VI. Johto II
Ben walked into the seedy, dimly-lit venue that he called the Battle Bar. At age seventeen, that's all he knew it as; during the night, it became something else depending on the day, but during normal hours it was just a place to find battles or a drink, and oftentimes information. He knew they had openings all over Johto in most of the major cities, and he was a frequenter of most of them whenever he needed to track down a trainer he'd heard about. His parents would be mortified, but that wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary.
The place was nearly identical to the one in Ecruteak City that he was last at, and the one in Olivine City before that, to the point where they started to blur together. They all featured a small room with booths lining the edges, a bar which was currently serving café-style food and drink, but would no doubt change its menu at night. At the back end opposite the entrance, and two doors flanking it that, from experience, led to a small battle arena and the bathrooms, respectively, and the floor had folding tables and chairs laid out to create more space. Ben had his suspicions that those were tucked away elsewhere at night for other activities, and he did admire their flexibility in the name of making money, if nothing else. He scanned the bar looking for his usual contact, a balding man in his forties who he knew as Tobias. He always thought that the two of them looked like an odd pair every time they sat down like this, a grizzled, older-than-his-years man with seemingly permanent gray stubble who wore baseball caps and sweatshirts every day paired with a teenage, clean-shaven pretty boy. It would've made for many a bizarre date if Tobias were his type, and not over twice his age. The actual reason he was meeting him was because Tobias had made a living looking for and mentoring strong trainers, and even though he refused to take Ben on, he would occasionally make time to point him in the direction of strong trainers or help find people he was looking for, which was why he was here today. He slipped into the seat across from him, and Tobias looked up from his coffee and waited for him to start, as usual. Despite the fact that he always gave Tobias what he needed over the Pokégear in advance, Tobias still liked to hear it in person.
"I'm looking for a girl," he started, and Tobias raised his eyebrows.
"Never would've thought that was your type." He simply said, and Ben had to resist the urge to put his head in his hands. Open mouth, insert foot indeed. One day, he'd learn to phrase himself so he didn't constantly end up in pits like this one.
"No, not like that! She ran away from a battle and I'm looking for a rematch!" He practically spat out. Tobias looked like he had something to say to this, but decided against it and motioned for him to continue.
"So I was in Cherrygrove City, right? And this girl comes out of the Poké Mart looking like she lives in a forest or something or just doesn't go into town often shows up. And you know, that's interesting, since it's different, right?" He paused, waiting for Tobias to interject. After a few more seconds of silence, Ben launched right back into it. "Yeah, I guess that wasn't enough. But I battled her, and instead of accepting it, she tried to threaten me out of it…"
He trailed off as Tobias held up a hand, the signal that he'd gone on too long again. "I haven't finished my coffee yet, so just get to the important part."
"Alright, alright. Brown travelling clothes that look possibly handmade, amber eyes, really strong Kingler. Strong enough to hold the big claw off the ground, which is really strong. Have you seen the size of those things?"
Tobias nodded. "That wasn't a lot to go off of when you told me over the phone. But lucky for you, the population of forest-dwelling hermits with well-trained Kinglers is quite small in this area."
Ben smiled slightly, knowing this was as close as the man sitting across from him got to a joke. Then the rest of the sentence caught up to him. "Wait, forest-dwelling?"
"Apparently." was the response, before Tobias drained the rest of his coffee. Ben was instantly suspicious, as Tobias usually wasn't this good at tracking down people that weren't his clients or part of his battling circuit.
"How do you know this?" Ben prodded. He wasn't expecting to get an answer, and watched the older man for almost a minute before he sighed and shook his head.
"I met someone with that description once, at Mt. Silver." He begun, slowly.
Wait, Mt. Silver?
"It was probably over two years ago now, you know. But as a talent scout of sorts, I get alerted sometimes when a new trainer enters Mt. Silver. As you know, it's both restricted to those with a large number of badges and a recommendation from one of the Elite Four to get in."
He said this without any further intention, but it still felt like a slap in the face. Ben bowed his head to briefly try and compose himself. Tobias either didn't notice or didn't comment and went right along.
"So I hear about this apparently incredibly strong trainer who apparently managed to get eight badges and was verified to defeat Lance, then just walked away from it all. Sounds a lot like that man on the mountain, now that I think about it, but it was her."
Ben was stunned by this news. She beat Lance? The Champion? "Wait, did she beat Lance in an official battle?"
