Chapter 16

A Broken Bike and a Chuck to Fight

It was early in the morning when I woke up, if you could call it waking up. I hardly slept at all that night, I was worried so much about Arcanine that I made trips to see if he was okay every thirty minutes or so. I looked over at the digital read out on the videophone. "6:30, huh? Eh, oh well." I stretched, getting up and grabbing my toothbrush, soap, shampoo, and everything else I needed. I went to walk out and then I looked at Pichu. Normally the little rat comes with me, but he was so sleepy today that I figured I would leave him here.

I walked down the hall to check up on Arcanine. He was still asleep, but this time Nurse Joy was in there as well, checking some charts and graphs, or something. I kept walking, pushing the door open to the showers when I went in there. I always liked being in here so early.

When I was done I got dressed, picked up everything in my room, as well as Pichu, and walked out. We walked down to Arcanine's room, only to find it empty.

"Pi?" Pichu asked, looking around.

"Oh, I'm sure its nothing." I said with a smile. "I'm sure Nurse Joy is just letting him go on a run or something. Its okay."

"Well," Joy said walking up behind me. "Turns out that Arcanine is fine, with the exception of his broken ribs, that is. He is ready to be checked out."

"That's great!" I said as we followed Joy up to the front desk. I signed my name out as she handed me Arcanine's pokeball.

"Just keep him out of battle for a few weeks, okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I will." I smiled.

"Oh, and Mr. Gray." She said as she darted her eyes around to make sure no one could hear as she spoke in a low voice. "I did some research on your question. It is possible for them to heal your pokemon faster, but in your Arcanine's condition it might just make him worse off."

"Well, then." I looked down at his pokeball. "What do you suggest?"

"Bed rest, but I already told you that." She grabbed a clipboard with some papers on it. "Now if you will excuse me I have other patients to wait on." After that she hurried into the back.

I turned around, Pichu on my shoulder as we walked through the lounge, heading for the door, when we heard a voice. "Where you off to now?"

I turned to see Ricky's red hair draped over the back of the couch he was lounging on. "Ricky?" I asked. "Have you been there all night?"

"Nah." He motioned. "Half the night I was in Joy's room."

"Figures." I rolled my eyes as he walked up to me. I noticed he had a new shirt, a long sleeve button-up shirt that was black with red thin trim, and tight. He still wore the same black jeans and shoes, but something in his black outfit was downright scary. With his blood red eyes and hair, he looked so… evil.

"So, yeah." He said in a low voice as he walked beside me. "Tell me, where did you get those rare candies I heard about?"

"Where did you hear that?" I asked, looking at him as we walked out.

"You didn't see me in Joy's bed when you ran to her room?" Ricky laughed. "I was in there the whole time, I heard every word of it."

"Well, you can just forget you heard it." I said in a scuffle. "I have only used one of those before, and that was on a pokemon that wasn't mine… yet. And I don't plan on using them ever again."

"Then why don't you give them to me?" Ricky asked, holding out his hand. "I can make good use out of them."

"No thanks." I brushed him off. "I said that I didn't plan on it, but if worse comes to worse, I might have to."

The rest of the trip to the bike shop was silent. Ricky didn't say anything, and I was glad of it. I suppose it was nice to have someone to talk to, but man, he always got on my nerves so easy. I think he has been realizing it too. For the past month he has stayed pretty much silent.

We walked into the bike shop to see bicycles of all kinds hanging from hooks, stands, and pretty much anything else it could to be showcased.

"What may I do for ya?" A guy in a nice suit walked up to me. "Are ya looking for a bike deal? Cause we got the best deals around here!"

"My bike is pretty messed up." I said. "I need parts, tires, and someone to fix it."

"Hmmm." The guy rubbed his chin. "What model of bike is it?"

"Its an Akira model motorcycle." I said, bringing out the capsule.

"Oh, a motorcycle. I'm sorry young man but we don't work on motorcycles here. The nearest place around here for that is in Goldenrod City." He said as he pointed his finger east. "There's a few shortcuts to get there, but either way it would take you about three or four days of walking." He then smiled. "But if you bike it, it would only take you about a day, maybe even less. How about it, son, would you like to buy a bike?"

