The New Normal – 8-4 – INTERLUDE – Janine
"Urghhhh…." Sabrina moaned on the bench as she tried her best to recover from seasickness. Despite the fact that this was the second time taking the ship from Johto to Kanto, she didn't seem any more used to it.
"There, there." Whitney patted Sabrina soothingly on the back, only to receive further groans of discomfort from their resident Psychic specialist. Janine just hung back; she was less touchy-feely than Whitney, though she never saw her friend's affectionate nature as a bad thing.
She knew that Whitney was being a bit more exaggerated with her displays of friendships recently because she was bummed out that she had narrowly missed her brother's departure to Sinnoh as they hung around in Johto for too long. Hopefully her spirits would be able to buoy back in time.
"Do not worry, we still have plenty of time to reach Saffron City for our match." She said instead, "And I am sure your parents wouldn't mind waiting."
Sabrina moved to nod, but that only caused her to emit another groan. Janine and Whitney shared a small helpless smile at their friend's condition; Sabrina really needed to work on her physicality.
The three of them loitered around for a little while to allow Sabrina to recover. Before long, they all took off on their respective flyers. A Noctowl, Xatu, and Golbat took to the air as they carried them to Saffron City, where their 6th Gym Badge awaited.
Janine never regretted leaving Fuschia City to accompany Whitney and Sabrina on their journey, but it still astounded her to see how right her Father was. She had truly grown much as a result of her journey, and her time in Johto was no different.
Not only had she acquired a Nidoran, which was already a Nidorino, her Pokémon got in plenty of training that she hoped would further sculpt them to be powerful enough to clear through the remaining Gyms in one go.
Their first stop was going to be at Saffron to collect the Marsh Badge. While the Psychic types would normally pose a significant threat to a team of Poison types, Janine was confident that her experience training with Sabrina had given her enough insight that she could handle Samson's team without too much issue.
Truthfully, she felt Giovanni's Gym was going to be a far greater problem for her. But that was for future Janine to deal with.
It didn't take long before the three of them landed on the outskirts of Saffron City; careful to avoid the prying eyes of snooping reporters that liked loitering around the Gym. Sabrina was too recognizable as the daughter of the Gym Leaders, and they would very much prefer to avoid the attention.
They had gotten lucky in Johto that they hadn't been recognized, even though they were freely out in the open. But in Kanto, and in Sabrina's home city no less, there was no chance of that same anonymity.
They quickly dismounted from their flyers and moved into the Gym, where they had already reserved a slot for their fights. As agreed, Janine would be up first. She had a sneaking suspicion that Sabrina's parents had intentionally cleared out their schedules to allow the three of them to challenge them back-to-back, though she wasn't going to call them out on their generosity.
Her father was no different, even if he tried to hide it under a layer of stoicism.
As soon as the trio entered the Gym, they were immediately greeted with the smiling faces of Sabrina's parents.
"Sabrina!" They both greeted with smiles, pulling their daughter into a tight hug and completely destroying whatever 'powerful' image people had of them as Gym Leader. Janine simply watched this happen with a slight smile as Sabrina tried but failed to wiggle out of the hug, her face flushed with embarrassment.
She was thankful that her Father was less prone to public acts of affection – she would probably faint from the shame. That was not to say that he did not care for her as much as Sabrina's parents did, merely that he had a different way of showing it.
His affection was more subtle. But their existence was never in doubt, nor hers for him.
The family eventually broke out of their hug, and Samson turned back to her. "Right then, I think you're up first, aren't you? Watch out though, we won't hold back just because you're friends with Sabrina!"
Sabrina smirked, "You will lose hard if you hold yourself back, father. We have been training hard."
"I'm sure you have, dears." Katrina smiled indulgently, "We knew you wouldn't come back until you felt you were ready to clear through all of the remaining badges. You might be the better Psychic, daughter of mine, but we're still your parents."
Sabrina blushed, and they all shared a chuckle before Samson looked at Janine. "Come on now, let's get to your 5-Badge challenge. There's no need for you to deal with the Gym Trainers – it'd just be a waste of time."
Janine nodded, and the two of them waved their goodbyes before they split off from the group to get themselves ready for their fight. Unlike her friends, who would be challenging for their 6-Badge challenge, she was challenging for the 5-Badge one because she had yet to defeat her Father. As she brought up before, she was saving him for second last.
"How has Sabrina been really getting on?" Samson suddenly asked her as the two of them walked to the arena, "It's hard to tell sometimes from phone calls and texts alone."
"She has been doing well." Janine responded, a fond smile forming on her lips. "I'm very happy to call her my best friend."
