Chapter 10
Tom stood, looking at the gym, or rather, what he took to be the gym. In reality, the only clue was the large "GYM" engraved into a limestone arch. The arch had ivy creeping all over it, but the inscription was clear enough.
The rest of the gym was a large garden, with a meadow, the size of a standard gym arena. There were two trainer boxes, but they were not raised. Rather, they were just small areas marked in the meadow. There were also seats at the sides of the arena, protected by a transparent shield that was obviously tougher than it looked, what with all the etches and scars from previous battles on it.
Tom strolled in, glancing at the sights. Shalla was chatting with another girl, one that somewhat resembled her. The two glanced glimpsed Tom, and giggled, whispering to each other. *I sure hope Shalla didn't say anything embarrassing about me.*
Tom came closer, and both girls got up, heading towards the centre of the field. Tom met them there, getting a closer look at the other girl. She was much like Shalla, with similar azure eyes, blonde hair, and the same trim stature. However, her physique was less muscular, and was slightly shorter than Shalla.
"Tom, this is Shale, my cousin. She's the gym leader here..."
"You? The gy..." Tom was cut off in mid sentence by a glare from Shalla, who hissed under her breath, "Watch it!"
Shale giggled, a few notches more shrill than Shalla's. "Alright, this shall be a four on four battle, standard gym rules, no time limit, no items allowed."
"Okay..."
"Ah yes, all four pokemon shall fight at the same time."
"Wha... Never mind. I accept."
"Come on out! All of you!" Four pokemon materialised, but for a few moments, Tom was unable to see anything but a few translucent emerald streaks, so perfectly did they blend into the field. Tom's eyes soon adapted, revealing four jade green pokemon, scythes gleaming in the morning sun, translucent wings fluttering slightly in the cool breeze. *Scythers... Smart choice. They are almost perfectly camouflaged in this field, a fair advantage over their evolved counterparts. Being the same species, they probably work together far better than any other combination can...*
"Let's win this guys."
Tom sent out magmar, electabuzz, alakazam, and skarmory. All four gazed around in confusion, and turned back to Tom. With a "go ahead" nod from Shale, Tom explained the proceedings, as well as outlining a brief plan.
"...Alakazam, you go defensive. Set up a reflect around yourself, magmar and electabuzz, maintain it, and unless the other two are attacking, keep it going strong. Electabuzz and magmar, you two try to attack the scythers once there are near the barrier, but concentrate on one each time. Skarmory, you fly high and use agility. Swift those scythers, but that's just to distract them. Understood? Alright then go!"
The eight pokemon took their positions, and all three trainers settled down to observe the battle. After all, it was impossible to control the entire match when so many were involved.
The scythers started off with double team, conjuring sixteen blur images of themselves, surrounding the three, now protected by a defensive barrier. The twenty scythers began whirling, and their scythes abruptly sharpened, gleaming. *Shit!*
All twenty charged, leaving only vague impressions of them, such was their speed. Alakazam strained, and the reflect now became visible, but the scythers never hesitated. They literally hurled themselves forward, and clashed with the barrier, scythes first. The screen buckled, but did not yield.
Alakazam, by now, was slumped, unable even to expand energy standing. With a victorious snarl, the scythers slashed the shield, shattering it into a thousand glass-like shards. *Now*, the real struggle began.
*This isn't the way its supposed to go...* Tom was stunned. He had not expected alakazam to be able to hold off all four scythers, but neither did he predict the devastating attacks to penetrate the panel so soon. The worse part is, that skarmory didn't even manage to get off any swift attack.
The battle was intense, with pokemon having no choice but to use melee fire attacks, which all but skarmory knew. High above, dazzling star-shaped projectiles streaked towards the earth, heading right for a particular scyther. The attacks however, passed right through the image, and it collapsed. More lanced down, but most missed, a couple of stray ones hitting its prey.
*Ah... So that's why those seats had to be protected. With the gym leader adopting this kind of strategy, its essential.*
Electabuzz gave off a deafening "buzz!", and surrounded himself with electricity, the voltage arcing around his striped body, crackling. He continued with his quick fire punches, maintaining the current at all times. *Good work. Now his blows will deliver far more than just heat.* By far however, alakazam was having the easiest time. His display of teleports and psybeams were working well against the ninja-like pokemon, bowling them back a couple of metres upon contact. By now, all the illusions were no more, thanks to skarmory.
