...He gave a happy chirp and I laughed. "This stuff's more expensive than Pokemon food, so you won't be gettin-" I stopped when I saw the door of the gym open and my dad walk out.
He was in his uniform, just as he had been the day before when investigating the theft at Professor Elm's lab. He was looking down at his notepad, which he had out. I saw him increase his grip on the notepad in his hand, bending the pages before heaving a sigh and putting it away in a pocket of his uniform.
I swallowed, trying not to panic. I was to the east of the gym, some distance away. There were a few other people walking around at that time, so I wasn't the only person nearby. I turned to my right to walk towards the water behind the Trainer School. I kept my pace, and turned my head away from my father to fuss over Victor, who didn't seem to mind the attention or notice my internal distress. I wanted to run very badly, but I knew that doing so would draw attention to myself, and that if I just blended in he wouldn't give me a second glance.
I heard the swoosh of a Pokemon being released behind me; I turned my head enough so that I could see my dad out of the corner of my eye. He had released his Xatu and was climbing on its back. Within moments they took off, flying behind me towards New Bark.
I stopped at the edge of the water, staring down at it for a few moments, my heart beating quickly and a strange nervous feeling squirming in my chest. The water was calm, as the wind from earlier that day had died down completely. I looked at my reflection in the water lapping against the rocks I stood upon; I still didn't recognize myself with my short hair, my head looking out of place without my pigtails and hat to balance it out. Touching my face I felt slight pain and heat: sunburn. I took a deep, calming breath and dug the bottle of sunburn gel out of my bag and put a bit on my finger, applying it to my face on the sensitive spots. As I moved it cooled my skin, a pleasant feeling after a long day outside.
Returning the bottle to my bag, I straightened, pushing my shoulders back. I looked back to the sky to make sure my father wasn't going to return – the coast was clear. I walked to the gym, my stomach still twisting, but now from nervousness and hesitation. I pushed them down, forcing myself to be confident in my ability to defeat the gym.
I pushed the door open, and stopped in the doorway.
There was nothing in front of me.
The floor and walls were made of dark wood, the ceiling very high. Two statues were the only decoration in the room. There was a man standing in between the two statues, raising an eyebrow at me. "Are you here to challenge the gym?" he asked me.
"Yes," I said, nodding and walking all the way through the door and letting it close behind me.
"Until you have beaten all the trainers in Sprout Tower, Falkner will not face you," he said, crossing his arms.
I paused, furrowing my eyebrows. I decided it was worth a shot. "But I have."
The man laughed. "Don't try and lie. We get word whenever a trainer defeats the last challenger." I opened my mouth to speak. "Don't try and say that they must not have sent the message. Just go and do it. The training can do you only good."
I closed my mouth and frowned, glaring at the man before turning on my heels and storming out of the gym. I had been training all day and my Pokemon were strong. I didn't want to do more training, I wanted to beat the gym so I could move on. "Alright," I said as I sighed, turning the corner of the gym and looking up at Sprout Tower towering high on the other side of the small lake beside the city. "If they call it Sprout Tower, then there's probably – hopefully – lots of Bellsprout. Let's take them out quickly Victor. That's our focus now – speed. The faster we knock them out and move on, the better. Gust'll be super effective against them, so just use that right away, no wasting time on Tackle. Got that?" he nodded, giving a chirp in affirmation. "Sweet, let's roll."
Sprout Tower was dimly lit, the pale light casting shadows against the walls. In the centre was a central support, and there were several people standing around it; why, I didn't know. I asked one person and she said that a giant Bellsprout had once lived inside and supported the tower, keeping it from collapsing due to the training upstairs. I asked her what they were training against, but she shrugged and said she had no idea, she had never ventured upstairs. I nodded and ran a hand through my hair, turning to walk towards the ladder that would lead me to the next level.
