Chad sat up suddenly with a cry of surprise as he woke. He found himself covered with a thick blanket and a damp washcloth fell from his forehead. He was currently wearing his underclothes which were soaked with sweat from the nightmare's effects. He took a moment to breathe as the fear faded into the recesses of his memory, no longer at the front of his mind. When he caught his breath he looked up to find that he was no longer in the forest which had been bathed in destruction, but an unfamiliar wooden house of simple design with a tatami floor mat layout on which he was currently resting. He sensed movement beside him and looked over to see a young lady wearing a stylish yet seemingly ceremonial form of dress. She had been startled by his sudden awakening as well, but was already showing a friendly smile.
"Good morning, young master. I trust you are feeling healthy once more?"
Chad touched a hand to his chest and felt that this was indeed real and he was in perfect health surprisingly. "I… yes, I am. What happened? No wait, where am I?"
The lady bowed from her position of kneeling with her legs under her body. "You are among the recovery rooms in the house of Koga. You and your two comrades were brought here yesterday by a team of Pokémon Rangers who were investigating a disturbance in the area."
"That's… good to hear I guess. You said there were only three people who were rescued in the area though."
"That is correct. Were there others in your group that you believe were left out there as well that should be searched for?"
Chad thought back to the events of the day before. After seeing Soapy Rinse, or whatever Akuma's dragon Pokémon was called, Niklos had recalled all his Pokémon and run off into the forest away from the destruction. He hadn't seen the other enemies escape or run clearly enough to know what had happened to them, but he assumed, hoped, that they had escaped anyway. "No, there were only two people I was traveling with."
"Ah, that is good news. I fear if there were any others in the area they might not have survived the events that took place last night. Forgive me for asking you to recall such a horrific event, but might I inquire as to what creature or machine caused such destruction?"
Chad figured that Akuma didn't want anyone to know what the cause behind the devastation was if they didn't need to know, so he feigned ignorance. "I'm sorry. I… don't think I can remember to be honest."
"Of course, it is not important after all I suppose. My apologies for asking you about it."
"Oh, uh, there's no need to apologize really. But how are the others? You said they were rescued too, right? Are they okay?"
"Yes, young master. They awoke some time ago. We were afraid that because of your young age you might take longer to do the same, but it is good to see that you are healthy now. When you feel physically prepared to do so you may walk around freely as you wish. Good day."
The lady rose from her kneeling position and left the room. She had an air of gracefulness similar to that of Erika, Chad noticed. He shook his head to wake himself up the rest of the way and pulled himself up from the bed. After redressing he found that his regular clothes were torn up slightly since the journey from Lavender Town had been so harsh. He might have to replace them soon. Either way it was all he had to wear so he dressed himself in his now ragged attire and left the room to look around the building.
He found that the building was built as an old style Japanese mansion. He had stepped out into a large outdoor courtyard at the center of the building which contained various shrubbery and large rocks. Chad felt as if he'd stumbled upon an old fashioned martial arts dojo.
"I see you're awake now," said a voice to his side. Chad looked over to see Akuma standing beside the door as if he'd been waiting for him to come out. "I assume you've been told you can walk around the compound on your own free will, but it can be easy to get lost in this place. You'd better stick close to me while you're here. There's someone I want you meet."
Chad followed Akuma down the length of the porch, leading them around the outside of the wide open garden. A couple of times Chad thought he heard or saw movement in the greenery, but when he looked again there was nothing. Akuma eventually stopped in front of a sliding door and slid it open. Inside the room was a battlefield where Kurishimi stood in the center, shaking hands with a man who was probably in his late fifties.
"That was a very satisfying battle, Miss Akashi," the man was saying. "It was a fine battle for me to retire with as well. For your victory, I present you with the Fuchsia Gym's soul badge." As he said, the man presented her with the small metallic token; the details of which Chad was unable to see from his distance.
"Sorry kid, we got here a little too late I guess," Akuma told him.
The man and Kurishimi looked at the pair that came walking in through the door when they heard Akuma's voice. Kurishimi smiled when she saw Chad looking healthy as ever and hopped over to see them.
"Glad you woke up, Chad. It's nice to see a major battle like that and not have one of us hospitalized for once. Battle fatigue is probably the best side effect we've had in this group for a couple months."
"But I've only been with you for a few weeks haven't I?" Chad asked in confusion.
