Chapter 15 – The Gym Race
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Cory asked after breakfast, leading Alex and a still half-asleep Kimiko (carrying a plateful of bacon) to the back of the gym, where Alex was to be having his battle. Lillia, still feeling too hungover, opted to remain in the lounge room on the couch. "You haven't seen the battlefield yet, there's still some time to push back till tomorrow."
"Not a chance," Alex replied. "I'm here now. I wouldn't have woken up early otherwise."
"Very well then," Cory said, opening a door – and letting in a blinding light as the morning sun was suddenly visible. The couple followed Cory outside into the chilly morning air. Kimiko groaned and had to squint in order to see, tired as she still was. Alex simply lifted a hand to cover his eyes; he was much more interested in the scene that lay before him.
He felt as though he had just stepped into a military training facility. He recognized a few of the traditional obstacles one might see in movies, including the rope swing over a pool of water, the barbed wire that had to be crawled under, and the giant wall to be climbed. Several others he could guess at, but wasn't entirely sure how they were completed. Most unusual seemed to be the most bland – three large painted circles void of any obstacle. Off to the far end was a tall tower. It seemed to be outside the painted borders of the arena, so he wondered what it might be for.
"It's exactly what you think," Cory said, observing the two others' expressions. "This is what Lt. Surge's gym should be."
"This looks hard," Kimiko said. "What are the circles for, rest spots?"
"Quite the opposite," Cory replied. "Here's how it works. The goal of your match today is, obviously, to complete the course. The faster, the better. The target time is fifteen minutes. You can take any path you choose, but…" He paused, taking three pokéballs off his belt and throwing them into the obstacle course, one towards each circle. "You must face all three pokémon. You don't have to defeat them, simply subdue and pass them within two minutes of arriving there. You may switch your pokémon at any time – and doing so while in battle will reset your two-minute timer even if your pokémon is defeated – however once recalled, you can't send it out again, healthy or not.
"Furthermore, and this is why you wanted to be rested, you will be joining your pokémon in the race, and helping each other through the course. My pokémon will not attack you, so don't worry about that. Oh, and one further thing: your pokémon are not allowed to use any official techniques except for during battle. You must do complete any obstacle you come across – no just flying over it, for example. Any questions?"
That last line was going to be a problem, but Alex had something else on his mind. "Wait, me? Are you serious?"
"Yes. You haven't really encountered much of it yet, but the wilderness around here is tough." Alex and Kimiko exchanged a glance, but said nothing. Cory continued. "The goal here is to make sure that you, in addition to your pokémon, are tough enough to survive. There's only so much they can do to protect you. You have to be able to handle things on your own from time to time."
"Okay, I guess… so what do we have to do to get the badge, just beat the course under the time limit?"
"Essentially, yes. If you finish at all, you will still be considered, but don't get optimistic. If you finish under the time limit, then you will be considered victorious. However, if you do not finish the course and give up, or you fail to pass one of my pokémon in under two minutes, you will lose."
"I've never had to compete with my team before," Alex said. "What's the tower for?"
"That's where I will be watching from. And Kimiko, if she wants a better view."
"Anything to keep the sun out of my eyes," Kimiko groaned.
"Alright, well, if you're ready, we'll head to the tower. You can pick a pokémon and when you let it out, the timer begins." Cory pointed to the tower where he would be watching the match from. A digital clock appeared on a screen, previously unnoticed due to the harsh morning sunlight.
As Cory and Kimiko walked away, Alex looked out onto the field to try to figure out a battle plan. Koyomi was the fastest pokémon on his team; however, at closer inspection, all of Cory's pokémon were electric types; she would be at a disadvantage in battle against any of them. However, she may yet be able to help clear a few obstacles. The pool under the rope swing looked large; perhaps he could simply swim across it. Thorn had a resistance to electricity, and Alex immediately imagined using her to help him climb the giant wall. He suspected Diamond's only advantage would be crawling through the barbed wire, but even so he was the strongest battler on the team.
On that thought, he took a moment to study Cory's pokémon. The closest was a round, white and red electrode. The fastest of his team, which meant Koyomi wouldn't stand a chance; no point in sending her out when her only advantage was moot. Cory's electabuzz was next in terms of closeness, but probably the last in terms of clearing obstacles, and he was also closest to the rope wall. He seemed to be holding his head, as though he was also still hungover. The final pokémon – the one he'd probably be battling second – was an electrike, the only non-evolved pokémon in Cory's lineup.
