Well. I waited for reviews, but they didn't seem to come. Anyways, this marks the start of my second revival chapter of Pokémon Go! Thanks for the reviews, VampireWizard and Dragon Master Cohl.
I'd like to clarify; most of the laughs are meant to be derived from less of a slapstick source than anything, but if you all like blatant humour, I guess I'll have to oblige. I might remove the humour tag sometime in the future, if I feel like the story begins to sink into serious-ness.
Also, some of you (who haven't reviewed) might remember that early on Ash recalled that the entire Elem league was composed of non-type-based Gyms. While this might seem to be going against the Aluminate Gym, there's actually a reason why the Gym is so traditional or, as some others might say, old-fashioned.
Suffice to say that that's the essence of the Aluminate Gym. Tradition; and a sort of keeping to its roots. In fact, Aluminate itself functions quite the same way.
And I plan to keep Reno a mystery for now. The SP ball holds many remarkable secrets; just be patient and don't demand answers, or you'll start to get some really rushed chapters; which really should be a no-no.
Anyways, enough talk. Chapter 38 of Pokémon Go, up now!
"This is it, then…"
His hand clenched the Pokéball attached to his belt, detaching it in one swift motion.
"Let's go; Hoppip!"
The diminutive Pokémon was tiny in the face of the huge Aggron; the battle was almost certainly one-sided.
"I do hope Ash can survive on just those two…" Dave spoke softly.
Michelle wore a faint smile; the atmosphere was hardly lost on her. Erynn and Dave were speaking in hushed voices. Almost as though they were at a funeral.
Elizabeth didn't look anything near complacent though.
"Aggron; let's begin the battle with a Take Down!"
The huge Pokémon rushed forward with a speed with hardly matched its hulking size. Hoppip was hard-pressed to dodge; had it been any larger, the attack would most certainly have connected.
Ash winced involuntarily as he imagined the crushing impact even as the Aggron slowed, changing its direction.
"Hoppip; Leech Seed!"
Hoppip floated back, charging its attack.
"Aggron… disrupt it with a Metal Sound."
Its red eyes flashing, the Pokémon shook as the metal plates which constituted its body shrieked in a cacophony of screeches. Hoppip's attack choked off as it shuddered involuntarily.
"Hoppip…! Try a…"
His eyes cast around, not knowing of any other attack Hoppip could try.
"Aggron; now use a Take Down."
The Steel-type ceased its Metal Sound attack as it moved to tackle Hoppip again. While the diminutive Pokémon was in no way slow, the Metal Sound had left it unable to gather its wits.
"Hoppip…! Use a Stun Spore!"
He'd seen Erynn use it time and again; he could only hope Hoppip could pull it off as well. His breath caught as Hoppip released a puff of green powder in the direction of Aggron. Charging through it, the Pokémon hardly seemed affected by the spray.
"Wait a second… Stun Spore is yellow…"
But it was too late. Hoppip squealed and rushed out of the way even as the Aggron trampled straight for it…
And then, remarkably, slowed down.
"What…?"
The PokéDex program booted itself up, buzzing in Ash's pocket.
Hoppip's attacks include the three different powders; Poison Powder, Stun Spore, and Sleep Powder. Poison Powder is purple, Stun Spore is yellow, and Sleep Powder is green.
Ash looked up in disbelief, his expression mirroring Elizabeth's. Hoppip's attack had put the creature to sleep!
Now it was to see how long it would stay that way.
"Hoppip; Leech Seed!"
Hoppip nodded, releasing a large seed which collided heavily with the metal plate on Aggron's back. The Pokémon shifted, but did not wake. Stealthily the vines grew across its body, prompting the Gym Leader to begin calling for her Pokémon to awake.
"Tackle it, Hoppip!"
Confident, Hoppip rushed straight at the Pokémon, hitting it head-on. Unfortunately, metal wasn't exactly the best thing to hit ones head on; Hoppip recoiled in pain.
"You alright…?"
Hoppip nodded, a green aura glowing around it as the seeds did their work.
"Fine. Let's use a few more seeds!"
Even as Hoppip slammed the second seed against the massive creature though, the weak attacks were enough of an annoyance for it to awake.
"Ugh… too late…"
The Pokémon stretched its arms, and then found it couldn't. The roots wrapped about its limbs were the cause.
"Great! Aggron; let's show them another Metal Sound!"
