As I said, another chapter today!

It may mean I won't upload the next chapter as fast, but I'm on a roll as of now. I'm making a big change from my unedited chapters, but it will make more sense if I go a bit more with the Raikou Special script.

Chapter 16
Preparations & Grudges

Marina and her Quilava appeared in view outside of Violet City's Pokémon Center. It was late afternoon, nearly the most comfortable part of the summer days in Johto as the sun lessened its abuse. The girl stopped twirling the Escape Rope and looked closely at where she was holding it, where three semi-glowing rings were fastened.

"So I've got three left. Okay," she murmured, keeping the number in mind.

"Maguma," King whined by her side.

"What is it?" Marina asked.

Her Pokémon had his paws on his neck, where the melted collar—obviously beyond repair—stuck onto his fur and refused to detach itself from him. He flailed a little as he attempted to move it, which only caused him mild pain as it pulled at his fur.

"Calm down, King! We'll get it off!" she reassured him, kneeling down and grabbing his paws. "Let's just get to the nurse as fast as we can, alright?"

King stared with a glum look and stopped flailing. With a half-smile, Marina ignored the curious glances from passersby as they rushed inside the red-roofed facility.

"Why didn't you take it off before the battle?" Nurse Joy asked her moments later, somewhat appalled as she surveyed King's collar at every angle. King rested on a table in one of the Pokémon Center's medical rooms, wearing a displeased frown though doing nothing as the nurse checked his vitals.

"King's almost never used that attack before," Marina answered with a little shrug, "I thought the worst that would happen was that it would break from a Pokémon's Tackle attack or something."

"It's odd to see a newly-evolved Quilava learn Flame Wheel so early. Pretty peculiar."

"Well, King's a peculiar Pokémon," said Marina with a laugh.

"This will take some time," Nurse Joy began kindly, turning to her, "to remove the collar, but it's doable. You'll have to leave him here for an hour or two."

"Okay then."

King shuffled uneasily. Even as Marina ran her hand down his back, there was a pout on his face as he looked up with begging eyes.

Marina returned the stare reassuringly. "I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Magu..."

"Don't worry, just be good! Thanks again, Nurse Joy." She smiled and nodded at the pink-haired nurse as she left.

Marina navigated through the simple hallway and arrived at the main lobby, eying the high-tech map hanging above the front desk.

"Oh!"

The girl took a closer look at the framed image—displaying her home region of Johto. She prodded its touch-sensitive screen, which caused a label to momentarily appear over each spot she selected. Her hometown, New Bark, was on the southeastern side. She continued along the route she had traveled so far: east of New Bark was Cherrygrove City, and north-northwest of Cherrygrove was Violet City.

Marina continued beyond that, observing the three possible paths she could take: either head west and south to get to Goldenrod City, head west and then north to Ecruteak City, or go south and travel the entire circle-like route going to Azalea Town and Goldenrod City, ending up in Ecruteak City to complete the loop.

"It's a long way...that'll take me a while," Marina murmured to herself as she traced the path again, "I'll have to drop by Azalea Town anyhow because of the Pokémon Gym there, so I guess I'll go south. I might see more Pokémon too!"

Grinning and satisfied, she adjusted the bandana on her head with care before slipping through the main lobby, exiting the Pokémon Center.

Marina headed back to the northern part of the city and, with help from her PokéGear, she approached the Pokémon Gym. It was a fairly large building built with clean-cut light blue bricks, certainly standing out from the purple houses around it. As she got closer, the girl noticed the entrance a few yards away from the actual gym. Made of blue stone, it was adorned with a pair of wings also etched in the rock. A sign had been hung at its center.

"Violet City Pokémon Gym
Leader: Falkner
The Elegant Master of Flying Pokémon"

Observing this with a smile, Marina nodded. A Flying-type Gym then... Her eyes gazed down at her five Poké Balls, letting out a quick sigh to encourage herself.

"None of my other Pokémon did much battling in Sprout Tower, so we should train here a little first," she murmured, "But we'll battle this Falkner person when we get King back.

