Welcome to Chapter 3! This is where it starts to get good!

Shine a Light in the Darkness

Chapter 3: Do No Evil

At the stairs leading up to Striaton City, I found Bianca. Or maybe she found me. She looked like she'd been waiting for me. "Layla!" she called, with an excited wave. "Laaaay-la!"

"Yeah?" I asked. "What is it, Bianca, it's getting late." It was past eleven, a glance at my X-Transceiver told me. Heather was exhausted from the first round of her training, and Edward and Tormod were getting tired too.

"I know!" She giggled. "I've never been out this late in my life! My dad would kill me!" I couldn't help but smile as well. She was a sweet girl, but she was just getting so much enjoyment out of a little rebelling. "Hey, let's have a Pokémon battle before we head over to the center!"

"I don't know, Bianca, it's kind of late," I said, unsure. I looked down at Tormod.

"Hey, no worries, we got this, Layla," he said. I smiled and nodded at Bianca.

"Alright!" she squeaked triumphantly. "Go, Malon!" She deployed her Lillipup, a female one with a pink ribbon behind its ear, and without the ridiculous overconfidence that Edward sported. "You may have beaten me in your room this morning, but I've gotten better since then! You won't defeat me so easily!"

"You defeated me so easily," Bianca moaned, hanging her head. She prodded her bowl sadly. "I thought I had gotten better, but I really hadn't."

"You've improved," I said as gently as I could with a full mouth, "I just spent the whole evening training." I swallowed the last of my bagel and Magikarp lox. "That was still my toughest trainer battle yet."

"Do you really mean that?" she asked.

"Absolutely. Are you going to finish your oatmeal?"

She poked at it a bit more and then gave it to me. "What are you doing today, Layla?"

"Well, I thought I'd track down Cheren – he wasn't at the Pokémon center last night. And I'm going to scope out the Striaton gym, and decide if I need more training before I battle them. How about you?"

"The same, I guess," she said with a soft shrug. "I heard they don't like to let you go to Route 3 unless you have a badge or are accompanied by somebody who does. You know what they say about Pokémon getting stronger." I nodded, shoveling oatmeal into my mouth. Bianca had added too much cinnamon for my tastes, but travelling like this, I later learned, tended to give me a huge appetite, so down the hatch it went. "I'm definitely going to check out the Dreamyard after dinner at the latest. Oh! You know, I think Cheren said he'd be hanging around the Trainer's School when I battled him earlier last night." She blinked. "He's stronger than me, so don't take him lightly in a battle."

"I warned you not to take me lightly in a battle!" Cheren said, recalling his Oshawott. He had started with Megaman, to my surprise, and although Edward had come out on top, he was soaked through and bruised from being water-blasted against a chalkboard. "Bass will clean you up!" Cheren tossed a Pokéball, revealing a Purrloin.

I switched to Tormod; Heather's high speed made her perfect for toying with the enemy and messing with their tactics, but her low attack strength and lack of a Dark-type move made her a bit of a liability for serious battles. Especially since Assist kept getting me Odor Sleuth, which was more or less the most useless thing in the world.

I was jerked out of my mental complaint about Odor Sleuth when Cheren ordered his Purrloin to attack. "Tormod, Ember!" Tormod snorted and sprayed hot bits of burning fuel at the Purrloin, scorching it. It ran right through the fire and left a few scratches on Tormod's hide, but a firm Tackle put an end to that. "Good match, Cheren, but you can't beat me by pulling an all-nighter!"

"I slept…" Cheren said defensively, which was technically true. I could see the ink stains on his cheek where he'd started using his book as a pillow, not to mention where his glasses cut into his face. "Besides, this is important knowledge! I need to know about Burn and…" he withered under my stare. "I guess book smarts are no good without experience."

"Exactly!" I replied, trying to be helpful. "Get some fresh air, do some training, fight the gym leaders! It's as easy as one, two, three."

