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Chapter 64
A Step Forward

"Dragonite, Fly!"

"Muu-chan, Shadow Ball the Drowzee!"

Lance and Marina's Pokémon launched into action; Dragonite took flight, and the Misdreavus sped toward her pudgy yellow opponent. She summoned a dark sphere of energy before her and fired it with all her might. It landed its mark, causing Drowzee to stumble in unfocused pain.

"Good! Shadow Ball again!" Marina ordered again.

"Disable!" Athena's partner countered.

When it recovered, Drowzee wiggled its trunk and unleashed a peculiar stiff wave. Muu-chan, though she attempted to dodge, cringed as it struck her. Her prepared attack evaporated. Upon spotting this, Arbok removed its attention from the dragon out of its reach and slithered with great haste toward the stunned ghost.

"Crunch!" Athena called in a strange mixture of confidence and urgency.

"Psybeam on Arbok, Muu-chan! Quick!"

Muu-chan whirled around and stared into the opened jaws of her enemy. She managed to get a quick shot on it, but the snake stemmed the attack as it snatched her from the air. It flicked its head viciously back and forth, the helpless Misdreavus crying in its fangs.

"Now!" Lance shouted.

With a comprehending roar, his Dragonite swooped down. Like a golden-crème blur it bashed its entire body—horn first—into Arbok, and the cobra released its hold. It tumbled wildly until it smashed against the bulk of the large generator. Muu-chan, free and discombobulated, hovered over toward its partner. Compared to her petite form, the resilient dragon was a massive creature that stood like an unbreakable pillar.

"Muu," she sighed with gratitude.

Dragonite returned the gesture with a low but calm grunt. The two came to attention once more as Arbok reared its head. With an angry sputter, it darted for them in a reckless display of rage.

"Muu-chan, Psybeam!" Marina exclaimed.

"Twister!" Lance ordered soon after.

"Stop them with Poison Gas!" shouted the Team Rocket grunt.

Avoiding the huge cloud of poisonous gas that Drowzee had produced, they focused their attacks upon the furious cobra. Dragonite's forceful cyclone joined with Muu-chan's beam of rainbow colors, lighting the twister aglow as it hurdled toward Arbok. Despite its headstrong charge, it was forced into the violent funnel of energy and landed hard on its back. Arbok stubbornly flailed, but fell limp with a final hiss.

Athena put on a dissatisfied frown on her scarlet lips, returning the creature and calling forth a particular crow Pokémon.

"Hallo!" the Murkrow cawed in a scratchy humanlike voice.

"That's the Murkrow from before," Marina remembered and ordered, "Muu-chan, get away from it and use Thunderbolt!"

"Pursuit, Murkrow!" Athena quickly countered.

"What?" Marina gasped as she witnessed the crow Pokémon speed toward the retreating Muu-chan, striking her unconscious into the ground. The girl froze at first but rushed to hold up her Poké Ball, and the red beam of light delivered her safely inside of it. She looked down at the sphere in her hand, shocked.

That happened so fast! She thought. This is definitely more confusing than the Double Battle I had back in Cianwood Gym. There's so much going on…

Not wanting to spend too much time pondering, Marina chose her next Pokémon with haste. "Phany, come out!"

"Don!" The Donphan bounded as he was released, howling with his trunk over his head.

"Phany, use Defense Curl!"

"Dragonite, Fly!"

As the enthusiastic elephant curled himself up, Lance's Dragonite flew up once more only to crash into the Drowzee. It singlehandedly fainted the idle Pokémon, which the Team Rocket grunt replaced by another—a putrid smelling, deep purple creature seemingly made up of gunk. Marina's face twisted as its odor reached her nose, but she targeted the other Pokémon.

"Use Rollout on Murkrow, Phany!"

"Avoid it and use Night Shade!" Athena responded.

The nimble bird guffawed as it flew up high, perfectly maneuvering the rolling figure of Phany. He took a steep turn even as Murkrow shrouded him in a black mist, making a U-turn and missing his high-flying mark yet again.

