Chapter 53
Palkia's Woods was unusually still the next morning. There was no wind to rustle the leaves and even the forest Pokémon made little noise. It was a bit of a disappointment for Katana. It made her training easier and that was no fun at all.
The young Weavile-woman stood with her arms crossed and her eyes shut in a small clearing downriver from where Aurum was fishing. Aside from the bubbling of the river and her trainer's occasional swearing, there were no other sounds to distract her from her targets.
She counted; three Pidgey at seven o'clock, in a cluster, a Wurmple at nine o'clock, up high, and a Rattata rooting around in the shrubs at four o'clock. All of them were within fifty yards of her. Easy.
Concentrating, she created two small handfuls of short daggers made of ice. With her eyes still shut, she spun in place, throwing the Ice Shards near simultaneously. As one, the three Pidgey and the Wurmple fell from their perches and hit the ground, while the Rattata squeaked in pain before slumping over. It was then that Katana opened her eyes to check her work. Not that she needed to.
She paused for a few moments before the five hurt Pokémon rose again and scampered off into the woods. As they fled, they cursed her in various squeaks and cries. It was a language that she no longer understood. Another price to pay for evolving into a human Pokémon. That world was closed to her and its members hated her. They branded her as a traitor and an embarrassment for forsaking them. It was the same with all human Pokémon.
Sometimes, Katana wondered what it would be like living in that world. She had been bred into a life serving a trainer and she never knew what the wild was like. She had often considered herself to be a free spirit, but was she truly like that if she had never roamed the world on her own? What truths did wild Pokémon know that she didn't?
Maybe that was part of why she chose to evolve. It was the next step into a bigger world; the human world.
But which world did she truly belong in?
Sighing, she closed her eyes again, searching for new, more distant targets.
But she found something different, this time. There were footsteps coming from the east. Some she recognized but most she did not.
The easiest to pick out was Maple. The Leafeon-girl walked so delicately that she hardly even bent the grass as she approached. A short distance in front of her, there were Mark's unsteady footsteps, but Katana did not recognize the others. There were six of them in total. One of them did not take steps, but the insect-like buzzing was unmistakable.
Listening to each in turn, Katana realized that the boy and the Leafeon-girl had made some friends during their absence. Friends that he no doubt expected Aurum to train. Katana smirked to herself. There would be little chance of that. Aurum did not give lessons to just anyone.
Deciding to call an end to her warm-up, Katana began bounding away, back to the lake where Aurum awaited. Just for fun, she shot a final Ice Shard over her shoulder at an Aipom dangling from a tree, about a hundred yards back. The icicle hit it directly in the center of the forehead before it shattered into shimmering bits. The Aipom tumbled to the ground, then rose after a few seconds and scampered away into the woods, screeching indignantly as it went.
Cherry's expression was hard and stern, but on the inside, her stomach wouldn't stay still. Mark had told her that today would be the start of her training, but she had no idea what to expect. She hadn't been in a battle in months and she had still been a normal Charmander at the time. Mark had also told her that she would be training with one of the strongest human Pokémon trainers in existence. No doubt he could brush her aside with little effort. Could she even train with someone so powerful?
Maple's advice on Aurum, the Golden Trainer, did little to help ease her wariness.
"He's great!" She had told Cherry the previous night, "him and Katana both! I mean, I can barely even scratch Katana even after they taught me their Red State. It made me a lot stronger, but there's still a lot I need to learn! And they know everything!"
Cherry had no idea how to react to that.
She also had no idea how to feel about the presence of Lily. Weren't they supposed to fight her in another four days? Wasn't bringing her along to train going to hurt them? Becoming stronger would be pointless if their opponents did it too. They were helping the enemy.
"Welcome back, you two," a tall, intimidating Weavile-woman approached them as they emerged through the woods. Despite her uncooperative nerves, Cherry peered at her suspiciously. But the stranger took no notice, smirking at the group with a confidence that suggested she could defeat them all single-handedly. Cherry had no doubt that it was true.
"Katana!" Maple shouted in greeting and started forward. Cherry presumed that Maple wanted to hug her, but the Weavile-woman backed off and went into a defensive stance. Maple peered at her in hurt confusion.