"That reminds me!" He looked up. "Here are some Oran berries." I stared at the fruit. I had seen Megaman eat one earlier to restore his health. "I have the feeling you'll need them. I've heard some stuff about the gym leaders around here… some of it's nice, but it doesn't add up." He adjusted his glasses. "I'm gonna train before I try and get the Trio badge, I suggest you do the same." He hesitated. "Don't forget to stop by the Dreamyard; I hear somebody's giving away monkeys."

"Giving away monkeys?" I asked. He just shrugged.

"This? This is the Striaton City gym?" Tormod asked. "But it's…"

"A restaurant," I finished. "Weird." Striaton City Gym and Bistro, the sign read. A smaller sign read, Gym Leader: Triple Trouble! Outside, a man in a sous-chef's uniform sat on the steps, smoking. He had hair and eyes the color of wintergreen mints. Something in the way he held himself suggested a sort of relaxed confidence, but there was something else, too. "Hey, dude, are you the gym leader?" I asked.

"Yeah, kind of. My brothers and I share the title. I'm on break right now, and another of my brothers is having a battle." He gave me a geeky smile. "I'm Cilan. You a challenger?"

"Later today," I said. "I guess I'll have dinner, too."

"Oh, cool. You beat one of us, and dinner's on the house." He narrowed his eyes at Tormod. "Is this Tepig your starter?" I nodded. "Okay, we'll be ready to take your challenge in an hour and a half or so."

"I hope you get my food ready faster than that," I quipped. He started to laugh, but suddenly the doors behind him burst open, and he dropped his cigarette dodging out of the way as a white-skinned Pokémon covered with leaves was thrown over the steps to the ground below. Smoke poured from his body, and when I got a good look at it I could see it was actually still burning. "What the fuck?"

"Petilil!" A boy a year or two younger than me leaned out of the Gym's doors, looking down at his struggling Pokémon in horror. "Are you alright? YEEEARGH!" Suddenly, he found flames showering down on himself and tumbled down the steps, rolling to a moaning stop next to his Pokémon. Behind him stood a red monkey Pokémon with a crest on its head like a single flame, and a man who was identical to Cilan except for his eyes (red), hair (also red, and spiked like a bonfire), and bearing (hyperactive, but also subtly off).

"You come in here with just one Pokémon looking for a fight, and you insult my tea! I don't wanna hear it!" the man yelled, pumping his fists. "You're lucky I left your Pokemon alive!"

"Chili…" Cilan sighed. "Isn't this a little excessive for a small-timer like this?"

"I'm not a small-timer!" the boy spluttered. He absolutely was, bless his singed, acne-ridden face. Suddenly, what looked like a water cannon sprayed from the open doors. It extinguished the boy and his Pokémon, at the price of drenching them and knocking them back into the street. "What the hell was that?"

"That was saving your Pokémon's life, you drip," said a third man, predictably the reserved, blue-eyed, blue-haired one of the group (although I wasn't expecting the long, teardrop-like bangs). He had a blue monkey with a geyser-like crest following him. It had its eyes closed in a cheeky grin. "Better get it to the Pokémon center before you piss Chili off again. I'm not stopping him again."

"You're no fun at all, Cress," Chili complained.

"Shut up, both of you!" Cilan suddenly snapped, and they both did. He turned to us and bowed. "I'm sorry, you'll have to excuse us. Your battle and meal will be ready at sundown."

"Don't keep me waiting," Cress added.

"Cause we'll be waiting on you!" Chili joked. "Seriously, get ready for a beatdown."

"I suggest you go train in the dreamyard." Cilan finished, shutting the doors to the gym behind them.

"Shit, we'd better go train," I groaned. "Come on, Tormod."

"Could you help me up?" the pimply would-be gym challenger asked.

"I don't touch people," I explained.

"Boo, you whore…"

"Go heal your Pokémon, you bum!"

"What the fuck is this?" Heather, Tormod and I had Scratched, Embered, Tackled, and Sand-Attacked our way through the trainers at the front of the dreamyard, only to have the path to the wild-Pokémon-containing tall grass obscured by a tree. A stunted, twisted little tree covering the hole in the wall I needed to get to. For once, it wasn't I who had cursed, but Heather. Bless her heart, she was starting to pick up my words.

