Chapter 2
Tom woke up to the sounds of pidgeys chirping and the sweet scent given off by grass pokemon. Gently, he roused his three companions, and went through his morning exercise routine. Magby and elekid imitated Tom's routine, making a fool of themselves in the process while abra just opened his eyes, and after finding no danger, popped right back into dream land. Tom rolled his eyes, but understood; abras needed over 18 hours a day of sleep, and seldom walked about; most of their attacks were based on psychic powers.
Tom finished up, barely wheezed, while magby and elekid were bent almost double, huffing and panting from sheer exhaustion. Tom, amused by the two's actions, yet understood that while he himself had been doing the routine for years, the two had only begun a month ago. A month since he had left his hometown for the solitude of the mountains. A month since he had started training with his pokemon. His psychic abilities had expanded exponentially, after mentally battling abra for long periods of time. His *scanning* range had tripled, to almost ten metres, and his probe twice as strong. In fact, with concentration and some effort, he could lift pebbles, and juggle them. This last one has, in fact, played a important role in the training. Tom would levitate pebbles, small ones, and the three would use their ranged attacks to try and hit the distant moving objects. Magby's ember, a small ball of flame, often missing, being relatively slow moving at this stage, and difficult to aim. elekid's thundershock, however, often charred the pebbles, and at the same time, his range got longer and longer. The truly amazing feat, however, was accomplished by abra. Using his confusion, he easily smashed the pebbles against each other, even when blindfolded.
Sighing, abra awoke, to a bizarre sight. Tom was setting up a huge rock, which, on closer observation, was just numerous smaller stones welded together by magby. Both pokemon were practising their punches. Every so often, magby and elekid would start using other attacks, smog for magby, and quick attack for elekid.
Abra teleported. *What is this? Some kind of game? Why wasn't I invited? And what is that rock doing in the middle of the field? Wha...* Abra was stopped short by an exasperated stare from Tom. After all, abra was the one that went back to sleep. "Now, abra, try to raise the rock with your confusion. The 'job' for today is to break up that rock, and if there is any time left, to practise their aim and your teleport by having the others shoot at you. For fun, of course; weak, low powered attacks." Tom explained the day's programme. *What are you, crazy?!* Abra would have continued, but Tom had somehow mustered a naive and innocent expression, wide-eyed and having a blank look. For greater effect, Tom even stuck a thumb in his mouth, and drooled a bit, looking even more like a five-year-old. Now is was abra's turn to be exasperated, but still, he teleported over, and joined the game, mumbling about inconsiderate masters all the time. Tom laughed at abra's behaviour, and started running laps all around the field, marvelling at how the vegetation changed just by crossing a few peaks; from the frozen tundra of his hometown to a turf bursting with life -- and pokemon, Tom reminded himself. Over the last month since they had arrived in this valley, surrounded by cliffs with only two small pathways in and out, abra, magby, and elekid had grown much stronger, battling the wild pokemon here with a vigour that Tom found simply astounding. Having only the twenty or so pokeballs that he had brought with him, Tom didn't catching any of the common rattata, spearow or pidgey currently residing in the valley, attracted to the climate and the stream.
Tom was harshly and suddenly dragged out of his daydream by a huge cracking sound. Turning his attention back to the rock, Tom found it in two, surprisingly equal pieces. Apparently, all three pokemon had somehow struck the rock at exactly the same time and place, cracking it apart. Although this wasn't part of Tom's plans, he decided to make use of it. "See guys, that is the power of team work..." Tom stopped as he saw abra grinning, knowing that this was not planned. Tom barked a laugh, and told the pokemon to continue onwards, to the next phase of the training. Abra's grin was immediately wiped from his face, but didn't protest, knowing that in a real battle, teleport was essential for a slow moving pokemon like him to evade attacks. Well, not exactly slow moving, but compared to elekid... Abra's chain of thought stopped here, not really wanting to continue thinking about it.