Kurishimi gave him a smile and a wink as she replied. "I never said our wounds were directly related to you joining us, did I?"
"Well no, I guess that was a pretty big stretch to make, wasn't it?" Chad admitted as he scratched his head in embarrassment. "So from what I heard you just won another badge which means we're in a Pokémon gym, right?"
"That's right. And I'm lucky enough to get the last gym badge from the gym leader too!"
"You did what now?" Chad asked in astonishment.
"Master Koga is preparing to leave his duties as gym leader in Fuchsia City," Akuma explained. "He is about to undergo final observation to become a member of the Elite Four at Indigo Plateau. Kurishimi was his last challenge as a gym leader."
"And a most skilled young lady she is too," Koga chimed in. "She defeated the junior members of this gym and began her gym challenge without resting, and even now her Pokémon are still sufficiently capable of further battling if need be. It was a fine retirement challenge, to be sure."
"So… does this mean I can't win a gym badge today?" Chad asked with heavy disappointment.
"I had heard that we might have had another challenger today from Akuma, but I had not expected you to appear so soon. I apologize for disheartening your spirit, but there is still a way for you to take the gym challenge if you desire. Akuma, if you could please escort him to the recovery and exchange room we will ready a suitable test for him while he prepares a Pokémon team to challenge us with."
Akuma nodded and brought Chad out of the room while Kurishimi stayed behind with Koga. Chad learned that all of his Pokémon had been brought to the recovery room when their group had been brought to Koga's mansion as well as Kurishimi's and Akuma's. His companions had already healed and switched out their Pokémon teams, so Chad was currently the only one among them who had no Pokémon to battle with. Koga Manor had a small medical wing that functioned well enough for a Pokémon Center, complete with an exchange computer.
This was Chad's first gym battle since leaving Cerulean and getting concentrated training, so he wanted to be sure to do things to the best of his ability. After retrieving his Pokémon from the nurse he picked up a pen and pad of paper then sat down at a computer with his Pokémon storage box open and displaying the names of those he didn't have with him. He wrote down the names of every Pokémon he had available and started considering which ones he would use with the exception of Gyarados. After the previous night his main fighter deserved a good rest.
"Akuma, is there anything you can tell me about Koga?"
"Yes, but he's not the gym leader anymore so I don't know what you hope to gain from learning about him specifically."
"Oh, right, I forgot. Well can you give me any information about this gym then?"
"I don't know who Koga has chosen to replace him, but the idea should be the same. This gym is filled with trainers who use the way of the ninja to train their Pokémon. Common tactics instructed by Koga are related to crippling the opponent before defeating the enemy. Expect status effects and quick moving enemies. Their attacks will either hit very hard or do very little damage while attacks come repeatedly to whittle your Pokémon down. It depends entirely on who your opponent will be."
"Let's see… all the current gym leaders in Kanto use different Pokémon types, don't they?"
"For the most part, yes."
"Darn, I was expecting him to specialize in grass types. Well let me think. The surroundings are pretty outdoorsy, there's a garden in the center of the plot, and I'm fighting a ninja clan. So the Pokémon type specialty here must be… bug types!"
As Chad started scratching out and circling names on his list of Pokémon Akuma smiled to himself from out of Chad's view. Chad went through the list quickly, sorting out what Pokémon he would bring with him until he had five Pokémon circled and only two left untouched on his list. He scratched his head with the blunt end of the pen thinking over which one he should take for a moment or two, then scratched out Electabuzz's name and started the Pokémon exchange system.
When his belt was fully loaded with three poké balls on each side he stood up and declared to himself, as well as Akuma, "Alright, I'm ready for my gym battle now."
Chad paced the room next to the gym arena doors nervously. If he'd been able to go straight in when he arrived there wouldn't have been much problem, but the wait while his challenge was being prepared was nerve wracking. Akuma kept telling him to calm down, and he did try, but he couldn't stay that way for long. Finally the doors opened and Kurishimi told them they were ready. Chad walked in by himself, though Akuma followed him in of course, and they saw five young women dressed in ninja robes and a long purple scarf covering their faces. Each had the same clothing, the same hair, and the same features. Chad believed that he was looking at a mirror illusion until he saw each one having a different blinking pattern. Koga, who was standing nearby, explained the rules of Chad's gym challenge.
