Chapter 9 – Act Natural

"Wait… so I can't give my pokémon any instructions at all?" Alex asked.

"That's right," Cyrus replied. "As I said, the goal here is to help develop trust. In addition, this type of battling is a good way to determine your pokémon's preferred battle style."

"Yeah, just what exactly does that mean, anyway?" Wyatt shouted from his seat.

Cyrus smiled. "Well, just as some people might prefer certain tactics, some pokémon do too. During your battle, Wyatt, your magby demonstrated his proficiency for offensive moves and head-on attacking. However, he had very little experience defending himself from incoming attacks. Essentially, your magby prefers to rush in without caring about taking damage, as long as he can deal it too."

"That's pretty much how our battle went," Kimiko added. "The only time you guys used a defensive move was when we tried to put magby to sleep."

"Yeah, well, Bill and I make a great team," Wyatt said proudly.

"Anyway," Cyrus continued, "letting your pokémon battle on their own a few times will help you as a trainer figure out what style suits your pokémon best. That way you can try to adapt the way you train to work better with your pokémon, rather than forcing them to endure your own style, which they may find difficult to adapt to."

"Wait, what?" said Wyatt.

Kimiko sighed and glared at him. "What he's saying is, if you caught something like… I don't know. A slowpoke. Most slowpoke aren't going to be able to adapt to your offensive strategy well. They're slow pokémon, they're more defensive. Chances are a slowpoke will prefer a more defensive style. So, it's your job to learn to battle together with slowpoke's defensive style, rather than making slowpoke learn how to move fast and furious. That way you two will be a more effective team. Get it?"

"I don't want to catch a slowpoke," Wyatt said, confused.

"That's not the point!" Kimiko shouted.

"Okay, Wyatt," Cyrus cut in. "Replace the slowpoke in her example with a gyarados. Gyarados are fairly well known for their aggressive behavior. So, what if you caught a gyarados who preferred a more defensive style? You wouldn't know that unless you let it battle on its own. Maybe this gyarados is just timid. Don't laugh, it's entirely possible. You can't force a timid pokémon, even a gyarados, to battle like every other aggressive member of the species. Certain pokémon may have reputations, but that doesn't mean every individual of that species falls into that category."

"Oh. I can't imagine a timid gyarados," Wyatt said. "But I think I get what you mean now," he added before anyone could groan in frustration.

"Good. Now then, Alex, was it? Does your staryu have a name?"

"She's Koyomi," he replied.

"Very well, then. Koyomi," Cyrus looked down to address the staryu on the ground near Alex's box. "Are you ready to begin?"

Cyrus's steelix slithered to the center of his side of the battlefield. Koyomi hesitated a minute, twisting her body around in a vague gesture of looking to her trainer. Alex smiled down at her. "I'm not allowed to give you orders, so just… have at it however you want," he said with a shrug and hand gesture towards the steelix. She turned back and floated to her side's center field.

"Excellent. Steelix, Koyomi, begin!"

Steelix sprang into action immediately, diving at Koyomi. The staryu leapt up to avoid the massive steelix and landed on his underbelly as he passed underneath her. Steelix slid along the ground for a moment, with Koyomi desperately trying to keep from falling off the side after landing on the giant snake. Steelix then righted himself, head in the air, and Koyomi went cartwheeling down the snake's back. When she reached his tail, Steelix flicked it upwards, tossing Koyomi into the air, then swat her into a wall.

Alex gripped his box's railing tightly. The battle had just begun and already Koyomi had taken a serious hit. The staryu managed to stand and fire a stream of water at the steel-type's face, but he simply ducked under it. He then lashed out with his tail and grabbed Koyomi, squeezing her tight in a bind attack.

"Good, Steelix!" Cyrus crossed his arms and smirked, until Koyomi managed to start spinning, tearing off small chunks of the steelix's body and sending them flying until she chipped away enough to be able to slip away from his grasp. Before she could move off the huge snake though, Steelix again flicked her into the air with his tail and then brought it down on top of her, crushing her to the ground.

When Steelix lifted his tail, Koyomi's center gem was flashing. It was also broken, the sound of it shattering lost behind the thunderous crash of the steelix's attack. Kimiko gasped loudly from her seat and Alex called out to his pokémon in a panic. Koyomi flopped one of her arms, which Alex considered to be a good sign; at least she was alive. Even Wyatt looked concerned. Cyrus merely frowned.

