Random new chapter of randomness~
Oh and Looker appears. I like Looker's music a lot and he's a cool dude that randomly gives you items that are useful. So ya. xD
Pokemon I don't own. And stuff.
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The sound of distant water dripping from the ceiling really bothered him. Other than that and the shuffling of feet though, the cave was absolutely soundless. It was a sort of loud, roaring quiet, the sort so silent that it was deafening.
Sarah finally broke the silence, by stopped at the center of a small chamber in the cave and declaring, "We're here."
Furret stood up on his hind legs and looked around enthusiastically. Beck and Igneous followed suit with less zest, scanning the area. There was nothing there except for boulders and stalagmites.
"Where would 'here' be?" Beck asked finally, wondering why they had stopped in the middle of Meteor Falls.
Sarah responded by fishing something out of her back pocket and holding it up. Beck saw that it was a pin shaped like a bird, colored black and orange—the same exact one that Sabriel had worn on her collar at Lavaridge Town. She waved it briefly like it was a signal of some sort, seeming to be glaring expectantly at the boulders.
The girl sighed, after a few moments of silence had passed with Igneous and Beck staring at her curiously. "If you're going to come out, then hurry up. We've got places to go, Looker. Sir," she added, with a sigh.
Almost immediately, one of the nearby boulders shifted and out of it leapt a man. He was tall and lanky, dark-haired and wore what looked like a detective's trenchcoat over a darker brown suit with a tie. His eyebrows were raised in an arc that made him look like he was in a perpetual state of hard thinking.
"Well then, greetings my young friend," the man tried to say with dignity, with something like a half-suppressed grin on his face. "It is good to see you here. Working hard, like always, are you not?"
"Something like that," Sarah replied wryly. Her eyes fell on the place where the man had been hiding. A ghost of a smile was on her face. "Were you waiting for me here, sir? And again with boulders..."
"Boulders," declared Looker proudly, as Furret went to greet him happily. "Are wonderful tools of disguise, employed by the diligent investigator. They are everywhere, yes, and therefore are most reliable indeed." He suddenly seemed to notice Beck and Igneous. "Ah, ah. This boy you have with you. Is he a new agent that I was not informed of? For I have never seen him before."
Sarah didn't even glance at him. "No, just someone I met and am traveling with."
Looker paused and his expression changed, as he looked between the bird-shaped that pin Sarah held and Beck. "You…this boy, does he…?"
"Yes, he knows about my job. I told him."
The man frowned. "Oriole," he scolded, his mouth a stern line. "Telling strangers on the road your secret, it is something you should not do. We, the members of the International Police, must be on guard and we have many secrets to keep. Indeed, it must not be spilled out to the world. Reckless, you certainly should not be."
Sarah shrugged, the expression on her face akin to a bored student being lectured by a droning teacher. "Well he already knows. You might as well introduce yourselves." She shot Beck a lazy look and the boy cleared his throat.
"My name is Beck," he managed politely. "I'm a Trainer and this is my partner, Igneous."
"What they call me...ah, I shall tell you my codename. It is 'Looker'," said Looker, giving him a serious nod. "I am a globe-trotting elite of the International Police. That I am. So is Oriole, as you probably see—or as she told you so recklessly. Your cover, is this not the first time it has been blown?"
"My cover has never been blown," Sarah drawled. "Telling someone doesn't count. Now, do you actually have something important to tell me, sir?"
The man didn't look bothered at her sarcasm. "Ah, yes, now that you speak of it, I do. Indeed it is of very great importance." He paused and glanced at Beck. "This boy, you know, will be in greater danger the more secrets he hears. Responsibility for his safety, it is something you must take."
Sarah seemed to scoff and Beck felt an unwelcome surge of hurt at her latest display of blatant indifference. "Says the one who told a random kid in Sinnoh your identity and all the information you had on Team Galactic," she retorted sulkily.
