"I lost."
"Orange-"
"I lost."
"Orange, will you-"
"I lost."
"OK, Orange-"
"I lost."
"Orange-"
"I lost."
"ORANGE!" Violet shouted. This snapped Orange out of it.
The trio was back in the Miliovern Pokémon Center, in the room they had been given for the night. Orange hadn't touched much of his food back at dinner (in spite of Violet having ordered fried nines for him), and now he would only sit on his bed and stare off into space, seemingly incapable of processing the fact that he lost a Pokémon battle.
"OK. We get it, Orange. You lost," Violet said impatiently. "Every trainer loses a battle at some time. Heck, you lost to me back in Ivadirin City, remember?"
"That was different," Orange sighed. "That was just a practice battle to toughen up .4 and Chompy. They were both brand new, .4 was freshly caught, and you had just gotten Chompy, so the trainers' skills didn't come into play as much as in a real Gym battle. Not only that, Electra never really thought I'd be any good as a trainer. I just... I wanted to prove her wrong."
"Well, look," said Red, "Tomorrow we'll be on the S.S. Nean, at a party with tons of other trainers, we can toughen up our Pokémon there, and then you can battle her again, OK?"
"Yeah... I guess so," Orange sighed. Violet glanced at him, a hint of concern showing on her face in place of her usual glare.
Not long after this, the trio went off to sleep. Or at least, it seemed that way; had Red not put in his earplugs (which was starting to become a habit now with him), he might have noticed a distinct lack of earsplitting snoring.
Next morning, Red woke up and removed his earplugs to find Orange's snoring in full force. He was about to hit Orange over the head with his pillow, but Violet woke up at that moment and beat him to it.
"Zzzzz-mmph! Gah! Wha?!" Orange spluttered as he leapt out of his bed, awoken by Violet's pillow. "Oh, come on, Vi, what was that for?"
"Good morning to you, too," Violet yawned as she removed her earplugs. "C'mon, get dressed, you two, we want to get in as much time on the S.S. Nean as we can before tonight, right?"
"Right!" Red declared.
"Yeah, right, sure," Orange nodded, though without his heart in it.
Once they were all dressed and had eaten their breakfast (Orange had his usual fried nines, and this time ate quite a bit more than he had the night before; Violet had a glass of eight juice; Red had several slices of zero toast with a small side of fried nines), the trio left the Pokémon Center and set off towards the docks, following the nurse's directions. Orange had adamantly refused to ask for directions, insisting that he knew Miliovern City like the back of his own hand; Violet asked the nurse for directions anyway, which turned out to be a wise move, for she had to correct Orange on three different occasions. Orange, however, didn't seem to be in too much of an argumentative mood today, and even neglected to step around a freeze arch; Red and Violet had to pull him free.
"Thanks," he mumbled.
"Oh, for Mew's sake, snap out of it already!" Violet exclaimed suddenly. Red wheeled around to watch this, taken completely aback by this. "Will you stop moping around, Orange? You're driving us crazy! OK, you lost against your cousin- big deal! If anything, that should motivate you to train harder! You think moping around feeling sorry for yourself is gonna help you beat her? Now you get on that ship and you wipe out every last trainer on board, and then you march right back into that Gym and you take out every single Pokémon that cousin of yours throws at you!"
Orange was visibly startled by Violet's sudden outburst, and for a moment, didn't speak. Once he found his voice, he said, "OK, you know what, Vi? For once in your life, you're right. What am I doing, moping around like this, anyway? Yeah! You know something? I'll do it. I'll go and take out every single Pokémon belonging to every single trainer on board that ship, and then I'll go back into Miliovern Gym and I'll beat Electra's team so badly they won't know what hit them! Come on, guys, let's do this!" With that, Orange ran off in the direction of the docks, with Violet and Red following behind.
"You sure that was wise?" Red asked Violet. "He's even more worked up than usual, and that's saying something."
"I still prefer it to when he was all mopey," replied Violet.
"Good point," Red conceded. "C'mon, Violet, we should probably try and catch up, otherwise there won't be any trainers left for us to fight by the time we get there."
"Right," grinned Violet as they started to jog after Orange.
