Annnnd it's another update!
Thanks to some discouraging stuff, it was a teensy bit hard to get started for this chapter, but I managed. Of course, most of the ingenious ideas in here came from suggestions from reviewers/readers, so I take no credit XDDD
And she'll get the HM Rock Smash later, believes meh =D
Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon...umm...girl characters would be allowed to wear BACKPACKS instead of stereotypical PURSE-THINGS.
x.X.x
There really wasn't much to do, in my eyes, but challenge the Gym. Sure, I could go and train a little bit or talk to some people walking around (including a girl that was running around in her running shoes and looking a little like she needed to tighten a few screws upstairs), but I was quite confident in my Riolu's ability and figured that I could talk to Crazy-Girl later. Then maybe I'd get a little much-needed respect, when I had my first Gym badge.
"Ready to go?" I asked Riolu, who grinned.
"Rio!" he chirped, and I nodded, absently bringing my fingers up to my teeth to gnaw on my nails as we walked towards the Pokemon Center: because even I wasn't so stupid as to enter a Gym without healing up. I wasn't nervous, but nail-biting was something I had become accustomed to as a habit when I was bored, waiting, or just not doing anything else. Besides, I never used my nails anyway, and I hated having to trim them; so biting them was the optimal solution.
This time, though, I was stopped at a tiny paw on my wrist. I looked down in confusion as Riolu deliberately took my hand away from my mouth and put it down by my side, holding it for a moment and keeping it there, eyes riveted on my forearm, before withdrawing his arms and resuming walking. For a moment I stared down at him, and then shrugged and starting chewing on my fingernails again.
Almost immediately there was a slight pressure on my wrist again, and I tilted my head to the side as my Pokemon's brow furrowed in frustration, once more pulling my hand away and dropping it to my side.
"What're you doing?" I asked, a little indignantly.
"Riolu," he answered promptly, folding his arms across his chest. Still looking at him in bewilderment, I slowly raised my hand again. "Rio-lu!" he exclaimed, jumping up to pull it back down.
"Hey-quit it!" I objected, yanking my hand away. "I can chew my nails if I want to, can't I?"
"Rio." That was a pretty obvious "no."
"Well, you're not my mom, so you can't tell me what to do!"
"Riolu!"
"Oh, yeah? Watch me!" I pulled away from my Pokemon and deliberately started ripping the too-long, white tips of my nails off with my teeth, sticking my tongue out at Riolu, who gave a quick screech and clambered onto my shoulders to pull my hand away. "Stop it!" I shook him off, still biting my nails: though this time it was more a show of rebellion than anything purposeful.
"Rio-lu!" he wailed, prying my fingers away.
"Oh, dear."
I looked up quickly, my hand still by my mouth and my Pokemon halfheartedly tugging on it, clinging upside-down to my elbow. An exact copy of Nurse Joy was standing behind the counter, one hand covering her own mouth in surprise. "Are you two all right?" she asked, beginning to step forward. The Chansey at her side waddled toward us, beaming, and I sheepishly set Riolu down.
"Um…yeah…we're fine," I muttered, nodding.
"What's the problem?" My brow creased as she came closer, and I cocked my head. She was acting like she didn't know me!
"Are you…Nurse Joy?" I asked in confusion, and she chuckled and nodded.
"That's me!"
"But…in Jubilife…don't you remember me?"
"Oh! You must have met my sister, Nurse Joy!"
Now thoroughly befuddled, I could only shrug and mutter, "Isn't that…you?"
"Well, no! I'm a twin, you see!" She giggled again, and I took a step back.
"You're a loony…" I said under my breath.
"Rio rio…" Anger forgotten for a moment, Riolu nodded his agreement.
"So…do you have the same name or something?" I asked, wondering what masochistic parent would give two twins the same name.
"Well, of course not! That's our last name!" she explained, still beaming. I blinked.
"Okay…"
"Now, what was the problem?" She seemed to be bouncing between emotions so fast I didn't even try to keep up, deciding instead to shrug and mumble, "Nothing."
"If you say so. But that Riolu looks pretty mad, huh?"
"No he doesn't…" But I looked over, narrowing my eyes at my Pokemon, who sniffed and turned away, folding his arms across his chest.
