The doors to the gym made Xanora pause. If what Joy had said was true, walking in with Shard out of his ball would mean an immediate attack from the gym leader's pidgeot. She hadn't told her partner about that back at the center, or on the way to the gym. Yet, for some reason, the Pokémon's hackles were up a bit. The umbreon sensed something wrong, or out of place, inside the building.
"Okay, are you ready?" The trainer smiled awkwardly as she spoke. The question wasn't so much to her partner as it was to herself. She could feel herself getting cold feet, even though Shard seemed just fine with charging in. The Pokémon answered her question by leaning to the side to brush up against her leg. He obviously knew she was trying to steel herself to the idea of walking into something that was probably dangerous.
Taking a deep breath for courage, she opened the doors and entered the gym. Once she and her Pokémon were several feet inside, the sound of wings greeted them. Just as she had been told by Joy, the leaders Pidgeot was already on the attack.
With the large bird heading straight for them, Xanora dove to the side as she told her Pokémon to go for a Feint Attack. Shard obeyed instantly, leaping just above the bird as it passed him by and kicking it with his hind legs. The kick had him in the air for a moment longer before once more being firmly on the ground.
The swift strike surprised the pidgeot, causing its flight to falter slightly. With a few powerful flaps of its wings, it avoided crashing into the wall of the gym and gained altitude. One attack had missed, but it wasn't done. It cawed and began violently flapping its wings, kicking up a strong wind.
A Whirlwind attack just wasn't something the umbreon could avoid. He crouched low in an attempt to hold his ground, but the wind was fierce. "Quick Attack!" One ear twitched slightly as he caught the order from his trainer through the sound of rushing winds. He was already crouched, so he kicked off as strongly as he could to charge toward the bird. Just as he leaped into the air to strike the pidgeot, the bird responded in kind with a nose dive, using a Quick Attack of its own. Knowing its beak would hurt him more than his head would hurt it, Shard broke out of his attack just in time by twisting himself around.
The momentum had the umbreon still in the air when the bird swooped low before once more aiming high, this time its wings spread wide. It was aiming to strike him with its wings, which would not be pleasant in the least with just how strong those wings were. He could just hear his trainer yelling for him to dodge, knowing what he knew, but dodging was impossible at that moment. Twisting away to barely avoid an attack in the air was one thing, dodging a full-body blow was another. So he did the only thing he could think of.
A glow began on the umbreons tail as he forced himself forward in the air. The Iron Tail collided full force with the Wing Attack, throwing both Pokémon off balance. The pidgeot's wing bent under the pressure of the blow, causing it to even out in its flight just long enough for Shard, who was just barely higher in the air than the bird, to claw his way onto its back.
Not caring to have a Pokémon on its back, the pidgeot began flying haphazardly, doing loops and flying upside down for several seconds at a time. The odd flight wasn't enough to knock the umbreon from its back, but going upside down almost was. The only way the umbreon stayed on its back when it began flying upside down was by biting into the back of its neck, which caused him to dangle from the bird until they righted in the air again. The second time the bird tried flipping upside down, the umbreon was prepared.
As the bird turned, he released his hold and slammed another Iron Tail into the birds back. Pidgeot screeched as the blow landed and it was struck from its desired flight course. Not able to right itself in time, the bird crash landed on the floor of the gym. The second the umbreon landed, he bolted after the bird in a Quick Attack. He wasn't going to give the Pokémon any time to recover. The fast tackle sent the bird flying into the wall, both of its wings outstretched from the impact. To ensure that the bird wouldn't be continuing, the umbreon continued his dash forward. Right before reaching the wall with the bird plastered against it, he spun in a front flip and crashed his glowing tail into its head.
Letting out a deep breath after watching the unconscious bird with his keen crimson eyes for several seconds, Shard turned and padded across the room back to his trainers side. The crazy flight he had been on had him just a bit light headed, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.
Gently stroking her friends head, Xanora finally took a moment to look around the gym. It was empty, save for one person at the far end. Obviously Falkner, considering the pidgeot that was just taken down. Before she could get even one word out, the figure in the distance tossed something. A white light flashed as yet another Pokémon appeared in the gym. She found it strange that he wasn't talking, but even more strange that he wasn't recalling his knocked out pidgeot.
Standing in the center of the gym was the newly released Pokémon. It was a brown, wingless bird with three heads. A dodrio. "Go," Falkner ordered from the other side of the gym. Two if the Pokémon's heads looked back at him while the third eyed the duo. The head eying them was the middle one and it seemed angry, which was a rather common sight for Pokémon at this point. The sound of faint squawking occurred just before all three of the heads turned to look at the unconscious pidgeot at the side wall of the gym. While they were all looking that way, the trainer could see that one of the other two heads seemed somehow sad. She couldn't see the third one just yet, but she was sure she'd be seeing it soon.
Dodrio stood with all three heads looking at each other after the leader repeated his order. This Pokémon didn't seem as aggressive as the wild Pokémon, or as hostile as their pidgeot comrade. Rather, they all seemed a bit confused.
