Not All Arrogance (A Gary Oak Love Story) Part 9~A Shocking Imitation
((Joyful Note: With my south park story updated, I feel I can rightfully procrastinate some more on it! So more editing and posting of this story! Yay!))
It was about noon when Amy and Gary finally entered the seaside town of Vermillion. The underground tunnel had been rather dull; they passed few people down there. Basically it just bypassed Saffron city. Then it was just a short road away from Vermillion, so here they were.
"Well, here we are. It took forever, but now we can finally get to battling!" Gary said and took off at a run. Amy stared after him.
"BUT WHAT ABOUT TEAM ROCKET?" she called after him. He spun around and jogged on the spot.
"Who?" he asked and she glared at him "Okay okay! But the cruise is in 5 days, that's great for you right? We can get our badges, wander around town a while, hell, we could run into that Lance guy in town right? Hey, you think he'd battle me?" Gary said stopping his on the spot jogging.
Amy put her hands on her hips as she walked towards him. "Like you would stand a chance. In case you haven't noticed, your Pokémon total is 4, and we couldn't even beat team rocket alone," she said shaking her head.
Gary scowled. "Fine. But I AM getting that badge."
Amy smiled a bit. "I actually don't doubt that too much. But I think we should stop over at the Pokémon center first, Avion and Sting should be looked over after the fight, Socrates and Isis as well actually. So after that's done we can go, get some food, do some battling, and maybe we'll have time to discuss our feelings in our room before bed."
"WHAT?"
"Kidding about that last part," Amy said briskly walking past him towards the domed Pokémon center's roof. Gary stared after her in totally confusion, and then followed.
After dropping their bags at the Pokémon center, they headed for the gym. Amy was a bit nervous after seeing the rooms full of baddy injured opponents of the gym leader Lt. Surge, but Gary didn't seem put out at all. Amy wondered if he had a brain injury.
However, whether his brain was or wasn't up to snuff, they did eventually reach the gym. Amy was immediately taken by how... flashy it was. It had a giant version of the Thunder badge on it, gleaming to the heaven, with VERMILLION GYM written with lightning bolts around it. Amy frowned.
"Hey Gary, you know, I've been thinking, maybe you should go first."
Gary turned and raised his eyebrow. "What, are you scared or something?"
"No!" Amy snapped, and then sighed, "Yes."
Gary's eyes widened. "You're admitting it?"
Amy nodded. "Like you couldn't guess anyway. Alright. Let's get it over with," she sighed again, steeling herself as she pushed open the enormous doors. She didn't actually believe doors this big could possibly be necessary anywhere but an aircraft hanger, nor did she truly believe they would open for her as she pushed. Nevertheless, they did. She and Gary stepped hesitantly inside.
"You know, I'd hold your hand if you didn't only want to be friends," Gary whispered. Amy scowled in his direction.
"Not the time, nor the place," she hissed. "Hello? Anybody in here? We're here to challenge the gym leader!" she called into the gym. Then they came out of the shadows, causing Gary stumble back. Apparently, he didn't expect the Legion of Superheroes coming to greet them. Because honestly, the muscle brigade was a bit much. There were 3 guys and a girl flanking around Lt. Surge. It was pretty clear who it was, seeing as he was playing with a badge in his hand and was the most muscular of them all. He also had electric yellow spiked hair, and had the gang leader type shirt, with ripped sleeves. Actually, they all looked like gang members. Amy could swear that if they were wearing the costumes for the Legion of Superheroes, they would probably fill them nicely. Might even stretch them out of shape actually. Not that she wanted to see them in tights or anything.
"So, you two wanna challenge me? Well, I guess I could use another workout, hey Tammy, after I beat them, how many consecutive wins will that be?" Lt. Surge said in a deep voice.
The girl responded, "32 since 2 weeks ago. Discount that one that set you back, 63."
"Nice." Lt. Surge looked down at his new challengers, seeming to size them up.
