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The Dark Type	By : Manifest Destiny Category: Pokemon > General Views: 36315 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is copy write by GameFreak, INC. and Nintendo. I make no money from this story, nor do I seek any.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
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Chapter 16: First of Many
—————
“How much longer? I want to see it!”
I smile at my son’s impatience. He was so full of energy back then. He had just turned ten years old here.
“Soon enough,” I say.
My hands are covering his eyes and I’m walking slowly behind him, guiding him behind our home. His gift is waiting in my back pocket, but the suspense of it all is really what makes giving a birthday gift so exciting. After a few more steps, I let his head go. Benedicto frantically looks around at our yard, trying to spot whatever might be meant for him. Before he turns around with that disappointed and confused look in his eye, I kneel down to his level, and produce his gift from my pocket. These events happen the same way every time. I wouldn’t change a thing.
“Father, where is—?” his bright blue eyes come to rest on the item in my hand. The handle of a knife sticking out of a leather sheath. His eyes widen as he takes it in his hand, revealing the shining blade.
“Happy birthday, Benedicto,” I say. Again. “I received my first blade from your grandfather, Lutorius, when I was your age. It’s only fitting that you do as well.”
My son looks up to me with that look of pondering wonder. It soon drifts to excitement.
“My own knife!” he yells. “Thank you, father.”
Benedicto wraps his arms around my waist in one of his little hugs. I return the gesture, lovingly.
“But it is very important to respect that knife,” I say. “It is just as likely to cut you as what you wish to cut.”
I take the blade away from him and give him some basic instructions on how to handle the blade. He watches with rapt enthusiasm. A child receiving an object like this—a tool to sustain one’s self—is a large step in life. A knife can be a means to acquire food, a way to cut and weave plant life to make shelter or tools, and as a defense against anything that might threaten you. I teach him again, the proper way to slice to avoid hurting himself. Next, I produce a whetstone and hand it to him.
“This is now yours as well,” I tell him. “This is how you keep the blade sharp and neat. A dull blade can be annoying to use, and a danger should you keep it in a sorry shape. I expect you to regularly keep this knife in peak condition.”
“Yes, I will!”
So obedient. So willing to listen, to emulate his father. Oh how I miss him so, my only son.
“Coralis!”
The voice that calls my name through the wind makes even the most amazing chorus sound dull and out of tune. Clear, high, and beautiful. Her hair is caught in the breeze, like brass wires. My wife, Phaedra, leans out of the window that overlooks the back of our property. Upon noticing her, Benedicto runs straight for his mother, eager to show her his birthday gift. I walk slowly behind my son, as I always do, and reach the window.
My wife always pretends examine the knife that my son shoves into her hands—she had seen it before of course, but still she humors him. Yet for some reason, her enthusiastic face doesn’t come as it always had. It does, but all too slowly. She unsheathes the knife in what seems to take minutes. Why is she taking so long? Why have the birds gone quiet? They were singing just a moment ago.
The sky begins to gray, but not because of clouds. The trees lose their life and freeze into rock. The grass below my feet goes stiff. No longer do I feel the warm breeze on my face. I can only see a perverted still-shot of my old life in front of me. Everything is frozen now. Nothing moves. There is no sound. But I am here. Almost as if I’m outside of it all. My movement, my color, my being isn’t being restricted, so why is theirs? Why this dream? Is my memory finally starting to wither away? Will I now see fewer and fewer of these days while I sleep?
Oh no.
I turn away from my frozen family. There’s too much silence around now for it to go unnoticed.
That noise.
That feeling.
That stench.
It is not my mind that is polluting this scene.
“Tormenting a broken man even in his dreams,” I call out. “Is there no escape from your evil?”
Then, the only blip of color apart from myself becomes apparent to me. Off to my right, as if hiding behind a tree would save it face, a green head peaks out from behind the granite-like trunk. Oh how I hate those cold, blue eyes. So similar, but so very different from my son’s. So unlike my wife’s.
