(I don't own pokemon or anything affiliated with the series. I only own the characters displayed in this story, but not the creatures. The human characters are not modeled after anyone in real life, so consider any kind of similarities to real life people a coincidence. Yeah, I'm not even gonna say anything witty in this one.)

Chapter 5

Riddle Me This

"Ok, Dante, let's get going, I think we should get an early start." I said nervously, trying to hide what I had heard last night. I knew bumping into my friends along the way was inevitable, but I wanted to make sure it didn't happen soon. I hated conflict, and the longer we were separated, the more the tension from me leaving would die down. That's just how they are.

"Ugh, fine, Carbon. For Mew's sake, I hope this isn't a regular thing with you." He said, rolling his eyes, and getting his bag reluctantly.

"It won't be. Wait, are you Mewish? I mean, that's not a bad thing, but...um. Well, it's just that there weren't many of you guys where I used to live." I stuttered out, being just about as awkward as someone can be. I looked over at him, trying to see if I had insulted him. The only reaction I got was a skeptical cocked eyebrow.

"Let's leave." He said. He wasn't being hostile, but it still kinda hurt.

~Around noon, outside of the Mysticia City Gym~

This Gym was a lot different from my dad's. My dad's was humble, but I thought it always looked elegant. It had an open roof and the floor was made of spotless glass, giving the illusion of flight, but it wasn't at all gimmicky. Gimmicky was the perfect word for this gym. It looked like a circus, a giant purple tent with a giant magic-orb-thing on the top, holding the Pokemon League logo.

There was a man outside of the Gym editing the digital winner's panel. Dante and I were walking over to him, trying to get a closer look, when we heard an obnoxious voice from behind us say, "He's adding my name. Zero. Zero Hantero. Now, why don't you kids run along, only people on my level can beat this gym." We turned and say a russet-haired kid with his nose in the air, obviously feeling like he was way above us commoners. It was weird that he put so much emphasis into calling us "kids" when he looked about my age, 13, and Dante was 15.

"Excuse us, my liege," Dante said, giving an exaggerated bow, "Obviously us mortals should be in awe of such a skilled trainer as you. It must've taken so much skill to defeat a Psychic-type Gym with two Dark-types. We apologize for insulting you by being in your presence." With that, Dante grabbed my wrist and dragged me in the Gym, leaving the kid, Zero, before he could do anything.

"Haha, nice one, Dante." I said, patting him on the back.

"Hey, I wasn't just gonna stand there and let that guy be a dick." He said nonchalantly. We looked around the Gym in amazement. Just like the outside, the inside was made to look like a circus. There were rows and rows of seats, many of them filled with spectators watching the battles. In the middle there was a wide open circular space, filled with trainers battling.

All of the sudden, a man in a white suit with dark sunglasses and an absurdly bushy white mustache came in front of us. His voice was very excited, but for some reason it seemed genuine. The man took a deep breath, then said, "Welcome champs in the making! Since this is the first Gym in the official League ranking, I'll fill you guys in on how things work. Each Gym has a specific typing, but you probably knew that. All Gyms also have different specifications, like finding your way through a maze to get to the gym leader, or going through a series of elevators. This Gym's specialty is Psychic, so keep your Fighting and Poison-types away, but you'll be safe if you have Dark, Bug, or Ghost-types. In this Gym, you will be approached by two trainers. They will tell you a riddle, and if you answer correctly, you will battle one of them, but if you answer incorrectly, you must face both of them simultaneously. You go through that thrice, that's three whole battles, but you may heal in between, as long as you do not leave the gym. Every trainer in this gym has two pokemon each, so try your best to pick the right answer. Do you need any more information?"

"No." Dante said immediately. He was obviously getting impatient, and I could understand why, the guy had been blabbering on for quite a while, and I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible to avoid any encounters with Chloe and Ink.

"Well, okay then," the man said, "Now, let me see your pokemon to make sure they are up to League standards for this Gym." We released all of our pokemon and he whipped out a little scanning device, looking over our pokemon. "It all looks good, but I'll tell ya, that Cubone is cutting it close. If it were any stronger I'd have to disqualify it. Good luck kids, and feel free to take turns, you won't learn any answers. All of the riddles here are used only once."

