=Chapter 15, Happenings Around Dewford!=
=A Legend Revived=
*Jacob to Arky*
*Dewford Town is, as I said before, a small town with very little appealing to anyone visiting outside of the Dewford Gym for trainers, and of course the local Pokemon Tournament arena on the other side of the Island near Granite Cave.*
*The local tournament here is one of the main attractions besides the Granite Cave for some trainers. For the most part they are beginner trainers like me who have yet to earn their second Gym badge and are training, or are waiting for the ferry to Slateport. In any case Karen and I have spent quite a bit of time watching the matches to learn some new tricks or strategies for our future battles.*
*Also it was either that or battle against her team every day.*
*In any case, during one of the matches we watched, we saw a trainer that I swear looked like he was destined for great things.*
(Jacob's PoV)
(AND IN A STUNNING PERFORMANCE TERRY HANSON FROM MAUVILE CITY TAKES DOWN JEFFRY ROSE FROM SLATEPORT CITY.)
Jacob watched as the defeated trainer walked off the stage while the victorious trainer walked off with a big grin, as well as five hundred Pokedollars richer. This was the seventh match that he, Karen, and Sara had watched that day with the crowd of about thirty or so people. Earlier Jacob had competed but lost because of a type disadvantage against Harold. Karen had won her match, though narrowly thanks to Ziggles outlasting his opponent. Now they were watching the remaining matches, not wanting to spend the hot day training.
"I have to admit he lasted longer than the last guy we saw." Karen said as she took a sip of her soda. "He should have gone for that Headbutt when he had the chance, instead of the Take Down."
"Well he didn't have much choice I think, but yea that Take Down was a bit much." Jacob agreed, taking a drink from his bottle of water.
While their teams were at the Pokemon Center resting after their battles, the two of them were lounging outside and watching the small semi-dome-like arena with everyone else. It wasn't as massive as the one in Rustboro had been, but it was still large enough for trainers to put on matches and for spectators to watch in safety. The drinks had been purchased at Karen's expense, since she was the only one who had won her match; she got to decide what they drank and ate during the matches. Her choice had been a bottle of plain water for Jacob, a pair of sodas for her and Sara, and popcorn for the three of them to share.
(Jacob, what are we doing after this?) Sara asked next to him.
"There's just one more match before everyone breaks for lunch." Jacob said, turning to Sara to answer her. "After that we pick up the others and go make ourselves lunch. Then I'll help you and the others train as much as we can before bed."
(Okay.) Sara replied with a nod, taking a careful drink from the bottle of water that was about half her height.
While she had purchased a soda for Sara, the Kirlia had instead chosen to follow her trainer's example, and preferred to share the bottled water with him. So Karen, not wanting to be seen as a selfish person, purchased a bottle of water for her as well. This worked out slightly in her favor, because she got to keep the other soda for herself.
After a few minutes the announcer declared the next match. (UP NEXT, TRAINER JACKSON FLORAL FROM RUSTBORO CITY VS TRAINER ALPHA SAPHIRE FROM LITTLEROOT TOWN!)
"Alpha Sapphire, what kind of a name is that?" Jacob asked Karen. "I'm from Littleroot Town and I've never heard of anyone named Alpha Sapphire."
"Most likely they chose a code name for them to be called by in the Pokemon League." Karen said nonchalantly. "It's quite common among some trainers; they call themselves something wicked cool like what this Alpha Sapphire chose for example. Wonder who they are, because a code name can stand for anyone, even girls! I have to say though, bold choice for a code name, naming themselves after the famous 'Sapphire' from decades ago."
(Famous 'Sapphire'?) Sara asked alongside Jacob.
"Yea, you probably never went into much history about trainers before you started, but among the greats there were several code named trainers that stand out among the rest!" Karen said with a smile. "Like Red, that trainer Sagen was talking about with us back in Rustboro. Sapphire was the name of a trainer from Littleroot just like this new 'Alpha Sapphire'. I forget what his name was, but he and another trainer, a girl named Ruby became Pokemon League Champions. Supposedly they also took down two very cult-like organizations that went by the names of Team Aqua and Magma."
"How'd they both become champions, I thought only one champion existed at a time." Jacob asked.
