As Delaney pushed the bookcase back to reveal a set of stairs leading down, down to where Lenora the gym leader was more than likely waiting, a rush of excitement raced through her veins. She pushed a strand of her brunette hair back behind her ear and began the trek down.
There, at the back of the room, standing in front of massive bookshelves that reminded her of the ones in her father's library back in Sinnoh, was a curvy woman with dark skin, teal hair tied back with a head scarf and a large, welcoming smile on her face. "Why hello there!" she had greeted the small brunette in front of her warmly. "Welcome to the Nacrene City gym! I'm Lenora, and I'm not only the gym leader, but also the director of the Nacrene museum!"
"I'm Christa," the brunette had said meekly, feeling a sudden overwashing of nerves mix in with the previous moment's excitement.
"Are you ready, Christa?" Lenora asked her with a grin. "I think we're about to have ourselves a fantastic battle!"
Well, so much for that fantastic battle.
She didn't dare go out after returning from the gym, seeing as how it was already getting late and her pokemon were exhausted, even after being healed. Delaney released the three after returning to her room. She sat cross-legged at the edge of the bed while Perry, Dibs and Charlie stared up at her. "You guys did amazing today," she said with a smile. "I couldn't have asked for you to do any better than you did, and I'm so proud of you. But tomorrow? We're going to go out into the grass and learn a few new tricks, okay?"
Charlie jumped up onto the bed excitedly, crawling in Delaney's lap. Dibs cheered from where he sat on the floor. The petite brunette trainer giggled. So this is what it was like to actually have fun on a journey. She had almost forgotten. The hope that Andrew might be hanging around again was somewhere in the back of her mind as well, though she didn't want to tell him that she had lost to Lenora.
"Come on, guys, it's time for bed," she said with a yawn, though the smile didn't leave her face. "It's late and we have a gym battle to win tomorrow." And with that, Delaney got up and shut off the light. Dibs made a bed out of some extra sheets and pillows right next to his trainer's bed, while Charlie curled up at her feet and Perry plopped down in a chair.
She couldn't remember the last time she had fallen asleep so quickly, and with a smile on her face at that.
The next morning, as Delaney headed further into the grass, she pondered the loss and what it meant. How had Delaney lost the battle when inspiration was coursing through Delaney's veins in a way it hadn't since the very beginning of her Sinnoh adventure?
There was only one way that question could be answered: Lenora was strong, so Delaney needed to become stronger too.
It had been a long time since creative battle tactics and a little bit of inspiration failed to win Delaney a match, but not too long ago, she had been battling with a full team of fully evolved pokemon who had already been through intensive training and learned crazy, but somehow effective, techniques to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Now, it was time for her new team to do the same.
The three pokemon stood staring up at her, just as they had the night before. Delaney stood there in another pair of denim cutoffs and a large, shapeless red t-shirt knotted in the back to not be so huge on her. Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and the look on her face said she meant business. She was fully prepared to get down in the mud with them if it helped them learn. "Okay, you guys, it's time to do some real training. We're going to train hard, but not for very long, because tonight," she said, a grin bursting out across her face, "we beat Lenora."
"So you're back," Lenora said with a wide grin. "You don't give up, do you, Christa? I didn't think you would. I've been waiting all day for you to return. Let's have an even better battle than before."
This time, Christa did not send out the determined oshawott who had been with her since day one of her journey. Instead, a sleek teal otter with a narrow determined look, armed with two scalchops at his hips, was staring at Lenora and the herdier she had released. Yes, Perry had evolved into what her pokedex called a dewott, and after a crushing loss, Perry was now ready to kick some serious ass.
Lillipup and patrat on their own were nothing to sweat. The same could not be said for the watchog and herdier that Lenora had trained. Perry had tried, but faltered. The small otter had been slammed into and knocked down repeatedly and it was only naturally for him to not get up at some point. Charlie, as determined as he was, couldn't stand the sheer force of the evolved pokemon.
Somehow, Charlie and Perry had finished off the watchog, with the eager puppy finishing up where the otter left off. But the two had fallen, and it was then up to Dibs to beat Herdier.
This time, Lenora was apparently saving the watchog for last, but she was grinning broadly at the dewott Delaney had released. "It looks like you've done some serious training," she said. "Now, Herdier, crunch down on that dewott! Bite it!"
