The New Kids on the Block: Chapter Nine
Quinn- "Get Back on the Ponyta"
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The Path that Leads to the Emerald Forest
Moonbeam City, Silver Millennium
May 27, 2028
"You know," said Charlize as we trudged along the dirt path that led to the Emerald Forest. "We could just skip this gym altogether."
"Never," Celeste barked as she clenched her teeth together, "that is out of the question entirely."
"It was just an idea," Charlize mumbled, hunching her shoulders. She sighed as she looked up to the sky, focusing on something other than Celeste in her bad mood.
"A very bad one," she continued. "I will not let myself be humiliated like that! I have to get a flying type and beat that Gym Leader! And that's all there is to it." Her voice wavered as she uttered the last statement. I could've sworn that I saw her wipe her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt...
It was the next day, early in the morning, very early. It was about five o' clock in the morning. I highly doubted that she had slept at all. She was so pissed yesterday.
I had decided that we'd better wait a day to let her cool down. We didn't want her taking her frustrations out on some unsuspecting Spearow or Natu, who didn't deserve it at all. Obviously, as the former paragraphs proved, it did not do too much to help.
Might as well let her vent.
I saw Brian place his hand on her shoulder and he said, "there, there. We'll find you a flying pokémon in no time."
"Don't baby me," she hissed.
Whoa, this was quite a change, I've got to admit it. Maybe it was something else that was irking her: something deeper. Something that I didn't know about. And if it had anything to do with my little sister, then I wanted to know about it; it's like my job.
"I was just trying to help," he muttered as he threw up his hands in defeat. "Are you on your monthly or something."
She stopped dead in her tracks and whirled around to face him. She pointed an accusing finger at him, "what are you trying to say Brian? That I only get mad when I do have it? Huh? If you just have to know...yes! I am! And I'm not going to deal with your bullshit or his either!"
OK...just like I thought. Something else was bothering her. She usually doesn't curse that much, well, at least not in front of me. But wait—I've been gone for a year, how would I know? Hold on, never mind that, I think I've known her long enough to know that she didn't.
"Who's?" Charlize asked as she raised her eyebrow, just like I did. I made it seem like I wasn't really paying it any attention, but I really was.
"N—Taylor's, that's all," she said. She shook her head in agreement with herself.
That was odd. It made it seem as if...she was telling a lie. If she was telling the truth then that would seem logical; but if she wasn't, which I thought that she was, then the only person she could be talking about would have to be...Collin.
Collin? What had he done to her? They've barely even known one another.
I tried to recall yesterday's events. When we were at the Gym, I did notice a slight change in Celeste's composure. She tried to avoid talking to him, it seemed. Her eyes were doing anything but gazing into his. They had a panicked appeal to them, something that they just didn't usually have.
"For some reason I don't think your telling the truth," Brian commented as we started to walk again.
"Then don't—that's your decision."
"Just because you're menstruating doesn't mean that you have to be a bitch," Charlize scoffed.
Celeste just blinked, appearing to be unaffected by her friend's statement. She did have a point though. Believe me, I would know. I have three sisters and a mother.
"Wait," Brian said, his forehead wrinkled in confusion, "I thought that it did."
"It doesn't...that's the woman's decision. That's what I think."
I felt a catfight in the making. I was ready to end it if something actually jumped off.
Shut up! Purin cried as she tried to snooze while she was in my duffel bag. Her blue eyes were dull with sleep. I'm trying to get some sleep in here!
"Even when I'm on it, I'm not a bitch," Charlize murmured as she crossed her arms along her chest.
"Yeah...you're just a bitch when you're not," Celeste uttered.
"All right," she said, dropping her leather backpack to the ground, "that's it. Now I'm sick of your bullshit." She shoved Celeste into a nearby tree. Celeste just stayed there and stared at her blandly.
I took a step forward. Charlize was also pretty strong for a small woman. She was only like 5'4".
"Do what you're going to do because I am not going to fight with you," Celeste said. "Well...I might change my mind after a few hits. So take your best shot while you can get one in."
"Oh that's it," she exclaimed quite infuriated at my sister. I rushed forward to grasp Charlie's pulled back fist and yanked her away, only to be interrupted by a sharp ringing.
We'd never even heard it before.
"Telephone, telephone," it cheered and I knew right then that it just had be one of our pokétalkies; and, from the direction where it was coming from, I figured that it just had to be Celeste's. With a groan, she fumbled in her messenger bag and pulled out the device and pressed a bright button that was flashing green.
"Why haven't you called?" a voice blared from the pokétalky and right away I knew that it was none other than our Mom. I rubbed my forehead. We were in for it.
"Mom!" Celeste squeaked in surprise.
I dashed over to look at the tiny screen. When I did, the sight of Mom's face, her perturbed face, put me at ease and it made the intense situation that we were in die down rather quickly.
