Chapter 38; trials of sprout tower
Sonic woke up before dawn, having slept very little. His experience last day, discovering raichu could sense pain inflicted on him wasn't letting him rest.
Doing his morning ritual to wake up his mind, he tried to shove the worries aside. But it proved pointless.
They were on a warpath against the remnants of team rocket. Both of them were bound to get harmed along the way.
"I need to find a way to cut this part of our connection but how?" he thought as he looked down. He picked up a rock.
"But how" he wondered spinning the rock in his hand thinking "how do I make sure raichu is not harmed by my pain?"
He kept thinking it over and over. But he couldn't reach a conclusion. They knew too little about their connection.
"Damnit!" he yelled in frustration throwing the rock.
To his amazement the rock flew very far away.
"When did you get this strong?" Tails' voice was heard asking.
Sonic turned around and saw Tails and Knuckles looking at him in disbelief. They had probably been woken up by his yell.
"I… uh… I…"
He didn't know what to answer. He too was surprised at his own show of strength.
"I knew you were working out throughout your Kanto journey but not that you had gotten this strong" Knuckles commented.
"I didn't. I don't understand".
The team got silent each one trying to explain this weird occurrence. Knuckles prepared breakfast for all for all of them. While eating some bread, butter and honey which in Knuckles' opinion was one of the best breakfast meals you could have, maybe even better if you removed the butter, Tails asked Sonic if he had had any other surges of strength throughout his Kanto journey.
Sonic thought it through and at first was ready to say no, but remembered two instances; one during the silph co raid where he was pinned down by 2 rocket grunts, his arm hurt from their fight and somehow he was overpowering them before the lightning phenomenon engulfing him and raichu occurred. The second time was when he was battling Mewtwo or more accurately, being strangled by Mewtwo, when he had somehow enough strength to overpower Mewtwo long enough to breathe.
Tails hearing this got an insane idea.
"Knuckles. Go pick up that boulder" Tails said pointing towards a big rock sitting nearby.
"Ok" Knuckles shrugged wondering what Tails had in his mind.
He lift the boulder though not without some effort. And he was a very strong echidna.
"Your turn Sonic" Tails turned to him.
"You nuts? I can't possibly lift that".
"Have you tried?"
Sonic looked at Tails trying to figure out if he was trying to joke in a weird way or if he had gone completely insane.
He went and wrapped his palms around the boulder's sides. Raichu who had just woken up too, saw this and cried out in what sounded like encouragement. Tails observed this development with great interest.
Sonic took a deep breath and went to lift the boulder, thinking he wouldn't even be able to move it if Knuckles had to actually try to lift it.
But all 4 were caught by surprise. Sonic lifted it so easily that he lost his balance and fell, the boulder slamming down hard as he let it go.
"Wha… how?" Knuckles asked him in shock.
Sonic didn't answer. He couldn't wrap his mind around this.
"This seems to confirm my suspicion. Just one more test. Sonic I want you to run to that tree over there" he said pointing to an old tree in the distance "and back as fast as you can. Give it everything you got".
Sonic nodded. Calculating the distance and the time an average speed would take to cover the distance, Tails gave the go. Sonic sprinted as fast as he could, reaching the tree, running around it and back to his friends as Tails stopped the timer. As he compared times, Sonic drank some water to catch his breath.
Tails gasped.
"You run that time at half the estimated time".
"Ok something's fishy here" Knuckles said crossing his arms "how are you doing this?"
"It's their connection" Tails shouted as if he was screaming eureka "it's a two way street on more than just sharing their pain. Raichu is twice as strong as other raichus and will probably grow even stronger as time goes on. But so will you Sonic. Your strength and speed are being amplified because of your bond with raichu".
Sonic was dumbstruck. But when he thought it over, it only seemed to make sense. Those were impossible situations he had found himself in and somehow had managed to survive. It didn't explain the lightning phenomenon but it was a good start.
"But still… the fact that this bond causes pain" he thought.
"Rai" Raichu rubbed its head on his feet, having heard the conversation. It then took a battle stance clearly eager to start training.