"Then is Whitney not your best friend?" Samson replied with a chuckle as they walked.
"They both are." She replied firmly, honesty and appreciation leaking in her voice. The smile that appeared on her face must have been infectious because Samson smiled too.
"…I'm glad then that our daughter has such good friends in you and Whitney. It's clear that you greatly trust each other, which is extremely relieving." He said, letting out a reassured breath. "I said it before, but it's really taken a weight off both my shoulders and my wife's."
Janine refused to meet his eyes as she felt heat rush up her cheeks, but quickly shook away all other thoughts out as they arrived at the battle arena. Samson patted her twice on the shoulder, before moving to his side of the arena. She proceeded to move to hers.
As soon as she got in place, the referee began his announcement.
"THIS WILL BE A 3V3 BATTLE FOR THE FIFTH GYM BADGE BETWEEN CHALLENGER JANINE VERSUS GYM LEADER SAMSON! THERE WILL BE ONE SWITCH ALLOWED!" He declared, the audience cheering at the announcement.
Janine cleared her mind of any extraneous thoughts as Father had taught her. Both her father and Whitney had said the same thing.
"Hesitation is defeat." Their voices echoed in her head.
"TRAINERS, ARE YOU READY?!" The referee shouted out once again, getting nods from both trainers.
"THREE...TWO…ONE…BEGIN!" They both released their Pokémon.
"Weezing! Prepare yourself!"
"Exeggutor! Get ready!"
Her Weezing came out of her Pokéball with a hacking cough, letting out small plumes of noxious gas that slowly wafted its way to the top of the arena. Further clouds of poison released themselves from its many holes, polluting the nearby air with its toxic fumes.
In the meanwhile, her opponent stood tall and alert, its dopey faces a mere façade for its cunning intelligence, hidden within its many sharp eyes. But while Samson's Exeggutor was very clearly trained, Janine had seen greater threats in her studies. She had prepared herself and her team to fight against Giovanni's team of 8-Badge Pokémon. This Exeggutor simply couldn't match up to that level of strength that she had been training for.
"Smog, Weezing! Flood the arena!"
"Ingrain! And Stun Spore, Exeggutor!"
Weezing's mouth grew wide as it started to belch out a huge thick cloud of noxious gases that started covering the entire arena like a tidal wave of poison. The thick noxious fumes spread rapidly across the arena floor, spreading its poisons into every nook and cranny. Exeggutor was no exception, and its many faces took on a sickly pallor as it became poisoned.
In return, Exeggutor had planted itself in the ground with strong roots that absorbed the nutrition out of the very ground, constantly healing itself up. Samson must have been looking to offset the very likely Poison damage that he knew his Pokémon would be accruing over time.
However, Exeggutor's retaliatory Stun Spore was ineffective. The spores were hardly able to travel a few meters before they disappeared into the heavy cloud of poison, never to be seen again. After all, a few lone spores were nothing compared to the ocean of poison that was being spewed out constantly by Weezing.
"Leech Seed, Exeggutor! Drain it!"
"Taunt, Weezing! Stop it in its tracks!"
Exeggutor opened its mouth wide, a few seeds with large hooks forming in its mouth. But before it got an opportunity to fire them off, Weezing cut off its constant discharge of Poison to fire off a quick burst of Dark energy with a Taunt, rapidly engulfing the Exeggutor. Irrational rage filled its many eyes, interrupting its attempted Leech Seed.
Samson frowned, and Janine was quick to jump on the opportunity.
"Toxic Spikes! Scatter them around!"
"Psychic! Clear them out!"
Her Weezing let out a grunt as it tossed a scattershot of toxic barbed spikes into the air, launching them onto Samson's side of the arena. But before they could land, Exeggutor's eyes glowed blue as it tried to hold them in the air with a Psychic, threatening to send them back.
"Sludge Bomb, Weezing!"
Weezing flanked around and let out another hacking cough as a huge globule of raw poison was grotesquely formed in its mouth, before Weezing lobbed the condensed orb over. The orb shattered onto Exeggutor's face, showering Exeggutor in a vicious bath of poisonous liquids. Exeggutor reeled back in pain, disrupting its concentration as the toxic spikes scattered themselves around Samson's side of the battlefield.
If Exeggutor was merely poisoned before, then it was certainly badly poisoned now. Even the healing it received from its Ingrain would become insufficient at staving off the ever-increasing Poison damage.
This was exactly the position she wanted to be in. Like her Father always said, when your opponent knew they were on a timer; they got reckless, more prone to making mistakes. It was only a matter of waiting for the opportunity.
