Chapter 14
Japanese Names:
Shijima = Chuck
Wataru = Lance
Disclaimer: We do not own pokemon in any shape or form. We are simply college students writing fanfiction for fun and as a stress relief in between classes. Pokemon belongs to Gamefreak, Satoshi Tajiri, etc. Please support the official release and buy their merchandise.
Cianwood City Gym
"I am Shijima, the Cianwood gym leader!" A chubby middle age man bellowed to the challenger, "I can't believe you shut down the waterfall!" The shirtless man wore red pants with a black belt tied around his waist and had brown hair and a mustache.
"You didn't say anything after I yelled at you for a few minutes!" Mirei said with annoyance. She wasted her lungs shouting at the meditating man standing underneath the artificial waterfall pouring down his head. The middle age man was too focused to notice her presence, even after she tried tapping him on the shoulder. After she turned off the lever located above the water's source, he immediately looked up and spots the trainer with her pokemon beside her.
"I have to warn you that I'm a strong trainer training every day under this waterfall!" Shijima continued, "It's hard to hear anything over the running water!" The martial artist rubbed his ears. He was soaking wet from head to toe and took out a pokeball, "You came here for-"
"Can we just battle already?" The brunette girl interrupted the gym leader, "I already fought all of your gym trainers!" She pointed at the vacant gym; she had defeated all of the martial artists and has sent them to the Pokemon Center.
"I was just about to get to that!" The fighting specialist said, "Primeape is going to start today's work out!" A white monkey with a round body came out of the pokeball. It had small ears with metal shackles around its brown colored limbs. The pig monkey wore an angry expression and held up its fist in the air with a cry.
"My name is Mirei and you should have said that earlier!" The short girl said as she took out a red catching capsule, "Sora, go!" The tawny colored bird flew out of the pokeball, spreading his wide wings to show the glossy feathers.
"Prim, ape, prim, ape!" This battle better be a good challenge! The monkey pokemon threw itself into a fighting stance, "Primeape, ape, ape! Ape, primeape, ape!" It will be a battle to test our manliness! Pokemon versus pokemon!
"Pidgeot..." Not another one... The Pidgeot groaned. Why did nearly all of the fighting pokemon in this gym obsess about training so much? Or rant about their health? Being healthy was good, but he really didn't want to listen to his opponents talk about it during a battle. The last pokemon he fought started listing out the ingredients found in a typical poffin before the flying type knocked it out with a Wing Attack. Another pokemon recited its morning routine of exercising and jogging around Cianwood City while attacking Pidgeot with Jump Kick.
"Sora, use Wing Attack!" Mirei commanded with Pidgeot aiming for Primeape's head.
"Pidgeot, geot, geo!" Stop talking about your masculinity! The bird pokemon shrilled with his talons out.
"Ape!" Nonsense! The pig monkey cried, "Primeape, primeape!" Being manly is part of testing one's strength! Primeape stomped his feet and yelled at the Pidgeot flying towards his direction.
"Avoid that Wing Attack with Rock Slide!" Shijima ordered. His pokemon gave a quick nod and threw itself into the air to punch the ceiling, avoiding the flying attack. Pidgeot missed his target and flew straight into the side wall with a squawk. High in the air, Primeape made the ceiling crumbled and set several rocks tumbling down towards Pidgeot. The building jolted and rocks falling down; Mirei instinctively backed away from the sound of the attack. The bird pokemon slowly got up from the ground when he saw boulders falling his way.
"Quick Attack!" Pidgeot's trainer panicked at the falling rocks.
"It's too late!" The fighting type gym leader laughed, "Pidgeot has nowhere to fly!" Pidgeot's eyes bulged out as a boulder crushed the bird from the air and knocked it back to the gym floor. The bird pokemon sat still under the weight of the pile of boulders Primeape had done, struggling to keep his eyes open.
"Sora!" She took out her pokemon and recalled Pidgeot. The bird pokemon's body turned into red light and disappeared back into the capsule. "Return!" Mirei thought for a quick moment before making her decision, "Go Kisaki!" Her Nidorina replaced Pidgeot and entered the battle with a determined look.
"Use Rock Slide on her Nidorina too!" Shijima's Primeape punched the floor and mold the bits of clay into several boulders. The monkey pokemon held up several of the boulders and hurled it at the poison type pokemon.
