Chapter 37 – Training Days
The next day, we rode on Lapras back to Blackthorn City and, after bringing our Pokemon to the Pokemon Center for one more checkup, and after I switched out Lapras for Scyther once again, May mounted on Fierymane, I mounted on Tauros, and we each rode with our Vulpixes to a remote wild area just outside of Blackthorn City to do some intense, serious training. We had each Pokemon type work on strengthening their type's best attacks – our fire Pokemon worked on powering up their fire attacks, our electric Pokemon worked on powering up their electric attacks, our water Pokemon worked on powering up their water attacks, and so on. I had Tauros practice horn attacks and take downs on some smaller trees and on dummies I made from sticks, which he demolished! May and I both wanted our Pokemon to be in top shape for the Johto League Finals.
After an afternoon of training like this, I said, "I hate to think of this, May, but we might be forced to battle each other in the finals. How do you feel about that?" She replied, "We're friends, Joe. And even though we might have to battle each other, we can't let that get in the way of our friendship. Just like our last battle – afterwards, we became better friends than ever!" I said, "You're right. But its so different this time. There's so much more at stake." She said, "Just a trophy. A trophy is no match for the prize of a good friendship." I knew she was right, and my concerns were trivial – we'd stay friends no matter what happened in the finals! Then she said, "You know, the last time we battled each other, Amber wasn't very strong yet." I said, "Yeah, I still feel awful about winning that match. I knew that Amber was no match for Flamefox at the time." Then May said, "But Amber has had considerable experience since then. She's much stronger now." I replied, "I agree! In fact, I don't know how you did it, but in the few months you've had her, I'd say you raised her to be just as strong as Flamefox!" At that, May said, "I think so, too! In fact, I'd really like to find out! So, I challenge you to a re-match. One on one, Amber versus Flamefox!" I was a little surprised, then said, "Ah, come on, May! You know how I feel about battling our Vulpixes against each other! Besides, you have a really unfair advantage – Amber can just use attract and render Flamefox unable to battle her. He'll be putty in her paws!" May replied, "Okay… how about this? I will not have Amber use attract. You have my word! Now will you let them battle?" I looked at Flamefox and said, "I don't know. How do you feel about this, Flamefox? I mean, May has a point." May asked Amber, "What do you think? Won't you battle him, for me, so we can see what we still have to work on?" Our Vulpixes each looked at each other, then back at us. It was clear that they were reluctant to battle each other, but they also wanted to make us happy. They finally each nodded, agreeing to battle, for us. I said to May, "I'm willing to do this for your sake, so you can see how much stronger Amber got. But please promise me you won't make them battle each other in the Johto League Finals." May looked at me seriously, then said, "Okay, I promise. In fact, let's make this the last time they battle each other." I said, "Agreed! This is the last time we battle Flamefox and Amber against each other!" May then asked, "So who should go first?" I answered, "Since you lost our last battle, why don't you begin." She said, "Fair enough! Amber, start things off with a dig attack!" Her Vulpix quickly burrowed underground, digging quickly into the dirt with her brown paws. I commanded, "Flamefox, use your agility and try to evade her attack!" Flamefox began to run back and forth in a blur, attempting to avoid Amber whenever she might decide to shoot up from under the ground. Amber was very patient – and her patience paid off! Just as Flamefox reached the point where she was underground, she shot up underneath him and sent him airborne! He landed on his feet! "Flamefox, use your flamethrower!" I ordered. He launched his intense flames at Amber, but she took the attack in stride, and when the flames dispersed, there she stood, undaunted, ready to make her next move! "Wow, that attack took her down the last time!" I remarked. "You're going to have to do better than that to beat her now!" May exclaimed to me. Then she shouted, "Amber, use quick attack!" Amber ran quickly at Flamefox and he was hit, and knocked backwards to the ground. When he stood back up, I commanded, "Flamefox, use body slam!" He ran at Amber, and thrust his entire body against her, knocking her to the ground! So far, neither of them was making much headway! "Amber, use fire spin!" May ordered. Amber's body glowed as she released the tornado