And judging by the growing frown on Samson's face, she knew that she had successfully riled him up.
"Psychic again, Exeggutor! Blast it!"
"Flamethrower, Weezing! Burn it!"
Exeggutor's eyes flashed blue as Weezing opened its mouth once again; both Pokémon seeking to blast the other away. Unfortunately, the raw power of Exeggutor showed itself at this moment, as Weezing's Flamethrower was rapidly overpowered by the Psychic; the flames being held back by pure Psychic will alone. The blast of Psychic energy continued forward, completely pushing past the Flamethrower and blasting Weezing in the face.
Weezing let out a groan of pain as it floated backwards in the air, spinning slightly as it lost control of its levitation.
"Psychic again, Exeggutor! Don't waste this chance!"
"Protect, Weezing! Shield and reorient yourself!"
Exeggutor fired off another powerful wave of Psychic energy. Except this time, Weezing managed to stabilize itself and form up a Protect shield that blocked the incoming attack.
But it was at this time that the haze of anger was slowly lifted from Exeggutor's eyes; the effect of the Taunt wearing off. Both trainers realized this, and they both moved to act on Exeggutor's recovered ability to make use of non-attacking moves.
However, Janine had not spent so much time around Sabrina for nothing. As someone who trained alongside a fellow Psychic specialist, she knew what Psychic specialists were capable of when they regained access to their extremely large pool of utility moves. It was one of the Psychic types greatest strengths.
So even though Exeggutor was slowly ticking down due to being badly poisoned, Janine knew she would be in a huge disadvantage if she allowed all those supporting moves to be set up.
It would ruin the matchup for all her other Pokémon.
She could try for another Taunt, but they weren't as effective as she'd like them to be. Nor did her Weezing have enough attacking power to overwhelm its defences and stop it from setting up. She certainly needed to train up more in that regard.
Her mind flashed to her Father, and what he would do in this scenario. She wasn't as decisive as him, but even she realized what the best move was here. Hesitation was defeat, and so, with renewed resolve, she commanded Weezing to end the fight.
"Light Screen, Exeggutor! Set them up!"
"Explosion."
"!" Samson's eyes widened with alarm, but he didn't get a chance to change his order. Without any hesitation, but still nowhere near as fast as her Father's Pokémon, her Weezing stared at Exeggutor with eyes filled with hardened determination as it rapidly glowed with a bright white light.
Exeggutor had no time to react before Weezing detonated itself in a deafening Explosion, scattering a huge wave of force that managed to cause the Psychic shields to flicker and the spectator stands to wobble slightly. Janine was forced to cover her face from the dust and loose pebbles that were whipped up from the explosion.
Even though her Weezing was healthier than the Exeggutor, she knew it was the right move to do. Her Weezing would only prove to be more of a liability the longer the battle went on, and she had already set things up in her favour for the upcoming fights. She just needed to keep up the momentum.
It was one of her Father's favourite tactics. She hoped he would be proud of her match today. She hoped he was watching.
As the cloud of dust and rock cleared, Janine saw the expected result. Both Pokémon were down, exactly as she had hoped for.
"BOTH TRAINERS' POKEMON HAVE BEEN KNOCKED OUT, PUTTING THE SCORE AT 1-1!" The referee announced, "BOTH TRAINERS HAVE 30 SECONDS TO SEND OUT THEIR NEXT POKEMON!"
She withdrew her Weezing over the loud cheering from the crowd, already planning for her next Pokémon.
"WOOOOOO GO Janine!" She heard Whitney shout out amidst the crowd. A rueful smile grew on her face; she never knew where Whitney got that energy from.
Putting that aside for now, she readied her next Pokémon. From her studies of Samson's previous fielded teams, she felt she had an idea of what it would be.
"GO! Ariados!"
"Gain us an advantage, Jynx!"
Okay, not what she had expected, but not completely unworkable. She thought Samson would send out his Espeon, but this was fine too.
As Jynx landed on the battlefield, the many toxic spikes scattered around the field impaled themselves into her, causing deadly toxins to course through her. Janine smiled; Jynx would be starting the fight already badly poisoned.
In theory, with Jynx already badly poisoned, some trainers would choose to merely try to stall out the fight, patiently waiting until Jynx eventually succumbed to the poison. However, that was not how she liked to fight, nor what her Father and friends had taught her.
Surprisingly, it was Whitney that put it best.
"Don't give up the advantage." She had said to her in the past, "John always says that it's best to keep up the pressure once you have a significant advantage. Giving your opponent an opportunity to fight back is just exposing you to being knocked out by an unexpected attack."
