The Trainer's Bond
by Tremor3258
Everyone Gets Driven Buggy
Disclaimer: Considering the sheer number of various licenses related to Pokemon, it's easier to simply say that I own none of it. Please don't sue me.
Gary Oak was back in town, and he was reviewing the gym's weekend reports with interest. It had taken a few days longer to get back than anticipated, because of inclement Rockets at Cinnabar. Young Alex's tale of a vacation had held through the weekend, but the timing with Pallet had been merely fortuitous for the real activities. The League's 'Black Ops' group, who generally were even better at dirty tricks than their Rocket counterparts, had dropped a large number of Pokemon on poor Blaine. Where they came from was a mystery, but it was obvious they were from a Rocket creche. Their attacks had been enhanced via TMs, and they were in excellent shape for young Pokemon. However, they lacked the vigor one got from Pokemon that had been individually trained, and they showed no interest in keeping up their training regimens without a nice trainer standing over them, which meant much of their early life had been rule by fear. Of course, the fact that Rockets had been bombarding the island and it had taken two of the strongest gyms to bring the situation back to the usual low-level crime was a big tipoff that something was up.
If there was one thing Gary Oak disliked more than getting sappy with a Pokemon when it came to training, it was attempting to dominate a Pokemon by inflicting your will upon it. One couldn't be an excellent battler if a trainer was too close to their Pokemon. A coach may be friendly with the team, but when push comes to shove, you have to know where the line was drawn.
The fact that Ash had won the last tournament in spite of this showed that Gary had obviously not been training himself hard enough, relying on percentages and type matches in equal fights, rather than simply making sure his Pokemon were the best around. He had gotten too stuck in his ivory tower of believing he was the best. Following his loss at Indigo, Gary had spent some time wandering over Kanto. The fact that Red's training method worked better than Gary's, which had been literally scientifically proven, meant it was time to go study the gyms more closely, each of which had a different standard method of training, adapted to their gym's specialty Pokemon..
Gary had mocked them at first, and in his believed superiority, he hadn't done as careful a study as the people behind the Pokemon as he should have. He hadn't quite realized what hundreds of years of existence meant for each gym, no matter what continent. Even though much of the data for each gym wasn't quantified in any way, there were general guidelines one could pick out among the dreary ledgers of various badge matches, and the exciting entries from back in the days when Kanto had been a wild frontier.
Gary had been planning to go to Johto, but a short trip decided him against it. The species weren't quite as well known there, and then there were the Ruins of Alph. Gary wasn't much for mysticism, and decided to perfect his study in Kanto, where people depended only on themselves and their Pokemon.
Gary had studied at each Kanto gym for a while, and learned the hints of what lie behind the special techniques, crystallized into training machines, at each gym. In there, with the gyms' knowledge of the elements, was where Gary believed the true Mastery lie. Application for a gym leader position, restoring the old Viridian Gym to something of its former glory, was really another step on learning to understand the power at the core of the strange beings whom humanity shared the planet with.
Very few people understood that now days, which Gary had quickly realized. The Indigo championships displayed little of the sort of skill that had been seen in previous years, and raw power was meeting raw power, and losses happened when someone screwed up the type matches, rather than finding some clever way to exploit their Pokemon's power for gain. It was no wonder that Koga had gotten fed up, retired his gym position, and then cleaned up easily through the tournament using only his favorite poisonous variety, rather than a balanced team. It had been so good, that when the League did its usual rotation of some of its champions to League status, Koga had been on top of everyone's list.
With Gary's thoughts being brought back to the present by thinking about modern trainers, he finally looked up from his desk. Alex was sitting there, not nearly as calmly as he had been twenty minutes ago when he had dropped off the weekend reports. Deciding the youngest trainer currently working at the gym had suffered enough, Gary brought up the video recorded by the gym's security cameras during the battle.
Gary understood Alex's rather infuriated reaction when he had mentioned the battle after seeing Robert in view. Robert was a powerful trainer, but he had battled the Rockets for long enough to start thinking like them in some ways. He was a very strong trainer, but his battle tactics were the same sort of thing Gary generally derided with raw power and type over the sort of planning that made a Master.
The trick with the Gyarados was a bit confusing, and he'd have to remember to pump his grandfather for information about the girl later. Robert shouldn't have had any trouble controlling that powerful beast, unless he had completely lost his mind by putting a half-tamed super-powered Pokemon in the middle of a peaceful city.
"You did good with Rhyhorn," offered Gary, and Alex blushed at the praise, "That horn drill maneuver was just about the best you could hope for there, before Rhyhorn got wiped out. You're lucky Gyarados didn't wash you away as well." After that, Gary was silent for the fight, watching calmly. His eye did twitch, once, when Sandslash got picked up by Snorlax's psychic and knocked out.
Gary noted a few things. Decent, slightly above-average proficiency in battle tactics, though the three younger ones obviously were still new enough to battling to need some work with non-standard tactics. The sand attack had stopped Drowzee from wiping out the sleeping Snorlax, but it had inflicted plenty of damage on their own side. That, and the levels were low, but the potential was there. Then he saw Kingler's reaction, fairly clearly from the camera's angle on top of the gym, and watched Kingler charge forward like it had a blood oath to fulfill.
"All right. I'll mention this to the League, but don't expect a lot to come out of it," warned Gary, "Frankly, their general reaction is probably going to be that low-level trainers should remember to stay out of the way of dangerous Rockets. About Brad, his actions probably did stop her from being flung around by a psychic attack. I will ask Brock to go easy on them, they did help defend a Gym and they deserve that much. Well, they may have made it past there by now. Do you think I should call Misty?" the Viridian leader asked.