"No thanks." I said as we walked out.

"Well that was a waste of time." Ricky said, slamming the door shut. "So where now?"

"Well, I'm taking a ferry to Cianwood City for my sixth gym badge."

"Hey, what a coincidence." Ricky said. "That's the only place that I haven't got a gym badge from yet."

"Wow… that's great." I said as I rolled my eyes.

"So what about your bike? When are you going to get it fixed?"

"I guess after I get my badge." I said as we walked towards the shipping dock. "I can't ride on Arcanine because of his ribs being broke, so I guess I'll surf to Goldenrod on Gyarados."

"You can do that?" Ricky asked. "I didn't think you could get to it that way."

"Why not?" I asked. "If I just follow the shoreline I should get there in no time."

"Oh I see. Goldenrod and Olivine are both port cities by the sea."

"Bingo." I said as I walked up to the ticket booth." One…" I paused, looking behind me. "Make that two for Cianwood."

The lady rang it through a machine that spat out the tickets. "Two for Cianwood, that will be $60." After I paid the lady she handed me the tickets. "The ferry will be departing in fifteen minutes. You have just enough time to make this boat. It's the first one on the left."

"Thanks." I said with a smile as we ran to the first boat we saw, flashed the man our ticket, and walked aboard.

"So, you said you were going to surf on Gyarados to get to Goldenrod, right?" Ricky asked when we were on board.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, wouldn't it have saved you money to surf over to Cianwood City as well?"

"I suppose it would have, but I don't know about the terrain here in Johto. I have heard that whirlpools are everywhere here, and if you don't know how to steer clear of them then you'd be in some deep crap."

"So, you're just taking this ferry as a way to see how to avoid whirlpools?" Ricky asked.

"Yep." I said. "This will help me out a lot to see how the ship handles on the waves, as well as the whirlpools."

"Thanks, Kyle." Ricky said as he handed me $30. "For the ticket, ya know?"

"Don't worry about it." I said with a smile. "Keep it. I have plenty of money."

"So do I." He said as he stuffed the money into my pocket. "After my father died I inherited a lot."

"Really? How much?" I asked.

"More than I will ever use." He grinned. "How about you? How did you get all your money?"

"In the… umm…" I thought of how to put it. I can't really say I swindled it off an old man in Kanto, though that was true. I couldn't say it. "In the gold market." I said.

"So you played the stocks?"

"Something like that." I smiled.

"Well, I guess I'll go find a bench or something to rest on." Ricky said as he walked away, folding one of his hands into a fist. "Joy kept me up most of the night, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, sure." I said, watching as the ferry started to take off.

***_-Scene Change-_***

Ricky walked to the other side of the boat, far enough away so Kyle couldn't hear him. He lifted up his hand as he reclined on a bench. When he opened his fist, a small blue wrapper fell on his shirt. "Thanks for the candy, Kyle." A smile went across his face as he looked over at the island they were passing by. "If the legends are true, this might just come in handy."

***_-Scene Change-_***

The ship was sailing, and right off I noticed whirlpools everywhere. Though, something was strange about them. It seemed as it the majority of them was focused around these four small islands that, surprising, were deserted.

"Its it a beautiful sight." A man in a white sailor suit said.

"What?" I asked, looking at him.

"The islands." He said as he took a good look at me. "You're new here, aren't you?"

"Well, I've been in Johto for about two months." I said. "Though I haven't stayed in one place for more than a couple days."

"Ah." He said looking at the pokeball around my neck. "So you're a trainer."

"Yep, I sure am."

"Going to challenge Chuck, huh?" The sailor asked. "Ha, I would suggest a lot of training before you go there, hardly anyone wins against Chuck."

"Well, what about those islands." I said, pointing over at them. "Would that be a good place to train?"

"I suppose so." The sailor said. "But no one has been there in years. Those whirlpools are too vicious for anyone to go through. Those islands are deserted, and always have been. Everyone that tries to get there by boat or pokemon ends up in the hospital, or they don't end up at all, if you know what I mean."

