CHAPTER 8: In Which There Is Another Battle At Last
After a huge dinner at the cheapest Kanto restaurant they could find, and the longest, hottest shower of Gwen's life, she'd slept like a baby, not even waking when Rufflet tried his usual alarm clock trick, or when Adrian knocked on the door. Eventually he'd called her Pokegear four times in a row, and she'd finally surfaced.
They had a nice quick smoothie breakfast, used the Pokecentre's laundromat, and then finally headed out into the city. While Gwen had been sleeping, Adrian had been looking at Galena brochures, and had discovered a couple of interesting looking shops he wanted to check out. They turned out to be mostly terrible, but they'd both picked up a couple of souvenirs and postcards they could mail back to their families in Adventurine. Tanzanite town was only a train trip away, so they spent all morning and some of the afternoon just continuing to be awful tourists.
Eventually they got sick of the landscape, and after taking a final few happy snaps, they picked up a couple of tickets and boarded the train.
"This is the first time I've ever caught a train, I think," Adrian said, looking out the window nervously. "They're totally safe, right?"
"Oh yeah, sure," Gwen said, trying to hide a smile. "Usually only a couple trains per day crash."
"What?" He stared at her with wide, terrified eyes. "A couple of trains? Per day?"
Gwen collapsed into laughter. "Adrian, you're so gullible!" she scolded. "Of course they're safe!"
There was a pause.
"I mean, I've never ridden on one either," she continued, leaning back and closing her eyes calmly. "They're probably safe."
Adrian made a tiny little sad noise, and when she opened her eyes she saw him curled into his chair. She couldn't help but laugh.
"Seriously man, you're too easy."
Apart from Gwen continuing to tease Adrian, and Adrian continuing to be an easy target, the train ride was uneventful. Through the scratched windows they watched the landscape speed past: from the farmland of Galenaville, to untouched brush, to the heavily forested outskirts of Tanzanite Town. Tanzanite was in the depths of an ancient forest; even at Adventurine Gwen had heard tales of pokemon living in Tanzanite Forest that had been alive for millenia. She had always dismissed those tales, but as they traveled past trees that were so old and tall she couldn't see the tops, she had to wonder. If there were pokemon that old in the world, she wouldn't be surprised if they made this forest their home
The journey from Galenavlle to Tanzanite Town took a few hours, but for Gwen, the time flew by. She spent it glued to the window, drinking in the sights. Adrian had watched with her for a while, but after a time the rhythm of the train had put him to sleep.
When the train pulled in at the station with a loud squeal, Adrian fell off his chair as he woke. Gwen couldn't help giggling at his bewildered expression as he looked up at her from the ground.
"What?" he asked sleepily.
"We're here, dude!" she said. "Wake up, already."
It took a minute for Adrian to wake up enough to understand what was going on, but once he did, he went from asleep to excited in a heartbeat.
"We're here?" he asked, eyes wide. "Really here?"
"No, Adrian," Gwen said, rolling her eyes. "We're fake here, it's all a trick."
He ignored her, a bounce in his step as they exited the train. The station was quiet; at this time of the afternoon there was hardly anyone catching the train, and most of the other passengers had rushed off the second it had stopped. Apart from Gwen and Adrian, the only other people on the platform were the station guards.
The station was surrounded by enormous trees. Even when she tilted her head all the way back, Gwen could barely make out the tops of some of the trees – and those were the shortest ones! The late afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves, creating a dappled pattern on the platform that made Gwen feel like she was in some kind of magical fairyland. It was spectacular.
"This place is amazing," Gwen whispered to Adrian.
He laughed. "And this is just the train station!" he agreed. "I can't wait to see the rest of Tanzanite!"
As it happened, the first thing they saw as they left the station wasn't so pretty: two teenage boys were picking on a younger kid.
"Hey," Gwen shouted as they approached. "Scram!"
The kids took one look at them before bolting off down the street.
"They took my Teddiursa," the kid bawled, tears streaming down his face.
"Oh jeez," Gwen muttered. "You calm him down," she told Adrian, "and I'll go get his pokemon back."
Before Adrian could reply, she dashed through the trees after the thieving teens. Tanzanite, she discovered as she ran, looked to be as ancient a town as the forest. It looked like there had once been a path, but now it was almost completely overgrown, and there were trees everwhere. Here and there between the trees were small log cabins covered in moss and flowers, and there were wild vegetable gardens near each one. The air was fresh and clean, and the whole place would have had a serene aura if she hadn't been running at top speed.
Finally, she was able to corner the boys at the edge of the sheer cliff that surrounded most of Tanzanite Town.
"Hey lady," one yelled at her. "Back off! We left him alone, what more do you want?"
"You stole his pokemon, you twerp," she replied. "Now give it back before I have to kick your ass!"
The other scoffed, but nervously played with the strap of his goggles. "As if," he said, as if that settled matters.