For the next five minutes, the trio raced along the streets of Miliovern (Red and Violet caught up to Orange fairly quickly), until they reached a street which stretched along the coastline. Numerous docks seemingly crafted out of Styrofoam, threes, empty soup cans, and a large assortment of Nintendo Game Boy Colors lined this street, with various forms of aquatic transportation moored at these docks. Red spotted what appeared to be a submarine made entirely out of duct tape, and a small motorboat made out of TV remote controls and leaves. What they were looking for, however, they spotted within seconds- a massive structure, floating on the water, with a hull made primarily out of pine cones and white toilet seats, the words "S.S. Nean" painted near the bow in large, black letters. A man in a sailor's uniform stood next to a gangplank which seemed to consist entirely of aluminum siding, pieces of fence, and chunks of rock.
"Tickets, please," he said in a bored voice. Orange dug his ticket out of his pocket and showed it to the man. Red pulled his ticket out of his backpack, and Violet produced her ticket from her fanny pack. "Alright, welcome aboard," said the man, stepping aside to let them pass.
The trio walked up the gangplank and found themselves on the ship's deck, the floor of which looked like it was made up of chunks of concrete and rocks. The muffled sound of commotion could be heard from behind a door right in front of them, which seemed to lead to an indoor portion of the ship. Orange walked up to the plastic door and yanked it open, and was greeted with a loud rush of cheering. Leading the way inside, Orange pushed through a sizable crowd, and found himself looking at what the crowd had gathered to see- a Pokémon battle was well underway. Red and Violet caught up to Orange and watched the fight unfold along with him- on one side, there stood a short, vaguely human-like Pokémon with a yellow body (the bottom half a darker shade than the top), and on the other side, a furry, brown rodent that everyone present recognized as a Raticate. Violet took out her Pokédex and pointed it at the Raticate's opponent.
"Drowzee, the Hypnosis Pokémon," droned the device. "Employs hypnotic powers to put its enemies to sleep before eating their dreams. Drowzee can get sick from eating bad dreams."
"Let's go, Drowzee!" exclaimed its trainer. "Seismic Toss!"
"Raticate, a Jump Kick!" commanded the opposing, and extravagantly overdressed trainer (he was wearing, in addition to his suit and bow tie, a pair of fancy glasses and a top hat).
"Jump Kick?" repeated Orange in a confused whisper. "I didn't think Raticate could learn that..."
"Rrrrraticate!" snarled Raticate as it lunged forward, slamming its foot into the oncoming Drowzee, causing it to stumble backwards.
"Drow!" gasped Drowzee in an eerie tone which somehow seemed to echo. Drowzee fell to the floor, but got up almost immediately.
"Don't give in, Drowzee! Use Mega Punch!" yelled the Drowzee's trainer.
"Raticate, Super Fang attack!" said the Raticate's trainer.
"Drow... zee!" Drowzee exclaimed as it slammed its right fist into Raticate's side. Though the attack clearly hit hard, Raticate recovered quickly and sank its prominent front teeth into Drowzee's right arm, causing the Psychic-type to howl in pain.
"All right, Quick Attack now!" the trainer exclaimed.
"Rrrrraticate!" screeched Raticate as it released its dental grip on the Drowzee's arm, backed up a bit, and slammed into it with incredible speed. Neither Drowzee nor its trainer had any time to react to this as the former fell to the floor, unconscious.
"And that's win number ten for my Raticate," the overdressed man declared proudly as the Normal-type walked over and stood near his feet, glancing at various members of the crowd, as if daring any of them to try and take it on. "Do we got any other challengers, or should we just call it a day?"
"Oh, you got yourself another challenger, all right!" Orange exclaimed as he pushed his way out of the crowd, finding himself within the wide circle everyone was forming around the two trainers.
"Mm-hmm!" nodded the man, grinning at the young trainer. "And you think you got what it takes to beat my Raticate here?"
"You better believe I do," said Orange as he took a Poké Ball off his belt and enlarged it. "Ready to go?"
"Always," the man stated. "We accept your challenge! Raticate, go!"
"Raticate!" exclaimed Raticate as it stepped forward.
Orange threw the ball into the air. ".4, I choose you! Go!" he shouted as the ball split open, unleashing the small, purple Pokémaniac-type in a flash of bright light. Upon being let out, .4 zipped around in small circles, gibbering unintelligibly out of sheer excitement.
"Raticate, Hyper Fang attack!" the man ordered.
".4, TM28 attack!" called Orange.
As Raticate lunged forward, front teeth bared and ready, .4 flew down to meet it, and promptly let loose a minor explosion, sending Raticate flying backwards and crashing to the floor. Raticate, however, got up almost immediately afterwards, still ready to go.
