Track 4 - "Alive"
Leinani and Kaiko had lived on Ula'ula Island for the entirety of their lives, but neither one of them had ever been to Po Town. Four years ago, they were banned from going. It was said that the town was being run by the mischievous group, Team Skull, and they ran the town into the ground. But once the team disbanded, the town was able to slowly build itself back up again. It even received a gym, which helped it out economically.
It was a much smaller place compared to Malie City. The buildings were much more humble and appeared to be cozier. The school had what looked like to be a maximum of twenty kids of varying ages. The Pokémon Center was the flashiest building in the quaint town, and that was because it had to be.
Upon arriving, Leinani gave her Pokémon to Nurse Joy so they'd be restored back to full health after their battle with Enoka. She hid the fact that she already battled from Kaiko, and simply used the excuse that she was tired after a couple hours of walking.
"I'll battle first thing in the morning," she said.
"I can hardly contain my excitement!" Kaiko exclaimed. He held up Togedemaru while he danced around.
"Well, try to, because you're embarrassing me. I'm gonna grab dinner and then go to bed." Leinani took the key from Nurse Joy and then walked up the stairs which lead to all of the vacant rooms.
Nurse Joy laughed as she watched Kaiko and Togedemaru. "You're very energetic. Your sister's Pokémon should be back to perfect health by morning."
"Back to perfect health?" Kaiko wondered. "What do you mean? They should be fine."
Nurse Joy put her finger to her bottom lip and looked at her computer. "It's showing here that they recently went through a lot of stress and aren't in any condition to fight right now. It looks like they were in some kind of intense battle."
"Intense battle?"
The next morning both Leinani and Kaiko were up early. Kaiko prepared the two a simple hotcake breakfast filled with a lot of berries. He wanted to ask about Leinani's Pokémon and why they were in such rough condition, but he didn't want to psych Leinani out before her battle.
"Do you have any cool strategies in mind?" Kaiko asked.
Leinani had stuffed her mouth with hotcakes, but she responded anyway. Kaiko couldn't understand a single word she said though, and he just looked at her confused. She rolled her eyes, chewed her food, and then answered once more. "You can't go into every battle with a strategy. A good trainer needs to be able to adapt on the fly."
"I see. I guess that makes sense. You don't know what you're getting into. I'm sure you'll be fine."
Once finished, the two quickly made their way to the gym. It was at the end of Po Town in what appeared to once have been a government building. It had been repurposed to function as the gym, and had Leinani been without her GPS, she wouldn't know where to look.
The inside of the building looked no different from the outside. It was a large room with a marble staircase that led up to a second floor, and to Leinani's surprise, there were many people dressed in suits who looked like they were working. It was a quiet place though with only the noises of pen on paper and the occasional phone ringing giving it some life.
"This is a bank. Are you sure this is the gym?" she asked. She looked at her Pokédex. "It's not next door or something?"
"Can we help you?" a tall, lanky man with a greying mustache asked.
"Yeah, we're uh-looking for the gym?" Leinani said, unsure of how to talk to someone dressed so nicely. "Maybe we're in the wrong place."
"You've come to the right place," the man said. "I'll take you straight to the gym leader, and you can get started."
The two followed the man up the large staircase. None of the workers paid any attention to them as they passed by, and the two felt very out of place. After only a few moments of following the man, they came to a set of two large wooden doors. The man opened them, and the way that he grunted indicated that they were rather heavy.
Leinani looked inside, finding a battlefield that was dimly lit with a dark green light. She walked down a set of stairs while Kaiko was led to the stands by the man. The battlefield was slightly forested with small patches of grass and shrubbery plastered throughout.
"Hello?" Leinani said, her voice echoing off of the empty stadium walls.
On the other side of the field, a man sat in a small throne made of gold. He had an angry expression on his face, and his eyes were slightly sunken in, as though he hadn't slept in days.
"I'm here to challenge the Po Town Gym Leader!" Leinani exclaimed. "My name is Leinani Koa, and I'm from Malie City." She held out her Poké Ball.
The man stood up. He wore a white shirt and baggy black pants. His hair was held back by golden sunglasses and dyed white, but some of his dark roots were showing.
"Malie City, huh?"
Leinani nodded.
"Speak when spoken to!" the man snarled.
"Yes! Yes, sir. I'm from Malie City."
"So, I take it that you've defeated Uhuli already?"
Leinani shook her head. "No, sir. He requested that I battle with you first."
"He what?!"
