Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon; besides, I'm addicted to semicolons.
I find there's nothing a good semicolon can't solve; 'good' meaning one with a little Punkt on top and a comma below.
And I keep un-remembering everything I plan to write. I'll change that part the instant I get a chance, so thanks, Eefree!
And R'N'Rer, as the OC creator, sure; if you want, I'll let Dave do just that. PokéCentre etiquette encourages not getting too many rooms, though.
Thanks for pointing out my errors in your reviews, either way. I was home early today; but online games kept me busy for a while… anyways, here's the next instalment of Pokémon Go!
He awoke; early, this time. The room's four other occupants were still fast asleep. Ditto was still sleeping next to Erynn, while Espeon lay at Dave's feet. Slowly he clambered out of bed, trying not to wake any of the others. The ladder creaked softly as it patiently bore his weight.
Ash didn't know exactly what he meant to do by this, but he didn't feel like disturbing the quiet. Removing a fresh set of clothes from his backpack, he wandered off in the general direction of the showers.
In a short while, he was seated in one of the cushy black armchairs, watching as the others slept. He didn't know whether to wake them up or not; on the one hand, he would derive great satisfaction from getting his own back from Erynn. On the other hand though, it was 3 in the morning.
There was just a single window in the room; it faced out toward the large, beaten stone path which had come to be known as the Great North Road. There was hardly anyone out at this time of the morning; the lamp-lit streets were deserted.
A pattering of feet; Ash's curiosity was aroused. He stood and walked silently over to the window. Two dark-clothed figures were running along the large stone path, pointedly avoiding the light. As they approached, Ash ducked; in that instant, though, they revealed themselves to him; two men in dark outfits; trenchcoats, both of them, with Pokéballs revealed underneath; most of all, he noticed the incredibly excessive eye-shadow.
He watched as they ran into the distance, disappearing from sight. Sighing, he walked back to the chairs and sat down. The nerves; it was to be only his second Gym battle; the nerves were what kept him up.
In the quiet of the predawn darkness, he watched; listened to the emptiness… until steadily, he fell asleep again.
"Wake up!"
He awoke with a start, jolted awake by the feeling of two hands shaking him by the shoulder. He groaned as he stood, stretching.
"I was waiting for you all…"
Erynn and Dave were standing in front of him, both of them fully dressed. Espeon was on the window sill, looking out with considerable interest; her tail swished in the air as she did. At a look from Dave, though, she leapt off the window, landing neatly on the ground.
"What time are we meeting RJ again…?"
Erynn turned to the clock which hung on the wall.
"Right about… now."
They met in the corridor; RJ's hair was spiky, as usual. There was nothing really special about the meeting.
"Had a good night's sleep?"
"Not particularly."
The four trainers stepped out of the Pokémon Centre, the sliding doors hissing as they all walked through. Ash kept in the middle of the group this time; that way it would be more likely everyone else would be squashed before he would.
RJ looked to Ash.
"After this battle… I'll be heading off on my own."
Ash nodded.
"Don't worry about it. Hope to see you in the league some other time."
Erynn turned to face the group, walking backwards.
"By the way… we're meeting Michelle after lunch… it'd be the first time you'll be seeing her Dave, so…"
"… Be afraid; be very afraid." Ash cut in.
Dave looked between the two of them, askance.
"Don't worry about it…" Erynn sighed, "she's not evil or anything…"
It was at that moment that the group heard a commotion coming from the east, away from the Gym.
"What's that…?"
"Checking it out won't take a lot of time…"
Reaching a consensus, the group rushed over to where a large group of people had gathered. In the sea of heads, Erynn picked out a flash of unmistakably-styled red hair; she nudged Ash and pointed, but Ash simply nodded in response.
"… and Immaterion Corporations is very sorry to have to be postponing the release of the new and improved Pokéball plug-in. Even as we speak, police officers are…"
There was a collective groan at the part regarding the Pokéball plug-ins. As the group walked away from the site, they consolidated their takes on the event.
There had apparently been a break-in at Immaterion Corporations. The corporation was one of the largest in the region, supplying everything from the latest PokéGadgetry, to to-go lids. Apparently new technology regarding the latest prototype of Pokéball had been stolen… while they had backups, the security risk was far too high for the company to release the project on any scale.
"Well," Ash said, "it's not like we can do anything about it…"
RJ shrugged.
"Let's just get this battle over with…"
This early in the morning, the Gym was only just open. It was a large building, made entirely of tinted black glass. Looking up, Ash thought it stretched into infinity; wondered how it even managed to stand so straight. The sign still hung against its outer fence. Calmly but boldly, the four trainers entered the Gym.
"Hey… Ash…"
RJ turned to speak to him in an undertone.
"Do you mind if, say… Dave were to be my Double Battle partner here…?"
Ash did a double take.
"Why…?"
RJ looked at him as though the reason was obvious. Thinking back, Ash realized it probably was.
