I know it has a sucky name. Shut up. -_-
I do not in any way own Pokemon. Except for the games. That I bought. The little cartridges, not like all of them. I have Platinum, Emerald, Soul Silver, White, and Black 2. I should have gotten White 2... Why do I keep typing these things?...
Chapter 10: When Two Face Off
I was making my way through the large Oreburgh City. Everyone seemed kind enough, but hard at work whether it was in the mines, running errands, or whatever. I liked it here, everyone was kept busy, but happy. I stopped in the Pokemon Center and got a room for the night, one to myself thankfully. I dropped off my things, healed my Pokemon, called my mom and Professor Rowan, then left to continue exploring the city. I walked by one tall dark orange building out of which strange noises were coming out of, and out of curiosity looked to see what the sign said.
"Oreburgh City Pokemon Gym, Leader: Roark. So this is what a Pokemon Gym looks like..." I said to myself, looking up at the building.
"Shiiinx." Electra exclaimed from at my side. I looked down at her and smiled.
"Well, shall we go in and look around for a moment?" My electric type nodded enthusiastically at me, so we went in. There was no one at the entrance, and the trainers that were supposed to be waiting in the gym weren't there. It was shaped kind of like a mountain, rocky formation with stairs leading to the top where the noises were coming from. I climbed up the stairs to see a field where two people were battling. A ref was standing on the opposite side of the field from where I was, and two guys were watching the battle from behind the railing.
"Um, hi." I shyly said to the boys. They both turned around to look at me and smiled.
"Hi there! Welcome to the Oreburgh City Pokemon Gym! If you're looking for a battle, you might have to wait a while. Someone challenged Roark earlier and they're currently battling." I made my way over to the railing and placed my hands on it, seeing the Pokemon battle.
"Don't worry about it, I'm not planning on challenging the gym today. I just came in to take a look." I looked closer at the two Pokemon battling.
"The challenger is really good, he's still on his first Pokemon and Roark is on his second." I wasn't really listening. I was squinting my eyes at the challenger's Pokemon. Is that... an Azumarill?
"Shinji?" My eyes widened slightly and I actually looked at the challenger. Yep, it's Shinji alright.
"Yeah, that's his name! You know him?"
"Um, yeah, but I've never seen him battle before..."
"He's pretty good. He beat my friend here and I with ease. I know everyone has their own training style but..." I looked at the boy. He looked hesitant.
"But what?" I inquired.
"...I... I think he's too harsh on his Pokemon." That was all he said to me. Watching him battle I realized that the boy was right. There was very little bond between them, even if he was very strong.
"Shi." Electra turned her nose up at Shinji, I knew she didn't like him after the whole scratching incident. It looked like they were healing up well though, he'd taken the bandages off.
"Azumarill, Hydro Pump!"
"Geodude use Rock Throw!" Geodude used that attack to get out of the way of the powerful Hydro Pump, and got behind Azumarill. "Use Rock Throw again!"
"Azumarill." Azumarill was incredibly fast and jumped high into the air, completely avoiding the attack. He must've trained his Pokemon very hard. I thought to myself. "Water Gun."
"Hidden Power!" A black cloud appeared when the attacks hit. Azumarill landed back on the ground. "Again Geodude!"
"Dodge it!" But Geodude was far too close and Hidden Power hit the water type pokemon, knocking it unconscious. Shinji returned it to it's Pokeball, looking very annoyed.
"Tch, weak Pokemon. It had a huge type advantage and it still couldn't win." Shinji stated, loud enough for everyone to hear it. Everyone in the gym looked like they wanted to say something about his harshness, but no one did. I suppose I'll have to then.
"Azumarill being weak isn't the reason he lost Shinji." I called out to him, crossing my arms. Everyone looked at me, seemingly shocked. He looked up at me and narrowed his eyes.
"Oh really Troublesome?" I narrowed my eyes right back at him.
"You need to treat your Pokemon better Shinji, otherwise without that special bond, you will never bring out your Pokemon's true potential."
