the pilot expertly guided the plain lower and lower, until the front of the base came into contact with the cliff-top, and slowly he lowered the rest down and let the blades run to a stop.
"Welcome to Cianwood City." The man chuckled well naturedly as he noticed how unsettled Ethan seemed to be.
"What's the fastest way to get down? I think I've got vertigo." Ethan asked, stumbling slightly as he stepped out of the chopper, pack strapped to his back.
"It's not vertigo unless you had it before you got on board kid. Your body's just unsettled because of the changes in pressure. After all, it's an open-door aircraft and unless you've ever been in one before it's unsettling. Sit down for a minute, swallow this if you have some trouble. Then it's up to you. You can go the long way, taking the footpath, or the short way, taking a glider down to the beach." The pilot grinned, tossing him a small orange tablet.
Ethan thanked him quietly, chewing the tablet immediately. He sat down some ways off from the chopper as the pilot wandered off. It took a few minutes, but the tablet and the stability took him back to one hundred percent quickly, and he was ready to make his way down. He started walking in the general direction of the path and the gliders, checking his phone in the meantime. He had lost a day and a half. It was now the morning of the thirteenth, which meant he had to be back in Olivine the next day.
A feeling of dread settled into him as he opened his phone, three missed calls and a text showing up once it picked up the signal from the nearby tower. All of them were from Steven. Ethan frowned, reading off the messages quickly.
Ethan, stuff's come up. While I'm not undoing my decision to mentor you, we may have to push it back a few days. We'll depart for the wilderness on the eighteenth now. Call me when you get this.
Ethan's heart soared and he smiled, elated that he hadn't missed what was possibly the chance of a century. He continued on in the direction of the gliders, noting a bunch of trainers, with three Pokemon out by their sides, bickering amongst themselves. He dialed Steven's number, pressing the phone to his ear and waited as it rang. Three rings later, he was on the line.
"Hello, Ethan?" he asked, his voice slightly muffled. "Where were you?"
"I got stranded on the whirl islands. There's a sort of religious group or something that lives down in the islands with a line to the mainland. They called the Cianwood Coastguard. I just reached Cianwood." Ethan responded, closing in on the trainers and their Pokemon.
"I'd ask for a full detailed account right now, but like I said in my message, stuff cropped up so I'm a bit busy right now. I'll see you in Olivine by the eighteenth." Steven replied, his voice betraying his concern, and his weariness.
Ethan snapped the phone shut, now twenty feet from the gliders, and the trainers standing ten feet off of them. The man standing by the gliders was waving about a sign board and shouting to the tourists milling around the top of the cliff. Ethan walked closer and read the sign, wincing at how the glider owner's accent was so pronounced it was obvious that it was fake.
"Trainer competition! Five dollars for entry! Winner gets-a three free rides!" he was shouting, waving a colorful cardboard sign around like a child. Admittedly he had attracted about five trainers though.
Ethan pondered over it for a moment before taking it as a chance to get back on his feet after the Whirl Islands and walked up. He noticed a small building ten meters off, realizing that it wasn't just a seasonal tourist attraction, but a proper agency, which had a matching building down where the recipients for the gliders were waiting, with four boats docked at the water's edge.
"Excuse me sir, I'd like to enter the contest." Ethan walked up to the man, who was dark skinned, with a curly black hair and riveting blue eyes.
"Trainer Identification and five dollars please." He replied, accepting the money with a smile and checking his trainer tag quickly.
"Okay folks! The trainers are in and we have six people! Battle time! Open betting on it like a normal battle! Maurice bring me the ballot. Three one on one battles! The remaining trainers do three battles, point system! Draw straws please!" the man chuckled heartily as a young assistant, Maurice presumably, brought them six trainers whom had gathered around, including Ethan, a hat with six straws in it.
Ethan plucked one out first, scanning it to find the number three stuck to it. A moment later the others had drawn their straws.
"First round, Ethan Photon up against the local hotshot, Sergio Valdez. Esperanza Micelle and Jennifer Terry. Alice Hart against Alicia Rivers. Please find battle grounds and begin!" Maurice called out, drawing the attention of a few tourists, who flocked the group.
Ethan walked up to the local boy who had the other straw with the number three on it and followed him to a point about thirty feet from the hut, hands on his belt.
"Betting on this or not?" The boy called out; his voice was surprisingly high pitched.
"Twenty dollars." Ethan shrugged, hands flickering over his belt.
"You're on. Release on three…. 3!" Sergio shouted, tossing a blue ball decorated with black netting into the air. A small blue Pokemon with a snout, a white scaled chest and a tail curled up to its chest formed in the air, hopping about weakly on its tail: a Horsea. "Maybe I should have thought that through more."
"Probably", Ethan agreed as Specter formed in the air from the pokeball he had tossed up. "Specter, shadow ball!"
The Gengar frowned for a moment, unsure in its new body before the grin returned, wider than ever, and it charged up two inky black spheres in each hand, about the size of a melon each. Faster than Ethan could blink, Specter had lobbed the first at Horsea, which was avoided, but put the little water type directly in the path of the remaining three attacks, solid hits which blew it off its tail and ten feet back.
"Horsea! Water gun!" His adversary retaliated and the little blue aquatic creature obediently fired off a jet stream of water at Specter.
"Dodge it and retaliate with Sucker punch! Even if you can't drain it, you can hit it!" He called out, grinning as the ghost flew a few inches to the right and avoided the onslaught, charging immediately with a glowing purple fist. Horsea, having failed to end the water gun in time, found itself unable to move as the Gengar's fist slammed into it hard with its dark energy, a dozen or so wisps of black vapor flowing down into the specter from the point of contact.