We headed down the stairs into the intimidating arena. On the other side from the entrance, I saw a kid walk up some stairs into a room hidden by red curtains, different from the purple of the rest of the Gym. I pointed to it, "That must be where the Gym Leader is." I looked over at Dante and saw the nervous expression on his face, much different from his usual calm attitude. "Hey, I'll go first, then you face your guy, and I'll go again, and, well, you get it." He just nodded. Dante sat in the first row while I was approached by two trainers, both wearing weird fortune teller costumes. They nodded at each other, then said:

"Imagine you are lost in the ocean."

"You are in a boat."

"You are struck by a large storm."

"Your boat crashes."

"You are lost, swimming around blindly in the water."

"You feel something brush up against your foot."

"Then you see a monstrous beast rise up out of the water, fangs bared."

"What do you do to survive?"

They both looked at me patiently, waiting for my answer. I rack my brain for possible solutions, then, without even a sliver of confidence, say, "Umm, you, like, see if lightning strikes it, since it's like, a storm, and...umm...I have no idea."

They both shake their heads in disappointment, taking pokeballs out of their robes. One of them then says, "The correct answer is, stop imagining." They release a Chingling and a Spoink from their pokeballs and laugh.

"Wait, what?" I ask, releasing Mirror and Omen onto the battlefield.

"We said imagine you are lost in the ocean, now, Spoink, use Psywave on the Kecleon!" One of the trainers said, still cackling. Mirror dodged the pulse of magenta energy radiating from Spoink's pearl.

"Omen, use Pursuit on Kecleon!" I commanded, knowing Kecleon could take the hit. Omen dashed to him, enveloped in dark energy, colliding roughly, but not roughly enough to make Mirror budge. Mirror's green color was replaced by a deep black, making him look menacing when combined with the blood red stripe zigzagging across his stomach.

"Mirror, use Dizzy Punch on Chingling, and hurry, it can still use non-Psychic moves!" I said, and Mirror did what exactly that, and he did it quick too. He wasn't as fast as Omen, not even close, but he wasn't really a symbol of speed. Mirror's attack smacked Chingling right in the eye, sending it spinning.

"My little Spoink only knows Psychic-type moves, but I have a pokemon perfect for this situation. Spoink, come back!" One of them shouted.

"Omen, hurry use Pursuit!" I said, trying to react as fast as possible. Before Spoink could be recalled, Omen dashed over to him completely destroying him, leaving the spring-pig lying on the ground unconscious.

"What? How did it do that much damage?" The fortune teller asked, astounded.

"Super Luck. Gotta love it." I responded with a laugh, remembering my battle with Kyle. It didn't see, so funny then, but those guys really taught me something.

"Fine, how about this, go Wynaut!" The same fortune teller said, getting aggravated. I swear I saw the other one smirk.

"Omen, go! Use Pursuit on Chingling!" I said. Murkrow dashed once again, hitting Chingling, but not doing nearly as much as I thought it would. "Omen, what the hell?" I asked.

"You fool! While you were distracted, I was using Growl this whole time!" Chingling's trainer said. There was an awkward pause.

"Really?" I asked, "That is your strategy?" He started to look embarrassed, and I thought it was funny so I continued, "And if you've been using Growl this whole time, why did I still defeat Spoink so easily?"

He stood there awkwardly, and said, "Um, well, Chingling was confused, so…nevermind, Chingling, use Growl!" The Chingling hurt itself in its confusion...and fainted. "Not. A. Word." He said, recalling it, and sending out Spoink.

"Haha," I said, then turning serious, I continued, "Mirror, use Astonish on Wynaut!" The Kecleon dashed over to Wynaut, his fist charged with a deep black energy, much like Omen's Pursuit. It smacked Wynaut across the face, obviously doing damage, but not fazing Wynaut at all.