However, the awkward moment was forgotten as an old man walked purposefully up to Mark, fishing pole in hand.
"Hi…" Mark began awkwardly, "I know it's been-OW!"
A sharp slap sounded in the still forest as Aurum hit Mark's arm with his fishing pole.
"Hey! What was that-OW!"
The second blow caught him across his collarbone. The attacks came as quick snaps, much too fast for the boy to avoid or even prepare for. The pain stun across the narrow strip where the wooden pole had hit, but it faded quickly. If Aurum had truly wanted to hurt him, Mark doubted he would still be standing.
"Two days?!" Aurum planted his fishing pole in front of him, leaning on it as if it were a cane, or perhaps a sword, "Two full days without training! How do you expect to win if you slack off like that?! You should be spending every single hour training, you fool!"
"Yeah, I know, but-" the fishing pole came up and struck his knee this time. The blow was hard enough to make him slump forward so that he was partially bowing down to the small old man.
"No excuses," Aurum no longer yelled, but instead looked down at his pupil with disdain.
"It won't happen again," Mark told Aurum, not knowing whether he could keep that promise. Two days really was a long time to go without training. Their last session had only barely been enough for Mark to win his first match. He couldn't afford time off to watch matches and chase after Team Deus. Still, he knew there were more important things than making Aurum happy. Besides, without the rescue mission against Team Deus, Cherry wouldn't be at his side.
"You have a second one?" Aurum switched his gaze to Cherry, his face expressionless, but his voice softened. The small Charmander-girl felt her heart beat twice as fast, but she hardened her own expression. There was no room for weakness in the presence of someone so powerful. She had come to prove herself and she needed to start now.
"Yes," Mark nodded, glancing over at Cherry while he rubbed his knee, "you'll train her, right?"
"Only if she can keep up," Aurum told him.
That did not sound good. Maple had far more battle experience than Cherry and she had barely been able to keep pace. If Aurum wasn't going to hold back, then training the ten-year-old girl was going to be difficult, if not impossible.
Next, Aurum looked Mark's new companions up and down, gauging and evaluating each one. Lily and Eric huddled together amidst their human Pokémon. They were instantly terrified of Aurum's punishment against their friend. To Aurum, they were little more than a group of scared children.
"They're friends of mine," Mark straightened, ignoring the last bits of lingering pain in his knee, "we need you to train us all. We need your help."
"No," Aurum did not so much as take a second glance.
"What?!" Mark shouted in disbelief, "I didn't even say why!"
"It doesn't matter," Aurum shook his head, "I agreed to train you; only you. I'm not opening a school. Training these others would be a waste of time."
Eric and Lily each took a few steps back. They felt hurt by Aurum's harsh words, but it paled in comparison to their sudden fear of the old man. Mark and Maple had trained with someone like this? What kind of Hell had they been through?
"How can you say something like that?" Mark stared at his teacher. This was their best chance to be able to do something against Team Deus. But Aurum wasn't going to lift a finger to help them.
"Fine," Aurum removed a Pokéball from his belt, "I'll prove it. Nails."
The Pokéball dropped to the ground, opening to reveal a figure resembling a medieval knight clad head-to-toe in sturdy, steel armor. Spiked pauldrons covered his shoulders, while a plate of steel, also adorned in spikes covered his chest. Still more armor covered his arms and legs allowing for only a small amount of movement. Even his yellow eyes were barely visible through the visor of his spiked helmet. Three vine-like extensions hung loosely from the gauntlets on each of his hands, tipped in small spiked balls. There was scarcely a spot on the human Ferrothorn's body that wasn't covered in spikes.
"You three," Aurum gestured to Shinobi, Tsunami and Fernelia, "all of you attack him at the same time. If you can defeat him, I'll agree to train you."
Mark looked over at his friends. Even with three of them, it was doubtful that they would be able to topple a human Ferrothorn. The incredible defense of a Ferrothorn was something that was near impossible to break without the use of a fire-type attack. Something that none of them possessed.
Even still, they eagerly stepped forward, ready to earn their place alongside Mark, Maple and Cherry.
As the four human Pokémon squared off, the others backed away to give them room. All except for Aurum, who remained where he was even though he stood a mere three feet from Nails.
