The Trainer's Bond
by Tremor3258
In the path of the avalanche
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. This work is not intended for profit, but mere enjoyment to its readers. That should cover things.
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Diana was wandering the backstage halls of the Pewter gym. It had been estimated she had an hour before her place on the fight card when she had left the locker ten minutes ago. The loud roars and thumps echoing through the walls were a bit disconcerting, as this area wasn't as well insulated as the lockers. Diana had felt she needed to find some inspiration. She had already found one of the gym's trainers who confirmed her initial diagnosis. Bulbasaur's internal organs had actually been bruised a little from Diglett's kinetic energy. While it wasn't slowing him down much now, further battling might lead to permanent damage. A simple potion didn't cover this, and a full recovery cycle in a Pokemon Center took two to five hours, depending on how busy the Center was and the capacity of its machines.
Diana had immediately gone and gotten Bulbasaur placed in line for recovery, but it meant she had only three Pokemon to deal with the gym trainer. Bulbasaur wouldn't want her to give up now, but without Bulbasaur, she lacked her primary anti-rock weapon. Tangela didn't have any spore attacks yet, and Pidgey's strength and endurance weren't anywhere near those of a rock type's. Dratini had better aim with her attacks, and she had been trained to be a decent battler without any help besides some cheerleading from her trainer. Well, Bob had said so, but Dratini had never shown great battle instincts and hadn't known about any excellent training methods Diana could copy. She was thinking either over-dramatization on the Master's part, or there was some sort of conditioning that had failed, leaving the dragon-type's memory hazy.
Though Dratini hadn't lived quite up to her hype, she was a powerful Pokemon, and probably at a slightly better level than Diana's usual lead. She was definitely part of this battle, but if it was higher than one-on-one, there would be some problems. Tangela would be resistant to the attacks, but she was very young, and wasn't very courageous. Losing control of her attack because of a counterstrike had happened once already in a battle that was still a great deal of trauma for Diana by losing her old neighbor. Pidgey had a tougher mind set, but a weaker body. She knew her friends would try their hardest, but they all lacked battle experience. While the Pokemon Brock would probably use in the match would also be low on experience, Brock had been doing this for years and was Kanto's master over rocky Pokemon. Intellectually, Diana knew that he probably wouldn't go all out for a match that was supposed to be a simple test of skill, but Diana's emotional response had a bad habit of being able to out-shout intellect.
Suddenly, her Poke gear dinged. Diana's face lit up as she opened it. Two e-mail messages had been picked off the network, one from Alex and one from her parents. Her face fell when she saw the heart-warming words of encouragement her parents had used, "Don't die."
Listlessly, she tapped open Alex's e-mail, which was a bit more warmly written. "Hi, Diana!" traced across the screen, "I've only got a few minutes myself to reply, since I need to go work on sweeping out the gym. First : good luck in your match! I won't lie to you: Brock and his gym are a group of tough, dedicated trainers. Luckily, rock type's weaknesses are fairly easy to exploit, which is one reason Pewter is the first gym. Just stay calm and keep your head about you.
"Some advice Gary gave me on my first day at the gym, which I could have used when I was getting the first three badges. Now, I'm giving it to you. He said, in that famous no-nonsense tone of his, 'Alex: you generalize on the Pokemon, but bet on the trainer.' It's an easy mistake to get caught up in looking at a Nidoking's spikes and armor, and ignore the fact that its slow and a psychic could bat it around all day without getting tired. A good trainer could find a way to win with Abra. A bad trainer would lose with a whole squadron of Legendaries. I'm sure you fall in the first category. I don't want to give too much information away, since it wouldn't quite be fair to everyone else, but think about this: Brock's types will be slower than his opponents, and he knows it. What would you do then? Good luck! :) Alex," finished off the letter.
"Thanks Alex," Diana said out loud. "Okay, let's see. I've seen faster opponents beaten, and I did it against Diglett. The trick was to make sure you knew where the Pokemon would be headed." Diana forced down the memory of the Kingler charging at her, and instead focused on her fight against Diglett. "Cut off the maneuvering room and then strike it real hard. That's it!" Diana started down the corridor, boots and cane clicking against the linoleum eagerly. She quickly grabbed a gym member, "Is there some small room I could get some last-minute practice in?"