Sonic looked at his partner visibly conflicted. How could they go through with this conflict with team rocket if when he got hurt so would raichu?
Regardless, Sonic pushed those thoughts aside, focusing on the present, getting to train his new pokemon, along with Knuckles who sparred with Sonic in battles as well as wooper offering its typing as a training dummy for cyndaquil to use rapid fire ember in order to perfect it.
The training went by smoothly. Sonic got the idea to eventually teach protect to chikorita in order to use in combination with leech seed to buy time while weakening the opponent. However that would first require chikorita to train itself in taking attacks well enough for leech seed to heal the damage taken in tandem with the time given to them by the protect.
Knuckles too helped cyndaquil's rapid fire ember strategy grow more powerful but figured he needed at least one more pokemon before tackling the gym.
Regardless, deciding to test their current strength even if it meant losing once to the gym leader, the team headed for the gym.
To their surprise however, they were informed that in order to fight the gym leader they had to first pass the trials of the sprout tower.
"Sprout tower?" Tails inquired on the way there "trials? I don't know what to make of this. It's like taking a test to be allowed to take a test".
"I guess this confirms that the Johto gym challenge will be harder" Sonic said in deep thought.
"Did the guide say what the first gym type is?" Knuckles asked.
"No that would nullify the whole concept" Tails explained.
"Oh I see".
The team found the tower fairly easily as it was the tallest building in town. They were amazed to find the tower at the edge of the city. The tower was separated from the rest of the city by a small river.
Walking over the bridge the team found themselves in a small garden on the foot of the tower. Many bellsprout were either taking in sunlight or observing them in curiosity.
"I guess this is why they call it the sprout tower" Sonic commented.
Walking up to the doors, they opened before they could knock or push them open. An old man dressed in a sage robe came out to greet them.
"Greetings young trainers. I assume you are walking the pokemon path?"
"Yes" Knuckles answered.
"Very well. Then should you wish to walk the first step of this path you must traverse the tower trials and face me on the top floor".
"Sonic, Knuckles" Tails got their attention "I'm no trainer. Or at least not one to take the challenge. Get in there and dominate. I'll wait out here with sentret".
They both nodded. Entering the doors slammed shut behind them. A weird light coming from several bellsprout around them, all owned by the sages of the tower.
"In order to proceed to the next floor you need to beat all of our bellsprouts" one of the sages explained.
"Doesn't sound that hard" Knuckles said confidently taking out cyndaquil's pokeball.
Sonic also took out chikorita's pokeball. This would be a hard challenge.
"Whenever you're ready" the sage told them.
"Go cyndaquil!" Knuckles sent it out.
Sonic also sent out chikorita.
"Sonic I don't think chikorita will handles this. Call out raichu".
Sonic instead began the battle.
"Chikorita use tackle!"
Chikorita rammed into one of the bellsprouts.
The sages immediately retaliated by firing a plethora of attacks. Vine whips, razor leaves, tackles even stun spores. Both chikorita and cyndaquil managed to withstand the barrage.
"Cyndaquil rapid fire ember!"
Cyndaquil unleashed a minigun style barrage of fire attacks, striking each and every one of the bellsprouts. A lot of them fainted but several ones were still standing.
"Chikorita use leech seed on them!"
Chikorita fired a couple of seeds towards the bellsprouts. Two were ensnared by the leech seeds, their energy drained and chikorita's restored.
"Sonic this will take forever. You need to call out raichu".
Sonic hesitated. His fear of raichu getting hurt was unknowingly spreading throughout his mind rendering him unwilling to even use it in battle.
"We'll be fine" he said managing to sound calm "chikorita use tackle!"
Chikorita tackled one of the bellsprouts knocking it out. Cyndaquil unleashed another barrage of embers which knocked out the rest.
"You have done well" the sage's voice echoed through the room "proceed to the next floor for your next challenge".
Sonic and Knuckles, with chikorita and cyndaquil leading the way, made their way to a corridor which led to a set of stairs for the next floor. While walking up the stairs, Knuckles tapped Sonic on the shoulder.
"Why did you not call out raichu?"
