Jake's Journey Chapter 9, a pokémon fanfic

Jake's mood did not improve as Sam's Gym battle drew closer. On the morning of the battle, he merely wished Sam good luck as he saw him off, before returning to the room to sleep. Sam was a little hurt by this, as he was hoping Jake would come to watch the battle, but he could see this was not going to happen. After having a little breakfast in an even littler café, he began walking in the direction of the Gym.

Jake wasn't sure why he was so upset himself. He had been planning on watching Sam's battle, and he felt bad for not going. He just didn't feel like watching it today. He knew Sam would be disappointed, and even hurt, but it was too late now. He'd told Sam that he was tired, but it was a lie. Now that he was up, he couldn't get back to sleep.

He played with Chestnut and Lemon for a while, while Silvio groomed himself in the corner. He watched TV for a few hours. There was a show on about some trainer on his journey. He laughed at how unrealistic it was. The trainer had just made it through some giant network of caves, being chased by some evil organisation or other, managing to save an entire community of rare pokemon along the way, and cracking a joke at the end, at which point the crooks were locked up, and they all live happily ever after. What a joke! The guy didn't have a scratch on him, either. Jake looked down at some of his own cuts and scabs he had accumulated through the hike in Ilex Forest, some of which still hadn't healed completely after two weeks.

Yep, pokemon training wasn't all fun and games and saving the day. Jake was still happy with his decision, however. That wasn't why he was all of a sudden feeling depressed. He stopped thinking about it, and changed the channel. A documentary about raising and breeding pokemon came on. While this aspect of training pokemon didn't really apply to Jake, it looked interesting, and he kept it on.

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Sam couldn't believe it. He had just emerged from the Gym, after healing his pokemon at the machine provided by all Gyms. He took the case in which he kept his badges from his pocket, and opened it. The Violet City badge stood there alone. And unfortunately for Sam, that would be how it would stay.

He had put so much effort into training for this battle. To lose was simply devastating for him. He had gone into the battle so full of confidence, and left so absolutely shattered.

Sam shuffled off slowly towards the Pokemon Centre. 'Maybe the fact that I lost would cheer up Jake, he thought bitterly. He regretted it immediately, but was still annoyed by Jake's behaviour. He was more upset from losing the Gym battle, however, so he continued on towards the Centre.

Jake jumped at the sound of knocking on the room's door. He had been beginning to doze off in front of the TV. He opened it to see a very disappointed Sam.

"I take it you lost, then," Jake said insensitively, before sighing. "Come on, tell me about it."

Sam walked in and sat on his bed.

"Well," he started slowly, "I thought it would be best to start with Scyther. He had the same idea, and sent his Scyther out too." Sam then proceeded to recount the entire battle, if a little haphazardly. From what Jake could gather, the first battle between the Scythers had been close, but in the end, Bugsy's won. Apparently, it was full size, and was just too strong for Sam's. After that, Sam sent out Growlithe, who managed to knock the Scyther out with a single Flamethrower. After that, however, Bugsy sent out a Surskit, a part-water type. Growlithe eventually went down due to the type disadvantage. Diglett then managed to just finish off the Surskit despite the disadvantage, but fell almost immediately to Bugsy's final pokemon, a Butterfree, being unable to use the underground technique they had practised.

Jake felt sorry for Sam. He knew how much effort he'd put into trying to defeat Bugsy, and had felt, like Sam, that victory was a sure thing. This just went to show how much both of them still had to learn about pokemon. It also made Jake feel extremely guilty for not being at the battle.

They sat in silence for a while, before Jake decided to have a shower, and have some breakfast. By this time, it was 1:30, but it was going to be his first meal of the day, so it was still technically breakfast. He returned after eating some food at the Centre's cafeteria to find Sam lying in the exact same position as he was when Jake left. 'Now whose turn is it to be depressed?' thought Jake, amused.

"So what do you reckon you'll do differently next time?" Jake asked as he flopped down onto his bed.

After a moment of silence, Sam replied, "I don't know. Maybe I should wait until I get my hands on a Fire Stone. Then I could evolve Growlithe. Or I could wait until Diglett evolves. Or Scyther, even. A Scizor should do better, being part steel type."

"Things haven't exactly gone to plan since we got here, have they?"

Sam looked over to Jake.

"No, I guess not."

"I mean," Jake continued, "You did all that training, but you still lost to Bugsy. And I did all that training as well, but I still lost to you. Whenever I've lost before I've thought it was just something that could be fixed with more training, but that was the hardest I've ever trained my pokemon, and they still lost."

"Is that what's been bugging you?" asked Sam incredulously. "The fact that I beat you with Poochyena the other day?"

Jake was about to protest this, but he suddenly realised it was true. He was upset because he felt like he'd been beaten at his best. Which was, of course, a completely arrogant assumption.

"Jake, you are going to lose occasionally, no matter how hard you try, and I guarantee you will be disappointed. But you need to learn that with time, and experience, you can always get better. Take me, for example. I'm really disappointed that I lost to Bugsy. But tomorrow, I'll be over it. I'm going to train harder, and hopefully, I'll be able to beat him the next time we battle. You need to think about what it is you need to do to improve, rather than just despair. What were you planning to do to beat Poochyena next time?"

