Ch. 11: A Blast From The Past
Bryce turned his badge case over and over in his hands. He just couldn't get over that boy and that mysterious black pokemon of his. As he walked to the Pokemon Center, he remembered seeing a pokemon similar to the teens and pulled out his pokedex. After pressing a few buttons, a sleek, purple feline-like pokemon appeared on the screen, but since he never scanned it, no new information showed up.
"Well it sure looks like it," He said out loud. "But that can't be right, I mean, sure they look the same, but they're completely different colors." He dismissed the thought from his head, assuming maybe the boy dyed the pokemon's fur, that was a dumb trend that he was sure would come and go. As he walked through the Center's doors, he noticed a group of kids huddled around a tv screen, one with a controller in his hand. On the screen was a Zigzagoon, a little skinnier than a normal Zigzagoon, wearing human clothes and standing upright, leaping onto a wire with a hooked cane in its hands. Bryce didn't play many video games, but he guessed it was that game that Brandon raved on and on about getting when he was 8, "Sly Cooper and the Thievius Zigzagoonus" He heard the three boys talking among themselves.
"Did you hear? The Copycat Bandit took his image from this game? They say he calls himself Sly! He even dresses like him!" One boy exclaimed. "When are you getting the new one anyway?" He asked, referring to the boy playing the game who grunted in response.
"I heard he went in and robbed Team Galactic blind! Then by the time they noticed, he was gone on a Dragonite!" The second boy said in awe.
"Oh yeah? Well I heard he got caught before he even made it in and ran with his tail between his legs like a little baby Wurmple!" The other boy countered with a laugh.
"Will you two be quiet so I can concentrate?" The third boy shouted in the midst of the noise. Suddenly he slammed down the control and glared at the other three. "You see what you did? I lost!"
"Well, in that case it's my turn!"
"No way you already had a turn!"
"You guys messed me up, I get another turn!"
As the three started to wrestle over the controller, Nurse Joy hustled over with a Chansey by her side to break the three up, that was when he remembered, "Ah, man! I haven't called mom in three days!" He shouted in despair, hurrying towards the video phones, scrambling around in his pockets for Poke's before putting a 50 Poke coin in and dialing her number. After a couple of rings an image of her mom appeared on the screen. Her hair was in disarray with white powder all over it. She was in an apron so Bryce guessed it was another featless attempt at baking.
"Trying to bake something again mom?" Bryce asked with an amused grin. On the other end he heard a huff with an obvious look of displeasure on her face.
"Where've you been young man?" She asked angrily, ignoring the question. "I haven't heard from you in three days straight!"
"Well, um, y'see I've been sort of busy, a lot has been going on lately!" And before she could say anything else, Bryce started on what happened the past three days: The stampede, meeting Lash, his gym battle, but he left out the mysterious teenager, he was afraid his mom would overreact and think the boy was a dangerous stalker or something like that. She gave the right reactions in all the right places, covering her mouth in open shock at the stampede, a furrowed brow which meant worry at the mention of Lash and a sunny grin at the mention of his first gym badge.
"Aww, I'm sorry honey." She said with a sigh. "You have been through a lot and I guess I can't expect you to keep me attached to the hip. But congratulations on your first badge! You're on your way."
"Yeah I guess so," Bryce sighed. "But I don't know what I'm going to do about Lash mom. Sometimes I think it'd be better for everyone if I just left his ball in a ditch somewhere."
At this, Dawn gasped and put a hand over her mouth, her usual way of expressing her surprise or displeasure. "Bryce Wright, I've taught you better than that! You don't just give up on a pokemon just cause it's getting difficult! In fact, if I recall your father used to have a rather hard time raising a certain Munchlax of his."
Bryce blinked, thinking of the Snorlax of who's belly he'd bounced on with Brandon when they were kids. "You mean Be used to beat Dad up when he came out of his pokeball too?" (Didn't make the name up, it's the name of a Munchlax in the Pokemon Special Manga.)
Dawn giggled with amusement. "No honey, he was just a little bit of a glutton."
Bryce snorted. "A little bit?"
Dawn chose to ignore this and continued. "But what I'm saying is don't give up on Lash, and he'll come around. Speaking of pokemon, how's Turtwig?"
"Ah, I need to put her in some water pretty soon, she cracked her shell in the gym battle."
And after a little minor chit-chat, Bryce hung up and walked out the doors of the Pokemon Center. On the way out of Oreburgh, he picked up a Town Map for the Sinnoh region and opened it. "Ok," he said under his breath. "The next gym should be, here. Eterna City. Guess I need to visit Grandma while I'm there." He shrugs and starts off for Route 203. But as he reached the entrance he heard someone call out, "Bryce, wait!"
He turned around to find Stacy running up to meet him. Panting a bit to catch her breath, she straightens up and looks down at her feet with a red face. "W-well, y-you see... I just wanted to give you something before you go." She looked up with wide eyes and shouted, "J-just for luck!"