"Then how did the last person get there?" I asked.

"He flew." Then the sailor took a deep breath. "But then his plane crashed. That was over five years ago. Everyone says he died."

"Didn't anyone try to fly over there after him?"

"Sure they did. But the winds whipping through those islands make it nearly impossible to fly in there, even on pokemon. Those winds are so strong that they stir up whirlpools, the same ones that you see there." The sailor said as he pointed at a massive whirlpool a few hundred meters away.

"What do you think it would take to fly there?" I asked. "Pokemon wise, that is."

"One heck of a strong pokemon." The man laughed. "I'd say the only birds that could last through a wind like those would be a legendary one. But good luck with that." He laughed more as he walked away.

"Yeah." I said with a smile. "Luck. That's something I might just have." I looked behind my shoulder, seeing Ricky on the other side of the boat, reclining and looking out at the islands. I wonder if he wants to go there too?

***_-Scene Change-_***

A few hours passed before we made it to the shores of Cianwood City. The boat landed on the docks and it surprised me how few people there truly was on this island. Beside the Pokemart, Pokecenter, and Gym, everything else was a hut, and there were no people in sight at all. It looked like everything else on this island was just tropical forest.

"Man," I said looking at everything as Ricky walked up beside me. "This is even smaller than my hometown."

"See why I put this off to last?" He said, looking out at the beach. "Look, not even a bikini babe in sight. Olivine was much better."

"We're not here for a booty-call." I snorted at him. "I'm here for the badge, and that's it. After that I'm leaving."

"Eh." He sighed. "Should I buy the ticket this time?"

"No." I said, watching as the boat left. "I'm not taking the boat."

"What are you going to do then?"

"Beats me." I said. "I guess I'll stay here and train for a while, then leave on Gyarados." I lied

"Gyarados?" A voice said from behind us. I turned around and saw this fat man with brown balding hair with a huge mustache running up to us. All he had on was a red pair of torn pants and a black belt that was tied around him. It was very disturbing to see his big fat belly flopping in the wind as ran up to us. Behind him, keeping up with his pace, was a Primeape and a Poliwrath. The man stopped in front of us, out of breath and gasping for air. "The… only way…" He spoke in short gasp. "To get… across… the water… like that… is if you have a pokemon… that knows Whirlpool…"

"Whirlpool?" I asked. "What's that?"

"It's a HM they give out here." Ricky chimed in. "I let my Swampert learn it. Pretty sucky move in battle, but it works. Wanna borrow it?"

"No thanks." I said, looking to the islands. "I don't like using TMs or HMs, especially if they are pointless."

"Phew." The fat man took a breath. "So tell me, buds." He said, wrapping his sweaty, stinky arms around us, making Pichu run to my head from my shoulder. "What brings you to our beautiful island?"

"Gym battle." I said, brushing him off. "We both need to challenge the gym leader and get a badge."

"Well why didn't ya say so!" The man laughed. "Follow me, I can take you to Chuck." Ricky and I both looked at each other and shrugged as we followed the jogging fat man and his two pokemon. They led us up the shore to the small town. We hooked a right at the first hut and headed towards a giant brown building on top of a hill. It was obvious that it was a gym, even from the dock we were on previously, but we still followed the old man as he led us around a long path to get to it, instead of the straight path that lead up the hill.

When we reached the top the man fell over on his knees, breathing hard from his jog. His two pokemon walked to his side. "I'm… okay… I'm… okay…" He gasped. "Welp." He took a deep breath. "Here we are. The gym."

Ricky and I looked around, stepping inside to see just a large open battlefield made of sand, but no one there. "So, um…" I asked. "Where's the gym leader?"

"What?" The fat man jumped back. "Well, can't ya see? Its me!"

"What?" Ricky and I both said in unison.

"Yep! Chuck himself, in the flesh, baby!" He said, flexing his muscles, which didn't do much considering he was about 5 foot 5 and weighed 350 pounds or so.

"Okay, Chuck." Ricky spoke up. "We want a battle. You going to give us one?"

