Chapter 36: Break the Walls
Olivine City Gym
A calm tranquility surrounded the arena as Jasmine stood just in front of her chair, her eyes closed and her breathing steady. She knew that she wasn't the only one feeling this calm. The calm before the storm. Any moment, her next challenger was going to march through that door, eyes full of confidence, heart full of determination. And she had to be ready to fight with everything she had to protect her badge.
"Jasmine, are you sure you don't want us to fight before you?" said one of her trainers.
"Yes, I'm sure," she replied with a quiet voice. "All of you need to rest for a bit longer. Your injuries might not be healed fully yet."
"But Jasmine, you were hurt too," she argued. "None of us want to see you get hurt even more because we weren't strong enough…"
Jasmine opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by the sound of the doors sliding open, followed by a sharp wind blowing in. She looked up to see the person she was expecting, accompanied by another; a girl in a white and blue dress.
"He's here," she said with a smile.
Roku's P.O.V.
Olivine City Gym
The doors slid open and the wind began to blow, interrupting the calm tranquility inside the Gym. Almost the entire population of Olivine City had gathered inside the Gym to watch our battle, and by the way the crowd was whispering and looking at Reia, I don't think they were expecting her to be joining me for the match. I looked at Jasmine, who was standing in the back, wearing a neat white dress with a white ribbon tied across her chest. Her light-brown hair was flowing down her back like a waterfall, but two tufts of it was pointing up at the sides of her head, pinned there by two small orbs.
"So, you brought your friend with you?" Jasmine spoke as soon as we reached our positions on the field.
"Yeah, Reia and I are doing the Gym Challenge together," I responded. "That's not a problem, is it?"
"No, not at all," Jasmine said, smiling. "I'm sure it will make this more interesting." She looked at one of her trainers and nodded, and the two walked up to the arena together.
"Allow me to formally introduce myself and my partner," Jasmine started, her voice a lot louder and more confident this time. "My name is Jasmine, and this is my strongest trainer, Tessa. I'm a master of…" She slammed her foot down on the floor, which made a clanging sound that resonated throughout the Gym, "…the Steel-type."
"Well met, Steel-type Leader Jasmine," I said formally. "I am Roku Kimura, a wandering trainer progressing through the Pokémon Gym Challenge. And my partner is Reia Sakura, a Trainer hailing from the Kalos Region."
Jasmine smiled more. "Well then, Roku Kimura…shall we get started?"
Jasmine and Tessa each pulled out their first Poké Balls as Stan walked up to the center of the arena.
"This will be a 3-on-3 Double Battle!" he announced. "The first team to eliminate all of their opponent's Pokémon will be declared the winner! Only the challenger will be allowed to substitute Pokémon! Mega Evolution is permitted!"
That sealed it right there. The fact that Stan announced that Mega Evolution was allowed meant that Jasmine had a Key Stone somewhere on her. Sure enough, after closer inspection, I noticed that one of the pins holding her hair up the way she had it was actually a rainbow-colored stone.
"Right, then! Magnemite, let's go!" Jasmine shouted.
"Skarmory, go!"
The Steel trainers' first choices exploded on to the field, signaling the start of the battle. Reia and I nodded at each other and threw our first choices onto the field.
"Snivy, battle stance!"
"Jolteon, take point!"
Snivy and Jolteon landed on the field after bursting from their Poké Balls, ready to get started. Almost immediately, Jasmine's Magnemite launched off a powerful Thunderbolt at Snivy, and it probably would have hurt really bad had Jolteon not jumped in front and absorbed the blast.
"Oh no! It has Volt Absorb!" I heard Tessa shout.
"Yes! Jolteon, Thunderbolt!" Reia shouted with a smirk.
Jolteon grinned and used the power that Magnemite gave him to blast Skarmory with an even stronger bolt of electricity, felling the poor bird in a single hit. The look of surprise on Jasmine's face was enough to make me chuckle a little before I looked down at Snivy.
"Let's get in there too, bud," I said calmly.