"Alright then, which of you chumps is challenging me first? Ladies first right? Well don't expect me to go easy on you just because you're cute," he smiled. Amy frowned.
"I don't expect you to. Anyway, hey Gary, do you want to go first or...?" Amy looked at Gary and he still seemed a bit out of it from the looks of things. Okay, they looked a bit scary, but Amy was confident anyway. Now that she saw the gym leader, she wasn't as scared anymore, though she obviously couldn't understand why. She guessed however, that it had something to do with the fact that she had expected some sort of flesh eating monster. Seeing that this wasn't the case, she wasn't as scared anymore. Gary glanced at her, then at the gym leader, and steeled his gaze.
"Yeah I'll go first. Time to set back your counter again Sparky," he said smirking. Amy couldn't help but feel slightly impressed at least.
"Sparky? Hey listen chump, in my gym, only I call my challengers names kapeesh?" Lt. Surge said with a scowl.
"Oh, and why would that be, Sparky? Is it psyching you out or something?" Amy said tossing her hair in a mocking gesture.
"No way! Okay chumps, let's get this thing started! No names are gonna psych me out, so deal with it!" he grunted. His loyal posse seemed a bit uncertain, but they shrugged as they all headed into the arena. Gary and Lt. Surge took their places at the opposite ends of the battle field. Bright florescent lights glared to life above them, and Amy found herself squinting until her eyes adjusted. Most of the gym was rubberized, presumably to prevent the more powerful shocks from hitting the audience and trainers. The field itself however, was metal. Copper, actually it looked like, not even green with age yet. If that wasn't an advantage, Amy didn't know what was. However, advantage or not, Tammy went to the judge's stand.
"This will be a one on one Pokémon battle, first to knock out the other's Pokémon wins, go for it," she said in a bored sounding voice.
"Right, go! Raichu!" Lt. Surge yelled, throwing a ball onto the field, revealing the evolved form of Pikachu. Amy wondered if Pikachu would look like that some day. Well, whether it would or not, that wasn't the issue. Gary now fingered his Pokeball and drew it from his belt.
"Okay, in that case, I'm going to use Slasher!" Gary called out, and his Raticate burst from its ball, looking raring to fight. Amy thought of all his Pokémon, this was probably his best bet.
"Huh, well this might actually be worth my time after all!" Lt. Surge laughed "At least you ain't using some baby Pokémon like most of the other little trainers who waltz their way in here."
Gary smirked. "You won't be laughing when your Raichu's the one sent to intensive care."
"We'll see about that. Alright, Raichu, give'm your Thunderbolt!" Lt. Surge growled and Raichu's body crackled with electricity. Amy knew, with that metal floor, Slasher could be destroyed in an instant. Raichu let loose the biggest shock she'd ever seen.
"JUMP, SLASHER!" Gary called. Amy breathed a sigh of relief as the rat Pokémon jumped away from the lightning coursing through the floor. It landed, getting a mild aftershock, but little else. Slasher turned to its foe, teeth barred. "Okay, Slasher, time to clean this guy's clock, Quick Attack!"
"I notice a fatal flaw," Amy sighed crossing her arms. Slasher dove into Raichu, just as Lt. Surge instructed another shock. This one coursed straight through the rat Pokémon and sent it sailing.
"You can take this Slasher! Come on!" Gary cried, but, upon landing, he was out cold. Amy frowned, worried. She had expected heavy damage, but this was the fastest knockout she'd ever seen. Gary looked completely devastated.
"No, no way, but I didn't even get a hit! It's not fair!" Gary yelled, returning his Pokémon and stamping his foot.
Lt. Surge laughed. "Right, okay girl, you're up next right?"
Amy stood, and then shook her head. With a soft smile she said, "It seems a bit pointless, Slasher'll need enough medical assistance, and I know if he couldn't beat you, I wouldn't stand a chance."
"What? Are you scared?" he grinned mockingly.