Looker merely smiled. "Ah, ah! But that one knew my identity, and she saw that I was no normal person, yes. As you can see, she is now the Champion of Sinnoh and therefore is competent enough to know of the International Police." He hesitated once more and said with severity, "Very well, then. This important information, I will now tell you." He glanced around then lowered his voice. "Within the International Police, yes, there is a traitor. This is what I heard, most certainly!"
"A traitor?" Sarah didn't sound particularly interested. Beck looked at her in confusion.
Looker took her lack of strong reaction for shock and continued gravely, "Yes, definitely, it is no mistake. I have not misheard. There are villains prowling this region, most certainly, and they have much information they should not have. A traitor, yes, that is the only logical conclusion."
A device in his pocket began beeping. Looker glanced in its direction, but made no move to take it out. "It seems I must go. There is little time and I will go to complete my own investigations. Do be careful, for I do not like the sound of some traitor among the ranks."
"You're not staying in the region?" Sarah asked.
He shook his head intensely. "No, it is not I whom you are reporting to this time. Kingfisher is the one you must find, yes. He is in charge for your mission."
"Oh. Him," she said flatly, pale eyes flashing with something that Beck identified as strong distaste.
"Learning to get along, it is a good thing," Looker counseled. "That last mission…" He paused and shook his head. "Nevermind. I shall attempt to finish my investigations, quickly, yes, so that I may return to aid you." He paused again and this time, said in a slightly cheerier tone, "Anyways, that Poketch I gave you some time ago, from Sinnoh I remember. It is working out?"
Sarah blinked and glanced down at her wrist which was bare, then gestured to her messanger bag. "Oh that. I don't wear it here. It's too conspicuous. I was given a PokeNav to blend in with the Hoenn Trainers."
Looker grinned. "Ah, ah. Yes. As was I, and it is very useful indeed. A very good design, it has, all the buttons in convenient placing."
Sarah rolled her eyes, seeming exasperated at the man's obvious fascination with gadgets.
Looker nodded, as whatever was in his pocket rang again, high-pitched and urgent. "Yes, yes. Carry on, Oriole. And farewell."
With that, the senior agent swiftly plucked the beeping gadget from his pocket in a blur, spun on his heels and exited in a peculiar, bouncing manner that was somewhere between walking and jogging.
"Is he really an undercover...detective?" Beck asked weakly, unsure what to think of the rather eccentric man.
"He is my superior and the one who trained me," Sarah said mildly. "He's the supervisor of the exclusively undercover agents."
Beck stared after the spot where Looker had vanished. "If you have PokeNavs and all that, why don't you just call each other?"
Sarah snorted. "That would save me a lot of hassle, but no. Those things can be tracked, and there isn't an encrypted network around here. I could get my stuff secured like Looker's, but I don't think I need to for this mission. It'd be better to meet the other agents in person. Kingfisher never answers his calls anyways." Her eyes hardened and abruptly, she stuck the orange pin back into her pocket. "We should go."
Beck nodded slowly, his eyes at where the pin had vanished. "What's that?"
Sarah glanced down. "The pin? That's my symbol of identification. Every undercover agent has a unique one. Sabriel was carrying a copy of mine—the real pins are made of the same stuff as Gym Badges."
She sighed and straightened.
"I suppose what Looker said about a traitor was true, because only other agents know what the pins look like enough to make a copy of them." A wry smile appeared on her lips, and she tapped her pocket. "I also have an actual police badge for official occasions, but they're not as subtle as the pins."
As Beck absorbed this latest information, Sarah shouldered her taupe messenger bag, absently tugging the hood on her plain black jacket back. She brushed some dirt off of her denim shorts, and gestured to Furret. Sarah looked so much like an ordinary girl with a mundane Pokemon, except for the subtle poise she radiated, the way she stood lightly on her feet like she was ready to spring away at any moment, the lazy but dangerous watchfulness in her eyes.
Beck was still having trouble believing that all that had happened was true.
"What?" Sarah asked abruptly. The boy quickly looked away, embarrassed at having been caught staring.