"It's no use, Phany!" Marina said. "Use Rollout on Grimer!"

Phany chirped a robust shout in understanding and rammed and ran over the animate glop of goo. Lance folded his arms as he watched this. Having observed every inch of the battle, his eyes flicked up to his powerful companion.

"Thunder, Dragonite!"

At his Trainer's request, Dragonite formed a strong electrical current between its antennae and unleashed the energy in a bright blast of static that cracked and made the hair on Marina's neck stand on end. The Murkrow shrieked and muttered nonsensical human speech, but took a nosedive to avoid the dangerous attack.

Marina's face lit up. "Now, Phany! Go for Murkrow while it's still close!" she ordered.

"Don!" With another sharp turn, the spiraling Donphan utilized its ears to determine where the noisy crow was. He hurdled haphazardly toward Murkrow, striking it before it could turn back upward. In a blast of fluttering and flying raven-colored feathers, it coughed and dropped to the floor. Phany whooped cheerfully before continuing to circle the area.

Athena sent out a stubby weed Pokémon—the evolution of Oddish. Like Grimer, this Pokémon carried an unpleasant stench as it shook its orange leaves.

"Gloom, Giga Drain!" she ordered it hoarsely.

"Phany," Marina called and held up his Poké Ball. "Stop using Rollout!"

By the time Phany was able to stop its tumbling technique, the sleepy Gloom had begun sapping energy from his body. With a particularly strong whine, the Donphan boasted no resistances to the Grass-type attack. As soon as Marina could get a good aim at him, she recalled him before it could take him out. She almost dropped the Pokémon in her jittery hands as she switched the similar Poké Balls around. Getting a firm grip on the next one, she tossed it swiftly. The proud figure of her psychic fox appeared at her feet, forked tail swishing and more than ready to take down his opponent—if not for him waiting on Marina's command.

"Prince, take down Gloom with Psychic!" she said.

"Eif!"

"Sleep Powder!" Athena yelled, ordering the attack as soon as she could.

However, Prince was far faster than Gloom, and his psychic waves overcame the weed Pokémon before it could shoot the depressant into the air. Gloom fell over almost instantly, its little purple feet dangling as it hit the floor.

"Eifi ef." The Espeon released a confident snort at the enemy he took down with ease, which was soon removed from the battlefield. Dragonite, uttering another responsive grunt, landed beside him with a heavy thump as it touched the ground.

"Good job Prince, now attack Grimer—huh?" Marina blinked as she paused midway.

Lance's Dragonite had once again taken out the other side of their opponent without issue, much to her amazement. No more Pokémon were being sent out from the other side. She turned to the Champion standing strongly beside her, looking up at him.

It's over now? We won? She thought.

Catching her eye, Lance cast a brief smile in her direction before returning his serious gaze ahead of them. With a grin as well, the girl mimicked him and faced the criminals.

The scruffy underling looked significantly less shrewd and sneering, now cowering next to the woman beside him. Athena focused intensely on the pair across the room from them, across the lengthy generator hooked up by the sphere-like electric Pokémon.

"Tch," she spat and spoke without distress. "This hideout is done for, but that's fine. The broadcast experiment was a total success. It doesn't matter what happens here now. We have bigger plans."

"It's over. You've lost, and you have no other means to defend yourself," Lance told her calmly.

Athena produced a crafty smile but said nothing to him. Her stunning crimson eyes shifted to Marina, who straightened her posture under her gaze. The girl's Espeon growled quietly as he stood in front of her with a protective stance.

"You'll come to appreciate Team Rocket's true power soon enough," she said. Very slowly, she unveiled a small device held in her free hand. "Enjoy yourself while you can."

With a malicious giggle, she turned it on. The radio cackled with static and let loose a terrible screeching sound from its speakers. The blue-haired girl flinched, her Pokémon letting out a disdainful hiss with flattened ears. Lance also appeared perturbed at first, but upon looking toward the generator, he grabbed Marina and pulled her away from it.

"Call your Espeon over here! Dragonite, shield us with Protect!"