Amy shook her head again. "Nope. And I'm not stupid either. Come on Gary, we've got some training to do, as you should be well aware of by this point." she said walking passed him towards the door. Gary shrugged and followed. Lt. Surge and his cronies stared dumbly after them.
"So, you're not even going to try? We only have about 5 days before the boat leaves," Gary said as he and Amy walked away from the gym.
Amy shook her head. "Not yet. I will, of course, but not until I believe I have a chance." She gave him a why-don't-you-understand-this look. "I'm not going to send my Pokémon into a fight I know they will lose."
"Oh, right," Gary said looking down. Amy sighed
"It's not like I blame you for sending your Pokémon into battle."
"I know. But how the heck are we going to train our Pokémon enough in 5 days? Actually, less than that, since the battle could run long or something."
Amy shrugged. "I don't know. But we'll think of something."
Suddenly, they heard a voice from off to the right. It sounded female "Hey, do you know who I am? I am Officer Jenny! You have to let me through to see Lance!" A male voice spoke up. Gary and Amy turned to view this sight. There was a security guard speaking to Officer Jenny, only, her eyebrows seemed a little... bushier, and she was a bit shorter too...
"Young lady," the security guard said giving her a narrow eyed look, "I admit this is a very well made costume. However, I know you are not officer Jenny, because she is across the street right now, in that store, if you will turn and look," he said pointing. The fake Jenny looked, as did Gary and Amy. Sure enough, the blue haired police officer was seen clearly through the picture window, buying grapes and feeding them to her Growlith. The fake Jenny frowned.
"Okay fine, but you just HAVE to let me see Lance! It's my lifelong dream! PLEASE!" she moaned, dropping to her knees. A flash of red light produced a pink blob beside her. Gary pulled out his Pokedex.
"It's a Ditto." he said blinking. The Ditto was begging as well, matching its trainer's motions perfectly. Gary and Amy glanced at each other and walked over to this scene.
"Excuse me; did she just say that Lance was in there?" Amy said, pointing to the building the guard was in front of, "THE Lance?"
The guard groaned, "NOW look what you've done, girl..."
"I have a name!" the fake Jenny growled, jumping to her feet and pulling off the officer hat and blue wig. Underneath were two gigantic violet pigtails. "It's Duplica, and this is my partner, Ditto." she said with a smile and Ditto jumped up into her arms and joined her glare at the guard.
"Well I don't care! You can't get in to see Lance! He's a very busy man, and he can't be disturbed!"
"But we have to see him!" Gary growled, "My girl friend and I witnessed a crime in the forest outside of here and Lance must know about it!"
Amy stared at him. "Gary..." she said in a growling, threatening way
Gary held his hand up and laughed, "Girl friend, you know, girl space friend, girl friend as in a girl that's a friend, you know..." Amy continued to glare. Duplica watched interested.
The guard looked sceptical. "If someone took your lunch money kid, you should tell the police, not a renowned Pokémon trainer and expert."
"Look, don't you know who I am?" Gary said haughtily. Amy slapped her forehead.
"Here we go," she groaned, rubbing her temples.
"I am Gary OAK! Grandson of the great Professor Oak! I think Lance would want the HONOR of meeting me!"
"Wow, he's sure laying it on thick," Duplica mused.
"You're telling me," Amy sighed.
"And in any case, I THINK I know when something needs to be heard by Lance and not the police force!" Gary snapped, clearly not paying attention to the side comments from the girls behind him.
"Look kid, why don't you TRY talking to the police hmm? And if the police feel they need Lance, the REAL Officer Jenny," he eyed Duplica coldly, "Will come and alert him."
"We don't have time for that!" Gary snapped.
"Sir," Amy said pushing past Gary and getting ready to set her natural charm to work, "I'm sorry that my FRIEND here is an idiot."
