I felt a cold bead of sweat begin to slide down the back of my neck as I took stock of my surroundings. My trusty partner Rattata stood by my side. I tapped my foot gently against the wooden bridge in a pattern that I'd taught him to respond to by building Focus Energy.
I could hear the gushing water below us rapidly billowing, but escape by water was a foolish and short-lived plan. I didn't know whether Chee could swim or not, and even if we washed ashore somewhere safe we'd only be in a worse position to try and get back to Cerulean City.
The large wooden planks of the bridge were sturdy and reliable, so I wouldn't be able to try anything reckless like charging onto the bridge and destroying it behind us either. I did remember however, that there were various tricks that the battlers on the bridge had set up to try and sway the results of the battles in their favour, four in total.
Most of them wouldn't be helpful, but one of the first tricks had been a trapdoor built into the bridge. If I could get there, I might be able to make something of it. Which might be a good idea, unfortunately...
Chee shivered behind me, completely out of sorts. She was reacting just like she had in the cave.
And I still had absolutely no idea why.
"Chee...?" I cautiously asked her, keeping Bronze and his goons in my peripheral vision. "What's wrong?"
The girl was shaking furiously, her eyes almost wild. Her arms were curved over her torso, with the palms of her hands covering her shoulders. She met my gaze for only a moment, before shakily pulling her left hand ever so slightly away to point.
I drew an imaginary line from her finger and followed it, she was pointing to Bronze's Murkrow.
"...Alright. But listen, Chee." I accepted her fear, but I kept my tone stern. "I need you to stay calm this time. I can't cover you and win this battle at the same time. It's one or the other."
I cautiously watched over the trio of trainers for Team Rocket. Fortunately for me, Bronze was behaving very cautiously as well, and it seemed the other two trainers weren't going to act until he did.
"Please, help me win this battle." I murmured to Chee, keeping my eyes on Bronze and the others. I heard a quiet rustling noise, and a moment later Chee assumed position next to me. To my mild surprise, she had once again placed her white and red hat upon her head. Her eyes were now relatively calm, but she was still shivering slightly.
In a flash of white light, her Bulbasaur joined my Rattata on the field. The green marsupial quickly assuming a battle-ready position.
"Thank you." I smiled. Even if she wasn't completely with it, just being able to move would open up our combat abilities a lot, and make my life a lot easier. That left me with one last thing to check before the battle began.
The Grass Proficiency I had ignored.
...Status!
[Cyan Hughs
Status:
HP: 24/30
Atk: 12
Sp. Atk: 1
Def: 12
Sp. Def: 5
Spd: 13
Stat Points (18)
Skills:
Eye to Eye
Regression System
Pokemon Status Lv 2
Bonds System
S.T.A.B.
Noctowl Vision (Lv 2)
Type Proficiency 40% {Tap to Expand} ]
[Normal Proficiency: 317% {VIEW REWARDS}
Fighting Proficiency: 0%
Flying Proficiency: 0%
Poison Proficiency: 0%
Ground Proficiency: 0%
Rock Proficiency: 0%
Bug Proficiency: 0%
Ghost Proficiency: 0%
Steel Proficiency: 0%
Fire Proficiency: 0%
Water Proficiency: 0%
Grass Proficiency: 105% {VIEW REWARDS}
Electric Proficiency: 5%
Psychic Proficiency: 0%
Ice Proficiency: 0%
Dragon Proficiency: 0%
Dark Proficiency: 305% {VIEW REWARDS}
Fairy Proficiency: 0%]
[Dark Type Proficiency Level: 1
To next level: 95%
Level 1 Reward: Photosynthesis (Skill) {CLAIM REWARD}]
With a quick accept, I ran my eyes over the contents of my newly acquired skill.
[Photosynthesis:
Like a plant, you can draw energy from direct exposure to sunlight. A four-hour nap in the sun for you would be like an eight-hour sleep for any other man!
- Taking time to absorb sunlight will slowly recover HP.]
It didn't seem like the skills were going to bail me out this time. I dismissed the menu, focussing my full attention on Bronze again.
And just in time, as the telltale flash of blue energy from Yeller indicated he'd focussed as much energy as he possibly could. I didn't bother waiting for an official announcement, I immediately lunged into action. "Yeller! Quick Mode!" I commanded, directing my partner towards the Zubat. "Tail Whip that Zubat into the water!"
"Zubat, Supersonic!" The Rocket Grunt countered quickly, but before the Zubat could react to our commands a streak of white and yellow flashed past our peripheral vision, as Yeller almost instantaneously made his way from beside my feet to a space in the air alongside the Zubat. From the corner of my eye, I could see a flash of concern fill Bronze's eyes.