"Hm, you don't know anything about raising Pokemon Troublesome. Besides, the way I train them is none of your business." Shinji had looked away and had enlarged a second Pokeball.
"I don't know anything about raising Pokemon?!" I yelled at him and pointed to myself. "We started out at the same time!"
"Tch, you don't know anything about me."
I stepped back. The way Shinji had said that and glared at me, he was dead serious. But I wasn't giving up just yet. "Then tell me about you so I can change your mind!" He moved his eyes to look up at me. Shinji clenched his fists and completely turned his head to see me.
"Shut up and get out of here Troublesome! This is my battle and you have nothing to do with it!" I was surprised by his sudden loudness.
"My name is not Troublesome!" I yelled back.
"Excuse me!" The Gym Leader called out to us looking kind of embarrassed, I guess everyone was kind of red in the face after our little quarrel. "I appreciate your concern for this young man's Pokemon, but we are in the middle of a gym battle..."
"Uh, oh, right, sorry." That 'sorry' sounded little like an apology. Shinji released his next Pokemon.
"Ekid!"
"What's that Pokemon?" It looked tough despite it being so small. I took out my Pokedex out.
"Elekid, the electric Pokemon. A weak electric current flows between its horns. Sticking a hand there shocks the unwary."
"Elekid huh. That must be a new Pokemon huh Electra."
"Shii."
"Geodude, Rollout!"
"Protect." The strong attack was stopped right in it's tracks, Protect holding out powerfully. "Brick Break." Elekid jumped up, Protect wore off and Geodude starting to move forward again. But just as quickly as that happened, Elekid karate chopped the Pokemon that I assumed was a rock type and knocked it into the dirt, creating a large dust cloud.
"Geodude!" Roark called out to his Pokemon. When it cleared I too realized that Geodude had fainted. "Hm, you're just as good as I thought you'd be."
"Hn, I'm better." Shinji responded.
"Go Cranidos!" Roark released his final Pokemon, one I'd never seen before. Pokedex time!
"Cranidos, the headbutt Pokemon. A lifelong jungle dweller from 100 million years ago, it would snap obstructing trees with headbutts."
"Cranidos huh. I've heard good things about that Pokemon. I suppose I should bring out the best in my team as well." Shinji called back Elekid while enlarging the Pokeball of his third Pokemon.
"Chimchar, stand by for battle." His starter Pokemon appeared on the rock covered field.
"Sending out an electric type and a fire type Pokemon against a rock type Gym Leader, he must be crazy strong." One of the gym trainers commented.
"Cranidos, use Focus Energy!" The ancient Pokemon glowed white, before the glow retreated into the top of Cranidos' head, turning blue. "Now use Zen Headbutt!" Cranidos was surprisingly fast and with his glowing blue head almost flew at Chimchar.
"Dodge!"
"Char!" Chimchar wasn't fast enough and got hit head on with the powerful attack.
"Chimchar get up!" Shinji commanded. The fire type Pokemon struggled to get up, but he did. "Use Leer and Fury Swipes." Chimchar gave Cranidos that intimidating glare, and then went at him with his claws.
"Dodge it Cranidos!" Cranidos took a step back every time Chimchar took one forward, Chimchar barely missing with Fury Swipes. "Flamethrower!
"Ember!" The two fire attacks hit, but Cranidos' Flamethrower was stronger. Though Chimchar jumped up into the air, avoiding the attack. "Chimchar-"
"Zen Headbutt Cranidos!"
"Dodge it! Use Ember!" The small blobs of fire prevented Chimchar from getting hit by Cranidos.
"Flamethrower!"
"Dodge it!" Chimchar side stepped the attack, which was surprisingly bad aimed. I saw both men smirk. Suddenly Cranidos came right at Chimchar through the remaining flames using Zen Headbutt. But Chimchar got low to the ground and went at Cranidos itself. "Low Sweep!" Chimchar swept it's legs underneath Cranidos, causing it to fall flat on it's face, and with the Zen Headbutt still in effect Cranidos basically bounced off of the ground hitting it even harder the second time.