"Well that's partially true, but there's two ways to become a champion, there's the method that Ruby used which me and you are doing, the Pokemon League Championship Challenge." Karen explained with a smile as they waited. "Then there's the Elite Four Challenge, any trainer with the qualified badges of a region can take on the Elite Four, and if they defeat all of them in a row without a single loss, then they become the Region Champion. Ruby won the Region Tournament and became a Region Champion based on that, but Sapphire defeated the Elite Four and became a Region Champion that way. Now do you understand?"
(Wow, I never knew there were two ways to become champion Jacob.) Sara commented as they returned their attention to the arena.
"Neither did I Sara." Jacob replied.
Just then two trainers were walking up onto the arena stage to cheers and applause, and Jacob instantly saw who 'Alpha Sapphire' was. Alpha Sapphire was a male trainer of about his age, wearing a bluish jacket and light blue jeans, and a navy blue Pokemon League cap which hid most of his dark brown hair. He walked with a confident walk that almost had a swagger to it.
The two trainers bowed respectfully to each other before they instantly went into battle poses.
Alpha Sapphire was the first to send out his Pokemon, a Marshtomp. This made Jacob raise his eyebrows, as he now knew who the third trainer to start from Littleroot months ago was. He knew that Jessy had started with Flare, her Torchic, and he had started with Harold, his Treecko. Now he knew who had started out with the third starter Pokemon Professor Nomel had to offer, the Water Type Mudkip.
The opponent seemed to grin as he sent out a Manectric.
Unfamiliar with the two Pokemon, only knowing that Marshtomp evolved from Mudkip, Jacob took out his Pokedex and looked up the two before the battle began.
[Marshtomp, the Mud Fish Pokemon, Marshtomp is much faster at traveling through mud than it is at swimming. This Pokémon's hindquarters exhibit obvious development, giving it the ability to walk on just its hind legs.]
[Manectric, the Discharge Pokemon, Manectric discharges strong electricity from its mane. The mane is used for collecting electricity in the atmosphere. This Pokémon creates thunderclouds above its head.]
Jacob smiled, already knowing who was going to win this match if the Manectric's trainer acted in just the right way.
"So Jacob, care to make a bet on who'll win this fight?" Karen asked.
"Yea, I'm betting on Alpha Sapphire to win." Jacob replied.
"As if, his Pokemon's clearly a Water Type, the Electric Type's got the advantage!" Karen shot back.
"You'll see." Jacob replied with a confident grin.
The fight began and the announcer started commentating as Marshtomp spat out a bit of mud from its mouth, hitting Manectric square in the face and coating its eyes with mud.
(MARSHTOMP STARTS THINGS OFF WITH A SHOT OF MUD SLAP, AND IT HITS DIRECTLY INTO THE OPPONENT'S EYES, THAT HAS GOT TO AFFECT ITS ACCURACY!)
In response to this attack, the Manectric's trainer ordered it to charge forward with a Spark attack. It charged forward, emitting electrical volts as it went, and smacked into the Marshtomp and sent out a surge of electricity. Unfortunately the Marshtomp only shrugged its shoulders and hopped around on its two legs, as though it had no effect.
(OUCH THIS HAS TURNED INTO A ONE SIDED FIGHT AS MANECTRIC'S ELECTRICAL ATTACKS SEEM TO HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO EFFECT ON MARSHTOMP!)
It was as she said, the rest of the first round continued in that fashion, with Alpha Sapphire's Marshtomp just constantly witling away at Manectric's ability to aim its attacks properly while delivering just enough damage to weaken it down. As for the Manectric, unable to land any hits and unable to use its more special abilities, it could not last long against the water Pokemon. After a few minutes since the battle's start, Manectric took one heavy Tackle attack from Marshtomp, before it collapsed to the ground.
(OUCH, AFTER TAKING SO MANY ATTACKS TO REDUCE ITS ACCURACY, MANECTRIC GOES DOWN AT LONG LAST!)
As the Manectric was recalled, Jacob looked over at Karen's dumbstruck face. "How did an Electric Type lose to a Water Type?" She asked.
"Marshtomp is part ground, and that ground type made him resistant to electric attacks, my teacher told me all about how some dual type Pokemon have resistances their fellow dual types wouldn't have." He explained as the next match began between Marshtomp and Pelipper.
