Chapter 8: Training Day
I awoke early the next morning to the biggest racket I've ever heard in my life. Loud screeches filled the room on top of the noise of multiple bodies fumbling around. I started to get up and was rewarded with something flying right into my face. The creature and I flailed around, trying desperately to untangle ourselves. Eventually, I managed to get a hold of it and held it at arms length, glaring daggers at the attacker. It was the Zubat I had caught at the gate, and she looked really mad about being manhandled like she was.
Looking past her, I saw the rest of my group standing on the floor, watching me. The room itself was a complete mess, objects scattered around and my bag lying open on the floor. One of the Potions had been shattered, liquid medicine now seeping into the carpet. Great, I'm gonna have to pay for that.
"Franklin, what happened?" I asked, deciding to get the truth out of him first before questioning the Zubat.
"She woke up before the rest of us and started flying around!" Franklin explained. "She started that screeching thing and that woke everyone else up and Sora tried to calm her down but they ran into each other and then everything went crazy!" His eyes were still wide from the shock of the experience, which was probably terrifying to the introverted turtle.
I nodded and turned my attention to the Zubat in my hands, still struggling to get away. "Now look, I'm gonna need you to calm down okay?" I said in a soothing voice. That seemed to register to her and she stopped moving around as much, turning her eyeless head towards me, ears forward. "That's better. Now, let me get you up to speed..." I explained the situation to her, all about Nuzlocke and the dangers we faced. "Oh, and I've decided to call you Moka. Any questions so far?" I asked.
"Nope." she said. "Would ya let me go now? I don't like being grabbed." I freed her and she flapped around the room, giving off soft pinging noises to find out where she was going. Making her way to the ceiling fan, she clung to it with her feet and hung upside down, wrapping her wings around herself.
"Why'd you make such a mess?" I groaned, getting up and starting to clean everything.
"I was scared. Didn't know where I was. You try being blind your whole life and see how you react to waking up in a strange place." Moka muttered. I couldn't argue with her so I focused my attention on cleaning and getting ready for the day.
"Alright guys, we've got three objectives today. One, find new teammates in the surrounding areas. I know for a fact we can get two more. Two, we need to organize a team together and figure out who's going to get boxed. Three, the new team is going to train with me for the rest of the day to be ready to take on Roark tomorrow. Any questions?" I asked, looking at my pokemon. They all either shook their heads or didn't react, which I took as a no. "Alright then, everyone back in your pokeballs and we'll get started." I said, recalling the lot of them.
As it turns out, the "new area" north of Oreburgh was just a small boxed canyon with some dry grass to serve as a hiding spot for wild pokemon. There was more above the small cliff, but it was impossible to climb safely. Last thing I want is to break my neck I thought, turning towards the clump of grass. I released Mufasa and pointed ahead. "Find out who's hiding in there." I told him. He nodded and slinked into cover, vanishing almost immediately. A short while later, a yelp came form within the brush and a small gray humanoid jumped up. It delivered a kick at whatever was attacking it, and I heard a hiss that confirmed it was Mufasa. The Machop looked excited about the prospect of a fight, which didn't really surprise me. Most fighting-types would probably be hot-blooded.
"Mufasa, use Spark!" I called. The little blue cat had recently learned the electric-type move and I wanted to see how well he could use it in battle. Small blue sparks leaped out of the brush a short distance away form the Machop and Mufasa leaped forward, electricity flying off of his body. He tackled the wild pokemon, the electricity putting an extra dose of damage to the attack. The Machop retaliated with a chop, smacking Mufasa solidly in the side. The cat hissed again and retreated into the bushes. The Machop was unsteady on his feet, but his grin never left his face. A toss of a pokeball later, he was mine. "Welcome to the team Armstrong." I said as the pokeball teleported to the PC system.
Some time later, I was walking cautiously through the mines at the southern end of town. I had Franklin out at the time, hoping his grass-typing would prevent any serious damage if we ran into a rock-type like I was expecting. Sure enough, we turned a corner and spotted a small group of Geodude. At the sight of me, and more importantly, the pokemon at my side, most of the rock pokemon fled. One stayed behind, however, watching us curiously.
"Alright Franklin, that's the one we have to catch." I said encouragingly. "Let's start off with a Tackle." As Franklin charged forward, I watched the Geodude closely. Can't risk using any grass-type attacks like Absorb, and Mufasa's electric attack won't hurt a Geodude. Have to grind it out with Tackle.