Bryce grinned. "Really Stacy? That's nice of you, what is it?" He asked, holding his hand out expectantly, and after nervously biting her lip, she leaned forward and gave him a peck on the cheek. Bryce blinked in surprise, but before he could say anything she rushed away. Rubbing his cheek, still in a daze he walked out to Route 203 next to the pond and subconsciously let out Turtwig.
'Turtwig?' She asked with a curious expression on her face, staring at her trainer who appeared to be somewhere else at the moment. She sighed, wondering if this was going to be a habit and bit him on the leg.
"Gah!" He yelled grabbing at it before rubbing his neck. "I'm sorry Turtwig, I guess I sort of got distracted." He said before picking her up and placing her in the shallow end of the water. She sighed and sunk in until only the top of her head stuck out. The hard soil her shell was made of started to absorb the water for nutrients to seal the crack. Bryce however, sat down cross-legged and thought of Stacy's kiss. It wasn't so much that he liked her, it was just the first time someone other than family had ever kissed him and it caught him off guard.
'Twig?' Turtwig asked again, motioning to where Bryce had put his badge case.
"Oh, oh yeah we did win Turtwig." He said, pulling out his badge case and showing her the new addition. She smiled and stood up for a moment to nuzzle him in the knee before she sunk back in the water.
"Thanks to Lash." Bryce murmured holding out his pokeball. At this Turtwig look bewildered and cocked an eyebrow in Bryce's direction. "No Turtwig, I don't mean like that. The only reason he helped was because Cranidos attacked him." Turtwig tilted her head to the side and smiled.
(That sounds more like him.) She thought.
"But what are we going to do with him?" Bryce pondered, she started to open her mouth before he hastily added, "No Turtwig, we're not going to abandon his pokeball in a ditch somewhere." She closed her mouth and started to think, looking around before noticing a small plot of land out in the deep end of the water. She pulled on his pants leg and nodded her head in its direction. 'Tur! Turtwig!'
"No we're not leaving him there either." Turtwig shook her head and climbed out of the water, the crack fully sealed and sat on her tail end so her legs all stuck out in front of her and mimicked a stern look on her face. With her front legs she started waving in the island's direction as though she was giving a lecture. A look of recognition appeared on Bryce's face.
"Ah! I see, let him out on that small island so we'll be out of range of his attacks. That way, I can negotiate with him without him getting away." Turtwig nodded vigorously, feeling a bead of sweat on the back of her neck. She had really meant to leave him on the island then come back the next day when he was weak from hunger to train him, but she took the credit. Bryce stood up and hurled Lash's pokeball out over the plot of land. The ball burst open and Lash emerged looking smug.
'Licki!' He said, taking his white thumb, he pulled his bottom eyelid down and stuck his immense tongue out. Obviously bragging about the win.
"Uh-oh, maybe this was a mistake?" Bryce said in a hushed whisper to Turtwig. "He's in such a good mood, maybe I could have just sat down and talked to him."
'Licki! Lickitung!' An outraged voice cried out as the realization set in that he was stuck.
Bryce shrugged. "Too late to turn back now." He turned to Lash and cupped his hands over his mouth over the enraged rants. "Lash! I want to talk to you!"
Lash fell silent for a moment, glaring at him before he opened his mouth, his tongue shooting out in an attempt to reach him. But Bryce was out of range so the force of his tongue shooting out resulted in him falling in the water. He went under for a couple of seconds before appearing, struggling for air. Bryce sighed. "I'm probably going to regret this." He mumbled, holding out his pokeball and returning him. He then let Lash out next to him and Turtwig. Gasping for breath, he appeared with his hands (paws, claws) on his knees. Bryce reached into his backpack and pulled out his blanket, wrapping it around the unfortunate pokemon who looked up at him in genuine surprise.
Bryce sat down in front of the tree and held Turtwig in his lap. She didn't take her eyes off Lash the whole time.
"Ok Lash, we need to talk." Bryce said after a couple of seconds of silence. Lash hesitantly sat down on the opposite side of the tree, blanket still wrapped around him.
"Lash, we have similar interests," Bryce started. "I mean, we both like to battle and your power would be a great asset to your team if you'd just cooperate with us. Instead of trying to be all tough and mad all the time, sometimes it's good to just sit down and relax and enjoy everything around us." He waved his hand around him, it truly was a beautiful day. There were a couple of clouds, lazily floating in the sky. There was a gently warmth that Bryce soaked in for a second. The sun was going down so the sky was bathed with soft orange and purple. The wild pokemon were all around going about their business, but despite all this Lash just grunted, 'Licki.'
"Listen, I'd like to keep you out of your pokeball, but not if you're going to be a danger to everyone around you, I want to bond, and maybe, eventually, be your friend." At this Lash snorted and simply stood up, he walked around the tree and threw the blanket in the lake. Bryce sighed and went over to fish it out before he felt a push in his rear.
"Wah!" He cried before he found himself sputtering in the water. He coughed a couple of times and pulled out the blanket. Lash grinned mischievously, 'Licki, Lick.' He said which translated to be, (Now we're even.) Turtwig jumped up and went to her battle position.