"Okay, let's go!" She faced the building head-on, strolling onwards.

As she walked inside, her eyes failed to catch the red-haired boy, who happened to be watching her from afar within the shade of an oak tree. Wearing a silent glare, Silver shook his head and headed away from the Gym without a single look back.

"Wow!" Marina gasped as she looked around, holding back her pigtails to stop them from fluttering in her face.

The building's interior was large and open, and gigantic fans lining the walls generated consistent gusts of wind. This served as an effective air conditioner, keeping the atmosphere very cool compared to the weather outside, though the constant breezes teased the girl's hair.

Marina advanced, heading for one of the two jewel-like Poké Ball statues that were placed on pedestal nearby. A label was placed at the top of the pedestal, reading: "Violet City Pokémon gym. Leader: Falkner. Winning Trainers…" However, the plaque below was empty. Puzzled, Marina peeked at a different side; there was a year imprinted on the top-right and the names on the list took up nearly half of the plaque.

"Those are from the previous year's winners this Gym had passed," a voice said. Stepping from the pillar across from the one where Marina stood was an older teenager with messy black hair. He was dressed in a dark purple student's uniform, no doubt from a school in the city.

"Really?" Curious, Marina turned back to the pedestal.

"Yes. And I'm here to observe Pokémon Trainers battle. If you need any help, just..." However, he paused as he watched the girl Trainer, who was busy reading names on one of the sides.

"Aha!" Marina confidently stabbed her finger at a name on the plaque. "Found it!" For a few moments, she smiled at the name before looking over her shoulder. "Um, I'm sorry, did you say something?"

But as Marina looked, the boy was not there and had probably returned to his post behind the other statue again. Her face went blank, but she shook it off with a shrug. She made an enlightened glance at the inscribed name, "Chris Shimizu," one last time before sprinting further into the gym.

A few steps onto the brick trail and she faced another Trainer: a man in a beach-blond Mohawk and jeans. He took a few steps toward Marina, birdcage in hand and smiling confidently. Yet his face turned skeptical upon seeing the girl, who turned to him with a ready expression.

"What, a rookie?"

"Not an ordinary rookie," Marina said with a bright smile, "I'm Marina Shimizu, and I'm here to train and battle the Gym Leader!"

"Then let's just see if you're even worthy of being in my league before you mess with Falkner," he yelled, his voice echoing.

"Alright!" Taking a Poké Ball from her belt, she called, "Kenya, go!" Appearing in a burst of light, Kenya spread his short wings and took off into the air.

"I guess that means Spearow against Spearow, eh?" The man raised his free hand in the air. "Alright, Spearow, come on down and fight!"

"Onii!" Another bird, gruesomely meaner-looking than Kenya, flew down from the ceiling and fluttered in front of its opponent.

"Challenger goes first," its Trainer offered.

"Okay. Kenya, use Leer!"

Flapping his wings to stay airborne, Kenya shot a somewhat weak glare at his opponent. At first, the Spearow jolted with only a hint of apprehension, but it squawked mockingly, almost in laughter. Kenya shrilly snarled in return.

"Haha, what a joke!" the male Trainer exclaimed. "Peck at him, Spearow!"

His Spearow lunged at Kenya, who endured it and pecked back. For a while, the two bird Pokémon took each other's hits and rammed into each other, their hot pink wings fluttering rapidly. This pattern broke as Kenya's enemy fell back to avoid another attack, glaring as it soared toward him.

"Use Leer and then Peck, Kenya!" Marina ordered. This time, her Pokémon cast an icy glower as it sped toward his opponent, who seemed to slow down in response.

"Don't just sit there, buddy! Use your Fury Attack!" The man bellowed. With a renewed gruff caw, his Spearow braved through Kenya's glare and repeatedly jabbed with its beak. Kenya shrilly cried, helpless at the beak of his opponent. Before he could evade and retreat, the enemy Spearow stopped and tackled him onto the brick floor.

"Kenya!" Marina called out. She quickly closed her eyes.

What now? I don't want Kenya to get hurt too bad. Should I switch him out?