"You got it, boss!" Snivy replied with confidence, charging up his energy before launching his Leaf Storm at the unwary Magnemite, doing a lot more damage to it than even Snivy was expecting the attack to do. Magnemite was thrown back into the wall, leaving a fairly decent crater before slowly floating to the ground.
"Whoa! And the first two Pokémon go down like they were nothing!" Shouted Stan from the sidelines. "Roku and Reia are in the lead!"
"Magnemite, come back…" Jasmine said quietly as she returned the battered Electric Pokémon to its Poké Ball. Tessa did the same with her Skarmory, shooting a death glare at Reia, who merely smiled and winked.
"You're gonna pay for that! Forretress, go!" Tessa shouted, throwing her second Pokémon onto the field. The pink cocoon-like Pokémon rested on the ground, peeking out from its shell. Jasmine steeled herself and nodded before throwing out her next Pokémon, a Magneton.
"Snivy, you feel any different?" I asked.
"Yeah…gimme a second," the snake said before closing his eyes, his body glowing with an extravagant light. The light shifted and grew before shattering away, revealing a slightly taller and sleeker snake.
"Servine, the Grass Snake Pokémon, and the evolved form of Snivy. Servine moves along the ground as if it were sliding, using swift movements to befuddle its foes before attacking them with Vine Whip."
"Well THAT was quick," Reia said, giggling. "Let's see if they can keep up, eh? Jolteon, Double-Kick on that Magneton!"
"Servine, Leaf Storm one more time!" I shouted.
Jolteon and Servine took off like a rocket, Jolteon hopping over Servine to slam Magneton with his back legs, dealing quite a bit of damage but not enough to drop it. However, the Leaf Storm that followed afterwards made an audible clanging sound as it connected with Magneton's body, sending it flying back in the same fashion as before.
"Forretress, get in there and protect Jasmine! Pin Missile!" I heard Tessa shout before her Pokémon jumped into the fray, blasting Servine with several glowing needles. Servine let out a yelp and tried his best to avoid it, slithering away while he was being fired upon.
"Now, Magneton! Flash Cannon!" Jasmine said with a confident smile.
I watched as Magneton recovered and fired off a powerful beam of bright energy, catching Servine off guard and launching his body back to me. I ran forward and caught the snake Pokémon before he could hit the ground, but it didn't look like he was gonna be able to continue fighting.
"Come back and get some rest, Servine…you've earned it," I whispered as I returned him to his ball. I pulled my second ball from my bag as I smiled at the two Trainers standing across from me.
"This is far from over! Delphox, battle stance!" I shouted before flinging my next ball up into the air, sending out one of my most trusted partners. Delphox looked around the battlefield with a confused look before turning to me.
"What happened to saving me for last?!" he shouted.
"Don't worry about it!" I called back. "Just get in there and help Jolteon!"
BAM! My words carried a little too late as Jolteon came flying past me and into Reia, who caught him and dropped to the ground, sliding a few feet. She groaned a little as she got the wind knocked out of her, but she managed to get the exhausted Pokémon back into his ball.
"Hey, you OK?!" I said as I rushed to her side. She nodded and started taking deep breaths before speaking.
"Didn't see that coming…" Reia said. "Forretress hit Jolteon with a Gyro Ball attack and Magneton finished him off with Flash Cannon…those two are really good."
"Well, looks like we're gonna have to use Delphox and Lyra a bit earlier than we thought," I replied.
"No, not yet," Reia said, quickly shutting me down. "Delphox should be enough for now. I've got a bad feeling about these two and I want to save Lyra for last."
I looked at Reia's eyes for a second. I could see a mixture of nervousness and determination inside them, and I could tell that these feelings she was having was legit. After all, we didn't get this far by questioning each other.
"OK, I trust you," I said, helping her to her feet. Reia sighed and dusted herself off before gasping.
"Oh, HELL NAW!"
Reia was poking and prodding at a tear in her skirt, one that might have been the result of catching Jolteon as he was being launched. I could have sworn I saw fire shoot from her eyes before she pulled out her next Poké Ball.
"Sudowoodo, destroy this bitch!" she screamed as she threw the Poké Ball onto the field, releasing the sassy tree Pokémon.