Aggron roared, the plates on its body resonating as they offered yet another horrible screech. The attack sent the roots flying, leaving Aggron bruised, but more angry than hurt.
"Now; let's finish this! Take Down!"
For the third time, the Pokémon charged directly toward Hoppip.
"Sleep Powder!"
But as Hoppip moved to oblige, Elizabeth countermanded her previous order.
"Now Iron Tail!"
Using its forward momentum, Aggron spun in mid-air, its heavy tail flying like a whip directly at the small Pokémon. Tails didn't have noses; didn't have receptors large enough to accept Sleep Powders. And anyway, tails rarely fell asleep.
Ash recalled Hoppip a second before the hit.
Elizabeth nodded.
"A wise decision. But now you only have one Pokémon left."
Ash nodded, unable to decide whether or not he should use Ralts. Turning to the other trainers, he wondered if he could borrow any of their Pokémon.
Michelle shrugged helplessly, Erynn fingered her own Pokéballs nervously; Dave seemed to be torn between using the Pokémon and letting Ash borrow it. All three seemed to be anticipating this; only the second time he would be using Ralts.
With rising trepidation, he slowly detached the Pokéball from his waist.
"Go… Ralts."
The Psychic Pokémon appeared out of the red immateria, entirely immaculate. She looked entirely calm even as she faced Aggron. Sera asked him with her eyes if he was ready to begin. He nodded mutely.
"Ralts… use Psychic."
He spoke the words without conviction; knowing the outcome. Ralts floated in mid-air, unmoving.
"Aggron; use Take Down followed by an Iron Tail!"
The Pokémon tried the same tactic once more. Ash knew he wouldn't have to say anything this time. But he did.
"Disable…" he breathed.
A/N: Thanks to 'Does it matter' and WickedWolf09 for reviewing! Very much obliged.
Ralts reached a hand out, slowing time in front of it to a crawl. Aggron's attack lost all its impetus, ripples of psychic energy wrapping themselves in a bubble about the Pokémon. With an imperceptible twist of her hand, the Pokémon was sent spiraling back, landing unhurt on the ground.
"Aggron…" the Gym Leader breathed, stunned by the ease with which the other Pokémon had deflected the attack.
"Attack with another Iron Tail!"
The Pokémon rose, its tail whipping around, lithe despite its formidable size. The attack swept toward Ralts mercilessly.
But in a flash of blue light, the Pokémon was no longer there.
"Teleport…"
Ralts appeared a distance away, floating in the air behind Aggron.
"Aggron… Metal Sound again."
The Pokémon turned with a soft growl, its plates rippling as the horrible screech heightened. Ralts flinched; but did not waver. It dropped back, its concentration broken in that instant.
Disable was rendered ineffective.
"Ralts…"
From the side, the other trainers knew that Ralts had only two attacks left.
"Light Screen…" Erynn whispered.
"… and Psychic," Michelle finished darkly.
They all remembered the power of Ralts' attack when she had used it last; the blast she had effected was comparable to that of a Magnablast.
"But… she'd only use it to stop a battle… never to provoke it…"
The three trainers watched tensely as Elizabeth marshaled her thoughts. Aggron still had one, unknown move.
"Aggron; let's finish it now.
"Use all three attacks together."
Ash gritted his teeth as the Pokémon charged toward them one final time. Ralts floated back and forth, seemingly ignorant of the threat the other Pokémon posed. Composed; calm; it—
The lull was shattered as the rattling, shrieking sound began again. As the Pokémon accelerated toward Ralts, though, the frequency heightened.
A/N: For those of you who aren't sure, it's the basis for the Doppler Effect.
Light seemed to shimmer; to distort as the distance between both Pokémon closed; the sound waves were intense enough to take shape; almost to…
Shuddering, Ralts raised a hand to slow the advance.
There was an impact to the air; like thunder without sound. The distorted air flattened out, seemingly gliding to a side as Aggron cut through its middle. There was an eerie quiet as the Pokémon approached within a hair's breadth of Ralts…
Once again its tail swept forward, a soft whistling sound as it left Ralts no time to dodge; no space to…
"Light Screen…?"
Ash wasn't the only one surprised. Everyone else was; even Sera.
Ralts had spread her arms wide, forcing a yellow orb of pure light to materialize about her. Normally any physical attack would have passed right through it; but here…
The solid wall of light expanded into a bright column; for a second it seemed as though Ralts had the situation under control. But Elizabeth shook her head.