"Steelix, halt."

His steelix, who had been hovering over his opponent debating whether or not another attack was necessary, backed off immediately and returned to his trainer's side. Cyrus continued staring down at the starfish, only breaking his gaze to tell Alex to stop when he made to recall her.

"Tell me, what is your staryu's ability?" he finally said.

"Er…" Alex whipped out his pokédex and checked his current party's status, opening Koyomi's data. "Natural cure," he announced. He had known this earlier, but with the starfish's current condition, he felt the need to double check to be sure.

Cyrus relaxed. "Then there's no need to worry. It's broken, but not fatally. A staryu with that ability can regenerate itself rather quickly. A treatment and a good rest at a pokémon center for a few days and she'll be good as new. Go ahead and put her back in her pokéball though so she doesn't suffer any longer."

Alex already had her ball in hand, not waiting for Cyrus's suggestion before recalling Koyomi, feeling extremely guilty. He stared at her pokéball for a solid minute before Wyatt's voice snapped him out of his trance.

"The pokédex says staryu can't restore their own gems, only their limbs."

"The pokédex is wrong," Cyrus announced. "Well, to be more precise, the pokédex is inaccurate. Staryu and their evolutions are perfectly capable of regenerating their core. However, it is extremely difficult and taxing on them when compared to regenerating a torn limb. It can still be done, but without the aid of a pokémon center's technology, the healing process can last most of the pokémon's life."

Alex looked back to Koyomi's pokéball, still clenched in his hand. Another minute of silence passed before Cyrus called over to him.

"Do you still wish to continue?"

Alex thought of his other two pokémon. Thorn probably would want to at least try due to her pride, though Alex doubted she'd be able to do too much against Steelix. Diamond would definitely want to try, and although he was more experienced and his attacks packed a bit more punch than Thorn, he wasn't sure the sableye had enough power to break through the steelix's defense. Diamond would have the advantage in that he already acted without orders, though, which Alex wouldn't really mind as much if it weren't so frequent. To invite him into a battle where that was the goal might not be the best training strategy.

He looked to the stands. Kimiko was watching him intently with a frown, still clearly worried about Koyomi. Wyatt, meanwhile, was smirking, all trace of concern gone. Alex's own frown turned to a glare, and without a second thought, he grabbed and tossed Thorn's pokéball to the field.

He regretted it almost instantly, but he thought what's done is done, and he could always call it off if things got too bad, so he might as well let Thorn have a go. The chikorita in question looked up at her towering opponent curiously, then back at her trainer.

"Okay Thorn, here's the deal… I'm not allowed to give you commands this time, so it's all you. Koyomi's down so you have to beat the next two. I guess you're pretty much free to do whatever you want, but be careful, this thing is tough."

Thorn squeaked out an unmistakable battle cry and turned, undaunted, to face Steelix. With a nod from Cyrus, the massive snake slithered into the fray once more.

"Alright then, round two. Steelix, Thorn, begin!"

Steelix wasted no time in lunging forwards at Thorn – the same opening move. The chikorita responded by not only leaping to the side out of the way, but also forming a pale-yellow barrier around herself in the process. The slam attack still connected, however, simply due to the steelix's size. Thorn was tossed back but managed to land on her feet, skidding a short distance before shaking her head and trotting back into position. Steelix, meanwhile, had actually been thrown off course when he hit the reflect at an odd angle and had rebounded to the side, just barely avoiding crashing into the wall.

As the steelix began to right himself, Thorn whipped her leaf and sent a flurry of smaller, sharp leaves at him. Steelix didn't even seem to notice them as they bounced harmlessly off his metal body. Thorn let out another squeal as she ducked under Steelix's tail. Then, suddenly, the steel-type rammed his head right into the ground. At the moment of impact, several sharp rocks erupted from the ground around Thorn.

Much to her surprise, however, her barrier was sturdy enough to whittle down the rocks as they passed through it enough to where she was able to escape the rock tomb fairly easily. She was clearly beginning to tire, however; although the attacks weren't making direct contact with her, they still caused damage to her as they hit her reflect. The steelix seemed to be surprised by this turn of events as well, as he repeated the attack with the same results.