The little nymph meekly floats toward me, keeping its head low as if expecting an attack from me. As well it should. Were I in any plane of existence other than my own consciousness, I would run. I want nothing more than to leave right now. How is it that I am no longer alone inside my head?
“Hello, Cora.”
Rage, fury, and anger well up and explode out of my mouth.
“Do not call me that!” I yell. My voice makes it cringe. The thing is nothing more to me than the object of my hate. “You have no right!”
“I’m sorry. I know… I know this was special to you,” it says. “I just wanted talk and—”
“And I wished to live my life, but you saw to interfere with that as well,” I say. It recoils again. Funny. How can a creature capable of such error and evil be so well at feigning remorse for its actions?
“Please,” it talks to me again, “let me try and fix this.”
“One cannot fix what is so completely broken. You know this, and yet you still dangle the hope in front of me like food to a starving peasant!”
It floats closer towards me, pleading look in those terrible eyes. “I want to help you, Cora! You’re still my friend.”
That word. “Friend”. I thought I had taught it what that word meant, in a life I once had. It clearly still has no concept of its meaning. “You are no friend of mine. You are an error in my past, nothing more.”
“I’ll… I’m still trying to get better,” it says.
“You know that you cannot!” I say. “You confessed that to me long ago. Too long ago.”
“But you’re not letting me try.”
“Because I can fully appreciate what it is your disgusting powers can do! You tear things away from their natural place, their time, hurtling them through the threads of the universe, to where they do not belong,” I turn away from the ugly thing. I can barely stand the sight of the green fairy. “I know that if you use your unholy ability again, it will undoubtedly only bring me more misery and pain; though I hardly believe that such a thing could ever come to pass after what you’ve done.”
I turn back around, glaring at the little thing that history has named “Celebi”.
I walk forward, reaching out for it. Looking to wring its neck.
“You will never redeem yourself for what you’ve done. You can only—”
It grabs my wrist and I am now engulfed in brightness. The suddenness of the light forces my eyelids to clamp shut in protest. I try and pull my arm free.
“Easy there, Cora.”
It was Jacob’s voice.
I opened my eyes slowly, realizing that I’m in our rented room in Violet City. Sunlight was pouring in through the window to my left. Glancing over at him, I gave a small jerk of my arm to release it from his grasp.
“What is it?” I asked, sitting up in my bed.
“Ya were, uh, talking in your sleep a bunch. I didn’t catch much, but you looked like ya were having a bad dream. Tossin’ and turnin’ a bunch. Then ya started reaching up like you were grabbing at something,” he said. He took a few steps back and sat on his bed. “You need to talk about it?”
I merely stared at him for a moment. Did he hear anything specific? He’s always so concerned with me. Always asking questions.
“No,” I said. “It was only a nightmare.”
“Ya sure you’re okay?” he asked.
“Hopefully, one day,” I muttered. I just waved a hand dismissively at his continued concern. “I’m fine.”
“Alright, if ya say so. But hey,” he said, “we gotta get up and movin’. I wanna get a head-start on gettin’ to Azalea Town ASAP.”
“Why?” I asked. I groan as I stretch out a sore muscle in my shoulder. Mornings hardly agree with me anymore.
“Well, it took us a long time for us to get all our badges from Falkner,” he said as he donned his trademark blue and orange coat. A glint of silver now marked the left sleeve—a badge of a pair of wings. “And it’s only going to get tougher. The sooner we get to Azalea, the sooner we’ll get a feel of the place and be ready to tackle our second badge.”
“I see…”
A quick glance at the foot of Jacob’s bed showed that he was already packed and ready to go.
“If you’re in such a hurry, why didn’t you wake me sooner?” I asked with a hint of distaste. If only I could’ve been spared a few moments from that thing’s influence.
“Well, I didn’t wanna wake ya. I only did when you started moanin’ and groanin’.”
I sighed, sliding off the bed. “Very well. Give me a few moments to dress. It shouldn’t take me long to pack.”
Amé’s and Fafnir’s Poké Balls were sitting on the bedside table next to me. After I washed and put on a new change of clothes, I took each of them and placed them at my side on my belt. Fafnir—my strange, little toothy dragon—has admittedly been a joy to train and raise. So strange to find its family roaming around the mountains of Blackthorn City. Perhaps a new territory for his kind?