"Quick, use Dig!" Mirei's Nidorina dug a hole into the soft clay floor. The turquoise colored pokemon used her sharp claws to dig through the touch materials and fit her body underground in time to avoid Primeape's rock attack. The boulders bounced off the clay floor and nearly hit Mirei, who had to step aside to avoid getting her foot crushed.
Primeape grew annoyed at its opponent was nowhere to be seen and shouted, "Primeape! Ape, ape?" Hey! Where are you? The fighting typing pokemon stomped up to where Nidorina dug her hole and shouted into the hole, "Primeape, ape, prime!" Stop running away like a coward! The pokemon took a boulder and threw it at the hole, but heard no response to the missed attack.
"Now!" The girl exclaimed with her Nidorina digging out of the ground below the monkey. Nidorina attacked Primeape from behind and struck the pokemon with the horns on her head.
"Nidorina, rina!" That is fighting with a brain! Kisaki tossed her head in the air as she tripped Primeape with a Double Kick, emphasizing each word with a kick. Primeape lost his balance as she knocked him down with the fighting attack. "Rina, na, nari, rina!" This is what you get for knocking down Sora!
"Primeape, Double Team!" Shijima hollered. His pokemon ran around the Nidorina in circles until an illusion was created of multiple monkey pokemon surrounding the poison type.
"Prime, ape!" Catch me if you can! Primeape grunted, still able to stand. The pokemon charged Nidorina with its glowing fists. Several Primeape corned Nidorina as Primeape attacked Nidorina.
"Nidorina, rina!" You can't hide forever! She snarled at the laughing monkey.
"Double Kick that one!" Mirei pointed at the leader of the herd. Kisaki threw her hind legs against the attacking Primeape and hit the pokemon in the face. The fighting type pokemon slammed against the ground from the first kick. Nidorina's second kick sent the pokemon falling unconscious with swirls in its eyes.
"Primeape is unable to battle!" The battle referee announced with Shijima recalling back the monkey into its pokeball.
"That was a fun battle!" The fighting type gym leader roared in laughter, "Ahahaha! I think I'm starting to be glad you interrupted my meditation!" The man stroked his long brown mustache, "I thought things were going to go down after I nearly knocked out that Pidgeot of yours!"
"My Pidgeot fought hard," Mirei gritted her teeth. "This is what you get for hitting him with Rock Slide."
"Why so angry?" Shijima looked surprised, "It's just a friendly battle." He patted the pokeball Primeape was in and thanks the pokemon for its effort. He took out a second pokeball and called out, "Poliwrath, let's fight!" A big blue pokemon appeared beside the martial art master. The glaring pokemon wore white gloves and had a swirl on its white belly.
"It doesn't matter why..." She didn't want to mention her reasons, "I'm going to choose Kazama!" The girl took out another pokeball to call out her Alakazam before being interrupted by another beam of light coming out of her other pokeball.
"Chinchou!" Hello! A blue fish pokemon with yellow antennas popped out of its capsule happily. The water pokemon bobbed its head and smiled at Mirei.
"Chinchou?" Red's voice made the brunette girl jolt from her spot. "I forgot you had one. Why didn't you use it before?" The Kanto champion hardly spoke during the match. Hearing his voice coming out of the blue surprised her.
"Chouko can't battle!" She argued, "It doesn't know any good moves!"
"Have you ever used her in battle?" The raven haired trainer cocked his head to the side. Mirei wondered how on earth he knew Chinchou's gender. With Chiharu, it made sense since she was studying to be a pokemon professor. How did Red figure it out?
"No." She watched Chinchou hop to the Poliwrath and lit up its antennas with sparks flying out. Poliwrath's glare at the pokemon sent the angler pokemon running back to Mirei and hid behind the girl's legs. "How can this thing fight that?" She pointed at the big water pokemon across her. Red sighed and took out his Pokedex and showed it to the girl. The lit up screen read 'Chinchou's attack: Surf, Spark, Confuse Ray, Thunder Wave'. Where did he get that from? Mirei thought. "Chouko, Spark!"