Alex shook his head, "I doubt it, sir. John, the older one, showed only a Magnemite. If that's all he has, he'll need to train up a Caterpie. That'll take a few days, at the very least."
Gary nodded, "All right. It's obvious you need to do a little team battle training. Take two Pokemon out and do some work. It's rare for multiple trainers to battle at the same time, but you need to know how to handle multiple Pokemon, which will make occurrences like with that Sandslash a lot less likely. I'll check on your progress in a few hours." Alex bowed and backed out. Considering how foolish he had looked, that had been the best he could hope for.
Gary, in idle curiosity, pulled up what was known on the various trainers. Obviously not a lot. Grandpa kept good records, but with the trio of younger trainers being new. Brad's file was typically blank. John's file had a small resume attached for where he had worked as a research assistant for the winter in Saffron at Silph Co., of all places, before journeying to see Grandfather talk. John looked fairly typical, with dark hair and eyes under his glasses, and Gary mentally tagged him as a super nerd, similar to those he had faced in his initial journey.
Diana's file made him nearly drop out of his chair. Gary hadn't placed the quiet, nervous girl as being related to Athena, who's aura of barely restrained fury added an interesting element to League meetings when she attended. For that matter, Diana lacked the elegant tattooing that covered most of Athena's left side and sections of her right arm and leg. Gary had assumed it was some family design but it was obviously something else. Then Gary's eyes narrowed. Put into the context of NOT being some forgotten custom, Gary wondered exactly what the patterns were of. They didn't resemble any Pokemon he knew, but he thought he may have seen one of the symbols in his periodic attempts to sort out Giovanni's mess of the gym's notes into a reasonable order. Gary scribbled a note to bring a camera to the next League meeting. "Now, let's hope as she gets farther away from Pallet, the Rockets won't realize whose sister is vulnerable," Gary muttered. He didn't quite believe her record, but it was obvious Rocket did.
*************
Diana's mind wasn't on training exactly at this point. Instead, she was merely willing to lie back in the soft grass in a clearing somewhere in the Viridian forest and lie back and nap. Her habit of waking up early to do training had carried over now that school was stopped for her. John, on the other hand, was a bit more of a late riser, and wanted to try and catch a rare Pikachu as long as they were in the fabled nesting grounds. Evidently, John was going for an electric specialty.
The combination of late bedtimes and early mornings, along with the effort of navigating the roots and bumps of the forest, had proved too much on their third day in the Forest, and with Pidgey nestled on her chest as a bug deterrent, she was catching up on her rest in the beautiful setting. Unlike her normal attire, she actually had taken her jacket off, feeling comfortable enough to expose her scars as she only had on a t-shirt underneath.
Naturally, John took this moment to ruin it by stomping in, followed by his entourage of Pokemon. Meowth and Magnemite were old compatriots of his, but the Metapod was a new addition. John had done some studying on Pewter, and knew a normal and a steel/electric wouldn't be the best in a match against Rock, even though Brock went easy if you didn't have badges and John's older Pokemon's levels were probably enough to cancel everything out. So, John had caught a Caterpie, and was trying to get it up to where it had a psychic attack. Diana awoke, but didn't even open her eyes when John stood over her, looking aggrieved.
"I don't see how you can waste such valuable training time. You said that you were trying to do something because of your lousy showing in the last battle, and now you're napping!" John said snappishly.
Lazily, Diana pointed at the edge of the clearing. Several small training dummies, crude constructions of twigs and vines, had been ripped to shreds by a variety of attacks. John noted the impact crater of a quick attack, and the lacerated portions where vine whips and constrict attacks had hit. One had even been singed by Dratini's new thunder wave.
"Okay," admitted John, "I'll agree you have been busy teaching some new attacks to your crew, but you're in the middle of an area with brand new Pokemon, and you're only training the older ones! For that matter, you're missing out on the chance to add a prime anti-water Pokemon to your collection. I kind of thought you'd be going without sleep or food until you found one." John looked around suspiciously, "It's around here somewhere..."
At that, Diana's eyes opened, and Pidgey chirped a few times as Diana shifted to look at John more directly from the ground. "Hey! I'm trying to deal with the irrational fear thing here," Diana said irritably, "I don't know why water types hate me, but they do! And I did find a Weedle before you did, and a Caterpie, I just sent them off to be held in stasis until I'm ready to train them."
"You only have four active right now, anyway? You're interested in the gym challenge, and when I asked you about Alex's Nidorina, you said you didn't have a problem with poison types, just poison attacks. Do you need an engraved invitation from Lance before you start using newly captured Pokemon?" John said in frustration. Diana didn't easily quantify. The scientist portion in him hated that. The less analytical part was wondering why Diana was taking more hardships on herself, when six Pokemon would probably make things easier.
Diana said calmly, "Forgotten our last battle? I could raise their stats just fine, but if I keep them out, Caterpie and Weedle would need battle training, and I'm having trouble enough teaching four Pokemon that! If I'd done a decent job, Tangela would have remembered to not just send out its vines, but writhe them so they weren't easy targets. Instead, she got burned bad. Dratini got trained by Team Rocket of all people, and she's still a little bit loopy from that concussion she got." Diana popped the Poke ball of her belt and held it up, showing the miniaturized Dragon with a cold compress on the back of its head in the ball.