"Not bad!" the man declared. "Now, Raticate, a Jump Kick!"
"Rrrrrraticaaate!" screeched Raticate as it leapt up again, this time aiming a kick at .4.
"Use TM05 now!" said Orange.
.4 zipped forward once more, streaking right at Raticate, but pulled out of it at the last second and vanished into thin air. A surprised and confused Raticate fell to the floor and slowly climbed back to its feet, wincing in pain.
"Cool," grinned Violet. "Raticate kept going and crashed!"
"Finish it with Wing Attack!" Orange yelled.
"Stop!" the other trainer exclaimed suddenly as he walked up and scooped his Raticate into his arms. "Your .4's proven how tough it is. What say we call it a draw?"
"Hey, come on, I was winning!" Orange argued, but the man didn't seem to hear him. Shrugging this off, Orange glanced around at the numerous trainers still gathered around. "Well, come on, who's next?" he called. Numerous trainers spoke up at once, all of them wanting to challenge Orange, who selected one of them at random. The battle quickly commenced, Orange's .4 against the trainer's 7g. As the two traded blows, Red heard a voice nearby.
"Aw, come on, I wanted to battle!" a nearby trainer was complaining. He looked to be around Red's age, with short, spiky black hair.
"Hey, if you want to battle, I'm up for a fight," Red offered. The other trainer turned to face Red and grinned.
"You're on!" he declared. "Name's Terrence, who're you?"
"I'm Red," stated Red. "And this is Violet, and the guy with the .4, that's Orange, our friend.
"Nice to meet you, Red," nodded Terrence. "Now let's get going, huh?"
"Fine by me," said Red as they walked over to a less crowded part of the room. Violet followed behind and stood next to Red.
"Two Pokémon each?" asked Red as he took out a Poké Ball.
"Fine by me," replied Terrence as he mimicked this action.
"Doduo, go!" Red called as he launched his ball.
"I choose Sandshrew!" shouted Terrence as he threw his Poké Ball
In identical flashes of light, Red's Doduo appeared, as did a bipedal, yellow-brown Pokémon, its hands tipped with small yet sharp claws.
"Sandshrew, the Mouse Pokémon," said Red's Pokédex. "Sandshrew burrow underground in arid locations and emerge only to hunt for food."
"Doduo, let's win this!" Red exclaimed. "Peck attack now!"
"Do do Doduo!" exclaimed both of Doduo's heads simultaneously as it dashed forward.
"Sandshrew! Scratch attack!" commanded Terrence.
"Shrewwww!" screeched Sandshrew as it curled its body into a spherical shape and rolled forward at a rapid pace. As it approached Doduo, Sandshrew unfurled its body, leapt up, and raked its claws across Doduo's torso, sending the Twin Bird Pokémon tumbling backwards.
"Come on, Doduo!" Red encouraged his Normal/Flying-type. "Fight back with Skull Bash!"
Doduo regained its footing and charged at Sandshrew once more, this time with heads lowered.
"Sandshrew, use your Body Slam!" ordered Terrence.
"Sa-shrew!" Sandshrew replied as it leapt into the air, then landed deliberately and forcefully on Doduo's back, the weight of its whole body forcing Doduo down to the floor. Sandshrew expertly leapt off as Doduo struggled to climb back to its feet.
"Fury Attack!" Red called.
"Sandshrew! Fury Swipes now!" shouted Terrence.
Doduo charged at Sandshrew once more as the Ground-type jumped up, claws bared. An all-out melee ensued as Doduo's heads jabbed at Sandshrew with their beaks, while Sandshrew scratched at the heads repeatedly. The two broke apart, with both of them breathing heavily.
"What now?" Violet muttered to Red.
"I don't know," Red admitted. "That Sandshrew's pretty good against anything I try. Attack power isn't much use when the moves aren't even hitting- Doduo?" Red said, for while he was speaking, Doduo proceeded to charge up what appeared to be a large, glowing triangle between its two heads.
"Wait a second," Violet said, snapping her fingers. "You said 'try' and then 'attack'. Doduo must've thought you meant Tri Attack! It knows Tri Attack!"
"Whoa!" Red exclaimed at this revelation as Doduo fired off the Tri Attack, the large, glowing triangle striking Sandshrew, sending it tumbling backwards. "Way to go, Doduo! Let's finish this right now, use Skull Bash!"