The man nodded, and quickly directed her down the hallway into a small room that had been heavily reinforced. "I saw you're fight out there, and you did pretty well kid. Brock's pretty good about letting opponents facing him get a warmup, considering he'll have usually been involved in battling for quite a while, and his opponents are just waiting around getting nervous." The trainer paused wistfully and looked at his watch, "I wish I could stay and see you work. Most of the Bulbasaurs we see can't take two of Eiko's Diglett's full-on attacks. Most trainers would have been totally confused by not seeing their opponents, but it's like you've seen really lousy battle conditions before."
Diana thought back to the poison gas attacks of almost a week ago, and then the attempt to stay hidden a few days before. "Well, I've gotten some close study at some unique tactics now and then," she said modestly.
"Call it what you will. A lot of the people aren't that good yet, just launching attacks and holding their ground. Instant Poke-chow, really. I'll leave you to get warmed up, as I've got some things to do," said the worker, starting to close the door, before letting loose one final comment, "Brock's REALLY looking forward to seeing how well you do against him." As the door closed, Diana struggled to keep from screaming. As if she didn't have enough pressure. Diana dropped her Poke balls on the ground. She needed this more than she thought. "All right guys, now listen carefully."
********************
An hour later, John had tracked down Diana to inform her she was up in about five minutes. The poor man nearly had a heart attack when a torrent of blue vines were all that were visible in the door. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I lost track of time! Tangela!" The grass-type quickly pulled herself together. The researcher blinked in surprise when they were visible. Diana wasn't nearly bundled up as usual, and her face was red with exertion.
"Are you all right?" he asked, running into the room. He paused when looking at her arms. Something his subconscious noted earlier suddenly made itself apparent. Research was a sifting through patterns, and there was one. Most of the scarring was fairly random and straight lines, but "Why do you have four wavy lines on your shoulder?" John asked.
Diana blinked at the non sequitur and said, "Well, I'm fine, yes. I needed to practice a new strategy. It took a bit of effort, but I think I've got the hang for this fight. Now if Brock will do what he's supposed to, I'll be fine." Diana peered at John's suddenly embarrassed face as she started to suck on a water bottle, "Please tell me you didn't lose?"
"Well, no," John held up his new Boulder Badge and said, "However, let it be said that standard rock fighting tactics may not apply in this fight." John was very uncomfortable. His Magnemite hadn't any trouble against Onix, but Geodude had wiped out Magnemite, and if Butterfree hadn't managed to confuse the rock type, he'd be waiting for quite a while.
Diana smiled, "Good." John goggled and Diana explained, "I've spent the last hour working on a strategy that figured Brock wouldn't rely on conventional wisdom. I'd hate to think all the training went to waste." John nodded, and realized he should have known better. The general tips he had relied on were just that, general. Brock had probably written or at least refined several of the basic anti-rock strategies, and knew ways to avoid them.
"I'll ask you about your battle later, but I need to get out to the main floor. Oh!" Diana said suddenly, and held her cane out to John, "Hang on to this for me. You're not supposed to rely on anything but yourself and Pokemon in battles, and it'll only be for a few minutes anyway," Diana explained. Diana limped away, leaving John to wonder what he had missed.
"Hey! You didn't answer my question!" John suddenly realized, but Diana had left for the time being and recalled her Pokemon.
****************
Brock stood confidently in the ring, surrounded by fairs. More people had failed for the badge then succeeded, but Brock's pride wasn't hurt by losing too badly. Those who won in a badge contest didn't typically win because they had a Pokemon power house, or knew a lot of moves, but they understood the flow of power in battle.
The next opponent was an interesting case, and had apparently helped foil two Team Rocket plans already, and had some of the spoils of the recent defeat Team Rocket had suffered on Johto. Team Rocket had done some risky things in western Kanto attempting to get those Pokemon back, forcing something approaching all-out war on occasion. Any girl who could continue on with the weight of knowledge that she was one of the targets of the world's most evil organization was something in his book.