Oh well, not my concern.
I turned on the television while I pack up my belongings. The noise in the background served to distract me enough so the tedious task didn’t bore me to sleep again. Life seemed exceptionally dull from time to time, but luckily there were distractions to that dullness in this new time period. It was on a local broadcast station, displaying trivial things going on around Violet City. The channel did however run live Gym Battles from time to time, I’d found. As I was finishing, the channel cuts away from its current program. Curious, I turned and observed the screen. It was a list of today’s scheduled battles against Falkner, the town’s Gym Leader. A name caught my eye; [B. Iruni Thomas]. The match was scheduled for early this afternoon.
“Jacob,” I say, quickly. “It seems our friend is slated to take on Falkner today.”
He leans close to the screen, looking at where I’m pointing. He soon places the name. “Well I’ll be, he’s sure covered a fair bit of ground since we saw him. Say, we should go cheer him on,” Jake suggested.
“Not to disagree, but I thought we were on a short time-frame?”
“Plans change, Cora. We’re gonna give our friend from Mahogany the proper support he needs for his first Gym Battle.”
“Very well,” I say. “Provided Andrea and Tyler aren’t engaged in some ‘early-morning exercise’, go and tell them our plans for today. I still need some time.”
—————
I really hope all my matches aren’t like this…
Iruni Thomas stood in the challenger’s box on his end of the gym’s main battlefield. All around him were raised bleachers and seating for the spectators—a surprising amount of spectators. He’d seen a placard in the main lobby that stated the stadium seated—safely—five hundred people. Just by a rough guess, Iruni suspected the seating to be over half full.
An employee at the gym commented, “People really love watching first-timers take on the Gym Leader. In case it’s the start of some great battling legend, they can say ‘I was there when they just started out’. If nothing else, it’s great for tourism. It’s the same at Pewter City over in Kanto.”
That is, if the match would actually begin.
A quick glance at his PokéGear confirmed it. It has been twenty minutes now. The battle was scheduled to start twenty minutes ago. Falkner was late.
“Some example he is,” Iruni muttered. He took the opportunity to stretch out his back, stiff from standing for so long.
Thankfully, due to the design of the city’s Gym being suited for Flying types, it wasn’t completely unbearable. The upper walls of the building, just over the upper most levels of the risers, had large segmented windows. Their panes were retractable down into the walls beneath, allowing all manner of bird or other winged creature to enter and leave. This architectural brilliance also allowed for a pleasant breeze to flow through the interior of the main battlefield. It was a nice spring day, and the near constant wind billowing in through the building at least made the waiting almost comfortable.
Looking up and to his left, Iruni spotted the one person he knew would be rooting for him in the crowd. Alice Wingborne, the first official Cartographer according to Elm, was waiting for him when he arrived in Violet City a week ago. It had been nice to get to know his other partner; this one didn’t kick him in the head upon meeting him, a point which Iruni puts to her favor over Carter. After the two had gotten to know each other, they both agreed that their jobs as Cartographers seemed much more agreeable now that they had at least one friend working on it with them.
Alice seemed to notice Iruni looking up at her and gave him a reassuring smile and a thumbs-up. More for the sake of the match actually starting, than Iruni’s own personal nervousness.
In fact, he wasn’t too worried about how the match went at all. He was more concerned about Karros.
On the ground with him were his three Pokémon that he had registered to take part in the three-on-three battle. Rikalia and Atanya were sitting on the hard dirt floor, looking every bit as bored as he was. Karros on the other hand was standing at attention beside him. Whether mentally preparing for the battle or petrified at its inevitability, Iruni couldn’t tell.
Maybe this waiting is getting to him.
The past week of training had helped Karros make tremendous leaps in getting over his fear of birds. In the beginning, Kreen—while friendly and helpful in every way—would only cause his Houndour to tense up and immediately have a panic attack. Now, Karros could and would willingly approach and communicate with the Tiny Bird Pokémon. The idea of him as a teammate seemed to be enough for Karros to accept Kreen as a friendly addition to the team. But other wild bird-like Pokémon still brought out a typical fearful reaction from him.