The rest of the match ended far too quickly for their liking. Alpha Sapphire was an incredible trainer; he defeated his opponents Pokemon with a clean sweep thanks to his Marshtomp. The entire crowd erupted in applause at the clean, almost effortless sweep!
Jacob and Sara just stared with their mouths open, Karen had dropped her soda in shock and it was spilling onto the ground.
All Alpha Sapphire did was recall his Marshtomp, smile gently at its Pokeball, and walk off the stage so next match could begin.
"I hope we don't have to fight him in the future..." Jacob whispered.
"Ditto…" Karen agreed.
=Coral's Wish=
*Jacob to Arky*
*While we're waiting for the ferry, I spend a great deal of time helping my team practice and ready themselves for our future battles. I've been helping Harold keep track of his speed and jump timings in the nearby forest south of Dewford. Roran and Ivan have been practicing dodging attacks in the form of Sara using her psychic powers to send water balloons we purchased at them. Kora has been practicing her Gust and Stun Spore attacks by, well first using Gust to kick paper plates into the air, and then trying to land as many spores onto them while they floated back to the ground.*
*Coral however, proved the most tricky to train, but I swore to help train her so she'd be ready to take on any challenge that came her way. However since she only knows a few basic attacks and will only ever learn those moves, I had to try something to help train her!*
*That's when I came up with an idea to help her strengthen her Tackle attack while Karen was busy competing in the tournament matches again.*
*I was all for it, Coral however…*
(Jacob's PoV)
"Okay Coral, let's try practicing your Tackle attack one more time!" Jacob called out as he held his sleeping bag around his waist, with as much of it being in front of him.
"Feebas…" Coral said worriedly from several feet in front of him.
"Sara?" Jacob called out.
(She says, are you sure this is really the best way for her to train?) Sara told him in his mind.
Jacob and his team were currently on the beach practicing and staying in shape before lunch time, or at least he and Coral were practicing. Harold, Roran, Ivan and Kora were all lounging about and enjoying the beach after training for so hard earlier. Sara was watching with the others as he and Coral were out in the waters deep enough for Coral to swim properly.
He was using his sleeping bag because it was about as cushiony as anything he had so that Coral wouldn't hurt herself, or him, when she made contact with her Tackle attack. However while she all for learning to improve herself and get stronger through practicing the few moves she knew, attacking Jacob, even with a cushion to soften her blows against him, was not what she had pictured doing. This is why she was not as into her training as the others were with theirs.
"Don't worry about it Coral, just pretend that I'm an opponent and hit me with your best Tackle!" Jacob called out confidently. "You need to learn how to tackle your opponents and the best way is to practice your move over and over against something. Now, swim in a circle to gain speed and then hit me as hard as you can in the stomach with your Tackle!"
"Fee… bas…" Coral said with a not-so-sure nod, before starting to swim around him as fast as her fins could.
Then she turned sharply to swim at Jacob before jumping out of the water and smacking into his stomach as hard as she could. Unfortunately she also knocked him into and under the water.
After a few disorienting seconds he sat back up and spat out a mouthful of water and glanced over to his team. Ivan and Roran were laughing at how he looked, with Harold and Kora merely going back to their nap after making sure he was alright. Sara laughed a little as she felt his embarrassment, knowing that this is was probably not the smartest idea he's ever come up with.
Coral swam up beside him with an apologetic expression. "Feebas?"
"It's okay Coral, I'm not hurt, although I think it's a good thing we did this before eating lunch or else I might have lost it just now." Jacob said with a smile, giving Coral's side a rub as he got back up. "Well let's try that again girl!"
"Feebas… Feebas bas." Coral said nervously.
(She says that she doesn't want to risk hurting you.) Sara translated to him.
"Give it one more try okay Coral, after that we'll stop for lunch." Jacob said confidently as he stood up and repositioned his sleeping bag in front of him and braced himself.
"Feebas…" She said again, still looking worried but nevertheless putting on a determined expression as she started swimming to pick up speed.
Once she achieved max speed she turned and jumped out of the water to smack head first into the sleeping bag. She knocked him down again hard, and this only repeated the previous actions of Roran and Ivan laughing as they watched him spit out a mouthful of water, Harold and Kora making sure he was okay before dozing off again, and Sara giving him her best smile.
