Innocent Aims

Part I: Capture and Release

Chapter 3: Turn at Defeat

I smirked as I read the name off the screen, written in large black typeface. "So, it's Satoshi?"

"Huh?" he said.

"Your name!" I pointed at the wall.

"Oh..." he said. "Yeah, it's just I hardly hear that at all. Nobody calls me Satoshi. You sure didn't. Just like you never went by Shigeru. I didn't even know that was your real name."

I clenched my jaw with irritation. So even this wasn't going to get me my answer. "Well, it is your name, right?"

"Yeah, I guess it is."

"Well then, Satoshi, we'll have a one-on-one battle, right?" I quickly entered the right settings for that type of battle. Back in this routine, I'd regained my composure.

"Why only one?"

"You only brought one pokemon, right?" I asked.

"That's right!" It seemed that Satoshi had just now realized this. "I just remembered... All my other pokemon... They're back with Nurse Joy..."

"Well then, since I'm already paying for time, it's a one-on-one battle," I said. I looked up from the podium. "Done. Now we're ready."

He grinned and pushed back his hat. "Alright! Pikachu, I choose you!"

Of course he did, I thought to myself. It was his only pokemon and even a grade schooler would take only only a minute to come up with a strategy against it. I had a ground type with me, one that could easily beat his pikachu, even with every ounce of power the electric pokemon could muster pouring into it. Because not only were electric attacks at a disadvantage, they had absolutely no effect on ground types. A larger, more muscular electric type could still use its normal attacks, but this little thing? Game over before we even began.

I sighed. "It's no wonder you only have sixty percent wins. Actually, it might be a wonder why it's even that high," I said.

"What?! What do you know? And how could you even know how many wins I have?" Satoshi demanded.

"Your pokedex automatically records all of your battles. You do keep it with you all the time, right?"

"Yeah," he said. "I think I remember hearing about this. I've found your stats too." He grinned at me, but that expression disappeared as he looked at the actual statistics. "Wait! There's no way your win rate is real. It's gotta be wrong."

"Actually, it kind of is. The number's rounded down, so it's above what you see."

"Above ninety-nine percent?!"

"Yeah, after all I've had hundreds of battles, and only ever lost once. It really should be rounded up to a hundred, but I guess the program doesn't want it to appear like I was undefeated or anything."

"Once?" Satoshi repeated dubiously, a wide-eyed expression on his face. "I didn't know you were that good..." I saw him look down in disbelief, but then just as quickly he looked back up, looking me in the eyes with confidence. "That doesn't matter, anyway. A battle's a battle, and you'd better not back away from this challenge."

"I never do," I said as I brought out my pokeball. "Talk about transparent, you've had your cards laid down in front of me from the start. I could use a ground type to quickly finish you off, but..." I threw my pokeball out into the field. "I don't want it to end that quickly."

My blastoise roared out a loud "Blastoise!" as he exited.

"Pika!" His pikachu quickly dashed out of the way as my blastoise stomped down onto the floor. She then stared up at him, putting her ears back and cowering.

"Think of it as a handicap," I said.

"What? Just because Blastoise is so much bigger, you think its enough of an advantage to handicap Pikachu?"

"No," I said immediately. "Of course not."

"Then what do you mean?"

"You really don't know, do you?" Satoshi's silent stare gave me the answer. "You're the one with a certain kind of advantage here, Satoshi," I explained.

"It still feels weird to have you call me that..." he mused.

"Never mind that. You should know why you have the advantage, especially since it seems like you use that pikachu an awful lot. Water conducts electricity, which makes water types extremely vulnerable to electric attacks."

"So..."

"So I've just given you a little bit of an edge."

"Why would you do that?"

A little foolish mercy on my part, I thought to myself. But instead I said, "It would be a complete waste of my time to just trump you from the start. Now, that's more than enough free advice from me. Let's get started."

"You're finally ready, huh?" Ash looked back at me dauntlessly. Even his pikachu seemed more confident, apparently after hearing my words. "Pikachu, I know we can beat him! Go for it with your thundershock!"

So, he was all for getting to the point right away, huh? I could relate. "Blastoise, deflect it!"

My blastoise turned, and the attack hit his shell, protecting him from the attack.

"Pika!" The pikachu seemed bewildered at the result.

Satoshi was equally surprised. "But you said-"

"Said you had a type advantage, not that I didn't have defences against it," I said. The type advantage was only of slight concern, actually. One of my blastoise's high powered water attacks could still defeat Satoshi's pikachu in one hit, but that was only if the attack did in fact hit. I wasn't sure he could hit such a tiny target on the first try, and a miss would still cover the battlefield in water, and that would be the end of me. So, I decided I'd win without the use of any water type attacks. My blastoise was physically powerful enough to defeat that little pikachu. "Blastoise, tackle!"

Upon my order, my blastoise charged at the pikachu. The panic in Satoshi's eyes was almost like the blastoise was headed for him. "Pikachu!" he shouted. "Agility!"