Biting her lip a little, she sighed. The Sprout Tower was conquered easily because of the clear type advantage that King had against the Bellsprout, but she had no Pokémon strong against flying-types. It would require more than just calling only one attack to win.

If every battle was like that, it wouldn't be any fun.

Marina's eyes snapped open upon hearing a flutter of feathers, smiling as she witnessed Kenya take to the air once again.

Alright, not yet!

"Kenya, use Peck again!"

Walking north from Route 32, Kenta smiled confidently as he stepped onto the cobblestone roads of Violent City. He had a full team of six Pokémon now, all kept safely in the pocket of his hoodie. Over half of them were from his hometown, like he had planned, but there were a few wild ones he had captured as well, forming what he believed to be a balanced team. This was the reason of his satisfied grin, as he was now content with his decision for each and every one of his partners.

Striding past a Poké Mart, Kenta pulled out his starter Pokémon's Poké Ball. Again, he grinned. We're all going to work together and get stronger together, he thought, We'll be the best team we can be!

A flicker of long crimson hair caught the corner of his eye, and Kenta's train of thought reeled to a halt. He whirled around. A suspicious redheaded Trainer continued walking in the opposite direction, either not noticing Kenta or outright ignoring him.

Kenta clutched the Poké Ball in his hand. That's...that's him!

"Silver!" he shouted.

Silver stopped, silent.

"That's your name, right?" Kenta asked. The other Trainer shifted and glanced over his shoulder, watching with his cold silver eyes—befitting his name. Seeing the uninviting expression on his face, Kenta knew there was no mistaking him.

"Oh. You again," Silver said, his voice shallow and uninterested.

"I know that Totodile you have isn't yours. You stole it," Kenta accused, hardly controlling the anger that overcame him that moment.

A scowl formed on Silver's face. "Humph, this again. I thought I already went over this with that girl."

"What? Do you mean Marina?"

"Who else?" Silver shrugged. "I couldn't care less, but from the tone of her voice, she isn't mad at me. So why should you be?"

Her voice? Has she been talking to him? Kenta pondered. I did see that Marina had some phone numbers on her PokéGear, but...by the way she sounded back then... Would Marina really try to be friends with someone like this guy? The thought of it miffed him more than he would have liked.

"Did she give you her PokéGear number?" he asked, in slight disbelief.

The red-haired boy raised an eyebrow at the sudden change of topic, reading the other boy's expression. He sneered and turned his back on him. "Who knows? I don't have time for wimps, so get out of my sight."

"You...!" Clenching his fists, Kenta dashed toward him. "Wait!"

Stepping out of the way, Silver maintained a harsh expression as the other boy grabbed his jacket sleeve.

"I won't forgive you," Kenta declared. "You may not have stolen the Pokémon from Professor Elm's lab, but you're still a thief! I don't care if she's fine with it; that's not right!"

"I'm not going to bother correcting you," Silver snapped back. "Back off."

"Make me."

They glared darkly at one another. Their quarrel attracted many curious stares from passersby. Some even stopped with interest, sensing that a Pokémon battle may be eminent.

Observing this, Silver said, "Let's settle this with a battle—if you can even lastmore than one turn."

"You're on." Kenta backed away to give their Pokémon room to fight, not once breaking eye-contact. "I'm not going to lose to you again!"

Silver smirked and retrieved his own Poké Ball. "Humph. I'll never be defeated by a weakling like you. Make this quick, I have other things I'd rather do."

Marina soon walked out of the Gym with a heavy sigh of relief. She held one of her Poké Balls for a moment longer before clipping it to her belt. That was really close; those Trainers are pretty tough. I knew I should've used Pokémon other than King at Sprout Tower…

Her eyes then shifted to her right. In the distance, people were grouped in wide circle, some jeering excitedly. Curious, she began to approach them. "I wonder what's going on. Is someone battling?" she asked herself.

However, a large man in purple cut her off, bounding in front of her.

"Ah!" Startled, Marina stepped away and watched as the odd stranger spun numerous times.