Magmar, observing electabuzz, mimicked him, and switched tactics, enveloping himself in flames, and delivering thunderpunches madly. Skarmory was more cool-headed, swooping down, slashing and scratching with his talons.
The scythers however weren't easy targets. Their large scythes were employed both offensively and defensively, slicing away and blocking swipes. Their agility too stood them in good stead against their less nimble opponents, and the home-ground advantage was not easily lost.
***
Electabuzz and magmar fought back to back, occasionally using their far more demanding projectiles. Alakazam had fainted, bringing another scyther down with in a full-out psychic. The scyther had been slammed all the way across the field, twitching and writhing the whole time, driven by the mass of energy. Skarmory was still going strong, giving drill pecks every time he dived down.
It was not long, however before magmar and electabuzz fainted, both getting rid of one more enemy each. Skarmory was alone, facing one scyther. He had the type advantage, but Tom wasn't sure it would do much good.
The remaining scyther was larger than the rest, and had an ominous looking scar running down from its left eye to its jaws. It waited, neither panting nor heaving for breath, watching skarmory with a composed look. With a cry, it launched itself up, rushing towards skarmory at breakneck speed, scythes raised menacingly.
***
Skarmory had done admirably well against the scyther, exhausted as he was. With scyther being less manoeuvrable in midair, skarmory had a easier time dodging attacks than scyther. Furthermore, scyther, it seemed, had no ranged attacks, giving skarmory another advantage. However, the metallic bird of prey was visibly getting worn out, making more and more slip-ups, and getting hit more often.
Finally, skarmory landed, and so did scyther, after yet another successful double-slash. Surprisingly, scyther, instead of charging, chose to cross its scythes in a "X", and closed its eyes, concentrating. An off-white orb formed where the scythes met, pulsing with energy. *That is *not* meditate...* Tom realised, and bellowed, "Skarmory! Dodge!"
Without question, the steel type obeyed, taking to the air. The hyper beam lanced straight for skarmory, who compensated, neatly sidestepped it in mid-air. In response, skarmory rode a thermal up, created by the sun heating up the transparent screens shielding the seats. When the thermal faded however, skarmory was at a decent height, merely a barely visible speck in the sky.
Folded back his wings, skarmory shifted his centre of gravity, allowing his beak to aim towards scyther. He screeched, and plummeted, just a narrow "V", plunging down. A hundred metres up from the ground, skarmory shifted his tail feathers, pulling out of the nose-dive; into what can only be described as a controlled tumble, such was his high speed. Scyther fired a hyperbeam, one that took all of skarmory's will power to avoid, the tip of the attack, clipping his wings. A simple course correction put him right back on track.
Scyther was still, concentrating. A devilish grin formed, and scyther assumed a proper fighting position, one "arm" forward in a guard, the other at the rear, ready for a strike. Skarmory's metallic feathers brighten, utilising a harden in preparation for the impact. Steeling himself, skarmory crashing headon into... the dirt. Scyther seemingly materialised from nowhere, speeding towards skarmory, his beak impaled in the soil. With a grunt, skarmory braced his talons, tearing himself free, and tottered out of scyther's way... right into an ivory spear.
Skarmory was thrown back a few metres, and collapsed. Scyther towered over his limp form, scythes ready. Skarmory didn't get back up. "Return!" Scyther disappeared, withdrawn as a crimson beam into the pokeball. Hands trembling, Tom whispered, "come back", his voice activating the mechanism in the pokeball. With a murmur of "Nice work. You did great." Tom replaced it on his belt.
The three met in the centre once again, the grass "battle-scarred" with charred patches and dirt thrown up here and there. Tom was trudging his feet, but in reality, he wasn't so concerned about the loss as he was about the last attack.
"What was that last hyper beam doing there? I don't recall scyther firing it..."
Both girls giggled, but it was Shale who answered. "Ah, but you did. That was fired when your skarmory dived at scyther."
"Didn't that one miss?"
"I've long since trained this scyther to be able to control the path of her hyper beam. It was a tremendous chore to catch her, by the way. The alpha female of the swarm, I heard."
"I see. Can I have a rematch sometime?"
"Sure. I see that you're taking this defeat rather well."
"It is my first gym lose, and I'll be lying if I claim that I am not distressed. I am rather disappointed, but then, I'd rather lose here than in the League itself, if I ever get there."
Shalla raised her eyebrows. "My my, aren't we acting mature."