"Hey Mom," I said. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine and you?—don't try to switch the subject Quinn! You all still haven't answered my question. I talked to Hyacinthe just last night and she told me that you were at her lab. I can't believe that you didn't even bother to call! Do you know what I had to go through?"
She received blank stares.
"Ugh," she grunted. "I was worried about you. You could've gotten kidnapped or something."
"But I'm here to protect them remember?"
"But still...it's not safe out there like it used to be. Well, I can't say that it was safe when I was a trainer but it was relatively so. Never mind, you'll know how it feels when you both become parents. Oh, hi Char! Hey Brian! What's up?"
"Nothing," they replied, but a trace of a scowl still remained on Charlize's face.
"Mom! Why are you being so nice to them?"
She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "I'm not their parents. They're going to get it as soon I get through with you two."
Charlize groaned and Brian remained the same. I couldn't imagine Mrs. Fairfield ever getting bent out of shape and actually yelling at someone. She seemed much too nice and placid.
"Well...what have you done that's been so important that you couldn't give me a call?"
"I've been training Mom. The other day I caught my first pokémon ever!"
"That's really exciting," she exclaimed, but she turned around and looked behind her shoulder, and said, "Misty, if you don't get off of that examination table your Grandpa Dew will have a fit!"
Yes Grandma! she chirped as the young Azuril (Luri-Luri) hopped off of the metal table.
"I didn't know that Dew and Misty were there! Tell them both that I said hello, okay," asked Celeste.
Dew, as some of you might know, is the pokémon that Mom hatched from an egg and raised until he was a Azumarrill. Now, he was a widower, his mate had died long ago, and took care of his only grandchild, Misty, for the summer.
"Anyways, what did you catch? Which element was it."
"His name is Fuzz, and he's a blue Mareep. He's so nice."
"Ah, a blue Mareep, I see. Expect the other pokémon that you capture to have rather odd coloring, after all, you're on another planet entirely. I wouldn't even be surprised if there were a few new ones in Celestiette or if they are different sizes. But there is one thing you must know." Her voice took on an unusual seriousness.
"What Mom?" Celeste looked as if she thought something bad had happened.
I have to admit that my heart had quickened too.
"Only capture as many pokémon that you think you can train. Everything in moderation and Hyacinthe told you. Or else, you'll burn out and your pokémon will be on varied levels. Do you understand?"
Celeste shook her head in agreement, her expression grave, intense is more like it. She really valued whatever Mom had to say, as did I. After all, she was a trainer at one time and a pretty good one at that.
"Well, Eos and I have to go pick up a paralyzed Dewgong on the coast. Midnight is at the Gym, warding off those trainers today. Can you believe that it's been more than two weeks since your Dad has lot a match?"
"Yeah," I said, "Dad's a solid Gym Leader."
"Speaking of Daddy," Celeste drawled, "could you ask him to wire me about two hundred dollars?"
"What the hell do you need two hundred dollars for?"
"I don't know yet, but I'm sure that it will come in handy."
"Maybe—wait!—I thought you already had a lot of money."
"I do...I just might need some more."
"She can spend her own," I concluded.
"Right," Mom agreed. "We're only for emergency purposes. You'll have to work for the rest. I'll talk to you all later, all right? I love you all."
"I love you too, Mom," we both said in unison.
"Goodbye;" her face disappeared from the screen and we were once again left in the position that we were in before.
"Let go of my hand!" Charlize yell as she tried to wrench her fist from my death grip.
I let go.
"Thank you," she breathed as she walked over to Celeste and straightened out her collar and smoothed her shirt. "I was about to rough you up; you know that right?"
"Whatever," she said with a laugh as they hugged one another. "Friends again?"
"Yeah."
It was weird how they could do that, Celeste and Charlize. They're fighting one minute and the next they're hugging and kissing. I don't think I've ever had that type of relationship with anyone, well, except Celeste, of course, and most recently, Purin.
"Hey!" Brian shouted, "look over there." He pointed to a pokémon off in the distance.
"Ooh, there's a Spearow!" Celeste exclaimed as she pointed. "But I don't want one of those pokémon. There is entirely too much excess baggage that comes along with it and I do not feel up to being chased around by a flock of—"
"Celeste, what the hell are you talking about?" I asked quizzically, my brow instinctively began to lift. "That's a Pidgey over there. Can't you see? "
She blushed in embarrassment. "Of course I can see!"
Charlize backed away and few feet and held up one of her hands. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Four, you ass. My vision's not that bad."
"So that means that you're admitting that it is partially bad?" Brian queried.
"Basically. I noticed this while ago; that's why I asked Mom—" she explained, but I held up my hand before she could finish her sentence. She needed that Pidgey.
"Hurry up and capture it before it gets away," I yelled.