Jake looked confused.

"I hadn't really thought about it," he admitted.

"Exactly," said Sam. "It's only a comparatively insignificant hurdle, but it's a hurdle nonetheless. We should battle again in a few weeks. Then we'll see who's improved more."

"Sounds good, I guess," said Jake, still digesting what Sam had said. "I guess now that I'm fully into this pokemon training thing, it's all starting to reveal itself as the bitch it is."

"Life's a bitch, Jake," said Sam, throwing a pillow at Jake. "Life's a bitch."

They stayed in Azalea Town for a couple more days. The day after the Gym battle, Jake was out of his bad mood, to Sam's immense relief. True to his word, Sam was no longer depressed about losing to Bugsy. The two of them even went to see some Gym battles that day. Sam was pleased to see the two challengers for the day both get thrashed by Bugsy. It made him feel a little bit better about losing to him.

After the battles, Bugsy spotted Sam and came over to chat. He was about thirty, and had weird green hair. He was also an eccentric, and more into the technical aspects of pokemon training and battling than Sam. He and Sam started comparing the battles today with their own battle yesterday. Jake felt a little left out until Sam introduced him to the bug expert.

"Bugsy, this is Jake. We're travelling together. He's pretty new to pokemon training. He only started about a month ago."

"Hi," said Bugsy, offering his hand. "I don't think I have any more challengers today. Do you two want to some and see some of my pokemon collection. I think you would benefit particularly, Jake."

The two boys agreed. Bugsy led them through to a large room behind the battlefield in which some other pokemon were running around and playing. It turned out that Bugsy was interested in more than just bug pokemon, though bugs were still his favourite. He had several grass types, which wasn't surprising, as this wasn't a huge leap from the bugs, but he also had several rock types, including a Geodude and a Corsola. He had a couple of Abras, and a Ralts, which Jake was unfamiliar with, but Sam had seen before on his travels in Hoenn. The list went on and on. The noticeable omissions were any fire or flying types (aside from flying bugs). Bugsy even had an Eevee. He had only recently acquired it, and had been on the waiting list to get a female from a breeding program for over three years, despite being a Gym Leader, before he received it. He was therefore very annoyed to see that Jake had three, including a female and a silver one.

After having a look at some of his non-bug pokemon, he showed them his more powerful bug pokemon, which he wasn't allowed to use in Gym Battles. When Jake asked why he wasn't allowed to use them in battle, Bugsy answered that each Gym Leader had a certain difficulty, so to speak, allocated to them by the Pokemon League, and they could only use pokemon of certain ability in their Gym Battles. This didn't stop him from training other pokemon, however, and these were the pokemon Jake and Sam were looking at now.

Among his more powerful pokemon were a huge Scizor, and an equally large Scyther. According to Bugsy, these two were siblings, and the Scizor was the mother of the Scyther he used in battle. He also showed the pair his two Pinsirs, his Heracross, and, to Jake and Sam's amazement, his Shedinja, as well as the Ninjask that had to evolve in order for it to appear. Sam had never seen a Shedinja before, despite his travels in Hoenn, but had heard legends about them. They continued discussing pokemon techniques and strategies for a while. Bugsy gave them both some tips for raising their respective pokemon as well.

Jake and Sam stayed about three hours, in all. Bugsy even offered them lunch, which the duo gratefully accepted. They were surprised, leaving the Gym, at Bugsy's friendliness. Most Gym Leaders have little time to get to know trainers on a personal level. Then again, most Gym Leaders run workshops for trainers to improve their skill, or something similar. Working in such a small community, there was little point for Bugsy to do this, so he had lots of time to get to know new trainers. They even exchanged numbers. Sam promised that he would be back soon to win that badge.

Jake and Sam spent their last full day in Azalea preparing to once again head off. They decided that the best route to take would be to go over Union Cave, rather than through it, as neither of them had any experience in travelling through caves, and to get lost would be disastrous. Sam had travelled over the cave before, and he described the terrain as a "warm up" to the mountains surrounding the Ruins of Alph. There was a decent store selling hiking gear in Azalea for trainers planning to hike through or over Union Cave, so Jake invested in some sturdy hiking shoes. The trainers he had been wearing only just got him through Ilex Forest, and he had a feeling worse was to come. He also bought some better clothes for hiking. His jeans and t-shirts would only last so long if he kept wearing them.

As for where they would go after they made it to Violet City, they were undecided. They were considering heading over to Kanto, or hiking up to Blackthorn City. Sam wanted to check out some of the dragon pokemon that could be supposedly found at Blackthorn, but also wanted to visit his family in Kanto again, so either option was fine for him. Either way, Sam estimated it would take several months to get there. Strangely enough, Jake felt pleased at this. He hadn't really felt like his journey had begun yet, at least not fully. The last month or so had really been about finding his feet, and it had been easy. Now it seemed the true challenges were beginning, and he couldn't wait.