Still, Brock wasn't quite prepared for who he faced now. The limp he had assumed to be from some Rocket-related injury taken earlier was evidently from something much older, judging by the scars. It was an odd mixture. She had shed the heavy clothing for something more appropriate for quick movement and heavy exertion, and so it was obvious she was treating this match seriously. Yet, it was far more obvious without a cane, though she was showing less obvious weaknesses by not relying on it. Brock could appreciate someone holding up over pressure, but he didn't think she was quite well enough for this.
"Confidence is good too have, but it has a bad tendency to get out of hand and end up being shattered," Brock muttered to himself. It looked like it was his job to be the drill that did the damage. If a gym leader did it, then the pieces could probably rebuilt. Letting life in general do it would be a lot messier.
Brock stood in the center of an arena. It was lined with ropes, similar to the wrestling-style ring, but it was four times as large, and the floor was much rockier and harder than the soft dirt of the prelims. Several large stone formations added a slight 3-dimensional element to the arena. He gestured towards Diana, who visibly gulped, and proclaimed, "You believe you can fight me and win this?" Brock brandished a Boulder Badge he had been holding in his pocket, and threw down two Poke balls. A Geodude Onix appeared, eager for battle, in a cloud of smoke. "These is one of my champions. Show me yours. Two-on-two battle, one after another!"
"Go, Tangela!" Diana shouted. The plant Pokemon hopped forward, eyes staring bravely out from amid the mass of vines.
"An interesting choice. No poison type weakness for me to exploit. But how well trained is it? Geodude, tackle it out of the arena!" Brock ordered. Geodude nodded and sped through the air, arms crossed in front of its face.
"Tangela, run for it!" Diana shouted in response, holding a hand high in the air. Tangela chirped and she ran so the nearest rock formation was in between her and the rock-type. Geodude shrugged and floated higher in the air, ready to come down on top of the grass type as he floated over the formation. Diana brought her hand down with a shout of "Constrict!" Tangela launched a set of vines from its interior. Unlike wrap, these were detached, and they quickly coiled around Geodude. Geodude blinked in surprise when it found it was unable to move its arms out of the guard position, and the grass nature of the vines was interfering with its levitation. Tangela's eyes were alight with merriment as the already slow Geodude got slower.
"Tangela, wrap time and don't let go!" Tangela chirped again and she sent her regular vines out.
"Nope. You got your free shot in with the constrict, but now you'll start paying for them! Geodude, drop like a rock and counter!" Brock commanded. The vines passed overhead as Geodude cut his levitation out. Tangela gasped and quickly began to pull them in. Geodude, however, was already glowing with energy. His fighting spirit revitalized, Geodude snapped the vines surrounding it, grabbed onto a loose end, and then shot it out like a whip at Tangela, knocking the plant Pokemon back several feet. Tangela shook herself and finished retracting the vines, ready to go on.
"You have it trained quite well. Its wrap attack looks a little better aimed than normal. However, this isn't some lowly Geodude with just tackle. This is one I'm prepping for the next League championship, and so it has a few fighter moves to enhance it a little. Geodude, submission hold!" Brock ordered.
Tangela and Diana blinked in surprise as Geodude lunged forward to grab hold of the plant-type. Giving a small shrug (difficult when your body is all vines), Tangela happily coiled around Geodude, but she had only started the slow process of breaking through a rock like a plant's roots when Geodude slammed against the ground. Both were dazed and rolled in opposite directions away from each other.
"Okay, that wasn't as dumb as I thought. Geodude is way faster than normal," muttered Diana, "Tangela can't quite keep a hold of a wrap attack if she gets hit like that, and even though when she's unwrapped like that she's taking more damage than Geodude. I need to grab him on the ground, and constrict is too short ranged. Okay, Tangela! Do what we practiced!"
Tangela chirped and launched out another wrap attack. Geodude shrugged and calmly dodged it. Brock grinned and said, "As I'm sure you've guessed. All the fighting-style training has done wonderful things to Geodude's speed, and his defense level wasn't hurt either. Unless you've been hiding a vine whip in there, Tangela's just a tad out matched! Geodude, finish her with another submission!" Geodude nodded and went to pick up Tangela as she was unable to concentrate on moving while bringing her vines in.