"Get up, Sandshrew! Poison Sting!" exclaimed Terrence. However, it was no good. As Sandshrew struggled to get back onto its feet, Doduo plowed both heads into the Ground-type. Sandshrew flew backwards and slammed into a wall, where it slowly slid down and slumped to the floor, where it lay without any further movement. Scowling, Terrence withdrew his Sandshrew, then took out another Poké Ball.
"Good job, Doduo!" Red exclaimed, grinning widely as Doduo cawed triumphantly.
"Don't get too excited, this battle's just getting started!" declared Terrence as he threw his next Poké Ball. "I choose you!"
In a flash of light, a blue Pokémon of moderate size appeared. It stood on four legs, and small barbs were visible on various points all over its body, including its sizable ears.
"Nidorina, the Poison Pin Pokémon, and the evolved form of the female Nidoran," droned Violet's Pokédex. "Though usually docile, Nidorina will attack with bites and scratches when provoked. Its horns develop slower than Nidorino's, so it prefers attacks involving its claws and teeth."
"Doduo, you still good to go?" asked Red. Doduo gave a pair of affirmative caws, and stared down at Nidorina, who stared right back at the two heads. "OK! Doduo, Tri Attack now!" Red ordered.
"Do do!" cawed Doduo as it charged up and launched a great, glowing triangle from between its two heads.
"Nidorina, Tackle attack!" ordered Terrence.
Nidorina deftly evaded the Tri Attack, then charged forward, slamming into Doduo's spherical torso, sending it stumbling backwards.
"Now finish it with Thunderbolt!" yelled Terrence.
"Riii...naaaaa!" screeched Nidorina as she unleashed a sizzling blast of electricity. Doduo screeched and cawed in pain as the electricity lit up its entire body, then crumpled in a heap as the attack ended.
"Doduo, return now!" Red said as he held out Doduo's Poké Ball in his left hand. Once Doduo was back in its ball, Red threw another Poké Ball with his right hand. "Charmeleon, come on out!" he added.
In a flash of light, Red's Charmeleon materialized. It stomped the floor, snorted, and glared at Nidorina menacingly. Nidorina met Charmeleon's gaze unflinchingly. Both of them were ready for battle.
"Charmeleon, Flamethrower!" Red ordered.
"Nidorina, Water Gun!" called Terrence.
Simultaneously, Charmeleon unleashed a powerful stream of flames from its mouth, and Nidorina let fly a stream of water from her mouth. The two attacks collided in midair, and a great deal of steam was produced, as fire was extinguished and water evaporated at identical rates. The two were evenly matched, and neither side was giving an inch. This went on for some time, until Nidorina's attack started to weaken. More steam ensued as Charmeleon's Flamethrower started to overpower the Water Gun, and Nidorina was finally hit by the move.
"All right, Charmeleon!" cheered Red. "Now use Scratch and finish it!"
"Char!" replied Charmeleon as it lunged forward and took a swipe at Nidorina with its glowing right claws, sending it flying. Nidorina landed on the floor at Terrence's feet, unconscious.
"Rrrrgh!" Terrence exclaimed as he withdrew Nidorina. "I lost! But this is not the end, Red! We will meet again, we will battle again, and next time, I will win!" With that, he wheeled around and stormed off.
"Wow," Red remarked. "Almost makes Orange seem sane."
"Yeah," agreed Violet. "Oh, by the way, that wasn't Scratch Charmeleon used back there. Did you notice its claws glowing like that? That was Slash."
"Was it really?" Red asked with an air of surprise. "Nice one, Charmeleon!" he exclaimed.
"Charmeleon," replied the Flame Pokémon with a satisfied smirk. As Red withdrew Charmeleon, Orange came walking over to them, a satisfied smirk of his own on his face.
"How'd the battle go?" asked Violet.
"Battles, not battle!" Orange grinned. "It was awesome! I must have battled 10 or 12 trainers back there and I beat them all! .4 and Fearow are totally wiped, but they were so great!"
"How did you manage that many battles?" asked Red. "I only got in one just now, and it wasn't that long."
"I'm that good, I guess," shrugged Orange. "Did you win?"
"Yep," replied Red. "The guy was a bit of a sore loser, though."
"Man, I hate that," said Orange, shaking his head. Red and Violet exchanged exasperated looks at this.
