I started the intense training in the underground mazes of Victory Road. This place resembles mt. Moon quite a lot, and pokemon living here are almost the same, but much stronger. Instead of Zubats I regularly met flocks of angry Golbats. Instead of Geodudes this place is filled with Gravelers that just LOVE to explode in your face.
But for the training I decided to go very far and for very long, literally turning myself into a caveman. Some really tasty plants grow inside the cave and the small lake on the down floor is much cleaner than the pipe water, so I had everything to spend quite some good time in this cave with my pokemon, battling all hostile nature and even more hostile people that dare approach our small lair. I`m quite used to living anywhere but a regular house, so sleeping on solid rocks between my pokemon was even a small refreshment after soft beds of city. To stay strong, I must also stay solid.
Instead of battling other trainers for money I battled them for pokemon medicine. We went too far from the Pokemon Center and had to use everything we have. Still, our winning statistic was pretty good, so we gained more potions than used.
And, of course, all that hard and brutal work has actually paid off!
Moment, still fed by my blood, suddenly learned to fill his teeth with poison and perform the Poison Fang move. Among all other moves I had to replace his old and now quite weak Astonish move. He didn't actually like that, but I managed to persuade him for the sake of our team and victory over the Pokemon League.
Loser became serious after a while and let me observe him in a special way. I noticed that he is quite better at attacking from distance with moves classified as 'special', so his newly acquired Shadow Ball was extremely good and even better than the old Night Shade. Sucker Punch still remains as our physical assault tool, but now we can act from the distance too.
Unfortunately, cooperated training can cause different troubles. And the most of them are constant quarrels between Dumpling and Lei Sheng. Gyarados showed really good performance in the last gyms, unlike Charizard, to be honest. So despite all my efforts to show all my pokemon equal, Dumpling saw a rival in Lei Sheng and fought him a lot for my attention. Lei Sheng himself is a quite peaceful pokemon until you anger him, and Dumpling managed to succeed in it. Their sparring battles always result in a disaster, so that`s another nail in my ass now.
All other became stronger too, and each day I thought to be the last one there. Each night I was going to sleep planning on moving on next day, but each morning I changed my mind to train a little bit more. But this become tiresome for my pokemon pretty quickly, they wished to have a rest in Pokemon Center and all. I understood that overtraining is a bad thing and finally decided to proceed to the Indigo Plateau…
…but then something strange happened.
I finally got very close to exit from the cave of Victory Road and decided to have one more battle with a couple of Golbats, but the brutal male voice stopped me.
"Finally I have found you."
That wasn`t the voice I could recognize. It was harsh and rude, but sounded quite young. As I turned around, a man nearly of my age was standing there, together with a really weird pokemon that looked like a humanoid wearing two pieces of rock as an armor. What`s more weird is that this pokemon head is… a hand. And he has two more hands sticking out of his shoulders besides usual hands.
The trainer himself was somewhat of a biker – black jeans, leather coat, chain on his neck with several ultraballs attached right to it. He had an aviator glasses upon his head and a very cunning and evil mug expression.
It was Lonso Artego – the guy I called the Courier all this time. I saw his photo in the dossier, so I could definitely say it`s him. But I can`t guess whether he has friendly intentions or not, so for now I should play dumb.
"Who the heck are you?" I asked him confused, trying to show a few interest in his person. Wild pokemon even stopped attacking, listening to the new person.
"Well, you should know me." He fixed his goggles and made a step forward. "It was me to cover up your ass all the time. I created the huge plan of making your deliver safe, but even with my help…" His satisfied face suddenly changed to brutal and violent. He squeezed fists, and all his body shivered in uncontrollable rage. "…you failed us."
I actually had no idea what means by that. He does not have a special identification mark, so he can`t be one of headhunters. Team Rocket? No, this can`t be, Team Rocket is dead! Looks like the third party is interested in the case too. No surprise here.
"I still don`t understand what the heck do you need from me?" I shook my head and confusedly asked him.
"Don`t play games with me!" Lonso angered even more after my reply. "YOU have lost the case and I had to chase those idiots all over the Kanto, trying to fix your mistake!"
I could not stay emotionless after that and frowned.
"Where is it now?" I asked him, expressing a serious tone too. I won`t let him frighten me that easily. Attack is the best defense.
"Oh, I would like to ask YOU about that." He replied and poked me in chest. "You were chasing them too, didn`t you? I heard you crushed the whole criminal organization just for that, and how did this happen you were led HERE?"
Dumpling growled threateningly, seeing the obvious conflict.
"Shut up, stupid creep! Your master is an idiot and traitor!" Courier shouted at my pokemon. "I was ordered to terminate you immediately, but I gave you chance to retrieve the case back. You have organized utter chaos across the whole region, but didn`t succeed at all."