"Finish this with ominous wind!"
Specter gladly obliged, rising high and raising its arms. Purple streams of air formed and flew directly at the water type, knocking it out.
"I concede. Here's your twenty bucks. Good luck with getting the glider from that Houndoom over there." Ethan followed the tanned boy's gaze over to another spot where a squat girl with a square jaw and a Houndoom stood victorious. He accepted the notes pressed into his hand and walked over to the gliders, recalling Specter quickly.
"Good good. Three peoples left." The glider man laughed in his false accent, "Three people, we do one big battle. All three at once! No teaming up voluntarily!" He laughed heartily, directing them to a large open space where a small group of tourists had gathered to watch the battle. Ethan realized that that was the benefit of his loud, false accent: It attracted the attention of tourists.
He walked over to the ground behind his opposition, the girl with her Houndoom, and a thin willowy girl with brown hair cut just below her ears. They walked about thirty feet from the crowd before the glider man stopped. His Hawaiian shirt was open and he was wearing a bright orange vest under it with the words "Cianwood Gliding" printed on it in lurid pink.
"My name is Escalade! Thank you for taking part in this tournament? Any bets before we start?" Escalade chortled, fixing his sunhat.
"A hundred dollars from me to whoever manages to take down Houndoom." The squat girl grunted, obviously confident in her ability.
"Fifty to whoever wins." The brown-haired girl shrugged, everybody looking towards Ethan.
"Fifty to the winner." Ethan shrugged, mimicking the actions of the brown-haired girl and reaching for his belt to start the battle off. His hands lingered indecisively over Riolu's pokeball for a minute before he plucked the sphere off of his belt and released Riolu onto the cliff.
"Serious battle here buddy. It's all for fun and stuff, but let's do our best to win." Ethan suggested, catching a Gligar drifting around in the sky overhead out of the corner of his eye.
The brown-haired girl reached for her own pokeball as well, pulling out a dark grey pokeball with two blue bumps on it. She chucked it into the air, straight up, releasing a beam of white light down to the ground, which formed into a large, heavy quadruped beast with stone plate armor and a sharp horn. Ethan pulled his phone out for a second, scanning the creature quickly.
Rhyhorn, the spike Pokemon, its ground and rock typed. On average, one that's three feet tall weighs at least twice as much as you. Not very smart…. Even in the most remote sense of the word.
Ethan grinned internally at his luck. Despite its size, Riolu held the type advantage over the other two, and Rhyhorn had a brain the size of a walnut. Houndoom were otherwise known for their blind aggression. That would be enough to even the scales if not tip them in his favor.
"You may start now!" Escalade shouted, hurrying back rapidly and pulling a velvet rope from nowhere to keep the tourists at a safe distance.
"Riolu! Use your size to avoid them! Force palm and aura spheres!" Ethan shouted, before either of the girls could instruct their own Pokemon, sending Riolu hurtling towards Rhyhorn.
"Rhyhorn! Crush it!" The brown haired one responded, regaining her wits.
The bulky rock typed roared, building up its stride to an all-out charge towards Riolu. The little fighting type ducked to the floor at the last moment, sliding under it. Ethan lost track of his Pokemon for a second then with a loud smack Riolu's force palm hit Rhyhorn's vulnerable belly and sent the three-hundred-pound rock type three feet into the air. Ethan marveled at how Riolu was already on its feet on the other side.
It ducked under a stream of fire and charged under it, invisible to Houndoom as it approached. The fire type leaped away at the last second, anticipating the trick and instead heading straight for the dazed Rhyhorn. It slammed into Rhyhorn's side as hard as it could a second before it hit the ground, sending it careening to the left until it slammed into the ground a second later.
"Riolu, you know what to do! Iron tail should work on Rhydon! Don't try close combat right now, not until there's only one Pokemon left at least!" He called out, feeling a pulse of recognition from the little fighter as it sped around the field, finally taking a hit from Houndoom's tail. It got caught in the reflexive backlash of the Fire Type's extra appendage when it hit its flank with a force palm and was sent flying ten feet back.
Riolu stood back up, shifting uncertainly on its feet as mercifully, the other two Pokemon remained engaged with each other.
"Stay at a range. Use aura sphere for now." Ethan instructed, eyes darting all over the battlefield.
Riolu retreated a further couple of feet and burrowed its feet into the ground a little bit. Now somewhat grounded, Riolu faced the Houndoom and Rhyhorn, the two of them in a complex tangle, and held its palms out, charging a small ball of blue light in them. Ethan frowned at how slowly it was going. The ball was growing at a crawling pace, shining brightly in Riolu's paws.
Riolu stood its ground as its ears flapped a bit in a breeze, still charging the sphere up. Houndoom's jaws managed to slip through a chink in Rhyhorn's armor and the fire type clamped down on the exposed hide, drawing roars of pain from the rock type. The girl with brown hair called out an inaudible order and Rhyhorn tried to surge forward, turning left instead because of its anchor in the form of the fire type next to it.
In Riolu's palms, the sphere had grown to the size of a basketball, and rather than growing larger, was now growing brighter slowly. Rhyhorn made its move and veered left in its already circular path and toppled over, spikes cutting into Houndoom as all of its weight collapsed on the hound's body. Seeing the opening, with Houndoom's limbs wrapped around the rock type's exposed belly, Riolu fired off the sphere, which at this point hurt to look at.