Victor and I were quickly bored. Most of the Bellsprout were level three (three! - we had been training against level sixes on route 32), and Victor barely had to pay attention to defeat them. He started using Gust from my shoulder, never straying from his spot. I'd get a bit of the initial wind on my back, but it was nothing I couldn't handle and actually felt nice, because the higher up we got in the tower the hotter the air got. The sages' Bellsprout, however, didn't stand a chance against the wind, falling one by one in quick succession as we made our way through the levels in what was probably record time. The only thing I was happy about was that the sages were all paying well, and my money pocket was filling up fast. Every time I opened it to add more money I smiled.
In the third room I stopped briefly to fix Victor's feathers (they got pushed the wrong way when he unleashed a particularly powerful Gust in our last battle, and he seemed to find it uncomfortable). I placed him on the ground in front of me so that I could see him without turning my head in weird ways. As I was fixing his feathers and looking at him I saw the air between us start to turn slightly purple. I blinked my eyes a few times, confused as to what could be happening. All of a sudden two large eyes appeared in front of me, and I was transfixed by its gaze, unable to take my eyes away. I faintly heard Victor chirp a warning and flap his wings, but by then my eyes were dropping and I crumpled to the floor, asleep.
I woke to a scuffle and something hitting me in the chest. I opened my eyes and looked down, seeing Joseline get up and move away from me, facing a Gastly with a determined look on her face before going at it with a Vine Whip. I felt feathers on my neck, and turned to see Victor looking through my bag, which was laying on the floor behind me. He managed to drag out a Pokeball with some difficulty (his beak wasn't big enough to grasp it, so he had to roll it out), and when he heard me move he turned and chirped at me, motioning to the battle behind me.
I turned to see Joseline on the ground, sleeping. The Gastly looked at her before turning to face Victor and I. Victor rolled the Pokeball to my hand and moved to stand in front of me, spreading his wings to try and intimidate the Gastly, who just laughed. Well, it looked like it was laughing, but no sound came out. It looked weak though, floating just above the ground, its gases fading, and an exhausted look in its eyes. I took the Pokeball into my hand, standing up. The Gastly watched my movements warily, but didn't make any move to attack. I tossed the ball towards the Gastly, and it put up quite some resistance before it was captured, the ball shaking at least ten times before it finally settled. I heard the familiar click from the Pokeball and ding from my PokeDex, which I took out of my bag to examine. The Gastly was a level four jolly female with a strong will who could use Hypnosis and Lick. I blinked and realized I now had a Gastly.
A Gastly.
"Yes!" I cried out, throwing my hands up in the air in triumph. "I have a Gastly, I have a Gastly!" I chanted, doing a little dance and hugging the Pokeball, letting out a short squeal. Gastlies had always been one of my dream Pokemon, and now I had one. I released her with a big smile on my face. "You're name is Rhine," I told her. "And you are going to be awesome." She smiled lightly up at me, but looked to be in pain.
By then Joseline had woken up, and she walked up to us, hiding behind my legs in a Soren-like manner.
I looked from Joseline to Rhine as I searched for a Potion in my bag. Finding one (I'd have to buy more, only a couple left), I sprayed Rhine, and her gas seemed to absorb the substance, growing bigger and more opaque. Once I was done she floated up to about my shoulder level, ready to follow me.
I looked back down at Joseline. "How did you get out of your Pokeball in the first place?" I asked her, spotting her Pokeball on the ground against a wall. She pointed one of her leaves at Victor, who was preening his feathers on the ground a few feet away from me. He looked up at me as if nothing had happened. "You clever boy," I said, shaking my head in disbelief. By releasing Joseline, Victor had bought time to get out a Pokeball for me to use to capture her with as well as allowing Rhine to be weakened enough for capture. I might not have thought about capturing her if it wasn't for Victor, so I was thankful.