She intended to follow through on that advice.
"Pounce and String Shot, Ariados! Get close to it!"
"Psychic, Jynx! Blast it back!"
Her Ariados skittered rapidly across the arena, before leaping into the air as it shot out a thin yet sturdy rope of string towards Jynx. In response, Jynx did what she did best, unleashing a powerful blast of Psychic that ripped through the air.
However, by attaching the String Shot to Jynx, Ariados was able to utilize the surprisingly sturdy rope of string to swing around and dodge out of the way of the Psychic, only taking a glancing blow. Her Ariados still let out a pained shriek, but this move allowed her to maintain the momentum and put Ariados into an excellent position to quickly follow up with a Pounce onto Jynx.
With Jynx's speed now heavily lowered by both attacks, she nowhere to run. She was forced to fight or Teleport away, and Ariados had no intention of allowing to create more distance.
"Leech Life, Ariados! Hit it hard!"
"Teleport away, Jynx! And Psychic!"
Jynx's form started to shimmer as she began channelling a Teleport, but Ariados quickly punished her as it sunk a deadly fang deep into her, draining her with Leech Life. Jynx let out a cry of pain as her health was suddenly sapped away, rejuvenating Ariados in equal measure. Yet the Jynx maintained enough discipline to fire off a weaker blast of Psychic in retaliation before Ariados could sink another sharp fang in.
This time, without tethering itself to Jynx, Ariados was sent flying backwards a small distance as the Psychic crashed into it from an unexpected angle.
Her Ariados' frailty was becoming very obvious; despite the healing from Leech Life, being hit by the two Psychics had visibly taken a toll on her Bug Type as her injuries began to pile up. Ariados' back legs wobbled unsteadily as they became unable to support its weight.
However, Jynx was doing no better – especially since Jynx was also a frail Pokémon.
Janine knew that they had already entered the most crucial moment of the fight. Once again, she had to end the fight now before the incredible range of Psychic support moves could be setup.
Luckily, it was what her training was specifically aimed for.
"Pin Missile, Ariados! Finish it!"
"Psychic again-!"
Before Jynx could react, Ariados rapidly unleashed a short burst of sharp needles that impaled themselves into Jynx.
It was her favourite finisher move and a very reliable staple of her Ariados' move set for finishing off weakened opponents.
And Jynx proved no exception to this rule. Having been badly injured already, Jynx immediately collapsed as the barrage of pins struck her; the Psychic that she was charging up instantly dissipated as she fainted.
"AND THE GYM LEADER'S JYNX GOES DOWN, LEAVING HIM TO HIS FINAL POKEMON. THE SCORE IS NOW 2-1!" The referee shouted out. "THE GYM LEADER HAS 30 SECONDS TO SEND OUT HIS FINAL POKEMON-"
"Hypno! Your turn!"
Samson didn't even let the referee finish as he immediately sent out his next and final Pokémon. His Hypno emerged on the field, quickly becoming badly poisoned as the Toxic Spikes had yet to be removed from the battlefield.
Despite the poison, Janine instantly refocused herself as she stared warily at the Hypno. She knew better than to underestimate it. Sabrina had forced it into her mind that Hypno were exceptional at making use of a huge variety of status moves to completely cripple a Pokémon, or an entire team, if left unchecked.
That wariness turned to alarm as Hypno's eyes suddenly flashed blue despite Samson not giving any commands. Were they communicating telepathically like Sabrina was? Flashing blue eyes were a tell-tale sign that a Psychic type had just made an attack, but her mind currently came out blank with what it was.
She didn't have time to dwell on that for now, as much as she wanted to. She had to make a move.
"Shadow Sneak and Leech Life! Hit hard!"
Her Ariados fell into its shadow as it dashed towards Hypno. However, as if it had predicted Ariados' movements, Ariados was immediately struck by a dazzling ray of light that instantly caused confusion to set in – there was no time for it to even react.
Once again, there was no command, confirming to Janine that Samson was communicating telepathically.
"Snap out of it, Ariados! Focus on my voice!"
Struggling against its confusion, her Araidos lashed out randomly as she slashed down with another Leech Life, only to strike air.
Therefore, it was utterly helpless as a Psychic suddenly detonated itself from behind, launching Ariados in the air as it let out a cry of pain. Yet that was not the end of it, as a second Future Sight suddenly detonated while Ariados was still careening helplessly through the air, adding insult to injury.
There was no way her already-injured Ariados was going to be able to endure past those two moves. As expected, it just fell out of the air, completely knocked out.