Tom shot her a "Shut up!" glance, one that he had become rather adept at, what with all the jabs that alakazam kept throwing him.
"Good luck on your next battle. I shall be waiting." Shale winked, and retired to the pokecentre, leaving Shalla and Tom in the arena.
*What mistake did I make... Ah never mind. I'll sleep on it....*
"Don't you have something to do?" Shalla interrupted Tom from his reverie.
"Huh?"
Shalla refrained from speaking, choosing instead to gaze pointedly at Tom's belt. "Oh yah. Er... Hold my hand."
"Why?"
"Well I think that will be faster than walking... or running."
"You're going to fly us there?"
"No exactly..."
Shalla sighed at the vague answers, if they could even be called that, but gripped Tom's outstretched hand. Tom however, pulled back upon contact, looking over his hand. "What's wrong?" "Nothing..." *Wow... That felt electric.*
Shalla scowled, but clutched Tom's hand again, looking at him expectantly. "Hold on." Tom concentrated. *Pokecentre... Ah there it is...* Their world faded, the colours immediately returning, this time in the soothing environment of the pokecentre.
Shalla gasped, and nearly fell down, but Tom caught her, his reflexes taking over. "Woah! Steady there."
She stared at Tom, still in his arms. A few peaceful seconds passed, and time itself seemed to be standing still for the two. "Erm, are you sure you want to stay there forever?" Tom joked. Blushing furiously, Shalla hastily got up, balancing herself by griping onto Tom's shoulder. Tom straightened, also flushed at the prolonged contact.
He smiled, and spoke. "That was an accident, right?" Tom glanced deep into Shalla's eyes, his own sparkling. "Yeah... An accident... Totally..." Shalla stumbled off, slightly unbalanced it seemed.
Tom went over to the counter, passing his pokeballs to the chansey-on-duty. "Chansey chansey." "Can you help me heal my pokemon? Thanks." "Chansey." Tom thought back to the *moment*. He recalled inhaling her perfume, just a light dab it seemed, fragrant yet not too overpowering. *Just nice...* He remembered her trembling in his arms, and kicked himself for spoiling the entire thing by that ill-timed joke. *Never mind. There will always be next time... I hope.*
***
Shalla, it seemed, had been avoiding him, and Tom didn't even catch her in time for dinner -- together. In fact, since that afternoon, Tom hadn't seen her, and it was only late at night, when they finally met in the trainers' room, which had numerous beds for pokemon trainers to stay in, for free. Shalla just glanced away, not linking gazes. She sat on her bed, and the room was in total silence. Her head drooped, and she raised her hands to cover her face.
Tom joined her. "What's wrong?" He gently, but firmly pried her palms loose, getting off the bed, kneeling to meet her look. Shalla turned away, but Tom shifted again. Still, she averted her eyes, as if ashamed about something.
"What is it?" Tom asked again; he was concerned, yet losing patience. Shalla was still silent. Tom, for reasons unknown even to him, exploded. "What!" He roared, rising. Shalla turned a tear-streaked face upwards, establishing eye contact for a split second, and then she rose, crying, scurrying out the door.
"I'm..." But it was too late. Shalla was out of sight. "...sorry..." Tom added, barely more than a murmur. *What is *wrong* with me...* He collapsed on the bed; and it was a long time before he finally sunk into a deep sleep -- one that tormented him with nightmares.
***
Tom stood in the trainer box, facing Shale -- Shalla was nowhere in sight. He had other things on his mind, but the gym battle was already scheduled. Only yesterday, *something* had happened between him and Shalla, but he wasn't sure what.
"This shall be a one on one battle. Tom, make it count."
Utter silence -- as two pokemon emerged. One, a scyther, larger and more menacing than the average scyther. The other was a rhydon, with the colouration of a nidoking, his armour-like hide a violet hue, instead of the greyish tint most other rhydons had.
The rhinoceros like pokemon stood on two stubby legs, snorting. Shale, it appeared, was a trifle nervous; since it was obvious none of scyther's attacks would do much good. Rhydon would barely feel normal or physical attacks, and most, if not all of scyther's attacks are normal or physical.
The battle commenced, with scyther using double team and swords dance, separating into five, all performing the same ritual to sharpen their scythes. Then, all five charged straight at rhydon, who made no move to block them -- not that he could have stopped all five simultaneously.
