Chapter 3: R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
After the Plasma and N encounters ended, Cheren and I headed out of Acumula towards Striaton. Cheren had told me that the first gym was there, and that he wanted to collect all the badges from each gym and become the Unova champion. Seeing as Cheren was my guide, I figured I might as well try out the gyms too. Who knew how far I'd go?
Anyway, back to what's actually relevant, Cheren and I had done some training, and he caught a Pidove named Hawlkly, and we ran into Bianca.
"Cheren," Bianca called in her overly cheery fashion. "How have things been for you?"
"Hi, Bianca," Cheren greeted as she bounded over to us like a puppy on a sugar high. "I thought you'd be a little farther ahead then… Wait! Watch your step!"
As Bianca ran toward us, Cheren obviously spotted a rock or something in the ground that was sure to trip anyone who came across it. Sure enough, Bianca's foot got caught in whatever it was, and she promptly fell flat on her face, having realized what happened when it was too late.
"…Ow…"
Out of nowhere, a Pokémon popped out of Bianca's bag. Obviously, it had been inside a pokeball, you know, considering it was about the same size of the bag, and the red flash of light was a pretty good indicator too. Anyway, the Pokémon was small and it was coloured red black and yellow. I knew what it was even before I heard it snort. It was a Tepig, one of the three Unova starter Pokémon.
The Tepig started to sniff Bianca as she picked herself up. "Pokey, didn't I put you in your pokeball? …Meh, I guess it's not important…"
"You ok," I asked as she picked up her Pokémon. "That looked like it hurt."
"Oh, I'm fine, Sweetie," she replied trying to put herself at eye level with me. "I saw you guys walking along, so I thought I'd pop over to challenge Cheren to a battle before I headed off to Nacreene for the next gym!"
I cringed at the word "Sweetie". I mean, come on! Sweetie? Really? I'm NOT sweet! I'll admit to being nice on occasion, but I'm not fucking sweet!
"A battle," Cheren asked. "I would, but Lucas and Hockley are tired from training."
"Oh," Bianca said disapointed. "I was looking forward to a battle…"
"I'll take you on," I said holding up Silver's pokeball. "Silver's got lots of energy left."
Silver excitedly prepared himself for the battle against Pokey, shell in hand, and sizing up the situation. Silver and I both knew that we had the type advantage, so in theory, the battle wouldn't be too hard.
"Pokey," Bianca whispered so I couldn't hear her, although her attempt failed. "We should go a little easy on them…"
"Are you trying to insult me," I demanded, my temper starting to flare up. "Because it's working! I can hear you telling your Pokémon to go easy on us! Why is that? Is it because I'm visually impaired? You think that affects my mind and logical thinking?"
"Well, I…"
"God dam it, Bianca! I've been here for two years, and you still don't understand the concept of a visual disability?"
"I…"
"Don't start with the bull shit," I angrily interrupted. "I'm going to battle you and prove to you once and for all that I'm not mentally disabled and can dam well fight for myself!"
At that moment, Silver seemed to be having a similar conversation with Pokey. Silver was growling with surprising anger, as if he was threatening to force Pokey to fight hard. Pokey, on the other hand, seemed to be antimidated by Silver's tone. He responded to Silver's words with nervous sounding snorts that only Silver could understand. Eventually, Silver and Pokey seemed to reach an understanding of some kind and they properly readied themselves for battle.
Bianca, after a demand from me, started the battle by having Pokey use tackle on Silver. In response, Silver used a strong water gun that sent Pokey sliding back to where he started.
"Come on, Bianca," I shouted. "You can do better than that!" Silver did his best snarl and both Bianca and Pokey flinched. "Do I really have to force you? Fine! Silver, razor shell!"
As though he anticipated my command, Silver leapt forward with his shell ready to strike. Pokey instinctively dodged and Bianca had him use ember to slow down the attack. Unfortunately for Silver, the embers released by Pokey hit Silver in his shell wielding arm, causing pain to visibly shoot through his little body. Seriously, I practically felt the pain!
Silver yelped in pain and dropped his shell, leaving an opening for Pokey's tackle, which promptly sent Silver sprawling to the ground.
"Silver's burnt," Cheren stated as I whacked my brain for a solution to the problem. "You don't have any burn heals do you?"
Before I could respond to Cheren's question, Silver pulled himself together and grabbed his shell with his left hand in order to continue the attack. This caught Pokey by surprise but he dodged and tackled at Bianca's command.
So, she was putting up a fight after all.
I smiled slightly and told Silver to use water gun in order to put some distance between him and Pokey. The otter obeyed and the Tepig was sent sliding backwards.
"Pokey," Bianca shouted. "Don't give up!"
As if on cue, Pokey's body became engulfed in flames. The tiny pig stood still for a moment, as if it were trying to make sense of what was going on. Clearly, he figured it out because he began charging toward Silver at an incredible speed.
"Dodge and use water gun!"
Silver barley managed to dodge, but he did land a hit with water gun when Pokey came back for another hit. The water slowed the attack and steam was produced to the point where no one could see.
The steam made my eyes burn and I shut them due to the pain. I could hear Cheren and Bianca crying out as the steam took its toll on them as well.
Meanwhile, Pokey and Silver kept struggling against each other in an attempt to win the battle. It was impossible to tell who was winning, but us humans knew that it was only a matter of time. One of our Pokémon would falter, and the other would win.