He considered his options. Even drunk, the electabuzz would still probably be faster than Koyomi, so the electrike seemed to be her best battling opponent, given the options. The electabuzz at the end would probably best be left to Thorn, due to his proximity to the giant wall and his prediction of needing her to help him get over it. That left Diamond to come out first and face the electrode. He wouldn't be starting with Koyomi's speed advantage like he hoped at first, but he figured he could make up for that when she came out later.
The only real problem with that plan, he noticed, was the first obstacle. It seemed he would have to stand on a rope while holding on to another one above him and cross a little pond. Diamond would have difficulty passing that, as he wouldn't have the reach to hold the upper rope.
But then the solution hit him.
He released Diamond, explained the situation, and headed for the ropes, the timer beginning its countdown the second they crossed the paint of the border. Cory said they were supposed to help each other, right? It made sense to him that the first obstacle would be showing how the trainer could help the pokémon instead of the expected reverse.
As they approached, Diamond climbed onto Alex's shoulder and he carried his pokémon over the ditch with only mild difficulty; he had a little trouble holding onto the upper rope with his right hand due to Diamond's position, but they did make it across without falling. Alex sprinted towards the electrode. The next obstacle in between them was a suspended log path. There was no pond or ditch underneath, but it was raised a good five feet into the air. Alex climbed on top of it using the logs set up as stairs and let Diamond off his shoulder before slowly starting across. Again, with a little difficulty, the pair made it across the log bridge. Diamond almost fell off once but did manage to grab the side of a log with his sharp claw and climb back up. Alex kept an eye on him as best he could – the ghost was unusually well-behaved this morning.
Finally came the wires. Alex had more trouble this time than Diamond, who was small enough to crawl easily through, however bits of it kept getting stuck in Alex's hair and sleeve, and Diamond had to claw him free; once he had to actually cut Alex's hair to free him, tangled as he was. For his part, Diamond simply complained about the mud, but otherwise kept pace well enough. Finally, the pair crawled out, dirty but unharmed, and faced the electrode.
The battle, however, did not go as smoothly as the obstacle course thus far. While fairly even in strength, the electrode's speed and ranged attacks allowed it to continuously strike and overpower Diamond. The sableye, better at countering physical attacks rather than special attacks, attempted to burn the electric type with a will-o-wisp technique, but it did little to hinder the electrode. After one too many thunderbolts, Diamond eventually fell.
Alex recalled him and began to panic. The electrode surely would out-speed Koyomi as well, so Thorn would be the logical battle choice. However, he needed Thorn to get over the wall at the end. He could send her out and hope she lasted that long, but the chances of that were slim to none. He didn't forget the time limit, either, so he just decided to give it a try, hoping his staryu would be able to finish off the weakened electrode, or at least stall it out until the burn overcame it. He released Koyomi and began again.
Unfortunately, electrode was still quicker than Koyomi could dodge. She avoided several attacks, but couldn't find any openings to launch her own. Then, as one particularly nasty thunderbolt struck her, she crashed.
"Come on Koyomi… you're tougher than that. Give it a good water gun! Just one should do it!" he pleaded.
To his surprise, his staryu did just that. The stunned electrode just barely had time to launch a counterattack before Koyomi's blasted him into the water behind him. The counterattack struck Koyomi, and she went down again. Cory recalled the electrode from his perch in the tower. Alex made to recall Koyomi as well, but again to his surprise, his staryu struggled back up and staggered to the water, despite the flashing red light that was her core, indicating her dire health. She dove in faithfully, swimming around in small circles for a short time.
Alex stepped up to the water and looked down at his pokémon. Swimming was a natural ability for water pokémon, right? Technically, his staryu didn't know surf. Would it could if she just carried him across anyway? He stepped back, daunted by the depth of the water. He looked at the rope. Surely there was no way he could reach the other end, though he could get fairly close. Still, how could he get to the other end with just his injured staryu? He had never learned to swim, and in fact was rather hesitant to try.
