This chapter took longer than expected, I had some serious writer's block for the second half of the chapter, but finally, its complete, thank you for waiting and please enjoy!
Also if any of you watch Sherlock, I just wrote a one-shot about season 3 you might be interested in!
daniel= Thanks for all of the reviews! Zinc will come to play into the story, though it will be later in the story line, thank you for taking interest in him! Thanks for all your funny and strange comments, I love them! :DD
Guest= Yes, I'm trying to write all my stories equally, but this one always seems to get written more often.
Missile looked relatively calm as he flitted over the pool.
Misty was the antithesis. "AHH! Bug! Why do you have a bug Pokémon?" Misty whined, shaking uncontrollably. "Goldeen, use Water Gun!" Misty squealed, eyes closed, pointing the general direction of Missile.
The juxtaposition between the two was nearly unnerving; I had expected all Gym Leaders to be entirely placid and had never seen Missile without his anxious flutter.
'Goldeen!' A sharp, thin pulse of water rocketed in the air at Missile and I flinched in anticipation of a painful hit but Missile managed to maneuver so the spout just missed his delicate wings. Within moments, another water spout rocketed towards him and again, Missile barely avoided a damaging strike.
"Missile, fly up and use Harden!" Sam called, trying to think of a strategy. Missile complied and with a few flaps of his wings, he was floating nearly fifteen feet above the water. His yellow and black complexion briefly turned steely and I recognized this as an increase in defense against physical attacks. Goldeen's Water Gun would be unhindered.
Momentarily, I was distracted by Poison and Gold talking. Although they weren't looking at each other nor were they particularly enjoying their conversation, they seemed civil. Thank Ho-oh.
"Missile, watch out!" Sam warned, immediately, I flashed back up to Missile just in time to see him take a direct hit from Goldeen's Bubble, which was too wide to avoid. Distracted by the onslaught of bubbles, Missile quickly lost altitude.
Why is Sam being so cautious? …Is it because he isn't confident in Missile's abilities?The bee Pokémon had been getting better but Missile never seemed particularly inclined to go into battle, despite the opponent or situation. Whatever the reason, he isn't going to win this if he isn't confident! …So here goes nothing…
"Missile! I know you can do this! Don't you dare give up!" I cheered. Both Sam and Missile turned sharply to face me. Missile's alien-like eyes looked surprised and hesitant while Sam looked confused as he tried to comprehend my words with no success. Unfortunately, he wasn't exactly fluent in Eeveese. My eyes didn't leave Missile's. I was challenging him. I had to push him from his comfort zone. Both he and Sam deserved this battle.
"Come on, bug," I thought I heard Gold say lightly behind me.
"Trust yourself ya big bee!" I encouraged, my tail wagging nearly imperceptibly. Missile didn't move except for a slight twitch of his antennae. A moment passed. A buzzing sound that I realized was coming from Missile slowly got louder until Sam could pick it up as well.
Is he laughing? Or it might be some strange purr? I didn't have more time to ponder the unusual action before Goldeen sprung from the water.
"Missile! Deflect it!" With incredible speed, Missile whipped his stinger-clad arm out to meet Goldeen's horn, shoving her forcefully back to the water. "Climb again!" Missile obeyed.
Goldeen emerged moments later, spraying a cluster of bubbles. "Missile, use Poison Flurry!" Poison Flurry? Missile positioned himself so that all three of his stingers were facing Goldeen and her oncoming bubble arsenal. Trios of Poison Stings shot out. Several bubbles burst between the two. Missile produced a dozen of them but none hit Goldeen.
Sam's using an attack as a defense because Missile can't dodge all of them. And all those Poison Stings. I didn't know you could shoot more than one at at a time, Missile's incredible.
The Beedrill recovered from being nailed by half a dozen bubbles, looking a little worse for wear but prepared to continue. Goldeen disappeared under the water at Misty's command.
I looked towards Sam. His relatively uninvolved stance in battle was evidently over. His eyes flashed with excitement. He knew something no one else did. Had he been so reserved because he was planning?
"Missile! Use Poison Powder over the pool!" Missile started vibrating his wings in small but quick motions. In moments purple spores floated down to the water. Where they landed dyed the water and spread out like ink. Sam smiled manically but Misty looked confused but not threatened.
"Sam, you can't poison a Pokémon if the poison is that diluted." She frowned.