"So what happened?" She bent halfway over, bracing her hands against her knees and looking at me in that annoying grown-up, "You can tell me, sweetie!" way. I copied my Pokemon's motions without really meaning to, crossing my arms on my chest and turning halfway away from her, and growled when she chuckled. "Well, all right, then. But come to me if you want to say anything else, okay? Shall I heal up your little Riolu?"
"Yeah," I muttered, jerking my head. She smiled warmly and ushered my Pokemon into the back, and I huffed and sat down in a chair as I waited. Within ten minutes Riolu was walking back out, though he turned pointedly away from me and stubbornly ignored me as we walked to the Gym. "Well, fine," I told him, carrying on a monologue. "If you want to beat the Gym angry and not get to share in celebrating our first Gym badge, you can just be that way!" I huffed again and folded my arms across my chest, turning away from him as well and bringing my hand up to bite my nails some more.
"Rio!" I heard a sudden, indignant chirp, and I turned in time to have my arm yanked away from my mouth.
"Hey! Would you quit that?" I asked angrily. "What's wrong with biting my nails?"
"Rio-lu!"
"Be quiet, you meaniebutt! I'll bite my nails all I want, and there's nothing you can do about it!"
"Rio rio rio-lu!"
"Hmph."
So it was in bad tempers and low spirits that we entered the Oreburgh Gym, weaving up stairs and across a bridge to sneak past the two trainers before Roark. I had learned his name from one of the locals as I had been waiting for Riolu to come back from the Pokemon Center, along with the fact that he didn't usually like to wait for trainers inside his Gym: instead, he would go down to the mine as opposed to twiddling his thumbs in one room all day.
I came up to him with my Riolu close behind, and he smiled.
"Welcome! This is the Oreburgh Pokemon Gym, and I'm Roark, the Gym Leader!" he said warmly, and I shook his outstretched hand and offered my name in return as the Gym leader went on. "I'm but one Trainer who decided to walk proudly with Rock-type Pokemon! As the Gym Leader, I need to see your potential as a trainer. And I'll need to see the toughness of the Pokemon that battle with you!" I nodded, suddenly nervous as I eyed the three Pokeballs on his belt. If Riolu was angry with me, would he listen when I told him what moves to use? And how was I supposed to beat three rock-type with one fighting and normal type? One angry fighting and normal type?
I was jerked back to reality by the leader's voice. "So, are you ready?" he asked, and I dipped my head again. No, I'm not ready. No no no no no no no. I looked at Riolu, who again turned away, and made no attempt to stop me as I began to chew on my nails: though this time it was out of nervousness. I shot a nervous smile at Roark, who nodded, and then sent a Pokeball spinning out into the center of the Gym. "Geodude, go!" he called, and I glanced hopefully down at Riolu.
"Ready to battle?" I asked, and my Pokemon blew a raspberry and turned away. "Don't do that, Riolu. You know as well as I do that we've gotta win this, so you don't need to be all hissy and mean right now."
"Rio-lu." I could easily translate that: yes I do. I looked up, and leapt back as Geodude sent a shower of tiny pebbles shooting toward us at a frighteningly high speed. Riolu stepped out of the way, and then promptly began padding toward the exit.
"Riolu! Where are you going?" I called, ducking out of another shower of pebbles. I began to run toward him, chased by the spherical, boulder-like Pokemon Roark had called Geodude, and skidded in front of my partner, who turned his nose up and walked around me. But another well-placed attack from Geodude sent a cascade of tiny rocks raining down on Riolu, who stopped and slowly turned around with fire in his eyes. The look he gave me said, "I'm not doing this for you," but I was too bewildered at this new attack to notice.
My Pokemon bared his teeth and crouched, shooting forward and slamming into Geodude, blindly scrabbling, punching, and kicking its stone body. It didn't do much, though, and another punch from Geodude sent Riolu flying. After that came yet another shower of pebbles, and then, as suddenly as it had started, the battle ended and my Pokemon was down and out.
"Hey!" I yelled, running toward him, my feet crunching on shards of rock. "What'd you do?" I asked Roark, who smiled grimly and withdrew Geodude.
"Never been beaten before?" he asked gently, and my brow furrowed. "Your Pokemon is unconscious, which means that it can't battle any more. So I've just won this match."
"Oh." I must have looked pretty disappointed, because he gave another smile, this one more encouraging than the last, and said, "Well, go and train some more. Make your Riolu a little happier, too. Treat it well, and you have a relationship that will last a lifetime."
