Chapter 7 – Counterbalanced
Someone is talking nearby.
Can't move.
So sleepy…
A door slams shut.
Why can't I open my eyes?
Are my eyes open?
It's so dark.
Where am I?
Am I dreaming?
The sharp smell of smoke.
It's so dark.
Wait.
There's light coming from under the door.
The door opens.
Fire! Fire!
Flames coming into the room!
...
Alex sat up, gasping for air.
He looked around wildly, looking for any sign of fire.
But there was nothing. The moon was the only source of light.
Yena was quietly observing him from where she had been sleeping.
Zigzagoon rubbed its head against Alex' arm to calm its master down.
Absently scratching his Pokémon's head, Alex took a couple of deep breaths.
The nightmares were getting worse, and more frequent.
"I just…"
But his throat was dry, and made his voice sound even more hoarse.
Yena's voice sounded incredibly melodious compared to his, as she whispered:
"It's okay, Alex. Why don't you drink some water?
We should try to catch some more sleep than this, it's still in the middle of the night."
As he crawled over to Yena's bag, where she kept some bottles of water, she continued:
"Try and think about something else. Maybe tomorrow's challenge?"
She paused.
"…That won't work for me, though. I can't stop thinking about it.
I really don't want you getting hurt, Alex."
Refreshed by the water, Alex went back to his sleeping place.
He lay down on his back, patting on his stomach to invite Zigzagoon to roll up on it.
"I won't get hurt. Go back to sleep, Yena."
...
Yena shivered as she looked at the other spectators on the safe side of the fence.
There were all kinds of people around here, but she trusted none of them.
Every time a new person entered the field, a lively game of gambling unfolded, on a wide variety of points:
would the contestant catch a Pokémon, would he be hit with a Pokémon attack, would he have to be carried outside…
the list of possible gambling subjects went on and on.
She looked down at Zigzagoon, who was sitting at her feet.
Alex had given him instructions to protect her, an assignment the Pokémon seemed to take very seriously, ferociously growling and barking at any man that had dared to look at her. She kneeled down next to the Pokémon, gently patting him on the head.
"I hope your owner will be okay, Zigzagoon."
He looked up at her, and barked once, as if to say: 'don't worry!'
Yena smiled at him, and redirected her attention to the field inside the electric fences.
She flinched as a man ran by, chased by a furious Dodrio, the three heads pecking at his head and back.
This man had entered the field only ten minutes ago, but he was now heading directly towards the exit, without a new Pokémon.
She whispered at Zigzagoon: "I think Alex might be next."
...
Alex stepped aside as the man darted through the door.
It was immediately closed behind him, blocking the exit for the Dodrio.
The three heads pounded at the thick, wooden door for a couple of minutes, then gave up.
The massive man by the door, probably the owner of the facility, waited a moment before turning to Alex.
"Y'know, you're awfully small and skinny. Y'sure you up for this?"
Alex gave the man his meanest glare, for underestimating him.
"Let me in already."
The man shrugged, unimpressed by Alex' piercing dark eyes.
"Don't say I didn't warn you. As you know, you're not allowed to take a Pokémon with you."
Alex spread his arms.
"I don't have my Pokémon on me right now! I know the rules."
The man ignored him, continuing the story he probably put on for every contestant.
"However, you are allowed to take one empty Pokéball. You keep what you catch.
If we have to come out to help you chase away the attacking Pokémon, you failed the test and you'll be removed from the field."
Alex sighed loudly.
"I know, I know! Let me get started!"
Finally done with explaining the rules, the man pulled up one thick eyebrow.
"You seem eager to get hurt. Go ahead, then."
...
Alex breathed in deep as the door closed behind him.
He glanced to the other side of the fence, quickly spotting Yena's bright blue and white clothes.
He sighed again, trying to focus.
Alex was now standing in a wide-open field, clearly visible to any Pokémon, and he immediately sensed he should look for a safer place.
With a steady pace, he jogged towards a group of trees, still scanning around for any movement.
He reached the trees without trouble.
Light-footed, he pulled himself up on a branch, and on the next one.
Soon, he was positioned high enough to have a good view of the place.
There! A blue Pokémon on the ground, not even far from the group of trees.
Alex recognised it as a Heracross, its horn clearly visible as it wandered closer and closer, oblivious to Alex' presence.
Alex could've taken a shot at catching it on that moment, but he quickly forgot about the bug-Pokémon when he noticed some kind of commotion behind a group of rocks in the distance.
Some Pokémon were rampaging there.