"Aggron; the finishing blow. Now."
Ash was entirely helpless as the lightning-swift blow was delivered. There was a sound like broken glass, and then the light was swallowed up in the flare of the torches.
Brick Break. This attack destroys any protective barrier while dealing damage.
The unmistakable monotone of the PokéDex intoned these words; the artificial intelligence inbuilt into the PokéNav had decided to forego the lecture, for once.
Ralts was sent flying back. Recovering, it floated forward again, but Ash recalled her before she could do any more harm. Not to the Aggron, but to herself. Elizabeth recalled Aggron slowly, eyeing Ash for a while before speaking.
"Ralts… the feelings Pokémon."
She shook her head in wonder.
"While I respect your decision not to battle, I cannot grant you the badge of our Gym. The Forge Badge you shall have to forego."
Ash nodded silently. With fifteen different Gyms, there were still others he could retrieve the ten required badges from. The catch was that he wasn't allowed to re-challenge any Gym for a year. The Organization considered that just about enough time to allow a trainer to improve his skills.
Deep inside himself, he wasn't angry. He wasn't even sad. Instead, he felt a confusion he'd never felt before. Thoughts chased themselves around in his head like a Skitty and its tail.
Calmly, he turned to sit on the tatami together with the rest of his friends. At least, he tried. It just happened that the seat directly beside Erynn was occupied by a less-than-conspicuous Ditto. Claiming the shreds of what once had been his dignity, he picked Ditto up in his gloved hands and sat down again.
"Who's going next?" he said softly to the others. He didn't seem to have noticed how morose he had become after the loss. But the others had.
"I think I'll go first," Dave spoke up, before anyone could say anything else, "Espeon and I should stand a pretty good chance against her Aggron."
All of them neglected to mention that Ralts had been a Psychic-type as well.
Dave stumbled as he rose to his feet, Espeon rising with a lot more grace. Even as he stumbled, though, Espeon sent a tendril of psychic energy over the boy, righting him.
"Whoa… thanks."
Espeon made a shrugging motion.
"I just don't want my trainer embarrassing me in this Gym Battle…"
Dave understood what Espeon meant, shrugging helplessly as she pulled him along.
"You'll get your turn with Aggron; I promise."
Sera stepped up again with her flags. She looked between the new challenger and the empty spot where Elizabeth was to stand.
"Wait… where is she?" Dave wondered out loud.
At that moment, the old woman rushed in, her Pokéballs clutched in both hands. She was a little put out as she spoke.
"You don't expect me to battle you with tired-out Pokémon… there's a Pokémon Recovery Machine in the back."
Dave shrugged; he hadn't thought of that.
Clearing her throat to draw the attention back to herself, Sera waved the flags in the air.
"This battle's between Dave of Palladium and Grandma—"
"Sera…" Elizabeth groaned.
"Yeah… I mean, Elizabeth of Aluminate!"
At this, she paused. Elizabeth looked over to her granddaughter with a look of utmost patience, mouthing the words to her.
"I can't believe I forgot that! Okay… each trainer will use three Pokémon, and only the challenger may switch Pokémon."
Elizabeth nodded at last, causing her granddaughter to sink down to the ground in relief.
The three trainers by the side couldn't help smiling at the scene. Dave, however, was in no mood to be amused. He was ready to battle.
Elizabeth nodded.
"Let's go, Aron!"
The Pokémon she released from the Pokéball was different from Sera's in a few ways. Firstly, hers was definitely larger. For another, it was silver-blue instead of plain grey.
"That's… a rare specimen…" Dave gasped.
Elizabeth shrugged.
"It's not the look which matters in a battle, but its fighting ability. I assure you, my Aron lacks neither."
Dave nodded grimly. His hand grazed the Pokéballs by his side.
"You first, then. Go, Azurill!"
The others looked toward him with more than a little trepidation. Using Azurill wasn't bad from a strategic standpoint; Water Pokémon had a great advantage over Steel. But Azurill was entirely inexperienced…
Dave nodded at them, as though he was trying to reassure them.
"Allowing Azurill to gain battle experience is risky…" Ash observed, "But Dave's got the capacity to take that chance."
The two girls nodded slowly.
"Spectropus and Espeon… both of his Pokémon should be able to take care of Aggron easily."
Erynn nodded at Michelle's remark.
"We've seen all her Pokémon's moves… now it's just to see if she can overcome the odds."
At this, she turned to look at Ash, but the teenage boy's face betrayed no emotion.