Pikachu went into defensive mode and began to leap around the field, going so fast and in such random directions that it was difficult to follow where she was. Of course, I'd already thought of the pikachu's speed as being another advantage over my blastoise. But I was pretty sure I could get around it. I followed the direction of Satoshi's gaze. He knew where his pikachu was going, even if I didn't. I didn't give my blastoise any further instructions as the pikachu did its little dance.

"Pikachu, now, thundershock again!"

As soon as I'd seen Satoshi open his mouth to speak, I'd known my move. "Blastoise, behind you! Tail whip!"

Of course my blastoise couldn't turn around to attack, but he easily moved his tail, and tripped the tiny pikachu mid-attack, stopping her. "Pikaa!" she shouted in frustration.

"Pikachu!" Satoshi shouted. No command, he hadn't prepared this far.

"Now Blastoise, tackle!" I ordered.

My blastoise turned around, hitting the pikachu with his tail again, which knocked her on the ground yet again. Once facing pikachu, blastoise swiped his arm and knocked her across the field.

"Chaa!" Pikachu cried out in pain as she hit the wall. Still, she stood up, still fit to battle.

"Pikachu!" Satoshi called.

"Alright, one more hit should do it," I said.

Satoshi glared at me, still with that same confidence as when we'd first began the battle. "Hang in there, Pikachu! You can still win! Blastoise can be taken down with your electricity!"

"Blastoise, tackle again!" I ordered. Satoshi was forming a plan, but that didn't matter, I'd finish off his pikachu before he could respond.

"Pikachu, watch out!" Satoshi said. Just as my blastoise was about to attack, the pikachu darted around it. "Get on its back, Pikachu! He can't get you there!" Satoshi said.

Pikachu scurried up my Blastoise's shell, and hung onto his cannon. I could clearly see where this was going. "Blastoise, knock her off! To the right!"

Confused, Blastoise turned his head to the wrong cannon, and pikachu wasn't there, so he quickly swatted at the other end, once, then twice, and pikachu flew up in the air from the impact. I could see she was hurt by the impact, but still conscious. And being in the air put her at a very good vantage point.

Satoshi saw this too, and wasted no time as his pikachu fell back toward the ground. "Thundershock!" he ordered.

There was only a second to respond, and I knew my blastoise, still turning his head and not even sure that he'd knocked pikachu off, might not be able to see where the attack was coming from before it was too late. But, my pokemon could also immediately follow a command, and soon the pikachu would be at the perfect spot to be hit by one of his water attacks.

"Hydro pump!" I commanded even before Satoshi finished his own order.

"Chuuu!" Pikachu's thundershock began at the same time as the stream of water shot out of my blastoise's cannons. That attack might be trouble for my blastoise, but if pikachu was hit with that sort of impact, I'd be the sure winner, I considered.

But instead, the pikachu dodged right next to the stream of water, just barely missing it. However, her electric attack hit the stream of water, traveling down and hitting my blastoise. As the water from the hydro pump attack flowed down the walls like a waterfall, my blastoise also fell down. As Satoshi's pikachu finally hit the ground, she again bounced up from the impact of my now unconscious blastoise hitting the floor.

"Chu!" The pikachu sighed in a tired voice, and then playfully signed a "v".

"No way," I said, hardly believing it. Had the jolt really been that powerful from just a pikachu?

"Alright! We did it! You did it, Pikachu! We're the winners!" Satoshi shouted.

I took a look at my blastoise. Satoshi was right, he was certainly in no shape to continue the battle. He had taken electric attacks before, but not with the electric pokemon using the conduction of his own water attack against him. Had this been something that Satoshi had planned, or just luck on his part along with a bad choice on my part? I should have stuck with my waterless attack strategy, but that couldn't be undone now. I returned blastoise to his pokeball.

Satoshi ran only the field, momentarily slipping on the puddles before learning down, his pikachu jumped in his arms for a hug. What a loving scene it was. How nice it must be to be that close to someone, even if that someone was a pokemon.

I casually walked out onto the field myself and put out my hand. "It was a good battle, Satoshi," I said.

Satoshi looked a little confused, but still shook my hand, then grinning back at me as he did. "It sure was, Gary! I'm sorry I had to hurt Blastoise, though..."

"No need to apologize for doing what the battle intended for in the first place," I said. I looked up at the ceiling. The construction materials hadn't been strong enough to withstand one of blastoise's attacks, there was now a definite indent on both sides where the attack had hit. It would have been a lot worse for the pikachu, had Satoshi ended up the loser. But why should either of us feel like apologizing about it? Trainers did what was required to win battles.

"Uh, yeah," Satoshi said hesitantly.

"I'm heading back to the center. You coming?" I asked, trying not to appear too eager.

"Yeah! Let's get you fixed up, Pikachu!" Satoshi said.