The scythers used their agility, speeding around rhydon, delivering slashes, their swipes getting more rapid by the second; their blows more powerful. Rhydon was initially confused, but soon made the best of the situation. "Bad move Shale. Rhydon! Seismic Toss!" Shale's eyes widened, as rhydon made his moves, merely sticking his arms out. The images faded, one by one, until the final image -- one that was desperately trying to slow down, hit. With a roar, rhydon roughly grabbed the mantis pokemon, clutching her in a vice-like grip, unrelenting.
The scyther struggled, trying to escape its fate, blindly dealing blows everywhere; but rhydon remained unaffected. Swinging around, rhydon smashed the scyther into the ground, and landed on scyther. A sickening crack was heard -- signifying the end, for a seriously injured pokemon was, by default not allowed to battle.
Shale's gasp was heard almost across the arena. She returned scyther to her pokeball, where she would rest, in suspended animation, without pain. Similarly, Tom returned rhydon, and with an almost customary "great work", placed the ball back onto the belt, the magnetic clipping automatically locking on.
The two met in the centre, both rather silent, but for different reasons. Shale, because of her pokemon's condition, while Tom -- was a different story. Sure, he had won, but it had been so simple, he almost wondered if the badge would be worth anything. He received the badge, carved to look like a small spider, unlike the previous, fist-shaped token from the fighting gym -- from Shalla. The other was a pokeball, one that, Shale explained, contained an eevee.
"Thanks, but I have to be going... I've got someone to find."
"Shalla would like to talk to you; she hasn't come to me yet, but I am sure that she needs someone right now. After all, I grew up with her." Shale somehow predicted Tom's "quest", and spoke accordingly.
With a forced smile, Tom ran off.
***
Shalla had parked herself on a cliff, seated with her legs under her chin, and her arms wrapped around her legs. Tom strolled up, and waited, still a few metres away. It had not taken very long to find her -- a person in a great deal of pain or sorrow leaves a rather distinct aura -- one that Tom could track with almost indifferent ease.
He spoke, "Shalla, I'm sor..."
"Tom I have something that I think you should know -- before you go any further." There was a tremble in Shalla's voice, one that she was not attempting to veil.
Tom waited; trying his best to remain patient while Shalla gathered her thoughts.
Tom stood, looking at the gym, or rather, what he took to be the gym. In reality, the only clue was the large "GYM" engraved into a limestone arch. The arch had ivy creeping all over it, but the inscription was clear enough.
The rest of the gym was a large garden, with a meadow, the size of a standard gym arena. There were two trainer boxes, but they were not raised. Rather, they were just small areas marked in the meadow. There were also seats at the sides of the arena, protected by a transparent shield that was obviously tougher than it looked, what with all the etches and scars from previous battles on it.
Tom strolled in, glancing at the sights. Shalla was chatting with another girl, one that somewhat resembled her. The two glanced glimpsed Tom, and giggled, whispering to each other. *I sure hope Shalla didn't say anything embarrassing about me.*
Tom came closer, and both girls got up, heading towards the centre of the field. Tom met them there, getting a closer look at the other girl. She was much like Shalla, with similar azure eyes, blonde hair, and the same trim stature. However, her physique was less muscular, and was slightly shorter than Shalla.
"Tom, this is Shale, my cousin. She's the gym leader here..."
"You? The gy..." Tom was cut off in mid sentence by a glare from Shalla, who hissed under her breath, "Watch it!"
Shale giggled, a few notches more shrill than Shalla's. "Alright, this shall be a four on four battle, standard gym rules, no time limit, no items allowed."
"Okay..."
"Ah yes, all four pokemon shall fight at the same time."
"Wha... Never mind. I accept."
"Come on out! All of you!" Four pokemon materialised, but for a few moments, Tom was unable to see anything but a few translucent emerald streaks, so perfectly did they blend into the field. Tom's eyes soon adapted, revealing four jade green pokemon, scythes gleaming in the morning sun, translucent wings fluttering slightly in the cool breeze. *Scythers... Smart choice. They are almost perfectly camouflaged in this field, a fair advantage over their evolved counterparts. Being the same species, they probably work together far better than any other combination can...*
"Let's win this guys."
Tom sent out magmar, electabuzz, alakazam, and skarmory. All four gazed around in confusion, and turned back to Tom. With a "go ahead" nod from Shale, Tom explained the proceedings, as well as outlining a brief plan.