Gwen pulled her pokeball of her chain, and enlarged it with a flick of her wrist. "Give it back," she repeated sternly.
"Hey, Brady, maybe we should..." the one with the goggles began at a volume that he clearly thought was sneaky.
"No!" Brady replied, scowling at Gwen. "You're interfering, and you have no right!"
"I actually do," Gwen replied with a quick grin. She flipped open her jacket, revealing the two gleaming emblems pinned to her shirt.
"Brady," his friend repeated pleadingly, tugging at his shirt. "A hero? You can't beat her!"
Brady roughly pulled away from his friend. "I can beat anyone! I'm going to be the Pokemon Champion one day!" He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a pokeball. "I'll show you!" he yelled. "Go Lomz!"
"Lomz?" Gwen wondered, as he threw his pokeball high in the air. A red beam came out, and resolved into the shape of a pokemon that Gwen wasn't familiar with. With a green lilypad on its head that matched the green pattern going down its body, red-clawed hands and feet, and a big red bill for a mouth, it was kind of menacing looking. For once in her life, Gwen wished she was a pokemon trainer – at least then she'd have a pokedex, and could have learned what kind of pokemon it was.
"Go Ralts!" she cried, tossing her pokeball in the air. The familiar shape of her friend was soon posed dramatically on a rock near her, making her feel a lot more comfortable. She knew Ralts was strong, they could totally take out this mysterious opponent.
"Alright Ralts," she said. "We're gonna go with the flow on this one." It was a secret command between the two of them that if he thought he saw an opportunity, he should take it: that she had no real strategy for the battle.
Brady smirked at her. It looked like he might have seen through her code.
"Never seen a Lombre before, huh?" he bragged, sticking his thumbs through his belt loops. "Mine's really strong, it's going to totally destroy your pokemon."
"You wish," Gwen replied, mind racing. So it was a Lombre...she thought she'd heard that before. And she could probably make some guesses...it was green, and it had a lilypad. So maybe...water type? Ralts was usually pretty okay against those. "Ralts," she commanded, pointing at the Lombre. "Confusion!"
Ralts took a deep breath, concentrating on his psychic power.
"Lomz, just let it hit you," Brady said with a small smile. "You know what to do!"
What the heck kind of strategy included getting hit, Gwen wondered. But it was too late to change her own strategy – Ralts had drawn in enough psychic energy, and opened his mouth, directing it towards Lombre.
The blast of energy hit Lombre square in the face, and he tumbled backwards. Gwen cheered. "You did it, Ralts!" she called, bouncing. It had taken so long for Ralts to get accuracy like that, it was exciting to see it in action.
Lombre clambered back to its feet. Gwen could see its claws weren't the same red as before – they were glowing!
"Absorb!" Brady called, and before Gwen could do anything, Lombre had lifted its arms and pointed towards Ralts, shooting out red beams from its hands. Ralts had no time to evade, and was hit, collapsing on the rock, glowing the same red as the beams.
"Ralts," Gwen wailed. "No!"
After a long moment, the beams and the red glow around Ralts faded. But now Lombre looked like he was at full strength again, and Ralts looked exhausted.
"Come on, Ralts, get up!" Gwen pleaded. Ralts climbed to his feet, but Gwen could see how much it cost him.
"See how strong my Lomz is?" Brady bragged, grinning wide. Gwen wanted to punch that look off his face, but she held her temper in check.
"So it stole some of my Ralts' energy," she replied, trying to sound careless. "So what!"
"So your stupid Ralts is gonna lose this fight. Just give in, already!"
Stupid? Stupid? Nobody called Ralts stupid. Gwen's vision went red.
"Ralts!" she called. "We'll show that stupid Lombre how strong you are! Confusion!"
Ralts gave a determined nod, then blasted Lombre again with his psychic energy, an attack that Lombre again didn't bother to avoid.
"You're never going to win like this," Brady laughed. "Lomz, Absorb!"
"Teleport!" called Gwen, having anticipated the same strategy from Brady. A split second before Lombre's beam could hit him, Ralts teleported away, to just behind Lombre.
"Double Team!" Gwen continued. "Then Confusion again!" She knew to win this, she and Ralts needed to stay on the offensive, before Lombre could absorb all of Ralts' energy.
As Lombre turned, Ralts flickered, creating a copy of himself.
Brady laughed. "You think that's gonna stop us? Lomz, use Nature Power!"
As both Ralts charged a blast of psychic energy – one real, and one simply an illusion – Lombre began to charge his own attack. Ralts' double Confusion attack arced towards the Lombre, and Gwen bit her lip nervously. Just before the energy blast could hit, a barrage of sharp leaves flew out of Lombre's lilypad, exploding as they made contact with the real Confusion attack. The blast caused by the two attacks colliding hit both Lombre and Ralts, dissolving the illusory pokemon and sending the real pokemon flying.