"In other words, you need experience as a trainer yourself, rather than for your Pokemon," concluded John. Diana didn't correct him exactly. These were all close friends right now, and while her emotions had steadied a bit since leaving Viridian, she didn't feel able to include anyone else in the group right now, and she didn't quite feel comfortable saying to John that she didn't feel friendly enough to gain additional Pokemon yet. John, however, was continuing to speak.
He smiled brightly, "That's easy! Let's talk strategy for Brock!" John pulled out a book and started reading, "The Pewter City Gym is one of the oldest in all of Kanto, ringed on three sides by mountains, the settlers quickly established a Gym for their town to be able to be protected. The Pewter Gym is also believed to be the first gym where a Badge was developed, in the sense of a creation that somehow enhanced a trainer's ability with Pokemon. The integration of HM activation into the badge came later.
"While the reason behind most gym elemental specialities has been lost to history, Pewter's rock speciality was obviously chosen from the local Pokemon. The Pewter Gym has been designed to maximize the advantage of the type, mimicking the local mountain terrain and dry air. Traditionally one of the first gyms trainers encounter, the Boulder Badge is also one of the most useful, as its powers include the boosting of a Pokemon's strength by a minor, but useful, degree, along with being the activation item for the Flash HM," John finished.
"Thank you, Mr. Exposition," said Diana with a faint smile, "Bulbasaur is up to vine whip, so I should be able to do pretty well against the low-levels Brock has rookie trainers cut their teeth on, and most of the rest of my team is decent against ground types. I also should have a speed advantage, so I thought I could use Tangela to wear down the preliminary trainers with her wrap, and then Bulbasaur is my linebacker with his grass powers. Pidgey's a backup, but according to the type matchups, pecking through their shells could take a while, and if they have decent endurance, Pidgey could wear himself out before he gets a knockout, even if they never manage a hit."
John said, "That sounds like a decent plan of attack. I haven't faced rock Pokemon ever, but you're right that my electric types will have trouble. Meowth here has learned screech, which will do a good job of keeping the trainers disoriented, which may go a way towards evening out the fact they're better battlers, and Meowth's can just pound them down with pay day and then bite. If that doesn't work I've got Magnemite as my secret weapon if Butterfree isn't enough."
Diana finally sat up in surprise, dislodging Pidgey with a surprised squawk. Diana glanced at the small bird apologetically before asking, "Didn't you just say your electric Pokemon would be having trouble? Their jolts would barely affect a Geodude. EVERY trainer knows that. And, Magnemite is steel too, so ground attacks fold it up like ..." Diana looked around for similes, "A collapsible cup!"
John grinned, and the sun flashed off his glasses for a moment as he posed, gesturing at Magnemite, who merely buzzed slightly. "Ah, but Magnemite has a special attack. I didn't use it last Friday since it might have pounded Snorlax too, but in a gym situation with only opponents in front of me, it should be fine. Want to see?" Diana shrugged, and John took that as a yes. "Magnemite, use sonic boom against those wooden dummies!" Magnemite's electrical powers were focused on the air in front of it, using magnetism to squeeze air quickly and suddenly into a tiny pocket. When Magnemite released, a thunderclap announced a wave of pressure moving forward , splintering the dummies. In the bushes behind the remnants, a quick spot of yellow suddenly tumbled from hiding, looking irritable and disheveled, like it had just woken up.
John, who had been standing directly behind Magnemite to avoid the attack (and splinters and wind), looked up in amazement. "I knew there was one around here somewhere! I can't believe it was just sleeping near you Diana!" said John in amazement. When there was no response, John said fearfully, "Diana?" He turned to look at where she had been, and then his eyes followed the path that had been flattened several feet in the grass. Diana had both hands over her ears, looking a bit pained, and Pidgey's eyes were spiraling in his sockets on her lap.
"What?" she said loudly.
"Never mind," John advised hastily. It probably wasn't a good idea to upset her further right now. She may try for the Pikachu just to spite him, and Dratini could just sit there, wrap, and take thundershocks all day without alarm. "Magnemite, go out there and tackle!" Magnemite buzzed cheerfully and flew forward, smacking Pikachu fully clear of the bushes.
Pikachu wasn't able to fight back with full effectiveness. She had just been woken up from a nice nap, with dreams of powerful trainers guiding her potential, and she had been staking out this campsite and the two trainers for a little while now. However, being caught like that didn't make her look good. She had been intending to lead them on for a few days, to show how good she could be. Now, she was disoriented from the sudden shock of being awake, her ears were ringing from the sonic boom, and she was facing a Pokemon whose natural magnetic field meant electrical charges tended to bleed off around it until it could absorb them.
John, however, noted its condition, and hoped it had been weakened enough for his next move to work. Otherwise, Diana would probably start muttering under her breath and try and capture it. Their ground rules had been failure for a Poke ball to make a capture gave the other person a chance, though the first person to sight the Pokemon was the person who got to lead off. "Poke ball, go!" John tossed the Poke ball out. Pikachu took one last glance at her opponent. Well, he seemed nice enough, and had been quick to take control of the momentum of the fight. Pikachu let fate take its course, and shrunk with a cloud of smoke and an inrushing of air as the Poke ball halves closed around her. After only a single wobble, the ball was completely inert. John cheered, and ran to pick the ball up.