"Wynaut! Here's your chance! Use Counter!" The fortune teller yelled, and immediately, with alarming speed, the Wynaut hit Mirror in the jaw before he could get away. My poor lizard went flying, changing from black to orange mid-air, then colliding with the floor so hard, I half-expected it to change into a Ground-type. I saw the Spoink charging up a Psybeam, and, without me instructing, Omen got in the way and blocked the shot. The bird didn't just do that, he also used Pursuit on the Spoink, following his type-advantage instincts, but with his lowered attack, it didn't do enough. Wynaut was walking slowly and menacingly towards Mirror (if I can even say that about a Wynaut) and the poor Kecleon was struggling to get up. All of a sudden, Spoink bounded over Omen's head, and shot Mirror square in the chest with a mid-air Psybeam, landing with ease.

Slowly, I recalled the chameleon pokemon, realizing that my odds of winning this battle were not nearly as good as I thought. Then, by some sort of miracle, Omen did something I had never seen him do before. He spread his wings wide, and started flapping furiously. A cold fog started forming around him, and I asked, yelling over the sound of the Murkrow's wings, "What is this?"

"It's Haze! He's eliminating Growl's effects!" One of the fortune tellers said. I was happy, but I couldn't help thinking that if I had known about that move, this match would've been over much sooner. Mirror wouldn't have had to go through that.

"Ok, Omen, now-" Before I could finish my sentence, the bird went into a rage. One Pursuit after another, doing it so fast that the dark energy never left his body in between attacks. After what had to have been no more than 3 seconds, he flew back, looking away while the bodies of his opponents collapsed, like someone in an action movie. "Wow, Omen, you're...wow!" That's all I could say. That's all I needed to say. The bird gave me a smile and perched pleasantly on my head.

I switched places with Dante, healing my pokemon. I started thinking about the possibilities of Omen's newly discovered strength. 'Maybe he could even beat Rebel!' I thought to myslef, 'No, no, Rebel has Rock Tomb, but he might be able to beat Jagged if I train him more. What am I talking about, Jagged it way too strong, even if I do have the type advantage.' While I was thinking I must've missed Dante's riddle, but I guess he got it right because he was only facing one trainer.

"Snubbull, Bite one more time, and that should be the end of his Spoink!" He said, not showing the same nervousness he had shown me when we were talking before. The man recalled his Spoink, and sent out, of course, another Spoink.

"For the love of Arceus, how many Spoinks are in this damn Gym?" I muttered to myself.

"Too many, that's for sure." Ink's voice said from behind me. I was so startled I nearly fell out of my seat. "Hey, calm down Carbon, haha. Look, I don't blame you for running off, the spirit of adventure and all that jazz, but next time, give us a little warning." He smiled, not showing any sign of having a potentially fatal illness, but Chloe was obviously more nervous. He was sure rushing this introduction, so I didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable by asking about his health, not even to avoid suspicion. I just nodded, and looked back to the battle. Well, looking back to Dante walking away from an unconscious Spoink, that is.

"Hey, Dante Alighieri," He said, holding out his hand, "Are you guys friends of Carbon?"

"Yup, I'm Ink and this is Chloe." He said, warmly reaching out to shake hands with his, well, to be honest, replacement. I left to start my next battle while they caught up. It felt weird to be around them all.

Out of nowhere again, two fortune tellers appeared and presented their riddle:

"You are faced with two men, and two doors."

"The good man only tells the truth, and the evil man only tells lies."

"One door leads to glory, the other to death."

"You don't know which is which, for the men, or the doors."

"What can you ask the men to see which door to go through?"

And I thought the last riddle was weird. I thought, and thought, and thought. Then it hit me. "You ask them, 'which door do you want me to go through'. The evil man will lie and point at the good door, and the good man will point at it too." The fortune tellers looked surprised, they had obviously seen my last attempt at answering a riddle. One of them left, leaving me with a one-on-one, just how I liked it.

"I hope you know, kid, these battles get more difficult as you advance. Go, Munna!" The female fortune teller said, sending out the most awkward looking pokemon I had ever seen. Actually, never mind. Slurpuff still held the medal for that.