Walking over to pick up Joseline's Pokeball, I returned her and put the Pokeball back in my bag before returning to pick up Victor, who proceeded to retake his place on my shoulder. Rhine floated beside me, quiet and waiting. "Rhine, when we fight the sages, I want you to go into battle first. Withdraw back immediately, and Victor will finish off the opponents with Gust. That way you'll gain experience without being put in any danger," I told her as I started walking. "Once you're at a higher level and can take on the other Pokemon, you can start battling." I saw her eyes move up and down in what I supposed was a nod. I nodded back, and we continued on.
We soon reached the top level of the Tower (I could see the hollow roof above us). There was one sage by the ladder, and I could see one in the room past the central pillar. He appeared to be battling, calling out commands I couldn't make out to Pokemon I couldn't see. The acoustics up there were very odd – the air felt heavy with silence even though there was noise.
The sage in front of us sent out a Bellsprout, and Rhine and Victor did their normal thing. Once the Bellsprout had fainted and been recalled, the sage sent out a Hoothoot. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Victor, stay out there, Rhine stay back," I ordered. I didn't know what sort of threat the Hoothoot would pose, if any, so I decided not to risk a damage-dealing turn switching Rhine out for Victor. "Gust and see how much damage it does," I told Victor.
He did so, and the Hoothoot didn't seem well prepared for the hit so seemed to suffer quite some damage. Once the Hoothoot recovered from the blow it stared at Victor, capturing his gaze. I realized what was happening, calling out "Look away Victor!" but it was too late. He was already asleep, a poofy ball of feathers on the ground. "Fuck," I said, trying to think of a solution. I hadn't seen any Awakenings available back when I bought Antidotes the day before, so I didn't have any.
The Hoothoot hopped forward and Pecked Victor, and he stirred slightly but didn't wake up.
I couldn't send out Joseline because she would get butchered by the Hoothoot's Peck, and her Vine Whip would do almost no damage to the flying type. Rhine wasn't strong enough. Soren's level had fallen behind because of the training I had put Victor through, but I figured he was my best bet. I started to search through my bag, pushing things aside to try and find his Pokeball. While I did so the Hoothoot landed another Peck, causing Victor to stir some more.
Soren's Pokeball was no where to be found in my bag, and I looked up to see the Hoothoot land another Peck, causing Victor to bleed slightly. This caused him to wake up, however, and he retaliated with a strong Gust that caused the sage to take a step back as well. The Hoothoot dropped to the ground, defeated.
I breathed a sigh of relief, collecting my money from the sage and then bending down to tend to Victor's injury. He had a gash on the side of his body under where his right wing sat, so I had him lift his wings and concentrated the spray of the Potion on that area. Once he was fully healed, I stood up, ready to face the final sage. Before I took my first step towards the final room I heard a voice, loud and clear even with the odd acoustics.
"Can't tell me how to train my Pokemon," the voice said, and I started at the familiar voice that made me feel like I should shiver. A moment later I saw Leon walk into the space between the wall and the central pillar, the area that acted as a small hallway leading to the final room.
Our eyes met, neither of our gazes entirely friendly. He looked me up and down, then furrowed his eyebrows in what seemed like surprise before scowling. "What are you doing here?" he asked with a slight growl.
After a second's thought, I said "Training."
He scoffed. "Like that's going to help you much," he said, taking a few steps closer to me. "Your Cyndaquil may be able to take these Bellsprout on with ease, but it won't be getting much stronger out of it. Spamming Ember can only go so far."
That was news to me, Soren had only learned Smokescreen before I stopped training him; I wondered how Leon knew that Cyndaquils were supposed to learn Ember, but I decided not to dwell on it. "I can see why you're here," I said, crossing my arms. "I bet you could use the training these sages provide, what with your Totodile loosing to my Cyndaquil and all." I saw him clench his jaw and fists, but continued anyway. "How he's doing against all these grass types, anyway? Must not be good for either of your egos, to take so much damage from a little scratch of a leaf." His eyes darkened, and he glared at me with frightening intensity. I smiled inside, enjoying egging someone on. It was strangely enjoyable.