The aura sphere hurtled towards the two entangled Pokemon with the velocity of a missile, covering the distance between them in a second. The girls shouted out, but each was a tad too late, only making the situation worse as Houndoom managed to raise its head to listen to its trainer, and the full force of the aura sphere hit both Pokemon, Rhyhorn in its weak spot and Houndoom, quite literally head on. Rhyhorn skidded back three feet, flat on its back now, unable to move as its spikes impaled themselves in the ground. Houndoom, being far lighter, flew a good ten feet to the right, landing in a sprawling mass of limbs.
"Size doesn't matter in a Pokemon battle!" Ethan called out, turning to Riolu immediately. "Go! Force palm and Iron tail, take Rhyhorn out while Houndoom's dazed!"
With a small growl, Riolu shot off at Rhyhorn. It reached the rock types body, and without missing a beat, grabbed its head, both arms glowing with blue energy, and tossed it two feet into the air. The blue cub jumped up after it and slammed a brick colored glowing palm into the rock type's belly, drawing a loud cry of pain, and then finished it with an iron tail, sending it flying into the ground.
"Rhyhorn!" The brown-haired girl cried out, rushing over to the fallen beast and examining it before recalling it.
"Houndoom! Fire Blast!" the stocky one shouted, fixing her hair as her Houndoom snarled, smoke already trailing from its nostrils.
"Riolu, run!" Ethan called out watching anxiously as a stream of fire poured out of the fire type's maw and formed into a five-armed cross, the bottom two legs slightly curved away from each other.
The flickering flames coalesced into a burning inferno, rushing off from in front of Houndoom, and headed straight at Riolu. Ethan smiled as Riolu managed to get ten feet to the left of the fire, but the smile vanished just as fast; the five streams of fire extended all the way over to Riolu and reformed behind it, forming the same five-armed cross again and rushing after Riolu. He noticed the flames flicker a bit more, seemingly weaker from chasing Riolu.
"Riolu, force it to chase you until it's weak!" He shouted, drawing the attention of the crowd as a young couple gasped at his strategy. All he bothered to pay attention to however, was the brief nod of confirmation from his Pokemon before it began a mad dash around the field, drawing the flames after it. Houndoom had settled down on its legs for a nap, eyes trained on the cub in front of it.
It took five minutes to get the flames down to a weak flickering red, and a minute later, they corned Riolu. The fighting type braced itself, accepting that it would have to take the hit now. The arms of the flames extended once more, except this time they didn't burn out from one end, instead they formed a sphere with the five-armed cross at both sides, which rapidly shrank until it made contact with Riolu and exploded.
Ethan's ears were still ringing when the smoke cleared, revealing a fatigued, burnt Riolu in the same stance as it had been before the flames hit, paws raised and legs tensed.
"Riolu! Close Combat followed by Drain Punch!" He called out, deciding to try out their new wild card measure. The only reason it was a wild card was that while Riolu could perform the movements and achieve the speed needed for the attack, it drained Riolu a lot.
Riolu nodded, taking two seconds to get its bearings as Houndoom rose, staring it down. The Pokemon raced forward, ducking low and placing the first hit under Houndoom's jaw, before it hit Houndoom hard multiple times faster than Ethan could say Peanut Butter, leaving it drained. Then while Houndoom was staggering, Riolu hit it with its right fist, brick colored energy swirling around its paw and up its arm.
Houndoom's eyes drooped and its knees buckled as the twofold effect of the attack took its toll. First off there was the punch imbued with fighting type contact force, which dark types were vulnerable to, and then Riolu drained Houndoom's own energy to recover. And recover it did. The burn marks on its pelt were still there, but Riolu was moving its limbs in a more fluid manner, and landed two final blows on Houndoom, using its tail to smack its head up and then slamming it down with a force palm.
"My my folks! What a victory! And Mr. Photon gets the free glider ride!" He called out, drawing a few cheers; half of the noise was coming from Maurice. The two girls walked up to him, pressing money into his waiting hand one by one, the chubby one giving him a death glare to go with it.
"Come with me, and you can pick a glider." Escalade smiled, revealing three gold teeth.
"Aren't they all the same?" Ethan frowned, turning to the man as they walked over to the rows of gliders.
"I have hang gliders, all the same, and I have two body suits, one of which should fit you. They're fitted with Lithium cells that go on your back and a booster at the base of your spine. Gliding ratio of four meters forward for one meter down!"
"Can I do this in an hour or two? I have stuff and I need to get a room at the Pokemon center." Ethan gestured at the pack which was still on his back and Escalade shrugged.
"Sure, my friend. Just come back up whenever you want your ride. Night time is a good time, flying over the lit-up beaches and the city lights."
Ethan nodded in thanks and pulled his pack higher on his shoulder and walked over to the path down. He sighed, staring down the cliff: it was going to be a long walk for sure.
|\/|~^-_-_-^-_-_-^~|\/|
Ethan reached the Pokemon center an hour later, having walked all the way down the cliff side and across the Eastern Beach of Cianwood directly north to the city. He walked in through the automatic glass doors, finding not too many people in the center at three in the afternoon, and walked over to the nurses' station.
"Could I get a room please?" Ethan asked, handing his ID tag to the blonde nurse behind the counter. She had a thin face and green eyes, and her hair was drawn into a ponytail behind her.
"Sure. Room 117. You'll be sharing with me." She smiled, handing him back the tag. "I'm not a native, and while I am a certified nurse, that's not my profession. I offered to help out a few hours ago when the head nurse was fretting about the only other nurse here being ill. I'm on my way out to Olivine in a few days. I'm Blake by the way. Blake Whittaker."