Koyomi didn't seem to appreciate the time he was wasting, and sprayed him in the face enough to jar him from his thoughts. By the time he looked down at her, she had already started drifting backwards across the water. With a sigh, Alex stepped back and then started sprinting to the rope, but Koyomi shot another weak water stream at him, halting him in his tracks. Confused, he looked up at his pokémon, still drifting backwards until she was nearly at the other end of the water. Only then did she shoot a squirt of water at the rope. Alex took this as his cue to jump. He stepped back a few paces again, then turned and ran for it.
He jumped as far as he could to get as much energy into his swing as possible. He grabbed the rope and struggled to keep from sliding down it as it swung forwards – a feat not helped by the water stuck to the rope from Koyomi. It reached its peak and then swung backwards. As it began to return forwards again, Alex prepared to leap. Perhaps just slightly too late, he let go of the rope and landed in the water. Immediately, his staryu was underneath him, keeping him afloat, although just barely. She didn't seem to be able to hold his weight; he had pushed her completely under the water, and he was just barely above the surface himself. Still, Koyomi faithfully pushed forwards towards land. Alex attempted to help, but he wasn't sure if he was actually making it any easier or if he was slowing his pokémon down. If nothing else, he was clean of the mud now.
As soon as he reached land, Alex climbed out of the water and returned Koyomi to her ball. He wasn't about to make Koyomi face down the electrike after all she'd already done. He vowed to treat her later. For the time being, he had to focus on finishing this race. He let out Thorn, his only other pokémon, and turned to face the electrike.
Thankfully, between the combination of her resistance, and reflect and synthesis moves, defeating the electric-type wasn't difficult. A few vine whips had it cowering, allowing Alex and Thorn to dart passed it without risk of retaliation. The injured green pokémon growled as they passed, but didn't make any attempt to stop them otherwise, and Cory recalled it.
The next obstacle they tackled appeared to lead them right to the wall. It appeared to be a long row of overhead bars that winded around the entire second half of obstacles. Alex reached up and grabbed one, his feet leaving the ground as he grabbed bar after bar. Thorn seemed to be keeping up, using her vines to follow her trainer. Alex stopped long enough for her to catch up. Again, he wondered… was this grounds for disqualification? Most chikorita had to learn how to properly use their vines, but just using them as limbs surely wasn't against the rules, right? He should have asked for clarification.
"Hey, why don't you just hitch a ride?" he said. "I need you at your strongest to take on that electabuzz over there. There's no need to waste your energy doing this when I can get us both across, yeah?"
"Rita," Thorn said, sounding unsure but pulling herself onto Alex's head anyway, crouching down to avoid smacking her own head into the bars. He started moving again, but Thorn stopped him long enough to slide down to his shoulder instead, as she was too close to bumping into the bars from her former perch anyway. Alex felt his arms tiring quickly, and as he looked on, he realized he couldn't gauge the distance remaining compared with how far he'd gone already. He hoped he was at least beyond the halfway point. Each time he reached he could feel himself slipping, the sweat on his hands weakening his grip. He pressed on, though, determined not to let Koyomi's effort go to waste.
Thorn continued to squeak encouragement the entire ride until Alex gratefully reached the end of the bars. He fell over as he reached the last one and let go, free-falling to the ground and his legs gave out from under him. Thorn helped him back to his feet and they sprinted to the wall, the final obstacle in their way.
"Alright, I'll start climbing. I don't think you can lift me, on your own, but you might be able to help me climb. You just pull yourself up and then give me a hand, alright?"
"Chikochi!" Thorn responded gleefully. Alex gripped the rope and began to scale the wall. Thorn, meanwhile, reached up to the top with her vines and, having nothing sturdy to wrap around, did her best to grasp each corner of the wall and pull herself up. It was clumsy, and she earned a few scrapes for it, but she reached the top before Alex had even gotten ten feet from the ground. She tossed her vines down to him and he grasped them. He gave a cautious pull, causing Thorn to slip partially off the top of the wall.
"Okay, that's not going to work," he sighed. He was running out of time – he still had to get over this wall and defeat the electabuzz beyond, and he had no idea how much time remained – or if there were anything passed the final pokémon to overcome. He was fairly confident that he hadn't gone over his fifteen-minute limit, but he had no way to be sure, as the wall blocked the tower from view. "Thorn, wrap your vines around me," he called. "Pulling myself up won't work, I'm too heavy for you. I'll only pull you down. So, I'll keep climbing the old-fashioned way, but I want you to pull me too."