The first round could go by very quickly.
Iruni bent down and patted Karros’ head. The sudden contact made him jump in fear. “Easy Kar,” he said. “You’ll do fine. Just take it as it comes.”
Karros only gave him a worried whine in response.
Cheers erupted from the crowd, stealing Iruni’s attention. In through one of the Gym’s large windows flew a huge Pidgeot. On its back clung the city’s Gym Leader, Falkner. The large bird circled the stands twice before setting down on the opposite end of the battlefield. Falkner hopped off his bird’s back and it took to the air once again and flew out of the gym. Somewhere in his mind, Iruni was relieved that he didn’t have to battle such a formidable Pokémon in his first match. Falkner gave an embarrassed wave to the stands and began a brisk walk towards the center of the battlefield.
Iruni stepped out to meet him.
“I’m really sorry about all this,” Falkner said. “I had some business come up that I really couldn’t get out of.”
“Don’t worry about it. It gave me a bit more time to think about our battle.”
Falkner nodded and extended his hand. Iruni shook it. “Have you been told the rules of the match?”
“Yes,” Iruni said. “Three on three, no substitutions or withdrawals.”
“Good,” Falkner said, breaking the handshake. “I hope you brought your A-game.”
“So do I,” Iruni said.
With that, the two trainers turned and walked back to their respective ends of the field. The cheers from the crowd grew in volume once they both took their positions. The referee commenced the match, and Iruni called for Karros to take the first battle. Falkner kept a calm and serious expression and threw a Poké Ball, releasing a Spearow.
Shit…
Already Iruni could see Karros tense up. His sides were heaving with each deep breath the fire-dog took. But instead of being blinded by fear, he was focused on his opponent. Refusing to let it make a move he couldn’t see. Iruni guessed Karros wanted nothing more than to finish the round quickly. Luckily, Karros had the raw power to make it happen.
“Challenger gets the first move,” Falkner called over to him.
“Alright… Karros, Fire Blast!”
What followed might have been the fastest Iruni had ever seen his Houndour unleash the attack. Maybe Karros had already been preparing it. He couldn’t tell. The fire sprayed out in a large cone from the Dark Pokémon’s muzzle. The only sound heard over the roar of the tremendous flames were the shocked cries from a few spectators, and one enthusiastic girl cheering the challenger on.
The target had been fluttering in the air about twenty feet above the ground. Unfortunately, that gave it a wide angle of escape, and it did a short dive and sped toward Karros, keeping low to the ground. The column of fire passed by over the bird’s head, not singeing a single feather. Panicking a bit, Karros backtracked and let off a Flamethrower attack at the bird, which the enemy Spearow narrowly avoided.
The closer Falkner’s Spearow flew to Karros, the more frantically he ran around the battlefield to escape it. It swooped close by, aiming to peck at Karros, but to Iruni’s surprise, Karros retaliated by biting it. The Spearow’s wing was trapped in his jaws, clamping down hard. The bird squawked and hastily pecked at Karros’ side and head, inflicting minor damage. Ignoring it, he flung the bird down onto the ground, spitting out a few loose feathers.
“Now, Kar,” Iruni yelled. “Roar!”
A terrifying noise carried through the entire stadium as Karros let his fear of everything avian out in a single statement. The wounded Spearow was caught off guard and was sent reeling back as a mass of red light toward the Gym Leader. Shocked at the turn of events, Falkner was forced to send out another Pokémon.
“I hope you know,” Falkner said, “using Roar does not force me into a loss by withdrawal.”
Damn, I do now. Oh well. “That’s fine,” Iruni said back. He called for Karros to return to their side of the battlefield.
Falkner’s new Pokémon appeared in the same blinding light as the first, but it manifested as something much larger. A tan and red feathered bird appeared on the floor of the Gym, a cowl of feathers swooping over its head. A Pidgeotto now stood staring down Karros. The referee signaled the start of the second round of the match.
