Author's Note: Sorry for the wait on these two chapters (5 and 6). Here they are, in their full glory, and all that. I'm also hoping my formatting will remain a bit more standardized since I'm not using Microsoft Word anymore to type these up. As always, your reviews and questions are much appreciated! Also, try not to get too upset at me if I take liberties with Pokémon levels and movesets. There's only so interesting I can make a battle between two Pokémon that only know Scratch and Tail Whip.
Chapter 6
Pokéathlon...FOREVER!
Rachel stood nervously before the woman behind the desk. "Alright," the woman said as the young Pokéathlete approached the desk. "I'll need to see your Trainer Card." Rachel reached into her pocket and pulled out her Trainer Card, which contained all the information about here anyone would ever need to know. "Alright...Rachel Stemmons..." the receptionist read the information quietly as she entered it. "Trainer ID 59576, gender is female...okay, and what Pokémon will you be entering?"
"Bulbasaur," Rachel said, holding up the Poké Ball that contained her partner.
"Alright, place it on the scanner please, and we'll finish up your registration." Rachel complied, placing the Pokéball on the scanner in front of her. The device glowed for a few seconds before prompting Rachel to retrieve it. She miniaturized the capsule and placed it back on her belt. "Thank you," the woman said. "Here's your data card. It will contain records of all of your wins, losses, times, medals, and other data on all your competitions." Rachel took the electronic smart card and inserted it into her PokéGear to read the data, and for safe keeping. "The competition starts at 2pm sharp. You are in the Red Dome, Division II, Team A. Understood?"
Rachel nodded wordlessly.
"Don't be nervous," the receptionist said. "Just get out there and enjoy yourself.
"Rachel forced a self-conscious smile. "Right...thanks!" She then walked away very quickly, checking her PokéGear. It was noon. She had two hours to kill, and training would only wear out Bulbasaur. But she was avoiding the boys today, so she needed somewhere else to go. The device began to vibrate, indicating an incoming call. Recognizing the number, Rachel hit ignore and continued out the door of the Dome.
"AAAH!" Chris yelped in pain. "Why would she do this?!"
"Calm down," Eric said, "and quit thrashing." He placed a new ice pack on Chris' exposed back as he lay on top of Eric's bunk.
"Seriously, though! She just kicked me right off a ledge! Who does that?!"
Eric sighed. "Look, I realize you're upset, and her actions don't make sense to me, either. But this was two days ago, and she still hasn't even come back, save to leave us a note to come to the Pokéathlon today. Complaining isn't helping squat. You just won't be able to do much for a couple more days."
"I'm sick of being bedridden like this," Chris muttered.
"You're not bedridden," Eric said, exasperated. "It may hurt, but you can get up. In fact, you probably should today. The more you remain immobile, the more you're going to hurt in the long run."
Eric stood up and poured some food into a few bowls. He let Charmander, Squirtle, Starly, and Ditto out of their balls to eat. Ponyta was out in the Pokémon Center's outdoor habitat, grazing. "Once the Pokémon are done eating, put on a shirt and come downstairs with me. We'll grab some lunch and see how ambulatory you are. If there are signs of improvement, you can come to the Pokéathlon today."
"I don't want to go," Chris said. "Why would I support someone who kicked me off a wall?!"
"Aside from seeing a Pokéathlon live?" Eric inquired. "You have to talk to her at some point, Humpty Dumpty. And quite frankly, I'm not sure I believe your claim that she just did it for no reason."
Chris grumbled an unintelligible response.
"The other half of the problem," Eric continued, "is that if you don't recover quickly, we're going to have to take you back to Celadon, and your journey will be postponed."
Chris grit his teeth, rolled off the bunk, and stood up. His face was practically turning purple from effort. Through clenched teeth, he said, "I'm fine. Let's go to the Pokéathlon."
"Try not to shatter your teeth," Eric said. "And let's focus on getting some food first."
Eric returned from the kitchen line with two trays of food. Setting them down on the table, Eric watched Chris eat ravenously, attempting to scarf down his food without moving his spine. Chris was definitely in pain. But why did Rachel kick him off that ledge, as Chris claims? And why haven't they heard from her since the incident? She moved all her stuff out of the room while Chris was recovering and Eric was out tending to Ponyta. She didn't make any contact that night, nor the entire next day. Now today was the day of the Pokéathlon she'd been looking forward to, and the only contact she'd offered was a note under the door inviting them to the event.
She had even been ignoring all his calls to her PokéGear.
Eric stood up. "I need to go check on Ponyta. Take it easy and finish your food." Eric walked away. Chris wasn't too happy about being talked down to again, but with Eric, he was willing to put up with it. Eric at least acted like an old man. Rachel was just full of herself and had a bad temper.
What he wouldn't admit, however, was that he was terrified of being sent back home. He had to get better.
Eric had plugged a headset into the PokéNav on his way to check on Ponyta. "Come on, Rachel. Pick up your damn PokéGear."
No response.
Registration should have started by that point, but the Dome had to be a madhouse by then. Even if he went there, he couldn't possibly find her in all those crowds. Which is probably what she was betting on. They weren't going to see her until the Pokéathlon started.