-x-
I regretted stopping to talk to her, because with every word she said I could feel anger boiling up inside of me. I could feel heat filling my body and my face getting warmer and warmer.
It had taken me a moment to recognize Sy, since she had cut her hair and changed her clothes; the only reason I managed was because I had a very good memory for faces. Her hair was windswept (I supposed she had spent the day outside, based on her sunburned face), with pieces of hair on the wrong side of a crooked part. Her clothes were different: she had gotten rid of her odd overalls in favour of a pair of simple shorts and an oversized t-shirt. She looked like a completely different person.
"Pokemon get stronger if you train them against Pokemon that they're weak against. I wouldn't expect you to know that though," I replied. I decided that I had had enough and walked past her towards the ladder.
As I stormed past her I noticed a Gastly floating by her side. I had yet to run into one, but if she could find and capture one I could too.
I jumped down the hole in the floor, ignoring the ladder. Not only did I not entirely trust them, but jumping a floor was good practice.
Once I was on the floor below, I started my hunt for a Gastly.
-x-
My eyes followed Leon as he walked past me and jumped down the ladder hole. I stayed where I was for a few moments, thinking. How did Leon know so much about Pokemon and training if he had just gotten a starter the day before? If he had any experience he should have had at least one Pokemon, but if he got through Sprout Tower with a Totodile, he definitely had some crazy skill and experience. It seemed odd, but my general impression of him (besides him being a total ass) was that he knew a lot about the world. He was able to corner me in Cherrygrove, and he must have been pretty stealthy when he entered Professor Elm's lab to steal the Totodile. Couple that with his Pokemon knowledge, and it seemed impossible that he was a beginner traveller or trainer. So why did he need to steal the Totodile? It didn't add up.
What I did know that was that I was impressed by his knowledge. I knew that I knew next to nothing about the world. What I knew about Pokemon strength and weaknesses, about training and strategy was from long days searching the internet; other than that, all I had to go by was logic and daydreams of running away from home giving me ideas about how to go about things. It had served me well so far, but I wanted to learn more.
And Leon could teach me. The only problem would be getting him to do that.
I took a deep breath, setting my shoulder back as I prepared to enter the next room. I bent down to pick up Victor before straightening again, Rhine floating by my head. I was ready.
After the battle, Victor glided back to his perch on my shoulder after taking out the final sage's second Bellsprout. I gave him a pat on the head in congratulations before stepping forward to claim my prize money. The sage gave me 1200д (!) and an Escape Rope to use to exit the Tower. I decided to backtrack and save the Escape Rope instead; I figured I could probably sell it for some extra money.
Once I climbed down the first ladder I took all the money out of the pocket in my bag and started to count it. After I bought a couple more Pokeballs for the road I'd have 5000д left over, which would be enough for clothes and the other necessities I hadn't brought with me. I grinned as I stuffed the money back into my bag (telling myself to get a wallet as well when I was shopping).
The climb down was uneventful, and the only Pokemon I saw were a couple of small Rattata that scurried into holes in the wall when I approached (they were probably there before too, I had just been to focused on the sages to notice). We were almost at the last ladder when I saw something blue fall towards the ground in front of me. I stepped back in surprise when its fall was halted when a flash of light absorbed it and took it back up. I looked above me and saw Leon balancing on the rafters above my head. A mass of purple – a Gastly – dived down towards his head, and he ducked down, placing his hands on the rafter in front of him for balance. He put a hand in one of his pockets and pulled out a Pokeball. Standing up, he threw it hard at the Gastly's retreating figure. It didn't get far, immediately absorbed into the Pokeball which twitched a few times in midair before clicking just before it hit the ground, bouncing a few times and rolling until it hit a wall.
