Scene 43: The Young Ninja Master
[ The scene opens with Squirtle evolving into Worturtle after winning another battle against a Trainer. Lyrik shakes the boy's hand and they turn their attention back to Route 13. Lyrik's been on a major winning streak since her last Gym Battle in Vermillion City. She thinks back to the tough battle she had with Lt. Surge… They had almost lost that one..! But not anymore!
Ever since that day a couple weeks ago now, Lyrik hasn't lost a single battle. She's also managed to capture quite a few new Pokémon! By using her the Old Rod Lyrik's caught a large Magikarp and Tentacool. Psyduck tried to help in the capture, only to find himself falling head first into the river… She's also battled alongside her Pokémon, Training extra hard in preparation for the next few Gym Matches. Unlike the Sensation Sisters of Cerulean City, these other Gym Leaders have yet to disappoint!
Knowing that she would have to toughen up her team, Lyrik's been on the lookout for more Pokémon to catch. Joining her team now were a Pidgey, Venonat, and Oddish. But as she got into another battle with a random Trainer, Lyrik began to wonder… ]
Nidoran's Poison Sting went straight into affect on the boy's Spearow. Although it was still able to fly high and out of the way of their attacks, Lyrik was starting to understand the ins and outs of Pokémon battles. "Wait for it…" The Spearrow flew in for a Peck Attack. But they were ready for it, "Use Horn Attack!" Spearrow flew right into their trap. The attack landed squarely into Spearrow's chest, knocking it out. Before the boy could even thank Lyrik for the battle, Nidoran's body began to glow. He was evolving!
Lyrik was sure to check the information on Dextyn when the light disappeared to reveal her newly evolved Nidorino. She goes to hug him, happily. She says goodbey to the other Trainer and they turn their attention onward. As she walks through the forest Lyrik doesn't take notice to a strange, shadowy figure lurking high in the trees…
She double-checks her map, hoping that she's still going the right way. She turns back to look at her Pokémon, "If we keep up this pace we should be at the end of Route 15 by tomorrow! And after that- Fuchsia City!" The Pokémon are all excited. They've been traveling a few weeks now, sleeping outside and "living off the land." Psyduck, for one, would love to have a full-course meal soon..!
Lyrik sets the Pokémon their chores to prepare a fire and to gather food for dinner. But before they can even get started they hear a dark cackle echoing through the trees around them. Lyrik and the others stand looking all around them. She gulped, "Who's there!?"
There's a sudden burst of wind that pushes at them. She can barely open her eyes to see a shroud of leaves- almost as if caught in a tornado. The wind vanishes and suddenly before them are two girls. The eldest of the two looks to be somewhere in her 20's, has long green hair up in a ponytail and is wearing what looks to be shinobi pants of red. The 2nd is barely older than Lyrik, maybe 13? She has her dark purple hair pulled up into a high ponytail and is wearing a short dress, dark netting covering most of her body… Who were these people?
The younger girl steps forward, "I'm Janine! I'm a modern ninja! I saw your battle from earlier and I've gotta say, I was impressed." It takes a moment for Lyrik to respond. It's not everyday people appear out of leaf tornados claiming to be real-life ninjas..! She blinks, "Oh! Uhm, thank you..?" The other lady steps up behind Janine, "And my name is Aya. It's a pleasure to meet you. Tell me, are you challenging the Pokémon League?" Lyrik nods. Aya smiles down at Janine. She puts a hand on her shoulder and looks back at Lyrik, "In that case, let's have a battle!"
"Huh? Wait. Are you serious?" There's some kind of knowing look in Aya's eyes, "If you're good enough to take on the Pokémon League, this should be a breeze. So what do you say?" Lyrik gives a smug look. She looks around at her Pokémon, "Well, if that's what you want. What do you say, guys?" They're in. Lyrik turns to face Aya, "What are the rules?"
They will have a 4 on 4 Pokémon battle. Lyrik is allowed to substitute Pokémon as often as she likes and the match is decided when one side has no more Pokémon to battle. Aya starts to walk off. Lyrik looks at her, "Wait. Where are you going?" Aya gives a giggle, "Oh! I'm not your opponent. She is." She points back at Janine. The younger girls has been watching Lyrik very closely. There's something about this girl that put Lyrik off, though she doesn't know what it is.
"Ok then. But if this is a Pokémon battle, don't you kinda need Pokémon to battle with?" Lyrik didn't see any bag or Pokéballs on either of them. Janine closes her eyes, smiling, "But my partner is already here." Out of the shadows a large spider Pokémon drops in from the trees. There's a heavy thud as it lands. Lyrik looks as if she's about ready to pass out, "T-t-t-that's one big bug..!" Her hands shaking, she pulls out Dextyn to look it up. The Pokémon is called Ariados, the Long Leg Pokémon.