After what seemed like an eternity, the steam cleared up, only to reveal an unconscious Tepig with a barley conscious Oshawatt standing over him. It was obvious; Silver had won the power struggle. If Pokey held out just a little longer though, Silver might have been overwhelmed.
"Pokey," Bianca shouted in surprise. "Pokey! Pokey, are you all right?"
The two of us ran up to our Pokémon to check up on them. Pokey was flat out knocked out, and Silver was ready to collapse. I decided that I should put Silver back in his pokeball, to prevent the burn on his arm from hurting him any more than it already had. Bianca, to, had also decided to recall Pokey, possibly thinking that taking him to a Pokémon Center would be the best option.
"That was intense," I said after recalling Silver. "We should do it again sometime."
"That must have been quite the battle," a green haired waiter commented as Cheren and I were talking over dinner. "Oh, pardon my intrusion… My brother is temporarily occupied at the moment. Is there anything you need?"
"Yes, actually there is," I replied. "Can I get a refil on iced tea?"
"Certainly," the waiter said cheerfully. "And you ser…?"
"No," Cheren said. "I'm fine."
"All right then. I'll be right back."
The waiter left after I thanked him for the service and Cheren and I continued talking about the battle I had with Bianca.
"You shouldn't charge into a fight like that unless you're prepared. What if Silver couldn't hold on long enough? You could've disproved your own point!"
"I wasn't looking for a win," I said. "I just wanted to prove to her that I'm a competent person."
"But you need to prepare for things like that," Cheren almost yelled. "How do you expect to get far in the league challenge if you charge into battles with no consideration for any consequences?"
"Pardon the intrusion, once again," the green haired waiter said placing a tall glass of iced tea in front of me. "But were you talking about the league challenge?"
"Uh, yeah," I said surprised from his sudden reappearance. "We're going to attempt it."
"Oh! That's wonderful," the waiter cheered as though he were on a sugar high. "Hold on, I'll be right back!"
The three waiters stood in front of us as Cheren and I finished eating. Apparently, the green haired waiter, who was apparently Cylin, called for his brothers, Chili, a red haired dude, and Cress, a blue haired guy. According to Cylin, these three were the gym leaders of the city, and we battled one of them depending on what official starter we picked. Each leader used a different type of Pokémon: Cylin used grass, Chili used fire, and Cress used water. Apparently, we fought the leader with the Pokémon who had a type advantage against us. That meant I had to fight Cylin and his grass type.
"So," Chili asked. "You guys got the rules down, right?"
"Yeah."
"So," Cylin started. "When shall we battle?"
"Just as soon as our Pokémon are healed," Cheren said. "We had a tough time training today, and Karina felt she had to prove a point abou…"
"Shut up Cheren," I interrupted while giving him a death glare. I calmed down before turning back to the leaders before I spoke again. "If Silver's ok, is tomorrow good?"
"Um, Karina," Bianca asked as I climbed onto the top bunk of one of the two bunk beds in the small Pokémon Center room. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"
Bianca sounded nervous, and I smerked, with my back turned to her so she couldn't see. "What about?"
"Earlier…"
I turned to face her, now lying on my side. "What about it?"
"Well," Bianca started before hesitating for a moment. "Actually, it's kinda about the last two years…"
I stayed silent and let her continue, showing her that I was paying attention and was willing to hear her out.
"Well, um, I guess… I guess what I wanted to say is… Well, I'm sorry for the way I've been treating you… And I'm sorry that it took watching Pokey getting beaten up to realize it… I know you're not dumb or anything… I always knew that… But…"
"But you're not used to being around people with physical disabilities, and when you hear the word disability, you instinctivly assosiate it with mental nutcases or mentally retarded people."
The room went silent for a moment before Bianca spoke again. "I'm guessing you get that kind of thing a lot…"
"Yeah," I said. "You know? I owe you an apology too."
"Wait, what," Bianca asked confused. "What for?"
"For letting my Portuguese temper get out of control," I said laughing. "Seriously though… Sometimes I snap without meaning too…"
"Well, I guess I can understand how that can be frustrating," Bianca said. "By the way, I accept your apology, you know, for the record and whatnot."
"In that case," I said in response to Bianca's playful tone. "I accept yours. You know, for the record and all that."
The two of us started laughing as Cheren, who had been spending his sweet time in the bathroom, entered the room. He seemed surprised that Bianca and I were getting along, let alone talking to each other, but he tried to act like it was normal.
"Shower's free," he called as he threw his wet towel on me. "Who's next?"
"What the fuck, dude," I shouted in annoyence. "That's fucking gross! That thing touched your ass! Take it back!" I threw the towel back at him and it sailed past his head and landed on the floor behind him.
"Lovely," Cheren said sarcastically. "Doesn't yours touch your butt too?"
"Yeah," I responded playfully. "But I don't know where yours has been."
AN: So, that was chapter 3. It took me quite a lot longer to write this chapter, you know, since I'm a crappy fight scene writer and all. Uh, anyway, this chapter is definitely a reflection of how I can go from happy, to royally pissed to calm and understanding in the span of, well, a really short time. It runns in the family. I'm not kidding.
So, uh, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Oh, and if you're wondering why I included that ass towel thing at the end… Well, apart from wanting to end this on something totally random, I have absolutely no idea.
Well, that's it then. Please review this and tell me what you like about it, as well as what needs impruving. Thanks in advanced!
Oh, by the way, ten metaphorical bucks goes to the first reviewer to tell me where I got Pokey's nickname, and why I used it! Good luck! :)