Hey everybody, today is my fifth anniversary of my fanfic account! Over five years, I've archived 115k words, which I'm pretty happy with, even if its kind of low. Anyway, let's hope for another five years too!
Story stats so far: 54 reviews, 70,000 words, 6.3k views, 24 faves, 23 alerts
I'm sorry it took me so long to update, I just didn't have a lot of inspiration, on the bright side, I did a lot of planning for chapters SUPER far in the future so thats awesome :)
The battle started again, after an argument between Sam and the jerk kid. Nova had had to physically start to push Sam toward the sidelines again. Battling and winning the Pokémon League for Sam was nothing if it meant she wasn't following the rules, here in the middle of nowhere with another trainer.
And there was no way Nova was going to let Rae kiss him. Because that was the stakes. Sam could give up, but Rae would have to kiss him. And Nova didn't want to give up, even without that happening.
Flareon charged at her again. What's strong against fire? Water and ground right? Nova didn't have attacks for either and Flareon's thick coat was absorbing a good part of her physical attacks too.
Nova charged up a Shadow Ball, concentrating on its success. She nearly released it too early in fear as the Flareon covered the distance between the two of them. Finally, she fired it off when there were only a few feet between them.
Flareon appeared through the dark fog the attack had released a little more scratched up but otherwise fine, and tackled Nova hard enough that she went airborne. Luckily, she regained control in mid-air and landed skidding on her feet. The energy she had gained from the Oran Berry and the potion were starting to fade and her hind leg was starting to hurt again. She shook the thumping sound out of her ears and returned the Tackle. She could feel herself starting to be reckless but she knew that her body's endurance was starting to have a very real time limit.
Nova figured that Sam hadn't called her back despite the hopelessness of the battle because he wanted to protect Rae, he wanted to follow the rules or he simply believed in her.
"Flame Wheel!" The Flareon's trainer said. Flareon instantly ignited in flames and started running towards Nova. As he picked up speed, he started to spin, performing smooth somersaults. Nova was paralyzed as the burning ball of fire raced toward her.
"Nova, brace yourself!" Sam called, realizing that Nova wouldn't be able to move in time, especially not exhausted and injured as she was. Nova tensed her muscles and dug her claws into the dirt, preparing for impact. It wasn't a move like Gold had but, with luck, it would help.
When the Flareon bowled into Nova, she hit the ground again on her side and made a move to get up again that fell short. Flareon picked himself up, shook out its thick coat and walked over to her.
"Get up Rusty! What're you doin'?"
Nova made no move to indicate that she had heard.
"Actually, its better that you don't move." Flareon told her. Nova made eye contact with him briefly before getting to her feet. Flareon rolled his eyes and bit into her shoulder.
Nova struggled and tried to charge up an attack but everything she tried fizzled out. It seemed she had run out of Power Points for her attacks. Her body was too exhausted to produce them. Flareon bit down harder and fire started to lick Nova's shoulder. Finally, the pain was enough that Nova was able to wrench herself away, she cautiously backed up several feet, staring down her opponent, who still had fire in her mouth.
"Flamethrower!"
Nova didn't move from her spot, two of her limbs rendered nearly useless. Instead, she shielded her face in her tail, most likely saving herself from some bad temporary scarring. By the time the attack ended, Nova no longer had the strength to stand so she let her back-legs buckle behind her. Nova's roan coat was stained with soot and burns enough that she looked more black than red.
Flareon was on her in seconds, lashing out with his claws, leaving thick scratches across her cheek. Nova bit down on his paw hard enough that she felt his bone. Flareon's eyes widened and he prepared another blast of fire at point-blank range. Nova made eye-contact with the crazed fire-type.
"Give me all you got." And her vision was obscured with flames.
Nova blinked sleepily, surveying her surroundings as well as she could without moving. She was at a Pokémon Center, not like it was unexpected after the battle she had had. She was lying on one of the smaller cots but there was still plenty of room. She had a thin blanket tucked over her and an IV in her front leg. She lifted a paw lightly to examine it. It was taped around her wrist several times to make sure it didn't come out. Then she focused on the rest of her body. Most of the pain was barely there but she could feel the throbbing of two of her legs and a patches were she had been burned along her body. She lifted her tail to inspect it and slowly turned around to the other side to see more of the room.