"HEY!" Gary snapped, but Amy ignored him
"However, we really do need to see Lance. It is very important. We witnessed great cruelty to both wild and trained Pokémon in great numbers by Team Rocket, not to mention mass theft of moonstones. They are planning something big, and they specifically mentioned while we were listening that they didn't want Lance alerted! At least not until it was too late. I don't know when too late is, but we need to see Lance now, please, if he's in there, we need to," Amy said looking at him determinedly.
"Get out of here kid," the guard said eyes darkening. Amy's jaw dropped slightly.
"What is wrong with you man?" Amy screamed. Gary jumped back in shock. "There are lives at stake and you won't even let us tell Lance? Don't you have a family? Don't you care about them? THIS ISNT SOME BANK ROBBERY! These are professional, organised CRIMINALS!"
The guard looked shocked, but recomposed himself. "I'm sorry, but I have orders, and I'm not to let anyone in to see-" He was cut off by the door opening. A tall, spiky red haired man in a suit stepped out looking a little surprised.
"OH MY GOD, IT'S LANCE!" Duplica squealed with Ditto. Amy couldn't help but grin at the sight of him as well. Gary crossed his arms and grunted. Lance smiled awkwardly and gestured the guard aside.
"Did someone say something about Team Rocket?" he said, suddenly looking very serious.
"Yes, erm, I did," Amy said suddenly feeling very shy in front of this legend.
"I think you need to come in," Lance said to Amy, and Gary since he was standing next to her.
"Hey, um, can I come too?" Duplica said smiling a little; again her Ditto imitated her actions.
"Is she with you?" Lance asked Amy. Gary opened his mouth, but Amy jabbed him in the side.
"Yes, she is," she grinned back at the purple haired girl who looked extremely excited and grateful.
"Oh, and Lance, sir?" Duplica said hurrying around Gary and Amy.
"Yes?" Lance said puzzled.
She smiled and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. "Can I have an autograph?"
It took about an hour for Amy and Gary to fill Lance in on everything they had witnessed of the actions of Team Rocket from Jessie and James in Viridian, to Butch and Cassidy, and the kidnapping of the flying Pokémon in the forest outside Cerulean City. Lance listened attentively for the entire narrative.
"So you see Lance, as soon as we heard you were here, we had to tell you, since you were the one that Team Rocket didn't want us contacting and all," Amy said as Gary nodded and Duplica stared at Lance with open wonder.
"I see," Lance said narrowing his eyes "This is serious business. I am very glad you told me. I'm not entirely sure what they're planning, but I do have an idea."
"Well what is it?" Gary asked after a pause.
Lance frowned. "I'm not sure if it's a good idea to divulge such information. It could be dangerous to you."
Duplica and Gary started to protest but Amy just smirked. "And to you as well, if we were interrogated, we can't tell what we don't know. Therefore, Team Rocket won't know how much you suspect"
Lance blinked. "Um, well, yes..."
Amy's smirk widened into an easy smile "Of course that could be more dangerous for us, I mean, if we're being tortured; they won't stop until they have the information."
Now Duplica stepped in. "Well, we could just lie."
"Yeah, except Amy can`t lie to save her life," Gary grinned. Amy scowled back.
Lance sighed, "Well, perhaps you should know. After all, if I don't make it back, someone should alert the authorities."
"Then tell us already!" Duplica said smiling excitedly.
"Ditto!" her Ditto said looking equally eager.
Lance smiled a bit. "Alright, well, I feel I can write off the first incident you mentioned, about that Jessie and James couple. Team Rocket frequently attempts to steal Pokémon. However, these moonstones are not their usual thing. It is a possibility that they're using them to evolve large numbers of Pokémon. However, I will deem this unlikely. Yes, team rocket does value strong Pokémon, but I doubt they'd use moonstones in this fashion. They are rare to find and hard to collect. I think they are probably using them to power something."
