Chapter 53: Fighting Spirit
"Are you sure?" my trainer asked Charcoal and I as we stood before him, the looks of determination upon our faces with the decision we both made. "You guys haven't fully regained your strength you know. Fighting Surge as you both are now is going to be a feat in itself." What was more of a feat was the fact that our trainer was somehow able to understand the message Charcoal conveyed to him through wits and the picture of the Pokemon League which hung upon the wall.
"As strange as it sounds coming from me, I… actually agree with them," Laura said, taking my trainer by surprise.
"You're agreeing with my pokemon to fight against Lt. Surge so we can win a badge while they may only have half their strength. Am I hearing that right or are you a Laura imposter?"
"I know. Crazy right?" she said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "And I'm normally known for being the sensible one."
"So what makes you think I should battle the gym now rather than later?"
"Well… say you battle Lt. Surge now," Laura explained. "It'll take some time for us to get to the next gym so that will give your pokemon plenty of time to rest and regain their strength."
"I don't know," my trainer said, folding his arms. "The last thing I would want to happen is for them to overexert themselves. I mean, what if the wound on Zack's paw suddenly opens up and it hinders his battling?"
As the two continued their conversation, my attention was shifted over to Charcoal as he poked me in the side to get said attention. "What's up?" I asked him.
"We may want to go with the pleading trick," he said. "The longer they talk, the less likely we'll get to battle."
"The pleading trick?"
"You know, give our trainer 'the look.'" I blinked, unsure of what he was talking about. "Do you not know of what I'm talking about?"
"Not entirely," I replied.
"It's simple really," he said as he explained to me in what to do.
"Do you think it'll work?" I asked.
"Gets them every time," was his response.
"Well, ok. If you say so." Walking straight up to our trainer, I pawed at his leg to get his attention, drooping my ears and glancing up at him, donning a sad look upon my face as he looked down at me and held it. After a few minutes, he sighed.
"All right. We'll go battle the Vermillion Gym. But if I tell you to return, you listen, understood?"
"Yep!" I replied happily.
"Crystal clear," Charcoal said as we walked out for the gym.
Upon making our way through the city, I took a look around, taking the time to admire the scenery as I had been unable to do so when we had first arrived. People and pokemon were out and about taking the time to enjoy the clear skies they had so longed missed while others worked on repairs needed. And then there were the occasional holes that were dug and metal rods being pulled out from underground. Someone must have found the rod Ted and I found and came to the same conclusion we had that day.
"It certainly is nice to take in everything now that we're not cooped up inside, wouldn't you say?" Ted asked.
"It's just a shame we're here for only a short time," Charcoal replied. "Still, it's worth every moment given that we have."
"That it is," Ted said as we came upon the gym. And standing right in front of it was none other than-
"Hey!" Laura said as we all stopped and stared. "Is that Raikou?"
We all stared blankly at him, surprised that he was even here to begin with. Well, everybody except Skitty, that is. I could never account for her to know what was going on. Nevertheless, quickly recovering from my surprise, I walked over and greeted him.
"Hello to you as well, Zack," he said. "I hope you are faring well."
"You know me. Nothing keeps me down!"
"That I can see," he said with a chuckle.
"What are you doing here though?" I asked. "Shouldn't you be back at the healing center resting?"
"That I should," was his response. "However, I happened to have overheard you and your friend talking about coming to battle the gym which piqued my interest."
"How so?"
"I'm interested to see how you battle," he said. "Something tells me that this will be worth the watch."
"You'll be surprised by how a battle will turn out."
"All the more reason to spectate," Raikou said. "I shall be awaiting the battle inside." With that, he turned and walked inside as I looked back at the others, the looks on their faces completely dumbfounded by the fact that I had just spoken to a Legendary I'm sure they all held in high regards.
"Do you have any idea what just happened?" Laura whispered to my trainer.
"No idea," was his response as I motioned for them to follow inside.
"Come on you guys! The gym badge won't give itself to us you know."
Quickly recovering, they all followed me inside, being greeted by two equally surprised humans, one of whom went to go grab the gym leader after having been explained of our reason for being here. The other guy led our trainer to the battlefield with Charcoal and I close behind. Upon walking out, I looked took a quick look over towards where Ted and the others were seated, finding Raikou sitting by them as well. Excitement built up over the fact that a Legendary was going to watch me battle. And I hadn't the faintest idea what I had done to deserve this kind of privilege.
"I have to say I'm a bit surprised you're wishing to battle me so soon," came the voice of the gym leader as he came walking out from the opposite side. "I wouldn't think that your pokemon would be fully recovered after their ordeals."