Unfortunately, Karros wasn’t as lucky facing the larger, and much quicker Flying type. None of his Fire type attacks managed to hit their mark, and he was too afraid of the Pidgeotto’s imposing size to try any of his physical attacks. After one successful Wing Attack on Falkner’s part, Karros could stand no more of the torment and ran back to Iruni, out of bounds.
“Infraction!” the referee yelled. “Call your Pokémon back to battle or be charged with a forced withdrawal.”
Iruni knelt down, placing a comforting hand on his Pokémon’s head. Karros was shaking visibly, whimpering softly. He looked up, ears laid back, an obvious plea in his eyes.
“It’s okay, Kar. You did great. I’m proud of you,” Iruni said. He patted Karros’ head and looked up to the referee. “My Houndour is unable to battle, sir.”
—————
“Aww, shoot.”
Alice leaned back in her seat up in the Gym’s stadium seating. She had thought the battle was going great so far. Karros had actually stood and fought—against a Spearow of all Pokémon—and her idea to use Roar worked out great, even if it didn’t work like she thought. But the Houndour’s fear of birds finally got the best of him.
She watched Iruni recall Karros into his Poké Ball and send out his second Pokémon. When his blue-feathered Sneasel took the field with an enthused leap, a rather loud scream of enthused spectators came from another part of the stands. Alice looked around where she thought she heard it and saw a group of four people, most of them cheering for Iruni.
Curious, Alice made her way over to the group as the third round of the Gym Battle began. The man on the end of their bleacher looked up at her as she approached. She had to force herself from staring at his gray left eye.
“Uh, excuse me,” she said. The whole group now looked up at her. “Sorry, I just heard you all cheering loud for the challenger. Are you friends of his?”
“Yeah, I guess ya could say that,” the man with orange hair said. “The name’s Jake Ostra. We met Iruni a while back when he passed through Blackthorn City.”
“I’m Tyler Nedile.”
“Andrea Karson, pleased to— Look out!”
Alice turned just in time to see a something flying towards her. She was pulled down into an open seat by the man with long black hair. A few stray pieces of ice from the battle below whizzed by, just over her head. She looked at the man with surprise as he let go of her wrist.
“And you?” The black haired man finally spoke, almost ignoring what had just happened. “Are you a friend of his?”
“Oh, uh… yes. He is,” Alice said with a smile. “Thank you for that.”
“Think nothing of it,” he said.
“So,” Jake Ostra said. “How do you know our buddy from Mahogany?”
“Barty’s my partner.”
In unison, Jake’s entire group turned and gave Alice a very confused and questioning look.
“Barty?” the black haired man repeated slowly, as if wondering if that was how you even pronounced the name.
“Oh, that. It’s my nickname for him. He hates it,” said Alice, “but when I first heard of him, I didn’t know he preferred his middle name. So it just stuck like that. You know how it goes.”
Immediately, Jake chimed in, “Oh, you bet. I still get flack for calling this guy Co—” He failed to finish the name with a hand clasped over his mouth.
“I’d prefer to limit the number of those who call me by that name, Jacob.” The black haired man turned back to Alice and offered his hand, “Greetings, you may call me Galian.”
“Hi,” she said, shaking his hand. “I’m Alice Wingborne.”
A loud oooh from the crowd brought everyone’s attention back to the battle going on below them. Falkner’s Pidgeotto was just recovering from what must have been an attempted Tackle against Iruni’s Pokémon. It flew back around for another attack.
“So Alice,” Andrea said, still keeping her eyes on the battle. “When you say you two are ‘partners’, are you guys… you know, together?”
“What? Oh no, we’re not like that. We just work together.”
“Work?” Andrea pouts a bit. “That’s boring…”
Wing Attacks from Falkner’s Pokémon were sending gusts of wind all throughout the stadium. Iruni’s Sneasel was doing her best to dodge them all, sprinting around and leaping out of the way. If ever she got close enough, her claws always connected, if only doing minor damage. After another close-quarters confrontation with the Bird Pokémon, she immediately backed off and let loose a flurry of Ice Shards at it. Most of the jagged hunks of ice connected and Falkner’s Pidgeotto failed to get up once more.