My focus on the Pokeball was broken when Leon jumped down beside me. I flinched, not expecting him to do that. He raised his eyebrows at my skittishness. "You shouldn't get surprised like that," he said, putting his hands in his pockets. "Always be aware of what's going on around you, even if something else has your full attention." He walked forward and picked the Pokeball up off of the ground. "I hate weak Pokemon, and I hate weak people," he said as he examined the Pokeball before putting it into his pocket. "They always fail you in the end," he continued as if I wasn't even there, staring off into space. His fists clenched inside his pockets.
"How do you know so much about the world?" I asked without really thinking, my thoughts from earlier going straight to my mouth.
His head turned to face me. "What?" he said, a look of surprise passing briefly over his face.
"You seem to know so much about the world, but you only 'got,'" I made air quotes around the got, and he glared at me. "A starter yesterday. What gives?"
"Why do you even care?" he asked, taking a few steps towards me.
After a moment I said, "I don't know."
He scoffed. "Then don't worry about things that don't concern you," he said before walking past me towards ladder hole and jumping down it again.
I scoffed as well. "Show off."
"I heard that," he called up, but by the time I was down the ladder he was no where to be seen. I shook my head before walking towards the entrance.
Once I was outside I saw that the sun was now falling behind the treeline, the last of its rays shining off the small lake that separated Sprout Tower from the rest of Violet. Rhine was spinning and looking all round her. "Have you ever been outside?" I asked her as I started walking back into Violet to get Victor healed. I saw her shake her head before she floated a few feet above me, taking all the sights in.
Violet was more busy than New Bark, but there still weren't many people outside. The light of the setting sun made Violet's darkly colored buildings even more beautiful than in daylight, and I was looking about as much as Rhine as I made my way to the Pokemon Centre.
After getting everyone healed, I was ready to head to the gym once again. I planned to keep sending Rhine out first during the junior trainer battles, but send Victor out right away once we reached Falkner. Victor had gained several levels when we were in Sprout Tower, but I still wanted to play it safe during that final battle.
As we made the short journey from the Pokemon Centre to the gym Rhine continued to float above my head, a grin on her face as she looked at everything glowing in the twilight. Victor was chirping things at her, but I had no idea what message he was trying to convey and she didn't seem to be paying him any attention. She floated down to my level so that she could enter the gym through the door along with Victor and I.
The guy from earlier was gone, replaced by a short fat guy that stood beside one of the statues. He smiled when he saw me enter, and started to walk over to me. I wasn't interested in wasting any more time, so I walked straight ahead to the platform on the ground that the man from before had blocked from my sight. Once both of my feet were on it, it shot straight up. I was caught slightly off guard, bending down on one knee so as to not loose my balance due to the rapid acceleration. After a few seconds the platform stopped rising, and I looked at what was in front of me.
There were two bird keepers sitting on wide wooden rafters, looking pretty bored. Straight ahead of me past the two trainers sat Falkner, who stood up when he saw my gaze. The other two trainers followed suit, standing up and then staring straight ahead like robots. I found this odd, but I wasn't about to say anything about their strange behaviour.
Rhine floated up beside my head as I stood up again, having been left behind down below when the platform unexpectedly shot upwards. I held Victor in my arms because he had jumped off my shoulder and onto the platform when it had started to rise. I observed the rafters more closely: there was a path leading straight to Falkner that crossed paths with the two junior trainers, and there was also two clear walkways leading around them to Falkner's platform. I decided to take the junior trainer route.
I walked up to the first trainer, who introduced himself as Abe. He started to talk about how he felt like a bird Pokemon all the way up here, but before he finished Rhine moved forward, signalling the start of the battle. Abe shrugged and sent out a Spearow. Before he could call out a command Rhine withdrew and Victor jumped forward, giving out a loud chirp and spreading his wings out fully. The Spearow retaliated by Leering. Victor seemed to frown, lowering his wings.