As soon as Geodude picked Tangela up, however, Tangela shot her vines out all over the gym floor, wrapping around the rock formations. Geodude blinked several times in surprise as Tangela was no longer moving as Geodude pushed, and the coil reflex was too strong for the low-level Geodude to break through. The vines tightened and retracted, digging into the rock formations
"Oh!" applauded Brock, "Very nicely done! But if we can't bring Tangela to the ground. We'll bring the ground to Tangela! Geodude, tackle!" Geodude 'jumped' into the air, and came down with one elbow ready to jam Tangela's center of mass. Freaked out, Tangela relaxed her death grip on the rock formations. As she had already retracted a bit, the vines came whipping in faster than usual. Geodude had time for one yelp before he was engulfed in the mass of retracting vines.
Brock gasped in surprise as the vines roiled for a minute, and then Tangela spat Geodude out, who was unconscious from lack of air before walking over to stand by Diana. "Oh! Very nicely done indeed," applauded the gym trainer as he recovered, "You weren't getting a better grip, you were betting Tangela's elasticity would prevent the vines from snapping. That way, you could retract them while having them cover the same distance, so with them effectively closer, you boosted Tangela's attack speed and combined constrict with wrap!" Diana wondered if Brock was channeling the spirit of John for a moment, but figured the hot lights and excitement were making her hear things.
"However, that won't do you any good against this! Onix, finish them!" The giant rock snake howled even as Geodude was recalled. The massive Pokemon almost reached the ceiling of the arena. Diana and Tangela's eyes followed the craggy creature up and up, before Diana visibly gulped.
"That's a whole lot of Pokemon," she noted faintly. Tangela chirped an uneasy agreement. Onix roared in agreement. "Tangela, let's try and slow that monster down, constrict!" Tangela spat out a spring-shaped vine from her depths that quickly wrapped itself around Onix, though it only managed to reach about one and a half times around the Pokemon's belly. Onix looked at it with some amusement, while Brock laughed.
"You'll have to do better than that attack against Onix here. He's a lot tougher than Geodude, and his attacks are better too! Rock throw!" Onix howled and spat a group of boulders from his mouth. Tangela tried to dodge, but despite greater vine speed, she was still slow on her little feet, and the boulders sent her flying into Diana's stomach. Momentum was conserved, and Diana was knocked off her feet, skidding along the ground before stopping only a few inches away from the foul line, which would end the competition. "Ready to give up?" asked Brock in a serious tone.
Diana had the wind knocked out of her by several pounds of Tangela, and didn't have the energy to reply. Tangela was in no shape to attack, and Diana quickly recalled her before the unconscious Pokemon dissolved into spaghetti in her arms. Needing time to recover, and not quite ready to stand yet, she threw Dratini out without any commands, hoping she could dodge on her own until Diana got her breath back.
Dratini took one look at the massive Pokemon in front of her, and blinked a few times in astonishment. Onix roared and dove down against the light-blue serpent. Dratini hissed once and quickly slithered away, letting Onix smash harmlessly into the ground. Well, harmlessly for Dratini. Onix popped back up with an irritated expression and a slight dent in its forehead.
Luckily, this had bought some time for Diana, "Wrap him, Dratini!" Dratini made a joyful burble and slithered around Onix, maneuvering so her coils dug into the more sensitive areas in between sections, and hung on for dear life.
Oddly enough, nothing happened. Dratini and Diana popped one eye open with Onix failed to thrash about in a wild attempt to loosen the dragon. Diana shrugged, "Just keep going, Dratini. I think he's trying to irritate you." Onix didn't even blink at that, continuing to sit there, looking calm despite the way the dragon was starting to cut into its air.
Brock, however, was carefully judging Onix's condition. This move was difficult to use, and was really a sort of refined counter. Brock wasn't surprised the young trainer was completely confused, as the bide maneuver was one of the greatest and most treasured techniques of the Pewter City gym, allowing one to absorb the stress and release it, similar to the Earth in an earthquake. If Brock let it go too long, Onix might start to glow from the stored energy. "Onix, bide attack!"
Onix glowed now, but for a purpose as all of Dratini's attack strength was thrown back at her in one blow. Dratini screamed as power flowed over her body, and the dragon went limp, sliding off Onix and slamming against the ground. Diana started to crawl forward, not up to walking yet.