“Yeah!” Jake yelled, standing up. “There ya go, Barty! Ha ha ha!”
Alice caught Iruni as he confusedly searched the stands, and then saw his annoyed look as his Pokémon made her way back to their end of the field.
—————
“Why’d she have to spread it to those guys too?” Iruni complained. “Now I’ll never live that nickname down…” Iruni saw Alice say something, but it was drowned out by the noise of the crowd. He guessed it was an apology.
“What’s… up?” Rikalia asked, breathing heavily.
Iruni looked down at her, “Are you alright? You’re really out of breath.”
“I’m… fine… what’s up with… you?”
Iruni merely gestured up to where Alice was now sitting. Rikalia instantly recognized the group.
“Oh wow, it’s those guys. That Coralis guy is creepy even at a distance,” said Rikalia.
“Be nice… Anyway, are you sure you can go on?” Iruni asked. “You did great already.”
“Yes, yes, I’m fine. I don’t want Atanya having to go against two Flying types. That’d be embarrassing on my part. Besides,” she said, flexing her claws, “if that guy’s smart, he’ll keep that Spearow for last to give it more time to rest, so she’ll have an easy target. Plus, I think that big bird of his was his strongest.”
“Alright. Get out there then,” Iruni said.
Rikalia quickly made her way back to the center of her end of the battlefield, eagerly awaiting the next opponent. They were only allowed a few more moments of rest before the fourth round of the match began. Falkner surprised her and her trainer by releasing the injured Spearow from the first round. It took to the air with its hurt wing, flapping frantically in the air to try and stay aloft. The Gym Leader’s Pokémon stared Rikalia down right up until the referee resumed the match.
“Spearow, Roost!”
Even before Rikalia had the chance to close the distance between the two, the Spearow landed on the ground and folded its wings. Its body glowed for a short time and then faded. The resulting effect was evident; Spearow opened its wings and fluttered high into the air, completely restored.
“That’s not fair,” Rikalia grumbled, feeling the soreness in her limbs.
Not wanting to waste time, Rikalia began gathering her Ice type powers into her paws. She ran forward, looking to reduce the chances of her missing her target. She flung an Ice Shard upward at the bird, striking it in a few places. Unfortunately, she already found herself tiring. She’d pushed herself too hard while fighting Falkner’s Pidgeotto. Spearow’s counterattack hit her hard. Its wing shone silver for a moment and crashed into her stomach, winding her. She slid on the rough Gym floor for a few feet before she recovered.
It came around again, wanting to execute another Steel Wing against her. She didn’t have enough time to fully prepare an Ice Shard to fling at it, so she decided to improvise. She would build up as much Ice type energy in her claws and hope for the best. She clenched her right paw into a fist, keeping her eyes steady on the bird diving down at her. If she were fully rested, she might have been able to execute her attack and have the time to move out of the way, but she was exhausted.
She threw her clenched, freezing fist at the bird just as it was right on top of her. It hit home, sending a blast of cold energy over it. But the hit wasn’t strong enough to stop much of Spearow’s momentum. Its Steel Wing attack hit Rikalia right in the chest again, knocking her back and onto the ground. Her vision blurred, she couldn’t hear very well. Something loud was happening all around her. She lay on the ground for what felt like hours, but it must’ve only been a few seconds. She felt something picking her up.
“Mhmnn?” she groaned. “Wha…?”
“Shh,” Iruni said. “Take it easy, you’re alright. You did great, Rikalia.”
“Did I win?”
“No, but you managed to knock out Falkner’s Pokémon with that last attack. It was a tie.”
Rikalia managed to give a smug smile as she felt like she was slipping back into exhaustion. “Good enough for me. Tell… Tell Atanya, if she messes this up, I’ll kill her.”
“I’ll pass it along,” he said. He recalled her into her Umbra Ball and set it to stasis mode. Rikalia wasn’t critically injured, but it would save her the time she had to deal with the pain.