Before she can gather herself, Psyduck steps forward on her behalf. Lyrik and the others are surprised that Psyduck is wanting to fight. She can see the look on his face, "Looks like someone's ready!" She wipes a bit of sweat off her brow. "Ok, Lyrik, play it cool. It's just a ginormous Bug Pokémon, no big deal. We just need to beat it like every other opponent!"
But Janine's Ariados proves to be a lot more powerful than it looks. By using his stretchy web, Ariados is able to swing from branch to branch and out of Psyduck's reach. While hanging upside down Ariados spits out a String Shot. Psyduck is trapped! Lyrik calls to him, "Try to get yourself out of there!" But there's nothing he can do. Ariados dangles poor Psyduck from a branch and instead of trying to fight for his freedom, Psyduck is crying. Lyrik is now yelling at him, "Come on! Do something!" Ariados plays with Psyduck a bit more before being ordered to finish him off. Ariados uses a powerfl Night Shade, knocking Psyduck out!
Lyrik gives out a sigh, returning him to his Pokéball, "So much for that." Her next Pokémon is Worturtle. They try to match speed for speed. It's Ariados' sticky web against Wartortle's Rapid Spin. It takes a few minutes for Lyrik to realize what's happening- as they continue to chase after Ariados, they're just playing into Janine's trap! The more Warturtle tries to attack the more tangled he gets in the web and the slower his movements become.
Janine laughs, "I know you're tough. This is deadly serious! You better watch out!" Warrrrr…! Lyrik looks to her Pokémon. He's completely covered in webbing. She doesn't have a choice, "Wartortle return!" Aya makes the call, "According to the Indigo League Official Rules, when a Trainer calls back their Pokémon in the middle of a battle it counts as a single loss." And that meant Lyrik was already two down.
Lyrik surveyed the entire area. Ariados had covered the majority of the trees with its webbing… A spider's web… "That's it!" She calls out her next Pokémon. It's Charmeleon! Lyrik can't even hide her smile, "I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier! Use your Flamethrower to get rid of that web!" Charmeleon puts all his strength into the attack. Ariados gets scared when a trail of flames start creeping up to his perch- the entire web is connected and its all on fire! Ariados is caught up in the attack! Janine and Aya watch in dismay as Ariados tries to escape but is unable to. He falls to the ground. Ariados is burnt to a crisp and unable to continue!
Lyrik takes a breath. "We can still win this thing!" Janine battles with her Venomoth next, but it's no match for Charmeleon's power. The girls are now tied with 2 Pokémon left. Lyrik notices how hard Charmeleon is breathing, but, "You're the only one that might stand a chance against her Pokémon..!" She grumbles to herself. Janine's 3rd choice of Pokémon is a Weezing. Charmeleon tries to finish him off quickly, but when he goes in for a Scratch Attack, they're surprised. A cloud of purple Smog hits his face. Charmeleon's been Poisoned!
"Come on, Charmeleon! You can still keep fighting!" And he tries. Charmeleon tries to fight back, but his movements become sluggish. Weezing barely has to even to try to dodge. Charmeleon swings his arm once more, only to collapse. The Poison was too much, "Oh no!" Lyrik dashes forward to check on him. He looks extremely ill. Aya calls to her, "You should call him back. He's in no shape to keep up this battle." And although she hated hearing it, she was right. Charmeleon was unable to keep battling.
Lyrik had a tough time deciding on her final Pokémon. She pulls out a ball, "Guess I'll have to fight fire with fire, or in this case, poison!" It's Nidorino! He manages to dodge most of Weezing's attacks, jumping lightly from foot to foot. Janine is impressed with how agile he is, "Like a swift ninja in the shroud of darkness…" She smiles.