"Good job, Thorn!" Alex called, hoping he wasn't breaking the rules… after all, he had only been told not to give orders, not that he couldn't give encouragement. Besides, Cyrus had done so earlier. Thorn glanced back at him with a tired smile and bathed in the compliment for a second before turning back to her opponent.

As Steelix lunged for another slam, the grass-type sprinted right towards him. She leapt to the side as he came crashing down and slid passed her. Thorn seized her moment to pause and began glowing a faint pale green as she attempted a synthesis while Steelix tried to regain control over himself. Thorn's glow faded quickly though, and although she appeared slightly more energetic, she still clearly had not mastered the move yet.

Steelix whipped his tail at the chikorita before she could dodge, and became trapped in his grasp. Thorn cried in pain for a few seconds before trying a counter attack. She whipped her leaf, scattering purple dust all over Steelix's body, until her reflect barrier finally faded and she fell free. Steelix whipped his tail once more, scattering the useless poison dust and sending Thorn flying into a wall, where she collapsed.

The chikorita attempted to stand, one leg bent awkwardly and a trickle of blood dripping down her side where a jagged edge of Steelix's tail cut into her skin, but Alex called her off, as did Cyrus to his Steelix. "Okay, it's clear we're not ready for this. We're done." Thorn immediately made sounds of protest, but again, Alex cut her off. "You're in no shape to take on this thing and his second pokémon. We need more training. Okay?"

Thorn looked heartbroken as Alex returned her to her pokéball. Cyrus recalled his steelix after a job well done, and then addressed Alex. "Not bad, not bad at all. She's a gutsy one. If not for how severely your staryu lost, I might have given up a badge right now."

"What?" Alex asked. "But I didn't even beat a single one of your pokémon."

Cyrus grinned. "No, but that wasn't the goal, now, was it? We don't do things like every other pokémon league here, as I'm sure you already know. To those of us here in the Vidiva League, winning isn't everything. Remember, the goal was to show that your pokémon can handle themselves, and that you trust them to do just that. Your goal was to show that you know you can rely on them, the way they're relying on you as their trainer. Your chikorita's devotion and your faith in her were proven to me during that battle. You also proved that you know when to quit if a fight is out of your league. Your staryu, however… she didn't seem to know what to do with herself. You offered her little to no support after the initial exchange, and she got considerably injured as a result. I'd advise working with her a little more before trying again."

"Er, right… I'll do that," Alex replied.

"I also want to warn you: the rules will not be exactly the same, should you return for a rematch. Don't be too discouraged, you're on the right track. Now, go on and have your staryu looked at."

"Uh, so, hey… how's your staryu doing?" Wyatt asked.

"She'll be okay," Alex replied quietly. "I mean, she's hurting, obviously, but she'll recover."

"Hey, it's not your fault," Kimiko said, taking his hand in hers. "She just needs a bit more experience, that's all. Come on now, your ice cream is melting."

"I'm not really in the mood," Alex said.

"Geez, are you two always like this?" Wyatt groaned, resting his forehead on the table.

After the battle, the three trainers headed directly to the pokémon center, where Alex dropped off Thorn and Koyomi in the nurse's care and showed her Koyomi's condition, while Wyatt left Bill and a second pokéball. Afterwards, in what Alex would call an uncharacteristic move given what he had seen of the boy so far, Wyatt suggested they get a treat to cheer themselves up.

"Like what?" the couple asked at once.

"Like… that," Wyatt said simply, gesturing towards Alex's melting chocolate ice cream. "You both are so… similar. You get like mega depressed after a loss. It's killing my mojo."

"It has nothing to do with actually losing," Kimiko countered, now playing with her own melting cookie dough ice cream. "It's… how we lost, I guess. I don't know about you, but we actually care about our pokémon." Wyatt winced at that, but didn't retaliate. "Alex is worried about Koyomi, obviously. He feels guilty that she got so hurt and he couldn't do anything about it." Alex looked up at her with a disgruntled expression, but otherwise also remained silent.

"And what's your excuse, then?"