of flames from her mouth. I had Flamefox attempt to avoid them with agility, but he was soon wrapped up by the flames! Once the flames dispersed, he still stood. Then I shouted, "Flamefox, use confuse ray!" He launched the attack, and Amber felt it! "Amber, try dig again!" May ordered. Amber was confused now, and tripped over her own feet trying to dig. "Flamefox, you use dig now!" I yelled. He did so, burrowing underground with his brown paws, like Amber had done earlier. "Amber, watch out!" May yelled. Flamefox shot up from underneath her, and this time, it was Amber who went flying and then crashed to the ground. "Amber!" May shouted, running over to her. As she caressed Amber, I asked her, "Do you want to call it?" May angrily replied, "No way!" Then she said to Amber, "I know you can do this! Hang in there! Do it for me!" At that, Amber stood back up, no longer confused. Then May ordered, "Amber, now use YOUR confuse ray!" Flamefox was hit by the attack before I could react! Still, I tried, shouting, "Flamefox, use your body slam again!" He started to run towards Amber, but tripped on his feet in his confusion. Then May yelled, "Amber, use take down!" Amber ran at Flamefox, who was barely standing as it was, and she slammed into him! He crashed to the ground, and between his confusion and pain, he just couldn't stand back up! "May, I concede defeat! You won the re-match!" I said, and I picked up Flamefox to give him a hyper potion. May ran to Amber, picked her up, and hugged her, saying, "We did it, Amber! I knew we could!" I put Flamefox down in the grass to let him sleep. Amber walked over to him, licked his face, then curled up next to him. May remarked, "See? After the battle, even though she won, they're still friends." I said, "I know." Then I asked, "Who should we battle next?" She responded, "You mean, you're up for another battle? Okay, how about your Tauros?" I said, "Cool! Okay, we'll battle our riding Pokemon against each other. Tauros versus Fierymane!" May said, "Wait a minute! Tauros is way too tough for Fierymane! I was thinking more of your Tauros versus my Blastoise!" I said, "Okay! Sounds good!" May released Blastoise, and I called Tauros over. "Okay, Tauros, use your horn attack!" I ordered. As my big buffalo charged towards Blastoise, May commanded, "Blastoise, use your water gun!" Blastoise pointed his huge water cannons at Tauros and shot out 2 heavy streams of water! The water streams pushed Tauros back, slowing down his progress, but he got through it and struck Blastoise, knocking him down backwards on his shell! "Good work, Tauros! Hit him with a body slam while he's down!" I shouted. Tauros again charged at Blastoise, then leapt up, and landed himself, belly down, onto Blastoise! Blastoise shoved him off and sent him crashing backwards to the ground. Blastoise and Tauros then each stood up and stared each other down! "Tauros, use earthquake!" I ordered. He stomped his front hooves on the ground, hard, and caused a fissure to open underneath Blastoise, which Blastoise then fell into. He crawled back out of the gap in the ground, and May ordered him, "Use skull bash!" I commanded, "Tauros, use head butt!" Both of them charged at each other, and their heads collided. They both fell down, dazed, but only Tauros stood back up! "Yes! Way to go, Tauros!" I exclaimed. May recalled Blastoise and said, "You did your best! Thanks." Then I asked her, "Want to battle anyone else, or call it a day?" She replied, "We've been training hard all day! Let's go back to Blackthorn, bring our Pokemon to the Pokemon Center to be treated, and take a break!" I said, "Good idea!"
We returned to Blackthorn City and had Nurse Joy examine our Pokemon. Once they had been treated, we all headed for the park. Flamefox was completely recovered now, and wrestled with Firestorm and Amber. We also let out the rest of our Pokemon to play in the park. Suddenly, a female voice said, "Hey, you two!" We turned to see who it was, and our jaws dropped when we saw that it was Clair! May asked her, "What do you want?" Clair said, "You are both strong trainers! I have a good impression that one of you will get the chance to battle my brother, Lance, in the League Finals. I would appreciate it if you seriously kick his butt! I'll be rooting for you." As she walked away, I asked, "Do I detect a grudge?" She stopped and said, "I'm trying to live up to his reputation of being nearly impossible to beat. But trainers like you two make that difficult. Only a handful of trainers have won badges from me. I'd like to see him defeated so that he, too, can be put in his place!" We both answered, "We'll do our best!" She actually smiled, then walked away. "Well, THAT was surreal!" I said to May. "Yeah, really" she responded.