What everyone watching agreed happened next was Dratini not making her usual vocalizations, but instead howling like something torn from beyond the grave as she managed to regain her 'footing' and begin to attack with Dragonbreath, the energy bolts snapping against Onix's scales. Onix immediately retaliated with a rock throw, but Dratini managed to slither her way through the rocks and wrap herself around Onix's neck. Howling, now with something approaching bloodlust, and the Pokemon began trying to aim the tiny horn on its head for Onix's eyes.
From Diana's point of view, she then screamed out to the Pokemon, wordlessly but panic had cleared her lungs. With a scintillating burst of clarity, Diana realized what was going through the Pokemon's head, similar to how Dratini had introduced herself via sheer willpower earlier. The Pokemon had been prepped by Team Rocket, and knowing it was going up into a world where it would be weak for a while, they had thrown far stronger opponents at it, ones it could barely scratch with its best attacks, and the Pokemon had been beaten up mercilessly in the name of training. Now, it was going to get revenge.
"Dratini, stop!" she called out. Dratini ignored her, still going for the eyes, ignoring the commands that weren't burned into her psyche. "Um, Dratini! Cease, halt, desist!" she commanded. Dratini blinked once in confusion, her mind cloudy. This was her trainer, who had showed a different possibility than the short life she had been dreading. Dratini had gotten some revenge against the Rockets in the past, but now the cycle would be complete and she would be free to battle and win.
Dratini finally ceased trying for the crippling blow. Her thoughts were confused. She hadn't fought the previous Rockets to get revenge, but to stop them from doing to others what had happened to her. With one blink, Dratini saw the old creche in Johto, in another, she could hear her trainer, her world, pleading with her as she approached cautiously, covered in dirt and bleeding from several wounds. Dratini keened painfully, trying to figure out why things kept shifting.
With a sudden jolt, Onix dropped close enough to the ground under Brock's orders for Diana to approach. Brock wanted to see how this turned out, and if Diana could help. Brock had heard, as the other gym leaders had, about the Rocket-found Pokemon. Dratini's actions here could prove critical for all of them. If they reacted like this in gyms, and could be calmed down, all was well. Otherwise, the Pokemon would probably have to be destroyed for the safety of others. Pokemon rarely turned berserk, but even other Pokemon were usually eager for the Pokemon to be put to sleep. Pokemon's attacks were usually designed to drive off their enemies and allow them to live in peace. When a Pokemon used them to kill, things were thrown seriously out of balance, and the rogue elements were just as dangerous as a rabid wolf would be. Sad and traumatic, it meant a Pokemon had usually been so twisted by its trainers that its normal self was completely destroyed.
Dratini was simply frozen. She could feel something calling her, something better left to deep dark nightmares, buried within her. She knew she was in a gym, the presence of so many Boulder Badges was something fairly easy for a mystical Pokemon like the dragon types to pick up on. And the only time she had been allowed to strike back was in a similar situation, surrounded by Badges. The dragon's vision cleared for a moment, showing her trainer breathing heavily with eyes closed, pale and shivering. She understood, obviously, but she still held off the attack. Dratini remained paused, grip around Onix's neck fairly passive, but still slowly weakening the Pokemon. She was ready, all it would take was her trainer to give the word, and perhaps her vision would stop flickering between one and the other.
Diana felt much of this from the dragon, who had always been able to make its wishes surprisingly clear to her trainer. The cold desperation twisted with something inside that was ready to lash out. Even though it hadn't worked out because they couldn't get close to one another, Squirtle had done Diana an enormous amount of good. For a while, if Diana had gotten close enough to a water type, she'd have probably done her best to kill it, even crippled. Having one's life her responsibility had been a breath of air, and she nearly had that hatred under control, reducing it to fear. Unfortunately, she wasn't quite sure how to transmit that sense of calm. Dratini hadn't even been aware of this little present of the Rockets until now, and she needed something to keep her from backsliding. Far away on the edge of her conscious, she noted John had come out of the crowd and was trying to reach her, evidently feeling her life was in danger by being so close to Dratini.