Tobias shrugged. "I don't have access to anyone's Hall of Fame data. But the fact that she was in Mt. Silver when I met her means she at least managed to impress Lance or someone up there. Anyways, I was at Mt. Silver to try and sign her on, since anyone good enough to get into Mt. Silver is at least worth looking at. So I went up there and found this woman probably not much older than you, and I tried to recruit her."
Ben nodded, already hooked. She'd put up a very tough fight despite the massive type disadvantage her Kingler faced, and Ben really wanted to see what her other Pokémon were capable of.
But why had she run away? Why had he had to go through Tobias just to find her? His mind's eye opened and the woman was laughing maniacally at the lengths he'd gone to, taunting him over and over from the mountain that she'd apparently made it to while he hadn't. Then, something occurred to him.
"Wait a minute. Two years ago?" He asked, holding up a hand.
"Yeah. Probably a few days after the new year, too." Tobias answered. "Why?"
"The man on the mountain was defeated eight days into the new year that year before disappearing, according to a journal kept on the Pokégear they found there. Was there anyone else who got into Mt. Silver during that time?"
"No, none I got a call for. Anyway, I went to talk to her and…"
And just like that, he was back on the mountain he'd never see the top of, with the mountain man he'd come to idolize and this girl who'd taken it away from him staring him down from the top. He was trying to climb it, but every time he was buried under the snow, as the girl and the mountain man laughed at him mercilessly. He shivered, his nightmare tormenting him even now in this moment of good news.
But if Tobias could tell him where this girl was, then he could free himself, right?
"-So I asked for a battle, and she refused. So I observed her fighting wild Pokémon with a Nidoqueen, and after I gave her my card, I left. She probably threw it away, that card."
Shoot. He'd fallen into a daydream and missed the story. "Well, you mentioned a forest earlier. What was that about?"
He paused, as usual. "Ah, yes. She apparently lives in the Ilex forest somewhere and comes down to Azalea town every few months for supplies. So that's probably where you'll find her, if you want to look."
Ben practically jumped up from the booth at this news. "Thank you! This means so much!" He practically shouted, causing Tobias to sigh before waving him off. As Ben was almost to the door, he heard Tobias call out to him and turned around.
"Look, if she doesn't want to battle, don't push her. There's this sickness going around, remember."
And after acknowledging it and thanking him again, Ben left, calling out Pidgeot to fly him to Azalea Town right away. If he couldn't fulfill the dream he'd been working towards since he was 13, he'd beat whoever stole it from him and take that as a prize.
"Man, I knew there was a lot of forest in this forest, but how much forest is there?" Ben said to nobody in particular. According to the clock on his Pokégear, he'd been looking for at least four hours and had spent most of that so far off the beaten path he couldn't help but wonder if he was the first human to ever step foot there. And honestly, while the scenery was absolutely gorgeous, he was starting to get frustrated.
"Who decides to live in a forest in today's day and age, anyways?" He grumbled, pushing away a tree branch. He didn't mind camping out when he was travelling, but usually preferred to stay within city limits to find strong trainers passing through. The next thing he saw stunned him slightly.
An old, gnarled, seemingly dead tree in a clearing. Nothing special in and of itself, but it was… decorated in some way. Each of the lower branches of the tree had something on it, slowly arcing higher, and while the top was bare, there was still possibly 50 or more objects on it. At first glance, Ben saw a Choice Scarf, an EXP Share, a Sharp Beak, and a few plates on or tied to the branches. He was about to move to investigate further when he saw something large and orange move out of the corner of his eye. He turned around and saw a very large Kingler advancing at him, snapping both claws menacingly.
"Oh, hi there… your trainer isn't around, is she? I just want to ba-woah!" Ben recoiled in fear, throwing his hands over his face as Kingler charged, locking its big claw around one of the trees behind Ben. He was effectively trapped between the tree and Kingler, as any sort of movement would probably get him crushed. "Hey! I don't want to harm you!"
Kingler glared at him menacingly, causing him to shut up. He looked up and saw the girl, with her back to him, and then realized he'd walked in on her home. There was a small fire pit in the centre of the clearing, a few berry pots that hadn't been moved in so long they had moss connecting them to the ground, and a small lean-to at the opposite end. Clearly, she didn't want visitors, and the campsite was mostly inconspicuous except for the tree. If he hadn't been explicitly looking for her, he probably wouldn't have ever stumbled across this place. Eventually, the girl turned around, and Ben noticed a layer of brown cloth covering her eyes.
"Leave." She said, in the same emotionless way she'd used when directing Kingler. "I know who you are, and the answer is no."