Nidorino lands a powerful Horn Drill on Weezing, knocking it into the ground. It's unable to battle. Lyrik gives Nidorino a thumbs up. Only one more! Janine is laughing again, "Sorry to disappoint you, but this battle is long from over." Her 4th and final Pokémon is one Lyrik's never seen before. It's called a Drapion, however, "What do you mean there's no data!?" Lyrik stuffs Dextyn back into her bag angrily. "Great. A Pokémon even Dextyn doesn't know anything about. Just perfect!" The giant Scorpion Pokémon is a scary kind of opponent. She gulps. She's never faced a Pokémon that big before either…
The battle continues almost one-sided. Nidorino barely manages to keep out of Drapion's grasp, but before they know it things take a turn for the worse. Janine calls out her attack, "Use Confuse Ray!" What kind of move was that? Nidorino was hit. Lyrik could see how his eyes were somewhat glazed over, "Hey, are you ok?" Nidorino seemed… confused..? Aya explained about the power of the attack known as Confuse Ray. Lyrik and Nidorino had fallen for Janine's trap… Caught in the spider's web like a little bug…
But they couldn't give up! Lyrik continued to call attack after attack, but Nidorino just couldn't hear her. He rammed his head into the trees and tried to shake off this strange sensation, but nothing he did was working! Aya looked across to Janine and nodded. It was about time they finished this, "Drapion! Use Crunch!" Swiftly, the giant Pokémon approached the Confused Nidorino. Lyrik didn't know what to do, "Use Horn Attack!"
Drapion dove in for the attack, ready to finish them off. Suddenly, Nidorino was looking straight into his eyes. He leapt forward, hitting her with a point-blank Horn Attack! Janine, Lyrik, and Aya were all stunned. Janine stammered, "B-but how!?" Drapion stumbled, blinded by the sudden attack.
Lyrik kept watching Nidorino, "He's actually fighting it..!" Nidorino's eyes were still glazed over in his confused state, but every now and then she could catch a glimpse of the real Nidorino in that fog. Janine tried to get Drapion to back in the fight, but she just wasn't quick enough, "Nidorino! Use Double Kick!" The first may have missed, splitting a nearby tree in half, but the second kick hit its mark. Drapion came tumbling down. Aya ran forward to check. Drapion was unable to battle! Lyrik had won the match!
Lyrik ran to check on her Nidorino along with the others. At her touch Nidorino became calm. She smiled at him, kissing the top of his horn. Aya and Janine approached her. Aya hands her a small pink fruit, "This is a Persim Berry. If you give it to your Pokémon it'll heal his Confusion." Lyrik was happy to take it.
"And Janine has something for you as well." Aya nudged Janine. She winced. Begrudgingly, Janine reached into the folds of her belt. She pulled out a small pink badge almost in the shape of a heart. She wasn't able to look Lyrik directly in the eyes, "Here. You definitely won, so here's the Soul Badge. Take it." But now Lyrik was even more confused than ever. She looked at the two older girls, "A badge..?" Aya nodded, "You still haven't gotten it?" She laughed, "Little Janine here is the Leader of the Fuchsia City Gym!"
"… WHAT!?" Lyrik's eyes were wide. Her Pokémon were looking at each other also with surprised expressions. Lyrik couldn't find the right words, "You mean, this was a Gym Battle?" Aya smiled down at Lyrik, "Like we said, we saw your battle earlier. We knew you'd be stopping by our Gym soon enough, but," she shrugged, "We figured, 'why not just bring the battle to you'?" Lyrik was dumbfounded, "B-but… Are you even allowed to do that? We weren't actually at the gym, so does this even count..? I mean-"
"Of course it counts!" Janine cut her off, "A Gym Battle isn't about being inside a smelly old building and beating each other up, you know. It's about being able to connect with your Pokémon. Becoming stronger together through the tough hardships of Training. That's how you become stronger. That's how you become a true Trainer!" And for the first time Lyrik sees Janine smile. A real, genuine smile, "You proved to me the strong bond you share with your Pokémon." She kneeled down beside Nidorino to pet him, "You know, Poison-Type Pokémon are hardy Pokémon. Their thick bodies and pointy exterior make it difficult for people to get close to them. It's hard to earn their trust and loyalty." She looked up to Lyrik, "But I saw how hard Nidorino fought for you. You've certainly earned my respect."
Lyrik blushed. She wasn't expecting Janine to speak so highly of her. A hard hand clasped their shoulders. Aya pulled them both in closely, "And on that mushy note- who's hungry!?" Lyrik hadn't realized how late it'd gotten.
Both Aya and Janine apologized for interrupting Lyrik before she got the chance to eat a proper dinner and offered for her stay at their home. Lyrik and her Pokémon were thrilled to get some home-cooked food and a nice warm bed to sleep on for the night. As they walked towards the edge of town, the two older girls arguing over what they should make for their guests, Lyrik looked down at Nidorino, thinking about what Janine had said.
She had taken what the Pokémon DayCare Couple, Toni and Steven, had told her to heart. She tried to be kinder to her Pokémon. To give them breaks from Training all the time and to just enjoy their time together. And ever since things really have changed… One by one they'd evolved. They kept winning in their battles and somehow, they were having fun at the same time… They really were getting stronger..!