"Bring the worlds into order. You want a target, don't you?" she said kindly and softly. Dratini nodded once, jerkily. "I can't know quite what you're going through, but I know what you need. Just that release of striking back. Something. I don't suppose you could love tap or something?" Dratini stared at Diana, looking at her funny. "Guess not, she muttered." Diana looked at Onix. Pretty much anything wouldn't do to much damage, but striking the gym Pokemon to disable might encourage Dratini. Both of them knew it, and Dratini knew in a few moments she would do it anyway. "Disable.. That's it, Dratini, Thunder Wave!"
Dratini hearkened to her trainer's command, but was confused. Her body knew it, but her mind was split. The part of her that leaped to obey and strike at the gym's who her masters had been angry at, and the only time she was allowed to be on the dealing end, didn't know that maneuver. The rest of her knew peaceful days in forest glades, mastering her natural energies and forming them into electricity. The overriding concern had been not to overwork herself, amid family, food and rest.
Diana reached out to stroke the dragon's cheek, and that crystallized things. The shadows fell away, as the battered trainer who was still reaching out to be gentle was too different from strong, confident men who kept her on the nervous edge of exhaustion to exist in the same universe. Centered, at least for now, Dratini delivered the thunder wave into the part of her coiled around the neck. Targeting the weak point, Onix jolted with surprise and then collapsed.
"Diana is the winner!" declared Brock, and Diana shook herself as she heard the crowd roaring again, and she wasn't sure when it stopped. Dratini slumped against her shoulder, looking worn. Brock reached forward and clasped her other hand, leaving behind a small crystal-shaped badge. "Congratulations, Diana. I don't know how you managed to calm her down by just looking at her, but that was one of the sharpest bits of sheer training I've seen," he praised.
Dratini and Diana had an equal look of surprise on their faces. "The crowd must of been really noisy," said Diana, "I was screaming as loud as I could." Diana gave a firm nod of agreement.
"Interesting," murmured Brock, but he quickly changed the subject, "Actually, considering the fact you tamed a dragon so easily before it could do anything that we could classify as berserk, besides it doing an amazing job dodging my Onix, I believe you are capable of using this successfully." Brock reached into his pants and pulled out a small box which Diana peered at for a moment before pocketing.
"This is the Bide TM, the greatest ability of the Pewter gym," he proclaimed. "It allows a Pokemon to channel the power of an enemy's attacks to its own advantage. I judge you as the only trainer who I have battled today to be capable of understanding it. Use it wisely and well!" Diana bowed, and the audience reacted with cheers.
John finally broke free and ran up, "Diana! That was amazing! I've never heard of anything like that! Dratini nearly killed you, and you just stared it back into passivity!" Diana blinked, but John went on, "Not to mention he gave you the Bide! Usually you have to work at a gym for years to get their special technique given to you! You've got to tell me where you found that technique!"
Diana didn't answer, emotionally and mentally worn out by a long day and having Dratini enter her mind, she fell into the warm abyss of sleep at last.
Somewhere nearby, a boy kicked the wall several times in frustration before headed out the door, mentally composing an e-mail he would send later. He had gotten the boulder badge far easier than that, as his Beedrill had driven both opponents down under twin needles and poison stings. However, Diana had managed to top him, though Brad wasn't sure how? By standing there? It was completely unfair. "Her sister must be behind this," reasoned Brad, "She's high in the League administration." With that thought in mind, Brad set out to the Pokemon Center. He would complete the Gym Challenge, and prove he was right, no matter what the gym leaders tried. The first trick was getting more powerful Pokemon, and that meant some research.
**************
Diana awoke later in the Pokemon Center, Dratini curled up at the foot of her bed. Only a trainer could really get the Pokemon into his or her or its Poke ball. Diana looked at the IV plugged into her arm, and wondered if she wasn't suffering from flashbacks like Dratini, but when she listened carefully she could hear the powerful thrum of a generator nearby. Centers had back up power to keep their recovery machines running, less a power failure injure the Pokemon involved. Hospitals had backup power too, but they kept the generators farther away as their equipment was typically a bit more delicate around electrical fields.