Taking the initiative, Xanora glanced down to her partner and mumbled, "go for a Feint Attack, then a Confuse Ray."
Nodding at the plan, Shard began slowly walking toward the grounded, confused bird. When he was only a few feet away from it, all three heads turned to look at him. Once they were all focused on him, he spun himself around and kicked up at the middle, angry-looking head. Landing with his back to the bird, he turned his head toward them as his eyes and rings began to glow blue. His colors returning to normal, he jumped back from the bird and waited to see the result of his trainers' plan.
Looking upward due to being hit, the middle head hadn't seen the full Confuse Ray. The other two heads, however, had been affected just fine. They began to squawk and peck at each other, which only annoyed the middle head and got that one to start pecking at both of the other two. Apparently furious at its other two heads fighting against each other, the middle head pulled up and glared at the umbreon that had caused the disarray. The body began moving forward, but in a very unbalanced way. It was as if all three of the heads wanted to control the body at the same time, but to walk or move in an entirely different direction than the others.
"Shard?" Xanora was having a slightly hard time keeping a chuckle from escaping her. Seeing a Pokémon fighting itself, and in such a way, was hilarious to her. Especially since it was only this one Pokémon that could pull off this much of a show while doing it. Seeing her partner glance back at her when she didn't follow up right away, she tried again. "Iron Tail on all three, middle first."
Nodding once more, the umbreon darted forward as his tail began to glow. The middle head squawked in alarm as it saw the attack coming, but couldn't do anything but make a poor attempt at pecking the incoming tail as it slammed into it. Between the other two heads at that moment, Shard ended up being pecked from both sides. They had gone at each other again, but he had gotten in their way.
His tail glow fading, the umbreon landed back on the floor and stared up at the two heads that were now focused on him. The Confuse Ray, and their internal squabbling, had ended. The flightless bird started forward, the two heads pecking at him furiously with each step. The attacks were swift, three of the pecks landing on the umbreon's back and side before the two heads looked down at the slumped third head. That small opening was more than enough for the dark Pokémon to make his move. He slammed into the bird's body, causing it to fall to the floor. The two awake heads tried jabbing at him with their beaks again, but he put an end to that by slamming his glowing tail into both of them, one after the next in a sweeping motion.
All three heads were out cold. That was one more Pokémon down. The bad feeling wasn't leaving yet, however, so Shard glared toward the gym leader. As expected, the blue-haired man was already tossing another ball. Not willing to play fair by waiting, Shard charged forward toward where the white light landed. Using the speed from his Quick Attack, he spun forward and slammed an Iron Tail into whatever Pokémon was about to show itself. Landing back on all four paws, he charged forward once more. He didn't even so much as glance back to see the hoothoot that had shown itself, already on the floor and dazed, as he ran straight into the gym leader. The force of the tackle from the speed he was moving at forced Falkner backward. The man slammed against the wall, his head hitting it hard as he himself passed out.
"Shard!" Xanora was shocked to see her friend actually attack a person. The room seemed to get a little bit lighter, but she pushed that thought away, believing it to be from the fact that her eyes had only just fully adjusted to the amount of light in there. She ran to Falkner and her umbreon, shock and concern more than evident in her features. Quickly, she reached a hand out and felt for a pulse from the gym leader's neck.
He was alive.
Letting out a heavy sigh of relief, the trainer turned her stare to her friend. Shard was simply sitting there, looking calm as could be. "Why...?" She couldn't get the thought out as she tried to figure out why he had attacked a person. Why he had suddenly lost all tension after attacking the man. The tension that had been there since before they had entered the gym was completely gone.
Shaking herself mentally to get back to what needed to be done, she once more looked over the unconscious gym leader. He'd have a nasty headache when he woke up, but was otherwise just fine. One by one, she picked up the Pokeballs and recalled the mans' Pokémon. Setting the balls right next to him, she glanced toward the doors. Just in case he was hurt more than he looked, she needed to get him to the hospital. She wasn't strong enough to carry a man of his size, however. Or any man, for that matter.
Getting an idea, she looked to her umbreon once more. "Can you carry him?" He tilted his head in response, glancing from her to the gym leader then back again. "Right, I know, too big. You'd only be dragging him." Sighing, she got up and headed for the doors. "Let's fine the hospital and let them know what happened."
.
It was morning two days later when Falkner finally woke in the hospital bed. As expected, he complained about his head hurting. What wasn't expected, however, was everything else he said.
Glad to see that her friend hadn't done any serious damage to the man, Xanora gave a sigh of relief. She was at the side of the bed, more than happy to see that he seemed to be in normal condition. "I'm so sorry about that. I didn't expect my umbreon to tackle you after all of that battling."
Falkner stared blankly at the trainer. "What do you mean?" His brows furrowed as he tried to recall the battle. He shook his head. "I haven't battled you, though. My last challenger was some person in a black cloak." He paused. "At least, I think I battled them."