Iruni reached his end of the battlefield and turned in time to see Falkner recall his Spearow. Once the referee had made his ruling and ended the round, the Gym Leader had rushed out onto the battlefield to see to his Pokémon as well. He gave Iruni an impressed look.
“You sure this is your first Gym Battle? Your Pokémon show a lot of talent and experience.”
“We’ve been preparing for this for a long time. Too long, if you ask me,” said Iruni. He looked down at his Chikorita, and she looked up at him. “Go get ‘em, Atanya. It’s just you now.”
—————
“Dang,” Jake said, leaning back in his seat. “I wasn’t expectin’ such a tough battle, what with that Spearow already being weakened.”
“Iruni’s Houndour has Ornithophobia,” Coralis spoke up. At his friends’ confused looks, he elaborated, “A fear of birds. While he did manage to do damage to Falkner’s Pokémon, his fear was what was holding him back. That Spearow was able to fully recover with only one Roost, after all.”
“How’d you know that?” Alice asked.
“I just saw how he acted differently. The signs all pointed to a phobia of some sort, and I could rule out a fear of crowds easily once the battle started,” he said simply. “Our friend ‘Barty’ didn’t tell me outright, but you’ve clearly confirmed my theory.”
“You sure take notice of the small things,” said Alice.
“The next round has started,” he nodded at the battlefield.
—————
“Begin!” At the referee’s signal, the fifth and final round of the match began.
Falkner had sent out another surprising choice; a Doduo. The flightless bird easily doubled Atanya’s height, but more troublesome, it was nightmarishly quick. By the time Atanya could close the gap to try a Tackle, it had enough time to run half the length of the battleground, turn, and taunt her into charging it again. It was a war of attrition that Atanya was sure to lose quickly if she didn’t do anything to stop it. The Gym Leader’s Pokémon was employing a hit-and-run tactic of hitting softly, but often. Three minutes into the round, Atanya still hadn’t landed a hit against the thing.
Even with her newly learned Razor Leaf attack, any of Atanya’s attacks that connected weren’t doing much damage to the Flying type Pokémon.
“Alright Atanya, you’re free to pull out all the stops!” Iruni yelled. “Frenzy Plant!”
“Frenzy what?” Falkner asked. He almost laughed. “There’s no way a young thing like that can—”
He was silenced at the vibrant, green glow that was now rolling off the challenger’s Pokémon. He stared in disbelief as huge, gnarled, spiny vines sprouted from the ground around the little Chikorita. They burrowed and dug into the dirt field of the gym, breaching the surface as they closed in on Falkner’s Doduo. It tried to run out of the way, but a large vine cut its path off. By the time it turned around again, it was surrounded, even enclosed by them. Only a few gaps in the vines remained, the most of which were near the top. Doduo tried many times to climb up out of the tangle of thick plant life, but the thorns kept cutting into its feet. It couldn’t make more than a few steps without having to give up.
Atanya, climbed up the mound of vines she had conjured, unbothered by the thorns, looking for a good spot. She knew what her trainer wanted. She found a perch that looked down into the space below. Her opponent looked up at her, angry at losing its advantage. It tried a standing jump to get to the exit she stood at, but fell just short of reaching it. Atanya heard the command she had been expecting and gathered her strength. She let loose a flurry of leaves down into the hole, spinning and swirling inside the cocoon of vines. The Leaf Storm took what was left of her strength, leaving her tired, but still standing.
The construct of spiny branches began to wither and collapse from the assault of the leaves. She quickly jumped down to the dirt floor and watched it all crumbled away. The Doduo lay there unconscious. The Gym Leader could only look onward, stunned at the display of power the small green Pokémon just performed.
“Yes!”
Iruni’s triumphant yell was all Atanya could hear before the crowd exploded with cheers. He tried not to laugh at the shocked and incredulous faces of both the Gym Leader and referee, but he did shoot a look up at his group of supporters. They were the ones yelling the loudest. He walked to meet his Pokémon halfway and picked her up.