"Slam that Magneton for ripping my skirt! Low Kick!" she shouted.
Sudowoodo smirked and smashed Magneton with a low-hanging kick, sending it back into the wall and making an even bigger crater before dropping to the ground.
"Now, Delphox! Mystical Fire on that Forretress!" I ordered.
Delphox twirled his stick and whispered a few words before blasting out a powerful ring of fire towards Forretress, who took the attack head-on and rolled back a little, its body smoking.
"Sudowoodo, finish it!" Reia shouted.
Sudowoodo ran in for another Low Kick, but right as it was ready to land the attack, Forretress' body started glowing.
"Wait! It's a—"
I never got to finish my sentence, because an extremely loud and very rude explosion rang out from the center of the field, surrounding the entire arena with a deep black smoke. I started coughing as I tried to make out what was left of the field, and when the air kicked on, I slowly started to make out two figures on the ground and one still standing. When the smoke cleared, I saw Forretress and Sudowoodo on the ground, bodies smoking and charred, but not broken, and Delphox standing up with his eyes glowing, breathing heavily.
"Delphox! Are you OK?!" I shouted after the smoke cleared.
"I-I think so…" he said woozily before he started to tip over. "No, nope, there I go."
Delphox hit the ground with a dull thud. I gritted my teeth and glared daggers at Tessa. Her Forretress had just taken out both of our Pokémon, one who I thought was gonna win it all for us. It looked like I only had one option left, and so did Reia.
Speaking of which, upon looking towards my partner I saw that she had a rather scary look on her face, and I noticed why. The force of the explosion had all but torn her outfit to shreds; it quite literally looked like it had seen the end of the world. Not to mention her hat lay off to the side, deformed and crumpled.
"Almost 270,000 Poké went into my outfit…" she said shakily, tears dripping from her face as she gave Tessa a look that could kill if it had the chance. "Countless days waiting for the right combination to come into season…all the money grinding and constant boredom…" Reia balled her hands into fists and growled. "Once I'm done with you…"
Her eyes flashed, and I swore I saw the face of Arceus for a split second before she shouted her declaration loud enough that it reverberated throughout the entire Gym.
"You're gonna pay me every last CENT that it took to put this outfit together!"
Reia grabbed the last Poké Ball from her belt and threw it out, releasing her shining golden partner. Lyra got into a battle stance and stared at the Gym Leader and her trainer, both of which were taken aback by the sudden change in attitude.
"You hurt my partner's feelings, now you get to answer to ME!" Lyra growled. "Prepare to feel my wrath!"
"Go get 'em, honey…!" Delphox called out before finally going unconscious. I chuckled and returned him to his ball before grabbing the Poké Ball that held my last Pokémon.
"This whole battle is riding on you, pal…I'm counting on you," I whispered softly before chucking it as hard as I could into the battlefield.
"Lucario, battle stance!"
Lucario burst out of the ball and did a superhero landing onto the field, standing up and staring directly at Jasmine.
"You weren't able to understand the others," Lucario spoke, the growths behind his ears shifting and glowing with a blue luminescence. "But I know you can hear me. And I am here to warn you…I won't be so easily defeated. Do your worst."
Jasmine looked Lucario dead in the eye, and I knew that she had understood him by the look of fear and astonishment in her eyes. That look soon turned into courage, however, as she pulled her last ball from her bag and nodded.
"Very well. Let us finish this," she said calmly before throwing the ball. "Rusty, you're up, my friend!"
The ground shook as a massive metal snake landed on the arena, letting out an almost mechanical roar. I looked up at it in awe before looking it up in my Pokédex.
"Steelix, the Iron Snake Pokémon, and the evolved form of Onix. Steelix tend to live much further underground than Onix, usually digging towards the earth's core. There are records of this Pokémon reaching a depth of over 3,100 feet underground."
"My partner Rusty and I have been through countless battles together, against several Trainers stronger than you!" Jasmine cried. "And I don't plan on letting you defeat me now!"