Chinchou trembled behind the girl's leg, but stepped forward and hopped towards the tadpole pokemon with its antennas glowing. The angler pokemon freaked out when it saw Poliwrath charging towards it. Poliwrath threw its body towards Chinchou and nearly knocked its balance out. Chinchou avoided Poliwrath's second Body Slam and threw its antennas against Poliwrath's skin and shocked the pokemon. Poliwrath's body jolted from the super effective attack and fell down from Chinchou's offensive move.
"Poli...wrath..." Can't...move... Poliwrath groaned, "Poli, poliwrath." Dude, not cool. He reached out an arm to Chinchou, who carefully stood far from the attacking pokemon.
"Chinchou, chou, chin!" I might win this time! Chinchou squeaked. "Chinchou, chou, chou!" I might prove to her I'm strong! The pokemon got excited and hopped around the floor with excitement, not noticing the angry Poliwrath glaring at it.
"Poliwrath!" His trainer cried out. The pokemon tried to get up from the attack, but its limb has grown stiff from the electric attack. Poliwrath was paralyzed and discovered that it needed more effort to pick itself up. "Take the pain for now and Focus Punch Chinchou." Against his own rules of using status healing items against beginner trainers, Shijima didn't bring Full Heals with him. It was against his principles as these trainers were still learning the basics. He also enjoyed the challenge of fighting without the advantage of items.
"I think you should confus-" The Kanto champion was about to say when he was interrupted by the water pokemon's impatient trainer.
"Chouko use Spark!" Mirei was surprised that the pokemon could learn an electric attack. The angler pokemon ran to Poliwrath again and shocked the tadpole pokemon before the fighting type hurled Chinchou into the air with Focus Punch. Chinchou's eyes turned into small x's and fainted from the strong attack.
"Poliwrath!" It's over! The tired pokemon stretched its stiff limbs with droopy eyes.
"Chinchou is unable to battle!" The referee announced.
"...Please don't tell me you never actually used your Chinchou in a battle before..." He asked as he took another peek at his Pokedex. The angler pokemon was only level twenty, and compared to the level thirty one tadpole pokemon. The level difference was great, especially when the pokemon were low leveled.
"And if I didn't..?" Mirei cautiously asked as she slowly turned her head around. Red's sigh of disappointment was quiet, but it rang through her ears like a firework that had blasted out from its cylinder when she was standing right next to it. "Leo, go finish him with Magical Leaf..." Mirei took out her next pokemon. Her Leafeon jumped out of his pokeball and landed gracefully on his fours.
"You had a Leafeon all this time, and you didn't decide to use him till now..?" His voice slowly becoming incredulous.
"Leafeon, feon!" Time to show you my moves! Leo cried, unaware of his trainer being uncharacteristically quiet. The grass type summoned a storm of leaves darting for Poliwrath. The floating leaves had a purple aura and cut the water pokemon's health down to zero. The water pokemon's eyes widened from the super effective move and fainted.
"Poliwrath is unable to battle!" The referee shouted, "And the victory goes to the challenger!" He pulled up a flag on Mirei's side.
"Leafeon, eon, leaf!" That was fun! Leafeon shouted over the referee, "Leafeon, leaf, eon!" Wish we could do this more often! The grass pokemon jumped in the air.
"Well, isn't that something!" The gym leader proclaimed, "What a battle that was!" He laughed and walked over to the girl to hand her the badge. The bronze colored badge was round with two circles to symbolize a simplified version of a person's fist. "This is the Storm Badge!" Shijima announced proudly, "It allows you to use the HM Fly, which reminds me..." The chubby gym leader took out two CD's from his loose pocket and handed it to the challenger, "This is HM02 and TM 01, the attacks Fly and Focus Punch. Good for traveling around and fighting against slow enemies."
"Thanks, I guess..." Mirei accepted the prize from the gym leader.
"You're Shijima?" Red asked the gym leader.
"Why if it isn't Red!" The jolly man laughed, "Yes, that is me. Is there something you want to ask?" His belly jiggled as the gym leader chuckled in tune with his words.
"Your city is near the Whirl Island," the champion whispered. "Have you heard or seen anything suspicious lately?"
"Nope! This place hasn't changed one bit." The man replied, "Are you here to see the Pokemon Safari Zone?" He asked excitedly, eager to see more tourists coming to his city.
Red shook his head, "No, we're simply here in search of something..."