"And I hope you know, I have no intention of losing to a floating piggy bank. Gettem, Omen!" I said sending out my bird. It came out soaring and ready for battle, still pumped after the last one. "Alright, use Pur- actually let's see if you can handle the battle without me giving you instruction, It's pretty simple, use pursuit over and over again, so let's go!" The Murkrow looked back at me and nodded, just like in its first battle against Mirror when we were trying to catch it. It dashed forward, once again covered in dark light. It smacked against the Munna, the impact blasting the Psychic-type to the ground. It used Psybeam...for some reason. It connected with Omen and it looked like the Murkrow gave a sarcastic cry of pain, then it used Pursuit again. I'm guessing Super Luck did its job again, because Munna was down after only two hits.

"Alright, fair enough. Let's see how you handle this! Drowzee!" The fortune teller said, sending out yet another painfully awkward pokemon. She smirk, then commanded, "Hypnosis." The anteater thing sent out several waves, but they were moving slowly that Omen dodged them with ease. Then, he went along with the plan and used Pursuit, but this time, something went wrong. The fortune teller smiled and pointed at Omen and laughed. Then, she said, "Disable, now!" Right before impact, the Drowzee held up his hand, and the dark energy around Omen disappeared making the impact look like no more than a Murkrow run into a Drowzee...then bounce off. "Pound, Go!" She said, and the Drowzee lifted its fist and smashed it down onto the poor Murkrow's body before it could get airborne again.

I got nervous. "Ok, forget what I said before use Wing-"

The fortune teller interrupted, "Headbutt." The Drowzee launched itself at Omen, colliding with force that didn't seem possible from such a dopey looking creature. Omen, my main weapon collapsed on the ground, and fainted. I recalled it, and sent out Mirror, my morale halved. "Headbutt again!" She said, sending the Hypnosis pokemon running head-first at my Kecleon. I was too defeated to say anything, so I put my head down. But then I heard a smack and a cry that definitely didn't belong to a Kecleon. I looked up and saw Mirror's hand extended as if he had just finished a bitch slap, and Drowzee lying on the ground, an impressive few feet away from the lizard. He looked at me, nodded just like Omen did, and he jumped into the air, hand raised, covered with dark energy indicating Astonish, and he smashed the Drowzee. Another victory for us.

I started walking back to where my friends were sitting, but Dante was gone. "Where is-" I started to say, but Chloe cut me off.

"While you were struggling with Drowzee, he advanced to the Gym leader. That kid's Snubbull is insane, he just took down four pokemon in a snap! And he never even got a riddle wrong! Oh look there he is." She pointed. It was true, Dante was emerging from the red curtains and heading over to us, but instead of looking excited, he just looked exhausted. He released his pokemon to be healed and they were battered. The same Snubbull that breezed through a battle in no more than four moves was now barely able to stand.

"...oh no." I said, my eyes wide and my heart starting to race. It was just starting to sink in how truly unprepared I was.

"Oh no is right, she...she totally mopped the floor with us." Dante said, putting on a fake smile. He was still in shock. I guess it really was that bad. He sighed, sat down on the other side of Chloe and said, "You better get going on that next match. Losing your momentum could be the difference between winning and...well...this." He gestured towards himself. I felt bad, but he was right. I had to get going.

This was it. The final pair of fortune tellers, dressed in even more embarrassingly elaborate costumes than before. One of them, the girl, stepped forward and announced in a failed-theatre-major stage voice, "Welcome, traveler! This is your final challenge before you face the mighty Mystique! We shall ask you a riddle, and-"

"Yeah I know how this all works, get on with it." I said, interrupting her speech. She looked agitated, but I saw her exasperated partner mouth the words 'thank you'.

"Fine, then. Alejandro, tell this fool our riddle." She said, crossing her arms with an exaggerated harrumph.

"Yeah, yeah, you got it babe." The young man, Alejandro muttered as he stepped forward. "Although brothers and sisters, I have none, a certain man's father is my father's son. Who is the man?" My eyes widened and my head spun. Even though this guy obviously wasn't into the whole showmanship part of working for a gym, he sure did select a good riddle.