Leinani gulped and took a small step backwards. "He-he said that the Po Town gym is easier than his, and he refused to battle with me until I defeat you."
"That arrogant cocky punk!" the man yelled. "My gym is not easy! How dare he say such a thing!"
"I'm-I'm sorry."
"You will be! I'm Guzma, the Insect Kingpin! I'll crush you like a bug!"
The man with the greying mustache took his position at the edge of the battlefield. He held up one white and one black flag in either hand. "The following battle will be between the gym leader, Guzma, and the challenger, Leinani Koa. It will be a single, two on two battle, and only the challenger is allowed to make substitutions. Begin!"
"Easier gym, huh?" Guzma said while he was deliberating his options. He pulled a Poké Ball from his belt and then threw it forward. A large brown Pokémon with silver pinsirs on the top of its head appeared. It flexed its muscles and snapped its pinsirs closed repeatedly, trying to intimidate Leinani. It worked.
"Pinsir, the Stag Beetle Pokémon. It grips its prey in its pincers and splits them apart. Although it is a powerful Pokémon, it can't deal with the cold. When night falls, it buries itself in leafage and sleeps," the Pokédex chimed. Kaiko had taken it from Leinani's back pocket, knowing that she wasn't going to use it anyways. He hoped that she knew how to approach the Pokémon nonetheless.
"A Bug-type Pokémon, which means that Flying-type attacks will work best!" Leinani exclaimed. She threw her Poké Ball forward, and Rowlet materialized in the air. She fluttered slightly before landing safely on the field.
"As my challenger, you get the first move," Guzma said. "But you better make it count, because I won't hold back after the first blow."
Leinani grinned and adjusted her headphones. "One attack is all we need! DJ, use Peck!"
"Wait for it."
Pinsir stood still as Rowlet shot across the field. Energy exploded off of her beak, and in the blink of an eye, she collided with Pinsir's midsection. The Bug-type withstood the attack though, and he looked down in disgust at Rowlet's weak attempt.
"Now, Vital Throw!"
Using what momentum remained from Rowlet's attack, Pinsir swayed his body back and allowed the Flying-type to continue forward. He reached out and grabbed her by the talons before tossing her directly at the ground. She crashed hard before sliding back a few feet. Once she recovered she looked back towards Leinani for a command.
"Double Hit!" Guzma commanded.
"Try Astonish!" Leinani ordered, slightly panicked.
Pinsir came forward with his head down, ready to jab with his pinsirs, but Rowlet was surprisingly fast. She ducked and then jabbed with her beak, nailing Pinsir right in between the eyes. Pinsir then stood straight up before stumbling backwards slightly.
"One more Peck! Give it all you got!" Leinani yelled.
Rowlet rounded about before targeting Pinsir again. Her beak started to glow, and energy exploded as she put all of her energy into it.
"Double Hit!"
Pinsir's flinch was momentary, and once Rowlet came within striking distance, he flicked his head to the side, connecting directly once before shifting again, striking with his other horn. Rowlet's attack was stopped, and she fell backwards, trying to retreat.
"X-Scissor!" Guzma commanded.
Pinsir's horns started to glow with a dark green energy, and he crossed them to form an 'X' shape. With a loud howl, he unleashed the energy forward, blasting Rowlet into the air. She landed hard on the ground before coming to a stop. She looked up at Leinani before softly trilling and then falling unconscious.
"Rowlet is unable to battle!" the referee declared.
"Dang," Leinani muttered. She lifted her Poké Ball and let the red light absorb Rowlet.
"C'mon, Leilei," Kaiko said quietly. He held Togedemaru close to his chest and squeezed out of worry.
"Toge."
"We may be down, but we're not out!" Leinani said while feigning a smile. She tossed her next Poké Ball into the air, and Sandshrew appeared. It lowered its head while looking at Pinsir.
Guzma laughed. "You're a fool. You're a childish fool. If you think you can defeat me after the beating I just gave your Rowlet, then you're dumber than those big headphones make you look."
"Did you just insult my headphones?" Leinani asked.
Guzma simply sneered.
"You'll regret that! Shure, use Ice Shard!"
Sandshrew opened his mouth and then unleashed a cold wind onto the field, freezing over the patches of grass. Small bits of ice blew along from inside the stream, but Pinsir didn't appear to be bothered.
"Vital Throw!" Guzma yelled.