Tessa released her last Pokémon, a Scizor. And that's when I finally realized their endgame. Both Pokémon had a mount on them with a glittering stone embedded in the center. And that meant that both Trainers were prepared to use Mega Evolution.
Which singles Reia out, since she can't Mega Evolve any of her Pokémon… I thought to myself as I looked back at my partner once again. But from the look she was giving them, I could tell that regardless of the strength of the opponents, she was gonna get her revenge.
I smiled and turned back to Jasmine. "So THAT'S your strategy. Overwhelm your opponent with Mega Evolution and claim the win. I gotta say, that's a pretty solid strategy."
"I usually don't do this until someone like you two come into my Gym for a Double Battle," Jasmine replied. "You should consider yourself lucky that you were able to get this far."
"I don't believe in luck," I shot back. "I believe in results, and my Pokémon and I haven't lost a Gym Challenge yet." I looked at Reia and smiled. "And with a friend like Reia at my side, I know I can do anything. I trust her to win, just like she trusts me to let her have free reign at your partner over there."
Reia grinned a near-wolfish grin at Tessa, who stepped back a little. I smiled and tapped my Key Stone, feeling the rush of energy course through my body.
"And while my Pokémon are still standing here with me, I can guarantee you that we're not gonna go down without a fight!" I shouted, raising my arm into the air and releasing the energy into Lucario, who exploded into his Mega Evolution. Lucario howled and went into a fighting stance, his aura flaring up around his paws.
I turned to my partner and grinned. "Reia, this probably goes without saying, but…"
"Yeah yeah, I know…don't murder her too badly," she replied with a smile. "Don't worry, only thing that'll get murdered is the Gym's bank account."
"You're making a lot of assumptions, kid!" Tessa mouthed off, touching her own Key Stone. "We don't plan on losing to you either! Right, Jasmine?!"
"Of course, my friend," Jasmine replied, smiling and touching her Key Stone as well. "I am a Gym Leader for a reason…and it's not because I'm too weak or too shy." She shot an extremely determined look at me as she and Tessa thrust their arms towards their Pokémon, the energy resonating with the two Steel-types as they too went into their Mega Evolved states.
"Are you ready, Roku?!" Jasmine shouted with a powerful confidence that seemed to shake the entire arena.
"You bet your ass I am!" I shouted back, smiling wide. "Lucario, tear her Steelix apart!"
Lucario dashed in quicker than lightning, creating a quarterstaff made of aura before jumping up and landing a solid strike against the gargantuan snake's jaw. Rusty roared in pain but managed to land a solid counterstrike against Lucario, smashing him with her Iron Tail. Lucario flew back and landed against the wall, but launched himself off of it with his aura surrounding his paw once again to land a powerful Force Palm attack on Rusty's midsection.
Meanwhile, Lyra had streaked off towards Tessa's Scizor and was keeping her under control with powerful fire attacks. Every time Scizor would go in for an attack, Lyra would fire off a Flamethrower and engulf it in red-hot fire. Needless to say, Delphox would be proud.
"You're getting upset over a dress?! Get over yourself, princess!" Tessa shouted.
"It's not just a dress, you insensitive clod!" Reia screamed. "I worked my ass off to be able to afford that outfit! Do you know how it feels to have worked for something, then have it destroyed in front of you?!"
FWOOSH! Lyra landed a direct hit with Flamethrower, consuming Tessa's Scizor in the blast. However, somehow the Scizor managed to escape from the blast, albeit with some nasty burns littered throughout its exoskeleton.
"We're almost there, partner!" Reia shouted gleefully. "Let's take her down in the next attack!"
"Oh, no you don't!" Tessa shouted angrily. "Scizor, Double Team!"
Scizor righted itself in midair and began creating copies of itself, surrounding Lyra in an attempt to confuse her. And it seemed to be working, for she was looking around frantically, trying to figure out which one was real. They spun and twirled around her like ghosts, occasionally lashing out with attacks like Aerial Ace that always hit right on target. I could see that Reia was clenching her fists, nerves setting in.
"Lucario, switch targets! Get that Scizor off of Lyra!" I shouted, turning back to my own Pokémon.