"Chikorita needs to train".
"Indeed, but it has time for that. Sending it out against an army of bellsprouts was kind of suicide".
"I said it would be ok and it was. Let's go" Sonic countered getting defensive.
Knuckles wasn't expecting his friend to respond in such a way. He knew Sonic well enough to realize he wasn't using raichu for a reason.
Getting to the next floor, the duo came across a couple of sages.
"Welcome to your next challenge" the elder sage's voice echoed "proceed when ready".
Sonic took a step forward.
Suddenly the floor around them came to life as walls emerged, creating a small scale labyrinth inside the big room. Sonic and Knuckles, alongside their pokemon were separated.
"Sonic you ok?"
"Yeah"
At that moment purple dust started spreading around them.
"Poison powder!" Sonic recognized it immediately.
"No time to waste. We need to make our way through".
"See you on the other side then" Sonic said and covered his mouth walking forward.
Soon enough however the powder started getting to him. He coughed, chikorita too being poisoned. But the worst was one of the two pokeballs on his belt shaking.
"Oh no. Raichu is being affected too" Sonic thought in panic "come chikorita quick".
Knuckles in the meantime, who was more used to encountering hazards during his exploring in the past, had covered his face with a mask to avoid being poisoned himself. Cyndaquil wasn't as fortunate however. Remaining calm Knuckles pushed onward taking the lead.
The labyrinth wasn't as hard as either of the two friends originally thought it to be. However when both of them emerged on the other side, where a couple of pecha berries were waiting for them to cure their poisoning, as well as pecha berry juice mixed with water as pecha berries weren't actually edible by non pokemon organisms, Sonic was shaken while Knuckles was calm.
Sonic immediately rushed to drink the juice while his chikorita ate the berry. Knuckles having no need for the juice, fed the pecha berry to his cyndaquil and then observed Sonic. The latter looked at Knuckles in question when he realized he was being observed.
"What?"
"I'm waiting for you to tell me what. It's not like you to panic like that".
"I didn't panic. I just… wanted to get this poison off my system".
Knuckles remained silent.
"What?"
"Nothing".
Sonic knew this kind of psychological warfare but in his current state couldn't convince Knuckles to back off.
"I said I'm fine".
"I believe you".
Sonic clenched his fist and suggested they just go forward. Knuckles however blocked his path.
"What now Knuckles?"
"I'm still waiting for you to tell me why you are in such a state of panic. From refusing to follow the strategic route and use raichu against that army of bellsprouts to now panicking over one of the easiest labyrinths we have ever traversed".
"I… I just.."
"Talk to me Sonic".
"I… I panicked because of the poison".
"But it isn't lethal unless exposed to over a very long period of time. Worst case scenario in our case was a mild…" he said then his eyes widened as he realized what was bothering Sonic "discomfort. In other words mild pain".
Sonic opened his mouth to talk but instead just turned and punched the wall in frustration.
"It's about raichu isn't it?"
"I don't know how to process this Knuckles. Every time I experience pain, so does raichu".
Knuckles simply smiled.
"How can you be smiling at a time like this?"
"Look" Knuckles said putting his massive palm on Sonic's shouler "use raichu if need be on our final trial. Then we can get Tails to tinker with his voltmeter to get it to replicate that time you were able to communicate with raichu and talk things out with it".
Sonic took a moment to consider it and simply nodded.
As they were walking up the stairs to get up to their final trial Sonic looked at Knuckles.
"You know Knucks this journey has only lasted a few days and has revealed so much about you. I had no idea that you could be as caring as you are with your cyndaquil neither that you had such great therapy-like skills. How come?"
It was now Knuckles' turn to get silent.
"Knucks?"
"What do you think the final trial will be?" Knuckles asked changing the subject with a sudden smile on his face.
Sonic was surprised and impressed that Knuckles was obviously troubled by something yet could change the subject and the tone on a whim.
Before he could make any comment they made it to the final floor. The elder sage was waiting for them there.
"You have passed both of the first two trials. But now you will be facing the grand trial".
A weepinbell appeared from behind him.