"...Alakazam, you go defensive. Set up a reflect around yourself, magmar and electabuzz, maintain it, and unless the other two are attacking, keep it going strong. Electabuzz and magmar, you two try to attack the scythers once there are near the barrier, but concentrate on one each time. Skarmory, you fly high and use agility. Swift those scythers, but that's just to distract them. Understood? Alright then go!"
The eight pokemon took their positions, and all three trainers settled down to observe the battle. After all, it was impossible to control the entire match when so many were involved.
The scythers started off with double team, conjuring sixteen blur images of themselves, surrounding the three, now protected by a defensive barrier. The twenty scythers began whirling, and their scythes abruptly sharpened, gleaming. *Shit!*
All twenty charged, leaving only vague impressions of them, such was their speed. Alakazam strained, and the reflect now became visible, but the scythers never hesitated. They literally hurled themselves forward, and clashed with the barrier, scythes first. The screen buckled, but did not yield.
Alakazam, by now, was slumped, unable even to expand energy standing. With a victorious snarl, the scythers slashed the shield, shattering it into a thousand glass-like shards. *Now*, the real struggle began.
*This isn't the way its supposed to go...* Tom was stunned. He had not expected alakazam to be able to hold off all four scythers, but neither did he predict the devastating attacks to penetrate the panel so soon. The worse part is, that skarmory didn't even manage to get off any swift attack.
The battle was intense, with pokemon having no choice but to use melee fire attacks, which all but skarmory knew. High above, dazzling star-shaped projectiles streaked towards the earth, heading right for a particular scyther. The attacks however, passed right through the image, and it collapsed. More lanced down, but most missed, a couple of stray ones hitting its prey.
*Ah... So that's why those seats had to be protected. With the gym leader adopting this kind of strategy, its essential.*
Electabuzz gave off a deafening "buzz!", and surrounded himself with electricity, the voltage arcing around his striped body, crackling. He continued with his quick fire punches, maintaining the current at all times. *Good work. Now his blows will deliver far more than just heat.* By far however, alakazam was having the easiest time. His display of teleports and psybeams were working well against the ninja-like pokemon, bowling them back a couple of metres upon contact. By now, all the illusions were no more, thanks to skarmory.
Magmar, observing electabuzz, mimicked him, and switched tactics, enveloping himself in flames, and delivering thunderpunches madly. Skarmory was more cool-headed, swooping down, slashing and scratching with his talons.
The scythers however weren't easy targets. Their large scythes were employed both offensively and defensively, slicing away and blocking swipes. Their agility too stood them in good stead against their less nimble opponents, and the home-ground advantage was not easily lost.
***
Electabuzz and magmar fought back to back, occasionally using their far more demanding projectiles. Alakazam had fainted, bringing another scyther down with in a full-out psychic. The scyther had been slammed all the way across the field, twitching and writhing the whole time, driven by the mass of energy. Skarmory was still going strong, giving drill pecks every time he dived down.
It was not long, however before magmar and electabuzz fainted, both getting rid of one more enemy each. Skarmory was alone, facing one scyther. He had the type advantage, but Tom wasn't sure it would do much good.
The remaining scyther was larger than the rest, and had an ominous looking scar running down from its left eye to its jaws. It waited, neither panting nor heaving for breath, watching skarmory with a composed look. With a cry, it launched itself up, rushing towards skarmory at breakneck speed, scythes raised menacingly.
***
Skarmory had done admirably well against the scyther, exhausted as he was. With scyther being less manoeuvrable in midair, skarmory had a easier time dodging attacks than scyther. Furthermore, scyther, it seemed, had no ranged attacks, giving skarmory another advantage. However, the metallic bird of prey was visibly getting worn out, making more and more slip-ups, and getting hit more often.
Finally, skarmory landed, and so did scyther, after yet another successful double-slash. Surprisingly, scyther, instead of charging, chose to cross its scythes in a "X", and closed its eyes, concentrating. An off-white orb formed where the scythes met, pulsing with energy. *That is *not* meditate...* Tom realised, and bellowed, "Skarmory! Dodge!"
Without question, the steel type obeyed, taking to the air. The hyper beam lanced straight for skarmory, who compensated, neatly sidestepped it in mid-air. In response, skarmory rode a thermal up, created by the sun heating up the transparent screens shielding the seats. When the thermal faded however, skarmory was at a decent height, merely a barely visible speck in the sky.