Coral again swam up to him with an apologetic look on her face, clearly sad that she kept on knocking him flat on his back and into the water. "Well you're definitely stronger than you've ever been. I think we need to find another way to help you practice though." He joked with a smile as he got up and headed back to shore.
(Coral's PoV, Many Hours Later)
"And then the guy tried to use a Flamethrower against my Ziggles!" Karen said with a hearty laugh while she and everyone else ate dinner. "You should have seen the look on his face; he couldn't believe how badly he lost!"
Jacob, Harold, Ivan, Laura, Nora, and Ziggles all laughed loudly as Karen recounted her battle story for their amusement around their campfire. The rest of their team's, mainly Jacob's, just continued to eat their food, including Coral.
It was late in the day and as a special treat for them all working hard on training, as well as for Shrew evolving during Karen's battle at the tournament, Jacob made his special Oran Berry Soup and mixed in a few of the Pokeblocks that Segan gave him into each of their dishes. The result, every single one of them absolutely loved their dinner!
Coral watched her trainer and Karen from the water as she ate her food, thoroughly enjoying the flavor of the blue Pokeblock he had given her as a reward for working so hard in training. Though she wished she felt that she had earned it properly, all she did was attack her trainer a few times in the water. The others on the team were working their hardest to earn Jacob these badges, and all she had done was being the 'dead weight' of the team.
She ate some more of her food, before the waves could float it away. She preferred eating this way, and the food made her feel much better even if it felt undeserved. She didn't know what it was about those Pokeblock treats that Segan had given her trainer, but whatever it was, they made her scales seem to gleam brightly and she felt much prettier about herself. Why she felt prettier she didn't know, as she wasn't exactly a looker when compared to the other Pokemon on her trainer's team.
She wasn't as 'awesome' when it came to appearance like Harold and Ivan were, and as far as beauty was concerned Sara and Kora had her beat by miles. Yet for some weird reason, she felt like she was much prettier then she remembered ever feeling. This was saying something considering how many times she's been called 'ugly' and made fun of by nearly every trainer that sees Jacob with her.
As she finished eating she looked up at her trainer, and once again felt grateful to whatever blessed her with such a trainer. He didn't care if she was a useless fish that was also ugly, to him she was a valuable team member, and he was doing all he could to help her get stronger to prove all of those other trainers wrong.
As she thought this, Sara stood up and walked over to her, somehow making her steps look like a dance move. "Are you alright?" Sara asked her in Pokespeech, she only ever used telepathy if it involved Jacob and Karen. "I felt you were feeling unhappy during your training!"
"How can you tell what I'm feeling, I thought you only paid attention to Jacob's feelings." Coral asked the psychic in mild surprise.
Coral knew that Sara was a feeling type, and was most affected by their trainer's emotions, but she didn't know why she was concerning herself with her feelings.
Sara just gave a small smile as she replied. "If it concerns Jacob, I make sure to pay attention." She said calmly. "But I'm privy to almost all of your feelings since I evolved now, so it's not hard to figure out whose feeling unhappy. So what's wrong Coral?"
"I'm just wondering if I'll ever be strong enough to help Jacob." Coral answered.
"Is that all, in that case you shouldn't have anything to worry about!" Sara said with a smile. "I'm sure Jacob will find a way to make you stronger! He's done it with all of us, he'll figure out how to train you just as well. Who knows, maybe you'll be even stronger than all of us!"
"I highly doubt that, all I can do is tackle and flail around… not to mention 'splash'… what good am I?" Coral said, mostly to herself as she looked away. "You're all super strong Pokemon, three of you have evolved and look at how much stronger you all are now! I don't even know what I'll evolve into…"
"You can always ask Jacob to look you up in his 'DEX'." Sara said, using the nickname of that device Jacob had that helped him identify and learn more about whatever Pokemon he had it look at.
This was not the first time Coral had been tempted to ask her trainer to do that for her, she just wanted to know if she'd be like one of those Pokemon that never evolved. But she always refrained from asking out of fear of knowing.
"I just don't care what I'll evolve into if this is how I look now." Coral replied with bitterness. "Look at me; I'm an ugly fish that nobody likes. If I ever evolve I'll probably just get even uglier, and then our trainer will never get any respect because he'll always defend me and protect me from people who'll make fun of me!"