Ponyta raced up to nuzzle Eric, who warmly greeted his new Pokémon. "Getting enough to eat?" he asked. Ponyta nodded enthusiastically. "I need to get you a saddle so I can ride without flying off into the wild blue yonder," he mused. "What do you think?"
Ponyta nodded enthusiastically once again, simply happy to be near its new trainer. Eric was a little surprised at how quickly the young Pokémon had warmed to him. Still, he couldn't get Rachel's behavior out of his mind. He'd just have to try and catch her after the Pokéathlon. Hopefully by then, he'd decide whether to root for Rachel or Nate.
"Eric!" The Coordinator turned around to see Chris standing not far away. "I want to ask you something. A favor, actually."
"What is it?" Eric asked quizzically.
"I want you to battle me."
Eric cocked an eyebrow. "Not that I couldn't use the practice, but what is this all about?"
"Rachel told me that I can't win on guts and bonds alone. I want to see if she's right. I want to know how badly I lack strategy and dedication." He looked determined and serious.
Eric was concerned, and wanted to smooth this over a bit. "You don't have to prove anything to anyone. You have plenty of time to learn-"
"No," Chris said. "I want to battle you. I want to see for myself if I can stand up to someone like you. That David guy beat me before, but I've trained some since then."
Eric was doubly confused. All of this seemed to come out of nowhere. Finally, with a shrug, he said, "Alright, if you've got nothing better to do before the Pokéathlon starts, then I accept your challenge."
Another call from Eric. He was probably worried. He probably wanted answers. Maybe she just needed to go apologize. Why had she gone off on Chris like that, anyway? Sure, he's a complete idiot, but that doesn't mean she should have kicked him off a wall.
Rachel stood in the front area of the Pokéathlon Dome for a few minutes before deciding to return to the Pokémon Center. She needed to clear the air with the other two. Putting her Gear away, she bolted towards the Center, only to stop short at the battlefield nearby, where apparently Eric and Chris were about to battle!
"Two-on-two battle," Eric clarified. "The battle is over when both of one side's Pokémon are unable to battle. Both trainers may substitute their Pokémon at any time. No time limit."
Chris nodded. Normally, he would have rolled his eyes at the formality of Eric's demeanor, but he wanted to take this battle seriously. "Sounds good."
"If you don't mind, I'll referee." Rachel appeared to the side of the battlefield. Eric and Chris looked at each other quizzically.
Before Chris could start yelling, Eric said, "That's fine." When Chris gave him a sideways look, Eric said, "We'll have plenty of time after the battle."
Rachel looked nervous, but would have much preferred to start her interactions with them as a judge for their battle, rather than jumping right into the kicking thing. "Battle Begin!" she yelled.
"Ponyta, deploy!" Eric threw the Premier Ball with force, releasing the Fire Horse Pokémon.
Chris whipped out his Pokédex to see what he could learn about Eric's newest Pokémon.
Ponyta, the Flaming Horse Pokémon, and the base form of Rapidash. Ponyta's hooves are stronger than diamonds, making its extraordinarily high jumps even more effective in battle. Its mane is made of intense fire, and like many other fire types, starts to wane if the Pokémon is low on energy."
"Gotta watch out for aerial attacks, then. Starly, I choose you!" Chris released his Starling Pokémon. He then yelped and doubled over, grabbing at his back. Rachel tried not to make eye contact.
"Feel free to make the first move," Eric said.
"With pleasure!" the determined boy said, standing up again slowly. "Starly, use Wing Attack!" Starly flew upwards in an arc before swooping down towards Ponyta.
"Jump, Ponyta!" At Eric's command, Ponyta leapt into the air. Starly missed its mark, and began to turn around to correct. "Stomp!" Eric yelled.
Ponyta landed near Chris' side of the field, then jumped up to stomp Starly into the ground. "Starly, look out behind you!" Chris yelled. Starly quickly changed direction, and Ponyta's attack missed. "Now use Quick Attack!" Starly vanished, reappearing only to strike Ponyta from the side. Ponyta stumbled a bit, but regained its balance.
"Ember!" Eric yelled. Ponyta released several small flames from its mouth. Starly did her best to dodge, but took some damage from a couple of the small flames. Starly was brought to the ground. "Stomp!" Eric commanded.
Ponyta galloped towards the grounded Starly. Just before its hooves could pin the small bird down, Chris whipped out Starly's Poké Ball. "Starly, come back!" The small Pokémon vanished at the last second. Chris was visibly shaken, but tried to snap out of it. "Charmander, go!"
The small lizard appeared. Before Chris could make a move, Eric called, "Tail Whip!"
Ponyta snapped its tail, releasing a loud bullwhip sound. Chris, Rachel, and Charmander flinched at the sharp, loud noise, and Charmander's defenses were dropped. "Use stomp!"
Ponyta raced towards Charmander. "Dodge it!" Chris ordered. But Charmander was much slower than Starly had been, and couldn't get away in time. Ponyta's hard hoof smashed Charmander into the ground. Despite its flailing, Charmander couldn't escape.