Ethan took his tag back and shook her outstretched hand, unsure of what to make of the statement before it occurred to him that he should probably check whether any ships from Olivine had made it to Cianwood. He nodded at Blake, not bothering to introduce himself since she already knew his name, and walked down the corridor to 117. The room itself was small, barely fitting two small beds and a table between them. Ethan dropped his bag on the unused bed and walked straight out the door and back to the nurses' station.
"Hi Blake, could you please give my Pokemon a once over for me?" Ethan asked, smiling tiredly.
"Sure." Ethan handed Specter and Riolu's ultra-balls to her and walked on out of the Pokemon center, heading straight for the docks on the northern part of the east beaches, where all boats coming to the city were moored. The information bureau was devoid of any people looking for help, and only one counter was open.
Ethan walked up to the freckled teenager with curly orange hair and wire rimmed glasses sitting behind the glass and rapped his knuckles on the counter to get his attention.
"Excuse me, have any boats from Olivine City reached here in the past couple of days?" Ethan asked, straining to hear sounds of a shouting match somewhere in the building.
"Let's see… Two of the ships that were supposed to come here radioed ahead and said they couldn't make it past the Whirl Pools and turned around, and one arrived six hours late…. Let's see… That would be the Loan Vessel, which in case you're looking to charter a ship, is quite literally a loan vessel. It's docked at 3C." The boy leaned over the counter and pointed at the docks which were divided into sections labeled with letters.
"Thanks!" Ethan grinned, wanting to skip all the way there. He managed to get himself to walk there calmly. He walked up to the C dock, walking along it until he reached 3C, which was near the other side of the dock, closer to open sea. Sure enough, moored there was the same ship upon which Typhlosion had welded a new screen into the sockets.
"Is this ship available for hire?" Ethan called out, noticing Callie on deck, filling out some paperwork. She spun around, still holding a stack of papers as large as a phonebook in her hands.
"OH MY GOD! Ethan! You're alive?!" She shouted, tossing the paperwork over the deck of the ship and running down the gang plank at full speed.
"Aren't you going to have to do that paperwork again?" Ethan asked, wincing as it sank below the surface.
"Casualty report. But you're not dead, so it's useless." She replied, covering her face with her hands and bending low. "WESLEY! GO GET GRAMPS!" She shouted.
The muscular deck hand appeared out of the lower levels and climbed out, eyes widening when he saw Ethan. Failing to speak, he sprinted down the gangplank and off to the city.
"Oh my god what happened?" Callie asked, shaking her head.
"Feraligatr and dive saved me. It managed to get me to the Whirl Islands. I explored the cave system multiple times, and wound up making it to the deeper levels, where a group with contact to the mainland resides. They called the coast guard here and they sent me a chopper. I got here two hours ago maybe. What's the captain off doing?" Ethan explained, tilting his head
"Arguing with the Cianwood coast guard to get permission to blow up a giant rock. The straits beyond the boulder line aren't exactly international waters, and by blowing a few rocks out of the way, we can go through those into international waters and from their turn east and hit Olivine. Maybe three hours shorter, and far safer, considering we wouldn't have to go past the whirlpools." Callie explained, sitting down on the gangplank.
A long serpentine form swam under the gangplank and the head of a Gyarados broke the surface of the water, coming up to Callie's height. A second followed, this one much older and with a thicker body. the mainland resides. They called the coast guard here and they sent me a chopper. I got here two hours ago maybe. What's the captain off doing?" Ethan explained, tilting his head
"Arguing with the Cianwood coast guard to get permission to blow up a giant rock. The straits beyond the boulder line aren't exactly international waters, and by blowing a few rocks out of the way, we can go through those into international waters and from their turn east and hit Olivine. Maybe three hours shorter, and far safer, considering we wouldn't have to go past the whirlpools." Callie explained, sitting down on the gangplank.
A long serpentine form swam under the gangplank and the head of a Gyarados broke the surface of the water, coming up to Callie's height. A second followed, this one much older and with a thicker body. Footsteps sounded behind him and Wesley came running back, followed shortly by the old captain himself, riding a Segway.
"Callie! I yelled at them until I got a grant before I let Wesley drag me away? What was so urgent that you-." McAllister stopped dead in his tracks, mouth gaping as he noticed Ethan.
"Sup." Ethan waved, grinning as the old man slowly approached on foot, having abandoned the vehicle.
"My lord boy you're alive!? What happened out there?" McAllister gripped his shoulders and stared at him, his eyes meeting Ethan's.
"I got stranded on the Whirl Islands thanks to Feraligatr knowing dive. Long story short after a day or two I found people there who could contact Cianwood's coast guard." Ethan shrugged, examining the vessel. The hull had more than a few dents in it and the screen was scratched up, but then it was glass. There were maybe sixty long scratches across the body of the ship, and three times that in small scratches. "What about you guys?"
"We prayed for our dear lives after the roof broke off and got tossed around more than a bit, but a couple of hours later we managed to make it to this side of the sea and bore on for Cianwood. Nothing else we could do." the old man replied, clapping Ethan on the back and turning to the ship. "It'll take maybe two days to get patched up in case you're thinking of travelling. Maybe Callie told you, but I got clearance for a new route through the ocean, fifteen hours tops."
"Yeah. I think I'll be setting sail on the sixteenth, not after that though. I'll come find you when I need to leave." Ethan said, shaking the old man's hand.
"Aye, stay safe on land lad." Wesley called out as he walked away, to which Ethan responded with a thumbs up as he strode away, back towards the crew of the Loan Vessel.