"Missile keep it coming! Misty, your Goldeen hasn't felt Missile's poison yet so you shouldn't underestimate it. Seems a little tactically unsound, Misty." Sam teased, enjoying himself.
Underestimate? I've never seen Missile's Poison Stings even effect a foe before. What's his angle in lying? Whatever it was, I knew if anyone could, Sam and Missile could pull this off.
Missile just finished dropping spores over the pool, leaving it a semi-transparent purple. Misty looked nervous, it was unlikely that the Poison could effect Goldeen. All the same, it wasn't a risk a wise trainer should take.
"Let's finish this up, Goldeen!" Misty told her Pokémon, "Horn Attack!"
"Ready," Sam shouted. This wasn't a question, Sam wanted Missile to prepare for his next command. I was willing to bet that it wouldn't be a standard attack. Missile was about to get game-changing instructions. Missile tensed slightly and Goldeen leapt out of water, rocketing at Missile.
"Throw her into the air!" Missile flitted to the side and Goldeen wasn't able to change her flight path, let wide open. Missile hoisted her up with the blunt sides of his stingers. "Fury Attack!"
'Dr..iillllll,' Missile hummed as he jabbed his arms at Goldeen, shoving her higher and higher. He struck one more powerful blow and she fell to the stone platform, unable to battle.
Misty, recalled Goldeen sadly as Gold, Poison, Rae and her Pokémon, Kurt and I shouted our congratulations. It was clear that Missile was on his last legs. His wings were bruised from taking hits and his eyes were droopy. He missed a wingbeat and dropped a few feet before catching himself.
"Missile, you did a great job!" Sam told him, returning him to his Pokéball before letting him out to join us. "You did amazing, thank you!" Sam told him, hugging Missile gently. Missile looked surprised but after a few seconds, he relaxed into it and lay a stinger across Sam's back, miming his hug awkwardly.
3RD POV
"I'm ready to keep going, Sam! How about you?" Misty called from across the pool. She had already released her next Pokémon, a yellow Pokémon shaped like a star with a gem at its center. Nova looked at Gold for information.
"I've never seen one before, but I would have ta guess it's a Starmie. Pretty creepy, huh? How does it eat?" Gold explained, sizing up the star Pokémon. Nova silently agreed.
Sam looked at the Pokémon. "Alright, now I'm going to use… Gold! Let's win this!" Gold brightened at the chance of battling and leaped onto the nearest platform. "We're gonna have to be careful that you don't fall in the water," Sam told Gold, who rolled his eyes as if it were going to be the easiest thing in the world.
I wonder what would happen if he fell in. Can he swim? Nova thought. She looked down at the water, noting the purple tinge had already faded.
Poison followed her gaze to the water. "He can't swim can he? He's weak against water."
"I don't think he can. I don't even know how to swim."
"Why is he acting so confident? That pompous Sandshrew doesn't make any sense…" Poison said, front teeth biting nervously at his lip.
"If worse comes to worse, I'll have to come in and beat two Pokémon and he'll never live it down. But I don't think he'll let that happen." Nova smiled slightly. Gold was standing in the center of the platform, using Defense Curl until he felt armored enough to battle the strange sea star Pokémon. Starmie began sending thin jets of water at him and he dodged the best he could with his limited space. It was getting harder for him the more water landed on the platform, the more he started slipping. Nova and Poison exchanged a quick, worried glance.
Gold continued to dodge, but got more and more frustrated every time he had to scurry to stay on the platform or had to find a paw hold on the flawless white surface. It didn't take long until he was positively spitting mad. He moved to the center of the platform and briefly curled into a ball, giving off a silver gleam. The Starmie launched out of the water in a Rapid Spin heading straight towards him. Nova flinched.
"Gold! Up to your left!" Sam warned. Only a foot away from hitting, Gold unraveled and spun to the side and jammed his fist directly into the center of Starmie's gem.
"That was a Rock Smash, enjoy the headache you'll get when you wake up, pal!" Gold laughed as he removed his fist to look at the flashing red light Starmie's gem was emitting. To his surprise however, the star Pokémon wasn't quite done. It grabbed both of Gold's arms and started to drag Gold into the water.
"Gold! Watch out!" Nova called nervously.