With another determined cry, the grass-type did as told, tying her vines around her trainer's waist. She pulled upwards as he climbed, and found that it was slightly easier to do with the extra lift helping to counteract gravity. He made it to the top of the wall far more quickly than he would have on his own.
Then there was the task of getting back down.
Alex looked over the other edge; jumping was probably out of the question. There was no net or water to break his fall, so unless he wanted to break his legs, he'd have to climb back down, too. Thorn, however, had another idea. She leapt back off the side she and Alex just came up from, stopping at about the halfway point, her vines still around her trainer. She made a cry, but Alex couldn't tell what she was saying. She was holding position, not trying to get back up, but also seemingly not willing to fall any further.
"What are you doing?" He called down to her. "That's the wrong way, we don't have time for that!"
"Ritaaaa!" Thorn groaned. She let herself fall about a meter, then clung to the wall again, looking pointedly back up at her trainer. "Chi, chikori!"
"Oh," Alex replied, understanding at last. He took a deep breath, then began to climb down the other side of the wall like a rock climber, grasping the small indents with the tips of his fingers. He couldn't get a solid grip, and slipped more than once, but that ended up working in his favor; as he fell, his weight pulled Thorn back up the front of the wall, while his fall was lessened by his pokémon's weight. While not heavy enough to keep him from falling, her weight was enough to keep him from plummeting to the ground at a safe enough speed.
"Let go of me when you get to the top," he called to his pokémon, and Thorn eagerly did so, perhaps a little slowly as she reached the top and was almost pulled off the other side. Alex's freefall sped up without the weight on the other side to slow him down, but he was close enough to the ground to land on his feet without too much pain. His pokémon, seeing her trainer safely on the ground, simply leapt off the wall, over his head. He dove backwards, catching her in both hands like a baseball outfielder, although he could already tell that he'd feel the pain in his shoulder for the next few days.
"Awesome Thorn, good thinking," he praised.
"Chiiiii!" the chikorita cooed happily.
"Elebuzz?" came a sizzle from behind them. They had reached the electabuzz's circle. The pokémon in question was sitting cross-legged, eyes closed and one hand in the air blocking the sunlight.
"Chiko chi rita!" Thorn cried out, and the electabuzz stood up. Thorn immediately tried to tie him up with her vines, but the electric type simply shocked her until she let him go.
"I don't think that's going to work, Thorn," Alex cautioned. "Try not to make contact with it; all that will do is guarantee that it can hurt you."
As the electabuzz started to walk forward, hand still up even though the sun was actually behind him, Thorn lashed out again, this time lifting a stray rock and tossing it at him. It banged into the taller pokémon's knee and he stumbled, tripping over his own feet to land face-first in the dirt.
This only seemed to make him angry, though. He sent another thunderbolt at Thorn before even attempting to stand up. The attack caught her completely by surprise and she took it full force. He shocked her a third time as he stood up; although she was able to partially deflect it with her leaf, she still took most of the shock.
Then, the angry pokémon suddenly charged forwards with a roar, flames dancing around his fist.
"Thorn, look out! Get up a reflect!" Alex called out.
But the stunned chikorita didn't have time to even react as the yellow pokémon's fiery fist slammed into her face, sending her flying back into the wall. Alex called to her, but he was quickly distracted by the electabuzz, who decided to turn his attention on the human. Alex stepped back warily, hands raised. Cory called down to his electabuzz, pokéball at the ready.
Then a flurry of leaves passed by, completely missing the electric type, but halting his advance anyway. A vine struck him in the back of the head, drawing his attention back to the source. Thorn bounded back in front of her trainer protectively, vines at the ready, whipping at the ground as if daring the other pokémon to try to get passed her, despite the nasty-looking burn on her left cheek. The electabuzz simply roared and shocked her, and she went down again.
And then he zapped her for a fifth time, even though she was motionless in the dirt. Cory and Kimiko had reached the boundaries of the arena by this point, and Cory began loudly calling off his pokémon, but either the electabuzz didn't hear him or didn't care. He raised the pokéball, finally catching his eye.
But even after he stopped his attack, Thorn continued to glow. The angry electabuzz froze in evident confusion as his foe doubled in size, a look of worry crossing his face. He looked over to Cory, then pointed at himself while shaking his head, desperate to show that whatever was happening wasn't his fault. Cory just smiled, the panicked anger fading away as he watched the glowing chikorita.