He checked his watch, walking off in the general direction of the city; it was three on the dot, and true to the hour, his stomach was protesting for lunch. He looked around the street for one of the many tourist maps which dotted the streets, and spotting one, walked over to it. He looked down the list of restaurants, deciding that he could treat himself to something other than Pokemon center food once in a while. Picking the one he liked most, he walked the hundred meters from where he was standing to the Pokemon center, burning up in his hooded sweatshirt and jeans. He made his way to the room quickly and pulled a red T-shirt and grey shorts out of his bag, quickly changing into the shorts. He pulled his sweatshirt over his head as the door opened, ducking behind the wall immediately as Blake walked in.
He quickly pulled the red t-shirt he had selected on and stepped out from the wall which hid his bed from view by the door, staring right at Blake, who was blushing fiercely, dressed as she was in a blue tank top and white shorts.
"Hi." Ethan raised a hand, pretending that hadn't happened.
"Hi. Going somewhere?" Blake asked, relieved that he was acting as though it didn't happen.
"Yeah, thought I'd go get some lunch and then train on the beach's farther stretches, and it was way too hot for what I was wearing." Ethan. "I was just going to change and pick up my Pokemon if they've been healed. Then I thought I'd head over to the restaurant on the beach… I forget the name."
"Ben's grill?" she asked, going over to her bag and pulling a pair of sunglasses out of it.
"Yeah. That one." Ethan replied, stretching his arms.
"Let's go together then, I was going to head there too, and getting a table for one at Ben's is supposed to be really hard." Blake suggested, gesturing towards the door.
"Why not." Ethan shrugged, walking out and heading for nurses' station, where he picked up his Pokemon, both fully healed.
The duo made their way out of the Pokemon center once Ethan's belt had five occupants once more, the mental registration of which led Ethan to glance discreetly at Blake's waist. Pinned to her belt were two pokeballs, one of which had a teal upper half with rope netting embedded in it. Ethan turned his neck as he caught sight of a purple blur in his peripheral vision, and sure enough, flying at a close distance behind them was the same Gligar that had been flying around on the cliff. Deciding that maybe the streets of a city weren't the best place to engage it, he waited until they reached the beaches before he turned around.
"Game's up buddy, come on down here." Ethan called out, drawing the Gligar out of hiding. It hovered hesitantly in the air above them before it sank down to their level, two feet from Ethan.
"Have you seen this Pokemon before?" Blake asked quizzically, examining it.
"It was circling over the cliff when I was battling for a free glider ride before I got to the Pokemon center." Ethan shrugged, staring at the Pokemon. Its short stubby limbs were bright purple and it had blue wings, and a bulbous stinger at the end of its tail.
"Funny. This thing's been strong enough to evolve for quite some time now, but it hasn't. Maybe it saw your battles and decided you could help it; I'm assuming you won." Blake remarked, stepping back from it.
"Is that it buddy? Having trouble evolving?" Ethan asked, flinching ever so slightly as the Pokemon flew much closer to him, flapping its wings faster and faster. "I'll take that as a yes. I guess I'll go about catching you then."
Ethan reached for the spare pokeball –another ultra-ball- that he always kept on his belt and readied in his hand. All of a sudden, surprising both Blake and Gligar, he reached out and touched the tip of the pokeball to Gligar's nose, sucking it into the ultra-ball, which promptly fell to the ground. It shook violently for a minute before it settled down and a red hue enveloped the button on the front.
"Well then, let's get going." Ethan suggested, walking down to the small open-air beach restaurant. It took them a minute, but they managed to get themselves a table, and a minute later they were sitting at a table on the sand, appetizers on the table.
Ethan picked up a mozzarella stick and started eating watching Blake carefully. So far, he knew barely anything about her.
"By the way, happy birthday." Ethan stated casually, biting into another mozzarella stick as Blake stopped mid bite, staring at him.
"How did you know it's my birthday?" she demanded, setting the food down.
"When I checked into the Pokemon center, there was nothing on top of your bag. When I came back to change, there was a standard Pokemon center card on it. I just chanced a guess that it was for your birthday. I mean it's not mine." He shrugged as Blake settled down once more, eyes on the sea.
"Oh. Well then…. Where are you from? I didn't really read your data apart from your name. As someone who's not employed at the Pokemon center, I'm not entitled to do so anyway."
"New Bark Town in the east, not too far from Tohjo Falls and the Indigo borderline through Mount Silver. You?" Ethan answered, watching people flit about the beach and go about their days.
"Mossdeep City in Hoenn. I came to Johto with a friend to travel on my own for a while, and I'm meeting up with him in Olivine City in a few days to get sent back to Hoenn. I'm not particularly a professional trainer or anything, I mean I have two Pokemon which I've trained well, and I have a few badges back home, but that's about it… My hearts in engineering. I'm studying at the Mossdeep Space Center's Institute of Aeronautical Engineering." Blake replied, revealing more than a little bit about herself.
"I am a professional trainer, if that's what we're calling someone who's going on the gym challenge to make the conference. I'm on my journey right now. I've got four badges, I'll be taking on Chuck within three days, and then Jasmine in Olivine City. She's a menace to fight with her steel types." Ethan shuddered, taking a sip of his drink.
"Tell me about it. The friend who brought me here is a steel type specialist, and I've seen a Dragonite crumple against his defenses." Blake agreed, picking a chip up as her food arrived.
"When do you need to head back to Olivine? I've got a ship booked at a reasonable rate, and you could probably get the same rate. I'm leaving on the sixteenth." Ethan suggested, picking up a slice of his pizza, folding it over and biting into it.
"Consider your crew one person larger now. A guaranteed ship is a mercy. I was absolutely dreading having to find a ship that could take me with there." Blake replied, turning to the ocean to see what had enraptured him, seeing nothing of interest.
"So, I know you have a Riolu and a Gengar, and now a Gligar. What else do you have?" Blake asked, picking up the conversation again.
