Ch. 16 – Some Extra Badges

Can Never Have Too Much of a Good Thing

            "How did you catch an Articuno?!"

            The man laughed.  "Where do you think?  A secret cave in the middle of nowhere.  Let's begin.  Articuno!  Blizzard!"

            The icy legendary pokemon cawed before unleashing its might.  Pyro had no chance to move out of the way before he became a frozen popsicle.  Lina returned him to his pokeball, allowing the warm fire within to warm him back up.

            Growling, Lina knew that her chances of winning suddenly became very slim.  But if she quit now, she wouldn't be who she was today.

            The next few bouts went by very quickly.  Lina chose her Raichu and managed to get a Thunder in before he was frozen with Blizzard.  Next was Sandslash who got within five feet of Articuno with a Slash attack before literally freezing up.  Lina's fifth pokemon was Magmar, who barely missed getting frozen like the others by canceling out the Blizzard with a Fire Blast.  In the smoke, Magmar rushed forward to give Articuno a Fire Punch, but he flew at just the right time, allowing Magmar to scorch the air.  Articuno then grabbed Magmar with his claws, which turned out to be a bad idea, considering that Magmar heats the air around it.  In addition with a scorched set of claws, Magmar added a roasted bottom to it, before he was dropped and swatted away with Articuno's tail.  Surprisingly, Magmar landed on his feet, but was met by the wrath of an angry Articuno.  This, in turn, resulted in a pecked to unconscious Magmar.

            Lina gritted her teeth as she returned Magmar.  Did she really have to choose that pokemon?  Well, it seemed that she no longer had any choice.  She just hoped that it would obey her.  "Dragu!  I choose you!"

            With a monstrous roar, the Dragonite came into the picture, barely fitting over the cape battlefield.

            "Take to the air, Dragu!"

            "You too, Articuno!"

            In the air, it was just as easy to tell the differences of size.  Articuno in comparison was only half the height and a third of the volume of Dragonite.  When Dragu launched a massive Hyper Beam attack, it was no contest.  With Articuno knocked out cold, Lina was the winner.  Lina cheered and thanked Dragu before returning him to his pokeball.  The man returned his Articuno as well, but with a smirk.

            "Now I really must congratulate you Lina-chan.  You have earned my respect as a Pokemon Trainer.  Oh, and since I am the gym leader of the Zephilian Gym, it is only proper that I give you this badge as proof of your victory.  Feel proud that you have won the Track badge from me.  We will meet again, you can be sure of that."  With those parting words, the man disappeared, never to be seen for another decade at least.

            Lina snatched the badge that he tossed to her, but still growled in irritation.  She still hated that man with venom, but there was nothing she could really do about it, short of winning a pokemon battle against him.  Seeing as how Charizard would need more time to recuperate, Lina chose one of her extra pokemon that she was able to keep with her without having it be sent to Prof. Oak.

            As soon as she released a Rapidash in front of her, she climbed on and grabbed the reins.  "Let's go Philippe!  Down the volcano's side!"

            It was a lucky thing for Lina that her Rapidash was not the least bit scared of steep slopes or heights; it allowed her to get to the Riddle Inn very easily.  There, in the lobby, she found her great uncle Blaine being questioned by Zel, Gary, and Gourry.

            "…so you haven't seen Lina at all?" As Blaine shook his head, Gourry slumped his shoulders.  Seeing them like that, Lina couldn't help but play a joke on them.  Knowing her great uncle's style of speaking and writing, she quickly wrote a riddle on the back of one of the Riddle Inn business cards and put it in her mother Pikachu's mouth to deliver.  Her Pikachu waddled with a forlorn look over to the travelers.  Gary was the first to notice, and took the card from its mouth.  He read it out loud to them.

            "You don't know where I am, but you want to know.  I may be your friend, or something else.  I met my match on this island.  Who am I?"

            To which they all instantly answered, "Lina!"  Zel added, "Where is she and who sent this?  It doesn't sound very promising."

            Completely off subject, Gourry suddenly asked, "Hey, I wonder who this Pikachu belongs to."

            "Probably to whoever sent this," Zel answered offhandedly.  He suddenly stopped and did a double take.  Gary said exactly what he was thinking.  "Maybe it can lead us to them!"

            Zel nodded, but Gourry was already attempting to speak Pikachu.

            "Hey, who's your master little guy?"

            A stress mark appeared on her little yellow head and she crossed her little arms and huffed cutely.  She turned her back to him with a short, "(My mistress is Lina-sama)"

            Gourry nodded as if understanding.  "Sorry, whatever I did.  Can you please show us the way?"