"It appears to be a tree," a little brunette girl said.

"I'm sorry, do you want a piece of me too? Because you can have a piece of me after I burn this tree down. Tormod, burn this tree down!" Tormod began snorting Embers at it, but none caught.

"Rain just came through yesterday morning," the little girl insisted. "It won't work." She was right, annoyingly. "Hey, come on, I've got something to show you!"

"What?" I asked heavily, but I followed her around a corner, Tormod running at my heels.

"This is just what you need." The little girl turned around and spread her arms wide. "It's a monkey!" In front of her stood a green monkey with a crest like a broccoli floret on its head. It shrugged and smiled a gaping grin at me.

"A monkey?" I asked incredulously. "I'm not sure…"

"He's fresh from the barrel," the little girl bragged, displaying a barrel of quarreling blue and red monkeys behind her. It was marked FUN in spray paint, presumably standing for Fire, Uranium, and No Survivors.

"I will watch you while you sleep," the monkey promised me with its toothless grin. Its eyes began to drift in different directions.

"Do you have anything else I could take instead? Please?"

The girl shook her head. "That's my only Pansage. Besides, he's great against Cress's monkey, and Cress will be the one fighting you because you have a Tepig! The Trainer's School principal said sooooo!"

I shook my head. I didn't know what kind of monkey racket Striaton City was running, but I wanted no part of it. "Sorry, but I don't compromise my values for a temporary tactical advantage."

"What kinda values?" the kid asked, squinting.

"My newest value: No Totally Creepy Monkeys." I nodded, satisfied. Tormod nodded along with me.

Nuzlocke Rule 2c: No totally creepy monkeys.

"I don't need your permission," the Pansage said, its eyes glinting.

"Okay, fine, whatever. It's not my fault if you get stomped at the Gym." The girl turned away, harrumphing.

"Again!" I called. Edward bit down on the fallen branch, leaving deep marks. "Not good enough! Again!"

"My mouth hurts," Edward complained. "I'm tired… can't we break until we're ready to fight the gym?"

"Sorry, Edward." I smiled at him. "But this is totally necessary. You didn't see Chili earlier. If we go in there and we don't at least challenge them, those guys will totally kill us. They're Gym Leaders, you know, they can kill us; if they murder a challenger, their insurance will just go up."

"That's awful," Edward said, "But I'm still tired."

"EDWARD!" I shouted. "That insurance company is… it's a giant!"

"A giant?" He snapped to attention.

"And those monkeys and gym leaders are the giant's servants. Now, what are we gonna do?"

"Beat the giant's servants!" Edward yipped.

"And why are you gonna do it?"

"BECAUSE I'M THE GIANTSLAYER!" Edward turned back to the branch and bit clean through it.

"Yeah!" I whooped.

"Not bad, not bad," Heather said from where she had perched on a nearby log. Her purple fur shone fuchsia in the light of the setting sun.

"Thanks," I said, stretching. "I'm getting better as a leader, if I do say so myself." Heather had finished her training; besides, I was hoping to keep her on the sidelines, since Fury Swipes hadn't done all that much for her attack strength.

"I was talking about your butt," Heather said, grinning like those paintings of that mythical Pokémon called the Cheshire Cat. "Your leadership is still painfully basic… but you're just so cute I can't help but come along."

"Gee, thanks, I feel so special." I didn't feel like bringing up how she had been caught on the first Pokéball.

She shifted gears to serious mode. "Do you really think they'll be nicer if we give them a real fight?"

"Sure," I said with a shrug, but my doubts were growing. "They were nice… well, Cilan was. He'll treat us with respect if we return the favor."

"Good evening, welcome to Striaton City Gym and Bistro!" a well-dressed woman behind the desk said. She sounded like she had the perky stick jammed so far up her ass it was fraternizing with her tonsils. "Are you here to dine or challenge?"

"Both!" I said, flashing a thumbs-up.

"Oh, sweet, this girl's taking the full package deal!" A greasy-looking man in a white suit with silver hair and sunglasses sauntered up to me. He was like an oily, oppressive presence, and he reached to put his arm around me.