Nova froze when she saw Gold staring right at her from the seat across the room. Several seconds elapsed in which he just seemed to become more and more pissed off.
"Gold." Nova said just to break the silence. For several seconds, he didn't say anything.
"That battle was disgusting," he finally said. Nova huffed a breath of relief. It seemed that his anger wasn't directed towards her.
"The Flareon didn't fight fair, but I'm fine now." Nova assured him, touched that he cared so much.
"I don't give a shit about the Flareon!" Gold exploded. Nova froze in confusion.
Gold jumped from the chair onto the nightstand less than a foot from Nova's face. "What I do care about is the fact that during that second half of the battle, you just gave up."
"Gold, I couldn't have won! I was against a Flareon!" She persisted.
"Then you should have played dead."
"I couldn't just stop! There was too much at stake!"
Gold looked murderous and for a moment, she was afraid that Gold was going to reach over and smother her with her own pillow. "I hate selfish people like you. Ya really think that Rae would prefer seein' you beaten down than kiss that bastard? Ya really think that Sam cared about his reputation while you were being ground to friggin' pulp? Poison almost ran out there too, Sam had to recall him 'cause he wouldn't calm down."
"I-I—" Nova stuttered, not knowing what to say.
Gold looked at her. "If you're stubborn enough to stay in a battle then make damn sure you win it." Nova's eyes widened and she tried to say something. He had a good point. She had done what she had for the people she cared about but she hadn't thought about what they wanted. She pulled herself up slightly to look at him better.
"Where's Poison now?" She knew Poison had been hesitant about battling, this might have prevented him from ever really trying it.
"He left this morning. I think he's either gonna take his anger out on the trees or try finding the jerk-ass." Gold said.
Nova blinked then glared at him, she had just hoped that they were getting along."What, and you didn't stop him?"
"Because he's right."
The Sandshrew cleared his throat awkwardly after neither of them said anything for several moments. "I'm going to meet the others in the field a couple minutes behind this building. We're battling the Gym on Wednesday. Today's Sunday so if you try to train with us before Tuesday, you're gonna have a one-way ticket back here." Gold left.
It was Sunday already? Nova reflected. That meant she had slept for over a day. With nothing left to do, she rested her head on her paws and focused on deep breaths instead of thick flames until she fell back to sleep.
Mid-day on Monday, a few hours after everyone went out to train, Nova realized that she hadn't officially introduced herself to Rae's new member of the team—Oddish. Nova's IV had been removed while everyone visited her last night, so she jumped off the cot and snuck over to the sliding glass door. A man walked in shortly after and she slipped past, following the scent of her friends.
Finally, she made her way to a clearing where everyone was training. Gold was the first to notice her and stomped over.
"What part of Tuesday don't you—" Gold started, throughly annoyed.
"I'm not going to try to battle, I learned that lesson last time. I realized I hadn't met Oddish yet, so I was gonna introduce myself. I didn't see her last night…"
Gold seemed to calm down. "Well, you're not missing much," he said, gesturing to the small Oddish that sat a distance from Rae and the P3 were training. Nova shrugged and walked over to her.
"Hi, I'm Nova, I'm Sam's starter." Nova told her. Oddish didn't answer so she tried again. "Rae's a good trainer, I think you'll get along really well. And maybe it's hard to imagine right now, but being on a team is a lot of fun." Nova said, remembering Gold's original reluctance to work with anyone.
Oddish snapped her head, which was her entire body, towards Nova, who had sat down, still not entirely recovered from the battle two days ago. "Shut up, pet. You're weak and old and that's why you're traveling with humans!"
"Wha…what?" Nova stuttered, taken aback. She had expected her to act similar to Gold when he had just joined, maybe a little calmer. She had expected Oddish to be upset, confused, maybe frustrated that her life was going to be different. But this was flat-out aggression. "You've been terrorizing that orchard for almost a full year, you're older than me!" Nova responded without thinking.
Oddish looked surprised for a moment, then even angrier. "Shut up or I'll poison you! Your fur smells like sewers!" She yelled brattishly.