'Turtwig! Turtwig!' (That wasn't funny! You could have hurt him y'know!)
'Lick, Lickitung Licki?' (Not my problem, now where are we going?)
'Turtwig Tur Turtwig!' (Who says you're even going to walk with us?)
'Lickitung Lick!' (Are you looking to lose to me again small fry?)
Bryce sighed and slung his backpack over his shoulders. "C'mon guys we got to go, it's 6:30" He announced over their bickering. "Well, in a way this is better, at least he's not attacking us." He mumbled as they followed behind him still arguing. As the approached Jubilife, he noticed a crowd of people outside of the pokemon center, they were in a line with Team Galactic troops in front of them. One of the men was in front, towering over a cowering Nurse Joy clutching a crying Happiny to her chest. In front of the man was a tall orange primate with a long flame on the tip of its tail and a blue stripe over its forehead.
Bryce hurried in front of Nurse Joy with his arms outstretched as if to guard her. "What are you doing?" He bellowed at the men. This attracted Turtwig's attention who sheepishly ran to Bryce's side in battle position while Lash just stood to the side. One of the troops who were standing in front of the line of people spoke up. "She's past her curfew, and as part of her punishment, we're taking that weak little Happiny of hers." He said with a laugh. "What are you talking about? It's only 6:30!" He yelled, pointing at the clock that hung over the Pokemon Center.
"Heh, look again kid. Daylight Savings Time."
Bryce turned to glare at the person who was ordering the pokemon to attack and felt his eyes widen.
"No, way." He said, his eyes feeling as though they were going to burst into tears. The bright blue eyes, the buzz cut, the person who was ordering the attack was none other than Brandon.
"Brandon, what are you doing?" He demanded. "You can't just attack a defenseless woman like this!" But his calls went unanswered and he noticed that he seemed different than usual, his bright eyes were a bit more dull than usual, almost to a point where they were glazed over.
"It's no use kid." Said the man who spoke to him earlier. "This here is one of our "special" recruits, he won't hear a thing you say. Now finish the job Grunt and take the kid out while you're at it."
"Monferno, Flame Wheel, Mach Punch." Brandon said in a monotone voice. The primate leaped up, its mouth engulfed with fire as it spun its long body around and curled up, causing the fire to spread around him in the shape of a wheel. He went directly for Bryce, but Turtwig jumped in the way and took the full hit.
'Turtwig!' She cried as the fire engulfed her, as soon as the ape made contact, he uncurled his body and shot his fist out. A large afterimage of the fist appeared and punched Turtwig in the stomach, making her fly backwards into Bryce who fell to the ground. "Turtwig, are you alright?" He asked as he held the grass type. She groaned softly and stood back up, a burn visible on her forehead.
"Wow, Chimchar got that strong in such a short amount of time?" He asked while taking out his pokedex.
Monferno, the Playful Pokemon and the evolved form of Chimchar. It uses walls and ceilings to launch aerial attacks. To intimidate attackers, it stretches the fire on its tail to make itself appear bigger.
"It sure doesn't look that playful to me." Bryce said under his breath. "You sure you can do this Turtwig?" She nodded and bent her front legs ready to run, but before she could so much as to take a breath. A large pink pokemon appeared before him, grinning at Monferno. "Lash, you want to battle?" Bryce asked in surprise. Lash nodded with a 'Licki.'
"Alright, lets start off with Lick!"
But instead, Lash opened his mouth and his tongue lashed out with a dark aura, attempting an uppercut on Monferno.
"Jump and use Fury Swipes." Monferno leaped back from the tongue and using the Pokemon Center's wall, pushed his legs hard against it, propelling him into the air. Diving down, with his claws bared he readied to unleash a barrage of scratches on Lash's face.
"Defense Curl Lash!" Bryce called out, but once again, Lash didn't listen and instead, retracted his tongue and emitted an ultrasonic screech in Monferno's direction to confuse him. Monferno's eyes started spinning around in his head but he was already practically on top of Lash so as soon as he landed on top of the pink pokemon, he immediately started scratching Lickitung's face, each one particularly close to the eyes.
'Licki! Lickitung!' Lash cried out, running around while the ape went to work. "Lash listen to me!" Bryce demanded. "I'm just trying to help you out here!"
"Flame Wheel." Brandon said, not missing a beat. But this turned out to be a mistake. Monferno, still in its confused state, filled its mouth with the familiar flames and spun around its body, surrounding it with flames once again. It spun on the dismayed Lickitung for a few seconds before it jumped off, spinning on the road like a tire uncontrollably until it ran into a pile of debris that used to be a building. The debris immediately burst into flames. "Retreat!" One Galactic troop called out, letting out a blue dragon that Bryce recognized from the day at the lake. But now was not the time to scan it. "Turtwig, Lash return!" Bryce bent down to help Nurse Joy to her feet and ran with the rest into the Pokemon Center. He turned around in time to see Brandon return his pokemon and climb onto the dragon without a second glance.