"Nothing," he said, calling Igneous as he prepared to resume walking.
Sarah was quiet as they reached Rustboro City, glancing off to the side and seeming deep in thought. Beck didn't dare disturb her and she didn't even seem to notice him until they were standing before the Rustboro Gym, just out of range for the automatic doors to open. Then, she finally looked up and stared at the building for a moment.
"You're challenging the Gym already? Without doing any more training?"
Beck gave her an odd look. "You're the one who pushed me to challenge Flannery before I thought I was ready."
"You were ready," Sarah said calmly, a placid sort of absolute certainty in her voice. "But right now you're not."
"Why not?" Beck asked, a little sharply. The girl shrugged, her head turning to look back up to the sky. Her voice was cool and apathetic.
"It's up to you."
She didn't say anything more, and so Beck turned away from her and walked into the Gym. He felt rather embittered by her words and her indifference, feeling determined to take the Stone Badge just to show her. A Gym battle, too, would take his mind off of the utter nonsense that was happening to him lately.
The layout of the place was simple and there were only two inexperienced Gym Trainers that Beck wiped the floor with. They served as a fair warm-up and by the time he reached the older girl standing on the platform, the boy felt pretty confident.
Roxanne nodded to him. "Welcome. Let's cut the small talk. Four, isn't it?"
Beck nodded. They faced each other, with Beck sending out Oddish to take the Typing advantage immediately. Roxanne had a Golem on her side. Beck felt a little apprehensive, facing a mean-looking fully-evolved Pokemon right off the bat, but he was confident that Oddish would run circles around their slow, bulky opponent.
"Absorb!" he called.
Roxanne frowned, twirling a lock of her brown hair. "Protect!"
The roots of the Absorb attack bounced harmlessly off of a faintly glowing shield that Golem cast around itself.
Beck crossed his arms. "Again!"
Oddish launched another Absorb attack, the roots jabbing aggressively at the edges of the shield until the Protect failed. Golem let out a heavy groan as it was hit by the Grass move and was drained of its energy.
"One more time," Beck ordered. Roxanne bit her lip, a sullen expression on her face as she watched her Golem go down. Beck grinned, swelling with buoyancy at being able to easily two-shot his opponent.
Roxanne frowned again and sent out an Onix. The rock snake uncoiled threateningly, rumbling in an intimidating manner. But it, too, had a quadruple weakness to Grass and size didn't change that.
"Absorb!" Beck commanded, confident of another easy win. Roxanne narrowed her eyes.
"Explosion," she said.
Beck had half a second to comprehend that and cover his ears as Onix glowed white and then erupted into a blast of arcing energy, shaking the Gym to its foundation.
The very air seemed to scream in pain, the tortured sound stretching for two seconds, fading into a thin wail and then dull silence descending just as abruptly. Beck slowly looked up and saw Oddish lying limply on the ground, at the edge of a smoldering crater. On the other side of the battlefield, at the very center of the crater, the Onix lay also unconscious from the backlash of its sacrificial attack.
A bit shaken by her unexpected reckless strategy, but still feeling confident, Beck withdrew Oddish and sent Baltoy out. Roxanne stared coolly at the top-like Pokemon before calling, "Go Kabuto!"
The Pokeball burst open and revealed a squat, dome-shaped brown thing with dully glowing crimson eyes peering out from underneath.
Beck called, "Mud Slap!"
Baltoy twirled forward, ready to douse its opponent with dirt. A smirk played at the corner of Roxanne's lips.
"Use Surf," she commanded. The Kabuto shifted and did a small, strange hop. Out of absolutely nowhere, water swelled from underneath it, rising higher and higher, growing immediately into a gigantic cresting wave. The wave easily washed away the Mud Slap attack and surged towards Baltoy like the mouth of a giant famished creature.