Now this is going too far. I already see the tense surrounding us and the fire blazing in Courier`s eyes. All leads now actually crossed on him alone.
"What did you do to my car?!" I asked a question with obvious threat in my voice. In reply to this Lonso just laughed.
"Ah-ha! You liked that, don`t you? He-he, at least you managed to bring me some fun with this. I thought you found it out by yourself, as you decided to BURN it down!" He narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Well, a little bit of modification… and your old rusty piece of junk turns into a flying tool of doom! A machine that strikes from above and crushes all those who are unlucky enough to become its target."
The flying tool of doom? Strikes from above?
Oh crap…
The tube system on my car was designed to become a water-powered jetpack! With a water-producing pokemon inside it could raise above with the help of stream system and then head into the sky! Those tent-like mechanisms were actually the wings that let the car… fly!
That crap about the flying machine in newspapers and on TV wasn`t a joke! I can`t believe it…
Now everything makes sense. The car erupts lots of water under pressure in the point it lands and does the same when goes up. That`s how those strange tracks in Saffron City were made. For some reason he needed to land there and quickly take off… This is so weird, but logical.
"I see you begin to understand how you screwed up…" The Courier distracted me. "But, at least, I had fun chasing those idiots and scaring the shit out of them in that car of yours… Just imagine how they saw the machine dropping at them from the sky… That was hilarious."
Oh, this guy is definitely a maniac. I don`t envy those bastards from 2B at all… If they are still alive. But, considering he still didn`t find the case, they actually may be.
"Don`t waste your energy on thinking. You will not need it anymore."
He grabbed the gun fixed on waist and make a straight shot at me, but thankfully Dumpling was out to empower his Steel Wing and deflect the shot away from me. Enraged by this stupid attempt of assassination, Charizard spit out an ember aside, showing Courier his determination to protect me till the very end.
"Ah, you`re a trainer now, I forgot!" The guy mockingly exclaimed. "Heading to the League, wishing to become the best, like no one ever was… How pitiful. I will show you that all that was for NOTHING! Barbaracle, head out!"
He retreated back, letting the many-handed pokemon to step forward on his place. Scared wild pokemon scattered away from us in fear, realizing that this battle may go too far.
"Fine, Dumpling, the fate itself came to us! Use Steel Wing!" I began the fight, expecting this Barbaracle to be a rock-type.
"Barbaracle, use Waterfall!" My opponent loudly shouted.
Oh shit, this thing is a water type also! Both types that outmatch my Dumpling! We`re definitely screwed if we stay.
Charizard is a big pokemon, but his agility is a thing to be proud of. Dumpling rushed to his opponent, tensing the left wing till the solid-as-steel state and launched a powerful attack that smacked Barbaracle in the small face and threw on the ground. Immediately after that the rocky pokemon enveloped himself in something like water aura and rushed at a high speed at Dumpling. The impact threw away both pokemon, rising the huge dust cloud.
"He-he, nice one! Let`s go use Stone Edge now!" The opponent pushed us even stronger. Rock-type attacks are EXTREMELY powerful against my Dumpling, so I need to save him quickly. I still don`t actually understand its typing – possibly, its water and rock or something, and Harry would be good for this moment, but I don`t want to risk. I`ll try to take him out with someone tough, who will let me experiment and scout.
"Dumpling, we need to go back, make way for Lei Sheng!" I shouted and pointed the round capsule at him, but suddenly he dodged the laser and growled displeased in return. He realized that I`m going to replace him with more fitting Gyarados, and simply refused!
This horrible pause made our enemy a chance to aim a better target and launch a powerful attack. Barbaracle crushed his claw into the ground and in a second a huge sharp rock pillar appeared under Dumpling and struck him very painfully, knocking down the air.
"Oh no, Dumpling, are you all right?" I asked my pokemon very worried. "Stop showing off, go back!"
He strictly refused to do so, shaking his head. What a damn stubborn Charizard! What came into him? He never acted this way! He`ll get beaten if he continues to act like this!
"You know what? Fine, I will do it anyway!" I exclaimed and threw the greatball of Lei Sheng on the field. "Use Bite!"
After giving a command to the main battle I returned my attention back to Charizard. Foolish Dumpling flew high up to the ceiling. I pointed the pokeball a bit in front of him and shoot the laser, but missed.
Meanwhile Lei Sheng exchanged attacks with Barbaracle and almost finished him, so I gave another command to attack - with Hydro Pump this time – and returned to field Charizard sniping. Damn, I have never shot with a pokeball, this is so damn hard! And he is fast too – I trained him myself!