"For your challenge at Fuchsia Gym you will battle my daughter Janine for the Soul Badge. However, to battle my daughter you must first pick her out from among these four imposters. If you choose incorrectly, you will battle the imposter in increasing stock battles until you come to the real Janine. Your first battle, regardless of who you choose, will be one-on-one. Your next battle will be two-on-two, and so on. If the gym leader is the last one chosen, you must face her in a five stock battle, regardless of your remaining Pokémon count. If you lose all of your Pokémon at any point before earning your badge you must restart your challenge from the beginning. If you wish to make any changes to the battles you must state your request before the battle begins and it is up to Janine herself to accept or decline your proposal. Do you fully understand the conditions of this challenge?"
Chad nodded stiffly. "Yes, sir."
With that, Koga took a seat on the sidelines without another word and allowed the challenge to continue without him.
Chad stepped forward hesitantly and looked carefully at each girl in front of him while at a respectable distance. All the disguises were perfect. He could see minute differences in how each trainer stood, but nothing gave away signs of which trainer might be of a higher class than the others. Two of the trainers were calm, though one seemed more rigid than the other. He thought another trainer seemed slightly more uncomfortable than the rest and filed away the information in his mind. When he met the eyes of another girl she averted her eyes just slightly. The fifth kept her eyes closed; perhaps in focus for battle.
When Chad couldn't make up his mind he turned his back on the group. "I have a request I wish to make about the upcoming battle to the real Janine," he declared. When there was no immediate reply he continued. "I want to choose two people for my first battle. Both trainers will fight me with one Pokémon at the same time in a double battle. I will use two Pokémon of my own. The following match, if there is one, will be a three stock battle and from then on the stock will increase normally. Both trainers will use one Pokémon each while I use only two at the same time. Both battles will fulfill the previous stock conditions in the same match. May I have your permission to continue?"
Kurishimi looked worried and whispered a question to their mentor. Akuma showed signs of amusement and whispered back to her in a reassuring tone. Chad glanced to the side at Koga who was looking at the group behind him. The old man shook his head slowly and looked back at Chad with studying eyes.
"I accept your proposal," Janine finally replied a moment later. Her words were clear and her voice betrayed a respectable upbringing as well as her composure. Chad knew he needed to make sure what happened in this battle counted for something. "Your first battle shall be a double battle against two trainers."
Chad smiled to himself and turned back to the group, already knowing who it was he wanted to face. "I chose you," he said with one finger pointed toward the girl who seemed uncomfortable earlier, "and you!" He redirected his finger toward the girl who had looked away from him earlier.
"Incorrect," both girls said as they vanished from his sight. The remaining three leapt off to the side opposite from Koga and took a knee. Chad turned to see the two clones pulling off their disguises on the opposite side of the battlefield as they spoke in unison. "Your first match will be against…"
"… Cindy!" declared a young girl.
"… and Barry!" added a… boy!
Chad was surprised at the second fighter's identity and didn't try to hide it. "My first gym battle is against a cross dresser?!" he said in surprise.
"Illusionary disguises are a superior ninja art no matter the humiliation!" the boy cried out in frustration.
"Control your emotions, Barry," Janine said from among the three. Chad couldn't pinpoint which of the three had spoken.
"The lady is right," Cindy added. "We have to fight together if we plan to stop him." She then addressed Chad directly. "You were brave to choose a double battle for your first gym challenge, but foolish to choose the two of us! We have been training together in this gym for many months so that the two of us could perfect our double battle techniques with each other. You will find it difficult to best the two of us in combat. It's time for battle!"
"Let's win this!" Barry agreed as the two threw their poké balls into the air.
Cindy's Pokémon appeared first. It was a tall blue Pokémon with blunted spikes running down its neck and back. Its ears were similar to those of a mouse and it stood erect with a thick tail for support allowing its strong arms to hold the enemy in a way that would allow a partner to attack the opponent.
Barry's Pokémon was so similar that Chad was sure they were a related species, yet it had a hint of separate familiarity to it. It was purple in color and while it stood at roughly the same height, it was definitely heavier and much more muscular. It had the same ears, spike arrangement, and tail as Cindy's Pokémon, but the horn on its forehead was much more threatening. The arms were designed the same way as well, but were much more likely to tear up enemies than hold them down so a partner could do the same.