"Cranidos!" The Gym Leader's most powerful Pokemon was on the ground, unconscious.
"Cranidos is unable to battle, so the winner of this Oreburgh City Gym Battle and the proud new owner of the Coal Badge is Shinji!" The ref stated as Shinji returned Chimchar to it's Pokeball. Shinji and Roark made their way towards each other across the field. Roark held out his hand.
"I'm impressed Shinji, beating my own Pokemon when they clearly had a type disadvantage." To my surprise Shinji actually took Roark's' hand and shook it.
"As am I, beating a water type when your Pokemon had a type disadvantage."
"You are a trainer worthy of this coal badge." Roark handed him the shiny new badge. Shinji nodded then proceeded to leave the Gym.
"Wait!" He just barely turned his head to me as I ran after him. "You can't treat your Pokemon like that! I mean, you didn't even congratulate them after winning!" Shinji raised his eyebrow at me.
"What do you care?"
"Uh... I-it's just not right!"
"Hm." That from Shinji was basically being laughed at in the face. He started walking out again.
"Wait!" He didn't even stop. "I want to battle you!" He stopped again but didn't turn around.
"I don't battle weaklings Troublesome."
"That is NOT my name, and I am NOT a weakling!"
"Then why did you ask me to battle you?"
"Huh?"
"If you really wanted to battle, you wouldn't say that you wanted too, you would command me to battle you." I nearly growled just as Electra was. He opened the door and was out. I grabbed his wrist, holding the door open with my foot.
"Battle me Shinji!" He slightly turned his head towards me. "Now!" I added.
"No." I was completely caught off guard, and Shinji pulled his arm out of my grip.
"W-why not!?" He didn't even turn around. "SHINJI!" I was about to go after him, but someone stopped me. I turned around and saw the Gym Leader.
"You know him?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Roark laughed.
"Yeah, he's quite the character. But don't waste your breath on him-"
"Hikari, my name is Hikari."
"Right. So are you here to challenge the Gym?"
"Uh, yeah I was planning on it tomorrow."
"Well Hikari, I'll be waiting for you right here!" We both smiled at each other while I stole a menacing glance at Shinji who was almost out of view. Roark then told me about the local museum. He took me and taught me a lot about fossils and coal and the mining history of Oreburgh City, also telling me that he worked in the mines and that I should try training there before I battled him. Afterwards I headed back to the Pokemon Center with an annoyed Electra (she really doesn't like Shinji). Dinner at the center was meatloaf with lemon meringue pie for dessert. I took a shower and then let the Pokemon run around my first floor room. It even had a deck outside with large area for the Pokemon to play in. At around eight o'clock I decided that we should do a little bit of training, and since no one else was outside with their Pokemon we did it ourselves.
"Okay you two, there is no Pokemon Contest going on in Oreburgh City this week, but we do have a Gym battle coming up, so tonight and tomorrow morning we're going to train for that Gym battle!"
"Wig!"
"Shinx!" I clapped my hands together and smiled.
"Okay, you two are going to battle each other while I give out the commands. And begin! Mazey use Razor Leaf, and Electra counter with Spark!" The small sharp leaves that were flying at Electra were destroyed by her blue electricity. "Mazey use Withdraw!" She had just begun to glow blue before Electra knocked her back, so Mazey was unable to complete the attack. We continued training for a couple more hours, then went to sleep for the night.
After our morning routine I left our room just as I was putting my hat on. Both of my Pokemon were still resting inside of their Pokeballs. Just as I had gotten outside, I saw all of the lovely couples of Valentine's Day strolling throughout the city. I tried to ignore them with little effort. By the time I had gotten to an empty park I was feeling snappy. There was a trainer there who wanted to become stronger or something, so I beat him then left for the mines.
Many men were working at bringing coal out of the mines and such, but they all looked happy. Children and Pokemon were playing nearby. I made my way down the stairs leading into the underground. I saw a man working with two human like Pokemon that I didn't recognize, so I took out my Pokedex.