***
A few weeks later, Tom felt ready to leave their sanctuary, armed, now with a kadabra, instead of abra, whom had evolved in a battle with a particularly tough pidgeotto. Magby, and elekid, although much stronger, were still their unevolved, cuter selves. Plus, Tom had finally caught a pokemon that would be invaluable even in its "basic" state. A horsea, a rare find indeed, for a stream that was long considered by Tom to be devoid of all pokemon life except the frequent magikarp. It had popped out of the stream one day, when elekid was thundershocking the stream. The horsea had quite a bit of experience, and took all three of Tom's pokemon to weaken it enough for it to stay still. Even then, the pokeball had jumped all over the place after sucking horsea in its energy state into it. Ironically, the pokeball had given out a "DING!" just as it flew at Tom's face, and even when "pacified", hit a surprised Tom, leaving a slightly swell.
Tom walked on, with his three starters walking beside him, and cupping horsea with his arm. Abra, after evolving, had become far more active, and now walked about a lot, and slept less, something that Tom felt glad about; it would be embarrassing to say the least, to send a sleeping pokemon into battle, unless it was a snorlax. Even magby and elekid's fitness had improved, and they could now do Tom's routine without breaking out in major sweat. Tom glanced ruefully down at horsea. She -- horsea was a female had only gotten two weeks of Tom's intensive training, and although was as high a level as the others, wasn't nearly as fit, and had less endurance.
As Tom topped a hill, lush green fields and a large expanse of forest greeted him. But what really captivated Tom was a cluster of three buildings in the distance - the gym, pokemart, and pokecentre. Tom, although not really desperate for a bed, longed for the safety of the indoor. Tom broke into a run; one that the other pokemon could not keep up with, except horsea, who was nestled in Tom's arms. "Return!" Four red beams and three seconds later, Tom was all alone, dashing towards his first battle.
***
Taking a deep breath, Tom pushed open the gym doors. All his pokemon were fully healed, and he felt ready to take on anything the gym leader threw towards him -- that is until he saw the gym interior. The gym looked like a greenhouse on the outside, only that it was three times the size of any greenhouse Tom had ever seen. And the inside appeared much larger. This was clearly an environment suited to plants -- the pressing humidity, the mist that shrouded the gym. The field was a sight to behold all by itself. With trees scattered here and there with no apparent pattern, and grass of all shades covering the entire field, or at least what little of it Tom could see.
"Are you the challenger?" A girl in her twenties appeared, smiling. "My name is Janet, and I specialize in grass type pokemon. Would you like to battle?" Obviously, Janet had seen Tom's belt and the pokeballs there. Not one to be intimidated, Tom nodded, listening while Janet explained the rules. "This shall be a two on two battle, the we may only battle on the field; do not venture out of the boundaries." Somehow, the mist had become lighter, and now Tom could more or less view the entire field. He nodded again, and they both got into position at opposite ends of the field.
"Go!" Two cries rang out at the same time. A magby and a jumpluff materialized in the centre of the field, facing each other. The jumpluff floated around in the mists, completely at home, while magby fidgeted around uncomfortably, unaccustomed to the strange environment in which he found himself.
"Smog attack! Aim all around the jumpluff! Then ember!" "Sleep powder!" Janet countered, obviously confident in her pokemon's ability to avoid the rather inaccurate smoke. The jumpluff easily flew away from the poisionous cloud, and hovered over magby, releasing sparkling blue powder. Magby fell asleep, but not before releasing a few, well aimed amber balls upwards. The training had paid off. Jumpluff, showing greater agility than expected, dodged most of the ember attacks, but got hit by the last two, setting two of its balloon-like structures aflame. Without orders from its master, Jumpluff landed and rolled around on the grass to put out the mini fire, but was obviously slightly damaged from the attack. "Tackle it!" "Magby! Wake up!" Magby did wake up, just in time to get hit by a glancing blow from jumpluff. Obviously unbalanced, magby nevertheless managed to get in a fire punch at the escaping jumpluff, his flaming fist setting jumpluff alight once again. Another two fire punches at the jumpluff rolling around defeated it. However, it was obvious magby was in no condition to battle another opponent, even though he had only been it by one tackle. *That jumpluff's tackle really packed a punch...*