Kimiko hesitated. "I… Okay, for the record, I don't like admitting to this. But… I knew this training thing wouldn't be easy. But I never thought I'd have this much trouble with it… And quite frankly, it's bothering me that I can't keep Fantomé in line. I mean… like I said, I knew it would take work, but… Well, I guess… I don't know. After working in the lab for so long, I guess I thought I knew how to handle baby pokémon. That little dose of reality is like a slap in the face. And then there's Ariel, who's just as big a mystery, though at least she doesn't cause trouble doing it…"

The redhead made a face at the mention of a lab, but didn't comment on it. "Who the hell's Ariel?" Wyatt asked.

"My clamperl. I got her the same day Alex caught his staryu, actually. Ever since I caught her, she's done nothing but lock herself up in her shell. She won't even come out to eat around us. The nurses say she eats when I leave her for treatment, but not in front of them. It's like she just doesn't like people… but even if I ask her if she wants to be released, she still doesn't answer, so I… I just don't know what to do. I'd think she just doesn't like me, but if she's not opening up for anyone else either… I just don't know."

"You two have quite the collection on your hands," Wyatt said, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms behind his head. "Can't say I don't understand, though. Taylor, my baltoy, was pretty much the same way when I first caught him. He was pretty easy to coax though, once I found out what he wanted. Gave him a bag of sand from his home to carry around with him, and he opened up like a book."

"So…" Kimiko started. "What you're saying is, I need to find out what it is that Ariel wants from me, and then she'll start socializing?"

"Yep."

"Okay, that makes sense, but how do I know what she wants if she won't even talk to me? Assuming of course that she does want something from me."

"Have you tried asking her?" Wyatt asked, shoveling down a large mouthful of his strawberry ice cream.

"No shit, Sherlock! She didn't react at all. And even if she had, I have no way of actually understanding her."

"Sure you do," Wyatt said after swallowing. "Your gastly. Don't you know that they're supposed to be able to communicate telepathically?"

"Uh, no, I didn't," Kimiko said, turning to Alex, who shook his head.

"Not that I was aware of, no… though now that you mention it, I do recall at least one instance where a gastly was able to use human speech. Some old myth back in Kanto."

Wyatt laughed. "Maiden's Peak, right? Yeah, but that gastly was also said to be able to transform into other things and fuse pokémon together," he replied with a wave of his hand. "I don't put much faith in myths. What I was talking about was telepathy. Ghost pokémon aren't psychic to the degree of psychic-type pokémon, obviously, but many ghosts do have some level of telepathic abilities. Sabrina of the Saffron gym once said that all people have this power, actually, but most humans aren't even aware of it if they try. Anyway, it has something to do with ghosts being all spiritual and stuff. I don't understand it, but then, who really does?"

"So, you're saying she can train Fantomé to learn to communicate thoughts, right?" Alex asked, intrigued. That was something he'd never heard during his time working at Spruce's lab.

"Should be. I mean, not all ghosts can learn to do it, but it couldn't hurt to try. And then you can have him ask what Ariel's problem is, and he can then tell you. Good luck getting him to sit still long enough to say hello, though."

"What about my sableye? Can he learn that too?"

"No idea," Wyatt said. "He's a ghost so he should, in theory. But then, aren't sableye half dark-type? That might cause some problems, since telepathy is more of a psychic power. I already said I don't know how it works. Go ask a professor."

Alex and Kimiko exchanged a glance at the word. Kimiko was the one to try to recover the situation. "Well… at least it's a start. I guess at least now I have something to work towards."

"So, when's your rematch?" Wyatt asked Alex. "I'm going back tomorrow. If I can't win then I'll just come back here later."

"I don't know," Alex answered. "I'm going to train up a little bit before I try that again. Koyomi needs to rest for a few days first, though… so I'll probably just work with Thorn and Diamond until she's ready to join in. Then when I feel we've made enough progress, we'll go back. I really don't want to have to backtrack. We're here now, and I'm not leaving until I get what I came for."

"What about you?" Kimiko asked. "If you don't win, where will you go next? I think Neutron is the unofficial third stop, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but I'm heading for Phantom Village," Wyatt replied. "I want to see what's going on in that forest myself."

"Um, you are aware of all the disappearances happening around there lately, right?"

"Of course. That's why I'm going. Think about it. People go into that forest and vanish, yet the gym is still operating. I want to know how they're doing it."