"Machop, the superpower Pokemon. Though small in stature, it is powerful enough to easily heft and throw a number of Geodude at once."
"Hello!" I put down the device to see the man and his Machop waving at me.
"Oh, hi." I shyly waved back to him.
"So you're interested in the Machop?"
"Kind of, yeah." One of them walked over to me and offered to shake my hand, an offer which I gladly accepted, smiling.
"They're not only our most trusted partners, but love helping us work in the mine! Whether its destroying fallen rocks or helping us move the coal, they're a big help! Lot's of men in the mine have them!" I nodded, continuing on through the mine while battling miners who were on break. I won against all of them, so it was totally worth coming to the mines to train. Electra had wanted to stay out of her Pokeball since our last battle, so she was now walking side by side with me.
"Brick Break!" I heard a familiar voice say, before the sound of a rock being shattered.
"Shi?"
"I think it is him Electra." We turned the corner in the narrow, uninhabited tunnel in the mines. Just like I had thought, it was Shinji. "Hey Shinji." I said. Him and his Elekid looked up at me.
"Oh it's just you Troublesome."
"For the last time, that is NOT my name!"
"Whatever."
"So are you ready to battle yet?" Shinji sighed at me.
"You're still on that?"
"Yes! I'm not giving up till you give me what I want!" Meanwhile Elekid and Electra were facing off. Elekid was trying to impress Electra, while she was completely ignoring and insulting him. It got Elekid kind of worked up, so he grabbed her tail and yanked. Never do that to your Shinx. She electrocuted him (obviously), and so started the rivalry between Elekid and Electra! Shinji and I were far too involved in our own argument though to notice or prevent their quarrel from going any farther. They began their own little battle, Electra easily dodged Elekid's attacks, they being driven by anger and embarrassment. Electra proceeded to use Spark again, even further angering Elekid who started using his Brick Break at full power. Electra kept dodging his attacks, before Elekid hit the side of the tunnel with his powerful move. Everything began to shake, and everyone quickly stopped arguing. Suddenly rocks began falling from the ceiling. Small ones at first but then one the size of Electra nearly hit the Pokemon.
"Move!" Shinji yelled, him and Elekid quickly moving back farther into the tunnel. Electra tried to move as well, but rocks began falling all around her.
"Electra!" I nearly screeched. I ran at her, snatching the twenty pound Pokemon from the ground, and ran towards Shinji. I hit the ground and rolled out of the way just as the whole wall collapsed, blocking us in.
"Crap..." Shinji mumbled. That's when I realized it. I was blocked in some random unused tunnel in the Oreburgh Mines. With possibly no way out. Alone. With Shinji.
"Crap..." I mumbled aloud to myself as well.
"What?"
"Nothing! Soooo... how are we supposed to get out of here because I am not going to die in here with you."
"Thanks Troublesome." I shrugged my shoulders at his sarcasticness.
"Hello? Hello, is anyone there?" A faint voice called from beyond the freshly fallen rocks.
"Roark! Roark is that you?!" I yelled.
"Hikari? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, everyone's okay!"
"Everyone?"
"Yeah, Shinji, the Pokemon and I are all alright! Can you get us out?"
"Well..."
"Well what!? Look it's cold in here and I'm stuck with him so I want out!" I stomped my foot.
"No need to throw a tantrum Troublesome." Shinji came up beside me and placed his hand on my shoulder. I slapped it away and gave him the 'don't touch me or I will break your arm' look.
"Can you get us out of here or what?" Shinji asked.
"Um...Maybe? There are a lot of rocks and I'm not really sure how stable this tunnel is! There used to be an exit to this tunnel about a mile or two the opposite way. No one's sure how damaged or stable everything is, but that'd be your best shot."
"Then we'll go that way."
"Alright. Be careful!"
"What!? I am NOT going, especially not with him! Unless someone changes his mind about battling with me!"
"Shut your trap. I'm going, stay if you want." I looked down at the ground, biting my lip. Electra looked kind of scared...
"Fine." I said, red in the face, and followed Shinji was already walking in the opposite direction with Elekid following close behind.