"But… does that mean I have to go with…"
RJ nodded, a tad apprehensively. He was afraid that Ash would throw the idea in his face.
"Fine…" he sighed, looking between Dave and Erynn. But you've got to break the news to them as well, or it's a no-go."
RJ nodded.
"I've already asked Dave, and he's fine about it…"
Ash stared at him for a serious moment before replying.
"You know… Erynn and I have never battled with each other before."
RJ tilted his head to a side.
"It's time you did; after all, once I leave your team, you'll be back to three again."
Ash nodded slowly as Dave came over.
"So… is it decided then?"
RJ and Ash nodded simultaneously.
"Then let's go."
The interior of the Gym was large; relatively spacious. The floors; ceilings; the entire building was made of glass, reinforced by steel. In front of them there was a counter, presumably for registering Double Battle teams. Behind, there were three elevators, each one leading up through the floors, past anything they could see. The floors were semi-transparent, and they noticed that there were actually trainers directly above them, a distance away from the elevator shaft.
The receptionist looked up at them.
"Teams…?"
Ash pulled Erynn's arm back as RJ and Dave stepped forward. The receptionist nodded to them, marking them with a laser tag before directing them to the first elevator.
Erynn shrugged Ash's hand off her upper arm as she stepped up to the counter.
"Why am I with you…?" she hissed.
Ash shrugged; in an effort to please everybody…
"It's kinda true though, isn't it? RJ and Dave have had more experience with each other than with you or me."
Erynn turned to face him.
"So… one team wins and the other loses…?"
Ash stepped up as the two of them were tagged and assigned an elevator.
"Oh come on… do you have so little faith in me…?"
Erynn rolled her eyes.
"Do I really have to answer that…?"
The two teams stepped up to their respective elevators; there were two doors to each, they saw now. One in front, and the other behind. Electronic instructions appeared as the lift doors hissed open.
"Please stand on your designated platforms, back to back."
Dave and RJ stepped into the elevator, each stepping into a red rectangle which ran a scan on their IDs. Each facing a door, they waited as Ash and Erynn did the same.
"Now, please select your first Pokémon; you have ten seconds remaining to get ready by placing your Pokémon in front of you."
Glancing at each other, Ash and Erynn selected their Pokéballs, releasing Ditto and Oddish. Ash raised an eyebrow.
"Oddish…?"
"I'm training it," she said defensively.
Over in the other elevator, RJ had picked Machop again, then turning to Dave to see what he chose.
"Time to test out my new Pokémon, wouldn't you say…?"
RJ nodded.
"I would say."
Dave tossed the Pokéball in the air, releasing the Spectropus.
3…2…1…
The lift doors hissed shut, startling Ash. With trepidation they watched as the number indicating the floor began to rise. Inertia caused gravity to suck down on them as they proceeded to climb faster. In each shaft, the car eventually came to an abrupt stop. Ash and Erynn's elevator car was on the 15th floor, while Dave and RJ's had stopped on the 23rd.
Both sides watched as the doors opened.
Both sides watched as trainers appeared on the other side of their doors.
Dave nodded in satisfaction as a Sandslash emerged to engage his Pokémon. It wasn't for nothing the elevators were large; large enough to fit all four Pokémon. RJ took a step back as Machop faced off against a Murkrow, until the two trainers were standing with their backs up against each other.
"Hey Dave… you know how this is a Double Battle and all…?"
Dave nodded, tensing as the Pokémon grew closer.
"Let's make it count as a team effort, then."
On the other side, the door hissed open to reveal a Gastly and a Phanpy.
Ash and Erynn stood back to back as the four Pokémon surrounded them; the battle was imminent. Erynn casually put her glasses on again, turning to Ash.
"We'd better not lose this fight…"
Ash shrugged.
"I haven't let you down yet, have I…?"
Erynn turned away from him, eyeing the Pokémon warily.
"'Yet'… the word, Ash, is 'yet'…"
And while the battle was about to begin, Ash was just beginning to wonder if Michelle had rubbed herself off on Erynn…
A/N: Sorry this is so horribly short! I really left off the writing till too late; now I'm tired and can't write any more. I promise the next chapter will be longer! Really! With two (or more) battles, it can't possibly be shorter, anyway. I hope you liked the concept of this Gym… the battle with the Gym Leaders I've already got a vague idea of… and it'll be really cool!
Oh and please don't think Michelle is a horrible character or anything; I never meant to portray her that way… if you do, then I'll try and remedy that at the next meeting; there's something written in her OC profile I haven't done yet. WickedWolf09, I know you might be wondering what exactly I'm referring to… but there're quite a few things, so yeah.
And… I'm sorry because I've really got to go to sleep now… but however short this filler chapter is, I hope you at least enjoyed part of it; the baddies are coming out soon; but don't form too many of your own conclusions yet! Not all may be as it seems…
But whatever it is, please review and all! It brings me great pleasure, and also sometimes chagrin, to read your words of encouragement, and sometimes corrections as well.