"Typhlosion was my first Pokemon, Scyther my second, Feraligatr my third, then I got Specter, that's Gengar, Riolu and today Gligar. You?" Ethan retorted, turning the tables.
"Milotic and Froslass." She replied, brushing a few crumbs off her shirt.
"Both would have taken a lot of effort to evolve. For someone who's not a professional trainer that deserves a commendation. Cheers." Ethan raised the bottle of cola in front of him and smiled, looking back towards Blake.
"Thank. Anyway, it was nice talking to you, and thank you very much for the help with the ship. I guess I'll see you later in the Pokemon center then?" Blake asked, standing up as the waiter collected the bill.
"Later." Ethan raised a hand to his forehead and casually waved her off before walking in the opposite direction, down the sandy beaches south past the beach goers to a relatively empty stretch of land.
Seeing no one in within a reasonable range, he released his Pokemon onto the beach one by one. First off came Typhlosion, then Scyther, then Feraligatr, Specter and Riolu, that having been the order of their pokeballs.
"Okay guys, we have a new team mate. According to someone who examined it, it's been ready to evolve for quite a while, but hasn't been able to. So, we'll get introductions through, and you guys can get to know him or her better, while I talk to an old friend of mine to find out why it hasn't evolved. Come on out Gligar!" Ethan pressed the button on the ultra-ball and released his newest Pokemon out onto the beach.
Gligar's floating form materialized in the air, surrounded by a semicircle of Ethan's Pokemon on one side, with Ethan on the other side.
"Hi buddy. These are my other friends. Typhlosion over there, Scyther, Feraligatr, Specter, and Riolu." Ethan gestured one by one at his Pokemon, the ground type warily following his hands. "Guys this is Gligar. Why don't you all get to know each other a bit better while I try and find out why Gligar has been unable to evolve up until now?"
He stepped away in search of a decently shaped rock, and finding one, sat down. Immediately, he opened his phone and scanned Gligar, opening up the data Brendan had stored on Gligar, skipping right past what he had read in the whirl islands to go to the part about its evolution.
Gligar evolve under certain conditions into Gliscor, which are very rarely found in the wild, and those that are found in the wild are generally in Johto. First off, Gligar needs a razor fang on it. Secondly, it needs to be night time, and I mean at least an hour after sunset, when the darkness has set in. Last but not least, the less traditional aspect of item evolution, duress. Same way a normal Pokemon evolves under duress or during a surge of energy, some Pokemon that evolve with items need to trigger their own energy because the items don't contain energy, like the razor fang. Something like a Dragon Scale on the other hand, would contain the energy needed to catalyze evolution.
"A razor fang and night time conditions…. Hmmm…" Ethan mused, standing up. He walked over to his Pokemon. Typhlosion and Feraligatr seemed to get along well enough with Gligar, still wary of it because of what Ethan had said in regard to its seemly lack of strength or capability. Specter was agitated, but then it was agitated quite a bit. Riolu seemed happy to play with the flying type, but Scyther seemed on edge.
"Okay guys. So, I've looked up why you can't evolve Gligar. One of the conditions is an item we need, and another is for it to be night time. So, here's what we'll do. We'll gauge your abilities right now, head out to the markets and try and find the item, and then we'll train until nightfall. If we can get you evolved today or tomorrow, you'll be a blessing in the match against Chuck, the local gym leader…" Ethan explained, sitting down on a closer rock. "Let's begin, then shall we? Gligar, I want you to one by one use every attack you know, one let's say that giant boulder over there."
Ethan gestured at the boulder and waited, watching as Gligar examined it before it floated maybe fifteen feet from it. Gligar levels its fists, one beginning to glow. In a sudden move it rushed forward, pincer/fist glowing purple as it hit the boulder with a light hard jab, cracking the rock and letting poison seep into it and corrode it a bit. Next, without stopping, it bit the boulder in three places, once freezing a patch, once sending sparks over it to no avail, and once singing it.
"Okay stop for a minute!" Ethan called out, quickly typing into the notetaking app on his phone. It knew so far, poison jab, thunder fang, fire fang and ice fang. "Go!"
Gligar let a current carry it back twenty feet before it moved of its own volition, one arm poised for attack. It hit the boulder with a glowing black arm and wing, leaving a deep gash in it before it flipped around in midair and left a cross cut into it with two glowing green pincers. It let the air carry it back once more before it dove again, slashing the rock with a stream of white over one wing and pincer, doubling back and hitting the rock with a claw surrounded by purple streams of energy. Finally done, it floated over to Ethan and began watching him carefully.
Ethan typed into his phone swiftly, adding aerial ace, night slash, sucker punch and x scissor to the list.
"Okay, now we evaluate how strong you actually are. Riolu! Go all out against our new friend." Ethan instructed, grinning as Gligar's already fully open eyes widened comically before it flew back and took up a fighting stance, ready to take on what was being thrown at it. "Start!"
Riolu dashed forward, one palm already glowing, and its tail shining behind it. Gligar met the charge with one of its own, fangs, fists and wings glowing as it raced forward, closing the distance between the two rapidly. Riolu ducked at the last second, avoiding the swing of Gligar's sucker punch and lashing out upwards with its force palm.
The attack caught Gligar in the chest, but the flying type caught Riolu on its stinger and pulled it up for an ice fang to the shoulder before Riolu broke free by swinging its tail at Gligar, the glowing appendage met with an aerial ace. The two were caught in a deadlock as Riolu's next force palms were caught, one by Gligar's stinger, and one by its left pincer. Having somewhat immobilized Riolu in the air, Gligar's right pincer began glowing, followed shortly by Riolu's left leg glowing orange.