Folded back his wings, skarmory shifted his centre of gravity, allowing his beak to aim towards scyther. He screeched, and plummeted, just a narrow "V", plunging down. A hundred metres up from the ground, skarmory shifted his tail feathers, pulling out of the nose-dive; into what can only be described as a controlled tumble, such was his high speed. Scyther fired a hyperbeam, one that took all of skarmory's will power to avoid, the tip of the attack, clipping his wings. A simple course correction put him right back on track.
Scyther was still, concentrating. A devilish grin formed, and scyther assumed a proper fighting position, one "arm" forward in a guard, the other at the rear, ready for a strike. Skarmory's metallic feathers brighten, utilising a harden in preparation for the impact. Steeling himself, skarmory crashing headon into... the dirt. Scyther seemingly materialised from nowhere, speeding towards skarmory, his beak impaled in the soil. With a grunt, skarmory braced his talons, tearing himself free, and tottered out of scyther's way... right into an ivory spear.
Skarmory was thrown back a few metres, and collapsed. Scyther towered over his limp form, scythes ready. Skarmory didn't get back up. "Return!" Scyther disappeared, withdrawn as a crimson beam into the pokeball. Hands trembling, Tom whispered, "come back", his voice activating the mechanism in the pokeball. With a murmur of "Nice work. You did great." Tom replaced it on his belt.
The three met in the centre once again, the grass "battle-scarred" with charred patches and dirt thrown up here and there. Tom was trudging his feet, but in reality, he wasn't so concerned about the loss as he was about the last attack.
"What was that last hyper beam doing there? I don't recall scyther firing it..."
Both girls giggled, but it was Shale who answered. "Ah, but you did. That was fired when your skarmory dived at scyther."
"Didn't that one miss?"
"I've long since trained this scyther to be able to control the path of her hyper beam. It was a tremendous chore to catch her, by the way. The alpha female of the swarm, I heard."
"I see. Can I have a rematch sometime?"
"Sure. I see that you're taking this defeat rather well."
"It is my first gym lose, and I'll be lying if I claim that I am not distressed. I am rather disappointed, but then, I'd rather lose here than in the League itself, if I ever get there."
Shalla raised her eyebrows. "My my, aren't we acting mature."
Tom shot her a "Shut up!" glance, one that he had become rather adept at, what with all the jabs that alakazam kept throwing him.
"Good luck on your next battle. I shall be waiting." Shale winked, and retired to the pokecentre, leaving Shalla and Tom in the arena.
*What mistake did I make... Ah never mind. I'll sleep on it....*
"Don't you have something to do?" Shalla interrupted Tom from his reverie.
"Huh?"
Shalla refrained from speaking, choosing instead to gaze pointedly at Tom's belt. "Oh yah. Er... Hold my hand."
"Why?"
"Well I think that will be faster than walking... or running."
"You're going to fly us there?"
"No exactly..."
Shalla sighed at the vague answers, if they could even be called that, but gripped Tom's outstretched hand. Tom however, pulled back upon contact, looking over his hand. "What's wrong?" "Nothing..." *Wow... That felt electric.*
Shalla scowled, but clutched Tom's hand again, looking at him expectantly. "Hold on." Tom concentrated. *Pokecentre... Ah there it is...* Their world faded, the colours immediately returning, this time in the soothing environment of the pokecentre.
Shalla gasped, and nearly fell down, but Tom caught her, his reflexes taking over. "Woah! Steady there."
She stared at Tom, still in his arms. A few peaceful seconds passed, and time itself seemed to be standing still for the two. "Erm, are you sure you want to stay there forever?" Tom joked. Blushing furiously, Shalla hastily got up, balancing herself by griping onto Tom's shoulder. Tom straightened, also flushed at the prolonged contact.
He smiled, and spoke. "That was an accident, right?" Tom glanced deep into Shalla's eyes, his own sparkling. "Yeah... An accident... Totally..." Shalla stumbled off, slightly unbalanced it seemed.
Tom went over to the counter, passing his pokeballs to the chansey-on-duty. "Chansey chansey." "Can you help me heal my pokemon? Thanks." "Chansey." Tom thought back to the *moment*. He recalled inhaling her perfume, just a light dab it seemed, fragrant yet not too overpowering. *Just nice...* He remembered her trembling in his arms, and kicked himself for spoiling the entire thing by that ill-timed joke. *Never mind. There will always be next time... I hope.*
***
Shalla, it seemed, had been avoiding him, and Tom didn't even catch her in time for dinner -- together. In fact, since that afternoon, Tom hadn't seen her, and it was only late at night, when they finally met in the trainers' room, which had numerous beds for pokemon trainers to stay in, for free. Shalla just glanced away, not linking gazes. She sat on her bed, and the room was in total silence. Her head drooped, and she raised her hands to cover her face.