Alex silently cursed to himself as he eyed the patch of grass between the trees and the rocks.
It was quite a distance, and he had seen quite a few challengers get ambushed by angry Pokémon on that place.
He had no intentions of facing off against any other Pokémon than the one he had in mind.
But he didn't have much of a choice.
Slowly, trying not to disturb the Heracross that was still foraging nearby, he lowered himself to the lowest branch.
After taking one last look around the field, Alex positioned himself so he was facing directly to the rocks, his target.
With one last deep breath, he stretched his legs, leaping as far as he could.
Immediately after his feet touched the ground, he started running for the group of rocks.
To his left, he heard a Pokémon call out to the others, but Alex practically flew across the grass, not paying any attention to the various Pokémon that were starting to chase him from his left side.
Alex didn't get into trouble until he was only seconds away from jumping behind the rocks.
He could hear Yena's scream warning him right before a sharp thorn pierced his right shoulder.
Losing his balance for a moment, he rolled over his left shoulder, landing back on his feet.
He quickly turned around, just in time to duck away and dodge another Poison Sting attack, coming from a furious-looking Cacnea.
The thorn was still sticking out from his shoulder, making it very painful to move his right arm at all.
Alex knew he would soon be feeling sick because of the poison on the thorn, but tried not to let that thought distract him, relying on the adrenaline rush to help him through.
The other Pokémon gave him no time to remove the sharp object from his shoulder.
While they attacked, more Pokémon gathered around to crush him, tackle him or chase him away.
Alex jumped back when an Absol tried to tackle him, shoving the Pokémon aside with his left arm.
He then jumped over a Paras, just in time to avoid the no-doubt dangerous spores coming out the mushrooms on its back.
He was briefly scratched on his leg by a Glameow as he moved by, but he kicked in her direction, making her jump back.
However, all air was slammed out of his lungs when a massive hand grabbed his leg, pulled it back, causing Alex to fall over.
Gasping for air, he turned around, discovering his ankle had been caught by the tailhand of an Ambipom.
Alex ferociously kicked and twisted to get the Pokémon to let go of him, shouting obscenities at it, while his right shoulder painfully throbbed as the thorn sank in deeper when leaned on it.
He didn't seem to be impressing Ambipom with his struggles, so Alex was caught off-guard when the purple Pokémon suddenly let go of his leg.
He immediately got back to his feet to defend himself against the other Pokémon, but they seemed to have backed off as well.
The sound of hooves on the ground announced the arrival of something much larger and stronger, and it was clear the other Pokémon didn't want to be around when it attacked.
Turning around, Alex could see a cloud of dust forming behind the approaching Pokémon.
A grin appeared on Alex' face. This is what he had been waiting for.
As the Pokémon rapidly came closer, Alex could make out more details.
Charging wildly, the brown Pokémon mooed, its brown manes moving in the wind as it ran.
The three studs on his forehead matched his silver-colored horns.
Alex snapped back to reality when he could hear the whipping sound its three tails made.
Crossing the last bit of space between him and the group of rocks on the last moment, Alex threw himself on the large stones, pulling his legs up right before the massive Tauros hit them.
The impact of Tauros' head against the large rock was incredible.
The collision sent a shock through Alex' body, who could hardly imagine what would've happened if he hadn't moved aside.
Yet, there was still an unpleasant surpise waiting for him.
Slowly but surely, the rock he was sitting on started to crumble.
Tauros had moved back a bit, ominously watching as Alex could do nothing but to slide off the collapsing rock, landing right in front of the bovine Pokémon.
As Tauros sniffed angrily, probably getting ready for another attack, Alex gave the brown Pokémon a shaky smile.
His voice croaked, as he said:
"Wow. You really are an amazing Pokémon."
He didn't get the chance to continue, because Tauros angrily shoved him with his head, causing Alex to fall on his back.
Now at the mercy of the massive bull standing over him, its head hovering only inches above his own, Alex' eyes widened, but he managed to cry out:
"Wait! Wait! Hear me out!"
As Tauros sniffed again, Alex hurried to say:
"At least hear what I have to say! If you still want to trample me after I'm done, so be it!
But give me this one chance!"
Alex hardly dared to breathe as he waited.
But Tauros seemed to have calmed down a little, still sniffing impatiently, but showing no signs of wanting to stab Alex with its horns.
Alex, not wanting to spook the Pokémon, slowly opened his hand, showing Tauros the empty Pokéball.
"Look. I'll put this right here."