"Go, bellsprout!" Tom was surprised at the swaying little guy that was sent out. *Doesn't she have a better pokemon? But I better be careful; Janet looks really confident...* "Return! Go kadabra!" A yellowish, spoon-holding pokemon appeared in the place of the fire type. "Psybeam! Lots of 'em!" Janet just smiled, leading Tom to wonder just how much experience this particular gym leader actually had. Much to Tom and kadabra's surprise, the bellsprout casually dodged all the purplish beams, and even hurled half a dozen razor leaves at kadabra. A flash, and all the razor leaves cut nothing but air; kadabra was now behind bellsprout, firing a psybeam at point-blank-range. It missed. Tom started on, horrified at the bellsprout's agility and evasion. It seemed, however, that bellsprout still wasn't done; it unleashed volley after volley at kadabra, who had no choice but to keep on teleporting randomly, hoping for a window of opportunity to arise. Tom thought hard. *That freaking thing is much to agile for kadabra... how should I...* Out of nowhere, it hit Tom. "Disable! Get rid of those razor leaves!" Kadabra grinned, then concentrated. The attacks stopped coming, and still, Janet was smiling; she hadn't given a single command to bellsprout. The green and yellow pokemon stood still, while Kadabra prepared its confusion, taking his commands straight from Tom telepathically. Suddenly, a pair of vines broke from the ground, grabbing Kadabra, and a glowing leech seed hit him. Trapped, kadabra fired his attacks randomly. Violet rays flew out from him, most ripping up the soil around him, but purely by luck, one hit bellsprout, who somehow remained unaffected, still swaying from left to right. Kadabra fainted. Tom grimaced, and returned him, whispering a "You did great, thanks." to the pokeball before clipping it to his belt. *its all up to you now, magby!*
Once more, magby arrived at the battle, exhausted, but still willing to battle. "Smog attack!" *Its time to try an attack that isn't accurate, but affects a large area...* The bellsprout tried to dodge, but was hit head on anyway. *Wow! Should have kept magby on the field just now...* The bellsprout's swaying had slowed; and it was showing signs of fatigue, its head drooping. It was obviously poisoned. "Alright! Now ember!" Magby, improvising, set alight a circle of grass around bellsprout, somehow knowing of bellsprout's "legendary" ability to dodge attacks. "FIRE PUNCH! Finish it!" Glancing at Janet, Tom found that she wasn't smiling, and thus, Tom did. Magby rushed towards bellsprout, its fists once again glowing with heat, and gave the trapped bellsprout a final punch. Bellsprout collapsed.
There was a moment of silence, before two long beams retrieved the pokemon. *That was close.* "Congratulations. You have won the battle." Janet walked over to Tom, and presented two items to him. A emerald-coloured badge in the shape of a fern and a TM for Sunny Day. Janet smiled. "That was a great battle; you're a excellent trainer. But don't forget to train harder for your next badge; the flying gym is far harder than this." Janet laughed, and retreated back into the mist. Tom was left, standing in the greenhouse cum gym, holding his two prizes, thinking. *If this gym is already so hard, how will I cope? Should I go back?* Even as the thought sprang into Tom's head, Tom himself rejected it, determined to see the League through to the very end. *I will not give up; since I have started, I will finish this.* With that, Tom went to the pokecentre to heal his pokemon.
***
After a gruelling battle with a large and vicious swarm of beedrill, of which he caught none, Tom collapsed. They had provoked the beedrill accidentally, but it seems that it was for the better, on the whole. Fighting numerically far superior foes, elekid, magby, and horsea had evolved, all in the same battle. And yet, it was not without its detriments. Tom had gotten stung by several beedrill, and was poisoned. He needed help, desperately. Electabuzz, newly evolved, was tired, and cut in several places, bleeding from a few of them, sent the rest into their pokeballs, while himself took up the task of getting Tom to the pokecentre...
***
As nurse Joy got ready to close for the night, a thud sounded outside the door. She opened the door, and gasped. An electabuzz, with a handsome human in his hands, had collapsed just outside the door. An irony to fall so close to his goal, and a disaster, had Joy not heard the sound in time. A few chanseys and one blissey rushed out to help, carrying the five inside; all the pokemon had emerged from their pokeballs, hurt, but relatively rested and well, at least compared to electabuzz.
The needle symbol of the operating room came on, and the three healed pokemon waited outside, anxious for their master, and companion. Kadabra alone sat in silence, not pacing, trying to *sense* his master.