"Who says the town is still operating?" Alex asked suspiciously. Kirsten's TV announcement confirmed that the gym was still open, but no mention of how or why. "Have you heard anything from someone who lives there?"

"No, but think about it. The gym is still open there. It's still operating. If it weren't, they'd have moved it to a temporary location in another city by now, right? Either whatever is going on hasn't reached them yet, or they've found a way to repel it. I want to see for myself, that's all."

"That's… a very interesting point," Alex said, glancing at Kimiko. She looked back curiously, and Alex was relieved that she wasn't scarred by their own forest experience – or at least, she wasn't showing it.

"Why?" Wyatt asked suspiciously. The couple snapped their attention back to him. "Do you two know what's going on?"

"No," Alex replied. "About a week ago, after I caught my sableye, the two gym leaders from Phantom Village showed up out of the blue and wanted to speak with him. Then… well, there's definitely something going on in there, but they seemed to be at a loss as to what it is."

"Look," Kimiko added, her voice quiet and shaking. "If you're going in there… don't go alone. Whatever is happening has the ghosts completely wound up… and they've attacked more than one traveler. I've got the scars to prove it." As she said that last line, her face flooded with color and she covered her mouth, as if she didn't intend to reveal that information. She glanced over as if to say "Now's now the time," but as she expected, Alex jumped on it before she could speak.

"It is still bothering you! Why didn't you say something?"

Kimiko turned to him furiously. "Of course it's still bothering me! Every single night, I've had nightmares of being carried away to who knows where and eaten or something by that dusknoir. But you can't do anything about it, so why should I tell you?" Alex made to argue back but Kimiko continued, holding up her hand to silence him. "I know you feel guilty about it, okay? But it wasn't your fault. And that doesn't change the fact that you can't do anything about the nightmares. So, there's no point bringing it up or feeling sorry about it. Just let it go!" And with that she shoved her chair back and sprinted out of the cafeteria, leaving Alex in a stunned silence, while Wyatt looked between him and the door curiously.

"Should I even ask?"

It took a minute for Alex to focus and reply. Was he supposed to go after her? "It's a long story," he said. "I've never seen her lose control like that."

"That was losing control? Hah, that was nothing. You should see Giselle. Now there's a girl with a temper."

"No, really. She's always been in control of her emotions, ever since I've known her. That… I've never seen her have an outburst like that before."

"Man, you'd never think you two are beginning pokémon trainers just by looking at you. Quite the emotional roller coaster, you two are. Actually, I have a question. Why are you two just beginning, anyway? You're like ten years older than me or something, by the looks of you two."

Alex looked at him curiously for a moment. "It's a long story," he repeated.

"Okaaaaaay, then answer me this. If she isn't challenging gyms, then what is she training pokémon for?"

"She is taking on gyms, she just… decided today wasn't a good time. And, not that it's any of your business, but… she's looking for information about her father."

"Do explain."

Alex leaned back and crossed his arms, debating whether or not it was a violation of his girlfriend's privacy to tell him. He decided it couldn't hurt, just in case the boy knew anything. It's not like she forbade him to speak of it…

"It's like this," Alex sighed before launching into a hurried explanation. "Starting at the beginning, our parents decided for us that they wouldn't allow us to be trainers officially until we were fifteen, they wanted us to get proper schooling, and honestly we were fine with that. Before we reached their age limit, Kimiko's father was killed. As far as I know, no one's really sure of the details, except it wasn't natural. She was told that his body was found in pieces. So, she's looking for any information she can get about what happened to him. Also, no one knows where her mother vanished to shortly after that, so she's had to take care of her little sister for the last five years. I just waited for her. That's why we're so old, for the record."

"Well, that's a little gross," Wyatt said, glancing down at his pink ice cream. After a pause he shrugged and stuffed the spoonful in his mouth. "I thought the legal training age was ten? How could your parents get away with keeping you home?"

Ale ignored him. "Look, thanks for the ice cream. I'm going to go talk to her. And do yourself a favor… take her advice. If you're going into the forest, don't go alone."

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" Kimiko shouted from inside their room. Alex stood in the hallway of the pokémon center outside their current residence, where Kimiko had locked herself inside.

"Kimiko, this isn't something you can just keep bottled up! Come on, stop making a scene. Let me in so we can talk!"

"You're the one making the scene, Alex! There's nothing to talk about. Just go away."