"No! We can do this!" Reia snapped, whipping her arm out. "Lyra, jump up and blast your Flamethrower at the ground! Cover as big of an area as you can!"
I saw Lyra smirk before looking at Lucario. "Lucario, gimme a boost!"
Lucario obliged by using his Bone Rush to plow through one of the illusions, then Lyra hopped up towards Lucario and spring boarded off of his paws, flying into the air and allowing Lucario enough time to escape before letting loose with the biggest Flamethrower I ever saw come out of her mouth. The massive fire attack hit the ground and sent up a plume of fire that spread quickly, destroying all of the illusions, which left a fairly injured Scizor to stumble out of the inferno with a scorched body.
"Now, Lyra! Finish it with Quick Attack!" Reia cried out.
"I'm gonna need you to MOVE!" Lyra shouted before blasting off back towards the ground, slamming her body into Scizor and sending the injured and scorched mantis sliding across the arena floor. When it stopped, the Mega energy escaped from its body and dispersed, indicating that the tough Bug Pokémon had finally been taken down.
"Yeah! How do you like me now?!" Reia shouted with joy, throwing her arms up into the air. I smiled at her before a sickening CRACK! reverberated throughout the Gym. I looked back at the arena to see a golden mass of fur and tails fly past me and Reia and slide to a stop, not moving afterwards. My eyes locked onto Jasmine and her Steelix, who was grinning at the fallen Ninetales.
"You forgot someone," Jasmine said with her soft yet confident smile. "Perhaps you shouldn't celebrate so soon next time."
Reia growled and began to reach for another Poké Ball, but I stopped her, reminding her that she'd already used the three Pokémon that she was permitted. After a reluctant sigh, she withdrew, and I looked back towards the arena at Lucario, who was already in a battle stance and ready to win.
"Bold of you to assume that there's gonna be a next time!" I retorted. "Lucario, use Aura Sphere!"
Lucario charged up a ball of his energy and fired it at Rusty, hitting her dead center between the eyes, but Rusty already had her tail poised above the ground, and when the attack connected, the ground shook as her tail smacked the arena floor with considerable force. Lucario saw this coming and had already jumped into the air, avoiding the Bulldoze attack, but Rusty quickly recovered and fired a rock from her tail, slamming Lucario with it and sending him crashing back down to the ground.
OK…Bulldoze, Smack Down and Iron Tail…those are the three we know, I thought. When we figure out her last attack, we can finalize our strategy.
"Your Lucario's fast, but we can be fast too!" Jasmine exclaimed. "Go, Rusty! Use Autotomize!"
I watched Rusty expel a massive amount of metal chunks from her body, the ore rocks that made up her body becoming smooth and round. Rusty's entire form looked sleeker and lighter, and she showed off this newfound speed by rushing in at Lucario faster than he could predict, slamming him with another Iron Tail attack. Lucario flew back and hit the ground, rolling and tumbling before finally coming to a stop.
"Lucario! You OK, buddy?!" I shouted with worry as I ran to his side. The jackal Pokémon coughed and grunted as he stood up, glaring at Rusty.
"This girl's gonna be a tough nut to crack," Lucario said once he'd finally recovered. "What's our game plan?"
"She's pretty much on par with you now, in terms of speed," I replied. "Best thing we can do is aim for her weak points with Force Palm and hope to paralyze her, then we can finish her off."
"You got it," Lucario said with a wolfish grin, closing his eyes. The appendages under his ears began to shimmer and vibrate, indicating that he was using his special power, one that let him see the aura of every living creature around him.
"Be careful, Rusty!" Jasmine warned her partner. Rusty kept her eyes trained on Lucario, who continued to remain perfectly still. I could feel the tension rise in the Gym as everyone was totally silent and watching closely.
If I'm being perfectly honest…if you were watching the battle and you took a split second to blink…you would have missed it. Lucario opened his eyes, which were aglow with a light blue luminescence, then blasted off at the speed of sound towards Rusty. Jasmine ordered her partner to counter with Iron Tail, but what she wasn't expecting was for Lucario to catch Rusty's tail as she tried to execute the attack.