Franklin slammed into the rock head on, doing only minimal damage. The Geodude seemed to be caught off guard with this sudden attack, and started flinging mud everywhere. Why is it using Mud Sport? I thought to myself, shielding my clothes as best I could from the onslaught of dirt. Franklin surged forward with another tackle, undeterred by the Geodude's display. Hitting it again, I noticed it appeared much weaker than it had before. Must have been a critical hit! My lucky day I thought, throwing out another pokeball and making my second catch of the day.
Some time later, I had my team lined up in front of me. I had placed Moka and Rose in the box, deciding that I shouldn't use multiples of the same type, spread out my advantage. I had explained the basics of the challenge to the newcomers, and was now thinking about how best to train everyone for the gym. Franklin, Mufasa, Sora and Rebecca watched me pace back and forth with limited interest. The Machop, Armstrong, seemed excited about the whole situation. After hearing about the challenge, he had grinned widely. "The perfect chance to test my abilities against the strongest opponents. What an opportunity!" he had cried, proudly flexing his small muscles.
The Geodude, who I named Lin after discovering she was female, was less concerned about the challenge as she was about her teammates. She kept moving around them, poking and prodding and inspecting them for some reason she didn't decide to share with anyone else. When she got to Mufasa, his intimidating glare was enough to make her hesitate, before relenting, though looking very annoyed by it.
I stopped my pacing and looked back at my team. "Okay guys, and gals," I added, when Sora gave me a look. "here's what we're going to do. The surrounding areas are hard to use as training grounds but they're all we've got. So we're gonna make the best of it. Mufasa, Sora, Rebecca!" I said, pointing to the three of them. "You're going to be the hardest to train, so you're going first. We're gonna go back to Route 207 and battle the Machop and Ponyta there. As for the rest of you," I added, looking at Lin, Franklin and Armstrong. "Once they're done, we're going back into the mines and battling all the Geodude and Onix we can find. You all have type advantage against rocks, so we'll be using that to our advantage in the gym as well."
Suddenly, Lin raised a stony hand. "Uh, there's a bit of a problem there." she stated. "I don't actually have any advantage. The best move I've got is Tackle and that's not gonna do squat against another rock-type."
I nodded. "That's true. But that was before I did this." I said, withdrawing the HM case from my pack and popping it open. "I was fiddling with this earlier, and it turns out I can still use it to teach the move, I just can't use it repeatedly without the badge. So here, one fighting-type move coming right up." I said, putting the disk to her forehead. She closed her eyes and the brown disk glowed softly. A few seconds later, the glow faded and her eyes fluttered open again. She flexed her arms and grinned. "Cool. Can't wait to see what other awesome things you've got in that bag." she said.
The actual training went much better than I thought it would. The team at Route 207 didn't run into any real trouble, finding more Machop and Ponyta than Geodude, which was a bonus. The best part of the day was near the end of the session. All three of them were sitting with me on the side of the path, exhausted form their long day of training. I was about to put them all in their pokeballs and head down to the mine when it happened. First it was a soft glow. Then brighter, then even brighter as all three of them lit up like a Christmas tree. Mufasa grew larger, his mane growing out more. Sora also grew larger, the feather that stuck up at the top of her head curling around in a sort of plume. Rebecca was the largest transformation, her tail growing larger and flatter, and sitting back onto her hind legs.
When the light faded, the Shinx, Starly and Bidoof I had caught were all gone. In there place was a Luxio, Staravia and Bibarel. I stared in shock at the three of them, amazed that they would all evolve together like that.
"Wow guys! Congrats!" I said, rubbing Mufasa's ears. He purred softly before shaking me off and moving away from me, looking irritated. I chuckled, then looked over at Rebecca. "So, you're a Bibarel now huh? Think you can use Water Gun yet, or do you want to practice on some Geodude in the mines first?" She answered by shooting a large jet of water into the air, causing it to splash down on all of us. Mufasa got the worst of it, being both a cat and an electric-type, he was shorted out slightly and pissed off for the rest of the day. "I'll take that as a yes." I muttered, returning the group to their pokeballs.
While no one evolved, the second group's training session went just as well. With their type advantages, they tore through the mine quickly, getting stronger with every Karate Chop, Absorb and Rock Smash. We found some workers on break and battled their Machops for some added training. One of the workers came over from his station and watched. "That was a great match." he called, walking over after Armstrong had out wrestled another Machop for the victory. "I take it you're training to challenge my gym?" he asked.
The revelation that it was Roark shook me up a bit but I recovered quickly enough. I barely recognized him with all the dust coating his skin and uniform. "Yep. Getting ready to challenge you tomorrow." I said.