"Okay." I got up, hefting Riolu in my arms and awkwardly putting him over my shoulder, not necessarily knowing how to train. I didn't know any trainers around, and wasn't I supposed to avoid wild Pokemon? But I nodded and acted like I understood, walking slowly back out to the Pokemon Center and trying not to punch the first two snickering trainers that I had avoided. I doubt I could have managed it anyway, what with my Pokemon slung over my shoulder.
As I exited the Gym, though, I heard a light, cheerful voice with a hint of sarcasm greeting me. "So I take it you just got your butt kicked by Roark?" I turned around, seeing a smirking girl a little older than me, black hair cut to her shoulders in a style that Mom would have described as, "sorely in need of a haircut."
"That's none of your business," I told her, resisting the impulse to stick my tongue out. Mom always said it made me look like a little kid, and that was certainly not what I wanted to look like right now.
"Alright, alright, I'm just wondering!" Her voice was serious, but her eyes were still dancing as she teased me.
"Well, it's still none of your business! I made a mistake, that's all."
"A mistake to challenge him before you were trained?
"No!" I was getting angry now. I didn't like this girl, witty and infuriating. "My Riolu was just mad at me, so he didn't listen."
"You're sure that's just because he was mad?"
"Of course I'm sure! Now I'm going to the Pokemon Center to wake him up, apologize, and then we'll try again!" I turned on my heel and stalked away, but the girl kept up with me easily, talking.
"Well, Roark's a pretty powerful Gym leader. So, even though you have the type-advantage, he'd still kick your butt if you weren't at a good level."
"I am at a good level!"
"What moves does your Riolu know?"
"Quick Attack, Endure, and Foresight." I saw her thinking, and I wondered absently if what I called Riolu's moves was different than what this girl did. But, evidently, she figured it out, because she shrugged.
"You don't even have a full arsenal, though."
"A full…what?" My brow creased, not liking the fact that she knew more than me. Then again, I hadn't even known what fainting was until ten minutes ago.
"Arsenal. A Pokemon can remember up to four moves, and yours only knows three," she explained, using hand motions as she talked. "So you need one more before you have a full arsenal, and even then they might not be very good moves."
"They're awesome moves! They're the best moves ever!" I said defensively. "And Riolu used another one that I didn't recognize in the Gym!"
"Which one was that?"
"Well…I don't know." I stared up at her, silently daring her to laugh at me, but she stroked her chin thoughtfully.
"Well, the next move that I can think of that most Riolu learn is called Counter. It's where they take damage, and then strike back with double the damage taken."
"That's what it looked like…" I said slowly, but really I wasn't sure. Still, the girl nodded.
"So you do have a full arsenal. Good. That should make it much easier to train rather than just using Quick Attack as an offensive move," she answered, and I tilted my head to one side.
"Offensive?"
"Offensive. It means attacking, not just for status effects or anything," she explained, nodding.
"You use a lot of big words," I told her frankly, and the girl chuckled.
"Or you use a lot of little ones in comparison. I'm Leah, by the way."
"I'm Celeste."
"Well, nice to meet you. We should probably take this Riolu to the Pokemon Center now, don'tcha think?"
"Um…yeah, okay."
"Alrighty, then! I'll carry him." She reached down and lifted Riolu into her arms, chattering amiably as we trekked up to the PokeCenter and greeting Nurse Joy when we arrived (I still hadn't figured out the riddle of the two Joys, but Leah seemed perfectly comfortable with it). Then, as we were waiting for Riolu in the lobby, she reclined in her chair and asked me, "You need to train, right?"
"Yeah…" I answered slowly.
"Well, how would you like a training partner?"
"Training partner?" I echoed, tilting my head to one side. Leah nodded.
"Yep. Like, I help you train by battling with your Pokemon, and you help me train by doing the same thing! How's that sound?" she inquired, and I thought about it for a moment. Finally, I reached a decision.
"Okay."
x.X.x.
ZOMG MONTY PYTHON REFERENCE! Keheheheheheh...
That was liek, the BEST part of the movie. Srsly.
Leah, by the way, belongs to kurochanwithwings (I wish I knew how to hyperlink stuff...). Did I get everything right? You didn't give a physical description that I saw, so I just gave her brown hair. Tell me if you'd like somefink different ;)
By the way, how did the emotion-progression and character-development go over? Was that okay with you guys?
Thanks!