This was the sad truth for her species, as a Feebas she was born looking like she was made of rags instead of scales. All Feebas looked like they lived in the mud all their life, which was true; Segan's sister had fished her out of a muddy section of the river because she had wandered into it. Her species also was born with a dimwitted expression that made them look stupid. She had managed to phase the dimwitted look out of her somehow, but she still looked filthy and ugly, and only knowing two moves that were any good didn't help her appearance of being 'useless'. All day that he had trained at the beach with her, passing by trainers had marveled at the team he had. They all complimented Harold, Ivan, Kora, Roran, and Sara about how strong they were and how cool they looked.
Then they saw him with her, and those same trainers laughed and called her ugly and useless. All because of how she looked, and because all she could do was Tackle and Flail.
"What good am I to our trainer, I'm just a useless… ugly… fish!" Coral said to herself, and each painful word she described herself with just hammered her down with more force than the one before it did.
Sara was silent as she stared and watched Coral, before sighing, getting up, and walking back over to the campfire to their trainer.
Coral looked away from the group and stared out at the empty sky, wondering why she had to be the way she was.*Why couldn't I have been born as a cool Pokemon… like a Snorunt…* She thought bitterly, remembering the Froslass Segan had. *Some Pokemon are lucky… and then there's the really unlucky ones like me…*
The night went on as Jacob and Karen gossiped with their teams by the campfire. Coral would have joined them if she could, but she preferred to stay in the water for now. Jacob had come over to ask if she was alright, and she gave her best nod and assured him she was alright.
She was always very friendly with him, not only for his kindness but also for believing in her, if she said she was fine then he never doubted her. All she wanted was to repay him for everything he'd done for her so far. He took care of her, raised her, fed her, helped her with training, and didn't think of her as 'ugly' or 'useless' like every other trainer they met seemed to think. Sure Karen seemed to like her, but it wasn't the same as her trainer's approach. Heck, Jacob was willing to put himself in harm's way just to help her practice her feeble attacks.
That was when she saw something that none of the others noticed because of their conversations and food.
Up there in the dark night sky, a single star appeared, shining just brightly enough that it could be seen instantly.
She looked quickly at the other and, once confirming that she was the only one who spotted it first, quickly closed her eyes and wished. It was just an old story that Jacob once shared with them during their first few days here in Dewford, about how if you are the first one to spot the first star of any night, and you wish upon it, that wish will some day in the very near future, come true.
If her trainer said it would come true, then she would give it a try. *Please, first star I see upon this night… please grant me my one single wish.* She thought to herself. *Please make me stronger… I don't care if I never evolve or if I'm stuck using Tackle the rest of my life… please just make me stronger so I can be of use to Jacob while I'm on this team! That's all I want… to be something more than just an ugly fish…*
After she made her wish she looked up at the sky and saw there were now more stars in the night sky, including the one she had wished upon, and more were appearing every few seconds, but that didn't matter to Coral as Jacob and Karen called that it was time for them all to sleep and began recalling them back into their balls.
She had made her wish. Now all she had to do was wait, and hope it came true.
=Poochyena Racing=
*Jacob to Arky*
*While waiting for the ferry, I remembered one of your lessons that said it's not wise to spend every day training my team Arky. Pokemon are just like humans you said, and they sometimes want to have fun.*
*Well we definitely had some fun while waiting here in Dewford, many bored trainers had begun creating these silly little events starting several years back, and they became a sort of tradition for this small town.*
*The tradition is that with each new batch of trainers, whether coming from Route 104 or Slateport, they would create their own sort of games for their Pokemon to just have fun. Harold had a lot of fun when it came to the Leaf Hunting contest, and Kora and Roran really enjoyed playing Capture the Hat at my hat's expense. However I think the one member of my team that had the most fun was Ivan in the infamous Poochyena Race!*
*Yup, as the name suggests, because almost every trainer here has at least ONE Poochyena with them, it was an exclusive contest for our pooches to participate in. Naturally Ivan had fun, but as you taught me about them and their Pack mentality, he took the game a little more seriously than the rest of my team did with the games they played in.*
(Jacob's PoV)
"Okay here's the rules everyone, the Poochyena race is a simple three lap racing event up one side of the beach and back here!" The host called out, a girl with a pair of Mightyena beside her. "The first ten to cross the finish line gets a special Rare Candy treat!"