"Gust," I said. Victor did, sending the Spearow off the rafter and into the opposite wall. It seemed stunned, but once it started to fall it spread its wings, and using the extra speed was able to glide back up to the rafter to stand in front of his trainer again. I could see a wound in the side of his head bleeding. It Growled, lowering its body in preparation for Victor's next attack. "Again," I commanded, and Victor unleashed another Gust, again sending the other bird into the wall. This time the Spearow was knocked out, and started to fall to the ground. Abe called out before returning it to its Pokemon before it hit the ground.
"Don't think that just because your Pidgey is strong that you'll be able to defeat us," Abe said as he pulled his other Pokeball off of his belt. "We train day and night to become masters."
I scoffed. "Yeah, okay," I said as Victor returned to my side and Rhine went out to wait for the other trainer's next Pokemon. He released a Pidgey, and Victor and Rhine switched places once again.
"Sand Attack!" Abe cried out, determined not to lose. The Pidgey scratched its talons on the rafter, sending something into Victor face. He backed up and shook his head, trying to clear it out of his eyes.
I blinked in confusion. "There's no sand there, where's it coming from?"
Abe scratched his head before shrugging. "Never really thought about that. I have no clue. Pidgey, Sand Attack again!"
"Victor, Gust, now," I said. Victor unleashed a very powerful burst of wind, sending the Pidgey flying and causing Abe to almost lose his balance. It was obviously a critical hit, and the Pidgey was immediately knocked out. Abe returned it to its Pokeball before it could fall too far, a sullen look on his face. Victor waddled over to me chirping happily, and I heard my Pokedex ding inside my bag, signalling that Victor had gone up a level, which meant he'd be at level 15. I smiled at him and picked him up, brushing my fingers through his feathers in congratulations.
After collecting my money, I moved on to the next junior trainer, who introduced himself as Rod. Before sending Rhine out I drew out Victor's Pokeball and put him inside it, hoping it would reset his accuracy after the last battle and get all the remaining sand out of his eyes.
Rhine went out front first, and Rod sent out a Pidgey. Rhine returned to my side and I released Victor from his Pokeball. "Sand Attack!" Rod cried out, and before Victor could move out of the way (not that he had much room for manoeuvring, because the rafters were fairly narrow) he was hit with yet another faceful of sand.
"For fuck's sake," I said, rubbing my face with my hands. "Gust the hell out of that thing." Victor did, and when the Pidgey glided back to the rafters it was bleeding and one of its wings wasn't sitting right. "Now Quick Attack."
Victor complied, but he missed the Pidgey and almost fell off the edge. With Victor so close Rod's Pidgey did another Sand Attack.
"Move away Victor!" I called out to him, and he moved away from the other Pidgey and back towards me. "Try Quick Attack again." He did, and this time he hit straight on, having observed the opponent's location carefully as he was backing up. The Pidgey was pushed back to Rod feet, and he returned it to its Pokeball with a sad look on his face. He stepped forward and handed me my victory money. I counted it – 224д! I did a quick happy dance before putting it in my bag. I heard a ding from my PokeDex, and opened it and saw that Rhine had gained a level and was now level 10. I smiled at her before closing my bag and walking towards Falkner's platform.
Author's Notes – Based on PokeDex heights, the only non-legendary flying Pokemon that could carry a full-grown man is a Dragonite (at 7 foot 3). Tropius might, but they're from a different gen, so they don't count. Togekiss may also be capable, but again, different gen (technically). I'm just going to pretend that Xatu are a lot bigger than they are, because Dragonites belong to our favorite dragon master...whose character I have yet to imagine. Crap, gotta get on that.
I figured I needed to describe Sy from someone else's point of view, because she's a lot worse off than she thinks she is XD But she'll get used to it.
Notice my skillful laziness when it came to the final sage battle.
I was going to do the battle with Falkner in this chapter, but I changed my mind =P I'll probably start writing it once I finish uploading this, so hopefully the next chapter won't take too long.
And yeah, I'm sorry this chapter took so long to come out. In January I had lots of homework, and then at the beginning of February I had a big flying exam to study for and I'm only now getting back into a normal rhythm. Chapters should start to come out more often now ^_^