I slapped this one away. "PLEASE don't touch me."

"Oh, alright little lady." The silver-haired man oozed back to a safe distance before continuing. "I'm Jimmy the Gym Rep. Here, let me give you this." He passed me a bottle of water. "It's – whoa, there, you'd better save that!" he warned, seeing me start to drink.

"Yeah? Why?"

"That water is smarter than a fifth grader. It's for your Pokémon!"

"Smart water? Like how?" I shook it. It looked and felt like regular water to me. I uncapped and sniffed it. It did smell off…

He watched me investigating and shrugged. "It's got medicinal properties on par with a Super Potion," he said.

"Really? Whoa!" I crammed it into my bag. "I'll save it."

"Anyway, let me walk you through this Gym's package deal that you're taking. You see that table?" He gestured to a white-tableclothed table. In the small room beyond the front counter, it was the only empty seat. The rest of the gym/bistro was filled with middle-aged and older couples, mostly the already married types. A few had even brought kids. "You go, sit there, and a waiter takes your order for soup, and fights you while they get the soup ready. And then in the next room, you'll sit at the table, and a waitress will fight you while you wait for salad. Finally, you'll fight the gym leader chosen for you, and then you'll get your main course. And it'll all be on the house… if you win. If at any point you lose, you need to pay for the whole meal… and we won't serve the rest of it to you."

I swallowed. No way I was paying for tonight's meal… I had blown most of my cash on Potions and stuff. "Sounds good."

"Excuse me, miss," the woman behind the counter said. "For convenience's sake, can I have your food order now?"

"STEAK," I said. "Best steak you got."

"We have a braised Taurus –"

"Perfect! I'll take that rare. Make it happen." I sat down at the first table, and a waiter approached me with a silver platter.

"Hey, my name is Maxwell. What kind of soup would you like? We have Cream of Amoonguss, or the Challenge Special!"

"I'll take the Challenge Special!" I said with a grin.

"Excellent," the waiter said, laying down the platter in front of me. "I'll be right back with your order." As he left, a Lillipup crawled out from under the platter. I smiled. It snarled at me.

"Heather, clear this chaff out of the way!" I called, releasing her onto my lap. "Assist!"

"Gladly," she said, clamping down on the puppy's front leg and dragging it under the table with a borrowed Bite.

The soup was great, although it seemed to only make me hungrier. It was basically just broth with herbs and pepper flakes, but it tasted good and it was really invigorating.

The salad room was essentially the same, but with black tablecloths and younger couples, and Heather made short work of the Patrat and Purrloin all the same. I'm not such a big fan of salad, so I just ate the tomatoes and boiled egg off it and gave the rest to Tormod, who would eat anything (including baseballs, I had found out earlier that day). The wait staff had tighter control over their Pokémon than, for example, Bianca, so there were no disturbed dinners from flying prone Pokémon.

When I got to the final room, there were three tables – one with red tablecloth, one with blue, one with green, and all at the sides of the room. The blue table had a platter with a steaming hot steak on top, complete with mashed potatoes and greens. Actually, maybe everything was steaming hot. The room was very humid, and it smelled strongly of the herbs and spices from that challenger's soup. The middle of the room was marked out by a large, circular arena set an inch or two into the floor. Cress stood by my food, Chili leaned against the opposite wall, and Cilan sat in front of the kitchen door, stroking a Lillipup with a scar over one missing eye and sulking. "I can't believe you refused the monkey," Cilan moaned.

"Hey, now, nobody can blame her for refusing that ugly grass-type," Chili said. "Listen, kid, you're alright. I'd have liked to fight you, but I get my share, and I can totally understand your desire for fiery awesomeness." He pumped a fist lazily. "Rock on."

"Please, eat," Cress said. He gestured to the food. "I want you to tell me how it tastes before we fight. I cooked it myself."

"Rock on indeed!" I sat down at the table and started to eat. I have to say, it was some of the best food I've ever had. A few of my mom's recipes were better, but not many.

"Is it good?" he asked, leering down at me as I took my last few bites of steak. I have to say that he was almost as big of a creeper at that moment as the monkey.