She was counting on Perry being quicker than the herdier, but if she remembered correctly, Lenora's pokemon were both speedy. "Dodge it! Use your water gun!" A small shoot of water blasted the puppy in the face, injuring it not too greatly, but stunning it for a moment. "Now tackle it to the ground!"
Lenora looked a bit perplexed. "Herdier, don't let Dewott get the best of you! Dodge that tackle and then take him down!"
"Perry, throw one of your scalchops at him!" Delaney called (and yes, she had finally learned what those shells were called). The scalchop from Perry's left side was grabbed and thrown through the air like a ninja star.
Lenora's eyes widened. "Stop, Herdier! Don't get any closer!" But the dog had too much momentum to stop now. All he could do was try to turn, so he did, but not quickly enough. The scalchop still hit him on his abdomen, and left a bit of a gash. The herdier collapsed where he was, and this time, he stayed down, whimpering slightly at the stinging pain in his side.
"Herdier, you did so great!" Lenora cooed as she sat by his side. The gash was bleeding a little bit. She recalled him to his pokeball and then grabbed the other. It was time for Watchog now.
"He's not hurt badly, is he?" Delaney asked, concerned. She turned to Perry. "Maybe we should start saving that for opponents with a bit more armor," she told him.
Lenora smiled at her. "Herdier will be just fine. It's just a surface cut. I have just the medicine for it upstairs." And with that, she threw the pokeball in her hand and released the watchog. "You know what to do, Watchog," she said with a little grin.
"Be prepared to spray it," Delaney muttered under her breath. Perry stood firm, ready to shoot powerful jets of water out at anybody who dared to come near him.
Watchog did know exactly what to do. He charged at Perry with incredible fervor and knocked the otter clear back, just as Herdier had done to Dibs in the previous battle. Perry skidded back a few feet, hitting a wall, and just like the mole pokemon before him, he didn't get up.
"That is by far the best you've ever battled. I'm so proud of you, and you should be proud of yourself," Delaney whispered to Perry as she recalled him. He deserved a nice rest after his hard work. Contemplating for but a second, she threw her next pokeball onto the battlefield and with a flash of white light, Charlie materialized with a determined smirk on his little face. "Are you ready for this, Charlie?" she called out. The lillipup glanced back at her, his grin only widening. Oh, he was ready.
"Crunch down on that puppy, Watchog!" Lenora called.
"Don't you dare let him, Charlie," Delaney called with a grin. "Let's try what we worked on yesterday! Tackle him!" But instead of heading directly for the watchog, Charlie circled him and went at him from behind, focusing on his ankles. Charlie charged at the watchog and both Delaney and Lenora watched as Watchog lost his balance and tumbled over. "Now, Charlie, bite him!"
The savage puppy tore into Watchog with a vengeance, chomping down on his leg. "While he's at close range, retaliate!" Lenora called. The watchog slammed into Charlie nearly as hard as he had Perry and Charlie flew back and hit the wall, just as his teammates had at one point.
But unlike Perry, and unlike Dibs, Charlie popped back up with a wicked little glare on his face. He was ready to rumble once more. That was the thing about Charlie- he was absolutely, positively resilient. Delaney's grin spread across her face.
After hitting the wall, Charlie had lost some of his speed. He was tired, and she could tell he was hurting. She could also tell that if she pulled him out of battle now, he would be remarkably pissed off. He reminded her a bit of Samuel at the moment, her determined luxray that was probably hanging out in the garden. She felt a pang of guilt. Dax had been right- those pokemon deserved more than just hanging out in the garden, or simply going on walks around the property. They deserved to be out training to their full potential. Delaney vowed that if she was ever allowed to return home, she would go out and really do something- maybe go to the Battle Frontier with Dax, maybe even challenge the gym leaders to rematches. She also vowed to call her father when she finished her battle. She hoped she could tell him that she was just returning from winning her second Unova badge.
Delaney narrowed her eyes, and somehow, she knew that Charlie was doing the same. Lenora chuckled a bit to her. "That lillipup is pretty tired," she called out to her watchog. "Let's try to give it a chance to take a nice rest. Use your hypnosis!"
Unfortunately, Charlie's dead-on glare made it susceptible to the attack and before Delaney could yell at him to try to dodge it somehow, the puppy's eyelids were closing and he dropped to the ground. Well, so much for a comeback. "You still did great," Delaney whispered as she bent down next to him to recall him, even though he was asleep and couldn't hear her anyways. "I'm proud of you for getting back up. You're getting to be quite a force to reckon with, Charlie my dear." And with that, she called the lillipup back into his pokeball so he could get some proper rest.