"And up we go!" Lucario shouted as he launched himself off of her tail and onto her back, gripping tight and charging up his palm before blasting her back with his Force Palm. Rusty roared in pain and fell to the ground, her body convulsing and shivering as the Paralysis condition took effect.
"Now, Lucario!" I said with a smile. "Finish it Focus Punch!"
Lucario jumped off Rusty and let his energy charge up, his aura exploding and flaring up around his body, like I'd seen in so many cartoon shows. Rusty really made an effort to try and get her body under control, but all she seemed to do was wriggle and crawl closer to the powerful being that was about to finish the battle. Finally, I heard a powerful roar free itself from Lucario's throat before he blasted off and slammed Rusty's jaw with the strongest uppercut I'd ever seen from a Pokémon. The force of the attack was enough to launch Rusty into the air, and Lucario turned around and began to walk away just as she hit the ground for the last time, her strength returning to Jasmine's Key Stone.
"Steelix is unable to battle! Lucario is the winner!" Stan announced proudly. "The victory goes to Roku Kimura and Reia Sakura!"
Cheering erupted from the stands as I threw my arms into the air and let out the biggest victory cry I'd ever done. Reia and I ran up to Lucario and hugged the crap out of him, totally blown away at how far the jackal Pokémon had come since the day we'd hatched him at Union Cave. I heard Rusty return to her Poké Ball, and my gaze shifted to Jasmine, who had a sad smile on her face.
"Well, Roku…you have bested me, fair and square," Jasmine said as she walked up to me, holding out two octagonal badges colored in grey. "Here…the Mineral Badge. You've earned it…the both of you."
I smiled and took my sixth badge from Jasmine's hand, holding out my other one.
"Thank you so much for the battle, Jasmine," I said with a smile. "I was expecting a challenge, but I definitely wasn't expecting to have to fight as hard as we did. You've shown me that even though I won, I still have a long way to go. And I hope that when I've finally reached the top…you'll battle with me again, as a friend."
I saw a blush creep across Jasmine's face before she took my hand, giving it a firm shake. Then we looked to the side to see Tessa and Reia standing in front of each other, talking it out.
"Sorry about your outfit…" Tessa said reluctantly. "I'd really like to help you and all, but…I don't have the cash to pay you back…"
Reia giggled and held out a hand. "Ah, it was bound to happen eventually. You can repay me by promising to have another battle with me when we've both grown stronger."
Tessa smiled and shook the blonde's hand. "Yeah, you got it. I'm gonna win next time, though, you can count on it."
Jasmine let out a small giggle, and I couldn't help but smile. I knew that Reia had a plethora of clothes in her wardrobe, so picking out a new set of clothes shouldn't be too hard.
"Oh, here…take these with you too," Jasmine said, holding out a couple of TMs for the move Iron Tail. I took them and put them in my TM case, taking a mental note to give one to Reia later.
"If you would like, meet me at the beach later tonight," Jasmine continued. "I would like to speak to you again before you depart."
Jasmine was blushing as she walked away, Tessa following shortly after. Reia lightly tapped my shoulder, giving me one hell of a judgmental look.
"And just what does she want with you at the beach tonight?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Why? Are you jealous too?" I said with a smile.
"I-I am NOT jealous!" Reia shouted, her face starting to turn red. "I just wanna know what she wants with someone like you!"
"That's jealousy, hon," I snickered, returning Lucario to his Poké Ball before I started walking out. Reia huffed and followed me, and after running into Calem on the way, who actually congratulated us on a well fought battle, we made our way to the Pokémon Center for some well-deserved rest.
Author's Note: I wanted to go longer and add the beach scene, but this chapter had gone on long enough. XD
I had a lot of fun writing this. The whole battle played out in my head like something straight from the anime, and I honestly think this is one of the better battle scenes that I've written, not to mention the LONGEST freaking chapter I've ever written. So yeah, pretty excited.
Anyway, as always, please read and review, and thanks for tuning in.
Strato Abyss signing out.