"This should turn out to be pretty interesting…"
T E N T O R F O G
The room was like so many he'd been in before.
It was cold, sterile, and, more importantly, had no obvious exits. Slowly he slipped off the bed and got to his feet.
"This isn't my bunk…" he breathed softly.
He understood how he could have mistaken it for his own room before; the dormitories in the place they'd come to call home were all alike.
The tiled floor beneath his feet was entirely immaculate; there was no sign of dust or a grime to be seen. Walls lined with expensive-looking equipment surrounded him. His eyes widened as he realized just where he was.
It was one of their testing laboratories.
He'd been here before; as one studying the ways of the Tentor Fog. He'd seen strange things here; some, like the Porygon3, were unique; even special. Others, like the set-ups which looked suspiciously like foetuses of PokéMorphs, were merely grotesque.
Now he was in a room, alone with only his SP Pokéball beside him. He examined it for a moment; flexing his fingers in the memory of the pain it had caused him. Was it really…?
"Can't have been…"
He reached out a hand to take the ball, when the door slid open behind him.
Jumping, he turned to see the personal secretary of the Admin Skately. Ivy was dressed in the standard blue-grey ensemble, her dark grey eyes looking over the top of her shades at the boy who stood before her.
"Reno… Quinn, I believe."
She stepped forward slowly, her right hand scribbling small notes onto the pad she held in her left. Reno let his hand drop back to his side, raising his other hand to his temple in the customary salute. The woman nodded perfunctorily.
He noticed her gaze transfixed upon the SP ball that still lay on his table. He knew there wasn't any point in beating around the bush.
"If you want the ball, why not just take it?" he asked wearily.
She looked surprised at his casual comment, but recovered to laugh a small laugh; one which lacked mirth, and only held contempt.
Despite the mask, Reno couldn't help but realize that this self-possessed person was hardly older than he was.
"The workings of the SP ball are far beyond your understanding…
"Suffice to say, no one else can ever use that ball."
Reno's eyes widened in confusion; the red-brown tint of colour in his eyes flashed in the light.
"You mean… it'll only open to my touch…?"
At this, Ivy turned away, as though unwilling to try to explain. Seconds later, though, she turned back to face him.
"Think of the acronym we came up with. SP. It might seem like any other arrangement of letters to you, but it's really far more.
"We called it a Shadow Partner. A Pokémon which would be exactly suited to the trainer; a Pokémon which would inherit all the strength and power of its trainer.
"A Pokémon built like an exact shadow."
She paused, allowing the boy to understand just what she was getting at. She never looked at him; she watched the apparatus along the walls register indecipherable figures.
"To any other person, the SP ball will appear empty. That's because there really never is anything in the SP ball to begin with.
"The SP ball is a state-of-the-art, technological marvel. When your blood had first sunk into the ball, it analyzed and broke down your life-signature into its various components.
"Brain waves are electrical patterns, did you know that? The SP ball is able to sense these electrical currents, translating it into data for the it to record. Were you to use the ball right now, the ball would re-activate, tracing every single emotion or action you feel."
Reno opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced by a look from Ivy. As he waited for her to continue, she continued to make her way slowly across the room, presumably checking the instruments.
"Just imagine; a Pokémon whose shape and form would be dictated entirely by your emotions; by the way you feel; and, most importantly, by the strength of your will."
At this, she broke off; she didn't seem to want to reveal anymore. Reno watched her wordlessly as she walked slowly toward the door again, her observations complete. But, at the point of crossing the door, she stopped.
"But something strange happened with you, didn't it?"
Her voice echoed throughout the room; silent now. Reno stood breathlessly, awaiting her diagnosis of what had happened to him. Quietly he looked from the SP ball to Ivy, hoping that she would be able to tell him more, yet dreading to find out just what went wrong.
"Good luck, then."
Her voice was cold and abrupt; like a slap to the face. The sliding door closed behind her as he collapsed back onto the bed; but what she had told him echoed in his head for days to come.
A/N: I've finally come to the end of this chapter! Technically I had it done much earlier, but I wasn't sure how to end it. Now I have, I hope you all look forward to Dave's battle next!
Thanks for all the cool reviews on my sorta-revival chapter; while I won't be able to clear up the mysteries so fast (I mean, where's the fun in that?), I hope that the story itself will continue to intrigue, even as I keep this going.
Once again, thanks for the encouragement and please review!