"My complements to the chef."

"Excellent. Then the battle can begin." Cress moved to the opposite side of the room. I tried to get up but found myself stuck – belted in, actually. "What the hell?" I heard Chili giggle behind me. "What's the big idea?"

"We don't like to let challengers get too rowdy," Chili giggled. "It can be hard to watch these gym battles, and we don't want interference."

"Go, Rochambeau!" Cress said, and the dog moved out from under Cilan's arm to the center of the arena. "Our trusty family dog should prove more of a challenge than that mutt in the front room."

I took a deep breath, and drew my Pokéball from a sitting position. "Alright, Tormod, go!" Tormod stared at Rochambeau. "I know you can do this, Tormod. Use Ember!"

"Rochambeau, use Work Up!" I watched the Lillipup stand still as a statue as sparks and hot ashes washed over it. I could see the little thing's muscles bunch. "It's really nothing against you," Cress reassured me, "but we're new Gym Leaders and we can't afford not to be taken seriously. Now, Bite!"

"Tackle!" The two crashed together, knocking the dog back, but Tormod didn't emerge unscathed. I could see the bite marks leaking steam in his hide. "You alright, Tormod?"

"You know it!" he grunted.

"Great. Tackle him again, finish him off!" Tormod made the jump, but Ro caught him in midair with another Bite, and this time Tormod crashed to the ground face-first. I winced sympathetically.

"Nice work forcing that flinch, Ro." Cress called. "We're back in control of the match. Now, show that hambone a real Tackle."

"Yes, master!" Rochambeau answered, charging forward.

"Tormod, Ember!"

"You got it!" Another spray of scattered flames lit into the dog, but this time they caught him full in the face. I suppose one must have caught him in the empty socket or something, because he flipped out, made a lot of noise, pawed at his face for a bit, then flopped over, exhausted.

"I've failed you, master," he whined.

"You did fine, Ro," Chili said helpfully as Cilan recalled him to a Pokéball.

"Yeah, whatever," Cress sighed, blowing one of the locks of his hair away from his eyes.

"Tormod, return!" I knew that the monkey was next, and as much as I didn't need the tactical help of that scary monkey, I didn't want to put myself at a total disadvantage either. "I hope you guys understand now that I'm not some two-bit challenger. Maybe now you'll respect me enough to unlock this chair? Eh?"

"Oh, you think we don't respect people who don't give us a good fight?" Cilan laughed almost sadly. "Well, I guess that's true. But then you had to go and not take the monkey. We HATE people who don't take the monkey."

"Should've taken the monkey, girly," Chili admonished, walking over to a large lever. "Should I pull it, bro?"

"Pull away," Cress said with a smile. Chili pulled the lever, and the center part of the arena opened up. Inside was a huge, boiling cauldron of that special soup for challengers – which, I reflected, was probably why this part of the restaurant smelled so strongly. "Alright, one more Pokémon, madam. Except now there's a little feature to the arena. If your Pokémon loses, we throw him in the soup."

"Well, that's completely rational ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"

Chili cackled, answering my question. "Well, the Challenger's Special is like a soup of the day, because it's always changing. The secret ingredient is the Pokémon of trainers who especially annoy us!"

"Of course, if you still win," Cress noted, "You'll get money, your free meal, a TM, the badge, and a voucher for a free meal over in Nacrene, but I just can't see that happening."

Edward practically leapt out of my Pokéball. "Let me at 'em, Layla!"

I looked at Edward. "Are you sure? There's still time to back out."

"No there isn't!" Chili said.

"Edward the GIANTSLAYER is on the case!" Edward cried.

"Very well." Cress smirked and sent out his Panpour. "Lizard, Work Up."

"Edward, Leer!" He did, but the Panpour was flexing to prepare. It wouldn't allow itself to be the victim of mind games. "Good… now Edward, Bite!"

"Work Up." Edward dashed around the cauldron and bit the Panpour. It was still powering up, the veins in its forehead bulging. It winced as Edward's teeth sank in, but it stayed on its feet. "Your dog is as slow and weak as it is deranged," Cress observed. "Lizard, Water Gun."