"That's our opponent I assume" Sonic commented as chikorita took a battle stance ready to attack.
"Yes. For normal trainers. But someone like you, hero of Kanto, is worthy of a greater challenge".
"You know me?" Sonic asked wondering just how far his reputation had spread.
"Johto and Kanto are neighboring regions. Your legend has spread like wildfire young Sonic".
"Legend? I have achieved nothing legendary".
"Humble as always" Knuckles commented.
"You two will face the final trial together. And your challenge will be this!" the elder sage declared sending out a victreebel.
Sonic's eyes widened. That could only mean one thing. There was only one member of his team that would have a good chance of going toe to toe with a final evolution.
He took out raichu's pokeball observing it for a moment with the blurry sight of victreebell as background.
He had fought victreebels during his Kanto journey. Gym leader Erika had one herself. He was no stranger to battling it. But he once again hesitated not wanting any harm to come to his raichu.
Knuckles noticed the hesitation and encouraged his friend to fight on. Successfully encouraged, Sonic sent out raichu.
Raichu emerged, sending out a cry of desire to battle and dominate. It looked at Sonic with a smile, eager to receive battle instruction.
"Ready cyndaquil?" Knuckles asked his pokemon.
"Quiiii" Cyndaquil cried out and stood side by side with raichu.
Victreebel took the first turn sending out a barrage of razor leaves. Raichu used its tail to deflect a lot of the hits, protecting cyndaquil too.
"Our turn raichu! Quick attack then iron tail!"
Raichu dashed forward before anyone could react. It jumped upwards charging its iron tail.
"Cyndaquil now! Rapid fire ember!"
Cyndaquil obliged. The damage was little but managed to divert victreebel's attention long enough for raichu to land the iron tail, dealing a good chunk of damage.
Victreebel retaliated with a powerful vine whip which was wrapped around raichu, slamming it down hard. Sonic almost knelt, feeling some of the impact.
His movement in reaction to raichu's slamming didn't go unnoticed by raichu.
"Let him go! Cyndaquil use tackle!"
Cyndaquil however at that moment, chose to reveal its last move; smokescreen.
Sending a ball of ash towards victreebel, its eyesight became blurred. Raichu took advantage of the distraction using its iron tail to slam the vines causing them to pull back.
"Raichu quick! thunder punch!"
Raichu charged his punch and jumped towards victreebel. The latter however took the chance and launched a powerful sludge bomb which send raichu rolling backwards. It became poisoned as a result.
And Sonic was quick to follow.
Dropping to his knees he coughed. Knuckles witnessed this in shock, not expecting this sharing of their pain to go this far.
"You ok Sonic?"
Sonic coughed and looked at his raichu. It slammed its paw at the ground in determination looking at its trainer.
"Raiiii" it growled as lightning crackled from its tail.
"Is that..?" Knuckles was able to say before it happened.
Lightning fell from the sky breaking through the roof engulfing Sonic and raichu.
Sonic tried to grasp the feeling he was getting as he was struck by the lightning. It wasn't painful. It was actually sort of rejuvenating. They weren't really being healed, that he could tell. If he had to compare it with something, he would compare it to a functioning mind trick to remove distractions and perform at the best of your ability despite the injuries.
Only difference of course being it wasn't a mind trick. They really were having their distractions removed to fully grasp their maximum power.
After the lightning stopped, Sonic and raichu were both standing strong, the poisoning removed.
"Oh my" the elder sage said in awe.
"Raichu let's end this!"
"Rai!"
"Knuckles, give me an opening!"
"You got it! Cyndaquil smokescreen!"
Cyndaquil used its move. This time however it had a different effect creating a smoke bomb style explosion. As the smoke covered victreebel rendering it unable to see its foes, Sonic ordered the attack.
"Raichu quick attack then thunder punch!"
Raichu came out of nowhere in a flash slamming hard into victreebel.
"Razor leaf!" the elder sage said betting it all on the one final attack.
Victreebel sharpened its side leaves like blades and charged at raichu. Raichu followed suit using thunder punch.
The attacks collided shaking the floor. Sonic felt a slight pain on his side as if he had been slashed by a sword but without any cut and the pain minimized.