"Okay, okay, don't have a hemorrhage," she said as she pushed a blue strand of hair that had fallen from her neatly coiled pigtail behind her ear. She produced out a crystalline figure of a sheep and tossed it into the air.
"Pokécrystal, release and disperse!" The crystal remained suspended into the air as it rapidly spun, releasing green energy that soon merged together to form Fuzz, the Mareep.
The Pidgey, a small creature with a beige breast and a eggshell white body with bright black eyes, perked up in attention once it saw that Fuzz was released. It tensed up before fluttering into the air and frantically clapping its wings together, making a funnel rise from the grown and barrel right towards us.
"Move out of the way! That's a gust attack!" Celeste directed. We all jumped out of its path just in time, narrowly avoiding getting flung into who- knows-where.
That wasn't very nice, Purin pouted. He could hurt some innocent pokémon if he doesn't disable that gust attack.
"Since when have you cared?"
Since I was born. I was a wild pokémon before I met you, you know. I appreciate other ones too.
"I didn't know that your heart was so kind."
And I didn't know that yours was too.
"You're getting ahead of yourself."
And you're just not willing to admit it.
I ignored her.
Anyways, the Pidgey squawked in disbelief as it saw us leap out of the way. Then, realizing that we were much to able, I suppose, it started to flee. But Celeste was clearly on top of things.
"Stop that Pidgey with a thundershock, Fuzz!"
Fuzz bleated in concentration and the energy from his coat was transferred to his ears, and from there, the blue lightning traveled upwards to the flying Pidgey. This caused it to shake rapidly and fall to the ground, obviously defeated.
"That was perfect aim, Fuzz. Good job. Now, pokécrystal, release and absorb that Pidgey!"
The crystal bounced off its fallen body and rose into the ear, spinning as the mint green energy sucked the Pidgey into the crystal. The crystal whirled for a few more seconds before returning to Celeste's outstretched hand.
"Awesome," she said as she jumped into the air for joy. "That was easy. Thanks a lot Fuzz." She patted him on the head as she recalled him into the crystal. "Now off to the Moonbeam City Gym...again!"
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"I see that you're back again Celeste," said Taylor as he stood in front of the door that, I figured, opened into the arena. "Do you have a flying pokémon this time?"
"Yes," she said bravely, "I do have a flying type."
"Good."
She looked off to the right as if she were trying to remember something. She bolted up when it came back to her head and asked, "aren't I supposed to do something before we begin battling?"
"Nah, not this time," he told her. "I already examined your record as far as test scores go and you seemed to be a solid student when you were in college. If you weren't, you would have had to take an entrance examination."
"Oh, I see;" she nodded in understanding. "Hey, you checked out my record? Do you have that right?"
"If I didn't do you think that I would have done it?"
She just stared at him.
He sighed. "Here in Silver Millennium, we Gym Leaders retain the right to do background evaluations on all of the trainers that register into this League."
There was some indistinct thundering in the background.
"Oh, it's begun to rain. I hope that the flying pokémon have found a safe roost to stay in," he said, not to anyone in particular. "Oh," he said, breaking out of his reverie, "let's get to the battling."
He opened the door for us all. Behind that door there was a small battling field, covered with grass. A circle of white paint was in the center of the field, and in bold letters, it read The Moonbeam City Gym. On both sides, there were two metal stands, both of them were silver. A railing enclosed it in on three sides. I believe a few stairs were in the back. On the trainer's side, there was a bench behind the stand where people like Charlize, Brian, and me would sit. We took our places there accordingly.
A referee in a striped Polo shirt was at the center of the field, on the outer edge, holding up one green and one silver flag. "This will be a three-on-three, official Silver Millennium Gym Match. There are three rounds, after each round, each trainer shall switch pokémon.
"To the right there is the Moonbeam City Gym Leader, Taylor. And, to the left is the challenger, Celeste Briarcliffe from Hydrangea Island. Will each trainer send out their pokémon at once?"
Celeste was visibly shaking, I could see that from the bench. She had the right to be nervous, after all, it was her first Gym match. She somehow managed to hurl the crystal into the air and to shout, "Pokécrystal...release and disperse!"
The Pidgey, whose name we had learned was Flit, flew to the battlefield. It zipped around in little circles before waiting in the center.
"Good luck Flit, I know that you'll try your best," Celeste cheered from her stand, Raja looked up to her and said something that I didn't quite catch.
She seemed to understand and she nodded her head.
"Go!" Taylor cried as he sent out a rather large Pidgeotto. It dwarfed Boomer by inches and must have been fifteen times his weight. The Pidgeotto faced its opponent with a fierce scowl on its face.
I saw Flit begin to falter under its imperious gaze. It descended a few feet in an attempt to avoid it, but it just followed. I have to admit, that Pidgeotto was rather intimidating, especially to a little thing like Flit.
This round was not going to be easy.
"Let the match...begin!" cried the referee as he lowered the silver flag.