"Yeah," my trainer said. "I'm not really all for it myself, but they insisted that they come here to get the battle out of the way."
"Is that so?" the gym leader asked. "It seems to me like you have a long way to go in becoming a trainer. If you're allowing your pokemon to be dominating the choices that you make, then there's no respect for you to be given."
"My pokemon do respect me!" my trainer argued back. "Not many may see it, but we have a bond of understanding and trust that we place in one another. And it's those traits that lead us to winning." I looked up at him, a feeling of admiration beating from my heart. Never had I such a feeling as I did now, despite not knowing his name still. I wonder if Ted knew.
"Let's put those traits of yours to the test then," the gym leader said as he readied a ball. "This battle won't be like the previous gyms you've fought. Compared to those, this gym will draw out your pokemon's potential to the fullest."
"We'll match that kind of potential and beat you in no time flat! Zack, you're up first!"
"On it!" I said as I jumped out onto the field. I will admit it was a little weird having the order reversed, but I wasn't one to complain. So long as I got to battle.
"Go my pokemon!" the gym leader yelled as he tossed his ball into the air, a bright, white light bursting from it as it took form opposite me in the shape of a… a pokeball? Confusion clouded my mind as I stared at it, unsure of what I was supposed to do.
"Alright Zack!" my trainer said. "Let's get in close with a Quick Attack!"
Wait. What? I looked back at him like he had gone mental. What was the purpose of being in a battle against an object that couldn't attack back? I looked to Charcoal to ask what was going on, only to see that his attention was turned towards where the others were seated. I turned, curious as to what he was looking at. I got my answer as Skitty randomly popped out of nowhere and began dancing around.
"Oh I'm as happy as can be and full of animosity! S-K-I.T-T-Y. And that's how you spell Skitty!" she sang, shaking her tail in the process. For some odd reason, I found myself blushing to this. I couldn't figure the reason why I was, but whatever the case, I found my mind pulling up a memory of not too long ago about Skitty's mood changes around different colors, prompting me to look up at the walls, finding them to be a bright yellow color which could almost blind a person. From the corner of my eye I could see Raikou slowly turning his head in Skitty's direction, staring wide-eyed at her.
A sudden zap upon my back caught my attention. Although I was familiar to the element of electricity, that didn't change the fact that it hurt. As I looked about for the source of where the lightning came from, I heard someone say, "Upon a battlefield, if this had been an actual life or death scenario, you would be dead where you stand already."
Pinpointing the source of the voice, my gaze landed upon the pokeball which now had eyes looking at me as I looked back at it. I blinked. "Um… what-" I began to say; only to dodge an incoming bolt of lightning as the pokeball thing fired one at me. It fired off a second bolt, which I dodged again followed by a third and plenty more after that. "You are very inattentive," the pokeball pokemon said as it continued firing bolt after bolt of electricity at me. "I don't see this battle lasting long, seeing as how you will slip up at some point."
I will admit, a pokemon in the form of a pokeball threw me off and caused me to lose focus. But now that I knew what I was up against, I just had to find an opportunity and-
"Zack, feint left and use Psy Beam!"
Acting on instinct, I did just as I was told, pretending to jump left as I readied a Psy Beam… only to be struck. I could feel my muscles locking up on me once again, causing me to fall to the ground. I heard my trainer yell my name out in concern as the attack ceased, causing me to wonder why he had ordered such an attack if he knew I was going to get hit. Did he have an actual plan? He had to. Why else would he yell out an order like that unless… something.
The gym leader expressed his concern of my trainer's order as I slowly stood myself back up; my trainer asking of my well-being. "You all right Zack? Think you can keep going?"
"Yes and yes," I replied with a nod.
"All right then. This time feint right and rush forward."
Once again I did as told, pretending to jump right only to rush myself straight into another attack. Ok. Something was definitely up. I highly doubt he was trying to lose the match on purpose. Yet he kept letting his opponent know what he wanted me to do unless… it then dawned on me that maybe he wanted me to do the exact opposite of what he was commanding me to do. However, by this point, there was no telling if my opponent would be able to predict my next move or not. It was a fifty-fifty chance that I would luck out on getting hit and manage to strike back. How was I to know for sure though? It's not like I was able to predict what would happen-
I stopped myself there as I recalled an event that occurred in the last city involving some robbers where time sped up for me; giving me the opportunity to not only save my friends, but help take out one of them. I completely forgot I had that ability. And there was no time like the present to use it in this battle.