"Go up!" Beck cried, hoping his Pokemon would make it. Baltoy floated up higher, attempting to get above the wave before it hit. It was too late though. The water hungrily snatched the small top Pokemon into its depths, and then crashed down onto the floor with a mighty roar. The impact sent the water up and raining back down in narrow streaks—completely soaking Beck instantly.
Baltoy was also soaked. It lay sputtering and drenched, like a limp wet rag on the ground. It produced a coughing sound and Beck couldn't bear to force it to fight on. He withdrew Baltoy slowly, feeling the beginnings of panic from losing both of his main counters against Roxanne's team. The boy stared at the other two Pokeballs at his belt, at a loss which one he should use next.
Igneous, obviously, would not be able to take a Surf attack. But Beck had not yet trained with Solo at all. He didn't even know what moves the metal bird carried other than Fury Attack—and that was useless against a Rock-type Gym. Skarmory didn't seem to have the best Special Defenses either, and Beck didn't think Solo could stand up to such a powerful Surf that much better than the Numel.
Roxanne was waiting and so the boy had to make his decision. "Go, Igneous!"
His opponent stared at the Fire-Ground-type and gave him a look of disbelief. "Surf."
"Magnitude!" Beck shouted, closing his eyes and hoping, hard, that it would be strong enough. Igneous squared his shoulders fearlessly at the sight of the incoming wave and stomped the ground with determination.
There were shouts and complaints from the Gym trainers as the building was once again thrown into violent shaking. The shockwaves tossed loose debris into the air, and completely broke the Surf attack, shaking it aside. Like water in a bowl being hurled against the wall, the wave was tossed to the side by the quake. Kabuto, riding on top of the water, lost its balance, and tumbled down towards the ground.
"Great job, Igneous!" Beck said, his heart lifting. "Quickly—finish it off with another Magnitude!"
Igneous obeyed and the ground quivered angrily, sending the foe rolling. The boy was fairly celebrating his victory, when Kabuto shakily rose—it was battered by the Magnitude, but the power of the inconsistent move wasn't enough to knock it out.
"Surf!" Roxanne shouted. Beck shouted something, too, but his voice was lost in the roar of the new wave that crashed down onto Igneous. The Numel didn't have any time to dodge and was instantly KO'd by the wall of water that swallowed him.
Beck didn't have a choice now. He reluctantly sent out Solo.
The Skarmory emerged with a battle cry. His golden eyes locked onto the Kabuto and without awaiting Beck's orders, the bird launched itself at his foe, picked it up on his claws and began angrily pecking the Rock-type in midair.
"Ice Beam!" Roxanne shouted. Kabuto struggled in Solo's talons and wildly launched a blast of ice that went wide, freezing a nearby section of the wall. Solo screeched, and then dropped the Kabuto altogether. The already weakened Rock-type hit the ground with a loud thump and was still.
"Um…good job, Solo," Beck said hesitantly, unsure what to think of the Skarmory's aggression.
Roxanne stared at the Pokeball in her hand intently, before sending out her final Pokemon. A giant oddly-shaped cobalt rock with legs appeared. The rock emitted a noise that sounded like a sigh and turned around, revealing a giant triangular red section that looked like a nose, affixed to its face. Small beady eyes peered blankly at Beck.
"Solo! Use…" Beck trailed off, as he remembered he didn't really know what Solo could use. The Skarmory launched forward in response and attacked with his claws.
"This Pokemon you have…" Roxanne said coolly. "Has had no training whatsoever. Nosepass, Double Team!"
Suddenly, there were several large rock Pokemon with oversized noses. Skarmory halted and glanced around in confusion.
"Now—Rock Slide!"
"Dodge it!" Beck shouted. But Solo didn't know which Nosepass to watch out for. The Rock Slide hit him from behind, knocking him down with a screech. Solo managed to recover before he hit the ground, though, and turned to attack the real Nosepass.
"Protect! Then use Rock Slide again!"
The shimmering shield materialized and Skarmory ran right into it with his beak, seeming to stun himself in the process. He had no opportunity to evade the next storm of falling rocks and was knocked to the floor this time. The rocks continued to rain down and quickly buried the bird entirely.