"Challenge the Gym Leader, did you?" he asked with jolliness in his tone.

"Um, no," the girl replied. "I just battled a couple of Trainers, though I didn't really do too well. They're pretty tough."

"Then come with me, you will learn to become a good Trainer, yes!" Enthusiastic, the man turned and bounded away. Frequently he would spin as he changed direction to the eastern side of the city, sometimes twirling just because he could.

Marina stared after him with a blank face. I feel like I've met him before. I guess I'll just follow...

Giving a light shrug, she weaved through the pedestrians to catch up to him. They passed Sprout Tower, and Marina blinked at the wave of purple and white uniforms as she walked by a dozen or so students. When the frivolous man spun in place and stopped at last, the two stood before a large, lavender-laden school. In front of the wall that bordered the grounds, a wide and very purple sign was set beside the entrance.

"Earl's Pokémon Academy," she read aloud. The man turned to her, smiling in a friendly manner from under his curly mustache. Marina's mouth opened wide in surprise as she recalled his identity, pointing at him. "I remember you! You taught my class that one time at my school! Mister Earl!"

Earl bowed low and laughed heartily, and a few students on the school grounds turned. "Yes, yes, Earl I am! Long time no see, yes? Teach you to become an even better Trainer, I can. The library is very helpful, yes!"

"How long will it take? …No, wait. Will I have to do homework?"

"Ah, at the very least spend a couple of hours," laughed Earl, dropping the accent for a moment and patting her on the head.

At least, thought Marina, smiling still. Uh-oh.

"You can check the library on your own time, yes. Oh, and no homework, no, no! Unless you give yourself homework. That would be diligent of you!"

"You're still the same as I remember," the girl Trainer replied.

As Earl led her further into the school's yard, a group of students playing soccer waved. "Good afternoon!" they called.

"Good afternoon, my children!" Earl replied with a spin. Both the girls and boys of the group laughed amongst themselves as Marina and their principal walked into the school building.

A book the size of a dictionary clapped heavily as it hit the table. All around it, a city of similar books were piled high like miniature skyscrapers. Marina, still holding the book titled The Pokémon Battling Strategy Guide Vol. 5, sighed as her head fell upon the open pages. She rested this way for minutes, completely without movement.

"Hey, you alright?" a passing male student asked her, pushing a stack of books in a cart with precarious care.

This question caused the girl sitting on Marina's left to turn to him. "She's alright…I think," she reasoned, brushing away her bangs from her eyes. "It's been a while since we last took a break."

"I...guess. An hour's not that long, Aki."

"Not really, Uta."

"Don't call me that."

"If you quit calling me Aki, I'll quit calling you Uta."

With great effort, the boy nicknamed Uta shook his head heaved the new books from the cart to the table. "At least your nickname makes sense, Akiko."

"Feh," the one named Akiko huffed.

The boy sat on Marina's right and picked up a volume of the same set of books Marina had. Both teenagers were pupils of Earl, and couldn't refuse the offer to help the girl study—especially when they were spotted midway through one of Earl's lectures.

A few minutes passed, and the boy turned to the young Trainer who still rested motionlessly. His eyes slowly crawled over to Akiko. "...Check if she's alive."

"I'm alive!" Marina called as she sat up suddenly, remembering to correct the volume of her voice as she continued. "I just I can't concentrate anymore..."

"You can't? Really?" The other girl looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, I can't concentrate anymore. I should go." Marina stood from her seat and closed the large book, pushing in her chair. She gave them both a smile. "Thanks a lot for helping me!"

"Well, we had no choice," the boy responded, burying his face into the book in his possession. "Once you're caught under Earl's eye, you can never escape. It's like he uses Mean Look or something."

Marina let out a laugh. "I'm sure glad Mister Earl wasn't my real teacher. I learned a lot, but I'm tired."

"Tired?" he asked, as if he found the concept preposterous. He let his volume of The Pokémon Battling Strategy Guide slip from his hands, and the loud thump that followed echoed through the spacious library. Several studying classmates shushed him in the distance.