"Hm," the man rubbed his mustache. "You can check around the beach if you want. Maybe you'll find something there."
"Maybe," Red agreed. He turned around, "Let's go." He checked his Pokegear. It was late noon. Green agreed with him that if he and Chiharu didn't show up after nine that night, something was up and that Red could call him. His Pikachu was rubbing his belly with a sad expression on his face. They haven't eaten since they left the Pokemon Center that morning.
"Yeah..." Mirei followed him behind.
Pokemon Center - Safari Zone
"That's the last one," Chiharu sighed in relief as she transported the last pokeball into the PC. She turned off the computer with a push of a button and wiped her brow.
Green and Chiharu separated from Red and Mirei when it was only six o'clock in the morning. Chiharu was normally not a morning person, but her persistence of catching pokemon somehow woke her up on time and didn't knock out the alarm clock in the process. After walking through the city and through the Safari Zone's entrance, she and the gym leader switched to their bikes and biked through the long routes leading to the Safari Zone. By the time they arrived to the Safari Zone, it was already late morning, almost noon. The two of them had a quick lunch before heading to the Safari Zone itself. Dragging a reluctant gym leader with her, Chiharu ran through the Safari Zone and used up all of the thirty pokeballs the Safari Zone handed to all of their customers. They were now in the Pokemon Center where Chiharu had to manually store her caught pokemon in the PC.
"Does Keigo really take care of all these pokemon..?" The gym leader stared at the machine with a dumbstruck expression.
"I don't want them to be inside the PC for the rest of their lives," Chiharu said. "It seems unfair to let them be caught and then never come out."
"But, you have so many pokemon... How do you even keep track of them all?"
"I keep a journal and I have my Pokegear," she took out a blue composition book with a long list of her captures. "I don't have a Pokedex, so this will have to do. Besides, I wish I could give them better homes, but I don't have enough room for all of them to be outside at once. I want to move out to a bigger area as soon as I can so they can roam freely."
"If you can afford a large plot of land..." He asked, "Why do you keep catching more?"
"I want to become a professor. I want to see how their personalities are in battles and in their nature." Chiharu said, "I already released some of the pokemon I catch once I finish researching on them, but then I feel guilty of how they look at me..."
"It's true!" A loud voice arose from a crowd of people in the Pokemon Center. "I saw a building as big as a Wailord! It was standing near the cliffs, not too far from here!" Green turned to see a hiker trainer talking to a group of other trainers. "I walked inside and saw these weird lines on the floor. It reminds me of that time I traveled to Hoenn with my wife and son, pretty place you know..."
"What is he talking about?" Chiharu asked Green. The gym leader shrugged.
"I think it's our next clue, excuse me sir!" Green called out to the chubby middle aged man and asked with interest, "What kind of building did you see?" The green eyed trainer walked closer to the man. The hiker wore a vest over his hiking gear and had his hat sitting on the table he was sitting at.
"Oh, you wouldn't believe it!" The man cried, "Like I said, it was huge! Like a tower!" He took out a piece of paper and showed it to the gym leader, "See this?" His voice was full of excitement, "These are the same lines I saw in that building! Looks like that signs they used in Hoenn for those legendary pokemon they used to worship!" The lines were blue, red, and green in color and were assembled in different patterns.
"Where can you find this tower?" He asked.
"See that side of the cliff?" The hiker asked while pointing at the regional map pinned on the Pokemon Center's wall. "It's located just west of where we are right now. Lots of waterfalls and cliffs, you can't miss it. You will need Rock Climb to get to the tower if you can't fly, as you need to know, the tower is on the top of the cliff, not the bottom."
"What's inside the tower?" Chiharu asked.
"You'll have to find out and see," the hiker laughed. "I showed you those patterns, that's what you see, but it's nothing compared to the actual experience. You want to hear about the time my wife and I went on a hiking trip in Sinnoh? It was a great trip! Lots of rock pokemon and my wife found some plants to bring back home for our bonsai garden! Our son found a few flying pokemon too..."
"I'm sure it was a great trip," Green said in a rush. "But we need to get back." The gym leader took Chiharu by the hand and pulled her towards the exit. "Thanks for the information!"
"We're going back to Cianwood?" Chiharu said out of surprise. It was only three o'clock with the sun still pouring down on them.