"Scree?!" The Zubat screeched in surprise as Yeller's bushy tail collided with it on an angle, knocking it slightly out of position and lowering it's ability to defend itself. Ordinarily that would have been the most that attack would achieve, but Yeller was currently charged with several stacks of Focus Energy. A burst of blue energy flew from Yeller and collided with the Zubat, landing an incredibly forceful blow and knocking it over the bridge railing.
"What...?" The Zubat's trainer stared in disbelief. "Ah! Zubat!" The next second he dove into the water after his Pokemon, which was floundering around in the water unable to swim properly. I breathed a sigh of relief.
One down. That grunt would wash ashore too far away to rejoin the battle. Hopefully that would shake up Bronze enough to give us a chance to make a break for it.
But the hints of worry I'd spotted in the teen's face before seemed to have faded. He tilted his head for a moment, glancing between both Chee and myself.
"...I see." He mumbled. "If that's how it is, then..." He pointed to me with an eerie calm. "Peck, on my signal."
The black bird's sharp beak began to glow with white energy, almost appearing to grow larger and more sinister.
"Hey. Use Rock Throw, idiot." He growled to the female grunt who had released the Geodude into the fray.
"H-huh? Oh, Geodude doesn't know that mo-" The grunt tried to explain, but was cut off.
"Whatever, attack the girl's Pokemon so it's busy."
"Oh, uh-Geodude! Rollout!"
The living rock began to spin rapidly in place, before launching forwards and spinning at Bulbasaur with high speeds. Chee and Bulbasaur shared a glance, and the quadruped summoned it's vines which it used to restrain the attacker, although it continued to spin in place.
Aha. I see what's happening here. I thought, finally figuring out Bronze's plan. He's going to attack Bulbasaur while it's distracted by the Geodude!
I turned my attention to the Murkrow, only to see that it was already flying towards us, beak glowing. "Yeller, cover me with Tail Whip!" I called out, running between the Murkrow and Bulbasaur. I readied myself, skirting backwards to be able to block it's attempts to attack Bulbasaur.
But the moment it reached me, and I leapt backwards to block it, the Murkrow banked to it's left. It managed to slip from my vision, and I cursed under my breath as I reeled to look at Bulbasaur-Who was completely unharmed.
"What...?" I began to wonder aloud, until I heard a soul-crushing pained squeak.
My heart in my chest, I turned to look in the direction the Murkrow had flown away from me, which happened to be the place Chee was standing. The black haired girl who had bravely stood up to her fears to help me. Perched on her shoulder, leaning down and pressing it's beak into her arm, was the black bird that had dodged me.
And in Chee's upper arm, trickling blood, was a painful-looking fresh peck wound. The Murkrow dug it's beak deeper into her body, prompting yet another painful squeak as it forced the wound to widen.
"Chee!" I called, dashing to her side.
"Bulba!" The bulbasaur cried out, just as surprised as me.
I took a swing at the bird, but it deftly flew out of my reach. I quickly turned my attention to Chee instead, who was shaking even more vigorously than before. Tears were streaming down her face and all of the strength had left her eyes. In fact, they almost looked... Empty, aside from the thoughts running through them.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I won't try anything, I'll be obedient. I'm sorry.
"Obedient...?" I mumbled, watching as the girl crumpled up and curled into a ball. The way that she did it was unusual, and one detail stuck out to me.
The position she reflexively assumed, while mostly one that would cover her body as much as possible to protect herself, left one part of her body completely open.
Her right hand was extended out, palm facing upwards, as if offering the hand to whatever was nearby.
"S-Saur!"
I snapped out of my analysis of her stature as Bulbasaur also cried out in pain. I whipped my gaze around to see it being assaulted by the glowing white wings of the Murkrow who had just attacked Chee.
Knocked off-balance by the Murkrow's attack, Bulbasaur was no longer able to defend against the Geodude, who slammed into the green quadruped with a powerful blow. The Murkrow raised it's wings in the air, the white glow strengthening in intensity. With final crushing swing, Chee's Bulbasaur was knocked unconscious.
"And there you have it." Bronze smirked at me, looking very pleased with himself. "It's just you now, kid."
I felt an almost indescribable stir of emotions well within me as I began to actually comprehend what Bronze's strategy had been. The target of the initial attack had been Chee, so that we would panic and focus on her, leaving Bulbasaur open to be double-attacked.
Because he, like me, had realised that Chee was scared of the Murkrow.