Alex stopped trying to force open the door and just stared at it instead. He then glanced around; sure enough, a few people had come out of their rooms to investigate. He turned back to his door, deciding to let her have her time alone to recover. "Alright... I'm going to go check on Koyomi."

He made it four steps before the door opened and Kimiko stepped out, her head bowed and her face a bright pink. Alex turned and watched as she walked over and took his hand, then dragged him back inside, needlessly locking the door again. Alex walked to the bed and sat down; his girlfriend moved beside him. He wrapped his arms around her as she leaned in and laid her forehead against his chest.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said. "Just… don't leave me."

So, Alex sat there, his girlfriend clinging to him as she tried to calm herself, while he tried to convince himself yet again that he wasn't the cause of her current distress.

One week, one healed starfish, and several intense training sessions later, Alex stood opposite Cyrus once again, this time feeling much more confident about his victory. Kimiko sat alone in the stands, Wyatt having departed four days ago for Phantom Village after his second loss. Alex had already grabbed a pokéball and was waiting for Cyrus to choose his. The gym leader grinned as he addressed his foe.

"I'm glad to see you back here. How's your staryu holding up?"

"Much better now," Alex replied. "In fact, I think you'll be surprised by her growth. I'm sure she'd like to say hello, so if you're ready…"

"Hah, well, aren't you eager? Alright then. I trust you remember your previous visit?"

Alex nodded. "You said the rules would change."

"I did indeed. Now," Cyrus raised his voice as he pulled out not one, but two pokéballs, "we will still not be giving commands to our pokémon. However, my little surprise isn't much of a surprise now since you've been here before. In addition, many trainers take time between their battles to pre-plan a strategy for their pokémon and expect them to perform this plan during the rematch. So, to shake things up, this time we will engage in a double battle instead. I trust you know what that is?"

"Of course," Alex said, frowning. While he didn't plan anything specifically for his rematch, per se, he'd spent all his time working individually with his pokémon during their week of training; not once did he have them work together as a team. He had no idea how well they'd cooperate.

"Excellent! Then, let's get started." Cyrus tossed his two pokéballs onto his side of the field. The first opened in mid-air, revealing a menacing skarmory. The second one released a strange yellow and black creature on the ground that Alex recognized as a mawile.

Realizing Cyrus had changed his pokémon, Alex studied his two opponents carefully. Koyomi is still an obvious choice, he thought. She's the only one who can deal any neutral damage to steel-types. But who to pair her with…? Thorn did well against the steelix, but she still can't really fight back. Diamond is stronger and could probably handle the skarmory with that power gem, and night shade will still deal solid damage… but will he actually work with a partner?

Alex made his choice and threw his two pokéballs to the ground below. Thorn and Koyomi emerged in a flash of light, and looked at each other in confusion after realizing they were both on the field. Koyomi warily turned to their opponents, while Thorn looked up at her trainer.

"Sorry Thorn. This is the rule change. It's a double battle. Just do what you do, but look after each other, okay?"

The chikorita grinned and cooed happily before turning to her partner. Thorn and Koyomi spoke briefly, though Alex couldn't imagine what they were saying. He hoped they had a plan, because he sure didn't expect this.

"Alright then!" Cyrus shouted. "Thorn, Koyomi, are you both ready?" The chikorita nodded and stepped forward eagerly, while the staryu held back a moment before floating beside her teammate. Mawile and Skarmory took their positions as well, Skarmory taking to the air and hovering there.

"Round two, then. Begin!"

A/N: This chapter was posted on June 21st, 2013, officially the fic's third birthday. I did not note the previous chapter's upload date, but this does mark the first time I'd recorded a date for future me to have a guideline as to when things were uploaded.

The original note here also said "Here's to actually completing you before another three years passes." And, well... that doesn't happen. (Oh, uh, spoiler alert.)

Another thing to note: This story was started before X and Y were introduced, when pokémon typings functioned differently. That's why this chapter mentions sableye being ineffective against steel types (as steel still resisted both ghost and dark at this point in time). The following chapter was posted after X and Y, and does introduce both the fairy-type as well as the other type modifications. This IS vaguely plot-related, and that is the only reason why I haven't edited this story to pretend these changes always existed, although I won't say more than that.