Alex carefully placed the Pokéball next to him in the grass.
He then looked back at Tauros.
"I have a plan, but I need your help. You're in charge of the Pokémon in this enclosure, yes?
They'll have to stop attacking me for this plan to work. Listen…"
Leaning in a bit closer, it's nose only inches away from Alex' face, Tauros listened to what Alex explained to him.
After Alex had finished, Tauros' head went back up, clearly overthinking what he had been told.
Angrily, he scraped one of his hooves along the ground, barely missing Alex head.
"You don't think you can trust me, do you? What if… What if I tell you my secret…?
Not even the girl I'm travelling with knows this, but my other Pokémon does.
If you know something like that about me, wouldn't that be a sign of faith from me?"
...
Yena, still shaking, and holding on to Zigzagoon for support, was breathlessly staring at the massive Pokémon standing over Alex.
To her right, the shady men were busily placing bets on how Alex would be knocked out by Tauros: whether he'd be trampled by those hooves, or taken up by those horns… Yena could hear all kinds of horrible ways to get attacked by that beast.
Yena's Pokédex had told her:
'Tauros heightens its will to fight by whipping itself with its three tails. Once it takes aim at its foe, it makes a headlong charge.
It is famous for its violent nature.'
This clearly was the Pokémon pictured on the poster, was Alex planning on catching that thing?
He was hardly in the position of catching anything right now, on his back, surrounded by angry Pokémon.
But as she looked closely, Yena could see Alex' mouth moving.
Was he talking to the Pokémon?
As she watched, Alex lifted his head, and Tauros lowered it.
He currently seemed to be whispering in Tauros' ear.
The crowd of people next to Yena was also following every movement in the field.
Yena gasped as Tauros moved back a little bit, roughly pushing his nose against Alex' stomach, then to his neck, as if he was examining him by smell.
What happened next was nowhere near the crowd's expectations.
Tauros first held his head up high, making a series of low sounds against the other Pokémon.
He then pushed his nose against the Pokéball in the grass, and disappeared in a flash of light.
...
As the Pokéball clicked, in confirmation of Tauros' capture, Alex slowly got up.
Unable to properly move his right arm, he held the Pokéball in his left hand as he made his way to the exit.
The rest of the Pokémon stared at him, not moving an inch as he walked by.
It was silent on the other side of the fence as well, as if the crowd was unable to find a suitable way to respond to this unexpected event.
But as he approached the thick wooden door, he could hear Yena cheering and calling out to him on the other side.
Somehow, he managed to produce a grin as the door opened.
As soon as he stepped over the doorsill, Yena flew into his arms, crying and laughing at the same time.
"You must be crazy! Crazy! …But you did it! And don't ever scare me like that again, you hear me?
But you managed to shut all those gambling men up, you should have seen their faces…!"
The owner of the grounds' low voice interruped Yena's waterfall of words.
"You took my main attraction. Rules are rules, so I'll let you take him.
But get out of here, and don't show your face here ever again, you hear me?"
The threat was unmistakable. Yena's face turned red, not used to being treated that way.
Alex merely nodded.
"Then we'll be off now."
...
They had been walking for ten minutes, making their way back to Route 2, when Alex sighed deeply, and sank down on the mossy ground.
It was then that Yena noticed exactly how pale Alex' face was.
She gasped as he rolled over on the ground, revealing the injury caused by Cacnea's thorn.
His shoulder had completely swollen up, and the skin around the thorn was red.
"Alex! Oh no! You need to go to a hospital, or a Pokécenter, but we're not even near one right now! What should I do?"
She fell down on her knees next to him, close to tears.
Alex' voice sounded muffled as he spoke:
"Don't… baby me like Oshawott. At least… pull out the thorn."
Yena studied the thorn.
"I think I can pull it out if you stay still… Maybe I should put some salve on it next?"
Alex growled, but she assumed he agreed with the plan, because he lay perfectly still as she prepared to pull the thorn out.
Alex flinched as she grabbed Cacnea's thorn and yanked it out, but made no sound.
It took him some time to find his voice again, though.
After she put some soothing ointment on the wound, he told her:
"…Right. Well done. I'll be okay now. Give me some water, I'll need every strength I can get."
Yena immediately handed him one of the bottles from her bag.
"Do you think you can make it to Striaton City, Alex?"
He frowned.
"No. I have something else to do before we can go to Striaton City."
He took another sip of water, then looked straight at her.
"…I promised Tauros I would free all Pokémon in that enclosure, before anything."