"Do you surrender?" His slimy grin grew wider. "It's not too late, I promise not to rough you up too much if you give up now."
"You Parasect."I shot him with a fully-fledged death glare. "Taking advantage of her weakness like that... Hurting her..."
I struggled to find the words. I wanted to berate him and yell at him for what he had done, but as my mouth opened to do so, I found myself questioning something.
...Didn't I do exactly the same thing? It was a dirty trick, yes, but I'd used plenty of dirty tricks myself in order to achieve what I had. It would be easy to say that it was justified when I did it because I have a noble goal, but that wasn't an answer that satisfied me.
But just as I began to relent, I remembered the dead look in Chee's eyes after she'd been wounded-The fear in her eyes, the word that had flashed through them... Obedient.
I decided I didn't care whether I was objectively right at the moment, I could consider that later.
"I'll make you pay for that." I growled.
Bronze eyed me coldly, not relenting in the slightest. "Your 'amazing battler friend' has been defeated. Now it's the two of us against you. You said yourself that you can't win in that situation, right?" He shrugged, still grinning at me. "Oh I suppose you could just run and abandon your friend. That'd be the smart thing to do, right?"
I wanted to strangle him on the spot for insinuating that I would abandon Chee, but arguably he was right. Even Chee had completely surrendered herself-Likely due to whatever trauma caused her to be so afraid of Murkrow in the first place.
Bronze and I continued to glower at each other, and the Rocket Grunt with the Geodude looked back and forth between us while shaking. "What on earth is happening..." She murmured.
Rationally, there was an argument to be made that I should run away now, and come back later with the police to try and rescue Chee. I had asked Bill to inform the authorities, so they might be on their way here, but I didn't know if he had or not. For me personally, that would be the safest option.
"I won't abandon my friend." I spat. Even if that had been my only option, I refused to abandon Chee while she was in this state.
I could pretend that it was because I needed Oak's support, and that was certainly true, but more than that... I wanted to protect her. I couldn't leave right now.
Without a word, I grasped the outstretched hand of my black-haired friend. I scooped my other hand under her ankles, and heaved her into the air. She was curled up tightly, and holding her like this was rather difficult, but it would have to do.
"Yeller!" I cried out. "Bite Bronze!"
For the first time, I saw Bronze react with surprise. He pivoted away and leapt backwards as the dark purple energy jaws from Yeller's mouth crushed down on the space he'd just occupied. "Murkrow! Cover me!" He called, and the Murkrow flew from the fainted Bulbasaur to return to it's trainer.
Huffing and puffing, I rushed over to the Bulbasaur, setting Chee down for just long enough to retrieve the fainted Pokemon into it's ball in a blur of white and blue energy. I then picked up Chee again.
Status Points!
[Allocate Stat Points:
HP: 24/30 + -
Atk: 12 + -
Sp. Atk: 1 + -
Def: 12 + -
Sp. Def: 5 + -
Spd: 13 + -
18 points remaining
Confirm
Cancel]
Taking a sharp breath, I quickly allocated some of my free stat points according to my needs. I hadn't really wanted to do this, but it was important right now. I felt a tight gripping sensation in my muscles, like my whole body was restructuring itself, but it didn't throw me off as much as it had the first time.
I glanced at my status to confirm the changes had gone through-Although I could already tell they had, just from how much lighter Chee felt in my arms.
[Cyan Hughs
Status:
HP: 24/30
Atk: 15
Sp. Atk: 1
Def: 12
Sp. Def: 5
Spd: 20
Stat Points (8)]
I let out my breath, dug the balls of my feet into the bridge-And ran as fast as I could.
"Wha-?!" Bronze startled as I took off like a rocket. With the newly added points in Atk, carrying Chee was no longer a problem, and the added points of speed meant that I could run much faster than before, so maintaining a good speed while carrying her was possible as well.
Neither Geodude nor Murkrow were able to get in my way before I broke free and sprinted down the walkway. Both Bronze and the Team Rocket grunt immediately chased after me, but they were only slowly gaining ground.
This is perfect. I thought.
It had taken a lot of stat points to facilitate, but the encounter was now being run on my terms instead of Bronze's. Since I managed to slip past him, he now had to chase me, where I just had to escape.
Although I had no intention of going that easy on him. I'd said he would pay, and I meant it.
I strained my ears, listening to the thumping footsteps coming from myself and my pursuers. There was a set of light footsteps-Yeller, rapidly returning to my side as I sprinted for the other side of the bridge. My own footsteps were heavier than usual thanks to carrying Chee, and I could hear the medium footsteps of Bronze and the female Grunt chasing me. The soft beating of Murkrow's wings as it tried to pursue me, and the loud and slower paced thuds of Geodude leaping to keep up.