Tom woke up to the sounds of pidgeys chirping and the sweet scent given off by grass pokemon. Gently, he roused his three companions, and went through his morning exercise routine. Magby and elekid imitated Tom's routine, making a fool of themselves in the process while abra just opened his eyes, and after finding no danger, popped right back into dream land. Tom rolled his eyes, but understood; abras needed over 18 hours a day of sleep, and seldom walked about; most of their attacks were based on psychic powers.
Tom finished up, barely wheezed, while magby and elekid were bent almost double, huffing and panting from sheer exhaustion. Tom, amused by the two's actions, yet understood that while he himself had been doing the routine for years, the two had only begun a month ago. A month since he had left his hometown for the solitude of the mountains. A month since he had started training with his pokemon. His psychic abilities had expanded exponentially, after mentally battling abra for long periods of time. His *scanning* range had tripled, to almost ten metres, and his probe twice as strong. In fact, with concentration and some effort, he could lift pebbles, and juggle them. This last one has, in fact, played a important role in the training. Tom would levitate pebbles, small ones, and the three would use their ranged attacks to try and hit the distant moving objects. Magby's ember, a small ball of flame, often missing, being relatively slow moving at this stage, and difficult to aim. elekid's thundershock, however, often charred the pebbles, and at the same time, his range got longer and longer. The truly amazing feat, however, was accomplished by abra. Using his confusion, he easily smashed the pebbles against each other, even when blindfolded.
Sighing, abra awoke, to a bizarre sight. Tom was setting up a huge rock, which, on closer observation, was just numerous smaller stones welded together by magby. Both pokemon were practising their punches. Every so often, magby and elekid would start using other attacks, smog for magby, and quick attack for elekid.
Abra teleported. *What is this? Some kind of game? Why wasn't I invited? And what is that rock doing in the middle of the field? Wha...* Abra was stopped short by an exasperated stare from Tom. After all, abra was the one that went back to sleep. "Now, abra, try to raise the rock with your confusion. The 'job' for today is to break up that rock, and if there is any time left, to practise their aim and your teleport by having the others shoot at you. For fun, of course; weak, low powered attacks." Tom explained the day's programme. *What are you, crazy?!* Abra would have continued, but Tom had somehow mustered a naive and innocent expression, wide-eyed and having a blank look. For greater effect, Tom even stuck a thumb in his mouth, and drooled a bit, looking even more like a five-year-old. Now is was abra's turn to be exasperated, but still, he teleported over, and joined the game, mumbling about inconsiderate masters all the time. Tom laughed at abra's behaviour, and started running laps all around the field, marvelling at how the vegetation changed just by crossing a few peaks; from the frozen tundra of his hometown to a turf bursting with life -- and pokemon, Tom reminded himself. Over the last month since they had arrived in this valley, surrounded by cliffs with only two small pathways in and out, abra, magby, and elekid had grown much stronger, battling the wild pokemon here with a vigour that Tom found simply astounding. Having only the twenty or so pokeballs that he had brought with him, Tom didn't catching any of the common rattata, spearow or pidgey currently residing in the valley, attracted to the climate and the stream.
Tom was harshly and suddenly dragged out of his daydream by a huge cracking sound. Turning his attention back to the rock, Tom found it in two, surprisingly equal pieces. Apparently, all three pokemon had somehow struck the rock at exactly the same time and place, cracking it apart. Although this wasn't part of Tom's plans, he decided to make use of it. "See guys, that is the power of team work..." Tom stopped as he saw abra grinning, knowing that this was not planned. Tom barked a laugh, and told the pokemon to continue onwards, to the next phase of the training. Abra's grin was immediately wiped from his face, but didn't protest, knowing that in a real battle, teleport was essential for a slow moving pokemon like him to evade attacks. Well, not exactly slow moving, but compared to elekid... Abra's chain of thought stopped here, not really wanting to continue thinking about it.