"Use your quick attack, Flit!"
Flit obeyed and his body became a small little torpedo as he launched himself at his opponent with exceptional speed. His body was in the perfect position, completely no resistance was against him.
"Use your wing attack," Taylor said calmly, as if he didn't care one bit.
The larger, more advanced pokémon obeyed almost immediately, without hesitation. As if this was nothing more than a trifle, like swatting a bug, he swung his wing, and the next thing I see is a blur of a creature bouncing off the grass. His eyes were dazed.
I saw Celeste cringe at the sight and I barely heard the random blaspheme that she used. She was really starting to use them more lately, well...since earlier, I should say, but I assumed she might've done it all along. I suppose that I don't know everything there is to know about her.
"Flit, can you go on any longer?" she urged him, her voice full of pleading, of emotion—of doubt.
The tiny bird propped himself up with part of his wings, but quickly fell back down to the ground. Celeste began to retrieve him when he propped himself once more, apparently not ready to give up just yet.
Can't...give...up...just...yet, he grumbled weakly as he stood on his twiggy legs, swaying as if he were drunk or very tired.
The pokémon had heart.
I know courage when I see it.
I heard Celeste gasped as she watched his show of endurance and of bravery. Any other pokémon would have taken the chance and gotten the hell out of there, but, I would say that this one was special. I wondered what his motive was.
"Flit!"
I can do this. I won't be beaten so easily.
"Your pokémon is brave," Taylor mused, "but that won't cut it here in the Silver Millennium League. You need skill, bravery, and most of all, power. And that is something that a Pidgey just doesn't have."
Harsh words to be coming from a so-called Flying Pokémon Gym Leader.
I saw Celeste's fist begin to clench, "he's not just a Pidgey. He's my Pidgey," she retorted. "You can do this Flit, use your gust attack."
Flit tried his hardest to flap his wings as fast as he could and he met with success. The small funnel whipped across the turf of the Gym and barreled into the Pidgeotto. It engulfed it but the startled, not exactly weakened, bird came zipping away from it and knocking Flit clear across the arena.
"Flit!"
The bird let out a squeak if a reply and, as if caught up in something magical, almost supernatural, he began to glow an eerie white. I immediately recognized that he was evolving.
"He's evolving...already!"
"Humph," Taylor grunted as he crossed his arms across his chest.
Flit became larger very rapidly. I could hear his hollow bones crackling as they were stretched to new lengths and I saw soft pink and white feathers sprouting from his head, forming a crest. A loud shrill accompanied the last few stages of his evolution. He proudly announced his new species.
"Flit! You evolved from a Pidgey to a Pidgeotto! I'm so proud of you," Celeste cheered as she and Raja held each other, trunk-to-hand, and danced around in the trainer box.
"Enough celebration," Taylor hissed. "Let's get back to the match."
Celeste took on her serious guise on and called out, "Flit, use your tackle attack."
The large bird collided into its opponent, causing it to fly back several feet. However, the force of the blow wasn't powerful enough to send the bird to the ground; he was newly evolved after all.
"Awesome," Celeste cheered.
"Humph, don't think that you have this match won. Pidgeotto, recover and use your sky attack!"
The slightly larger bird shook off the attack and bulleted into the air, much quicker than Flit did. Yes, Flit was stronger but he still didn't have the experience, probably the most important aspect of this battle. After reaching a desired altitude, Pidgeotto froze for the briefest of seconds before plummeting downwards.
Flit was a goner.
A high-pitched shriek rung through the air as Flit was flung unmercifully to the soft green turf.
Poor Flit, Purin muttered sadly as she shook her head. I didn't ever remember seeing her feel...compassion before.
"Oh no...Flit! Are you OK? There, there...I'll get you healed as soon as we're done here. Pokécrystal, release and absorb!"
The crystal fell into her hand.
"The Gym Trainer, Taylor has won the first round. Second round, begin!"
Celeste hurled a crystal into the air. "I'm counting on you Fuzz. You can do this."
I hoped that she would win.
I was in for a long match.
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Ah...a cliffhanger. Finally I've managed to sneak one in here. ^_^! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. And I am so, so sorry that it took me such a long time to post. A week may not seem long to most authors. but to me it is. Damn school. In the summer I used to manage 2 per week. Times have changed. Thanks Dynamite Raver for Taylor once more. And I promise, I will get around to all of the submitted trainers. Feel free to submit some more! Gosh, I'm amazed...Rosie's fic (Rosie's Pokemon Adventure) was just thirteen chaps and had like 8 Gyms...uh well. Am I rambling too much? Should I just get these Gyms finished and off to the League. I like the prospect of a long, very descriptive fanfiction -_^! Oh, I'm changing Brian's name to Blake—I like that better. Don't ask. Please review...individually if you would be so nice. —The Duke of Briarcliffe