Ariados didn't even manage to land a scratch on Samson's Hypno.
Janine held back a frown from showing on her face as she withdrew her fainted Ariados, patting on its Pokéball comfortingly. At this point, she was well within her rights to stall for as long as possible, to allow Hypno to continue racking up Poison damage to give her as big of an advantage as possible.
But she didn't do that. That would be a dishonourable way to win. And she would be shaming herself and her Pokémon if she made use of such tactics.
No, she intended to win fair and square. And that's why she sent out her final Pokémon as well.
"GO! Golbat!"
Her Golbat emerged with a loud screech as it immediately took to the skies, picking up speed as it circled around the lone Hypno. Knowing she couldn't afford to give Samson a single moment, she immediately went on the offensive.
"Taunt, Golbat! Now!"
Her Golbat dove through the air as it released another cloud of Dark energy that shot towards Hypno. Another powerful Psychic tore through the air, but her Golbat proved too mobile and quick in the air, easily being able to dodge out of the way of the incoming attack.
With the Taunt successfully taking hold, it gave Janine a brief moment where she could attack without fear of being crippled by one of Hypno's many annoying status moves.
"Brave Bird, Golbat! Go all out!"
Hypno's eyes flashed blue again, and this time Janine didn't need to guess to know where Samson had placed his attack. However, it was a gamble she had to take. She knew that Hypno was the strongest out of Samson's current team, but she remained confident in her Golbat to get the better of this exchange.
With a screeching dive, her Golbat cut through the air like a speeding bullet as it dove straight into the Hypno. As her Golbat approached, a loud explosion of Psychic energy detonated just in front of Hypno, blasting her Golbat with a concentrated wave of Psychic force. But even with the powerful supereffective attack, her Golbat was scarred but undeterred, as she hoped, and crashed into Hypno with an all-out Brave Bird.
Hypno staggered backwards, almost dropping its signature pendulum as it took the full brunt of the attack. However, that wasn't the end of Golbat's assault.
Without needing Janine to say anything else, her Golbat pivoted in the air and sliced into Hypno with a flurry of Aerial Aces, slashing at it repeatedly with a barrage of attacks as Golbat refused to give Hypno any opportunity to recover.
At one point, her Golbat had even managed to latch onto the Hypno and sink its two large menacing fangs into Hypno, draining its life with a surprise Leech Life.
If this had been a more trained Pokémon, it would have been capable of fighting back against Golbat's reckless assault. However, this was just a Gym Pokémon, meant for easier fights. Therefore, Golbat was able to continue to assault it with a ruthless flurry of attacks, completely overwhelming Hypno.
It didn't take long before Hypno succumbed to its rapidly growing injuries – and the incessantly building poison - and was knocked out of the fight.
"…WITH THAT, CHALLENGER JANINE PROVES VICTORIOUS! CONGRATULATIONS!" The referee congratulated, sparking many of the audience to cheer at her victory.
Janine made sure to return a small smile and wave at her friends as they cheered for her victory. However, her mind had already turned to breaking down the fight, trying to figure out where she could do better.
As she replayed the fight in her mind, she let out a small frown as she realized that the fight was much closer than she thought it'd. Perhaps it was her Type weakness, but Samson's Pokémon hit a lot harder than she had anticipated. If his Pokémon had perhaps been just slightly stronger, then she might have lost this fight. If this had been an 8-badge challenge, then Samson would have likely won this match.
The endurance of her Pokémon was something she really needed to work on.
She quickly shook off those thoughts as she noticed Samson walking up slowly to her with a bright smile on his face. This was no time for moaning, even if she realized that her goal of achieving all 8 badges was harder than she first expected.
However, she had always known that their goal of achieving all 8 badges during their first circuit was going to be an uphill challenge. So she wouldn't let herself be discouraged if she failed to achieve it. But she would do her best to ensure that she would be able to reach her friends' high goals.
After all, it wouldn't do to disappoint them.
A.N. A small break from the Cynthia and John chapters! I wanted to do a Janine interlude instead of a Whitney one because I felt she deserved a bit more attention to both her character and her team. Unfortunately, Janine's noticeably the weakest of the trio, but she has had the weakest starting point compared to the three of them.
Still, she WILL be improving as time goes on. I have no intention of letting her be the weakest for very long. As the most disciplined member of the three, she'll be catching up soon enough. Hope you enjoyed the fight!
This chapter has been BETAed by Allute! Cheers man! And to anyone who wants to support me, please check out my p atreon at CartecTNN where you can read 8 advanced chapters! Thanks to those who have supported me already!