"Dratini, see if there's a chart at the foot of the bed, and bring it up here, please," Diana said. Dratini moaned slightly at having to move, but quickly brought the charts over in her mouth. Wiping off the traces of Dratini-drool, Diana was relieved to see the thinness of the sheet, she had only been in bed for a few hours, evidently. Mind less cloudy now as she woke up further, she also noted that she was still wearing the clothes she had battled Brock in, plus a few minor bandages. Moving slowly, she pulled the covers up and cautiously stood up, pleased to note her balance was fine.
"So if I'm not injured or anything, why do I have a tube stuck in my arm?" she wondered out loud.
"Exhaustion," said John, who was standing in the door with a plate of food. It was probably his, as she doubted John would have chosen to give her cod fillets, and the fact that he probably hadn't eaten when they were at the gym, meaning this would be his first meal in about eight hours. Confirming her suspicion, he sat down and began to eat ravenously. Between mouthfuls, he continued, "When you collapsed they brought you back here. The doctors couldn't find any injury that would make you faint like that, so they figured you may have been working too hard in preparation for the fight and started dehydration treatment." John suddenly seemed struck by something and pulled a Poke ball out of his pocket and tossed it in an underhand arc to Diana, who caught it only by sheer reflex, and then realized she didn't have any attached Poke balls. "Bulbasaur's supposed to be back to one hundred percent now, and the staff is busy running everyone else through right now. Well, except Dratini. I dosed her with a couple of your potions, so she should be all right now."
Diana nodded her appreciation and sat back down on the bed. Ripping the IV out would probably be a bad idea, and she didn't have anywhere to go until the healing cycle was finished. Soon enough, however, a doctor came by, and when she demonstrated she was conscious, they removed the IV and got her something to eat. After another hour of rest, retrieving her Pokemon, and a shower with some clean clothes, she felt close to human again.
John walked back into the room, and tossed a small black bracelet with multiple empty settings on her bed as she was finishing packing. "Alex sent this in the mail for you. He thought you'd appreciate it. There was also a bunch of junk mail your parents forwarded. Apparently, you're already a winner," he noted. Dratini chirped irritably, and John took a step back at that.
"Oh, relax," Diana reached over and scooped as much of the Pokemon as she could into her arms as reassurance, "She's just bothered by having her nap interrupted. She's such a lazy girl, aren't you?" Dratini hissed in pleasure as Diana began to scratch behind her ear. As Diana was busy, the Boulder Badge she had attached to her jacket worked loose of the pin, falling down near the bracelet in her lap. Diana looked at them for a moment and then remarked, "So that's what this was for!" Diana explained what she meant to John by plugging the Boulder Badge into a small recess shaped like the badge on the bracelet. She quickly slipped it on.
John examined it critically, "It's not really that great now. Sort of a jewelry you have to work yourself up to. Still, it was awfully cute of him to get you that."
"It's not cute," she replied indignantly, "It was a nice gesture for him to send me something so I can keep track of the badges easily. Now I shouldn't have to worry about keeping them on my person all the time."
"You're eleven. He's eleven," countered John, "At that age. All romance is cute." Diana couldn't think of an adequate reply. "Cuteness aside, I assume we're going to move onto the next gym soon?" he said apprehensively.
Diana shrugged, and said, "No reason to hang around here. You did get a badge, right? You've been awfully quiet about that fight!"
John stammered for a moment and fumbled the badge into the open, "So the whole sonic boom thing didn't work out too well," he complained, "That counter move is a fighter type, and just shook Magnemite to pieces. Butterfree's confusion attack, along with the fact she can fly and dodge a lot of the attacks, wiped out Brock. I really don't know why you didn't want one, you seem to have the Pokemon you had really well trained, considering that when Dratini saw you angry at it, she stopped."
Diana said, "I didn't just STAND there! Dratini..."
John interrupted her, "Well, you did order it for the thunder wave at the end, but otherwise you were silent after Onix used its Bide. You walked up, Dratini froze, and I thought she was going to eat you, " Dratini huffed indignantly, but John ignored her, "She nodded a few times, and then finished off Onix. You should have heard the audience. They have to deal with a some berserkers coming off the northern mountains some times, and they're only rarely successfully tamed."
Diana waved off the compliment, "If I'd really known what I was doing, Dratini wouldn't have had to be in that situation. You are back to normal, right?" Dratini nodded, and Diana sighed, relieved. John's faith in the scientific method was offended, but it wasn't his place. Besides, Diana had proven that research didn't have everything locked down yet, anyway. Diana, ignorant of his internal thoughts, asked, "So, what should we do now?"