Roark nodded eagerly. "That's great!" he exclaimed. "Two tough challengers in as many days. I can't wait." He wandered off deeper into the mine, waving at me as he went. I waved back, a little confused as to who he was talking about. I shrugged and went back to my training. As the sun was setting on Oreburgh, I trudged back to the PokeCenter, tired but satisfied. "Tomorrow's going to be a great day." I said to Franklin, who nodded as I entered the room I had rented. I released the pokemon, and watched silently as Franklin and the mine group congratulated the others on evolving.
"Wow, you look really cool Mufasa!" Franklin said, walking around the regal cat. Mufasa didn't show any reaction to the compliments outwardly, putting more attention into grooming himself, but I knew he was loving the attention. The moment didn't last very long, since Armstrong decided that was the right time to intervene.
"You still look weak if you ask me." he said haughtily. "Look at him! All thin and lanky. No real power in his limbs." He flexed slightly to prove his point.
Mufasa glanced over at the Machop before going back to his grooming. It was enough of a reaction from the stoic cat that I knew a fight was starting to brew. "Armstrong that's enough." I said. "You're all equally strong in your own way. Mufasa may be weaker than you physically, but I highly doubt you can match Mufasa in speed and I know you wouldn't fare as well in a fight against a flying-type."
My words seemed to diffuse the situation, both of the trouble makers letting it drop. Meanwhile, Sora was chatting with Rebecca about something. I decided to listen in.
"I know what you mean, he's so immature." Rebecca said, glancing at Armstrong. "I mean, Mufasa's much better looking anyway, he's just jealous."
Sora shook her head. "I've known Mufasa a little longer than you have and trust me. He can be immature when he wants."
I was brought out of this conversation my a sudden howl. I spun around and saw the source of the commotion. Apparently not wanting to miss an opportunity to satisfy her curiosity again, Lin had grabbed Mufasa by the tail and pinned him to the ground before looking him over. "Get off of me this instant or I will make you regret it." the cat hissed.
"I'd like to see you try furry." Lin boasted, tightening her grip on the electric-type. "The way I see it, the best you can do right now is try to electrocute me, and all those fancy sparks don't mean squat to me. So you're just gonna have to sit there and take it mister 'I'm to high and mighty to talk to the peasants.'" She then resumed poking and prodding the poor cat.
"He might not be able to do anything Lin, but I can." Franklin said. This took my by surprise. One, the shy turtle was being very brave, and attribute I've started to notice more and more in him. Two, he was actually threatening someone, which was much more worrying than the first.
"Lin, leave Mufasa alone." I ordered. "Go bother Armstrong if you're looking for a wrestling match." The Geodude released her prey and moved away, sulking that her fun was over. The cat stretched his sore muscles before jumping up onto the desk, keeping an eye on the rock-type at all times. I stepped over to Franklin and patted his head. "Good job breaking them up." I said. He smiled and walked over to Sora while I climbed into the bed. What am I going to do with this crazy group I thought before lulling off to sleep. It's like having six children.
The next morning I awoke, thankfully not because of a commotion caused by my miscreant pokemon. I gathered everything together and woke my team, the usual grogginess coming from most of them. Franklin and Sora were the only ones who ever got up quickly, which shouldn't really surprise me considering their typing. Mufasa always took as long as he wanted, which was why he almost always ended up being put in his pokeball asleep, and Rebecca was the same way. As it turned out, Lin was also slow to wake, but she managed to actually wake up before I started using the pokeballs. Armstrong was groggy before he started doing pushups, which woke him up quickly, ready for action.
I left the PokeCenter and went straight for the gym. I wanted to get the battle over with and get back to Jublife before the day was over. As I turned the corner onto the gyms street, I saw a familiar face walking away form it. "Hey Barry!" I called, waving.
Barry jumped slightly, looking up from something in his hand and waving cheerfully when he caught sight of me. "Hey Nick! Going to challenge the gym?" he asked as he walked over, a smug skip in his step.
"Yep. I imagine you already have your badge." I said. He nodded furiously.
"Yes I did!" he said proudly, showing me the Coal Badge in his hand. "Got it yesterday as a matter of fact. I was just hanging out around the gym, hoping to see you before you challenged Roark." he explained at my questioning glance.
"So how'd you do it? It had to have been tough with two pokemon weak to rock-types." I asked, glancing at his belt and noting that he still only had two pokemon.
Barry shook his head. "Not that bad really. I just trained really hard for it. William and George evolved and I just used George's new Mach Punch move to win!" he said cheerfully. I cringed at hearing that the blonde had such a powerful move on his side and knew how to use it, but it faded quickly.
"Good for you man! I'll see you later, I've got a badge to get." I said, thumping him on the back lightly before continuing down the street. I stood before the large building, designed in the standard gym form, like a small arena form my world. The roof was painted brown to match the rock-types Roark used. I took a deep breath and opened the door.