"Sure." Chuck said, standing up. "But I only have two pokemon, so you two are going to have to double battle. That is, if you both want the gym badges today."

I looked over at Ricky. "You ever double battled before?"

"Oh yeah, all the time." He smiled. "Back home in Hoenn it's really popular. That's pretty much the only way we battle there."

"Great." I said.

"Why? Haven't you double battled before?"

"Once." I said, thinking back to Shonna and I being in Sabrina's gym. "Lets just say it was a close battle."

"So a double battle it is!" Chuck said as he ran to his side of the field. "My two pokemon are Primeape and Poliwrath!" Chuck screamed as the two pokemon that led us up to the gym stood in front of Chuck on his side of the field. "This will be a two on two match. No switching, last side standing is the winners! Pick your pokemon wisely, because you only got one shot at this!"

"Got any ideas?" I asked, looking at Ricky.

"Yeah, I'll get defense, you get offence."

"I don't know if I can." I said, looking down at the pokemon on my belt. "Four of the six pokemon I have are automatically out because of type advantage."

"And what's the two you have left?" Ricky asked, looking at me.

"Pichu and Gyarados."

"Gyarados wont be much help unless it knows some electric attacks."

"It doesn't." I said, looking at Pichu on my shoulder. "So I guess I know which one I'm going to pick."

"You have better be right about this." Ricky said taking a pokeball in his hand. "You take down the Poliwrath, I'll get the Primeape."

"Gotcha." I looked at Pichu. "You're up bud."

"Pi?" He asked.

"Yep, you. And don't worry, all that training has paid off. You can whoop that guy!"

"Pi!" He smiled as he hopped off my shoulder, but I caught him midair. "Pi?" He looked at me.

"Listen, when I tell you to attack, you focus all your power on the blue one. Got it?"

"Pi." He nodded as he ran onto the field.

Ricky held his pokeball in his hand as he threw it out. When the ball left his hand a red light appeared, making his Swampert stand on the field.

"Swamp!" It roared as it stood beside Pichu.

"Ricky." I said to him in a low voice. "I'm going to use Pichu's speed to my advantage. I have already told him to focus his attacks on Poliwrath, focus yours on Primeape when he gets open."

"Right." He nodded.

"Lets get this bat-tle star-ted!" Chuck started to sing as he threw his fatness around in a dance. "Primeape, Poliwrath! Focus Energy!"

"Kyle, watch out." Ricky said.

"What?" I asked.

"Poliwrath aren't suppose to be able to learn that move." I looked over at the two pokemon, watching as they started to glow a bright red. "I'm sure that Poliwrath has had some special training, it may be harder to beat then you think."

"Nevertheless, its still a water type." I smiled. "And I know how to deal with water types. Pichu!" I called out. "Double Team!"

"Swampert!" Ricky screamed. "Start off with Foresight!"

Pichu began running around the room, and before long there were about fifty or sixty of him everywhere. Swampert stood still, focusing his energy as his eyes turned red. A strong gust of wind came in, blowing the shutters opened, but that was it. Swampert still stood, eyes glowing red.

"Nice one!" Chuck said. "Primape! Stop that Pichu! Poliwrath! Go after the Swampert! Close Combat, both of you!"

"Oh no." I said, watching at Poliwrath went for the wrong pokemon. "Oh well, it's now or never. Pichu! Volt Tackle!"

All of the Pichu's in the room began to glow in yellow light as one by one they ran into Poliwrath, hitting him in small burst of energy, dealing lots of damage. Still, the Poliwrath pushed on, making its way to Swampert.

"Now! Primeape!" Chuck called out as Primeape put out his hand, catching Pichu in mid-volt tackle. Primeape pulled Pichu off the ground, and as soon as he did, Ricky yelled out a command.

"Now!" He screamed. "Earthquake!" The ground shook, as rocks jetted out of the ground, dealing tremendous damage to Primeape and Poliwrath. Since Ricky waited until Pichu was off the ground, however, Pichu came out of it without a scratch. Both pokemon stood, shaking off the dirt from their heads as Pichu ran back to our side of the stage.