Diana said, still a bit loudly and flat from her ears ringing, "If you're going to test that, do me a favor and do it away from me. Far away from me. We're a bit distant from a Pokemon Center and electrical burns are supposed to be nasty." John started to apologize, and then Diana waved her hand, "Forget it, just remember to warn me next time you land a jet next to my head." John quickly pulled out a notebook and wrote the comment down. Diana sighed reflexively.
***************
It was Thursday late in the afternoon, a day-and-a-half later, when they finally left the Viridian Forest. Metapod had broken out of its shell yesterday evening, and confusion was an easy attack for the cute little butterfly to master. Now, if John could only get Diana to stop petting the fuzzy dual-type, he'd be happy and ready to do his first gym battle.
Once he finished reading up on the Gym one last time anyway. And stopped by the Pokemon Center. Preparation was one of Diana's traits as well, but this was starting to seem obsessive. John explained, "Old book on the Pewter Gym, this isn't the 'Kanto Guide'. The Gyms try not to let too much escape about which Pokemon the current leader is using, but this is something Bruno of the Elite Four wrote as a memoir." Diana nodded her understanding, and felt relieved that at least John was reading some other story about Pewter City. Bruno had handed the gym off to his prize pupil, Brock, before heading off and becoming one of the League Champions and then a member of the Elite Four. John grinned ferally, "This is a copy I found buried in a second-hand shop back in Saffron. Bruno accidentally mentioned that the traditional Boulder Badge challenge from a trainer without badges is met with a Geodude, and then an Onix. Brock is fairly conservative as gym leaders go, keeping to the old tradition of maintaining the gym and helping out the city rather than dabbling with politics."
Diana said, "I'm not as bright as you John, but I can see where you're going. After the prelims, we're probably facing a bowling ball and then a rock snake. Just out of curiosity, what happens when it's not the first Gym battle?"
Diana was REALLY only trying to make pleasant conversation on the cloudy day, trying to keep her spirits up despite that omen, and the fact she was hungry and worn out. Despite the token politeness, John took it seriously and flipped through a few pages quickly, and then again more slowly, before he said in confusion, "Nothing. I guess it's anything goes." Diana shrugged. Who knew what kind of things gyms had in their back rooms? Gyms were given a great deal of privacy and security in exchange for the help they gave communities in their dealings with Pokemon. Still, it wasn't such a great taboo that Giovanni had managed to hide anything out of his gym. He had only made it a temporary headquarters out of desperation before being trounced by a certain future Master yet again.
The two quickly reached the Pokemon center and dropped their Pokemon off into the recovery apparatus, and getting a late lunch at the Center, though they ended up spending more than they had really meant to. On the other hand, it was their first decent meal in several days. Dehydrated camping foods weren't that expensive in a land with plenty of people always out on the road, but the cheap ones tended to taste terrible, and it was all the duo could afford at this point. It was so bad the two had barely touched the last few days worth of food, preferring to leave the leftovers out as an alternative to using Repel to make sure no bugs came by in the night.
Grabbing a table, the two dropped their trays piled high with food in sheer bliss, ready to dig in ravenously. Before their table manners got the chance to desert them, a voice cried out incredulously from the next table, "You actually made it here? I thought you had given up a week ago!" Once she recognized the voice, Diana groaned and put her head against the table, nestled in her arms.
Brad continued, "I mean, frankly Diana, you're a nice person. I expected you to stay with what's-his-name in Viridian. Why are you ready to go up against Brock, who's one of the most serious trainers on *Kanto*? (which is really saying something)," Brad paused for breath.
Diana said softly, "Brad. I thought you were going to look out for me. Pokemon are so much more than fancy cock-fighters. I doubt I would ever have left my house again if it wasn't for Bulbasaur. I've promised that I would go through the Gym Challenge. I can't expect you to understand this, but helping my friends grow goes a long way towards getting me out of bed in the morning." John was silent, feeling a moment of clarity come similar to when he had first seen Diana's scars. Despite the fact they were traveling and camping at the same spots, they weren't quite traveling together, and it took watching Brad twist the knife into her to further his previous observations.
Diana had once mentioned her motivations, but it was obvious she hadn't said everything. She KNEW how much this could cost her. It was possible she would collapse from exhaustion and pain and become a meal to an Onix somewhere, and she knew it. People who meant well mentioned this to her all the time, hurting one of the few things left to her. She didn't think she was attractive, people's first looks before smoothing into non-expression were enough to ensure that. Diana had probably done well in school, but needing to catch up the months of work she had missed left her behind most others. The one thing she felt she could rely on was her Pokemon. They didn't judge by something like appearance, they went far deeper than that. Brad, her old friend, acting contrary to her lifeline was thus a double betrayal. John's occasional absent-mindedness and mistakes were merely annoying in comparison. He meant well and tried hard, which was a mirror of herself.
Brad was stunned by the statement as well. It took a moment before he said, "You're doing this for the Pokemon? Bob said the Pokemon really only care about evolving. What importance do the little trinkets have for them? Proof of victory? Hah! They only need a nice comfy spot by the fire and some food."
"They're not trinkets!" John finally exploded, raising some eyebrows. "They bridge the gap between trainer and Pokemon!" Diana paused in her tears for a moment, and John lamely explained, "I saw that quoted in a book." Diana's frail body shuddered again, but with a small bit of laughter.
Brad said brusquely, "Brock's interested in rock hard strength! What does that have to do with bonding? Sandy will take out those Rocks with just one blow!"