Jacob questioned why the first ten would get a prize, but after looking up and down along the line of trainers who were all holding or sitting next to their Poochyenas, it was no surprise that there would be so many possible winners. There had to be at least thirty or forty of the Poochyenas racing in this race.
"You ready Ivan?" Jacob asked the Poochyena he was holding.
"Arf!" Ivan barked confidently.
"Laura, you ready to show them how tough you really are?" Karen asked her Poochyena as Jacob put Ivan down.
"Arf!" Laura barked enthusiastically.
(Ivan's PoV)
"Alright Pooches, to the starting line!" A female trainer shouted as all of the Poochyena left their trainers to get into position at the starting line.
Ivan walked alongside Laura, Karen's Poochyena to the starting line, giving her a piercing glare even as she glared at him.
"I am so beating you in this." He whispered as they reached the starting position. "Not going to let you beat me in front of my Alpha."
"We'll see about that, you forget my Alpha is also here!" Laura snapped back. "Just watch me win this thing!"
As all the Poochyena stood at the starting line, waiting for the Mightyena to use their Roars and start the event.
There was silence before all the Alphas started counting down from ten. "FIVE… FOUR… THREE… TWO…" They shouted. "ONE!"
"ROAAAAAAARW!" The two Mightyena's roared loudly.
At the sounds of the roar, all the Poochyena took off at once and made their way down the beach toward the first destination, a large flag post embedded in the sand.
Ivan ran alongside Laura among the group of Poochyenas that were in the middle of the pack, and he saw that the two of them were quite evenly matched in terms of speed. As for endurance the only way that would be decided was later in the race. But he still couldn't resist the urge to taunt her as they ran; knowing that she had been boasting of her Alpha training her to outlast any other Pokemon they could meet!
"Face it; I'm just as fast as you Laura!" Ivan barked to Laura as the lead group of Poochyena made the first turn and started heading back toward the second flag set behind the starting line.
"I'm just conserving my energy for the race!" Laura barked as she and Ivan turned around the flag with the other.
"We'll see about that!" Ivan barked as they picked up their pace so they wouldn't be left behind by the rest of the pack.
As they neared the second flag the other Alphas started calling out their individual Poochyena's names, encouraging them to move faster and faster. "Come on Ivan!" Ivan heard his Alpha Jacob shout out.
"You can do it Laura!" Alpha Karen called out as they raced passed.
Spurred on by their alpha's calls all the Poochyena picked up their paces, rounding the second flag and heading toward the starting line for the second lap.
During the second lap many of the lead pack started getting further ahead, but those in the central pack that Ivan and Laura were racing in continued to battle for positioning. The two of them in particular were almost ignoring the other Poochyena around them as the race became a personal battle between him and Laura.
As they rounded the flag during the third lap of the race, Laura and Ivan picked up their paces and started pushing themselves even harder to get ahead of one another. Ivan was starting to get a little tired, but Laura alongside him was also breathing heavily.
"Getting tired yet?" Ivan barked as they fell behind another pair of Poochyena who were kicking up sand as they ran as hard as their paws could go.
"Are you?" Laura barked back as they saw the finish line ahead of them.
As they raced for the finish line, Ivan poured everything he had left and tried to pull ahead of Laura. Next to him Laura matched his pace and stayed nose to nose as they ran across the finish line side by side!
Meanwhile all the alphas were cheering and running to their respective Poochyenas, who in turn were eagerly prancing or bouncing with joy at the sight of their alphas. Ivan and Laura ran back to their alphas Jacob and Karen to see who the winner was.
"Did I win?" Ivan barked at Jacob as he picked up and gave him a scratch behind the ear.
"It wasn't about winning Ivan; it was about having fun and running around!" Jacob said after Sara translated for him. "Besides, you and Laura were tied the entire time."
"Man Laura, I didn't think you could move that fast!" Karen said to Laura, giving her a scratch behind her ears. "Now that's my girl!"
"Well you guys didn't win the Rare Candies, but I think that race deserves a special treat, right Karen?" Jacob said to Karen.
"Yep, I think we can treat our puppies to some ice cream after all that running!"
"Ice Cream!" Ivan and Laura barked out happily, completely forgetting their rivalry through the entire race.