As we exited the room, the girls that had been watching were waiting for us. The receptionist stood up straighter. "That was a spectacular battle, sir! Come back and visit again anytime."

"But Shigeru lost," one of the girls said.

"It happens to everyone," I said. "I was never under any impression that I'd remain undefeated forever."

"But this was the second time you lost, right?" Satoshi pointed out.

"Yeah, and it won't be the last time, probably. Live and learn, you know?" I said.

"That's right," Satoshi said.

"I'm sure you've learned a lot in your time," I teased. Satoshi scowled. "You probably wouldn't have been able to beat me, otherwise."

"Yes, and it wasn't a fair fight, anyway," one of the girls said.

Satoshi turn around to face the group of girls. "Hey!" he shouted.

I saw right then he was going to have some kind of outburst. I gently put a hand on his shoulder, and he turned around and looked at me, confused. I spoke to them instead. "It was definitely possible for my blastoise to win, or else it would have been completely irresponsible of me to bring him out. I'm not that kind of trainer." As I said this, the girl looked down guiltily.

Then I grabbed onto Satoshi's hand and took him out the door. That was enough of that.

"Um... Thanks," Satoshi said.

"You don't need to get into an argument with people who don't know what they're talking about," I said.

"I couldn't just let her say those things, especially not in front of Pikachu, who tried so hard to win!"

"Pika!" His pikachu nodded in agreement.

He didn't get it. If he'd responded maturely, so would his pokemon. Oh well, I certainly couldn't change his stubborn ways. I imagined him in a battle in a more formal setting stopping to defend his pokemon's honor and snickered.

"What?" Satoshi asked.

"Nothing, nothing," I said.

Satoshi accepted that, and then was silent for a few moments, apparently in thought. "She was right though... You didn't give it your best," Satoshi said.

"I already explained-"

"I know! But I'm going to train even harder now, and the next time you see me, I'll be able to beat you no matter what pokemon you use."

The next time? Was that it, was it time to part right here? As I wondered this, my grip on his hand loosened somewhat.

"I'm going to work hard, and I'll become a real rival to you. You won't have to give me any, um, 'advice' anymore. Next time, I'll be a challenge like you've never faced before! You can count on that," he declared. "Um, you can let go now," he said.

We'd reached the Pokemon Center, though I hadn't noticed it. I let go of his hand and he darted inside. Feeling and seeing him walk away from me, I felt bad, worse than I had when I lost to someone the first time. Actually, I hadn't cared that much when I'd lost this time. The disappointment had been there, but it had been very slight. Much worse the idea of parting right now, it had me feeling so painfully... Lonely. Since when had loneliness been something that I couldn't handle?

Remembering that I of course needed a trip to the Pokemon Center as well, I walked into the building as well. There I saw Nurse Joy lecturing Satoshi.

"But we won," he said.

"That's not why I'm concerned! If the pokemon was in a condition that it had to see me, it never should have been sent out to battle," she said. Turning to me, she said, "Welcome, sir, can I help you?"

"Yeah," I said, and put down my blastoise's pokeball.

"Alright, Shigeru," she said, having seen my name from the data registered with the pokeball. "We'll take good care of your blastoise. I'll be back in just a moment," she said as she picked up my pokeball. "You." She pointed to Satoshi. "Stay right there!"

Satoshi tapped his foot impatiently, but still stayed. I realized that I could leave, and probably should either leave or say something, so I spoke. "So, I'll be seeing you at the Indigo League this year, then?"

"No, you know I only have four badges! It'll take me another year or two to get the rest. Maybe you'll even be done with the Indigo League by then. But it doesn't matter where we meet, or how many years later, I'll still be ready for you."

Years, huh. Yeah, I guess there was no reason to keep in touch with him or anything, I was just some kid he'd known that had forgotten him. But maybe...

"You think it'll take you that long to earn the badges to get to the Indigo League? Maybe I can help you. A little transportation and guidance, and I'll get you to your goal this year."

"No!" Satoshi immediately replied. I have to admit I was a little startled back by his suddenness and insistency. "That wouldn't be right! You're my rival, there's no way I'll catch up to your level if I just rely on you!"

Of course, being able to know what I knew would help him quite a bit, and certainly wouldn't give me any advantage, but he seemed determined to reject me.

"Don't worry about me, I can still get ahead on my own," he said. He looked back where Nurse Joy had gone, and then at the clock. "I think I have to go meet my friend... Wait until Brock hears what I did today!" he said excitedly. He looked again to the back of the Pokemon Center, and then towards me. "Um, I'll see you later, Gary."

I only watched silently as he left, feeling that pang of loneliness again. I shook it off. It wasn't like we didn't have things in common, ways to be driven together. So he wanted be my rival, and first on his mind was pokemon, and especially battling them. It's not like I couldn't relate. In fact, I could easily work with this. I was going to see him again, and it undoubtedly wasn't going to be years later. I'd easily be able to draw him closer to me with something that he wanted and I could provide.