Disclaimer: I love these disclaimers. It's always so refreshing to be able to put random stuff in. Oh, and of course, I do not own Pokémon. It gets a little tiring to keep typing that same line though. What about… Do I not own Pokémon? But then again, I don't.
And… thanks for the character submission; I'll try to use him in my next chapter or two, since I've gotta wrap up this battle first. Don't worry, I won't forget.
And hooray for new reviews! Sorry I couldn't update the last 4 days… my internet connection died on me, so I was only able to read those reviews last night (or this morning – 2 A.M, to be precise)… and as I'm writing this the connection's down again; but I'll put this up as soon as possible!
Enough ranting – since I'm without a muse I'll have to push myself back into the writing habit. Here you are, chapter 9 of Pokémon Go…
"So…" Seryn mused, "are we going to get back to the battle or not?"
It had hardly been a few seconds since he'd asked the question, so Ash found the remark a little unfair. Nonetheless, he readied himself, looking over at the slightly-weary Ditto to check if it was still battle-fit.
"When this is over… Dit… I demand we check into a hotel…"
Seryn raised the Pokéball to her eye level again, before releasing it in a classic manoeuvre. Ash recognized it from the numerous Pokémon battles he'd seen on television. Most of the top trainers favoured that pose, although there were some others who were now trying variants…
I never did like posing.
"Go, Tangela!"
As she spoke, the red immateria exploded from her Pokéball, taking out a pillar and half the ceiling.
No. Seriously…
Fine.
As she spoke, the red immateria exploded from her Pokéball, taking the form of a strange, white creature covered almost entirely in white vines. The exception was on its red boots, and also around its face, where there was, instead, blackness; the shadows cast by its vines hid its face, with the exception of its red eyes.
Red eyes… white vines…
"It's an albino Tangela?"
Seryn smiled a smile that was at once condescending and friendly.
"It's not… exactly. It's just a small pigmentation problem… it isn't afraid of light, on the contrary…"
Ash's brain could tell what was coming, but his mouth came too slow to react.
"Tangela, you know what to do! Flash!"
In a single movement, Tangela hoisted itself into the air with a dozen vines snaking off in different directions. Each vine tightened around a column or a rail, and it was on these that Tangela supported itself.
"Ditto! Don't –"
Too late, he regained his voice. The Tangela's eyes rolled back into its head as it released intense light in all directions; turning into a mini sun.
Seryn was protected by her dark glasses. Ash and Ditto were less lucky.
Cursing aloud, he struggled to see through the bright light which tore holes in his vision. His ears pulsing, he could just make out Seryn's next command.
"Now that they're blinded, Tangela use Leech Seed!"
Unable to see, he could only shout a warning to Ditto and hope it worked.
"Ditto! Agility and dodge to your… left!"
Shaking his head, he managed to clear his vision. Ditto had managed to dodge the Leech Seed attack, but it was still blinded; it had been almost directly under Tangela when it had used Flash. As he watched Tangela attacking Ditto and its position of relative safety, something in his mind clicked.
"Okay Ditto! Use Supersonic!"
If you remember…
Ditto jumped into the air, its outline blurring and reforming as it did. Seconds later it soared into the air on blue and purple wings, a Zubat. Screeching its supersonic waves, it transcended the need for eyes.
Perfect to counter flash.
Tangela lashed at Zubat, clipping its wing, but it recovered well, sweeping to a side under the Tangela.
Keep to its blind side…
The one weakness of it being attached to the pillars was that it didn't have much room to manoeuvre. And unless it had eyes on the back of its head…
"Tangela! Use Wrap! Don't let it out of your sight!"
Tangela's whip-like vines snaked out and slapped themselves against Zubat, wrapping it around its body.
"Ditto! Leech Life!"
With a screech, Ditto-Zubat plunged its fangs into the vines of Tangela, draining its life-energy. Seryn looked across at Ash, who grinned back at her.
"Tangela… let go."
Releasing its grip on Zubat, it quickly retracted its vines before Zubat could leech on.
Time for checkmate.
"Ditto… Supersonic, let's go!"
"That… that's dangerous, Ditto…"
But… it'll work.
Ditto-Zubat wheeled around and soared above Tangela. The white Tangela could do nothing but watch as Ditto climbed out of its vision range. By the time it released its burst of sound, Tangela was in no position to negate it.
But it wasn't aimed at it.