"What power is there in a bunch of rocks?" Amy asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lance smiled. "An excellent question. I believe, as do many renowned scientists, that evolution stones carry a special energy source. Of course, no one has ever found a way to harness this energy, but I think if it were possible, we could use enough stones to power, well, everything. And it's a nearly unlimited resource. Evolution does use up the stone, but only just, and judging by the amount of energy Pokémon need to store up to evolve, it could take years to use up the power in one stone. I think Team Rocket is working on a way to harness this power, if they don't have it already. I have a vague idea where they might be headed, and on Dragonair it shouldn't take long to get there and back, could you check back here the day the SS Anne leaves, early, and if I'm not here, tell the police to call the Cinnabar Island branch, I may need assistance."
"You'll remember to be here if you can be right?" Gary said with narrowed eyes.
"Of course," Lance said looking surprised that Gary could think he would forget such a thing.
"Well, good," Gary said looking away seeming slightly embarrassed all of a sudden.
'Geez, is he bipolar or something?' Amy thought raising an eyebrow at him.
Soon after, Gary, Amy, and now Duplica were out on the street again. It turned out that Duplica was going on the cruise as well, and she and Amy were giggling like mad about Lance and every other cute, famous, Pokémon trainer they could think of. Gary followed behind them, arms crossed tightly, scowling dangerously.
Amy finally glanced back at him and shook her head. "Keep pulling that face Gary and it'll stick that way."
Duplica looked back as well, then turned to Amy. "I doubt it, I pull faces all the time, never suck on me, but maybe I have very flexible facial muscles."
"It's always a possibility," Amy said nodding and smiling.
"Look, we are supposed to be TRAINING remember? To beat Lt. Surge? Hmm?" Gary said staring at Amy intently.
Duplica piped up then. "I can help with that! You can fight Ditto! All we need to do is see his Raichu and Ditto can Transform into it, so it'd be just like fighting the real deal!"
"No way, just because Ditto can copy Raichu's features and attacks doesn't mean it can do much damage, not the same," Gary said, stepping up to Amy's other side.
"So? Oh hey, I got it!" Duplica said smiling
"Got what?" Gary said sounding uninterested.
"How you can win of course!" Duplica said with a giggle. Her Ditto on her shoulder now, looked at her curiously.
"Go on..." Amy said equally curious.
"Well, you guys have normal Pokémon right? Well, normal type Pokémon can learn lots of different attacks, but it's mostly from learning how to control the flow of energy from their body. The most common attack normal Pokémon can learn is Thunderbolt! Basically, if it has fur, it can learn it. It all has to do with static electricity control. Great huh?" Duplica said smiling.
Amy grinned. "That's great, if we can manage it before the boat leaves."
"I think you can!" Duplica said confidently.
Gary frowned. "Exactly how is learning Thunderbolt going to help us win?"
Amy sighed. "Don't you know anything about electric attacks? With the exception of Pikachu and Raichu, who make it in their cheeks, and in Mareep who uses super static, most electric attacks take electricity from the air, if our Pokémon can use Thunderbolt, we can use Lt. Surge's Raichu's electricity, take it right from him as it comes!"
Gary blinked. "That's, that's..."
"Smart," Amy finished for him, "Now I vote we give it a shot."
"Yay!" Duplica said smiling. Ditto jumped up and down happily. Gary finally sighed
"Fine. Incidentally, how'd you become so knowledgeable about electric attacks?"
Amy raised an eyebrow. "I attended the Pokémon Institute for two years, or did you not notice my absence? Ash wrote me every day and when I got back his mom told me he sulked the whole time I was gone."
"Oh, right, sorry, I forgot, it was a couple years ago that happened okay?" Gary snapped.
"You know you should really pay more attention to your girl friend's life," Duplica said smiling.
"He's, he's not..." Amy said shocked that Duplica would suggest such a thing.
"Girl space friend," Duplica smiled wider.
Amy scowled, and then laughed, surprising even herself. Gary just stared. He wondered how he was going to deal with both of them.
((Joyful Note: Yeeeeah. Duplica is in it now! I can't even tell if this story is good anymore because I wrote it so long ago and read it so many times... *sigh* Well I'll keep posting it anyway. Yee-haw))