"Tell Pichu to get behind Swampert." Ricky whispered.

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

"Alright." I said. "Pichu! Get behind Swampert!"

Chuck raised an eyebrow when I said this. "What are you up to?" He asked as Pichu hid behind the water dog. Almost as soon as he did a bright purple beam of light shot in from the windows in doors, forming a large ball of energy that struck both Primeape and Poliwrath at the same time. Both pokemon fell to the ground, and then struggled to stand.

"You gotta love Foresight." Ricky said. "Now, Kyle, Lets finish this."

"Right." I nodded. "Pichu! Thunder!"

"Swampert! Hydro Cannon!"

"Hydro Cannon?" I asked. "Don't you mean Hydro Pump?"

"Nope." I saw him grin.

Pichu let out a large bolt of lightning, which went straight for Poliwrath, striking him and knocking him out instantly. When the light left Pichu, Swampert opened its mouth, shooting out a jet stream of water that was about five times the size and power of a Hydro Pump. It struck the Primeape, pushing him back and throwing him through the wall and outside of the gym. After that, Swampert gasped for air, before falling to the ground, out of breath.

"Very nice job, boys!" Chuck said, clapping his hands as he returned his two pokemon. "Very nice job! I don't think I have had anyone beat me that fast! Very nice!"

"Thanks." I said, letting Pichu run back up on my shoulder.

"So where's the badges, old' man?" Ricky blurted.

"Well, aren't you the little rebel." Chuck said ruffling up Ricky's hair. "Here ya go, kids. Two Storm Badges!"

"Thanks" I said, taking it from him and stuffing it into my pocket. Ricky took his, stuffing it in his pocket as well.

"Well boys, that was a great battle." Chuck said. "Good luck to you two in the league."

"Thanks." I said as we walked out. We walked down the road, heading to the pokecenter when Ricky decided to speak up.

"That guy was a push over." He said. "Nothing but hot air."

"Ricky." I asked. "How did your Swampert learn that move?"

"The same way your pokemon learn theirs. Having a good trainer, that's how."

"I guess." I said, thinking about the attack. "But that seemed too powerful for a normal pokemon to learn."

"Well you saw it yourself." Ricky said as we walked into the Pokecenter. "I never use it unless I need too. It really takes a lot out of Swampert."

"Yeah, I noticed." I said as I laid Pichu on the table in front of Nurse Joy. "Could you check him for me."

"And mine too." Ricky said, laying Swampert's pokeball on the table.

"I sure will." Joy said taking them both, and heading towards the back. I saw her look back at us, checking Ricky out as she gave him a wink.

"Hey, I'll be right back." He said.

"Yeah, sure." I said rolling my eyes. "I know what you're doing."

"You mean, what I'm going to be doing." He smiled. After that he ran to the back of the center with Nurse Joy.

"Ahhh." I sighed, sitting down at a PC, logging in. "That stupid kid." When I logged in I saw that I had another Email from Mom. It read…

Message From:

Debbie Gray

Subject: Retrieval Needed

Pokemon Number: 2468450 – Name: Umbreon – needs to be sent immediately. Transfer as reply to message.

"Well… okay." I said, dragging Umbreon from my PC box to the deposit on the Email. "But she hasn't sent any of my others back yet." I then closed out of my Email running over to my grayed out icon, which represented Articuno. "I need a legendary to get across, huh?" I smiled as I placed Typhlosion on the deposit unit. It sparked as his pokeball was replaced with another. I held it up, looking at it. "I think its time I gave you some more training, Articuno."

"Pi! Pi, Pi!" I heard as Pichu ran out from the back room. I turned in the chair to look at him.

"Whats up, bud?"

"Pi! Pi!" He pointed back to the back room.

I stood up, tilting my head as Pichu climbed up on my shoulder. I made my way back to the back room and walked out as soon as I saw Ricky and Joy on the table with her skirt up and him on top of her.

"Well… um.. pIchu… lets um… get going, yeah get going." I said, running out of the Pokecenter, hoping that he didn't see very much. Poor little guy could be scarred for life.