The sprouts around her neck began to expand outward, and the leaf on her head grew longer and slimmer. A spicy aroma wafted around the arena as the glow began to fade, revealing a creamy yellow body in place of the formerly pale green, smaller one.
"Bay!" Thorn cried proudly, then gasped in surprise and looked herself over, sniffing at her own new leaves and tail. Alex noted that the burn to her cheek was greatly recovered, although it was clearly still there. She looked up and excitedly waved her head-leaf at her trainer with a grin.
"Wow," Cory said. "Either she was a small chikorita, or she's a large bayleef."
Apparently over the shock of the evolution, the electabuzz zapped his foe yet again. This time, though again caught off guard, Thorn turned to face her opponent and charged at him. The electabuzz tried to shock her harder but to little effect, as Thorn continued charging until she rammed herself full force into him. The electric-type fell flat on his back and Thorn pinned him down, growling angrily, but he was out cold.
"Okay, I think you've done enough," Cory said, finally recalling his pokémon. Turning to Alex, he said, "I'm sorry, I didn't consider his hangover. I shouldn't have allowed him to battle like that."
"No problem," Alex replied. "Nothing came of it, so it's all good. Although, you might want to apologize to him instead, he's the one who had to fight like that."
"Right. Poor judgment on my part… I'm probably going to hear it later from a couple different sources about that one," Cory mumbled.
"Wow, look how big you've gotten!" Alex said as his new bayleef bounced over to the group. She roughly half his height now. She squeaked happily and nuzzled her head into his neck, stepping onto her hind legs to do so.
"Well… you passed one more challenge than you were supposed to and you look like hell for it, so seeing as how it was mostly my fault, I'll ignore the time limit violation on that last one," Cory said. "Actually, I've never had a pokémon evolve in the gym during a battle before… I'm going to have to work around that to stop the timer during an evolution or something. Anyway, it wouldn't have mattered in this case. So, in recognition of your passing the course, let me officially present you with the tech badge."
Alex held out his hand and Cory pressed what looked to be a computer chip into his palm. "Thank you. Funny," he said as he examined it. "It doesn't really have anything to do with your gym theme."
"Let's just say I couldn't decide on a puzzle that matched the badge, so I picked my favorite points of both ideas and combined them."
"Kiiiiip!" Radar screeched as Thorn danced up to him, now towering over the water-type. The terrified mudkip stumbled and nearly tripped in his haste to escape and hide behind Kimiko's boot.
"Bay?" Thorn asked, looking confused and, for the first time Alex could recall, sad.
Kimiko knelt down and picked up her starter. "It's okay Radar, look, it's just Thorn, see? She evolved!"
Curious, the mudkip cautiously crawled out of her lap and made his was back over to the grass-type. She knelt down on the tile floor so Radar could reach her face, and he began sniffing at her, while she waited patiently. Then suddenly, Radar squeaked and licked Thorn's burned cheek. The bayleef lifted the mudkip with her head-leaf and plopped him on her back, then began to sprint around the pokémon center's lobby, dancing around and between the numerous other trainers there, while Radar cried out with glee.
"I'll want her checked out too," said firm a voice behind the group. They turned and the nurse who spoke beckoned Alex and Cory over to the counter, while Kimiko and a slightly recovered Lillia kept an eye on the energetic bayleef. "First, you," she said, jabbing a finger into Cory's chest. "How dare you send that electabuzz into battle like that? You could lose your gym for this! Cruelty! I could go on about the ethics and morality of what you allowed to happen here. Don't," she demanded as Cory opened his mouth to respond. "Thankfully his injuries were minimal; it doesn't look like he had a very tough battle, so you're lucky for that. But really, you of all people should know better! And if I ever find out you let an impaired pokémon battle again, I will have your gym demolished!"
She turned to Alex before Cory could speak. "And as for you, your sableye had a bit of a rough time, but he also just needs some rest. Your staryu, on the other hand, is another story. I don't know what happened there, but you should have recalled it long before it got into this condition. Lucky for you that staryu are typically fast healers; that paralysis might have been permanent if it were a different species. I insist that you leave it here overnight so I can keep an eye on it, and I would ask that you leave any others you battled with today as well, just to be on the safe side."