“You did amazing, Atanya. Thanks for keeping the crazy vines inside the ring.”
“You can say that again.” Falkner had walked over to them, having already recalled his Doduo. He shook his head. “I can’t believe your trump card was this cute little thing. Not many trainers with Chikorita do well here.”
“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to rely on her,” said Iruni. He let Atanya jump back down to the floor. “I even planned not resort to using her really powerful attacks. They tire her out and she’s still new at using them in battle, but your Doduo was too fast for us.”
Falkner laughed, “You were holding back? Now that I know that, maybe I’ll shoot a call over to Bugsy, tell him to really let you have it.”
“Isn’t that against some sort of regulation?” Iruni asked, jokingly.
“At least three,” Falkner said. “But, I lost. There’s no working around that. Here.” He reached into his pocket and held out a shiny, silver badge. “You’re officially one badge closer to challenging the Pokémon League than you were yesterday. It’s also your first badge. Congratulations.”
Before Iruni could thank him, a pair of arms flung around his neck from behind him. Alice almost dragged him down to the dirt in her enthusiastic hug.
“That was so amazing, Barty!” she said.
“Heheh, yeah Barty,” he heard Jake’s voice say. “You’ve really got some talent in battlin’ there.”
“Thanks for coming, you guys,” Iruni said. “I didn’t know all of you were in town. Come to see the sights?”
“You can blame Cora for both of those,” said Jake. “He really rallied us up to take on the League, and he’s the one who saw you were takin’ on Falkner here today, so we had to stop by.”
“Congratulations,” Coralis said quietly. “Your Chikorita is quite formidable.”
“Sorry to break up the happy reunion,” Falkner interrupted, “but we need to get to work cleaning up this field. We don’t normally have to, but some people…”
They all took a look around them, staring at the large holes and ditches that Atanya’s attacks had caused.
“Sorry about that,” said Iruni. “It was great to battle you though.”
“Same,” Falkner said. With a nod at his previous challengers, he bid them farewell as they started heading towards the exit.
“So,” Jake said, “You ready for tonight, my boy?”
“Tonight?” Iruni asked.
“Of course! We’re gonna celebrate until we see the dawn! First drinks are on me.”
Iruni smiled, “I’m all for celebrating, but we need to stop by the Center first. Rika’s still hurt from the battle.”
—————
[Cartographer Log: 4/16/00]
[Cartographer ID: B. I. Thomas (53142)]
[Unknown #1: “What are you recording?”
Cartographer #1 (B.I.Thomas): “It’s just a… a diary of sorts, I guess. I log unusual wild Pokémon sightings.”
Cartographer #2 (A.J.Wingborne): “Yeah, we’re uh… we’re collaborating with someone who’s doing an informative documentary. They’re paying us basically to travel around and look at Pokémon.”
Unknown #2: “{laughter} That’s a fine easy job there, Barty. Who’s the benefactor?”
C1: “It’s not really… a production documentary. Private research, meant to keep it that way.”
U1: “If it’s strange enough, Fafnir was found just south of Blackthorn City. Does that help?”
C2: “Wow, really? Those Pokémon are from way up north!”
U2: “You’re tellin’ me. And to think, Cora here spotted a whole family of ‘em {more laughter}.”
Unknown #3: “He’s been such a dear, playing with my little Nibbles. They have Axew in Unova as well, so I bet he’s reminded of home.”
C1: “Well, that’s as much of an update as you’ll get for today. Not a whole lot of wild Pokémon roaming Violet City.”]
—————
[MAIL]
[From: Prof.S.Oak]
[To: Prof.J.Elm]
[Subject: “Cartographer Log 4/16/00 (53142)]
[Where was this recorded? Lots of annoying background noise. “U1” hardly spoke loud for the mic enough to register. Did B.I.Thomas really drag A.J.Wingborne to a bar to compare notes or something? Who are these people, and who is “Nibbles”? Why are there Axew south of Blackthorn City? Needs documented sighting. Suggest forwarding request for detour for C.M. Altswalder.]
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To Be Continued…
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- 15
- 16
- 17
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The Dark Type