Kurishimi started to ask Akuma a question, but he held up a hand and shook his head. Chad wished he had nodded because he felt suddenly ill prepared for a double battle against these partners which were definitely not bug types. Both looked like they could be fighting Pokémon, but Chad felt as though the purple one was a poison type. If Chad didn't know any better he might've guessed the blue one to be a dragon type, but it was likely that Gyarados was much stronger so that typing wasn't possible according to logic. If color was the basis it might have been a water type, but that was highly unlikely even though it seemed like it might be a good swimmer. Chad finally gave up trying to guess the enemy's type and assumed his opponents were most likely fighting Pokémon.
"Pidgeotto, Ivysaur, I choose you!" he announced as he threw each poké ball into the battlefield. His Pokémon made their appearance with a confident battle cry which his opponents quickly answered with their own guttural roars. Chad already had his attacks planned and tried to get in the first hit. "Pidgeotto, use quick attack on the right! Ivysaur, trip up the left with vine whip!"
As Pidgeotto sped toward the purple enemy Ivysaur's vines rushed out toward the blue counterpart. But his opponents were prepared for his Pokémon earlier than expected.
"Nidoking, mega punch!" Barry ordered.
"Nidoqueen, stop it with body slam!" Cindy instructed.
Cindy's Nidoqueen leapt up into the air, sailing over the vine whip and crashed back down to the ground, landing on Ivysaur's vines and pinning them to the ground. At the same time Barry's Nidoking took the full force of Pidgeotto's quick attack then smashed the bird into the air with a powerful punch. Ivysaur cringed in pain as its vines were crushed, but didn't stop attacking. Before Nidoqueen could rise to its feet Ivysaur had curled its vines back and wrapped Nidoqueen tightly up in confinement. Chad remembered the combination attack Ivysaur had used against Sudowoodo the day before and saw an excellent opportunity to use it again.
"Ivysaur, razor execution!" he proudly declared.
Ivysaur lifted Nidoqueen high into the air while she was tightly restrained with its vines and began to deliver a deadly assault with a razor leaf barrage. Nidoqueen was helpless to defend herself, but not without outside defense. Nidoking was already on his way to help his comrade with a punch pulled back, but it had already dismissed Pidgeotto in its mind. Quickly Chad called for a gust attack to keep Nidoking at bay which slowed the beast, but also pulled in some of the razor leaves that Ivysaur was attacking with, giving Nidoqueen the opportunity it needed.
Nidoqueen launched a flurry of poison sting needles at Ivysaur that pierced some of the leaves cleanly and continued on to assault Ivysaur. When Ivysaur further slowed its attack Nidoqueen fired a dangerous hyper beam that Ivysaur couldn't avoid. Chad called for his Pokémon to drop Nidoqueen and evade, but Ivysaur was frozen to the spot with fear as the energy blast quickly closed in. Chad's Pokémon took the full force from the explosion and dropped Nidoqueen to the ground. While that was going on Nidoking created a sphere of water in its hands and launched the water pulse attack in Pidgeotto's direction. The bird Pokémon increased the strength of its gust attack to slow the oncoming water blast, but to no avail. Pidgeotto was thrown back across the battlefield into the hyper beam explosion where it suffered the same damage Ivysaur was experiencing. Both of Chad's Pokémon dropped to the ground with a dull thud, but neither of them fainted yet. Chad caught Akuma whispering something to Kurishimi while she nodded in agreement and gave her own opinion.
"You're good Chad," Cindy told him, "and your Pokémon can take a hit better than we were expecting, but for their sake we have to end this battle quickly."
Chad clenched his hand into a fist. "Good, you keep fighting me with all you've got. I won't lose against you and your cross dressing boyfriend today!"
Cindy blushed hard and opened her mouth, but couldn't reply. Chad caught Kurishimi dropping her head into her hand and snorted a barely repressed laugh while Akuma had his eyes closed as he shook his head
"I'm not her boyfriend and I told you that I was using a ninja disguise! It's not cross dressing!" Barry was practically throwing a fit at this point. "Nidoking, attack with earth power!"
"Oh! Um, Nidoqueen, do the same thing!" Cindy ordered, but she was still flustered.
Both Nidos slammed their fists into the ground so that a single glowing fissure raced toward Chad's Pokémon. Chad was ready for their attack, but found it hard to relay his orders the way he wanted. "Ivysaur vine grab Pidgeotto to fly!" he managed to stammer out.