"Really?" Gold spat sarcastically. Starmie was now in the water and Gold was doing his best to stay on with his back legs. "Alright that's it!" Gold's foot kicked up past his captured arms, smashing down on the cracked gem.
'Sta!' The enemy Pokémon wailed as Gold pushed away from the Starmie using his newly freed arms.
"Use Water Gun!"
"Gold, use Swift!" Usually, Gold would be unhappy about using a special attack but he immediately followed Sam's command and from a short distance, he opened his mouth and shot a devastating flurry of bright white stars at the offending water-type. Energy rippled as the two attacks met but it only lasted a moment before the water completely dissipated and the stars slammed into Starmie sending it flying across the field, unconscious.
Nova couldn't stop her tail from wagging as Misty recalled her Starmie and released her last Pokémon. Azurill, who had been with Cleffa and Igglybuff before, squealed in excitement and gripping Nova's russet leg.
Nova smiled and told the small aquatic creature, "Looks like I may not even need to battle. That grumpy Sandshrew is doing really well for himself."
"I'm really glad he he's on our side. Goldy can be so scary!" Azurill giggled.
Misty released her next Pokémon. A Seel.
"Wow! That Pokémon is a unicorn too!" Azurill whispered in amazement.
Back on the battleground, Seel had begun to headbutt the platform. Gold was being knocked from side to side trying to stay standing up it was increasingly apparent that he was starting to get dizzy.
"Izzhe gonna win?" Azurill wondered.
"Just wait until he gets one of Gold's punches. It'll put him out," Nova reassured her, watching the battle intently.
Within a minute, Gold had an opening to hit Seel and sprung at him unsteadily. All three punches connected soundly. But they bounced off, leaving Gold completely shocked and gasping for breath.
"No way." Gold whispered. The attack had done him more damage. It was exactly like what had happened at the pastry shop when he was punching in the dough. "Alright, then. I just need to hit harder. Hard enough that it doesn't bounce back at me."
So Gold persisted until the Seel resurfaced from hitting and butting against the now-shaky platform. He rotated his shoulder in preparation, pulling back. The punch had to be perfect. And when the Seel rose out of the water, Gold ran toward him, letting his fist tense close to his body before swinging forward to release with full-power, perfectly connecting with the Seel's thick, white chest.
Gold wasn't sure what happened. He was on his side on the platform, soaked, completely out of energy. His punch had connected but it hadn't been enough. His full-power punch wasn't sufficient. His chest heaved in anger as he stared down the dopey Seel barking cheerfully.
Next thing he knew, he was released from his Pokéball with Sam, Missile, Poison and Nova around him.
"You…that… was hilarious!" Nova cackled, "You punched yourself in the face." In that moment, Gold wanted to strangle Nova. He weakly swung a fist at her face but she jumped back quickly and straightened her face for his benefit though she was still smiling. Sam pulled out a potion and sprayed him quickly and instantly, his head felt clearer and his the throbbing in his head slowed.
"I will kill that Seel," Gold grumbled, massaging his forehead as he sat up.
"I think that's up to Nova now, pal." Poison corrected.
"As wonderfully violent as that is," Nova crinkled her nose, "how does just knocking him out sound?"
Gold grunted unhappily. Sam pet Nova's head.
"Be careful out there. You ready, girl?" Sam asked.
"Definitely," Nova responded. Within seconds, Nova was returned to her Pokéball and released on the platform closest to to them, now riddled with cracks from the damage caused by Misty's Pokémon.
"What do you think her chances are?" Poison asked, whiskers twitching.
Gold didn't even think about it. "One hundred percent."
Poison was puzzled. "How can you be sure? That Seel seems to be Misty's strongest Pokémon."
Gold smirked, "Because she knows she'll never hear the end of it if she doesn't."
Next chapter, Nova's battle! :)
Brief Explanation: What Nova does-laughing at Gold-is exactly what he needs to hear. She wasn't phased or scared for Gold so he knows that it wasn't as awful as he thought. Her acting the way she did distracted him from the pain of losing, though she didn't do it entirely on purpose.
QUESTION FOR MY AMAZING READERS
*Which Pokémon do you think is the strongest?
Good news, the actual plot will start up in a few chapters now that at least five characters have had some character development (Nova, Gold, Sam, Poison and Missile). Of course, Rae, Kurt, Abra, Azurill (though she just had a little), Cleffa, Igglybuff and the characters yet to enter the story are far from complete.