Though terribly confused, Marina turned to Prince. "Prince, come here!"

Prince was at her side in seconds. Not soon after, Dragonite had formed a strong wall of light covering them, blocking their sight from the generator. Enduring the ear-grinding radio signal, she looked at Lance in frantic puzzlement.

But then she saw it—them. The set of Electrode were rolling and gritting their teeth from within their restrictive cages. They lit like fumes one after another, and Marina bent down to grab her Espeon as a deafening blow pounded her ears and jumped at her chest. As one blew up, another did, and then another; a chain reaction of violent bombs going off. The explosions were massive, blowing out the lights, shaking the ground, and causing a great storm of smoky wind to threaten their protection. She kept her eyes shut tightly until the chaos was over.

An unnerving silence took over the generator room. The generator, of course, had blown out, knocking out any lights that hadn't been broken. Marina breathed in the burnt air slowly, unable to see anything but black. Her ears were ringing quietly, replacing the low hum of the machine.

Like a flashlight, the dependable Dragonite conducted a light source between the feelers on its head. Prince followed soon after by making his little gem glow; though it was not a strong source of light for him, Marina snuggled against him as he saw that he wasn't hurt. He licked her cheek in return, slipping out of her arms and looking about.

"Are you okay?" Lance asked her.

She nodded, shakily taking his hand as he offered it. When she stood, she sighed in an effort to tame her trembling. "That…that was close!"

"They were desperate to escape." With a hint of displeasure, he added, "And it looks like they managed to do so."

"Seriously?" Marina turned around and peered as hard as she could into the dense darkness. As her eyes adjusted, she found that he was right. She frowned.

That woman... She was the one that broke into Professor Elm's Lab, she reiterated to herself. We almost had her, too!

"We should get outside. It might not be safe in here," Lance said.

"Right!" she responded, turning back to him eagerly.

After taking the time to release the tired Electrode from their cages and letting them free, they headed out. Using only the light sources provided by their Pokémon, they traversed to the upper level, where the lights were fortunately still intact. The building seemed stable, but they were sure to leave at a quick pace just in case. During their ascent, Marina handed Lance the reports she had found on Lambda's desk, which he accepted with gratitude and briefly discussed its contents with her.

By the time they stepped through the doors of the shop, it was the dead of night and completely deserted. Lance seemed troubled, ready track the fleeing villains down. He turned to Marina.

"The strange signal has stopped, so the Pokémon affected at the Lake of Rage will be returned to normal," he told her.

"Yeah, at least we got them out of here." Marina tried her best to hold in a yawn, but she found the urge too great for her to hold in. She yawned and immediately shook her head. "Sorry, it's really late. But I'm fine!"

"Not to worry. We'll be heading off on our own from here." Lance glanced over his shoulder at his Dragonite, which nodded readily. He turned back toward her, making an odd expression. "I owe you an apology, Marina."

She blinked in confusion. "What? Why?"

"When I first saw you, I mistook you for an average Trainer. But when I saw how well you were doing on your own, I hung back a little. With the number of Gym Badges you're wearing already, I shouldn't have doubted you."

"R-Really? Then I guess that makes sense," Marina laughed and quickly fixed the collar to her jacket. "But I knew the Champion would protect me if I were cornered by the likes of them!"

Lance appeared surprised at first, but he smiled knowingly. "Ah, I thought you would have figured it out sooner or later. You're the first person I've met in a long time who didn't recognize me immediately."

Marina giggled nervously. Unable to come up with a reply, she slung off her backpack and took out a pen and the only source of paper she had—her diary. With fidgeting fingers, she opened it and flipped to a random blank page. She smiled hopefully and held them out to him.

"Here! Could you sign this for me?"

"Of course." Used to this kind of behavior, he grinned kindly and took it. As he began writing with impressive speed, he asked, "And who should I make it out to?"

"Marina Shimizu!"

Lance paused for a moment and then finished his signature. When he handed the diary and pen back to her, he released a short and friendly laugh. "So you're related to the other Shimizu, I suppose?"