But noticing that Lei Sheng is now going to finish off the enemy he was going to defeat, Dumpling rushed to Barbaracle and launched the powerful stream of flame… right before being hit by accidental Hydro Pump from Lei Sheng. It threw him at Barbaracle, knocking down both pokemon, but striking down just Dumpling.
"Go back, dummy." I strictly said, returning my Charizard into his pokeball. "Lei Sheng, use Dragon Rage!"
"Rain Dance, Barbaracle!"
The colorful energetic ray erupted from Lei Sheng`s mouth and struck the opposing pokemon right before he performed some strange move and blacked out. The energy he released suddenly caused a large dark cloud to appear under the cave ceiling and began the rain… right inside a cave!
The artificial rain… I never met a pokemon able to cause rain! That`s how Courier cleaned after his traces in Saffron City! He could just cause a rain, and it finishes the job! A perfect crime getaway tactic.
"That still was pathetic. Now face… Clawitzer!" The Courier switched the defeated pokemon with another one. The Clawitzer appeared to be a quite huge blue shrimp with even right claw four times bigger than body! "Okay now, use Smack Down!"
Damn, he keeps on using new moves for me! That doesn`t sound good and give me no idea what type it could be.
"Lei Sheng, proceed with Dragon Rage!" I gave a command to my pokemon and prepared to observe the enemy`s new move in action.
Clawitzer appeared to be pretty slow pokemon, so Lei Sheng charged his attack first and shot the blue pokemon dealing him some damage, but this didn`t stop him from creating a huge sharp boulder in his mighty claw and launch at Lei Sheng. And DAMN that actually looked so bad… My pokemon was knocked down the ground, losing all the powers to stand up in full height. I think he would barely dodge ground-attacks now.
"Be careful, Lei Sheng… Use Bite now!"
"Great, now… Finish it with Water Pulse!" The Courier shouted, fully determined to defeat us.
Things are not going too well… Even though if we can survive a weakly effective move such as Water Pulse, it will be powered up by the effect of rain, and we will have not much time to finish Clawitzer, because any next move will be the last for us.
So the battle continued, Lei Sheng bit opponent`s head, but that was also a good opportunity for Clawitzer to strike. The enemy pointed his claw straight at Gyarados` head and literally exploded with water – I have never seen Water Pulse that strong. It threw away Lei Sheng into the further side of cave! Let this move be not very effective, it was still strong!
Could this also be an answer? A water stream that strong it`s able to lift cars? Divided into several tubes it can perfectly become a source for jet pack! So Clawitzer was his engine for this. Smart thinking, bastard.
"Now let`s head with Giga Impact!" Lonso gave the command.
"Crap! Lei Sheng, dodge it by any means!" I felt really scared for my pokemon getting that hit.
Gyarados remembered all agility training we had and prepared to avoid the attack. Clawitzer curled and rushed forward, turning into an alive meteor. Lei Sheng barely dodged the attack, and opponent crashed into the wall, breaking a huge dent in it.
"Lei Sheng, quickly, bite him again!"
"Aqua jet, Clawitzer!" The opponent counterattacked again with something new.
The enemy pokemon didn`t even bothered to get from the dent – he immediately turned into a liquid missile and struck Lei Sheng even before he reacted to it.
From all the shock, confusion and pain Gyarados suddenly went enraged. He jumped back and began to wriggle, preparing to strike. His body began to glow red, loud roar shook the walls of cave… and he jumped on Clawitzer like a lightning, finishing him off with a single strike.
This Bite move looked completely different this time… More like it was mixed with some other move. Pretty awesome move, I have to say.
"This is a waste of time." The Courier said disappointed, returning his pokemon back. "Noivern, deal with him!"
And so the next pokemon entered the field… and its appearance actually looked familiar. The pokemon perfectly fit the earlier description of 'scary purple Charizard with huge ears', but I should also add a really menacing look. Now everything converges together! When this creature made a loud roar shaking the cave itself, I immediately recognized it from Bill` recording. There is NO mistake now.
"Have a rest for now, Lei Sheng. Reaper will take this!" I made a substitute for Golbat to keep Gyarados safer.
Appearing from the pokeball, the bee pokemon stretched his muscles and buzzed with determination. That`s the spirit I have trained!
"Great, Reaper, start with Poison Sting!" I began the next round of battle, starting with careful scouting. I have no idea what type this pokemon is, so firstly we have to guess. I bet my kidney on the flying-type.
"Ha-ha! Show them, Noivern, Air Slash!"
I have never seen this move, but I can guess what it is. So, Noivern actually may be a flying-type, my kidney may be calm. But this is no good for my Reaper here! Still, I believe we can handle this.