***
A few weeks later, Tom felt ready to leave their sanctuary, armed, now with a kadabra, instead of abra, whom had evolved in a battle with a particularly tough pidgeotto. Magby, and elekid, although much stronger, were still their unevolved, cuter selves. Plus, Tom had finally caught a pokemon that would be invaluable even in its "basic" state. A horsea, a rare find indeed, for a stream that was long considered by Tom to be devoid of all pokemon life except the frequent magikarp. It had popped out of the stream one day, when elekid was thundershocking the stream. The horsea had quite a bit of experience, and took all three of Tom's pokemon to weaken it enough for it to stay still. Even then, the pokeball had jumped all over the place after sucking horsea in its energy state into it. Ironically, the pokeball had given out a "DING!" just as it flew at Tom's face, and even when "pacified", hit a surprised Tom, leaving a slightly swell.
Tom walked on, with his three starters walking beside him, and cupping horsea with his arm. Abra, after evolving, had become far more active, and now walked about a lot, and slept less, something that Tom felt glad about; it would be embarrassing to say the least, to send a sleeping pokemon into battle, unless it was a snorlax. Even magby and elekid's fitness had improved, and they could now do Tom's routine without breaking out in major sweat. Tom glanced ruefully down at horsea. She -- horsea was a female had only gotten two weeks of Tom's intensive training, and although was as high a level as the others, wasn't nearly as fit, and had less endurance.
As Tom topped a hill, lush green fields and a large expanse of forest greeted him. But what really captivated Tom was a cluster of three buildings in the distance - the gym, pokemart, and pokecentre. Tom, although not really desperate for a bed, longed for the safety of the indoor. Tom broke into a run; one that the other pokemon could not keep up with, except horsea, who was nestled in Tom's arms. "Return!" Four red beams and three seconds later, Tom was all alone, dashing towards his first battle.
***
Taking a deep breath, Tom pushed open the gym doors. All his pokemon were fully healed, and he felt ready to take on anything the gym leader threw towards him -- that is until he saw the gym interior. The gym looked like a greenhouse on the outside, only that it was three times the size of any greenhouse Tom had ever seen. And the inside appeared much larger. This was clearly an environment suited to plants -- the pressing humidity, the mist that shrouded the gym. The field was a sight to behold all by itself. With trees scattered here and there with no apparent pattern, and grass of all shades covering the entire field, or at least what little of it Tom could see.
"Are you the challenger?" A girl in her twenties appeared, smiling. "My name is Janet, and I specialize in grass type pokemon. Would you like to battle?" Obviously, Janet had seen Tom's belt and the pokeballs there. Not one to be intimidated, Tom nodded, listening while Janet explained the rules. "This shall be a two on two battle, the we may only battle on the field; do not venture out of the boundaries." Somehow, the mist had become lighter, and now Tom could more or less view the entire field. He nodded again, and they both got into position at opposite ends of the field.
"Go!" Two cries rang out at the same time. A magby and a jumpluff materialized in the centre of the field, facing each other. The jumpluff floated around in the mists, completely at home, while magby fidgeted around uncomfortably, unaccustomed to the strange environment in which he found himself.
"Smog attack! Aim all around the jumpluff! Then ember!" "Sleep powder!" Janet countered, obviously confident in her pokemon's ability to avoid the rather inaccurate smoke. The jumpluff easily flew away from the poisionous cloud, and hovered over magby, releasing sparkling blue powder. Magby fell asleep, but not before releasing a few, well aimed amber balls upwards. The training had paid off. Jumpluff, showing greater agility than expected, dodged most of the ember attacks, but got hit by the last two, setting two of its balloon-like structures aflame. Without orders from its master, Jumpluff landed and rolled around on the grass to put out the mini fire, but was obviously slightly damaged from the attack. "Tackle it!" "Magby! Wake up!" Magby did wake up, just in time to get hit by a glancing blow from jumpluff. Obviously unbalanced, magby nevertheless managed to get in a fire punch at the escaping jumpluff, his flaming fist setting jumpluff alight once again. Another two fire punches at the jumpluff rolling around defeated it. However, it was obvious magby was in no condition to battle another opponent, even though he had only been it by one tackle. *That jumpluff's tackle really packed a punch...*