Hours passed. Red, Orange, and Violet took to challenging any trainer who happened to pass them by. Red and Parasect came out on top against a young girl and her 44Hy; Violet made great use of Skulls's Mimic attack against a middle-aged man's Poliwag, turning its own Hypnosis against it; Orange and A narrowly came out on top after a fierce bout with a teenage boy and his Magmar. After dozens of battles, all their Pokémon were completely exhausted, so they decided to go out onto the deck and get some fresh air.
Out on the deck, the sky was getting dark; the pixellated, blocky, scrambled sun was descending in the sky.
"The ship's gonna set sail soon," Orange remarked. "You think we should head back to the Pokémon Cen- whoa!"
For at that moment, the entire ship lurched, as something collided with the hull with great force. Red looked over the side, but pulled his head back swiftly.
"Red, what is it?" asked Violet. Red opened his mouth, when a massive creature emerged from the water, towering over the ship. A very large serpent with blue scales, as well as jagged white scales poking out in place. A pair of beige whiskers were on either side of its gaping mouth, in which four massive, sharp fangs could be seen. Its eyes, perpetually narrowed in an expression of anger, scanned the area before settling on the trio of trainers below it.
"That," Red remarked, pointing up at the Gyarados before them.
"Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokémon, and the evolved form of Magikarp," droned Orange's Pokédex. "Rarely seen in the wild. Huge and vicious, Gyarados can destroy entire cities in a towering rage."
"Not good," said Red, Orange, and Violet simultaneously.
Gyarados backed up slightly. Any hopes that it was about to go back into the water were quickly dashed as it rammed the ship again, rocking it violently, As it rocked from side to side, Violet lost her balance and fell over the side, into the water, in extremely close proximity to the Gyarados.
"Violet!" Orange exclaimed as he ran over to the railing and looked into the water to see her thrashing about.
"Orange, get away from there!" Red shouted.
"Like hell I will," retorted Orange. Just then, Gyarados seemed to notice Violet trying to stay afloat near it. It lowered its head towards Violet, mouth wide open.
"Oh, crap," Red muttered as he prepared a Poké Ball. Orange, however, was quicker.
"No you don't!" he shouted as he threw an empty Poké Ball at the Gyarados. The Atrocious Pokémon was sucked inside almost immediately, and the ball fell down to the deck. While it was still shaking, Orange scooped up the sphere and heaved it towards the ocean as hard as he could, achieving an impressive distance. Just before the ball hit the water, it exploded into thousands of pieces, and Gyarados re-emerged, only now at a much more favorable distance from the ship.
Wasting no time, Orange threw another Poké Ball into the air, calling out Q. Though the Deep Sea Pokémon was wiped out from its prior battles, it still had sufficient strength to telekinetically haul Violet back on board. Sopping wet, Violet was shivering, not only from the cold, but presumably also due to almost having become a Gyarados's dinner.
"Vi, you OK?" asked Orange as he knelt down to look at Violet. Violet looked at Orange and shakily wrapped him in a hug, not saying anything at the moment. Orange seemed rather startled by this, but made no objection to it. Red, meanwhile, looked out into the distance, where the Gyarados was glaring at the ship. After several tense moments of this, the Gyarados silently turned around and descended back beneath the surface of the water. Red sighed in relief as Orange helped a shaking Violet to her feet.
"Orange... Thanks..." Violet said quietly.
Half an hour later, the trio found themselves back at the Miliovern City Pokémon Center. Violet had dried off and changed into a fresh set of clothes (how she had managed to fit a change of clothes in her fanny pack, much less keep the contents of said fanny pack completely dry, was beyond Orange and Red's understanding), and they were in the middle of eating dinner.
"Well, I think we all got in some good training today," Red remarked. "Orange, by the way, you were something else back there. I didn't even think of doing what you did, with that Poké Ball."
"Yeah... I guess it was... kinda cool," Violet added reluctantly. Orange stared at her, half grinning.
"It would actually hurt you to give me a compliment with your whole heart!" he stated. "I saved your life back there, Vi, that Gyarados would've eaten you!"
"I would've been fine," Violet said. "I didn't ask to be saved."
"I didn't say you had a choice in the matter," Orange retorted.
Red silently observed this conversation, though his mind was on something else entirely. "Hey... hey, guys," he said.
"Yeah?" said Orange as he and Violet turned to look at Red.
"What, Red?" asked Violet.
"I just thought of something," said Red. "I was thinking back to when Electra was using Electabuzz. I couldn't help but notice something about the way it was battling, and if my hunch is right, I think you just might be able to find a way around it after all, Orange."