Nova stood up, realizing that she wasn't getting anywhere. "Alright," she said
Nova lay in the grass across the clearing from the hot-headed Oddish. A little while later, Sam left Poison and Gold to spar and sat next to Nova in the shade of a large oak tree. Nova crawled into his lap sleepily and closed her eyes.
The next day, when she woke up by Nurse Jenny's hand and did her best not to jump back in surprise. "Good morning, Nova. Sam told me you wanted to train today so I'm gonna give you your exam now so hopefully you can join them this morning." She told Nova cheerily.
Nova nodded cautiously and sat stiffly on the cot as Nurse Joy checked her scrapes and nearly healed burns.
"They're eating breakfast right now so you can join them as soon as we're done." The pink-haired woman said conversationally as she held a stethoscope to Nova's chest and wrote something down on her clipboard. Finally, she ripped a small sheet of paper off and smiled. "Alright, Nova, you have a clean bill of health."
Nova grabbed the note from her hand and jumped of the bed, headed towards the kitchen. She heard the sound of Nurse Joy's laughter as she escaped the room.
She trotted into the room with the slip of paper and jumped onto the chair next to Sam that was inhabited by Gold. Gold grumbled something into his bowl of oatmeal but scooted over so that Nova could fit as well.
Sam greeted her with a ruffle of her fur and accepted the note she'd been carrying. "Nova's good to go!" Sam said happily. "I'm glad you're feeling better!"
That night, everyone was in their normal pre-bedtime routine. Sam was in his pajamas trying to get Gold to not track mud all over the clean Pokémon Center while Nova was sitting on the couch, taunting other Pokémon behind their trainer's backs. This time, Poison had joined in, too.
Sam groaned in exasperation as Gold escaped his grasp yet again. "I'm a Pokémon trainer, so why does it feel like I'm a parent?"
"Trainers are like parents in a lot of ways, Sam." Rae remarked, walking by in blue matching pajama set, Azurill, Igglybuff and Cleffa following her back to the room in single file. "Just try to take my example."
Sam raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Oh yeah? Where's Oddish then?" Rae deflated faster than a balloon shot with Swift.
Kurt chuckled. "She's a lot of trouble for an armless turnip."
Without any warning, there were loud murmurs from across the Center's lobby. Several trainers were crowded around a large TV screen. Sam, Kurt and Rae exchanged glances and hurried over with their Pokémon.
Over the past week fourteen trainers along Routes 8, 15 and 16 have been attacked and left injured. And in some cases, their Pokémon taken. We can now confirm culpability—Team Magna. The earliest attacks have been traced back to six weeks ago, when several quarries were overrun by 'groups of people in gray and black uniforms.' Just thirty minutes ago, Loren Maimas, notorious leader of the mostly latent Team Magna spoke.
The screen flickered to show the face of a forty year old man with stubble and short black hair.
His announcement was for the citizens of Kanto, declaring his threat against the police and Team Rocket as well as those traveling through East Kanto. This news is sure to send waves of unrest among the those who remember Team Magna's last active era, twenty years ago. With this declaration, Kanto becomes the second Region in the world to have two active large-scale criminal groups, after Hoenn. More as we know it.
The trainer's murmuring doubled again as Nova turned, stunned to Gold.
The next morning, Sam's team got ready quietly. Nova wondered if Gym Battles were ever going to stop making her feel nervous. Yesterday's news only built on the unrest. The trainers had spent a lot of time talking about Team Magna's declaration last night, but they'd decided to leave it to the police. The routes Magna was occupying weren't the ones we needed to travel on.
Despite the chilling events, life in Vermillion was largely unaffected. No one seemed to want to dwell. Neither did Sam, who was more insistent than ever that today was the day to challenge the Gym Leader.
They had made it to the middle of town before Rae stopped them to tell them she was going to buy supplies to leave town. After wishing everyone luck, she ran off to the Pokémart.
Finally, Sam pushed both doors to the Gym open and his team walked through, Sam and Kurt following. Across a large battle field was a stocky blonde man dressed in camo.
"Hey, trainer! The name's Lt. Surge! Welcome to my Gym, we'll each use three Pokémon, so call out a Pokémon when you're ready!" The military man boomed.
"Whoa," Kurt whispered in awe, "he's cool." Abra, who had panicked only moments before from the Gym Leader's alarmingly loud voice, mewled in agreement at the man's apparent coolness.