"Charmander!" Chris yelled. "Use...um..." He froze mentally. He couldn't think of any move that would get him out of this situation.
Eric, however, was not at a loss for words. "Ponyta, Flame Wheel!" Ponyta's body became enveloped in fire, spinning rapidly and grinding Charmander further into the ground.
"Ch-Charmander..." The words came out, but Chris was lost. How was he going to be a good trainer if he couldn't even...
"Call Charmander back!" Rachel yelled.
Chris felt like he'd been hit by a whip. "Right! Charmander, come back!" Charmander vanished, and the flames around Ponyta dissipated.
"You're not going to win if you keep letting me take control of the battle," Eric advised. The advice, however, only made Chris indignant and angry. He didn't like being patronized, and the fact that he understood WHY he was being patronized in this case only furthered his anger. "Starly, come out!" Starly was going to have to stall for a bit. If she could keep Ponyta occupied, Charmander would have some time to recover.
Except, apparently, Eric had other plans. "Ponyta, disengage!" Ponyta was recalled into her Premier Ball, which was swapped out for a Repeat Ball. "Ditto, deploy!"
From the Repeat Ball appeared a Starly, identical in every way to the one Chris had sent out. "Ditto, huh? No copy's beating the original. Wing Attack!"
"Quick Attack," Eric said. Before Starly could even begin to aim, she took damage from being swiped by Quick Attack. Starly was thrown off course, and her Wing Attack ultimately missed.
"Double Team," Eric ordered. A second Starly-Ditto appeared in the sky.
"Quick Attack!" Chris ordered, but Starly attacked the wrong one. Panicking, he kept ordering Quick Attacks, but Eric kept ordering Double Teams. By the end of it, there were 12 Starly in the sky...and exactly according to Eric's plan, Chris didn't even know which one was his.
But Eric knew which one was Ditto. "Wing Attack! Now Quick Attack!" With each strike, all the Starly in the air began to shift around and dart in various directions, only further confusing Chris. No attack Chris called seemed to help; he didn't even dare call for Double Team, or he'd truly have no chance of figuring out which Pokémon was his.
"End it with Quick Attack!" Eric ordered. 11 of the Starly swooped in towards the center, and one Starly fell to the ground.
"Starly is unable to battle. Ditto...I assume...is the winner!" Rachel seemed a bit unsure of the ruling, but figured she was probably right.
Starly was called back to its Poké Ball, and the other 11 of them continued to float aimlessly around the battlefield. Chris knew Charmander didn't stand a chance. "I forfeit!" Chris yelled.
"Chris forfeits the match. The winner is Ditto and Eric!" Rachel announced before stepping away from the ring. Ditto was called back to its Repeat Ball, and the three trainers approached each other. They stood in silence for a few moments before Rachel finally spoke. "I'm sorry I kicked you. I shouldn't have gotten so angry, Chris."
Chris paused a moment. He had been angry, but the battle with Eric had him thinking a bit differently. "Apology accepted. Eric...thanks for the battle. Will you go over it with me later?"
Eric nodded, and Chris nodded back before walking away. He entered the Pokémon Center with less gusto than normal.
Rachel turned to Eric. "Alright, let me have it."
Eric closed his eyes for a moment, collecting his thoughts. "What you did was reckless, arrogant, and disrespectful. You could have seriously injured Chris and sent him back home. Then you disappear for a full day, ignore my calls, and don't even make an attempt to help Chris after what you did, only appearing at the last minute before your Pokéathlon to half-heartedly apologize." His tone was flat, even, and intense. "If you ever do something that stupid again, I will make it my personal mission to have your Trainer's License revoked. Am I clear?"
Rachel, panicked and surprised, nodded silently.
"Good," Eric continued. "You're welcome to keep traveling with us. Now let's put this incident behind us, and go get ready for your events."
Rachel nodded again and bolted for the Pokémon Center, leaving Eric standing at the battlefield. When did he get so old?
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you to this year's first Pokéathlon!" The man with the microphone shouted over the loud roar of the coliseum visitors. "My name is Maximo, and I will be your Master of Ceremonies today!" The roar intensified, and Maximo waited a few minutes to let it subside. "Now, given that this is the first Pokéathlon of the year, we have some special rules. To accomodate newer trainers, this Pokéathlon only allows every athlete one Pokémon. The next event, to be in Pewter City, will go back to the normal rule of 3 Pokémon per Athlete. Now, without further ado, we will begin the Strength competition!" The crowd roared louder than ever.
Chris and Eric sat uncomfortably in the stands amidst the roaring crowd, waiting for the events to start. Meanwhile, Rachel sat in a locker room, trying not to look visibly worried. But the tighter she gripped Bulbasaur's Poké Ball, the more her face started to flush.
"Don't sweat it," a familiar voice said as a hand appeared on her shoulder. Rachel looked up to see Nate standing over her. "Don't get nervous. It's your first time, so go out there and enjoy it. It's as much a performance as a competition. Plus, you don't want to make Bulbasaur nervous, do you?"
She looked down and shook her head. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, as Nate's hand left her shoulder. "I'll be okay...thanks." She looked up.
Nate was gone.