And then a sound I'd been expecting-A rapid repeating tap. A simple thudthudthudthud sound, indicating that the heavy Geodude was now rolling towards me. I figured that Bronze would instruct his cohort to attack me again, and Rollout was a momentum-based move. The Geodude would definitely be able to catch up with me, but this was all within my expectations.
Just a few more steps...!
Finally I reached it-The location of the second battle on the bridge challenge. I slowed down just long enough to kick a lever hidden by the side of the bridge that I'd seen Chee's opponent use in their battle. In response, a large trapdoor opened in the middle of the wooden bridge, and I focussed all of my strength into my legs.
Make it!
And I leapt.
The few seconds I spent flying through the air felt like an eternity to me. My Partner Yeller soared alongside me, yet the sensation of the empty air beneath my feet was simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying. I was fairly confident that I could make the jump by myself, but I was carrying Chee at the moment.
Still, I didn't dare to look down. I pulled my legs up as high as they would go, and I felt a forceful whiff of air as the Geodude that had been rolling towards me barely missed my ankles, plunging into the river below.
"Gloom Juice!" I cried out in pain as my knees crashed into the side of the hole, and Chee was sent flying from my grip and onto the bridge alongside the safely landing Rattata. My hands burned from the friction as I slid down the trapdoor, barely bringing a few fingers from my right hand to grip on the ledge.
Precariously, I took a moment to catch my breath.
That's two of three.
I could feel the sweat on my palms as I carefully tried to grab the ledge with my other hand. I wasn't sure I could safely climb up by myself.
Fortunately, a gloved hand snaked down and grabbed me by the wrist. I looked up to see the half-present eyes of Chee, who had seemingly been jolted out of her stupor by the rather haphazard landing I'd granted her with.
Her eyes were still weak, but there was a small hint of determination lingering below the surface, just enough to motivate her to act, it would seem. With a powerful swing of her wrist, she pulled me back up onto the bridge safely, and I could breathe a sigh of relief.
"Thanks Chee." I huffed, wiping some sweat from my brow.
"GEODUDE!" I heard the female grunt call out in despair, followed by a loud splash which I could only presume was her chasing her Pokemon into the depths of the river. Really, I was so glad we'd fought on this Bridge.
I turned back to look over the hole, and only Bronze remained with his Murkrow by his side, his eyes glowing with a faint orange energy.
Bronze calmly surveyed the situation, locating the lever I'd kicked into action before and pulling it back the other way. There was a whirling of gears and bolts as the mechanical trapdoor began to wind itself back into place, all the while Bronze and I locked onto each other with menacing glares.
"I knew there was something off about you." Bronze growled slightly. "The childish behaviour you showed back in the mine, it was all an act, wasn't it? There's no way your stats could have risen this much in just a few days, otherwise."
His glowing orange eyes tightened on me, appraisingly. "...Is it possible that you are the missing Viridian Child?"
"I'll admit I haven't been entirely honest with you," I answered him dryly. "But I really don't know what a 'Viridian Child' is."
The silence was deafening, only the whining of the gears to break the tension. I didn't yet know Bronze that well, and he was very good at hiding his emotions when he tried. Even so, I could tell just by looking that he was trying to appraise whether I was telling the truth or not.
"...Trainers born in Viridian Forest sometimes exhibit supernatural abilities." He answered finally. "It's said that one is born and becomes known every ten years, and they're closely tracked by our organisation... But mysteriously, no Viridian Child has appeared for the last 10 year period. Hence, the 'missing' Viridian Child."
"Supernatural abilities... You mean like your ability?" I couldn't resist asking.
Bronze audibly scoffed. "If you think my skill is anything close to a Viridian Child's ability, then I suppose you truly have nothing to do with them."
With a powerful crash, the trapdoor finished closing. I tensed up, ready for anything, but Bronze remained loose and distant, continuing to appraise me. His gaze shifted from me to Chee, who was still shivering in fear.
"Hey." My voice dripped poison like a grimer, drawing his attention back to me. "Leave Chee out of this. This battle is between you and me now, understand?"
Bronze didn't respond, the lanky teenager just meeting my glare with one of his own. I readied myself to respond to whatever action he used, and I could tell from his positioning that he was similarly ready to react to whatever I did. The two of us sat at a standstill, ready for anything.
"Chee." I murmured, just loud enough for her to hear. "Are you feeling steady enough to act again?"