"Solo!" Beck called, his eyes widening in horror. The pile of rubble shifted, and the Skarmory emerged slowly. He stumbled into the opening and spread his wings awkwardly, trying to fly back up, but only ended up tripping over himself. Perhaps he had been hit on the head, because Solo appeared to be haphazardly off-balance.
Roxanne closed her eyes and turned away. "That's enough. You've fought hard, but you need some more training. Your Skarmory has potential, but it's obviously newly caught and inexperienced with fighting with a Trainer." She withdrew her Nosepass and started walking towards a door. "Come back when you're ready."
Sarah's face was blank as Beck walked silently out of the Gym, still dripping water from the Surf attack. He passed her without saying a word and went towards the Pokemon Center.
"How bad was it?" she asked flatly. Beck glanced away from her.
"One to zero."
"That's not as bad as I thought." Her tone wasn't mocking, but it wasn't encouraging either. She waited until Nurse Joy handed his Pokeballs back to him and then walked out of the Center.
"Where are you going?"
"Out of the city," Sarah replied without looking back. She paused briefly to say, "You can come if you want."
Without awaiting an answer, she resumed walking. Beck stared dumbly at her back and her straight hazel hair for a moment. Then he followed, jogging to catch up.
Sarah stopped again, this time just short of Rustboro City, in the middle of a large meadow ridden with flowers. The sun was a blinding golden burst in the sky, a piercing layer of heat beating down on them. Even the wind brought little relief; it blew hot harshly sunlit air, and wayward Bug-type Pokemon.
Sarah put her messenger bag down at the foot of a tree and turned to face him.
"What?" Beck asked, confused.
"We're training."
The boy frowned, feeling himself being sapped by the heat already. "Now? But it's lunchtime…"
The girl glanced upwards. "It's noon. We should train while the sun is high." Beck had no idea how that had any relevance at all.
She looked back down and stared at him directly in his eyes. Furret dropped on all fours, and crouched downwards. "Here we come. Return!"
Beck barely had time to shout a warning before Furret shot towards Igneous like a brown bullet.
"Use Ember," the boy called. Igneous obeyed, shooting a burning flare right at Furret's face. It looked like a perfectly-aimed hit that would land solidly, but the Long Body Pokemon ripped right through the flames, using his claws to easily slice it cleanly apart like he would a crimson curtain. The sparks danced across the claws and they continued on their path, unhindered, to swat Igneous on the side of his head, knocking him a few paces back.
"Ember isn't going to cut it anymore," Sarah said calmly. "Especially against a Rock-type Gym like Roxanne."
"I'm didn't even use Fire-type moves against her," Beck protested. "I have Magnitude." Trying to prove it, he had Igneous use the Ground-type move.
The ground shook, causing Beck to stumble. Furret, however, leapt up, seeming to dance on the very air. His paws batted Igneous again, a light chastening blow.
"That horribly unreliable move," Sarah deadpanned. "Is worthless."
"Growl," Beck growled.
Igneous made the deep rumbling sound in his chest, but that didn't stop Furret from whacking him again.
"Too slow." Her voice was cold, dripping frost and light contempt.
Beck felt some slow sluggish anger stir within him like a hibernating beast that was awakening. "Tackle!"
Before Igneous could execute that, Furret hit him again, this time knocking him rolling. The Numel scrambled to his feet, the beginnings of frustration in his eyes.
"You're not focusing."
"Ember!"
Once again, Furret cut right through the attack, his claws scattering the small flames into harmless sparks. When Furret attacked again, Igneous was thrown several feet across the battlefield.
"Get up! Use Tackle!" Beck all but snarled. Igneous rose and looked back at him, his eyes still half-closed. The boy would have felt bad for yelling at him, but it was like something within him had snapped after being stretched taut for a while. "Hurry!"
Igneous hurled himself at his opponent. Sarah seemed to sigh as Furret weaved aside and slammed the Numel away.