John said in confusion, "Wait, you sounded like you had been in town for a few days. Why haven't you obtained the 'little trinket' and moved on to your next pillage and plunder stop?"
Brad winced and explained, "Too many Pallet Town trainers clogging up the prelims. The waiting list has finally cleared up, but for some reason, my paperwork got lost in the shuffle a few times, so I've had to wait. But don't worry!" Brad powerposed, "Soon, I will crush the Pewter gym and move forward! Gym Leaders, fear my power, for soon I will conquer Kanto!"
"Not with someone on the inside working against you. Alex, you've been near Gary too long," murmured Diana, softly enough that only John heard her, but Brad stared at his sudden snort of laughter. She continued, "John, talking to him will only make you angrier. He's not willing to listen right now. He's just going off appearances, like that Pokemon are just brawlers for humans. There's no way to reach him with words. I do appreciate the effort, though."
John thought for a moment, and then said, "If you're just here for the Badge, why don't we go see who can talk to Brock first and ask him what he thinks is more important. Power, or the ability to use your Pokemon effectively?"
"That means getting through the prelims if you want to face Brock!" Brad said excitedly, "Which I was planning to do anyway. Fine, he's only Brock anyway! He will face my Pokemon's strength and be crushed by it, and then we'll see what he exactly thinks about." Brad stomped off, pushing his way rudely to the end of the cafeteria.
"Brad? The prelims don't start for another two hours!" yelled John out, but Brad was already gone. "Oh, never mind, he'll figure it out," he huffed. "Are you all right?" John's mood switched back. Crying female here, and that was something no amount of preparation could quite prepare him for.
"I'm a little better now," Diana said, eyes slightly red, "Thank you for standing up for my beliefs. It was a very noble gesture. People ... don't normally stand up for me," she said weakly.
John shook his head, "I know what it's like to have a goal, and dedicate yourself to it, no matter what conventional wisdom says." Diana looked at him in confusion. One of his Pokemon could probably blow her team away, he was seemingly equipped for any situation, and he generally radiated confidence in himself.
John sat down and took some food to prepare himself. "Considering how you've been forced to open up, it's only fair to reciprocate. After all," he said earnestly, "Allies share weaknesses with each other." The devoted puppy look when he said this like it was the secret to how humans relate to each other was almost too much.
"There's a better way to say that," said Diana, managing to keep a straight face via a tight grip to her cane.
"Huh," said John, mentally noting the fact. "Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes! I mean, I've wanted to be a researcher, right? That's all science, and analyzing attacks and statistics. But like I said when we were trading earlier stuff, Pokemon are more than just the sum of their stats. I realized that at Silph. They have lots of Pokemon whose job it is to check out the new boosters and items on. But I saw all the other trainers' Pokemon going up against Sabrina, who you probably could relate to, by the way; and they were so much more, well, there than the other Pokemon. Getting to know Magnemite better opened a whole new world to me I hadn't realized was there before. So, I'm going around Kanto, because there's so much more I need to learn."
Diana watched John go back to attacking his food for several minutes in stunned silence before managing to get out shakily, "That was very deep, John. I'm the one who needs to apologize. You've learned lessons as well as I have, without having to be thrashed within an inch of your life to do it."
John shook his head, "I've had it easy. I've seen you go through several variations on hell in the last week, and you're still going. Maybe because it's the best of a lousy set of options, but you're an inspiration to me. I mean, I doubt I would have spent several days looking for a rat if I didn't feel the need to at least match what you go through when just walking around for any length of time." Diana felt her cheekbones heat, but John didn't seem to notice, "Now go on, eat! You need to keep your strength up!" Diana nodded, and the rest of the meal passed in an easy silence.
************
An hour later, Diana was feeling a little better, especially with her Pokemon back by her side. She was also dressed for a storm, wearing her full outfit complete with her wide-brimmed hat covering much of her face. They were headed to a rock gym, so it was likely the challengers were loaded down with water types, and she didn't want to cause a scene. If anything, it might confuse the water types for a few seconds. Her arm would start to act up, and then water Pokemon got bizarrely quiet around her before lunging to attack. Diana took a deep breath, trying to focus and not spiral down into her nightmares.
Stepping back outside after the mutely lit Pokemon Center helped. Though the day was still cloudy, it was starting to break up, and the noises of the city that spread north from the Pokemon Center were a good way to focus on the here and now. "Ready?" asked John. Diana nodded determinedly, nearly losing her hat. The sudden fumble helped remove the rest of Diana's dark mood, driving the lurking shadows back.
It was a short walk, about five minutes, to the massive gym building. Carved from local granite and kept in excellent repair over the centuries, despite years of pounding wind, and the occasional, though very rare, storm that made it through the Indigo mountains into the rain shadow. The gym was built like a fortress, but gave off the aura of a lord's castle. Knowing who owed homage to the castle's lord was obvious from the Golem statues built next to the massive steel doors.
The entire gym structure had been honed to one fine purpose: psychological warfare. No one, Pokemon or human, could look at the gym and not feel awe. Here was power and purpose and literal centuries of sweat, blood, and tears, dedicated totally to the raising of Pokemon and trainer alike. The Pewter gym was the badge fight done at the lowest levels, but that was because the badges had been invented here, and this tradition was what trainers had to aspire to if they had any hope of completing the Gym Challenge. John, however, showed his usual lack of attention to human psychology when it wasn't being force fed at him, and pushed open the doors easily.