Against the wind, Pinsir ran forward. His arm started to glow with an orange aura, and he quickly reached Sandshrew, much to Leinani's surprise. He reached out, grabbed the Ice-type by his small arms, and then tossed him into the air. Sandshrew hit the ground with a brutal thud, but after a few seconds of waiting, he began to stir.
"Yes! C'mon, Shure, we can still do this!" Leinani cheered. She then looked at Guzma, and the hope that she still had vanished in an instant.
Guzma's wrist was glowing brightly with a dark green energy. He stuck his arms out forward, and the energy in the room suddenly shifted. The ice that had frozen over some of the grass suddenly melted away, and Pinsir surged with energy.
"A Z-Move," Leinani muttered.
Guzma never took his cold eyes off of Leinani while he performed the poses necessary. And once he hit his final pose, he shouted, "Savage Spin-Out!"
The energy that surrounded his body shot across the field, and it engulfed Pinsir. The Bug-type howled and then glared at Sandshrew. Sandshrew's body bobbed up and down from his heavy breathing, and Leinani was in too much of a state of awe to make her command.
With a roar, Pinsir released his attack. A string of thick goo shot from his mouth, and it surrounded Sandshrew before quickly hardening. He lifted Sandshrew into the air with a heave and then suddenly tore it away, leaving Sandshrew spinning violently. Once again, the Ice-type crashed into the ground, but now he was curled into a ball. Everyone waited, and when Sandshrew finally uncurled, it was clear that he couldn't continue.
"Sandshrew is unable to battle! Guzma and Pinsir are the victors!"
Those words echoed throughout Leinani's mind as she and Kaiko walked back to the Pokémon Center. They echoed throughout her mind as they ate dinner. They echoed throughout her mind as she took a shower. And they echoed throughout her mind as she tried to sleep that night. No amount of music could block those words from her mind.
When she lost to Enoka, there was no one to see it, and there was no one to officially declare that she was, in fact, the loser. But with Guzma, her brother saw her lose, and there was a referee there to make the call.
Leinani lost. Leinani was, in fact, a loser.
Kaiko held Togedemaru in his arms while the two laid down on the Pokémon Center's bed. He looked out towards Leinani and her side of the room, but she had her back turned towards him. She didn't say a single word since her loss, and even though she had her headphones on, he couldn't hear any music coming from it.
He wasn't sure what to say though. Leinani wasn't exactly the nicest person, even when she was happy, and since she had gone through a pretty humiliating loss, he was afraid of the backlash that would come his way if he were to try to talk to her. He just sighed and pulled Togedemaru closer.
Tomorrow would be a new day.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
I want Leinani to truly earn her first gym badge. She's got a lot to learn, and I think she really needed to lose. Next chapter, we'll dive into her feelings on the loss a little bit more. She won't immediately go in for the rematch.
REVIEWS:
Stormwar9 - "It's a fun story so far. I do like Leilani as a character and she seems to have so much potential to develop alongside her Pokemon. The humor and interactions between characters add depth to the overall story, which does help set the story off to a good start. Also the battle in this chapter is well detailed and flows nicely. Nice use of moves to where it feels more lively than mechanical. I do look forward to seeing Leilani's first gym battle. Well done." - Thanks! I really appreciate the compliments! I write a lot of battles, so it's good to know that I'm writing them with a good flow. I've been meaning to check out your story, but haven't had a lot of time!
UKEagleClaw - "Very enjoyable chapter. I liked how you reinforced their earlier interaction with Tapu Bulu at the start, and I found Leinani going straight for her headphones in the morning very relatable, haha. Character-wise, like in the last chapter, I liked how she ventured where she had not been before, despite not know what was at the other end. Since it's Po Town, I'm thinking the gym leader will most likely be Guzma. Bug-types, therefore, most likely. Outside chance: Dark or Poison maybe. I presume he won't use Golisopod as too high level." - Spot-on with Guzma! I did have the dilemma of giving him Golisopod, but it may be too early for that. However, Pinsir isn't too bad of a choice.
wisdom-jewel - "Kaiko would be disappointed when he learns she already had her first battle and lost. I'm sure he won't be happy. And Leilani needs to work to become better." - It seems like he may have an idea that she's already battled. We'll go into it a bit more at a later time.
CrescentApple - "Hmm, Leinani is not that bad of a battler. I didnt expect her to do as well as she did. I like the small moments with Kaido on his own. Its enjoyable in tiny doses. And I was a little confused Leinani didn't tell Kaido she already battled. I guess Kaido is a very sensitive boy." - I just think that Leinani is secretly nice and doesn't want to disappoint her younger brother.
