King stormed through the Pokemon Center door. The few people scattered around the inside flashed him wary looks, and the nurse behind the counter raised a hand to her mouth. He ignored them.
Grinding his teeth, he loped to the counter, and one by one slammed his Pokeballs down.
"Heal them," he demanded. The nurse's eyes widened.
"O-oh, I'm-"
"Heal them!"
She scrambled to pick them all into her arms, then fled into the back room. King glared at the other people. They looked away.
Something had broken inside him. The tight, iron lock that he kept around his temper, slowly becoming more and more chipped over the years, was gone. God damn zorua. King would show it what happened when it decided to sabotage his gym battle. He would explain yo all three of them what it meant to disappoint their trainer.
The nurse returned, and he promptly snatched the Pokeballs from her grasp and left the Pokemon Center. His vision was blurry with rage. The wind bit at his face, pushing against him, trying to slow him. He didn't stop. He went straight through the town to the outskirts, where the mountains loomed above like jagged teeth. He searched their gray faces and found the gaping black hole hidden among the trees.
Chargestone Cave.
The sunlight vanished as he went inside. The rocks shone with a hue of blue light, electricity zapping, and sparking within and between them. A chilling cold filled the air. Echoes sounded in the distance.
He followed the noises, progressing deeper into the mountain.
He found no Pokemon, and he didn't seem to be getting any closer to the sounds. That angered him even more. Where were they? Hiding from him? The world, it seemed, was determined to prevent him from becoming a great trainer. He wouldn't let it stand in his way. His father was not right. He isn't!
King yelled, slamming a fist against the rock wall. His voice reverberated back to his ears. Brown, aching pain bruised through his knuckled. It felt good.
When the echo of his yell faded, another sound took its place. The scuttling of feet, like a thousand legs running and skittering along the floor and the walls, coming for him. He smiled a manic grin that peeled across his face to his ears. The Pokemon had decided to stop being cowards and face him.
The noise grew louder, raging in King's ears, until a dozen galvantula and joltik swarmed the ceiling and the walls, chittering, and fidgeting, blocking him in a tight circle. It was a shame; he had been hoping for more of them.
He released all of his Pokemon at once. Zorua, rufflet, and palpitoad, all of them appearing in a line. Rufflet cawed, ready for a challenge. Palpitoad looked around, a placid expression on its face. Zorua set its feet, prepared. It didn't so much as glance at King.
He commanded them to fight.
Sparks of electricity like small bolts of lightning cracked through the air, snaking this way and that. King made his Pokemon take the hits. He'd never bought more potions, and so there was no healing them. No matter how many times rufflet was knocked down by an electric-type move, or zorua and palpitoad by a bug-type, King forced them to keep going. One by one, the galvantulas began to curl their legs to their bodies as they fell, too injured to keep going.
Rufflet was the first of his Pokemon to faint. King cursed the useless thing as it toppled to a sprawl on the ground.
Palpitoad was next, cornered by three galvantulas, attacked by a swarm of bug-type moves. It cried and fell face first.
And then it was only zorua left against them, the three galvantulas. Zorua was panting hard, exhaustion setting in.
"Dark Pulse," King shouted. Zorua stumbled to the side, not responding. He glared at it.
"I said Dark Pulse! Use it! Now!"
Three bolts of electricity knocked zorua down. Rage bubbled within King as the Pokemon cried out. He stomped over to it.
A bundle of black and red fur wobbling to its feet. It wouldn't obey him. His heard slammed in his ears, a beating drum. Faster. Louder. Why wouldn't it obey him?
He shouted. "You useless sack of shit!"
His foot moved on its own, thumping into zorua's stomach, punting it against the wall. Electricity from the galvantulas zapped it. Still, it stood and glared at King.
I've tried to become good enough for you, said that familiar voice in King's head. He clenched his jaw.
I've tried to examine what it means to be mature because you told me I shouldn't be immature any longer. All I've ever wanted is for a trainer to love me! That's all! Is it so much to ask for, King? Is it? You push me and rufflet and palpitoad to the extreme every day, and now you're kicking me? You're acting just like that man in Icirrus City! I hear things in my Pokeball! He's your father, right? You despise him, right? You act just like him! Maybe you should be the one to become a little more mature!
King balked. I'm acting like my father? The anger. The swearing. The kicking. I am, aren't I? God, I really am. Zorua is right.
The tension in his shoulders unknotted, fists unclenched. Immense guilt replaced the casing of anger around his heart. He hated his father, but he was no better than him. No. He was worse. At least his father accepted his nature. King hadn't even realized what he had been doing.
Well, you know what? Zorua continued. You want to push us so hard? Let's see what happens!
It bolted toward the galvantula, leaping over the ones already fallen from the battle.
"Zorua, wait!'
It jumped into the middle of them.
It fought a weak battle, for less than a second, before they began to rip it apart.
King screamed, slamming into one of the galvantula. He punched it again and again, startling it off of zorua. He yanked at the other two and shoved them away. Zorua lay in a pool of its blood, fur matted and torn like its ear from when humans abused it in Castelia.
King, desperately trying to ignore the electric shocks beating at him from behind, bent down and clutched zorua in his arms. He fumbled for his Pokeballs, returning palpitoad and rufflet. Hot tears stung his eyes.
One galvantula leaped for him, biting his thigh. He cried out and sprinted away, favoring the leg, zorua held close to his chest. Its blood stained his shirt. Its breath was shallow. Pokemon Center. I need to get him there.
He bit back tears, swallowing hard.
What have I done?