I steadied myself. I had to be calm. All my friends were watching. I had to prove that I was strong, like them. Like my dad. I thought about it, then it hit me like one of Lady's Comet Punches. "The man is your son." I said, not showing them what an epiphany it really was.

Alejandro the fortune teller clapped his hands and said, "Well done, kid, I never doubted ya. Now let's batt-"

The girl fortune teller stepped forward, interrupting her partner. She was still all huffy, and she said, "No, no, no. No one disrespects Ex-Ace-Trainer-Current- Fortune-Teller Megan and gets away with it, let's go!"

We both sent out our Pokemon, Mirror versus a Gothita. The adorable little Fixation pokemon stared intently at Mirror, and there was silence. We both had rather reactive pokemon, and we were waiting for each other to make the first move. I realized that it was probably a boring show for my friends to watch, so I said, "Alright Mirror, go and use-"

I was cut off by Megan yelling "Fake Tears, now!" The little Gothita burst into (rather realistic looking) fake tears, and my Kecleon stepped back awkwardly, looking at me in confusion.

I cleared my throat and muttered, "Umm...ok. I wasn't really planning on using a special move there anyways, but nice try. Mirror, Dizzy Punch it." I was half expecting the chameleon to refuse and resist punching a tiny crying pokemon, but to my relief (and concern) there was not even a split second of hesitation. It dashed forward and punched the Psychic type at just the right angle to send it spinning. Its eyes boggled and it stumbled around, trying to figure out which way to go. I was about to tell Mirror our next plan of attack, but he was already on it. He used Shadow Sneak on the disoriented Gothita, surprising her and dealing even more massive damage. From this range he was able to pull of a swift Astonish, and the battle was over in a snap.

I looked up, expecting to see Megan in tears, or at least upset, but she wasn't. She was smiling. "Well, now that that's over with, Meditite, Clean him up!" She sent out a Meditite, and Mirror eagerly rushed into it with an immediate Shadow Sneak. It was super effective, but the Meditite didn't seem fazed at all. Its hand started to glow with powerful energy and it smacked my Kecleon right in the jaw with a Force Palm. Mirror changed from green to a rust color, but that didn't last long. Meditite used a super effective Confusion, changing the poor lizard's color once again, this time to a deep purple.

"If you're wondering why your Kecleon's damaging stats are so low, it's because of my precious Gothita. That's why she wasn't putting up a fight, she was using Play Nice on your little friend." Megan grinned and laughed maniacally, like a villain straight out of the Gligarman comics.

I was about to recall Mirror and send out Omen, but the lizard sensed this and shook his head at me. He wanted to stay it. It was the first time I realized that Mirror might be jealous of Omen being the stronger pokemon. He had something to prove, just like me. I nodded at him, and prepared for battle. Meditite charged at Mirror with another Force Palm ready, but Mirror ducked under it and used Shadow Sneak to get away. He was playing an evasion game. He looked at me and I nodded, then the second phase of his strategy began.

It appeared to be that Mirror's physical attack stat was lowered to its minimum, but his special attack had only been lowered a little, and the Meditite's focus on up-close combat gave Mirror ample time to reposition and blast his foe with a Psybeam. I thought to myself, Mirror may not be as strong as Omen stats-wise, but damn, he is a strategist. While I thought to myself about how great Mirror was, he finished off the battle. He turned and grinned at me, proud of himself. I ran over and picked the lizard up in my arms. We were going to be just fine in the gym battle. Just fine.

(Man, I really liked writing this chapter the first time around, and I'm still thinking of even better riddles to use. Maybe I'll update it again in the future. Thanks for reading. Also, fun fact, that Drowzee couldn't have known any damaging Psychic type moves, so that's half of Omen's usefulness out the window. See you next time, you big dummies.)

Tune in next time when our hero faces Mystique, the Psychic type gym leader! Will her mysterious fortune telling ways take Carbon down, or will his faith in his pokemon lead him to victory? Find out next chapter, in "Mystique". Thanks for reading.