NB: Review thank-yous, as always, at the end of the chapter *smile*.
Return: Zoe's Story, by Morbane: A Pokémon Tale
Chapter 4
That day, I experienced Ben's team's 'normal' routine for the first time.
We went out to the fields around Lavender Town and trained. The air was mild. It was early autumn. I hoped I'd be back with Raoul before winter.
We scourged the grass for wild Pokémon who wanted to fight, and took turns battling them. Rattata and Spearow appeared in huge numbers and we fainted them left and right.
I didn't have any problems with fainting wild Pokémon. It's just the way wild Pokémon tribes are organised - and I should know. Most species of Pokémon live in the wild in large groups. The strongest, fastest, and most powerful Pokémon range on the edge of the territory and fight outsiders, including human-trained Pokémon. They warn the rest of their tribe if something dangerous comes, and fight into fainting if they need to. The Pokémon we battled knew we didn't mean to do anything worse than faint them, and most of them could use the battle experience.
By the way, many trainers think that a Pokémon gains no experience points if it loses a fight. That's an urban myth. Of course they gain exp. points - just not nearly as many as if they won. And for Pokémon in training, the point-gain after a loss is small enough to be almost useless.
For the record, I noticed that several Pokémon returned to fight us again. Once or twice, the wild ones beat us. Ben had Revives on hand, luckily, to restore us immediately.
It was fun. It wasn't the same training style as Raoul's, however. Raoul liked to battle us against each other and hone each of our separate skills. It wasn't very often that we spent a whole day fighting wild Pokémon.
Each to his own. I was enjoying myself.
Towards the late afternoon, another trainer appeared in the fields. She was younger than Ben and had a Rhyhorn walking beside her. Both the trainer and her Pokémon had a load on their backs.
"Hello!" she called as she approached. "Would you like a Pokémon battle?"
Ben glanced at us critically, then looked back at the hiker. "Sure."
"Two on two?"
"Okay. No items."
"No items then."
She reached us and unstrapped the load from her Rhyhorn's back.
"I choose my Rhyhorn first."
I waited. I was the obvious choice, except for Bramble, whose levels were probably too low.
Ben called back all of the team except for Javelin and me.
"You go, Slowpoke."
I suddenly realised that he didn't know all of my moves. Oh well - he had been watching me fight for most of the day. And there was no way I could lose this one - I had the advantage of type, level, and sheer experience.
Ben decided to start with the basics.
"Water Gun, Slowpoke!"
I shot a spray of water at the Rhyhorn, controlling it so that it hit her in a wide spray, not a thin jet.
Without needing a command, the Rhyhorn charged.
"Slowpoke! Dodge!"
I felt slightly irritated. Raoul had known better than to give us commands like that. I wasn't dumb, and I didn't feel like sitting around when a Pokémon was attacking me.
I executed his orders, along with a trick of my own - soaking the ground between me and the Rhyhorn with water. It wouldn't make her slip, or slow her down, but it would decrease HP.
"Stomp!" said the Rhyhorn's trainer. Right.
Raoul's training took over. I used Disable, bringing the Rhyhorn to a crashing halt. Next, I used Confusion, flipping the Rock/Ground attacker onto her back, then I sprayed her sensitive, less protected stomach with water. She was out of it.
There was a charged silence, then Ben returned me to my Pokéball. I'd blown it. Ben had wondered, but now he was sure that I had been previously trained. So what would he do with the information?
The only other Pokémon he called out was the Spearow. I dimly heard the sound of a Fighting Pokémon calling out its name - Machop. Good, then; Javelin should do well.
Raoul sat helplessly on the cheerfully-patterned sofa in the Pokémon Centre waiting room. He wasn't the only one.
"How many of yours did they take?" asked a competitor.
"All," said Raoul. He added ironically, "And you?"
The girl, younger than him, grimaced, and said, "Four, but they were my best."
Raoul returned to staring at the pattern on the sofa. It was geometric, a pattern in blue, green, cream, and gray.