Lt. Surge tossed a Pokéball out onto the field, releasing a Voltorb. Sam turned to his team. "Alright, Missile, you're gonna watch this battle, right now, you have a double disadvantage." He turned back to face his opponent. "For the first match, I chose Poison!"
Poison looked nervous, this would be his first ever Gym Battle. To Nova's surprise, it was Missile who cheered him on.
"You can do this…Nido." The Beedrill buzzed quietly. Nova smiled with exasperation. So Missile didn't know Poison's name, but at least he had tried encouraged the poison-point Pokémon.
Poison nodded and walked onto the gym floor. The opposing Voltorb crackled in anticipation.
"Poison Sting!" Sam called out. Poison fired off several Poison Stings from his mouth, hitting Voltorb's spherical body. The electric-type shot a Sonicboom but Poison jumped into the air in order to avoid it. "Good work, now use Double Kick!"
Poison ran up close and delivered two strong kicks to the Voltorb's body, knocking him back. Voltorb released a loud Screech back at Poison, who tried to dodge but still took the brunt of the chilling noise.
Nova backed up to where Abra was sitting, missing the company of Rae and the P3s. At first glance, it looked like Abra's eyes were closed but Nova realized they must have been opened just a little bit as his eyes seemed to shift underneath his eyelids.
"Alright, Voltorb, let's end this!" Lt. Surge called.
'Vollll,' Voltorb replied, charging up electricity.
"Careful!" Sam warned, fists clenched. Arcs of electricity shot out one at a time, as Poison scrabbled out of the way of each attack. Although he wasn't getting hit, he was obviously being forced into defense. Making it nearly impossible to get close enough for a physical attack.
"Nice aim!" Poison taunted, firing off a Poison Sting, which glanced off the side of Voltorb's hard body. Nova's ears perked up in surprise. Shouting abuse at others wasn't quite his style, had he picked that up from Gold? Poison rolled out of the way of a couple more, getting hit by one but still avoiding hits. Voltorb looked frustrated.
"Stop running around!" Voltorb rumbled. The moment his mouth opened, a stray Poison Sting landed in his mouth. It's eyes widened in surprise, as did everyone else's.
"Nice!" Nova called out excitedly, unsure whether it was a fluke or not. By Voltorb's faltering, it was safe to assume that he had been poisoned.
"Alright, put some distance between you two!" Sam coached. Now it was just a matter of waiting it out. Both Pokémon were getting tired, but eventually the poison would cause Voltorb to faint. Poison complied and jumped back a little before using Defense Curl again.
The pattern repeated with Lt. Surge commanding Voltorb to use Sonicboom and Thunder Shocks. Within a few turns, Voltorb's attacks starting coming slower and slower until Poison ran in to finish the match with a Double Kick. Voltorb flew back several feet, knocked out.
"Great job, Poison!" Sam called and Poison gave him a tired grin as he jogged back to join the rest of the team. "Come on back and take a rest. Nova, your turn."
Nova bumped Poison with her tail playfully as she passed him on the field. Lt. Surge released a Magnemite. The eevee nervously looked back at her team, making eye-contact with Gold, who gave her a very sarcastic thumbs up. Nova took a deep breath and readied herself.
"We're going to avoid physical attacks, alright Nova?" Nova voicing her Pokédex cry. Magnemite's metal would definitely be hard defense to go around but she was up for the challenge.
Instead, she charged up a Swift attack and let them fly towards the magnet Pokémon. Nova kept shooting them off persistently and eventually, scratches started to appear on Magnemite's armor. Nova felt more and more pressure to dodge however, since she was continuously being hit with Screech attacks. Stray Thunderbolts were even starting to cause a little damage. She was already charging up her finishing move—a Shadow Ball. As she turned around to release it, Nova felt her muscles tense under the pressure of thousands of pins and needles and her fur stand up. She worked her eyes open despite the bright light around her, realizing she was being hit by a direct Thundershock. She focused on not losing her Shadow Ball and broke out of the electrical attack. Now, while the Magnemite was winded, she thought, firing off her ghostly energy ball as she worked to control her still spasming muscles. It was a critical hit that dropped Magnemite like a rock.
'Vee!' Nova cheered, feeling the slight rush of energy that came with defeating an enemy.