After getting something to eat, we spent the night at the Pokemon Center. The next day, we headed out again, riding on our Pokemon, and this time gallopped farther out than yesterday before beginning our training. In the middle of our training, another trainer, a boy, walked up to us. He asked, "Are you guys training for the Johto League Finals?" We replied, "Yes." He said, "Your Vulpixes look impressive. How do you think they'd handle a water type Pokemon?" I said, "That would be a mis-match! You can't pit a fire type against a water type!" He said, "If you're entering the Finals, you need to be prepared for anything! I'd like to battle my Squirtle against your Vulpix!" I answered, "Okay, if you insist, then you're on!" Then he said, "To make it more interesting, how about a little wager? 8 badges!" I said, "No way! My Pokemon and I worked hard to get those badges! I'm not going to risk losing them for a trainer battle!" He said, "If you're afraid of losing your badges in a trainer battle, then you shouldn't even bother entering the finals!" I said, "Very clever! I'll bet you don't even have any badges! That's why you want to battle me like this! So you can have 8 badges and enter the competition!" He said, "On the contrary!" and opened up a small display case, containing 10 badges! "My Pokemon and I worked hard, too!" he said. "Yeah, by suckering other trainers into bets, probably!" May said. He got mad and said, "I'll have you know we won ALL of these badges, fair and square, at 10 different gyms! Now do you want to battle me or not! If not, I'm not going to waste any more time with you!" May advised me, "Don't do it, Joe! He's not worth it!" I was steaming and said, "I'm sorry, May, but he's right! I need to be ready for anything! Besides, my Tauros beat your Blastoise, so maybe my Vulpix can beat a Squirtle! Okay, a one on one battle! Flamefox versus Squirtle!" He responded, "Excellent!" and released his Squirtle. I said to Flamefox, "I know he's got a water type, but I have confidence in you that you can win this!" Flamefox confidently replied, "Vul!" We soon began to battle. "Squirtle, use bubblebeam!" he commanded. I ordered, "Flamefox, use flamethrower on those bubbles!" As Squirtle launched the bubbles at Flamefox, his flamethrower attack burst all of them before they could even reach him! "Not bad!" the boy said. Then he shouted, "Squirtle, use hydro pump!" His Squirtle's head, arms, legs, and tails disappeared inside the shell as it rapidly began to spin around in the air, shooting out torrents of water! "Flamefox, use agility!" I shouted. Flamefox moved back and forth in a blur, avoiding the heavy torrents of water! "You're good, but so far, neither Pokemon has done any damage!" the boy said. Then I ordered, "Flamefox, use confuse ray!" He did so, and Squirtle became confused. The boy said, "Squirtle, try to focus! Use water gun!" Squirtle did so, but could not focus, and Flamefox easily dodged it! Then I ordered, "Flamefox, use body slam!" Flamefox ran at Squirtle, still avoiding the water gun, and slammed his body against him, knocking him to the ground. Squirtle, although still confused, stood back up! The boy ordered, "Squirtle, use withdraw!" Squirtle pulled himself inside his shell and just lay there on the ground. "Flamefox, use quick attack!" I shouted. Flamefox ran at Squirtle and knocked him around a bit, but didn't make much headway. Then I ordered, "Flamefox, use dig!" He burrowed underground. Before he could attack, Squirtle came out of his shell, and his confusion seemed to be wearing off! "We got him right where we want him! Water gun underground, Squirtle!" the boy shouted. "No!" I yelled. Squirtle shot the water gun into the hole Flamefox had dug into the ground, and Flamefox shot up from the ground from the impact of the water gun! He crashed to the ground and lay on his side. "Flamefox!" I shouted. "Use mega kick, Squirtle!" the boy yelled. Just as Flamefox managed to stand up, he was knocked back down by the attack. He looked totally beaten! Then the boy said, "One more hydro pump, Squirtle! Let's finish him off!" As Squirtle retracted back into his shell, I shouted, "Flamefox, quick, launch flamethrower!" He launched the attack into Squirtle's shell! Squirtle began spinning around, launching the water in all directions, but Flamefox kept up the flamethrower, and started to evaporate the water! "That's it, keep it up, Flamefox!" I shouted. Soon, the water wasn't getting far from Squirtle's shell, and the intensity of the heat from the hot water took its toll on Squirtle. He got so hot, he finally stopped spinning around, and popped his head, legs, arms, and tail from his shell, and fell to the ground. The scalding hot water was just too much for him, and he passed out! "I don't believe it!" the boy shouted, and recalled his Pokemon. I picked up Flamefox and said, "Good work!" and gave him a hug. The boy said, "Well, you win! Here are 8 badges" and reluctantly opened up the case to remove 8 of his 10 badges. I said, "No, I can't. I won the match. Let's just leave it at that. You go enter the Pokemon League." He said, "Really? Wow, thanks." I said, "Don't thank me. That was a stupid thing you just did, risking all of your badges for one trainer battle, just because you thought you could win soley on type advantage. Don't do anything like that again, okay?" He answered, "You're right. From now on, I'll just challenge trainers for the experience – no side betting!" At that, he left us. May said, "You know, you could have lost and then you'd have no badges to enter the League Finals." I said, "I know. But I had to show him that what he was doing was wrong." She said, "You're going to be an excellent gym leader someday!" After that, we rode back into Blackthorn and I had Flamefox treated again. We decided it was time to leave the Blackthorn area for good and head closer towards the Indigo Plateau. The League Finals were only weeks away, so we couldn't stay in this area for much longer. We headed out and rode far, all the way to Mt. Mortar, where we set up camp for the night.