"Edward, Tackle!" Lizard the Panpour opened its mouth in time for Edward to slam a shoulder into it. The monkey took the blow like a champ and let loose a torrent of water that knocked Edward to the floor and sent him sliding diagonally across the now donut-shaped arena. "Next time, knock him into the soup," Cress said icily.

I saw Edward pull at the Oran Berry I had attached to a band around his shoulder. He slid it into his mouth, swallowed it, and stood up. I looked around. Chili had noticed, but he seemed content to stay quiet. Cilan and Cress were too busy gloating and contemplating serving my Pokémon to their next hundred customers. "I think one more hit should about do it," Cilan suggested.

"Yes, and Lizard is faster than that mutt," Cress agreed. "Lizard! Water Gun!"

"Edward, Tackle!" I shouted. Edward leapt over the initial blast of water and ran alongside it with a battle cry, but Lizard corrected his aim before he ran dry. Edward was washed backwards into the hole in the floor. "Edward!" I screamed. And what I saw felt like a thousand pounds off my chest. Edward was hanging on by his jaw.

Cress didn't seem to have noticed. "Well?" he looked at me impatiently. "The battle's not over yet. Send your swine back out."

I laughed. "You're pretty confident for a guy who can't see past his bangs." He raised an eyebrow. "I said 'Tackle,' Edward the Giantslayer."

"Yes ma'am!" Edward hooked his paws onto the ledge and pulled himself back up. In a single leap, he cleared the ten feet between himself and the Panpour and slammed it to the ground paws-first. Scissors hit its head on the edge of the arena and was still. Cress had just stood there like a deer in headlights. "Victory belongs to THE GIANTSLAYER!"

"That's right," I said, walking up to Cilan. "Now give my badge, you psychos." I tossed the bone of my steak into the hole in the arena. "Here's your secret ingredient…" and I slapped him over the head. "And there's your tip."

"Why couldn't you just have taken the monkey," Cilan lamented, passing me a TM disc, a coupon, a pouch full of money, a lemon-scented moist towelette, and a peppermint. "Here's your badge." He shined it in the light of the room before presenting it to me. It looked like a propeller, or maybe an ear of corn, and it had red, blue, and green diamond-shaped gems in a row, rimmed with gold. "Now get out of my restaurant!"

"Come on, Edward, we don't need these phonies." I recalled Edward – he was really banged up from those powered-up Water Gun blasts – and left, pinning the badge to the front of my hat.

"That's just great," Cress mumbled, watching Layla go. "Now everybody's going to think they can just waltz in here and win without taking a monkey."

"It's your fault," Cilan grumbled. "Just standing there slack-jawed. 'Use Water Gun, Scissors!' You had like five seconds. Would that have been so hard?"

"That bitch cut right through the restraints," Chili moaned. "Must've been that cat she was bringing out earlier."

"Nobody cares about the stupid restraints, Chili!" Cress snapped. "Who cares if the trainers fall into the soup, too?"

"Well, who cares about the stupid monkeys?" Chili yelled back. "Most trainers just box them anyway, they're terrible spies."

"True enough," Cilan sighed. "Still, even if we can't send him further data, we should still tell Sage Ghetsis about the battle." He smiled. "We were warned to look out for her, after all."

Woo double-length chapter chronicling through the end of my first gym battle! It's longer, yes, but also loaded with action and references. For example, Panpour's nickname is a reference to Scissors Lizard, a joke magic card that participates in rock/paper/scissors with Rock Lobster and Paper Tiger.

Fun Fact of the chapter: Those monkeys are evil. I will have no part of them. I'll be catching a less evil Pokemon in the dreamyard next chapter.

I'm so glad I put those Oran berries on my guys before challenging Cress. Edward got knocked down to 4 hp, even considering the healing from those things. I might have gotten swept if I hadn't won right there.

Nuzlocke challenge (c) Nuzlocke

Pokemon (c) Nintendo and Game Freak

Layla (c) me

Next Chapter: Two new friends, the first death on the team, and the arrival of a most unusual Audino...