Delaney was done to one last pokemon to get the job done, but she wavered not at all. "You've got this, Dibs!" she called as she threw the final pokeball into the battlefield. Dibs appeared within seconds with his usual goofy, cheerful grin on his face, ready for action. "Remember what we worked on?" Delaney asked with a grin.
"Okay, Watchog, let's put this one to sleep too!" Lenora called out, but Delaney noticed something in her eyes that gave the small brunette hope. It was the same look Delaney had worn herself yesterday. She was resigning herself to a loss.
"Dig under the battlefield to avoid it!" Delaney yelled out. The drilbur's large white blades began to rotate and the mole pokemon dove, and broke ground. There was no way that Dibs would allow Lenora and her watchog to put him to sleep. Delaney could only imagine him tunneling underneath with incredible speed.
She didn't want to call out the next order yet, as she wasn't sure if Dibs could hear her or not, and so she waited. She waited, and Lenora waited, and Watchog waited. After an incredible amount of silence, Delaney began to notice the ground next to Watchog quivering just a little bit as if something was about to burst out. How the meerkat-like pokemon didn't notice it was a mystery to Delaney, but it made the unveiling of Dibs bursting through the gym floor moments later just that much more amazing. The watchog was knocked flat off its feet just out of shock. Dibs popped out of the hole he had made with a triumphant grin, standing upon dirt and rubble and-
Dirt. "Okay, Dibs, now use your sand attack to get some dirt in Watchog's eyes and scratch at him while he can't see you to attack back!" she called. Perhaps it would work with Watchog better than it had Herdier.
Dibs wasted no time to spraying the watchog with sediment and then attacking with his claws. The watchog didn't even have the chance to get back up before eventually Dibs stopped, realizing that the watchog had been knocked out and that he, Dibs, was victorious.
Delaney's eyes grew wide. "That was awesome, Dibs!" she cried, running across the battlefield to where the mole pokemon was standing with a broad smile on his face. Delaney picked him up and gave him a huge hug (though careful to stay clear of his claws). "I'm so proud of you!"
Lenora strolled slowly to where Watchog was laying. "You did a good job," she said with a smile. "Sometimes we just have to admit defeat though." Lenora reached into her pocket and took a few steps further to where Delaney stood with her arms still around her pokemon. "That was quite a victory, Miss Christa."
Delaney set Dibs down back on the battlefield. "Thank you, Lenora," she said, beaming.
Lenora held out a small rectangular badge adorned with purple and gold. "This is the Basic Badge. You've earned this." Though she hated to admit it, her hand was trembling as she took it and put it in her old badge case next to the Trio Badge. Lenora opened her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by the sounds of a struggle upstairs. Male voices above them screamed. "Oh dear. I think we should go check on that. Come on, Christa."
Come on, Christa? Christa White didn't have to have any part of this. She had completed her battle. The badge was in her badge case. As far as she was concerned, she could rush out the door when she got upstairs, and it would be nobody's business. With each step up, a pit in Delaney's stomach grew larger. She would put money on that fact that Team Plasma was probably involved- and that Delaney would soon be involved as well. She began to think of ways to politely decline (seeing as how she didn't want to offend Lenora, who had been so nice to her already).
It was too bad Delaney hadn't put money on the involvement of Team Plasma, because the museum was swarmed with grunts. Lenora pushed through crowds, her hand on Delaney's wrist, dragging the petite brunette with her, until she was standing face to face with a sneering Plasma member. "Thanks for the goodies, Lenora!" he laughed and with that, the flooding of Plasma members moved outside.
"What was that supposed to mean?" Lenora asked. Her eyes then became wide. "What did they take?" It was good that the crowd was thinning because it meant that she could locate her husband, Hawes, much more easily. "Hawes, what did they take?"
Hawes couldn't speak. He only pointed up. Both Lenora and Delaney lifted their heads. They were standing beneath a massive dragon skeleton… That was missing a head. "They took the skull?" Lenora hollered. Delaney could only stare in shock. What kind of weirdoes were these people? Were they in some kind of cult?