Inside, however, the two quickly figured out why Brad had run off so quickly. There was still quite the line of trainers waiting inside. Brad, after several days in Pewter, had known right when to come to fight in the FIRST block of preliminaries. It would be likely that they were in the last group. Diana merely shrugged and leaned on her cane, opening her Pokegear to do some e-mails. John kicked at the floor in irritation that Brad had managed to show them up to a degree.
*************
Two and a half hours later, Diana was waiting calmly for the last block of trainers to be called in for preliminaries. The typical point of the junior trainer battles were to prove your Pokemon were qualified to fight on an equal level with the gym leader's selected Pokemon. Against the leader, trainers in the normal progression would rely on strategy, though some people trained for quite a while before moving on to their first badge. Between the Pallet trainers and the start of spring in general for Kanto, things had been insanely busy, and the fights were limited to one on one to allow each gym trainer to handle more at a time.
Still, even one on one, ensuring your best Pokemon would go forward, quite a few people had been wiped out. The girl's locker room had been stuffed with people in their pre-battle rituals when Diana entered, and matches had already been going on for quite a while. Soon, Brock would face the remnants of the once large crowd. Diana had counted about twenty girls, and she assumed there had been more boys (typically there were more male trainers, maybe because society prepared them more for the rough road life) in an equal proportion, there were perhaps sixty trainers out of two or three hundred ready to fight Brock.
Diana had dropped quick notes to her parents, and wished they would check their e-mail. A word of encouragement or two would really come in handy before the fight. Alex had dropped a quick line, with general notes on the weaknesses and strengths of Pewter's favorites. Strength was the right word, with low speed and enough muscular power to life a small car. Right now, Diana was quickly finished up a reply. She'd get called in shortly to whatever awaited her in the ring.
"Alex, you mentioned you had collected a few badges before you worked at Viridian," typed Diana on the keyboard, having finished a summary of everything up to this point, "Did your palms sweat too? I know I can reapply to battle again in a month, but a month is a long time, really, no matter what people say. In one month I went from planning my own Pokemon journey originally to praying to whoever would listen that someday I would have the strength to stand again."
Diana thought for a minute, and then continued, "I guess all I can do is try to at least equal the effort my Pokemon will put forth. I know they'll do fine, but a team is only as strong as its trainer. And with Brad's attitude and the fact Bob IS an acknowledged Master, it makes me wonder if I have the wrong approach. I know most trainers aren't like them, and I know I'd die for my Pokemon, and they'd probably, no, they would do the same, but nonetheless, are they strong enough. Humans and Pokemon work together, the humans for the powers Pokemon can provide, and Pokemon for the strengths that can only be unlocked by being with a human. Tentacruel attacked me, not Athena, who was a trainer. Admittedly my memory of that entire period, starting maybe a day beforehand, is a little hazy from the beating I took. Still, it singled me out for attention, like there's something fundamentally wrong with me. I think that's where the fear comes from."
Diana heard the door to the locker room open, and knew she only had a moment, "Speaking of being singled out, ask Gary to go easier on Brad. I know what it's like to feel that no one really cares about you, and that you're adrift. I had Bulbasaur to help me through, but Brad has a different relationship with his Pokemon. I won't lie and say I don't hate what he did to me, but I don't want anyone to go how I felt at school last year. With affection, Diana," signed the female trainer. As Diana was closing her Pokegear, one of the gym's workers popped his head around the corner and informed her that her group was up in a few minutes. Diana stood, grabbed her cane, and wished, just for a second, she was back home as she stowed her hat, backpack, and jacket.
Waiting in a small enclosed alcove along with the male trainers wasn't conductive to positive thinking. It attached directly to the girls' lockers, but the boys was somewhere else and they were led in. A few chairs were scattered around, but there was only one guarded door to the gym floor. Trainers weren't allowed to see the matches to keep things equalized. Several boys slipped out, but none returned, either gone to celebrate their victory or to clean out their lockers and slink away was uncertain. When the first female trainer went out confidently, and then return in tears, refusing all questions and running into the locker, Diana felt like she was going to throw up. However, it was her turn into the grinder, and keeping her vow to succeed in the Gym Challenge in mind, she managed to get up enough courage to walk out the door.
It was very bright and noisy out in the prelim ring. To Diana, it seemed like they had managed to get a population equivalent to Pallet Town packed into the room. A line was cut through the seating to reach the actual ring, where a trainer's head could be seen, though the Pokemon was too small to show up. "Bulbasaur," she whispered, "Come on out before I lose my nerve." With a puff of smoke, the plantamal expanded to full size, and glanced reassuringly at his trainer. Diana felt a wave of support wash over her, and suddenly realized she could feel her hand again. Evidently her grip on her cane had been enough to drive all the blood out of it.
Diana and her Pokemon blinked in surprise when they saw the trainer more clearly while they walked around the ring. The female trainer standing opposite greatly resembled Diana or her sister. Well, or their father to that degree. The hair was several shades lighter, but the olive skin and slight almond shape to the eyes indicated someone whose family had originated on the central costal planes of Kanto, near Saffron or Lavender Town. A lot of those people didn't travel, preferring the trade came to them, but those who did leave as trainers were noted for having far more of the 'friendship evolutions' than usual statistically. However much she resembled Diana, she was wearing an exercise outfit with shorts, a tank top, and a headband, so Diana doubted the two thought exactly alike, but they were both trainers, and Alex had mentioned gym trainers usually were focused more on being one with their Pokemon than total power in their long talks.