"Go, bellsprout!" Tom was surprised at the swaying little guy that was sent out. *Doesn't she have a better pokemon? But I better be careful; Janet looks really confident...* "Return! Go kadabra!" A yellowish, spoon-holding pokemon appeared in the place of the fire type. "Psybeam! Lots of 'em!" Janet just smiled, leading Tom to wonder just how much experience this particular gym leader actually had. Much to Tom and kadabra's surprise, the bellsprout casually dodged all the purplish beams, and even hurled half a dozen razor leaves at kadabra. A flash, and all the razor leaves cut nothing but air; kadabra was now behind bellsprout, firing a psybeam at point-blank-range. It missed. Tom started on, horrified at the bellsprout's agility and evasion. It seemed, however, that bellsprout still wasn't done; it unleashed volley after volley at kadabra, who had no choice but to keep on teleporting randomly, hoping for a window of opportunity to arise. Tom thought hard. *That freaking thing is much to agile for kadabra... how should I...* Out of nowhere, it hit Tom. "Disable! Get rid of those razor leaves!" Kadabra grinned, then concentrated. The attacks stopped coming, and still, Janet was smiling; she hadn't given a single command to bellsprout. The green and yellow pokemon stood still, while Kadabra prepared its confusion, taking his commands straight from Tom telepathically. Suddenly, a pair of vines broke from the ground, grabbing Kadabra, and a glowing leech seed hit him. Trapped, kadabra fired his attacks randomly. Violet rays flew out from him, most ripping up the soil around him, but purely by luck, one hit bellsprout, who somehow remained unaffected, still swaying from left to right. Kadabra fainted. Tom grimaced, and returned him, whispering a "You did great, thanks." to the pokeball before clipping it to his belt. *its all up to you now, magby!*
Once more, magby arrived at the battle, exhausted, but still willing to battle. "Smog attack!" *Its time to try an attack that isn't accurate, but affects a large area...* The bellsprout tried to dodge, but was hit head on anyway. *Wow! Should have kept magby on the field just now...* The bellsprout's swaying had slowed; and it was showing signs of fatigue, its head drooping. It was obviously poisoned. "Alright! Now ember!" Magby, improvising, set alight a circle of grass around bellsprout, somehow knowing of bellsprout's "legendary" ability to dodge attacks. "FIRE PUNCH! Finish it!" Glancing at Janet, Tom found that she wasn't smiling, and thus, Tom did. Magby rushed towards bellsprout, its fists once again glowing with heat, and gave the trapped bellsprout a final punch. Bellsprout collapsed.
There was a moment of silence, before two long beams retrieved the pokemon. *That was close.* "Congratulations. You have won the battle." Janet walked over to Tom, and presented two items to him. A emerald-coloured badge in the shape of a fern and a TM for Sunny Day. Janet smiled. "That was a great battle; you're a excellent trainer. But don't forget to train harder for your next badge; the flying gym is far harder than this." Janet laughed, and retreated back into the mist. Tom was left, standing in the greenhouse cum gym, holding his two prizes, thinking. *If this gym is already so hard, how will I cope? Should I go back?* Even as the thought sprang into Tom's head, Tom himself rejected it, determined to see the League through to the very end. *I will not give up; since I have started, I will finish this.* With that, Tom went to the pokecentre to heal his pokemon.
***
After a gruelling battle with a large and vicious swarm of beedrill, of which he caught none, Tom collapsed. They had provoked the beedrill accidentally, but it seems that it was for the better, on the whole. Fighting numerically far superior foes, elekid, magby, and horsea had evolved, all in the same battle. And yet, it was not without its detriments. Tom had gotten stung by several beedrill, and was poisoned. He needed help, desperately. Electabuzz, newly evolved, was tired, and cut in several places, bleeding from a few of them, sent the rest into their pokeballs, while himself took up the task of getting Tom to the pokecentre...
***
As nurse Joy got ready to close for the night, a thud sounded outside the door. She opened the door, and gasped. An electabuzz, with a handsome human in his hands, had collapsed just outside the door. An irony to fall so close to his goal, and a disaster, had Joy not heard the sound in time. A few chanseys and one blissey rushed out to help, carrying the five inside; all the pokemon had emerged from their pokeballs, hurt, but relatively rested and well, at least compared to electabuzz.
The needle symbol of the operating room came on, and the three healed pokemon waited outside, anxious for their master, and companion. Kadabra alone sat in silence, not pacing, trying to *sense* his master.