Lenora strode outside, her steps big and full of anger. Delaney followed her, not knowing what else to do. It made her sad to see such a kind person in such distress, especially when the distress was caused by people like Team Plasma. Unfortunately, the members of Plasma had disbursed (more than likely into the forest- this was what those grunts Delaney saw had been planning). Now only a few bystanders remained. One of such bystanders, a tall, lanky young man with longer wavy light brown hair, brightly colored clothing and a brown corduroy sack hanging off one shoulder, walked up to Lenora. "What's the commotion all about?" he asked.
"Team Plasma made off with the skulls of one of my exhibits," Lenora said angrily, her voice slightly trembling.
"That's creepy," he said, wrinkling his nose. "Where are they now?"
"I think they went into the forest," Delaney piped up. "I saw a few grunts in there earlier."
"You're a new face," he said, staring at Delaney as if trying to figure her out. "I'm Burgh, Castelia City gym leader."
"This is Christa," Lenora jumped in. "She was just finishing up her gym battle when those awful people came in. First trainer to beat me in awhile. This one's really something, Burgh," she said with a broad smile, the frustration wiping off her face for just a moment. Delaney felt her face turn red. Lenora then gazed back at the museum, as if remembering why they were gathered out there.
"I look forward to getting the pleasure to battle you sometime," Burgh said with a playful grin, but the moment had passed. Lenora was back in take-charge, kick-ass mode.
"I need to ask a huge favor of the two of you," she stated. "I can't leave the museum to chase after those thieves. There's no way they've gotten further than the forest, but if they get out, there's no way to catch them."
Delaney was filled with absolute dread, because if Lenora was going where she thought she was, there was no way she could say no. All of the excuses that she had previously come up with were now useless. She couldn't disappoint these gym leaders who obviously thought so highly of her, especially not Lenora. Burgh was already taking care of answering, though. "They won't get to Castelia," he stated. "We'll get them." He paused. "That is, if you don't mind helping me, Christa."
She didn't have to say anything. He knew what her answer was.
"Oh my goodness, what happened?" Delaney heard the high soprano voice approaching before she saw them, and inwardly she cringed. She didn't think this could get much worse, but it was about to.
"Bianca, that's the gym leader, Lenora!" she could hear Cheren say. Lenora and Burgh both turned to look at the oncoming trainers. Cheren and Bianca advanced on the trio quickly. Oh boy.
"Are you trainers?" Lenora asked them, her voice once again becoming sweet.
"Yes, and we were hoping to battle you today!" Cheren said eagerly. For the first time, Cheren noticed Delaney standing behind Lenora. "Hello, Christa." His voice became icy at the mere sight of her.
"Oh, Christa, it's you." Bianca's voice was tinged with hesitation. "Did you already beat Lenora?" Delaney only nodded.
"I'm not battling right now, I'm sorry," Lenora responded. "Team Plasma just took off with one of my exhibits!"
"Is there any way we can help?" Bianca asked in a sweet voice.
"You could always come with us into the forest, if you'd like! The more of us there are, the less likely they'll be able to escape!" Burgh said eagerly. This was getting worse and worse. Not only was she going to be stuck looking for Team Plasma, but she was going to be stuck with Cheren and Bianca. In a forest, a forest that was likely filled with bugs. This was Delaney's personal hell
Bianca's wide eyes got a bit sad. "I don't think I'm strong enough to go after them," she said quietly. Within seconds though, she brightened back up, excited about a new idea. "I know! Cheren could go with you two, because you're strong and he's strong, and I can stay here with Lenora in case they come back!"
Lenora shrugged. "If that's okay with you and Christa, Burgh," was all she said.
"Let's go get them!" Burgh said cheerfully, grabbing Delaney's wrist in one hand and Cheren's in the other, practically dragging the two away from the museum.
"Wait, my pokemon are still weak though from battling Lenora!" Delaney argued. "I need to go heal them!" And also potentially run far, far away.
"I have a lot of different remedies in my bag," Burgh offered. "I'll give them to you before we split up."
Split up? With weird skull-stealers in an unfamiliar dark forest and Cheren who glared at her all the time? This was going to be quite dandy.
Author's Note (7/02/14): So I wanted to post this on Saturday (6/28), which was the date the original TCatG was first posted three years ago, but I was laptop-less all weekend so... yeah, that didn't happen.
A thank you as always to those who provide constructive reviews, as I do really try to utilize them. Thanks to those of you who read as well. :)
And lastly, as always, thanks to my most wonderful beta and friend Noteleks.
See you sometime next week! :)