Tom joined her. "What's wrong?" He gently, but firmly pried her palms loose, getting off the bed, kneeling to meet her look. Shalla turned away, but Tom shifted again. Still, she averted her eyes, as if ashamed about something.
"What is it?" Tom asked again; he was concerned, yet losing patience. Shalla was still silent. Tom, for reasons unknown even to him, exploded. "What!" He roared, rising. Shalla turned a tear-streaked face upwards, establishing eye contact for a split second, and then she rose, crying, scurrying out the door.
"I'm..." But it was too late. Shalla was out of sight. "...sorry..." Tom added, barely more than a murmur. *What is *wrong* with me...* He collapsed on the bed; and it was a long time before he finally sunk into a deep sleep -- one that tormented him with nightmares.
***
Tom stood in the trainer box, facing Shale -- Shalla was nowhere in sight. He had other things on his mind, but the gym battle was already scheduled. Only yesterday, *something* had happened between him and Shalla, but he wasn't sure what.
"This shall be a one on one battle. Tom, make it count."
Utter silence -- as two pokemon emerged. One, a scyther, larger and more menacing than the average scyther. The other was a rhydon, with the colouration of a nidoking, his armour-like hide a violet hue, instead of the greyish tint most other rhydons had.
The rhinoceros like pokemon stood on two stubby legs, snorting. Shale, it appeared, was a trifle nervous; since it was obvious none of scyther's attacks would do much good. Rhydon would barely feel normal or physical attacks, and most, if not all of scyther's attacks are normal or physical.
The battle commenced, with scyther using double team and swords dance, separating into five, all performing the same ritual to sharpen their scythes. Then, all five charged straight at rhydon, who made no move to block them -- not that he could have stopped all five simultaneously.
The scythers used their agility, speeding around rhydon, delivering slashes, their swipes getting more rapid by the second; their blows more powerful. Rhydon was initially confused, but soon made the best of the situation. "Bad move Shale. Rhydon! Seismic Toss!" Shale's eyes widened, as rhydon made his moves, merely sticking his arms out. The images faded, one by one, until the final image -- one that was desperately trying to slow down, hit. With a roar, rhydon roughly grabbed the mantis pokemon, clutching her in a vice-like grip, unrelenting.
The scyther struggled, trying to escape its fate, blindly dealing blows everywhere; but rhydon remained unaffected. Swinging around, rhydon smashed the scyther into the ground, and landed on scyther. A sickening crack was heard -- signifying the end, for a seriously injured pokemon was, by default not allowed to battle.
Shale's gasp was heard almost across the arena. She returned scyther to her pokeball, where she would rest, in suspended animation, without pain. Similarly, Tom returned rhydon, and with an almost customary "great work", placed the ball back onto the belt, the magnetic clipping automatically locking on.
The two met in the centre, both rather silent, but for different reasons. Shale, because of her pokemon's condition, while Tom -- was a different story. Sure, he had won, but it had been so simple, he almost wondered if the badge would be worth anything. He received the badge, carved to look like a small spider, unlike the previous, fist-shaped token from the fighting gym -- from Shalla. The other was a pokeball, one that, Shale explained, contained an eevee.
"Thanks, but I have to be going... I've got someone to find."
"Shalla would like to talk to you; she hasn't come to me yet, but I am sure that she needs someone right now. After all, I grew up with her." Shale somehow predicted Tom's "quest", and spoke accordingly.
With a forced smile, Tom ran off.
***
Shalla had parked herself on a cliff, seated with her legs under her chin, and her arms wrapped around her legs. Tom strolled up, and waited, still a few metres away. It had not taken very long to find her -- a person in a great deal of pain or sorrow leaves a rather distinct aura -- one that Tom could track with almost indifferent ease.
He spoke, "Shalla, I'm sor..."
"Tom I have something that I think you should know -- before you go any further." There was a tremble in Shalla's voice, one that she was not attempting to veil.
Tom waited; trying his best to remain patient while Shalla gathered her thoughts.