"Oh come on!" He complained. Sure, he'd chosen to come out here, but he'd just spent four hours wandering through a forest aimlessly just to find this place, and he was not going home empty-handed. Especially not now that she'd even gone so far as to blindfold herself to avoid the eye contact rule. "I come all the way out here, and you're just going to threaten me and turn me around? Well, I'm not leaving without a battle!"
He was assuming she was staring where he was, as she hadn't moved since she turned around. Despite the blindfold, he slowly felt himself growing more uncomfortable. "What?"
"...I could kill you now." She said, and Ben felt the blood drain from his face. "In this situation, you are in no place to demand anything more than your life be spared."
This was true, Kingler's claw could probably break his spine right now. But would she really go through with that? Murder happened a lot, but Pokémon-assisted murder was still rare in the world, due to most trainers still valuing their Pokémon more than that. Did this girl, who beat the man on the mountain, really not care this much?
"What's up with you, anyways? You're a tough trainer, that much is obvious. Why try to kill me rather than just fight me and have it all be over?" He asked. He couldn't tell if this gave the girl pause or not, as she was still seemingly staring at him intensely.
"...there are things I value more than battling. Like not having teenagers intrude my home and ask for a battle, for one." She said. Ben couldn't tell if this was humour or not, as her tone hadn't changed since she started talking. Hopefully it was, that might mean she was warming up to this.
"Well, come on! If we battle, I'll leave. You beat the strongest trainer in the region, surely you could make it easy, right?" He asked. She seemed to stiffen slightly, but it didn't make much of a difference in her overall stance. "What, did you not want that information to be dropped?"
"...how do you know this?" She asked. She raised her cane, complete with another smoke ball, and pointed the end at him. "Tell me. And tell me why it matters."
Okay, now there was a definite edge to her voice. Could he use this to his advantage? "Look. Back when I was 13 and just this weird kid travelling alone, he beat the Pokémon league and didn't take the title. Do you know how crazy that sounds? Some kid from Kanto had the option to change the world, and left. Then he goes through Johto, gets eight more badges, and goes to sit at the top of Mt. Silver, beating everyone who challenges him up to you. Who wouldn't care?"
"Me." She said.
"What? You don't care? But you made history!" He yelled, completely dumbstruck.
"It was one trainer, and one more regret. May you leave now?" She asked.
Yeah, right… I'm not leaving without that fight, and the fact that you don't care makes me think I should make you. You defeated possibly the best trainer in the world! Why won't you battle me?
"Look. I'll make you a deal." He said, deciding to run with whatever came next. "You battle me on Mt. Silver, and I don't tell the nearest news outlet the location of the woman who beat the man on the mountain. You probably don't catch the news much, but they're still looking…"
Huh, that was better than he expected. His sixteen badges should be enough to get him in, and she'd already been in there. And if she refused, he could just follow through on what he said. For her part, she hadn't moved at all. Ben could slowly feel his breathing getting faster the longer she held that pose, as the sheer intensity of her and Kingler's stare was hard to not buckle under, even blindfolded. He counted almost two minutes pass before she lowered her staff.
"What are you thinking?" He asked, somewhat nervously.
"I'm thinking…" She responded, still unmoving. "That it would be much easier to kill you right here. But I would not put Kingler through that now."
Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, Kingler lowered its claw and Ben felt himself let out a breath. He'd been a bit persistent with other trainers before, but he'd never almost been killed by it. Just who was this girl, anyways?
"Well. Let's get going." She said, her tone finally showing some emotion - annoyance. She reached up and undid the blindfold, revealing her piercing amber eyes. She had the face of someone maybe in their early twenties, but a distinct hardness and bitterness that aged her at least ten years. She had this presence that you could feel like a wall riding up against you, one that screamed back off. Whoever she was, Ben couldn't wait to get that battle. And she'd agreed to go to Mt. Silver for the battle, so maybe he'd finally be able to get some respite.
He was brought back to his senses by the girl's cane slamming into his foot as she left the clearing, not saying a word.
Notes:
This chapter was awful to write for a variety of reasons, and I don't blame you if you didn't like it. the lack of description really hurts it, but this is basically a first-person story, and I always felt like the average person doesn't vividly describe everything in their head, right? Regardless, I tried to do the best I could, but I'm still not happy with it and the only reason I'm publishing like this is I doubt I ever will be.
Anyways, for a more lighter notes, I was originally going to call Tobias Clyde until I realized that there was already a character called Clyde, the gym guide! So he became Tobias for no discernible reason, but at least he has a name. I'm starting to feel kind of out of my depth here, this is way different from writing songs, but I'm going to keep at it.
Enjoy!