They landed hard, and there were a few moments when neither stirred.
"Ralts..." Gwen whispered. "Are you okay?" Ralts lifted his head very slowly, like he was in pain.
"Please," she continued. "Please keep fighting, Ralts. For me?" She knew Lombre was hurt as well, and she was determined to win this with Ralts if it was the last thing she did.
Brady's friend, who had been standing silently by throughout the battle, stepped forward, tugging on Brady's sleeve. "Dude," he said softly. "Maybe you should call it a draw?"
"No!" Brady snapped. "I said I was going to win, and I'm going to! Lomz, get up!"
The Lombre stirred, and began to struggle to its feet.
"Ralts, please!" Gwen called. "I want to help that little boy, but I can't do it without you!"
At the reminder of why they were fighting, Ralts seemed to find a hidden reserve of energy. He climbed to his feet, and even though he was covered in dirt and scratches, Gwen knew he was ready to battle.
"We can do this!" she cheered. "Hit it with another Confusion!"
"Not this time!" Brady scowled. "Lomz – Astonish!"
As Ralts struggled to generate enough psychic energy for another attack, Lombre rushed towards it. At the last moment, it stopped, pulling an ugly face and shouting at Ralts, who tumbled backwards, crashing into a rock and lying still.
"Ralts..." Gwen whispered in shock, tears welling up. "Please be okay, I don't know what I'll do if you're hurt!"
Ralts didn't move.
Gwen fell to her knees, covering her mouth with her hands. She hadn't thought she and Ralts were going to lose to this awful teen, and she definitely hadn't thought Ralts was going to get this hurt. She felt like a completely irresponsible trainer – a hero who couldn't even protect her own pokemon wasn't much of a hero!
Brady strutted back and forth behind Lombre. "If he doesn't get up, you have to forfeit," he sneered at Gwen.
"Ralts," she repeated softly, reaching out a hand towards him. Then something made her stop in shock: The red disks on the top of his helmet were becoming brighter and brighter, glowing like they had when Lombre had used Absorb. The glow spread over Ralts' whole body, but instead of the red of the attack, this glow was a pure white.
"Oh no," groaned Brady. "Are you kidding me right now?"
Gwen couldn't believe her eyes. As they watched, riveted, Ralts slowly stood. Under the glow, they could see him growing taller, the white that had always resembled a pantsuit splitting and shrinking, until it looked more like a tutu. Underneath, his legs were green and graceful, standing en-point. His helmet-like hair lengthened into pigtails, and the red disks slid to the sides of his head. His eyes, which had previously been hidden, were now revealed by his angular fringe.
Ralts had evolved into Kirlia.
"Oh my god," Gwen whispered, as the glow faded away. "Ralts – I mean,Kirlia – that was awesome!"
Kirlia turned to Gwen, giving her a wink.
"Alright, Brady," Gwen said, awe turning into triumph. "Ready to be completely demolished?"
Brady looked a little ill. Although Kirlia still looked a little injured, Gwen knew he was now way stronger than he'd ever been as as a Ralts, and this battle was going to be no contest.
"Lomz, use Absorb!" he tried.
Kirlia didn't need to be told to get out of the way. Now he was taller and more graceful, it was easy for him to evade an attack as obvious as Lombre's Absorb. He did a slow pirouette to the side, easily slipping past the red beams.
"Confusion!" Gwen called.
Kirlia's twin disks glowed briefly, before he lifted his arms and shot the blast towards Lombre. It was kind of exciting, Gwen thought, that the way he used the attack was different now that he had evolved. Lombre tried to dodge the attack, but he was slow and weak, and was hit square in the face as he tried to turn away.
Kirlia shot blast after blast of psychic energy at Lombre, until the pokemon's last reserves of energy were gone. Lombre flopped to the ground, closing its eyes. It was clear that it wouldn't be getting up any time soon.
"No!" yelled Brady. "Lomz, get up!"
But the Lombre had fainted. The battle was over.
Scowling furiously, Brady returned his Lombre to his pokeball. "That was unfair!" he said. "If your stupid pokemon hadn't evolved, I would've won!"
"But you didn't," Gwen said, trying to hide a grin. "You lost! So hand over that Teddiursa, punk."
Brady didn't look happy to be ordered around, and Gwen thought he might have just made another break for it if his friend hadn't tugged on his sleeve.
"Brady," his friend pleaded. "Can we just go already? Give her the stupid pokemon, who even cares?"
"Fine!" Brady said. "I don't care!" He hurled a pokeball at Gwen's face at top speed, and it would have hit her if Kirlia hadn't caught the ball in a psychic field at the last minute. Gwen plucked the ball from mid-air, and smirked.
"Nice doing business with you, boys," she said, giving them a careless wave as she turned and walked away. She was being a bad sport, she knew, but she hoped Brady was fuming.