"Earl always makes us study every day," Akiko whispered simply with a casual shrug.

"Oh no!" Marina exclaimed all of a sudden, clasping her hands over her mouth. Her eyes gazed at the dark sky that the ceiling windows displayed. "I forgot about King! ...He's my Pokémon, I have to pick him up from the Pokémon Center," she added the last sentence to deter the curious stares both teens gave her.

"Oh, so you are a Trainer," the male student muttered, reading again. "You're really young; I just thought you were a transfer student or something."

"Well you can go. We'll clean up," the Akiko replied as she gathered a fraction of the small library that the three had accumulated over the past few hours. She then looked up at Marina, nodding. "What was your name again, by the way?"

"Ah—Marina Shimizu. It was nice to meet you." With a quick bow for both her helpers, Marina waved as she ran out of the library. "Bye, and thanks again!"

"Goodbye," she called back, returning the wave. A short, tranquil moment overcame the pair, and she suddenly turned to her classmate. "Hey, BookWeedle, could you bother grabbing a book on League Trainers?"

"...BookWeedle? Wouldn't BookWurmple be better?" Then, catching her obviously unhappy stare, he put down his own book and picked up another from the cart. "Sure, why?"

"Shimizu. It sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

The boy returned the book to the cart's shelf after she said this. He turned to her, smiling in pride of his knowledge. "No need to even look it up. You're talking about the most recent Champion of the Johto League Tournament—Chris Shimizu, right?"

Silence.

"Holy freaking—! That girl was his sister!?"

"You idiot!" She hurled an encyclopedia at his head, though the boy avoided it narrowly. "Why didn't you realize it sooner if you knew it that well?!"

"Well, why didn't you know?!" he argued back, holding up a dictionary to shield himself in case he were to fall victim to his classmate's book-chucking.

"It just slipped my mind; I was focused on studying! And now it's too late...we could've asked for an autograph from her brother or something!"

Everyone in the library turned to look at who was making all the noise again. Upon seeing the pair of students, they simply sighed and returned to their business. The librarian eventually came along to silence the teenagers with a strict scolding and a threat of detention, and that put a temporary end to their dispute.

"…It's not like she'd actually do that for two complete strangers, Aki," the boy eventually pointed out, keeping his voice quiet.

Sighing, the irritated girl sat back in her chair before snatching a pile of books to put away. "I swear, you little Mareep, one day I'm going to throw every single volume of The Pokémon Battling Strategy Guide right at your scatterbrained skull."

"Wonderful, and I'm a little Mareep how?"

"..."

"Shutting up now."

"Good."

Early the next day and after a much-needed sleep, Marina headed for the Pokémon Gym soon after she woke. During this brisk morning walk, she had King trot by her side. The melted collar was no longer around his neck, but there was a patch of short fur where it once was, much to the King's disdain.

As the girl and Pokémon entered the Violet Gym, she returned King to his Poké Ball and walked along the winding brick floor. Though none of the Trainers from yesterday were present, there was a young male sitting at the other side of the building. At first she smiled at how his hair was somewhat similar to that of Kenta's in style, though much more of this man's hair loomed over his face.

"Excuse me! Are you Falkner, the Gym Leader?" she asked as she reached him, stopping a good distance from them both.

"Yes, I am," he replied with a smile. The wind generators on either side of the two Trainers were quieter than they were the day before, but still made Falkner's loose, blue and white attire flutter. "Who are you, Trainer?"

"Marina Shimizu from New Bark Town."

"I see. So…" Falkner reached into his white jacket and took out a periwinkle badge, which had a pair of wings curving into a hexagonal shape. Holding it out in the palm of his hand, he said, "This is the official Pokémon League Zephyr Badge. You're here to win this from me, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am," answered Marina with a nod.

"All right, then. There will be no time limit and you can use all the Pokémon in your party," his smile faded into seriousness, "Are you ready to face my magnificent bird Pokémon?"

Smiling confidently yet nervously, Marina took out a Poké Ball and grasped it tight. This is the Gym Leader...my first battle with one. I'll do my best!

"Ready!"