Beck bit down burning frustration, wiping sweat from the side of his face. Physical attacks weren't working, because Igneous simply couldn't match up to Furret's sheer speed. Beck shouted for another Ember attack, but that was once again extinguished.
"You're being redundant," Sarah said coldly. Beck frowned, uncertain what she meant by that, but sure that it was probably belittling.
Igneous spat another volley of small flames, his eyes narrowed in concentration, trying to hit Furret. The Long Body Pokemon leapt back, tail sweeping tauntingly. The Numel paused for a moment and looked downwards. He seemed to realize something very important and quickly launched another Ember attack. Furret slashed this one apart as well, but Igneous's movements were faster now. He shot stream after stream of Ember, each weak and small flicker of flame lapping a little bigger, until they combined into short, harsh spurts.
Igneous took a deep breath and unleashed a large burst of fire that left a strident hiss in the air. Furret was forced to dodge this attack, leaping aside. There was an expression of shock on his face, as he watched the flames cackle on the ground where they had landed.
"He learned Flame Burst," said Sarah, sounding quite unsurprised. "Good job."
All of his frustration died down into surprise. "Flame Burst…" Beck repeated. Igneous looked at him expectantly.
"He wants lunch," Sarah said shortly, walking past him. "Numels can't stand hunger. I suppose that along with the strong sunlight was what pushed him to learn the new move."
"Oh…"
Igneous plodded over and bumped his hand with his head.
"Right." Beck quickly gave the Pokemon some Berries to munch on while he searched for the Pokemon food in his backpack. Sarah was sitting down with Furret under the tree where her own bag was and Beck scrambled to join her, escaping from the direct heat of the sun.
"So what was the point of that?" he ventured.
"The point of what?" Sarah dug around her in bag and fished out some Soda Pops.
"Of learning Flame Burst. It's a better Fire move than Ember, yeah, but you said it yourself. It's a Rock-type Gym. Why...?"
Sarah smiled to herself as she opened the can of Soda Pop, snapping the cap off with a hiss. "I think you'll find it useful," she said cryptically.
They spent the next few days training like his life depended on it. For some reason, Sarah insisted that Igneous master the ins and outs of Flame Burst, even though Beck wasn't planning to use it against Roxanne. She had the Numel fight Furret endlessly, until Igneous could aim the Fire move expertly. Then, she used her Ninjask against Igneous. Beck had thought Furret was insanely fast, but when Ninjask moved, he seemed to vanish off the very face of the planet briefly.
The Bug-type seemed faster than sound itself, and no matter how hard they tried, Igneous could only hit the Ninjask's afterimage. Afterwards, however, the Numel had not only honed his Flame Burst to the point of nearly perfect precision, but had also learned Take Down. Sarah was satisfied enough to allow Beck to train his other Pokemon.
At first the boy had been disgruntled at being so briskly ordered around, but he grudgingly accepted that Sarah seemed to always know what she was doing. Perhaps it came with being a trained secret agent, or whatever she was.
It all seemed to get better from there, despite Sarah's frightening training regime. Baltoy's Speed and reaction time saw definitive progress from being forced to dodge repeated X-Scissors from Ninjask, and Oddish also improved greatly, learning a new move as well.
The only member of Beck's team that seemed to dawdle far behind the others was Solo. The only thing that Beck learned from attempting to train the metal bird was his moveset—Fury Attack, Swift, Agility, and Sand-Attack. Sarah informed him that it would be a long time before the Skarmory learned Steel Wing and would be able to do respectable damage to Rock-types at all.
And it wasn't just his moveset that was discouraging; Solo also proved to be extremely stubborn and rebellious, attacking and dodging out of time with Beck's orders. There was no connection between them in battle. Sarah told the boy that the only thing that would work was harsh discipline.