            The Pikachu still turned up her nose, while replying, "(If you were really her companions, you would know.  Dimwit.)"

            Not understanding, Gourry sighed and straightened up.  "Looks like we're on our own on this one guys."

            They looked at him as if he were the strangest creature they had ever seen, but in a blink they forgot it.  At the sound of a high-pitched whistle, Pikachu's ears perked straight up.  She then scampered off towards the source.  The boys' eyes followed the little rodent to the beginning of the corridor where it crawled up into someone's arms.

            "Who's there?  Show yourself!" was Zel's instinctive yell.

            Lina laughed as she came into the light, stroking her Pikachu's fur.  "You guys look like you really put your undies in a bunch looking for me.  It's too bad that I found you first; you would have been really surprised by the things I saw."

            A wave of blush penetrated easily within the trio before they rushed towards Lina.  Gary protectively asked, "Where did he take you?"

            Lina laughed it off as she started walking towards Blaine.  "Mt. Magma if you must know.  But don't worry about it; I'm fine.  Hey, GUB!  Long time no see!"

            A stressmark appeared on Blaine's forehead.  "Lina-chan…Please don't call me that."

            Gourry dumbly asked, "What's GUB stand for?"

            Lina grinned happily.  "What else?  Great Uncle Blaine!"

            Blaine added, "It sounds so incredibly similar to 'grub', and therefore disrespectful."

            Gary laughed slightly.  He leaned over the counter and whispered, "Well, she means well Blaine, and it's best to keep her pleased if she's in a good mood, you know?"

            Blaine nodded, somewhat depressed.  He muttered back, "It makes me feel so old, too, you know what I'm saying?"

            Gary nodded, and they both jumped when Lina declared, "Hey, I heard that!"

            They waited for any further reaction, but Lina seemed to just shrug it off and say, "I'm starved!  When do we eat?"

            They sighed in relief and dinner plans were discussed.  Over dinner, Lina didn't say anything about what she had experienced or who she had met.  Afterwards, however, she checked up on her mother, and caught up as much as she could that night.

In the morning, she set out with Zel and Gourry; Gary said that he had to find 'the girls' and he'd be on his way after doing some sight seeing.  Zel suddenly remembered something that Lina had told him before.  As they were strolling down a souvenir filled street, he ventured to ask, "Lina?  Remember what you said when we first met, about how there might be a cure for me on Cinnabar?  Where is it?"

            At this, Lina sweated.  "Oh, um, that?  Well, the place is up ahead, but don't blame me if you don't find what you're looking for."

            Zel immediately became suspicious.  "What do you mean by that?"

            Lina laughed nervously.  "Oh, heh, um, never mind.  Come, follow me."

            The place Lina had previously told Zel about was in fact the present-day workout center, a.k.a. it was no longer the renowned Pokemon Lab it once was.  As soon as Zel discovered this, he immediately glowed with glaring red irritation.  Uneasily, Lina asked, "Um…Zel?  You okay?"

            All he said was, "I guess this is where we part again."

            His abruptness caught Lina off guard, but she accepted it.  She rubbed the back of her head as she commented, "Heh, sorry I couldn't help; I forgot that this whole island became a tourist resort since the last time I've been here.  Will I see you at the Pokemon League Finals at least?"

            Zel huffed as he turned.  "We'll see.  Farewell."

            With that, he stalked out of sight.  In a matter of hours, their four person group had decimated to just two – Lina and Gourry.  Lina sighed as they walked around, looking at the souvenirs.

It was almost noon before Lina remembered that she still hadn't gotten her Cinnabar Island badge yet.  She told Gourry to hurry up and follow her back to the Riddle Inn.  There, she confronted her great uncle and asked for a gym battle.  Blaine agreed, saying that he would like to see how much she had improved.  Unfortunately, since his official battle field had been destroyed by some pesky visitors just yesterday, Blaine asked that they have the battle above the volcano.  Lina grimaced at the memory of her last battle there, but agreed.

Blaine agreed to a one-on-one battle, so it was very easy to choose- Her strongest Pokemon.  When Blaine chose Magmar, Lina chose her Charizard.  That battle commenced.  First, Lina attacked with Flamethrower, which Magmar countered with his own.  Pyro put more heat into it, and overpowered Magmar.  The attack knocked him down but he was up again.  Magmar went on the offensive and attacked with Fire Blast.  Pyro sent the attack right back with a series of swift wing gusts.  This caught Magmar off guard, but he simply took it, absorbing it back into his body.