"Nova, here comes the next one!" She heard Sam tell her as the fainted Pokémon was recalled and a tall electric rodent ran to meet her in the field
'Rai,' the Raichu grinned down at her in a way that might have been friendly had it not been completely terrifying. The Raichu was easily twice her size and at least four times as heavy.
"Quick Attack!" Nova immediately charged at Raichu. Right before she reached him, she realized that Raichu had created duplicates of himself. Double Team again. But she hadn't taken her eye off the original Raichu so she rammed into the solid Raichu at full force before kicking off of him to put distance between them again. Raichu sparked up and released a Thundershock much faster than Magnemite's. Nova had to dive haphazardly into the dirt in order to avoid it.
"That Eevee's just going to keep dodging—use Shock Wave!" Lt. Surge commanded.
"Dodge!" Sam called back. Nova prepared herself, clearing away from the initial spark of electricity. Too late, Nova realized that the small spark had only broken away from the actual attack as a powerful ring of electricity fanned out in every direction away from Raichu. It was unavoidable and sent Nova tumbling backwards. Her legs were shaking slightly but she jumped back up and fired a Shadow Ball. Her Shadow Ball was met by another Shock Wave and fizzled out. Knowing she couldn't avoid it, Nova charged through the electric attack, trying to ignore the damage she was taking. An instant before her Quick Attack made contact with Raichu's soft belly, she felt a strong tail wrap around her neck and pull her upward instead.
Struggling, Nova kicked out her legs, trying to hit her opponent as the hold around her collar tightening as her feet left the ground and she was being pulled up into the air.
"Kehhh…" Nova tried to speak but the strain of her body weight on her neck left her breathless. She couldn't charge up an attack either.
"Hang in there!" A voice called, keeping her mind from slipping into panic. It might have been Sam or it might have been Gold. She focused on breaths and fighting back but her struggles were starting to weaken already.
"As soon as your trainer forfeits, I'll let you go, you're no match for me." Nova heard Raichu say. A beat passed and nothing happened. Then Nova felt an electric charge hit her not unlike a charging Tauros.
"G-gauh!" Nova grit her teeth as her legs spasmed. In the recesses of her brain, she knew Raichu must have held back a little or she'd likely have died but it hurt so badly, she didn't care. She could felt her spine conducting the electricity through her body and was surprised to realize that the electricity felt similar to an internal burn. Although the attack must have only lasted a couple of seconds, it felt like much longer. No longer caring about being held up by her neck, she lay limp in Raichu's hold.
"I recall Nova!" She heard Sam call through her ringing ears. A thought of panic hit her when she realized that she had lost the Gym match. Every other time, she had finished the match. Actually, it's alright, Gold can fix this, she thought tiredly as she felt the pressure on her neck disappear as she was brought back into her Pokéball.
She was only in that small meadow for a few seconds before she re-materialized on the ground in front of a crouching Sam. Gold, Abra, Missile, Kurt and Poison all hurried around her as Sam rooted through his bag, stress evident on his face.
Nova sighed deeply from where she lay in relief.
"How bad is it, Nova?" Poison asked nervously.
"Come on, sit up," Gold said, nudging her side gently with his paw.
"It's not that bad, I'm just tired," Nova twitched her leg a little, "but I can't really move. What's this?" Nova's breath hitched a little in worry.
"Hold on," Gold said, grabbing something out of Sam's bag and handing it to him.
"Paralyze heal?" Sam asked, accepting the small bottle from Gold. Sam sprayed it onto Nova's legs and back and she felt her limbs unlock and relax. She sat up slowly. 'Vee!'
Sam sprayed a potion on her as well and discarded the two empty bottles before turning to Poison. "Alright Poison, you're up again." Sam told him.
"Alright," Poison said, whiskers twitching in concern. "Nova, you're feeling okay?"
"Yeah, just winded," Nova replied weakly. "Go get 'em."
"She'll be fine," Gold assured him, rolling his eyes. "Go out there and fight."
Poison nodded and ran out to the field where a bored Raichu was playing with sand.