Some of the robbed competitors were out there right now, in the Sunlands Desert, looking for more escapees from the crashed truck; others were trying to lead their own missions against Team Rocket. Some had gone home, and wouldn't train again.
Raoul wasn't among them, but nor was he doing anything right now - just staring at the pretty pattern. Give me half an hour more, he thought. I need it.
Then he'd start calling round. He'd transferred some of his Pokémon to other owners, in the earlier days of Pokémon training. He could try and get them back, on 'loan', perhaps; surely those he'd given Pokémon to would sympathise.
One of those Pokémon, especially, might help him regain the others; an Abra, who had trained with Jag and Sylvia.
I named him Druid, remembered Raoul. Then I started naming them with things they could pronounce.
I wonder if his trainer evolved him?
There had been Nina, a female Nidoran… not an inspired name, but it suited her… and a flyer, Murkrow, Omen…
He pulled out a piece of paper and began making a list of all the Pokémon he had given away, all their new trainers, and all their presumed locations…
And finally, he picked up the phone, to place a call to Saffron City Gym.
Elizabeth, the Junior Trainer he'd been looking for, answered the phone.
"Raoul! Good timing! Where're you calling from?"
"Celadon," said Raoul grimly, and let her figure it out.
"How many of yours did they take?" asked Elizabeth quietly, after a pause.
"All," said Raoul.
Both of them were silent for a minute. Elizabeth bowed her head.
"I'm calling people up," Raoul said. "While the investigations are on, I need a team. I don't know if you can spare Omen and Druid…"
"Of course I can," said Elizabeth. "And - you're at the Pokémon Centre, aren't you?"
"Yeah."
"I think I'll come visit you. I'm due a holiday break."
"Elizabeth - thanks!"
"Oh come on. You need some help here. And after what you've done for me, you don't expect me not to get involved in this. I imagine I'll be here tomorrow morning. Don't do anything without me."
And she winked, and cut him off. He felt happier.
Again, when I was released, we were in the wilderness. Ben had stopped for a late afternoon lunch.
He said nothing, did nothing, about my battle skills. He didn't even give me any funny looks. When I stared at him, he looked at me and raised his eyebrows, as if to ask why. He didn't seem surprised, but nor did he seem naïve.
I shelved the problem.
I wondered if it would be possible to communicate with Ben, since he couldn't 'hear' what we said. I wondered.
There was a technique Raoul's friend had taught me - pictures, in the air and the water - but I wasn't strong enough to use it.
Yet.
But what if I needed to evolve to be strong enough? That would be too late. And I had no idea how much power I needed - just that, when I tried, I failed, and Elizabeth had said that pure psychic strength was the key.
After lunch, we walked south-southwest, out of our Pokéballs again. We fought the Pokémon we saw along the way. We made camp in the dark. In the morning, we continued on our inland route to Fuschia.
In the second afternoon, Javelin evolved.
She knew what it meant and didn't seem to regret it at all. Instead, emerging from the white light, she wore a triumphant expression.
Ben, however, was expressionless. He hung a berry around her neck on a 'string' made of grasses. He looked around at the area, deemed it suitable for a Fearow to live in, and gave us a few minutes to say goodbye.
I hung back, not really having anything to say.
Joel and Blazebrand thanked her for helping out on the team, and wished her luck in a friendly way. The others said quiet things to her. I settled for simply wishing her luck, and she looked at me with a glint in her eye. "Won't need it," she retorted, confidently. I appreciated that sentiment, and winked at her.
We moved off. We were in a valley, covered in short, thick trees and scrubs, and once we'd left Javelin, our path rose over a ridge. It took us about three quarters of an hour to reach the top.
Ben seemed to have made a point of not looking back. Poor guy. His face hadn't changed from 'expressionless', although I gathered that Javelin hadn't bonded very strongly with him. I wondered how he'd make himself release Blazebrand or Joel.
I looked back, however, once we were on the ridge. I wanted to see if I could still see Javelin.