The fighting type Pokemon spun upwards in the grip Gligar had it in, lashing out for the ground type's head with its foot. It missed however, and Gligar got in a perfect opportunity to hit Riolu in the back with sucker punch and release it, sending it flying ten feet.
"Enough!" Ethan called out, breaking up the fight immediately. Gligar could trump Riolu for sure, but the question was how it would fare against one of his other, evolved, and not hatched only a few weeks ago, Pokemon. "Specter, your turn. I want to investigate the extent of your abilities as well for one. All out against Gligar!"
The apparition floated from where it had been sitting over to Ethan and Gligar, the latter of whom was looking a little bit fatigued. Ethan beckoned the flying type over and reached into his pocket for one of the two potions he had wisely decided to keep on him and sprayed it on one of Gligar's bruises. The flying type leaped back as it felt what Ethan assumed was a stinging sensation from the medicinal spray.
"It's okay Gligar, it's a potion. It heals wounds. Look, your bruise is already fading." Ethan gestured at the area where he had sprayed the potion with one hand as he spoke, and sure enough, the bruise that was there was already half the original size.
Gligar gingerly floated back over to him and held out its left wing, where Ethan sprayed over another bruise, and finally puffed out its chest. Ethan sprayed the potion there and shook the bottle to check how much he had used, guessing there was about half of it left.
"Okay, Riolu, come here and I'll patch you up while these two have at it. Specter, Gligar, you have a green light to go all out." Ethan instructed, narrowing the radius of the spray a bit to better suit Riolu's form.
A grin tore a gash in semi corporeal body of the ghost, revealing its serrated white teeth. With a low cackle, it floated about thirty feet away from Ethan and then some. Mimicking its adversary, Gligar flew off, making the gap between the two Pokemon some forty feet. Typhlosion jogged up to Ethan's side, followed shortly by Scyther and Feraligatr, watching warily as the two Pokemon stared each other down.
Ethan's head kept shifting from left to right, looking at each Pokemon again and again as they readied themselves for battle. Specter raised its fists, each glowing purple, and cackled. That was all it took to convince Gligar that the Gengar wasn't going to make the first move. The little flying type charged forward, using the breeze behind it as a tailwind and hurtled straight towards the ghost type.
Specter stepped to one side to avoid what it felt was an oncoming attack and extended its right hand, glowing purple claws extending out of it. Gligar however, slipped out of its defined path and veered up above Gengar, slamming the point of its tail into Gengar's body, swirls of energy flowing up the dimly glowing stinger at the end. Ethan's eyes widened as he witnessed the usage of sucker punch with a tail.
Gligar's blow seemed substantial as it left the apparition stumbling where it had been standing before it took the hit, its grin now a frown as it tried to figure out what had happened. One thought hit Ethan. Gligar seemed very young and trusting, and just as smart. With its age it had probably needed to learn to outsmart predators before it could defeat them with brute force. It was brilliant at predicting what another Pokemon was going to do.
Specter frowned, focusing on Gligar. Its eyes started glowing and Gligar turned away immediately, trying to avoid the inherit urge to stare into the glowing red eyes that were ready to put it to sleep at a whim. Specter grinned, seeing its opening, and fired off a shadow ball, followed in quick succession by two more. While Gligar was still dazed, the Gengar frowned once more, and focused, trying to create a narrow stream of ominous wind, in its own direction, to push the flying type back towards it.
It fizzled into the shadow of a nearby rock as it failed and unleashed a full force ominous wind, which succeeded in both hurting Gligar, and dragging it to where Specter popped out of the shadows. This time however, the flying type seemed to be prepared. The ghost lashed out with a glowing fist, only to be met with an X-scissor. Gligar turned the tables on Specter, lashing out with its tail glowing purple. While the poison from poison jab had no effect, it gave Gligar an opening to strike back with night slash and leave Specter with its hands across its face.
Ethan smiled as he watched the two of them go at it. The Gengar frowned and the area around it turned pitch black, engulfing both Pokemon. The darkness faded as night shade ended and Gligar immediately flew away, coming in for a rebound almost immediately. It slammed into the ghost with another night slash, and bit its shoulder with thunder fang, sending sparks through its body. Combined with the gaping cut through its middle, the force from Thunder Fang caused Specter to explode into purple vapor.
Gligar flew back, watching warily as the gases reformed into Specter's frowning form. The ghost's malevolent red eyes were fixed on Gligar, who seemed adamant not to let Ethan down. Specter shot forward, releasing a pent-up shadow ball at Gligar as it charged. The avian dodged the sphere of ghostly energy only to come into the path of Specter's glowing fist and then be hit with a short-range dark pulse.
Ethan watched closely as Gligar managed to regain its bearings amidst the onslaught and meet Specter's next attack, a sucker punch, with one of its own. Each held the attack for maybe ten seconds before they let go and fell back, eyeing each other carefully. The ghost type rushed into it without hesitation again and hit Gligar hard with a barrage of shadow balls, injuring it badly. Gligar, in retaliation, flew forward and by forcing Gengar to avoid another Sucker Punch, got it in range for a dark pulse followed by an aerial ace.
Ethan frowned and examined the situation. Specter was stronger than Gligar, but the battle would drag on for more than a little while longer before either of them collapsed.
"Enough guys! Let's call it quits for now! I've seen enough to decide what to do when we're back from the markets. I'm going to take you two to the Pokemon center and then head on out." Ethan called out, recalling each of them quickly. He returned all of his other Pokemon with the exception of Typhlosion, walking alongside the fire type to the Pokemon center doors, where he finally recalled it.