"Sorry for the delay, let's continue the match!" Sam called and Raichu stood up again. "Poison, get him with Double Kick!" Like Nova had done earlier, Poison charged through a Shock Wave in order to assail Raichu. Both of Poison's kicks hit powerfully. Raichu's eyes narrowed and he struck Poison with his tail. Surprisingly, Poison stood his ground and fired a Poison Sting. Then, Poison's eyes wandered back to his team, glancing back at Nova. Nova's eyes widened. Now wasn't the time to worry about her!
Poison's hesitation put him on the receiving end of an uppercut, throwing him backward. Raichu shook his paw out in pain at making contact with one of Poison's spikes but he didn't seem to be poisoned. The Nidoran pulled himself back up slowly and ran at Raichu again. Raichu fired off a Thundershock that hit Poison with frightening accuracy.
Nova tensed in sympathy next to Gold as Poison slumped down and his eyes fluttered closed. "Thanks Poison, you did great, return." A second later, he reappeared next to us. Sam pulled a potion out of his pocket and handed it to Kurt. "Please take care of him, Gold and I are going to finish this." Sam's resolve seemed to have redoubled.
Gold smirked, hitting his fists together. "'Bout damn time." Nova flashed a smile at him before making her way over to Poison.
She wanted to admonish him for getting distracted, but she knew he knew he made a mistake as soon as he made it and she didn't want to embarrass him.
"You did good," she said instead, playful whapping him on the forehead with her paw.
"Yeah, you too Nova," Poison replied, sitting up stiffly.
"Electricity sucks, huh." Nova laughed.
"Uh-huh," Poison said, "do we stand a chance? That Raichu is so powerful."
"Well, we got Gold. And Gold is an entire party on bad days. With his ground-typing, he'll wipe the floor with Raichu."
Gold ran through Shock Wave attacks without taking any damage, Raichu stumbled back a little bit in order to throw another attack, a Mega Punch. Gold dug his back claws into the ground and held out both paws in front of him. Raichu's punch landed squarely in his paws. He held on tight to Raichu's fist and pulled hard, throwing him off balance. Gold followed up with a jab to the stomach and an uppercut of his own.
Raichu's entire body crackled with electricity but Gold didn't seem to notice in the least. Raichu's back leg came up to kick Gold but he lowered himself and moved to the side, catching Raichu's leg with his own and pushing forward, causing Raichu to fall over.
Gold stepped back to let Raichu pull himself back up and used Defense Curl.
"Are you messing with me? Why aren't you using ground moves?" Raichu hissed, wiping blood of a cut on his cheek.
"It isn't my style." Gold said, motioning Raichu to come at him. The electric rodent acted as if he were performing a Tackle but at the last moment, his tail whipped out and slapped Gold across the face. Even as the attack made impact, Gold's arms reached out and grabbed the base of Raichu's tail tightly.
"Here we go!" Gold grunted, heaving Raichu's weight over his shoulder and slamming him to the ground.
Nova stood up in excitement. Gold was the perfect match for Raichu. He was invulnerable to his special attacks and had high defense. Since he stood on two legs, he had a physical advantage over the four-legged Nova and Poison. In addition, he stood at a much closer height to the Raichu even if he was still less than half his weight.
Raichu pulled himself up again, panting harshly. He had clearly taken a lot of damage over the last few minutes and had also expended a lot of energy battling all three of them.
"I'll show you a real Mega Punch." Gold told Raichu, holding up a fist, which started to glow white. He pulled back and punched Raichu across the face with all his might. Raichu's eyes unfocused and he toppled over.
"Yes!" Gold cheered, holding up his fist in victory. The rest of the team hurried out to meet him.
Nova sat up and extended her paw. Gold met her paw with a fist. "Nice job, Gold."
"Sam." Sam jumped up in surprise to meet Lt. Surge, who had joined them
"Lieutenant," Sam said.
Lt. Surge extended his hand and dropped a yellow badge into Sam's palms. "Congratulations, kid, you earned a Thunder Badge. That's one talented team you got there."
Nova nudged Gold when she noticed the Gym Leader looking at him as he spoke.
"Thank you." Sam said, looking at the badge in his hands. Outwardly, it might have seemed like he had thanked Lt. Surge, but as he stared at the shiny badge it his hands, he meant to address his Pokémon.
Please review!
This is the longest chapter so far btw (5.2k)
RWD over and out ;)