As the new phase of battle began with the rain finally ending and Noivern making his first move. This pokemon appeared to be incredibly fast – he swung wings on place, distorting the air and creating a powerful wave that struck Reaper badly. Recovered even after a super effective hit, he tensed muscles and rushed at Noivern to launch a pretty weak but at the same time useful move with poison stings. Our training actually paid off, and the effect of poison immediately struck our opponent.
"And now… Let`s head into the Matrix Mode, Reaper! And use Twineedle!" I shouted gladly.
"Grrr…" The Courier seemed not very pleased from the thought of being defeated by a bug-type pokemon. "Noivern, use Toxic on this idiot over there!"
Finally, the last piece of puzzle – he has a pokemon that has a poison-type move that could leave that bad poison marks on Mark Steam. Well, he also had bite marks, but Poison Fang may belong to any other of his pokemon.
And wait… did he point at me as the target of attack? Yes, he is! He IS trying to attack me now! But now Reaper can`t protect me, so I have to deal with this myself.
After a quick look around I found a nice rock to hide behind and rushed to it. The clot of disgusting acidic matter struck my cover and even began to slowly melt it. I don`t even want to think about it hitting me.
But there is one advantage in me taking the damage – my pokemon doesn`t take it. So Reaper could clearly get the aim on Noivern and perform the Twineedle attack. Performing a two nice hits, Beedrill pushed the opponent back and distracted him from me for now.
"Destroy this annoying pest! Dragon Pulse!" The foe angrily commanded, pointing this time at Reaper.
"Reaper, dodge that and use Pin Missile!"
We have to act carefully now, as we are getting tired more and more. Beedrill skillfully dodged the energy laser coming at him and launched a series of small stings that hit Noivern. Well, this may take a while beating him, but our hit-and-run tactic may fit this situation.
"Enough!" Completely enraged Lonso cried loudly. "Noivern, use Super Fang and then finish it with Air Slash!"
Ooh, that`s where the biting move comes into action. Now I know everything about him. And I know how to counter him.
"Reaper, head out with Long Arrow maneuver!"
Noivern rushed at us from above, while Beedrill headed up for the contact with his stings stretched forward. As I expected, we reached the enemy first and pushed him back, but opponent quickly recovered and did perform his extremely strong Super Fang attack. But this attack can never deal the final blow, so I can be sure we can deal ours.
The hurt body of Reaper began to glow evil green when his Swarm ability activated and empowered him drastically.
"And now… Twineedle!"
Noivern being a bit surprised that we survived and retreated back to the ceiling, preparing to launch Air Slash. But this time we were already prepared, and Reaper used this time to get close and double-strike the enemy with stings, throwing him right into the rocky ceiling, and the collision with is was more hurtful than the move itself.
But then suddenly the rocks began to fall down on us…
Noivern fell down on ground with some huge boulders landing right near his head, and tried to get up. Our battle caused the cave to collapse, and I had to retreat back to avoid the rock falling on me. Up above me Reaper tackled some smaller rocks to save me, but I myself was too worried about the sight before me.
The sight of large rock collapse breaking everything under it, including Lonso Artego and his barely alive Noivern. The horrible sound of breaking bones made me twitch from disgust and remember that I this soon happens to me if I don`t get the hell out of here.
"Reaper, RUN!" I shouted loudly and both of us headed straight to the exit. My partner, even being on his last breath, did his best to push away all rocks that would fall on me.
We barely made it out of here alive and dropped on grass near the cave. Alive, but exhausted.
"Ugh… Remind me, Reaper, one thing…" I said to my pokemon, heavily breathing. "…never accept battles inside a damn cave!"
"Bzzt…" He tiredly replied and laid down too.
"Yeah…" I quietly mumbled and took my time to restore breath. The collapse behind us seems to calm down, but I could not!
After a minute I got up and looked at the collapsed cave entrance. Somewhere behind these rocks a man lies that could give those damn answers I needed so desperately! He could have lead me to the case! But now he never will…
I still don`t understand his stupid idea of modifying my car into a flying form of mechanical vengeful spirit and chase those Rocket grunts all over the Kanto, but he definitely wasn`t feeling well. He`s just another psycho, like me and Giovanni, but a bit different.
But damn… The only person the closest to my problem… appeared to be willing to kill me and died in the end himself. Why does this happen to me?!
Maybe, Douchebag is right… I AM a loser. The bad luck always pursues me, wherever I go. Even when everything seems to go smoothly, always something bad happens – whether my terrible mistake or just an awful incident.
I looked before me, on the long valley with huge and colorful building in the end.
Do I still want to go there and disgrace myself?
Then I looked at the pokemon before my legs. He did his best to fight for me, to protect me… Since the very beginning a Beedrill with strong adamant nature was pushing me forward. Believing in me and making me believe in my pokemon.
Yes, I still do.