Lily and Eric exchanged uneasy glances. The two had never fought beside each other before and Aurum's unshakable confidence terrified both of them. But only Lily, with her greater amount of battle experience, knew the true difficulty of facing a Ferrothorn. This was not a fight they could win. Not if Aurum really was as powerful as they said he was.
"X-Scissor!"
"Ice Beam! Magical Leaf!"
Dashing forward with incredible speed, Shinobi was the first to land a hit. The blades on his arms slashed across the chest plate of the enemy Ferrothorn. But he paid a price for it. It was impossible to land a direct attack without also being hurt by the spikes covering the impenetrable armor. Nails also showed no reaction whatsoever to the attack. In truth, Shinobi's attack had hurt himself more than the enemy.
But there was no time to rethink their strategy. Shinobi buzzed past as Tsunami's Ice Beam and Fernelia's Air Slash connected with the unflinching enemy knight. The jet of super-cooled water and the thin, flying leaves had no greater effect on Nails than Shinobi's direct assault. After three attacks, the Ferrothorn was barely fazed.
"Power Whip," Aurum said, bored with the exercise.
His armor creaking, Nails began to swing the extensions of his right arm overhead. Faster and faster they spun, creating a high-pitched whistling sound. When he was satisfied, he slammed the end of the whip down at Tsunami's head. The Swampert-man tried to dodge, but he clumsily bumped into Fernelia. The steel ball at the end of the Power Whip caught him in the back of the head, driving him face-first into the ground.
Tsunami groaned in pain and tried to stand. Blood was trickling out of both of his strangely shaped ears and he coughed up a mouthful of the thick red liquid. Finally, he slumped forward, defeated in a single blow.
Lily and Eric exchanged another terrified glance. It was the absolute best they could have done. They were totally outclassed by the Ferrothorn-knight. Even if Tsunami's Ice Beam had somehow frozen Nails where he stood they had little hope of even denting him. They had no choice but to try again.
But the second round of attacks was no more effective than the first. The sturdy opponent made no effort to dodge and didn't need to. Mark shook his head at the hopeless battle. Three against one and they still had no chance. But what could he do?
"Gyro Ball," Aurum sighed. This time, when Shinobi came in for the attack, Nails was ready for him. With unnatural agility for someone clad in so much armor, Nails began to spin in place, slow at first and then faster and faster. While spinning, he dashed forward and collided with Shinobi. The spikes of the human Ferrothorn's armor dug into Shinobi and came away wet with blood.
The human Ninjask was fast, but it did nothing to help him against an attack like Gyro Ball. With a disheartening buzz he collapsed to the ground at Nails' feet.
That left Fernelia as the only opponent that Nails hadn't defeated.
"Stop it!" Mark yelled, stepping forward.
"Stay out of this," Aurum growled at Mark with those same acid tones that he reserved solely for the boy, "this is not your fight."
"Yes it is," Mark insisted, "I won't let you do this to them! I said we need your help! What do I have to do to make you see that?!"
"Fight me," Aurum told him, "if you win, then I'll train them too."
"Fine, then," Mark scowled, "Maple." The Leafeon-girl stepped forward uneasily. Three opponents had barely even scratched Nails, what difference could Maple make? Did Mark have a plan? If anyone it should be Cherry. A fire-type attack would be the best that they had for fighting a Ferrothorn…right?
Maple stepped forward, biting her lip nervously. She called on her Red State, but the power boost it gave her did little to help her confidence. But still, everyone was watching her, now. She had become close friends with Lily and Eric, been trained by Aurum and Katana and…
She almost didn't say it. She had never said it to herself before, but when the words were there, she knew they were true.
She had fallen in love with Mark.
"Swords Dance," Mark instructed.
Maple nodded and concentrated, beginning the ritual. The phantom swords swirled around her as she spun in place. She grasped two of them by the hilt and struck blade on blade twice before all of them disappeared at once.
By that time, Nails had managed to stomp his way over to Maple. He launched another Gyro Ball attack, driving his spikes against her. The blow, made her reel back, but she stayed on her feet and no wound was left on her. She wasn't as vulnerable to the attack as Shinobi was. It hurt, there was no question, but she would not fall to it so easily.