And I did.
As she dived away from a Team Rocket helicopter.
"SLOOOOOW!" I screamed. "SLOW! Poke! Lo-poke! SLOOW!"
Everyone turned around. We were still all out of our Pokéballs, of course, but although Pokémon supposedly have quicker reflexes, it was Ben who first understood what was happening.
"But Slowpoke," he said in anguish, "she's a free Pokémon. I released her. I can see the Team Rocket logo, but they're not doing anything against the law. They've got the right to capture her. They can do that!"
Javelin took cover in some trees, but, almost immediately, broke out again. Ben watched her, silently mouthing words.
"I don't care!" he yelled, as if to himself. He turned back to the path - back the way we'd come, in Javelin's direction. Then he Returned all of us with a jab at his belt - all except Blazebrand.
Raoul woke up with an odd feeling that he was at sea.
Someone was 'shaking' him - gently. Pushing him back and forth - rolling him, almost - to make him wake up.
"Nurse Joy?" he mumbled, opening his eyes and waiting for them to focus.
"Oh, so that's the name you call out in your dreams," teased a familiar voice.
"Shut up. I do not," muttered Raoul, his eyes clearing to meet Elizabeth's blue-gray ones.
"Although the Joys are a lot rougher when they give you wake-up calls. Thanks." He smiled up at her, then yawned, sat up on the Pokémon Centre sofa, and stretched an arm over his head.
His other arm went down to his belt. He froze, feeling empty space. Elizabeth sighed.
Suddenly, under his hand, he felt two minimised balls - Elizabeth using her Psychic skills. "They're glad to come back to you," Elizabeth told him. "They like me well enough, of course, you saw to that before you gave them to me, but I guess I just don't equal their former trainer." Her voice had a smile in it. "Why don't you go take a shower, and I'll help tidy your stuff up. Omen and Druid can wait."
She was being so nice to him. Sometimes he wished it were a little more than that. Right now he really wished it, now that she was here in front of him, and holding out a shoulder to cry on. With these thoughts in his mind, he only managed a grunt and another smile, as he put the two Pokéballs down, took some clean clothes out of his pack and headed off to take a shower.
Elizabeth grinned at his departing back. He could be so cute sometimes. And he always smiled for her.
He hadn't really left much of a mess - just blankets that needed to be folded, stuff like that. There was a piece of paper sticking out of his backpack, and before she could stop herself, she went over to read it.
It was nothing personal. She wouldn't have continued reading it if it had been - Elizabeth wasn't that kind of person. It was just a list of various trainers, locations, and Pokémon that Raoul had given them in the past. "Elizabeth Cunningham, Saffron City Psychic Gym, Omen, Druid," she read. Her name was the first one on the list.
Elizabeth blinked. "Hey, I feel special," she murmured. She did.
She didn't want to call Druid or Omen out of their Pokéballs - not yet, not until Raoul was back - but to fill the space in her corner of the quiet, morning Pokémon Centre, she touched a ball on her own belt, and released her Alakazam. Letting him take stock of the surroundings, she continued down the list.
There were about fifteen people on the list, each with either one or two Pokémon nicknames written next to his or her name. Their locations ranged all over Kanto, and further, as one person was listed as living in Newbark Town, while Raoul had written 'Kumquat Island' for another.
She knew he'd traveled a lot. He'd gone as far west as the Ilex Forest, and north along the valleys of the Indigo Line of mountains - he'd told her of plans to tour the Orange Islands, and she was sure he would have done that by now.
It was an interesting way to train Pokémon, she thought, giving them away to people. Well - that made it sound as if he just scattered them, but if the way she'd been given Omen and Druid was typical, he did nothing of the sort. She got the idea that it just happened that way to him, that he didn't go actively looking for people to pair up with his Pokémon, but that he simply found them. And, of course, the preference of his Pokémon was as important as it should be.
"Kaz?" said Psilence, as she hadn't yet turned round.