I didn't avert my eyes from Bronze to check for a response, but after a few moments of silence I heard a shaky squeak which I could only assume was a positive answer. I wanted to nod in acceptance, but I didn't dare to move a single muscle more than I had to.
"Good. Listen carefully because I'm only going to say this once." I whispered. "I want you to turn and run away."
A quiet squeak of surprise caused me to tense up slightly, but she was reacting to my statement rather than Murkrow's movements.
"Just go. As long as you're here, he's going to threaten me using you. Do you understand?" I paused, taking a slow breath. "If you get it, turn and run back to Cerulean City as fast as you can. I'll be right behind you."
I was met with an unbearable silence for a few moments, but finally I heard the telltale stomping of feet against the wooden planks, growing ever so slightly fainter as she ran away from us.
But Bronze didn't miss the opportunity to act. "Murkrow! Pursuit!"
Damn, I was hoping you wouldn't have that move. I thought as I clicked my tongue.
Pursuit was a troublesome move for exactly this situation. It wasn't particularly powerful, but it had a dangerous quirk. The attack homes in on anyone who is currently running away from the user. On top of that, if you were currently running away the attack becomes far more powerful. It was perfect to use for situations like this, where someone was trying to run away.
Fortunately, there was quite a distance between us, so as the Murkrow's wings began to gather black energy I had time to swivel on my heel and break into a sprint myself. "Yeller! Focus-1!" I exclaimed, bringing my backpack around to my waist to use as a platform for Yeller.
As I broke into a sprint, my partner leapt from the ground and into my arms, where I grasped him firmly. The Yellow Rattata began to build up blue energy, but I stopped him. "No, just stay there this time Yeller. Keep your focus on the battle."
My partner seemed confused, but obeyed. I took a few more steps forwards, watching my peripheral vision until a stream of dark and dangerous black energy caught up to me from both sides, curving in to pincer and hit me. I immediately turned to face one of the two streams, holding Yeller in front of me.
"Yeller! Bite Shield!"
Finally, Yeller understood my plan. His teeth began to glow with white energy, and a set of purple jaws slammed down in front of me, blocking the stream of black energy from hitting me. Unfortunately, the energy swarmed from both directions, and as I held steady to block one stream, the other drilled painfully into my back. "Gggh!" I grunted, getting knocked onto one knee but remaining upright through sheer force of will.
The energy of the attack subsided after a few seconds, and my back tingled with a burning sensation as Yeller released his bite attack and the purple jaws faded away. Through the lingering pain, I could tell that the Pursuit attack had torn a hole in my jacket and shirt, burning through to my skin.
Ahead of me, I could see that Chee had come to a stop, turning back to see me in horror. "Damnit Chee, keep running!" I screamed, and she jolted fully upright in surprise. Thankfully, she obeyed my command and began to sprint again.
Theoretically, it may have been possible to block the attack entirely by turning towards the point where the two streams of black energy converged, and blocking them there. However in order to attempt that I would have had to stop running from the Murkrow, which could have resulted in the attack hitting Chee instead.
I glared at Bronze again, who had taken advantage of my attempt to block Pursuit to get across the trapdoor without interference. Fortunately, Chee was probably well out of range now. She was a swift little girl, and that meant that I was now free to battle Bronze properly.
He frowned, his orange eyes still glowing faintly as he approached me. "You're a very strange trainer." He mused. "That tail whip had way too much power, the way Rattata moved right before it was exceedingly unusual, and the way you used Bite just now... I've never seen that before."
"I'm just following advice that a much stronger trainer gave to me." I answered, standing to my feet. "I'm nothing outstanding myself."
"Certainly, your intelligence stat doesn't line up with that kind of innovation..." Bronze mused. "But somehow I get the feeling that if I underestimate you, I'm going to regret it."
"Wish you would underestimate me." I mumbled under my breath. Getting people to underestimate me and then attacking them was one of my favourite survival tactics-It had even worked on the legendary Champion Cynthia.
Well, sort of, she still managed to kill me before I could do anything too meaningful.
Unfortunately, Bronze was very cautious. Even though he was clearly larger and likely physically stronger than me, he refused to come closer than a few feet, and he stuck by the side of his Pokemon. That kind of surprise attack would only work once anyway, and he already knew I was a competent battler.
Instead, it was best to catch him off guard with something he would have to respond to but wouldn't be expecting. Time to pull out all the old tricks.
I took a deep breath, calming my raging nerves. Bronze and I locked eyes once more. The two of us were alone with our Pokemon on the large wooden bridge. I think we both felt it.
This was the moment that our battle truly began.