As Zubat slowly heightened its frequency, the columns which Tangela had attached itself to began to shake, minutely at first, then increasingly violently. Seryn watched as Tangela's vines began to slip and come loose.
"Tangela! Let go of the columns now! Use Vine Whip on the ground to cushion the landing!"
Tangela quickly released all its vines before the columns fell and crashed against each other. The uproar was tremendous.
Landing on three vines, it gently lowered itself to its feet, with minimal impact. In the chaos and debris, Ditto was nowhere to be found.
"Tangela! Use..."
The next command died on her lips as Tangela collapsed to the ground. As it fell, a little figure of purple and blue detached itself from the white mass.
Nice work, Ditto.
"You did great."
He patted Ditto on the head and left him to rest in his backpack. Seryn recalled her Tangela, and turned to him.
"Well… I must say your last attack was a surprise… I expect you learnt that from one of my trainees, then?"
Ash nodded. She smiled and removed a flat coin from her pocket.
"This… is the badge of Rubidium Gym… the Atmos Badge."
He weighed it in the palm of his hand; it felt heavy, despite its diminutive size. On one side there was engraved the standard Pokémon League symbol; a black Pokéball on a gold background. On the other side, there was a different design; a wavy line passing between two straight lines.
The Atmos badge…
"Come on, Ditto. Let's go give you a good rest. Thanks, Seryn…"
Seryn watched as he turned to leave.
"Wait…"
He turned, Ditto standing now.
"I don't like this…"
"If you don't mind… might you take my sister along with you?"
Ash did a double-take. It was so out-of-the-blue, he didn't even know how to react.
"Why…?"
He didn't want to encourage people to tag along on his journey, to tell the truth. If he was going to become a Pokémon Master, it was better to go it alone. Yet… there was a certain element of excitement in traveling in a group.
Seryn removed the dark glasses from her eyes and sighed.
"If she was to remain with me… she'd never be able to get stronger. I'm forced by Pokémon League rules to remain only this strong… and so if my sister was to stay, she'd never improve."
She didn't seem to be very happy that the Pokémon League had decreed such a thing in the first place. Ash wondered how it would be like never to be able to make your Pokémon stronger.
"I'm hoping… perhaps you'd be able to help her further her dreams of becoming a Pokémon Master in her own right. Seeing how clueless you are, I think she'd be able to help you too."
He didn't mind the putdown at the end; he was more interested in getting to the bottom of things.
"But… why me?"
Seryn looked him over a moment, and then put three fingers up.
"Three. Simple reasons, all of them.
"Firstly, you're the first one to actually mention her to me, so you must've met her before.
"Secondly, she's around your age, so she'd probably be more comfortable.
"And… thirdly, you're the only person I've ever seen crazy enough to challenge a Gym leader with only one Pokémon… and never visit any PokéCentre on the way, either."
Ash wasn't sure what to say. It was true, all of it. He hadn't even thought of catching another Pokémon.
"I… guess I'll catch another Pokémon soon…"
She tilted her head to a side, watching him oddly.
"Err… fine. You do that. I'll just call her and get her to meet you at the PokéCentre later."
He shrugged. Everything seemed to have been decided already. Hefting his backpack up, he muttered a hasty goodbye to Seryn and stumbled down the stairs. His first trip almost sent him over the railing.
"Oh! I forgot two more things, Ash!"
Painstakingly he re-climbed the stairs, hoping to avoid having a nervous breakdown before he reached the ground floor.
"Here's your Technical Machine. I know your Ditto can't learn it… but it's yours, nevertheless."
She handed him a compact disc, on which was written in pink marker
Double Team... Yay!
Now it was his turn to give her a weird look.
"I thought it looked cute…"
"I was thinking along the lines of, 'why didn't you ever use it in battle?', but that was okay…"
"I don't have to use the TMs they supply me, you know…"
Ash frowned a moment, then hefted the backpack up on his back again. He didn't envy the hike down.
"She said she had two things to say…"
Ditto nudged Ash until he realized.
"Oh, yeah. So… what's the second thing you forgot to tell me?"
Seryn looked confused a moment, then remembered.
"Oh… yes. Well… instead of taking the stairs, why not take the lift?"
Sheepishly, she pressed a button and an elevator door slid open. Ash fell over, and this time it wasn't because of the bag.
A/N: Yay. Another chapter complete and I'm going to try to borrow my sister's laptop so I can post it up for all you nice people out there. Don't worry, R'N'Rer, I'll use your character. Just give me some time to wrap this part up and… lookie! I'm done!