"Again," Mark commanded.
Again? Lily and Eric both stared at him. What did he have to gain from performing Swords Dance a second time? Shouldn't he attack now?
But Maple never questioned it. She bounced back, easily outdistancing the slow Ferrothorn, before restarting the dance, sharpening her abilities even further.
Aurum smiled.
Again, Nails closed the distance, his armor clanging around with every step. Pain lanced through Maple's body as he collided into her with another Gyro Ball. She stumbled back, the bodice of her dress now dotted with blood. She closed her eyes to shut out the pain, but it was worse than she had expected. There was still so much training to do before she could fight Nails on equal footing.
"Alright, Synthesis," Mark began to calm down. If it took two Gyro Balls to weaken Maple this much, then victory was indeed possible. He needed to wait and fight carefully.
Grateful for the order, Maple folded her hands as if in prayer. She closed her eyes as the bright sunlight of the day fueled her healing technique. The pain in her chest faded as Synthesis gave her strength and mended her wounds.
Before the third Gyro Ball could hit, Maple bounced away, using her superior movement to her advantage. She wasn't bleeding anymore, but she was becoming incredibly annoyed at the repeated assault. It was nothing but an endurance contest, seeing who could outlast who.
"One more," Mark urged, "Swords Dance."
Maple groaned aloud. She didn't like fighting like this. Battles should be faster. She should be slashing and dodging, trying to break through that heavy armor. She should be moving for crying out loud!
"Alright, do it now," Mark nodded, "Dig." Thanking Arceus for the chance to finally attack, Maple spring-boarded into the air and dove into the ground. In moments she would reappear and the battle would be decided.
Mark grinned as he saw Nails' yellow eyes widen within his visor.
Maple burst from the ground between Nails' feet. Her fist connected with the bottom of his spiked helmet, denting the metal. The human Ferrothorn flew backwards and landed in a crumpled and clanging heap. He did not get back up.
Victorious, Maple sat down in the grass and clutched her hand. Her own attack had broken three of her fingers and the skin of her knuckle had split open, leaving it bloody and shaking from the pain. But Maple did not cry out. She was too happy that she had actually beaten the damned Ferrothorn.
"Very well," Aurum nodded. "You two," he startled Lily and Eric as they came to attention, "go to the Pokémon Center and heal your injured. I'm not wasting my medicine on you."
Too dumbfounded to speak, the two nodded hurriedly and dashed away, back into the woods.
Aurum turned to Mark, "Good work." It was the first compliment Aurum had ever given him. He turned away quickly, walking over to his injured Ferrothorn. They would need him again very soon.
"Umm…thank you," Mark nodded. A moment ago the two had been bitter enemies, but with Maple's win it was as if it had never happened. Mark hated Aurum, yet somehow he felt proud to train under him.
Katana helped Maple to her feet, placing a Hyper Potion in the girl's unbroken hand. Maple drank it gratefully, though she grimaced at the taste of the bitter liquid mixing with the blood in her mouth. She often liked new experiences, but as the potion mended her broken fingers, she decided that there were some that she could do without.
Katana smiled at the girl. She and Mark really were good apprentices. They weren't just strong, but they were smart, too. Maple would never have won if Mark hadn't been patient enough to boost her attack power to its maximum potential.
It was the only strategy between all of their human Pokémon that could defeat Nails. It was a strategy that not everyone would see. But Mark saw it and exploited it in the only way that he could.
Could Aurum have known the entire time? Was that why he had chosen Nails, who could brush aside the others, but lose to Maple in a one-on-one contest?
Katana glanced between Aurum and Mark. The two hated each other, but they were master and apprentice nevertheless. If Aurum knew the others would lose, then she wondered who the Golden Trainer had really been testing…
AN: BEHOLD THE RIDICULOUS DEFENSE OF A FERROTHORN!
Btw, Nails actually marks the third character that I designed myself with no drawing for its basis. The first was Tyrant (EdgeoftheEarth's Tyranitar) and the second was Lionel's Lanturn. I'd post the originals if I could, but sadly some of them (like Cascade) no longer exist on the internet so I can't link to them. It makes me sad…
Anyways, as always thanks for reading and I'll see you next time!