When Pyro headed toward Magmar for a Seismic Toss, Magmar sent him flying back with a Fire Punch.  Suddenly getting an idea, Pyro used a Flamethrower and his wings to make a Flaming Tornado.  Surprised, Magmar was taken into its flow, allowing him to become feverishly dizzy.  As the flames dissipated, Magmar slowly floated down from where the top of the tornado had been.  Pyro instantly flew to catch him, and then went for a Seismic Toss.  As soon as Magmar hit the small bit of ground that accounted for the battlefield, Pyro was back in the air, and went straight down for a finishing spiral slash attack.  The end result: Lina and Pyro were the winners.

Blaine congratulated Lina and handed her her new Volcano badge.  As Lina cheered, Gourry congratulated her as well.  She replied that a lot of the credit went to Pyro to being such a good pupil and pokemon.  She gave Pyro a treat before addressing Blaine again.  She would be traveling to Viridian City to get her next badge.  Blaine agreed, but asked that she visit more frequently then once every seven years.  Lina laughed and said she would.  With that, she boarded Pyro with Gourry behind her, and waved goodbye as they soared through the air.

They made quick time back to the mainland, where they chowed down on seafood before going on their way again.  That was when Xellos started following them.  Lina didn't seem to mind, so Gourry didn't either.  After all, "the more the merrier."  In Viridian, she met someone she had never expected to meet again – Vrumagan and Zangulus.  Since their boss, the real gym leader, was out, they were in charge.  In a matter of minutes, she and Pyro made mincemeat out of them.  Getting the Earth Badge was like taking candy from a baby.

Afterwards, Lina counted up her badges, which added up to eleven.  She called Professor Oak and asked when the deadline to turn in badges for the tournament was.  His answer: barely three months from now.  Lina thanked him and looked in her Pokedex for any gyms that she had missed.  There was the newly built gym in Dark City for the Shadow badge.  As well as a small one in Stone Town for the Evolution Badge, Neon City for the Light Badge, Hollywood for the Movie Badge, and last but not least, the Wave badge from Surf City (I know I got it out of order from how Ash traveled through the cities, but it doesn't matter).  Lina certainly didn't need extra badges, but as her sister always said, "It's better to be safe than sorry."

So Lina went on a second quest for badges to fulfill her second set.  She toasted the two pokemon team of Scyther and Electabuzz in Dark City with her Charizard.  In Stone Town, she beat Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon with her Wigglytuff, who after making them all fall asleep, slapped them silly.  Her battle in Neon City was easily won when their two Magnetons and Pikachu went against Lina's Sandslash.  Hollywood's Meowth and Persian were no match for Arcanine, regardless of animal-based types.  The wave badge was slightly harder than the rest, since it was a Gyarados and a Slowpoke against Lina's Victreebel, but she still won.  After the long ordeal of furious traveling and gym battling, Lina breathed a sigh of relief.  She had won five badges in a matter of two weeks.

            While relaxing on the beach of Seafoam Island, Lina decided to see if there was anything else that was worth doing.  Lina found that in one town, there was an institute that tested you for a Pokemon badge worth 8 regular gym badges which would automatically give you access to the pokemon league.  They were now giving a test for last minute entrants.  Lina grinned to herself and decided to take the test.  Xellos took it with her, and Lina's first place was just before Xellos'.  They both received the badge, but Lina asked Xellos if he really planned on competing in the tournament.  He said 'no' before he could think about it, and Lina instantly commanded him to sell it to him for 50 PD.  Xellos huffed that he worked hard for this badge, but offhandedly suggested that he might consider it for 5,000 PD, and Lina called it a deal.  This surprised Xellos so much that he looked at Lina incredulously.  She took out one of her saved pokemon and held it out.  With it she told him that this Rapidash could win any race put up to it with the right rider, and so could easily make 5,000 PD or more in its lifetime, not to mention it could be sold for much more than 5,000 PD.  Lina usually didn't give away her pokemon, especially fire pokemon, but it was for an important cause that would be later revealed.  Besides, she had two of them reserved for her in Zephilia and a family of three in Pallet Town; she had all she needed.  Xellos sighed and agreed.  He handed his badge over for the Pokeball.

            Appeased at last, Lina made her return trip home, no longer needing to train excluding the basic keeping her pokemon in shape.  She had an unbeatable team, and no one was going to show her up at the League.  After all, why should they?  She had acquired 16 badges out of the 8 required, as well as two "Master" badges.  Just as she had guessed, her return home was anything but laid back.