He entered the lobby and went to the main desk, where a bored looking nurse in her early thirties sat reading a magazine.
"Hi. Could you please heal my Pokemon for me?" Ethan handed over his pokeballs and his trainer ID, taking the latter back after a moment and heading out.
He made his way over to the markets between the docks and the beaches, where sailors, traders and explorers sold their wares and where merchants had set up their stalls. The scene was something out of a book, with stalls roofed with heavy cloth canopies. Poles buried in the sand supported the weight of the swathes of cloth which sheltered each merchant from the sun, and should it come, the rain, and cast shade over the four-sided stalls.
Ethan looked around the area, walking through the throngs of people. He could smell spices from all over Johto and many that were brought over from Hoenn, and he could see a long line at the stall for fresh caught seafood. He kept walking, past cloth merchants with fabrics hanging from rods and lines of women at their stalls and past apothecaries with ground herbs until he reached the far end, where other odd wares and Pokemon items were sold.
He walked up to a merchant's stall and examined the wares, recognizing none as the razor fang as it was described in Brendan's footnotes. Still, deciding to test his luck, he waited until the merchant was done with another customer and waved his arm to get his attention.
"Excuse me sir, do you happen to have a razor fang?" Ethan asked, taking in the man's sunburnt skin and white turban.
"A razor fang…. Hmm… I don't believe I'm in possession of one right now. They aren't too uncommon, you should be able to find them in the market here, but not many people bother keeping them, which is what really makes them hard to find. Try some other stalls." The man suggested, walking off to the other side of the stall to greet another customer.
Sighing, Ethan walked away and continued his search of the multiple stalls which sold the type of items he was looking for. He found nothing on display in four stalls, and after talking to three of the merchants, still hadn't found it. He kept walking through the stalls until he reached a small corner where there was only one other person looking at the stalls. Deciding he may as well try, Ethan walked up to one of the two stalls and looked at the display case.
His eyes skimmed over the wares until he reached one particular one, a fang about as large as his hand and as sharp as a knife. Ethan motioned to the merchant and pointed at the fang, calling him over.
"You want the razor fang kid? It's one hundred and thirty dollars." The man shrugged, shifting his scarf.
"One hundred and thirty!? Seriously!? I got from Olivine City to here in not much more than that!" Ethan exclaimed. "One hundred tops."
"I'll give it to you for a hundred and fifteen kid, but nothing less." The man stared at him, tightening his scarf.
Ethan sighed, checking his wallet, and then nodded. He handed over the money reluctantly and took the fang, resolving to find a few trainers and try and get back however much he hadn't been willing to pay.
He started on the walk back to the beach, ambling down the beach slowly, past the crowds of people who had gathered in the late afternoon to enjoy the sunlight, and all the way down to the desolate stretch of beach where he had been with his Pokemon earlier. He figured it would probably be at least three more hours, until seven thirty, before the sun had set and it could be considered night time for real.
He sat down and pulled out his phone, fiddling with it aimlessly for a few seconds. It started ringing all of a sudden, and startled, he returned to reality and nearly dropped it. Professor Elm of all people was calling him. Worried, he picked up the phone.
"Hello? Professor Elm?" Ethan greeted him, staring off into the ocean.
"Ethan. Do us both a favor and get to the Pokemon center if you're not there. Use one of the computers for a video call. This conversation might take a while, and I'd rather not rack up a large bill for a call to Cianwood based off of your cellular signal on my mainframe's screen. Call me back." The professor instructed, leaving Ethan bewildered.
Nonetheless he slipped the phone into his pocket and set off at a jogging pace, heading for the Pokemon center immediately. It took him ten minutes with his stride to get there, and once inside, he made his way to the PC booths so he could make a private video call to the professor. He waited until one opened up and ducked into the stall after the occupant left. Quickly logging into his account on the trainer system, he opened the dialer and clicked the professor's address. A few rings later, he was on the line.
"Hello? Professor, can you hear me?" Ethan asked, speaking slowly.
"Yes Ethan, I can. How are you?" Elm replied "How's your journey been after err…. Was it Azalea Town?"
"Yes Professor. It was Azalea. Traveling has been good. I've got four badges, and I hope to have six within a week. Might I ask what brought about this call?"
"Um… Well… you see…"
"Something about the Totodile you gave me? It's a Feraligatr now by the way."
"Something of the sort." Elm agreed, nervously. He dabbed at his forehead with a handkerchief before he spoke again.
"You see. Pokemon which we commonly call starter Pokemon, the ones which are offered to trainers who passed with a high score in all fields of the trainer licensing test, and who live near research centers, at the beginning of their journeys, are very rare, and their continuation and the owning of these Pokemon is carefully monitored by the International Pokemon Research Association. The same association which even after our doctorates, is the only association which can in the field of study of Pokemon, accord a doctorate."
"The laws laid by the IPRA state that a trainer cannot be given two starter Pokemon without any valid reason approved by the board, under any circumstances." Elm hesitated.
"Professor where is this going? If I recall correctly you had a valid reason for giving me Totodile." Ethan asked fearfully.
"I rushed permission at the time, after all it seemed to be a green Totodile. The board enquired at the last meeting about what happened with the green Totodile I had given to a trainer who already had his own starter Pokemon. I was obliged to tell them the truth. As such I was ordered to retrieve your Feraligatr as you say it is."
"Professor!?" Ethan shouted.
"You win some, you lose some Ethan. I'm terribly sorry, but I'm afraid you'll have to return Feraligatr to me within a week, or the police or the staff of any Pokemon center will be legally obliged to seize it."