"It won't quite be a holiday, Psilence," she told him, "but it'll definitely be a change. And you'll get enough rest, I'm sure."
"Kazam," agreed Psilence cheerfully.
Even she, an excellent Psychic, had not been able to discover what it was that was holding Psilence back from developing his power. She'd tried everything. She'd briefly stopped training him altogether, making him so miserable that it had taken weeks to make up to him for it. As a disciple of the Saffron Psychic Gym, she'd naturally taken the problem to her leader. Sabrina, after deep communication with Psilence - then a newly-evolved Kadabra - had concluded that Psilence himself didn't know what he wanted - only that he wasn't happy.
And then Raoul had appeared, visiting the Gym as most trainers do, and opted to battle its junior trainers, which wasn't an unusual decision either. She had praised him on the condition of his Abra, and he had given her a thoughtful look and showed her the way Druid worked with his Murkrow.
She had been fascinated, and the conversation moved to her own training techniques, and to her problems with Psilence.
Raoul, surprisingly, had asked if Psilence could show Druid some of his techniques.
And, as they stepped back from their Pokémon, she had watched in amazement as slowly, surely, Psilence took Druid through a technique she had thought he didn't want to use. She had watched as Druid picked it up - it was a pattern of teleporting used to evade certain attacks - and watched as Psilence developed it, making it just a little more complicated, 'porting more and more efficiently, and leading Druid in his wake.
"Docendo discimus," had murmured Raoul, at her side. She'd looked at him, and he'd looked alive, happy - and happy for Druid, she could tell with her empathy. Even happy for Psilence.
Which had helped relieve the guilt she felt at having a stranger point out the solution.
He'd asked her to take Druid for him, and Omen too, and although the request had puzzled her, she'd agreed. Perhaps, she'd thought, the two were especially attached to each other. But they didn't seem to be.
Later, it was she who'd grown interested in the Murkrow. Alone of the Gym trainers, she'd discovered she was fascinated by Dark Pokémon, despite and because of their strength against her Psychic skills and Pokémon. She'd learned so much about them. She'd done new things in training. The other Junior Trainers and even Sabrina had come to value her more.
It was like a fairy-tale ending, and it had been written by Raoul. He was such a special trainer that way. All true trainers should have the gift that he seemed to have - that of creating and finding the bonds between any humans and Pokémon, not just those that existed around him.
Still holding the piece of paper, she folded a blanket without touching it, having first checked to see if anyone was watching her. She glanced at the paper again. Only two names were crossed off - hers, and the third name on the list. Next to that name were two Pokémon - 'Nina' and 'Dill'. She put the paper away.
She looked up to see Raoul in the doorway, looking at Psilence.
"That's not -" she began, afraid he might mistake Psilence for Druid, not having seen him in such a long time.
"Oh, I know," he reassured her, matter-of-factly. "That's Psilence, isn't it? Or was it Psiren?" He was still looking at her Alakazam. "Besides, I know you wouldn't have evolved my Druid twice without telling me."
He was leaning against the doorway but he still looked tall. He had long lean fingers and quick wrists, and a distant look on his dark face, where the acne had cleared. He could have told you that his ancestors came from the Middle Eastern region, as it was called back then. After all, he would then say indignantly, he'd been to school. He couldn't seem to take his brown eyes off his Pokémon. Poor Raoul was obviously thinking of his own - and she didn't even have to snoop.
"Hi, Psilence," he greeted, and looked back at her.
"So - Druid? Omen? Can I see them?"
There we go! Chapter 4! I updated for the first time in… what, nine months? Yay!
Now for my kind reviewers!
Lightning-Strike: Thanks to you, I have finally finished this chapter. I wasn't sure how to fit Raoul in, but now I've realised that his perspective is quite necessary to the story. So thank you. :)
Farla: Yep, you are exactly right. Ben is very similar to Ash. But he's not as stupid, and he does care. And he's going to learn a few things.
Miss Black Dragon: Thanks for sticking with me! Here you go!