As my trainer ordered me to feint a forward run only to jump in the air, I quickly focused on drawing out the power I needed to turn the tide of the battle as I began to rush forward. Just as it happened back then, my running slowed as the electric ball Pokémon fired off another lightning attack, aiming right in the direction I was moving. It was a lucky chance that they would have fell for my fake air assault had they… you know what? Screw it. Thinking too much was going to hurt my brain. Besides, I needed to focus since time began reversing itself and my speed was beginning to quicken.
As the electric ball fired off a lightning attack, I leapt up into the air, firing up an Iron Tail upon order. With a semi-somersault, I swung my tail down for the blow as the gym leader quickly yelled, "Sonic Boom!"
Sonic what now?
Before I could land my hit, the electric ball began rolling in place; a shockwave emitting forth from it as it knocked me back, sending me sprawling across the ground as I landed. "Now use Thunder Wave!"
"Quick, Zack! Dodge it!"
As the electric ball charged up for an attack, I focused on using my ability once again so as a means to counteract said attack. Time sped up as a thin bolt of lightning was fired compared to the usual lightning attacks. My mind raced for ideas of how to dodge the attack as time began to reverse once again, giving me a few extra seconds to spare.
As the attack was fired off for real, I quickly retaliated with a Psybeam, stopping the attack midway. "Now use Shadow Ball!"
"Signal Beam!"
As I readied a Shadow Ball, the electric ball fired off a beam of light, making contact with me mere seconds upon having fired my attack. It wasn't completely painful, but it was still effective. Still, my attack finally landed as I managed to deal a bit of damage to it.
"All right!" my trainer said. "You got it."
"Don't count my Voltorb out yet," the gym leader said. "Injured as it may be, my Pokémon fights on with the burning passion of a true warrior. That is our fighting spirit."
"We'll see how well your fighting spirit will compare to mine then," my trainer said. "Zack, start moving and use Swift!"
Upon command, I began to run about the field, firing my Swift attack at the Voltorb as it was called. The Voltorb, however, remained where it was, taking on the barrage of stars that made contact with it. "Hold strong Voltorb! Use Thunder Wave when you have an opening."
Upon hearing that command being given, I focused my energy to predict where the Voltorb would strike as I continued firing my attack. To my surprise, however, nothing seemed to have happened. Time neither sped up nor did I slow down; confusing me as to why my ability didn't work. I tried once again, focusing my energy to activate it only for the same thing to happen again. Concern grew as I began questioning as to why it wasn't working. Was I too exhausted from my battle with Destiny still to use it? Surely I had enough time to recover. But what if I suddenly lost it? What would I be able to do if I wasn't able to ever use it again-?
My thoughts were interrupted suddenly as I felt my muscles lock up on me, causing me to realize that I must have slowed my speed and ceased attacking long enough for the Voltorb to strike.
"Now use Thunder Shock!"
I yelled out in pain as more lightning coursed through my body; yet despite how paralyzed I may have been, I somehow managed to keep myself from falling over this time around.
"Now use Signal Beam once again!"
Another beam of light was fired at me, making direct contact this time. I gritted my teeth, enduring the pain all the while feeling the need to collapse, yet I somehow managed to remain standing even after the attack ended.
"No way," I heard the gym leader say in surprise. "Pokemon hit by that combo are usually on the ground by now completely paralyzed. How is your Umbreon still standing?
"It's like you said before Surge," my trainer said. "Your gym battles are to help draw out a Pokémon's full potential. And right now, you're seeing Zack at his fullest. And for me, well, even if I have a long way to go in understanding my Pokémon better, it's worth both the training and experience to earn that kind of bond. That is our brand of fighting spirit."
Silence filled the gym as I gave a determined look towards my opponent, a blazing power of strength coursing through my body in response to my trainer's words. My ears perked up a little as I heard a small chuckle coming from the gym leader. The small chuckle soon turned into a loud, hearty laugh, one that felt rather warm somehow rather than mockingly.
"Now this is a battle!" he said joyously. "I can feel that the power behind your words is truth. As a gym leader to a trainer, I have nothing but respect for you and your bond with your Umbreon. Now come, let's finish this battle."
"I'll finish your Voltorb with this next attack. Zack, get in close with Quick Attack!"
With my newfound strength, I rushed forward, dodging bolts of lightning fired at me. As I closed in on the Voltorb, I fired up an Iron Tail per order of my trainer and went to swing.
"Self-Destruct!"
My eyes widened as the Voltorb began glowing with a smirk. Just before everything went white, one thought came to mind and one thought only.
"Oh noodle sauce!" I yelled.