"Yes! Do you know him?" she asked with excitement.

"I do. Chris Shimizu is infamous for his attempts at challenging the Elite Four," he said. He shook his head as he spoke, a gesture she found unusual but decided not to question it. Marina giggled and happily gazed upon the autograph in her hands, her joy almost wiping out her drowsiness.

"…Marina."

"Hm?"

"What made you become a Pokémon Trainer?"

Marina froze and looked up at the Champion, who had turned away from her. A chilly sense of déjà vu ran down her spine as she recalled the conversation she had with a blond-haired boy in Cianwood City. She did not reply, and he continued.

"The journey to becoming the Champion is long and difficult. Knowing that, will you keep going?"

This time, he did not fill the silence as it overtook them.

She made a strange face, wondering how to respond. An almost instinctual force wanted her to give him all of the perfect yet predictable answers, but she wondered if he would be able to see through it. Another part of her wished to tell the truth—that she only became a Trainer to join the bandwagon her friends and brother had jumped aboard, but she still loved Pokémon and being a Trainer; and that she had been trying to find an answer herself the more badges she obtained—but she wanted to impress him. Marina searched her thoughts and her heart, not leaving one doubt unturned.

"…to become…"

"What?"

"I mean—." The girl paused upon meeting Lance's sharp eyes, but she pushed onward with honest determination. "I really love just being a Trainer, but my aim is to become stronger. I want to be strong like you along with my Pokémon, so we can do great things like fight Team Rocket. But if I put all my faith in them and not myself, I'd never reach it, right?"

Her anxious heart beat profusely in her chest, and she wondered if what she said was right or dumb or naïve.

Lance nodded wisely, much to her relief. "I see. No, you're right. If you would give up that easily, you would have never chased that dream in the first place."

"…Yeah."

Kind of, but lately the more I think of it, the truer it gets, she added in her thoughts.

Dragonite grunted, alerting Lance to something that Marina could not comprehend in its body language. But he obviously could, as he glanced around them keenly before facing Dragonite with a swift turn.

"I must be on my way. They already have a prominent lead, and I don't want to lose them." As he climbed onto the back of his potent dragon, his magnificent cape draping down its back, Lance looked down at the admiring young Trainer with a sensible smile.

"I look forward to seeing you again!"

They shot into the air in a blast of dramatic tempests. As he flew into the navy midnight sky, Marina found her voice again and took a few steps toward them.

"We will!" She cupped her mouth as she shouted. "We'll meet again! I'll get stronger, Lance! I swear I will!"

She did not think that the man had heard her at first. But as he turned back and sent her a wave, Marina returned the gesture eagerly. Even when the silhouettes of Lance and his Dragonite disappeared, she did not move from her spot. In her heart, a lingering feeling coursed through her being, and her eyes widened as she realized what it was. A fresh breath of wind played with her bangs, making her realize that they had gotten longer since last September.

"Eifi," Prince suddenly barked, annoyed that he had not been paid attention to in some time. Bringing her and her overflowing thoughts back to earth, he purred in satisfaction as she softly petted and praised him.

When she was done, she stood and took another brief glance above her. She turned her gaze from the starry sky and toward the red roof in the near distance, wondering briefly if this particular Pokémon Center had a strict curfew. Hoping that it did not, Marina began to trot down the quiet street with her Espeon at her side. But she slowly came to a stop.

She looked at the little book in her hand, at the words and signature Lance had written for her.

The enlightened restlessness of her heart continued to stir. She had finally recognized a goal for herself since she had become a Pokémon Trainer. It was typical for some, but it was one she had personal reasons for.

For the first time, she felt driven to challenge the Pokémon League.

Her Pokémon, standing a few steps further than her, looked back at her patiently. The girl made eye contact and grinned at him, and he, sensing the emotions within her, seemed to do the same. As she moved forward, he waited until she was at even pace with him before he strutted onward.

Marina held her orange diary tightly, her evergreen eyes burning with a new resolve. A smile continued to grace her face. She would have a lot to write about tonight.