Once the smoke from the smokescreen cleared, raichu could be seen using its tail to as a rod to stand and not faint while victreebel toppled. Raichu smiled and let out a small cry.
"Man" Knuckles said in awe.
The elder sage recalled victreebel.
"Just as mighty as your reputation suggests. You have passed the trials and are now eligible to challenge the gym leader, Falkner. Furthermore if you so desire you can take one of the many bellsprout living in the garden of the tower along in your journeys".
"I'll happily take one" Knuckles immediately accepted.
"Thanks but I already have a grass type so I'll pass" Sonic answered. As strong as victreebel was he didn't want more than one of any type if it was up to him.
Leaving the tower they were greeted by Tails who had spent the majority of his time waiting for his friends to pass the trials observing the bellsprout. Knuckles took his time choosing from the many bellsprout until he found one he felt a connection with. Sonic gave him a pokeball and Knuckles caught the bellsprout.
Going back out of town to set camp, Sonic asked Tails if he could tinker with his voltmeter to achieve contact between him and raichu again like the night when it evolved. Tails said he could only try as he still couldn't tell how it happened that night.
Hours went by as Knuckles prepared dinner for everyone and he and Sonic trained with their pokemon to prepare to tackle the gym. Chikorita and bellsprout immediately formed a bit of a rivalry between them.
After dinner Tails revealed his plan to try and establish communication between Sonic and raichu. He attached the voltmeter in raichu's cheeks to read the voltage it emitted every time it cried out its name and tried to essentially create an algorithm that would translate the readings based on the shape of the waves of electricity. It contained a lot of physics so he didn't bother explaining in great detail how it would function but essentially the voltmeter would read the wave of electricity and based on the pattern the wave had would translate it into a word.
"This is personal so I will leave you two to it. Anything goes wrong you call me immediately got it?"
"Got it" Sonic answered.
"Rai" Raichu cried out.
"Got it" a voice came from the mic connected to the voltmeter.
"Dear me it works! I'm a genius!" Tails exclaimed in surprise.
"Never had a doubt" Sonic smiled.
As Tails left the duo of trainer and pokemon Sonic started talking.
"Raichu I want to apologize for my mistakes for today".
"Rai rai rai".
"You don't have to. But why were you afraid to fight with me?"
"I… I was afraid you would get hurt. After my fight with that unown when my pain was reflected onto you I started hesitating. I didn't want to use you in battle so you wouldn't get hurt".
"Rai rai rai. Raichu rai".
"But I would be taking the pain regardless. And plus… now you know how I felt every time this happened".
"Huh?"
"Rai rai. Raichu rai. Rai rai raichu".
"Think you dummy. You felt the pain I experienced in battle long before the opposite happened. How do you think that made me feel?"
Sonic's eyes widened. He never wondered how raichu felt about this from its own point of view.
"Rai raichu".
"Which is why I have been giving it my all every time we battle. To not take damage. So you won't feel it".
Sonic couldn't believe it. If his guilt over this two way street connection was one time great, raichu's must have been ten times that.
"Oh man… I never… I never thought about it that way".
"Raichu rai."
"It's ok. Because I welcome this connection".
"You do?"
"Rai rai. Raichu".
"Trainer and pokemon. Empowering one another and suffering together. This is the true form of a real connection between a trainer and a pokemon".
Sonic was moved. He smiled at his partner.
"Then let's give it our all partner. Just like our friends said. With Tails' smart, Knuckles' strength and our bond team rocket will fall once and for all".
"Rai rai!"
"Now you're talking!"
"And for the fun of it… I say we take home the league tournament trophy of Johto since we're here".
"Rai rai!"
"For sure!"
Sonic and raichu hugged after this, happy they had managed to communicate. Knuckles and Tails smiled seeing the two working it out and fairly easily too. Knuckles of course heard the statement Sonic would bring home the Johto trophy. He looked at Cyndaquil and bellsprout.
"We're friends and allies Sonic" he thought "but you won't be the one bringing the trophy home if I have anything to say about it".