John looked at her askance, "You should rest up! It's obvious that you've had a really rough day and are exhausted. Everyone agrees what was on the tapes. You mention that to them, they'll keep you here longer." Diana's expression turned grim at that. "We'll talk about plans tomorrow. You should feel happy! You're being put up at gym expense."
Diana looked around the rather sterile room, "Great," she said, making little attempt to inject enthusiasm in her voice. "I'll probably be up before you, John, so let's meet in the cafeteria tomorrow morning! We'll need to do some more training, obviously, but I think we can win this!"
John nodded and headed out for the night, stopping outside the closed door, he pulled out his "Guide to Kanto." to confirm what he had seen earlier. "Cerulean City," he whispered as he read out loud, "Trainers from the western regions should be careful, as Cerulean City is the third largest city on the continent, and many trainers are greatly surprised by the bustling atmosphere. Cerulean City is set on a peninsula, and several major rivers were old sources of the city's money in the days prior to the full establishment of the Pokemon League. Cerulean remembers that tradition today by being the home of the gym dedicated to water Pokemon, and the gym is built around a large series of pools. Pewter City has a long-standing rivalry with the city due to an ancient war, and so no pedestrian pathways have been built. The safest past leads through the infamous Mount Moon. Travelers are advised to bring a Pokemon with a Flash HM to see their way through the unstable floor of the tunnel."
John had managed to download his traveling partner's medical record in the first few days of travel circumspectly. Traveling with Diana was one fascinating experience after another, and John was learning a lot. Diana had an instinctive head for tactics. John wasn't as good at innovation, but Diana had spent some time working on some ideas. He also knew she was as stubborn as a mule, and even when it had looked grim, she simply spent the time refining tactics.
All in all, watching her emotionally self-destruct due to not finding her way through the dark Rock Tunnel would be bad. It was possible they could find a Flash HM in the area. However, John hoped she could figure out a way to deal with the Cerulean gym. With her team being predominantly anti-water, it wouldn't be difficult to beat the Pokemon, but getting her INTO a gym full of water would be difficult. Diana refused to even take baths, and John seriously doubted she could swim.
Watching Diana's dream that had gotten her to overcome her injuries die due to those injuries would NOT fit into John's goal of watching her develop. She had a very empathic style, and watching that opposed to the glimpses he had gotten of her rival could fill out a thesis. Still, John figured that was for the future. Tonight was a celebration. The first hurdle that all trainers had to pass was finished, and John headed to his sleeping area, confident that if there was a way to get around an apparently insurmountable problem, a Pokemon trainer could find it. And despite everything else, Diana had manifestly proven that was what she was.
To be continued...
Next time: John may be worried, but Diana remains unknowing of what awaits on the other side of Mount Moon. Meanwhile, the League itself starts to get more involved with the sudden resurgence of Kanto Rockets, while Gary tries to find out more about Athena and Diana's shared secrets. Meanwhile, the slopes of Mount Moon are never an easy place to get through, but Team Rocket has never been above increasing the difficulty a little.
Author's notes.
Wai! Gym battle complete! This took a little while longer, but I"m quite happy with it as there's a lot of character development going on, both for a few of the Pokemon and the trainers. Plot development took a back seat this time, but it seemed to be worth it. Still, that's one/eight of the Gym Challenge beaten!
A minor note, but note Brad is apparently VERY good at training. John didn't know strategy, and counter ripped Magnemite apart despite its high level, and Butterfree was only barely good enough for confusion. Diana operated at the same level as Brock's, so even though she did a fairly good job tactic wise, she still got pounded. Brad beat Brock with a bug/poison type, apparently easily.
Eiko the junior trainer got a name here, just to more match the Gold/Silver style of naming everyone. Eiko's name was chosen as I wanted something generic that stuck in the mind, and Eiko's one of the most-common girl's name in Japan, which seemed appropriate.
Not a lot else to say, besides please review, if not publically, then please drop me a line from my e-mail address available at my stories' sub-site. I try and get back to all reviewers in some form and fashion, and I await comments.