"No," the gym leader took out his pokeball. "We're going to the tower." His Charizard came out of its pokeball and roared. The orange lizard stretched its long wings and created a gust of wind. "You can't Fly yet, right?" He pulled her up on Charizard's back, "Hold on tight," he warned her. "I never been there before, but the hiker's direction should be enough that we can find it." The fire pokemon breathe a long shot of fire. "Let's go."
Cianwood City Beach
"Haaaaa, isn't the beach nice Silver?" A loud yawn contently rolled out of a raven haired teen's mouth. The teenager was lying down on the sand with his eyes closed. A few of his other pokemon were out of their pokeballs enjoying the sun's rays. His Typhlosion's fire on its back was ablaze from the high temperature.
"Now isn't the time to relax idiot," the red head chastised. "Red and Green messaged us that they were already here, so shouldn't we be looking for them..?" The trainer checked his Pokegear again for any messages he missed. The Pokegear was an updated version of the one he was using since the beginning of his pokemon journey. He finally got the new version of the Pokegear after his older one broke from an accident. It was odd getting used to a device that had a touch screen. Silver gazed at the ocean ahead of where the beach was with distant eyes.
"Dude, we just got here. Chill, will you?" Gold stuck his tongue at his rival as he laid himself out on the sand. "We don't get to go to the beach much you know?"
"There is one in New Bark Town."
Full of water pokemon if one came there at night. He remembered having to stay there all night with Crystal when the professor assigned them on observing New Bark Town's residential pokemon. New Bark Town's beach was perhaps one fourth the size of Cianwood City's beach. There wasn't as much variety in pokemon to look at. After seeing the twentieth Shellder coming out of the water, the redhead drift to sleep with Crystal trying to figure out whether to take him back to the professor's house or to let him be. In the end, the pokemon professor arrived to the beach the next morning to find both of his lab assistants asleep. Crystal was leaning on Silver's shoulder with her sketchbook still in between her legs with her pen slid behind her ear.
"But does New Bark Town have this quality sand? Is it next to the ocean?"
"Actually, it is." Silver groaned, listening to the teen's antics.
"What? It isn't!" the Johto champion argued.
"You're the top student at our school, there is no way that you don't know this," he snapped, growing more impatient with each word that came out of his friend's mouth.
"Huh, maybe skipping two trimesters instead of the usual one is starting to have an effect on my brain," the golden eyed trainer stared up at the sky with a straight face. "Hey, can you check my brain to see if it's fried yet?"
Before Silver could make a comeback at his statement, his grey Pokegear ran a familiar tune. The redhead groaned and opened the electronic device to see what happened. 'Text message', the Pokegear's screen flashed at his grey eyes. Silver tapped on the device's surface and read the message. It was from Red. The words were written in mostly hiragana and a few basic kanji. The grammar was rather sloppy and unprofessional compared to the notes Silver had to read from the pokemon professor.
"Red said Green is busy looking for something," Silver said in a quiet voice. "According to him, Green should be back sometime tonight. Maybe."
"Well then, chilling on the beach is alright then!" Gold concluded.
"If Crystal was here, she would have knocked you on the side," Gold's former rival groaned and rubbed his head. "This heat is getting on my nerves." Silver took off his black jacket and only had his black shirt and pants on.
"Says the guy who wears all black in the summer." The gold eyed trainer stuck out his tongue childishly, "Where's Crystal anyway?" He glared around the beach for the blue haired girl. "Didn't she say she was looking for someone?"
"Worried that she's not paying attention to your stupidity?" Silver smirked at the thought of Crystal getting angry over Gold's relax attitude. It was sometimes hard to believe that the two of them were childhood friends. Their personalities clashed at times with Gold picking on Crystal for being a crybaby and her picking on him for making dumb mistakes.
"Hey, I'm perfectly okay with not getting a fist to the face," he replied with a wide grin. "It's been awhile since we actually took some time to just hang out. When was the last time we went to visit Wataru or even go feast at that one barbeque place in Goldenrod? Huh, we haven't gone there in ages."
"I guess it's the work," Silver admitted. "The professor always chooses to give us his stuff at the last minute." The professor would too happily throw a big stack of paperwork and research papers on Silver and Crystal's desk with a chorus of thank-yous to the two annoyed teens.