The only thing that came to mind was that the hit to his head had caused him a small bit of memory loss. She couldn't confirm that just then, however, as one of the nurses came over to check on him, forcing her to move to the foot of his bed. As the nurse asked him question after question, one answer caused all of them but the man himself to stop and stare.
"Sir... Falkner... That was two years ago," the nurse spoke softly, probably in an attempt to keep him calm. The question she had asked was if he knew what year it was. The day and month. He apparently lacked two years worth of memories.
"What? No. That's impossible." He was shaking his head, waving his arms in front of him in denial. "I remember everything just fine. The day was warm and sunny, only a few clouds in the sky. As usual, some person came into the gym to challenge me. I can't really tell you anything about them, since they were in a large black cloak. Couldn't even see their face." He paused for a moment to shake his head at how strange that challenger had been, wearing a heavy black cloak while it was so hot out. "I can't remember battling that person, actually, but I know it happened." He looked to the nurse, looking for some sort of reasonable explanation. "I fell asleep for a while. That's all. Just a long-feeling, cold, lonely dream. It hasn't been two years, just a few days."
The nurse shook her head at him. "I'm sorry, but it really has been two years since that happened." She checked on his vitals one last time before leaving the room to check on other patients.
Unsure where to even begin, Xanora allowed herself to blurt the first thing that came to mind. "You don't even remember the Pokémon getting aggressive with everyone?" According to Joy, the odd behavior began around the same time Falkner had his last actual memory. That couldn't be a coincidence.
"What?" He looked at her as if she were crazy. "Pokémon aren't aggressive at all. Unless you invade their nest, or den, anyway. Or try to steal their food."
"Joy, the nurse at the Pokémon Center, told me that almost everyone in this city is afraid of wild Pokémon now. There's even a police unit that patrols the city to make sure no wild Pokémon are wandering around."
"That's just not possible. I have an aviary near the gym for all kinds of wild bird Pokémon to relax and eat. I checked it just that morning, before that challenger showed up, and everything was fine."
All Xanora could do was nod. Arguing with this man would get her nowhere, not while he was so determined to believe that everyone else were the crazy ones and he was the sane one. She did want to know what was going to happen with her badge, though. "I did defeat you the other day, though. First was your pidgeot, then you sent out dodrio, and then a hoothoot." Before he could deny this fact yet again, she continued. "Before I could get the badge for your gym, though, Shard tackled you and you fell against a wall. That's what I was apologizing for after I first came in."
Yet again, Falkner claimed that the battle never happened. That it just wasn't possible. The new trainer sighed, seeing no way to get her badge unless she either fought him again or he came to believe her. She told him to ask the hospital staff and Joy about it before leaving. They hadn't seen her battle him, but she was the one that brought them to him. She was also the one that pointed out that his Pokémon needed healing. With any luck, he'd give her the badge without demanding another battle.
Without thinking, she had wandered right back to the gym. Shard was by her side, as always, but he no longer seemed to sense anything strange about the building. "If only I knew just what you sensed, buddy." Sighing, she headed back toward the Pokémon Center and Route 31. Surely a walk would clear her mind.
Leaving the city, the duo followed the path they had come from. It wasn't long before they saw a rattata off to the side of the path in the grass. It was minding its own business, not paying any attention to them at all. Considering how the Pokémon had all acted on her way to the city, it was incredibly strange.
Deciding to test the rats behavior, the girl slowly made her way toward it. Once she was a good six feet away, the purple rat looked up at her. She was expecting a tackle, or even an attempted Super Fang. What the Pokémon did, however, was simply turn around and take off into the woods. "What...?" She stood there, staring into the woods for several moments as she tried to process what had just happened.
First the Pokémon were insanely aggressive, and now they were acting normal. It bewildered the trainer to see such a major difference after such a short amount of time.
"Maybe..." Opening the fanny pack she wore around her waist, she took out one of the Pokeballs. There was one very good way to test if it was only that one rattata that was back to normal. Sending the hoothoot from its ball, she offered a small, wary smile. "Hey, Klaudan. Welcome to the team?"
This time, the owl Pokémon simply hooted and looked from her to the umbreon at her side. He wasn't making any sort of moves to attack.
Gaining some confidence, Xanora stepped close to the owl and knelt down, her smile losing its worried quality. "That's your new name, Klaudan." She motioned to the umbreon with a small wave of her arm. "And that's Shard, your new friend and partner."
The hoothoot hooted once more, this time flapping its wings slightly as well. It seemed like a happy enough expression. His calm or happy state was confirmed when the umbreon started wagging his tail slowly from side to side. If Shard saw no issue, then everything was fine.
That did bring just one question, though. All of the wild, and even wild-caught, Pokémon were super aggressive before Falkner got knocked out. Why were they suddenly back to normal after he had been defeated? Also, why did he have no memories from after the Pokémon began acting so weird. Something wasn't right. Not right at all.