Diana also had to factor in the Lavender/Saffron bond thing. John had mentioned it once, and Oak had mentioned it as one of the reasons for giving Squirtle to her (before being forced to replace the Pokemon), as the professor hoped her being empathetic to another creature's needs would help incite her own strength to survive. As usual, the Professor had been right. Admittedly, having a Pokemon who had been a former Rocket-trained dragon immediately be willing to follow all her commands and transmit the necessary information on its attacks was unusual. Right now Diana assumed whatever Pokemon she could see once getting into the ring would be highly motivated.
Crawling up slowly into the ring, she noted the floor was some sort of loam, and a tiny mole-like creature was staring at Bulbasaur with bright eyes in front of the trainer. "Okay, Bulbasaur," said Diana, consulting the Pokegear, "That's a Diglett. They're lightning fast, but not very tough. If you can hit it with your best attack, we should win." Bulbasaur growled lowly and eagerly in response, ready to prove his worth.
Diana was glad for the choice she had made. She wanted to keep Bulbasaur back in surprise, but her growing nervousness made her decide on her oldest friend for psychological benefit if nothing else. Now, the decision to not press with Tangela was looking fortuitous. Tangelas wasn't very fast and Diana hadn't had it very long, so there hadn't been much speed training. She doubted the gym trainer would be foolish enough to stumble into a constrict attack to even those odds. Bulbasaur was the better chance, having at least stayed with Diana for a year (though she hadn't been up to training for most of that time), and they knew each other.
"Hmm, at least this will be interesting," noted the girl. She could use a good fight. Most of the Pokemon weren't that tough, and their trainers had made the issues worst by giving conflicting commands. Getting the classroom fluff pounded out of their heads was a big part of why there was gyms, and she was happy to oblige. The Bulbasaur looked well trained and confident, though judging by the size of the plant symbiote on its back, it wasn't far enough along to do a lot with its plant-based powers.
A hidden bell dinged. Somewhere, a gym leader was watching in a private booth, but that wasn't important. Bulbasaur's first action was for its low growl to become a near roar. The audience covered their ears as the sound reverberated through the structure. The Pewter trainer and her Diglett weren't that fazed, use to such psychological attacks.
Thus, in response, the small mole cut through the dirt like a rocket, slamming into Bulbasaur. Diana managed to catch him before he could leave the arena, and the two went down in a tangle of limbs. "Okay, new plan! Hit him with the vine whip!" Diana ordered as the two reoriented themselves and stood up. A thin vine emerged from the bulb, and snaked towards the ground type. However, when the vine came close, the Pokemon simply ducked under ground, and the vine whip lashed impotently at the hole.
The young trainer and her grass-type looked around nervously. "No good," muttered Diana, "Diglett can duck too quickly, and the way it moves through this soft dirt, there's no way we can get ourselves prepped to deliver an attack in reaction to the next strike!" Diana looked around for inspiration, and then at her feet, noting the way they sank in slightly to the soil. Diana had spent a lot of time out in her family's garden near the recovery, and noted this was like potting soil. "That's it! Bulbasaur, use your vine whip against one of the posts, and let Diglett knock you into the air!" Bulbasaur blinked once in surprise, and then wiggled his toes as an evil grin came on his face, picking up the plan as his vine snaked out from the bulb to wrap itself around one of the ring's supports.
A sudden furrow announced Diglett's movement, but the two didn't even have time to brace themselves as Diglett hit Bulbasaur directly under the Grass/poison type's center of mass. Anchored by the controllable tension of the vine whip, Bulbasaur simply went straight up. Even as Diana yelled triumphantly, "Leech seed!" Bulbasaur was already spitting out the small pellets. Diglett ducked automatically in response, but the seeds hadn't been aimed at the mole. Instead, the seeds simply burrowed themselves slightly into the dirt before cracking open. By the time Bulbasaur set down, small energy-draining vines snaked themselves out over the ring and through the dirt. Normally, a Diglett could flee farther, but that would mean in this case popping out the side of the ring. A line of distorted earth showed where Diglett was being dragged into the center of one of the leech seed's powers as Bulbasaur's bulb glowed with captured energy.
After a moment, the ground burst open as Diglett gasped for air, some of its power sucked dry by the leech seed's effects, even though they had been spread over a farther radius than usual. "Now!" said Diana, but Bulbasaur hardly needed the encouragement, wrapping Diglett in his vine whip and spinning the ground Pokemon like a yo-yo. With a puff of smoke, the trainer recalled Diglett and bowed deeply. Instinctively, Diana returned it. Bulbasaur bowed as well.
"Congratulations on using the terrain against me to such an advantage. Your Bulbasaur is better than I thought to take two direct hits so easily from Diglett. You will now advance to face Brock," said the trainer while still bowing. Diana nervously made her thanks and the enemy trainer left the arena as the audience bowed. Then Diana realized that Bulbasaur wasn't leaving its bow.
Diana scooped the Pokemon up in her arms and hugged it, looping the cane around her wrist with some rope she had added to the purpose. It kind of hurt the effect of looking like a Dratini, and Alex hadn't realized how much more easy it would be to use, but Diana had added it the first night in the forest where Alex's feelings wouldn't be hurt.