Alex flinched a bit; he'd never been chewed out by a nurse before, especially over the care of his pokémon. He had no idea Koyomi had even been paralyzed during that battle. "Whatever you think is best for them," he replied. "Hey, Thorn, play time's over. Checkup time!" The bayleef in question glanced up at her trainer and started making her way over, depositing Radar at Kimiko's feet as she passed. "She's just evolved today," Alex told the nurse. "I don't know if you have to do anything special regarding that in her checkup, but just so you know."
"Oh, well, thank you," she replied, clearly taken aback by the sudden concern he showed for the grass-type. "I suppose that would explain why she's so full of life compared to your other two. Yes, I'll make sure everything went smoothly and that she's in good health. Normally evolution does a good job of patching injuries that otherwise would have been difficult, broken bones and the like."
"She had a burn on her face before she evolved," Alex said. "Afterwards, it was hardly noticeable."
"She is rather tall for her species," the nurse observed as Thorn arrived and nuzzled against her trainer's stomach. "She also appears to have evolved rather late… I hope you weren't holding her back against her will. At first glance, she does look very healthy, though. May I?"
"Of course. And I promise, I had no idea she was even close to evolution, although I was starting to wonder." He pat the bayleef on the head. "Now, Thorn, go with the nice lady and take a rest, okay? Diamond and Koyomi are back there too. I want you to keep an eye on them overnight, okay?"
"Bay! …Bayyyy? Leef baybayleef?" the grass-type said, voice full of concern. Alex realized this was the first time he left his pokémon overnight outside their pokéballs without him, at least as far as he knew. Did they center's staff let them sleep outside their balls regularly?
"I'll be back in the morning. We won't leave you here, I promise."
The bayleef didn't look so convinced, but she nodded anyway. With one last nuzzle, she followed the nurse behind the counter.
When the two men returned to the others, Radar was bouncing up and down, pointing in the direction Thorn had left.
"She'll be back tomorrow," Kimiko promised. "She needs to go watch over Koyomi and Diamond. They need her more than you do right now."
The mudkip shook his head, again pointing back down the hall, then tapping himself on the chest. "Mudkip kip!"
"No, you can't go back there," his trainer answered. "That's where hurt pokémon sleep. You're not hurt now. You've been there before."
Again, Radar shook his head, tapping himself and then jumping again. Kimiko looked down at him, puzzled. "Well, I give. I don't know what you're trying to say…"
Radar frowned. Then, to her surprise, he leapt forwards and tackled her boot. He was a lot stronger than she anticipated and started to fall, her leg completely knocked out from underneath her. Alex caught her before she fell over, but she looked down at her pokémon, stunned. "Radar, what… why? Why did you do that?"
"He wants to evolve," Cory said. Radar let out a squeak and dove at Cory, tackling his foot now. He seemed to anticipate this and braced himself, although the little mudkip had a lot of force behind it and still managed to trip him up.
"Oh! You want to battle, don't you?" Kimiko asked, picking him up.
"Muuuud!" Radar confirmed with a cry and a nod. Kimiko picked him up and set him on her shoulder.
"I've got some fire-types that need some training," Lillia said, leaning against a wall and holding her head. She wobbled on her feet a little, still feeling ill. "Maybe a few rounds with them will be enough."
"Well…" Kimiko hesitated. Then again, I don't have a prayer against this gym with my team as it is, she thought to herself. And Radar seems to want to give it a shot, so… "Yeah, let's go for it."
"There's an arena down in the center's basement. I'll go see if I can reserve it for you," Cory said, walking back to the counter, where the nurse had resumed her post and was giving him a death glare.
"So, what do you say, Radar?" Kimiko asked as the mudkip clung to her, chewing on her hair. "Ready to give this a try?"
With a lock of hair in his mouth and refusing to open it, Radar replied, "Mmmddppppth!"
A/N: Last update: Sept. 21, 2015. This update: Oct. 22, 2015.
So, my original idea for this gym was a general obstacle course, but I didn't want to seem like I was ripping anyone off (if you remember where I get this story's inspiration from and the title reference, you know what I mean), so I came up with this idea. Thanks to my sister, who's in the marines, for ideas on a couple of the obstacles. Anyone else think Lt. Surge's gym needed something like this?