Pidgeotto started to fly into the air just as Ivysaur grabbed onto it with its vine whip attack. Together the pair flew above the enemy and avoided the double strength earth power attack. Then Chad got an excellent idea.
"Pidgeotto, keep them where they are with your twister attack then blind them with a combo sand attack!" As commanded, Pidgeotto whipped up a powerful gust that the pair were trapped inside and the sand immediately after blinded them as well. The wind was too powerful for them to escape from and even when they tried to escape they simply crashed into each other. "Now Ivysaur, use the wind to boost your razor leaf attack!" Ivysaur instantly launched a flurry of razor leaves through the gale and the added power of the speedy winds caused the sharp leaves to do immense damage to the royal duo. "Let's finish this. Ivysaur, drop down into the eye of the twister." Pidgeotto flew above the swirling winds allowing Ivysaur to drop safely in the middle of the deadly gale. "Pidgeotto, propel Ivysaur down and cut off the twister with a blast of gust." With two strong flaps of its wings Pidgeotto launched Ivysaur down to the ground where it landed safely and eliminated the dangerous twister at the same time. Unable to see the events for themselves due to the blinding sand effects, the Nido pair was thrown off balance when the winds were suddenly cut. "Ivysaur, trip them up with your vine whip now." Ivysaur extended its vines and spun around sharply, sweeping its enemy's feet out from under them. Already off balance the duo were at risk of falling onto the razor leaves that had littered the ground since the winds had ceased, but Chad wasn't finished assaulting the pair yet. "Use your vines to slam them to the ground hard and Pidgeotto help out with your wing attack!" Pidgeotto dove toward the falling pair and stopped hard between them. She extended her wings and spun quickly, slapping each enemy in the face to guarantee the hazardous fall. As they neared the ground Ivysaur raised its vines into the air and slammed each one into the enemy's torso, finally bringing them to the ground with a thunderous crash. Razor leaves on the ground tore into their backs, ensuring that the royal pair would not rise again.
"Double knockout in favor of Ivysaur and Pidgeotto," Koga announced. "The victor is Chad."
Chad pumped his fist into the air in victory when Koga confirmed the win on his side. It was his first victory in a gym battle, even if it was against a junior trainer. He wasn't done with his gym challenge yet, but he was very proud of his Pokémon and let them know it as soon as they returned to his side.
"Oh, and Barry," Chad called out while he returned his Pokémon to their poké balls, "I knew if I called you a cross dresser enough times you'd mess up during the battle. Now that we're done, I think you had a really good disguise. Sure fooled me."
"I don't think it would be too hard to fool yo-EEEE!" Barry yelped as Cindy jabbed him in the side with her elbow. "I mean, thanks Chad. I heard this was your first gym battle, and I think you did a great job. Thanks for the match." Barry and Cindy bowed to Chad respectively then took a seat on Koga's side of the room next to each other.
Chad looked over at the remaining three Janine girls who had already lined up in front of him for his next decision, but he already knew who the real one was now. He pointed at the girl who had remained calm and relaxed since he had entered and said, "Janine, it's time for our battle. I'm ready now."
The girl Chad pointed to was startled, but she bowed her head and told the other two, "Leave us now," in Janine's voice. The two clones removed their disguises, both females this time Chad noticed, and walked over to sit with Cindy and Barry. The real Janine pulled down the scarf around her neck so her face was fully revealed. Chad assumed she took after her mother because he couldn't see any of Koga in her. She had a proud face and strong eyes as well. "How did you know for a fact that I was Janine?"
"I saw you watching my battle more closely than the other two trainers. You were also holding yourself differently than they were. When I put everything together it was easy to know which one was the real you."
"And yet I spoke before your first battle. I assume you posed the question to get me to speak, but why did you make such an attempt?"
"I didn't know for sure what type this gym specialized in yet. I wanted to have a double battle to figure out how to battle the type specialization too, but I still don't know what to expect. I haven't seen those Pokémon before to be honest."
"Then I suppose it would be fair to tell you in advance. This gym specializes in poison types, but you have yet to see what poison types are capable of. Sleep, poison, confusion, paralysis, all of these and more are tactics used by us, the ninjas and our Pokémon. Chad, your first gym battle, and mine as the gym leader, begins now!"