"I think that's because you and Crystal are workaholics," he snorted. "Even the professor thinks it okay because you two don't seem to have a life outside of work and school."
"Besides, even if it wasn't for work and school, his son always asks me to take him to the park because his dad forgets to." His son was turning nine soon and Silver always worried that the workaholic professor would one day forget that his wife and son existed. Once the professor got absorbed with his studies, he was stuck in that state for a good few hours. Silver didn't want the kid to go through being forgotten by his father like he did...
"Because you spoil him too much... You would make a great mother."
"I think you mean 'father'..." A vein in his head pulsed at the remark. "Dads can make good parents too." He shook away a nagging thought of his own father.
"Nope, 'mother'. I can't imagine you as father, especially since you refuse to cut your hair anywhere past your shoulders." Gold stated with a completely straight face. "Why do you keep paying the professor? It's not necessary. The professor even lets you stay for free."
"That would be taking advantage of his kindness," Silver argued, but not without giving his rival a decent kick his thighs. "I can't do that. Not after I took his pokemon."
"He even let you keep the pokemon!" The Johto trainer got annoyed and sat up while rubbing his soon-to-be-bruised leg, "He saw that you and his pokemon were happy together! What's the point of paying him? You practically live there! The professor sees you as a second son!"
Although Silver was right in where Gold witnessed the professor stacking piles of paper to Silver and Crystal, he noticed that the professor talked in a gentle tone with Silver, almost in a fatherly way. The professor sometimes let Silver out early whenever Gold walked by the lab. The professor would have a smile plastered onto his face when he saw Silver and his son walking back from the park with his son holding onto a new red balloon. Silver didn't know it, but Gold overheard the professor and his wife talking about paying for Silver's college tuition when the time would come for Silver to leave for a higher education.
"We have been over this before Gold!" He snapped with an annoyed tone.
"And I keep telling you the truth," Gold said. "The professor doesn't see you as a burden. Period."
After Gold became the Johto champion, he saw Silver coming back from the professor with a surprised look on his face. He overheard his rival saying in disbelief that the professor let him keep his Feraligatr. The trainer saw his rival once in Kanto when he was traveling and a few other times in Johto, specifically Dragon's Den on Friday nights. They once had a tag battle against two dragon trainers, both of them having horrible taste in fashion. Let's just say the conversation between the two dragon trainers was...interesting. It usually involved capes and dragons with Gold and Silver interjecting in between to no success.
Gold one day confronted the redhead at Dragon's Den and dragged him unwillingly to New Bark Town, which was very hard to do because it involved capturing him, tying him up with ropes onto his Crobat, and then getting the two to them fly to the town below Blackthorn City. Once they were back in Gold's hometown, Gold pushed his rival into the pokemon lab with Silver wearing terrified look in his eyes. The confused professor listened to Gold's proposal of letting the redhead work for him while Silver protested against the idea of working for the same man he stole from. In the end, the professor let him in and provided a home for the redhead along with an address so he could properly attend school.
"I wonder what happened to him," Silver said quietly, more to himself. Gold barely heard his words. "The last time I saw him, I was yelling at him for being weak." He spat the last word with regret.
"I bet, you'll see him in like, two years and he had become a proper adult in society," the Johto champion guessed, his eyes darkened from the shade his hat provided.
"Heh, what are the chances of that ever happening?" He smirked, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Maybe."
"Even if we did meet Red right now, what are we supposed to do while waiting for Green to come back?" Gold asked, "Talk about how the weather in Mt. Silver was?"
"Why Mt. Silver?"
"Meh, it was the first thing that came to mind..." Gold looked up to see his rival's face. "What? You hate your name that much?"
"It's not the name," Silver tried to explain. "It's the person who gave me that name."
"Sure Silv, whatever you say- OWWW!"
Author Notes: This chapter is shorter than normally because the next section took up too much room, so we had to move it to chapter 15. We promise that there will be a lot of juicy events coming up next chapter. Just a lot of explanations between the characters. Question of the chapter: Which gym leader gave you the hardest time in normal gameplay? Until the next update, see you next time! Remember to R&R!
"RainSonata": I didn't think the next section would take up so much room. The first draft of the story didn't have that many explanations, so I didn't think it would take up so many pages this time.
"LunarAbyss": Heh... It is fun to read though ^^"