"Something you yourself lack, so I doubt you can teach it to others," she said bluntly. Sarah seemed to have plenty of "harsh discipline", but she didn't offer to train Solo herself and Beck didn't want her to anyways. The past incident with Sabriel's Rare Candies made him slightly wary of putting his Pokemon in or even near other people's hands—and Sarah wasn't someone he entirely trusted either, even though the Suspicion Voice that yammered in the back of his head whenever he had talked to Sabriel was, for some reason, quiet in Sarah's presence.
He would personally train Solo. But nothing he tried worked. The Skarmory remained completely out of sync with his Trainer, and in the end, Beck decided it was best not to try to not use Solo at all in the Rustboro Gym.
Then, on the morning before Beck's second attempt at beating Roxanne, Sarah declared that she had to leave briefly.
"I'll be gone a few hours," she said, packing her messenger bag with fresh supplies she had gotten from the Mart. "I need to…investigate something."
Beck didn't bother to question her and her job. The Suspicion Voice was silent.
He wondered if he could take the opportunity of her absence to ditch her and escape all the madness associated with her. Hoenn was a big place; surely no matter how good she was, Sarah couldn't track him across an entire region…
At this, the Suspicion Voice did offer an opinion. She'll find you. She'll use whatever means necessary.
Beck had to agree. Sarah wouldn't have left him if she thought she couldn't catch him if he tried to run away. Her Furret could probably pick up his scent or something of that sort. Besides, traveling with her thus far hadn't been as awful as he had feared. No one strange had attacked them, there were no killer battles in alleyways. Sarah seemed to be an extremely experienced Trainer despite only having two years over him—she was twelve, she said—and Beck had to admit his team had shot up in strength with her help.
He reluctantly dropped entertaining elaborate ideas of escape and began walking towards the Gym. Beck took two deep breaths, turning his mind to a general strategy to take on Roxanne.
"Hey kid!"
Beck turned to see a boy about his age running towards him. He raised an eyebrow.
"You going to challenge Roxanne?" the boy asked, flipping the rim of an orange baseball cap he wore.
"Yeah."
The Youngster beamed. "Great! Hey, I think I can help you out." He took out a Pokeball. "I've got a pretty good Water-type here. Why don't you take him? This guy just won me the match against Roxanne." He proudly whipped out a Stone Badge from his pocket with his other hand.
"Oh I couldn't just take your Pokemon," Beck protested.
The Youngster shrugged. "Don't feel bad, I'll just lend him to you for your Gym match. Well...I guess you can trade me one of your Pokemon, and then trade back after you beat the Gym. You'll be helping me out too—my brother told me to help fill his PokeDex while he was away."
Beck thought that was a sensible idea. He brought out his team and waited as the Youngster pondered over which Pokemon he wanted to trade for.
"Aha," the boy declared with a grin, pointing to Solo. "I haven't gotten the data for that one yet."
Beck nodded, although he felt a little loathe parting with one of his Pokemon, even temporarily. He hestitated.
What if this makes Solo dislike you even more? What if he doesn't want to come back?
Beck pressed down his uncorroborated concerns, exasperated at how paranoid he was sometimes. The trade was made quickly, and then Beck was waving goodbye to the Youngster.
"Thanks for helping me with the PokeDex! Catch ya later," the other boy called cheerily. "I'll meet you by the Devon Corps Building at noon, after you're done with your match, for the trade-back."
As Beck resumed his walk towards the Gym, he paused to check what sort of Water Pokemon he had received. It was a Poliwhirl named "Rush", and it knew Bubblebeam, Hypnosis, Body Slam, and Rain Dance. Beck was rather impressed with the well thought-out moveset and felt a rush of gratefulness to the generous Youngster. The Water-type would be a great help against Roxanne.
Whistling a cheery tune, he tucked the Poliwhirl's Pokeball into the last slot at his belt and entered the Rustboro Gym.
.
So yes. Beck gets his rematch with Roxanne next chapter.
Looker talks really funny, at least in the games, so I tried to mimic that.
CONSPIRACY. More randomness to come! :D
Thanks for reading~ ^.^