Bulbasaur growled reassuringly, though a bit weakly. There were two large spreading blotches, one on the side, and one on Bulbasaur's belly. "I'm really sorry, Bulbasaur," she said miserably over the noise of the cheering. She began to walk clear back into the room towards her locker. "I've got some potion that will get those nice and fixed, but you did everything just like I wanted you to. I'm sorry I wasn't able to point out where Diglett was coming from better." Bulbasaur made a disagreeing noise, and Diana hugged the Pokemon tighter, though only for a second, not wanting to injure him further, whispering as they walked into the alcove, "Bulbasaur, that's definitely one of the more selfish reasons I'm glad to have you. You're much easier on me than I am." Bulbasaur blushed, and if he had been on the ground, would probably have started tracing patterns through the dirt with a foot while murmuring humbly.
Diana entered the locker room feeling better. Bulbasaur's injuries looked bad, but he was fully aware and responsive. If he could manage to do his old 'pep squad' role despite the injuries, then maybe she really hadn't done badly out there. Reaching her locker, she sat down with relief and pulled out a small vial of Potion. She could feel the tension from the fight bleed off as the chemicals in the spray bottle went to work, softening the discoloration.
"Sorry, Bulbasaur, but I guess you're side-lining this one from now on," Diana commented and as Bulbasaur looked stricken, she insisted, "I know you'd give it your all, but these could end up serious if you don't rest. There'll be plenty of other battles." Diana thought for a moment, and said encouragingly, "Besides, you got me past the hardest part. That Diglett was technically too fast to ever be hit. You've done what should have been impossible and gotten us past the big cut. Fighting Brock would be an anticlimax. Plenty of people get Boulder Badges at this point, but a lot of people never can get past the prelims!" Bulbasaur preened at that, and nodded in agreement, and Diana sent him back to his Poke ball, taking a look at what else she had.
"Bulbasaur got lucky. Those injuries nearly broke his ribs," Diana muttered, glad that the Pokemon in stasis couldn't hear her. "The junior trainer managed to do that. What do I have to go up against the gym leader?"
To be continued...
Next time: Brock. Our heroine has to face a trainer with years of experience, and Pokemon who literally slurp up every attack offered to them. And if she can beat that, Diana has to confront the fact that the next gym on the checklist is chock full of WATER Pokemon and across some of the roughest terrain anywhere on Kanto from her current location.
Author's notes:
Hmm, a long gym episode. Very long and you don't even get to the gym leader. Sorry. On the other hand, I think I got some nice character evolution into this. Diana had to have a nervous breakdown to get John to stop acting like the walking database. On the other hand, I actually put some comedy into this that was more than a one-liner.
My main goal was trying to put into place why all those trainers challenge you as you walk towards the leader, and Adventure, as usual, had a great idea that I shamelessly ripped off here, including a modification for WHY Brock's gym has only one trainer while everywhere else has so many. Also, Pallet Town's opening of the gates seems to mark the general training season through the early gyms, possibly because this is the first good time to travel. That would explain why wherever you go, people are at your level in the game. :)
Oh, yes, the one month rule is something I came up with in order to prevent trainers from just throwing Pokemon after Pokemon at Brock's Geodude and Onix (or Misty's Staryu and Starmie, etc.) before they could be healed. It seemed to make sense. If trainers could constantly challenge by flipping in new Pokemon fast enough, before the gym leaders could heal, then the Gym Challenge wouldn't be very challenging.
Why have Bruno used to run the gym? Come on, how many squinting trainers do you know about? Both use rock Pokemon, and Bruno looks a lot like an older, more muscular Brock (right down to the lack of shirt). Maybe it's an old Pewter Gym tradition for the leader to have that look and Bruno kept it, who knows?
I actually wrote several pages related to Brad's preliminary match, but I didn't quite like the attention he was getting, so I changed it instead to focus on Diana's prelim, and only Diana's prelim. I WAS going to have the Brock battle against Diana but this was getting too long, and this makes a good cliffhanger.
Brad's opponent looked a lot like Diana, something I was planning to torment him with. However, length and the way that would soften the focus of this chapter changed my mind. The only remnant is Diana's opponent, whose description allows me to set some more of my rules for how the world works in place. It's an odd mixture of ideas, some copped from two of the mangas (more from Adventure than the older one based FAR too closely on the anime). Of course, the trainer looking like Diana calls to mind the anime running gag that the trainers you faced seemed to look a LOT alike. To be fair, the original game's junior trainers resemble Ash/Red/Your Character to a great degree.
The mention of Lavender and Saffron City citizens being more likely to be empaths with the advantages inherent, as it were, is a nod to the fact that the Channelers, Psychics, and their sort are pretty much ONLY found in those two cities in the original games. Judging by the old map depicting coast line near Saffron and about how I figure the metrology would probably work , I figured the area had a "Mediterranean" style climate and hence the general 'phenotype' for those citizens.
Diana is no Red (from the Adventure manga), who won every battle in Pewter City because his Pokemon were FAR better (one of the few times this happened in the series, generally things seem to be about equal). He managed to wipe out each and every opponent on the first shot. To his credit, he did choose these first shots well. The only reason Brock gave Red any difficulty at all was because the Pokemon Red was carrying that were strong against rock-types were wiped out from not being able to get to a Pokemon Center. I do recommend that volume though, it gives some great ideas about how the gyms fit into the lives of regular citizens.
I'm going to wrap this up now, as the Author's notes are getting long. However, next time may have an omake based on the travels in the Forest: Figurines made of wood, three days in the woods. All I need is John with some really shaky cinematography and maybe a Ghastly or two causing problems. Diana already apologizes a lot.
Until next time!
