Pokemon's Gift: Chapter 14: Part 1
Ark couldn't sleep; he was far too excited and nervous to get even a few winks. He had no idea what to expect from the gym challenge other than the majority of the Pokémon used there were grass. This meant that most of the Pokémon could hit Raven when they attacked, taking away her most prominent defense. Regardless of that, Ark knew that if he played it safe, he would prevail. Perhaps not a glorious battle where the challenger would remain unscathed, but still a victory for them. He stretched in the bed and tried once more to fall asleep. He blinked and suddenly it was daytime. Ark kept his eyes open, fearing that another blink would pack up the entire day and leave him no better off the next day.
Ark got up and looked at himself in the motel's mirror; he had that fully rested look, that is to say very unkempt hair going in every direction known to man. He considered what had just happened and then just as quickly stopped when he had an enjoyable kiss courtesy of Terra. He couldn't stop himself from returning the favor even if he tried, Terra was just too kissable.
"Sleep well?" Terra asked after another quick peck.
"I think so." Ark shrugged. Terra gave him a confused look. "It seemed like a few minutes ago it was midnight. I lay down and blinked and then it was morning." He explained.
"Odd." Said Raven. "Very very odd, I had the same thing happen to me."
"I did too." Terra added and shuddered, something felt wrong and she couldn't tell what it was.
Ark scratched his head and packed everything up that was his to help either forget about this or bring some sense to it. When he'd finished, he unfortunately felt the exact same way as before. Ark sighed and buried it in the back of his mind for later thought.
The group casually walked over to the general store, picking up a couple sets of potions and some antidotes. Terra stayed outside along with Raven, them both feeling nervous about their upcoming battle.
"What happens if we lose?" Raven asked. Her normal attitude had easily changed to a truly worried one.
Terra had no answer for the question. She wanted to say there was no possible way that they would lose, but there was a nagging doubt in the back of her mind that was saying otherwise. In her heart, she knew that it was more than just a possibility, though she hardly would care to admit it. She scratched her head nervously. "I guess we keep practicing until we win." she said, hopeful that they wouldn't need to.
Raven remained silent and nodded, probably thinking about more or less the same things.
Ark returned with his supplies in his bag, all sorted and prepared for quick access in the heat of battle. He cleared his thoughts and began to give a pep talk. "This... This is probably going to be the hardest thing I've done this week, maybe even my life. I've gone over everything in my head, what will happen, what could happen, but most importantly, I thought of how I should tackle this challenge. 'Avoidance is key' was probably some great words from someone; I'm taking those words in good stride. I drilled you both in avoidance to hopefully make a lot of 'heavy attacks' into 'glancing blows', and just maybe tire out our opponent enough to mow them down. It's a fact that you're going to get hurt; I've accepted this as a fact... but that doesn't mean I don't care. I care about you both as if you were my sister and wife, and I am going to hate to see any harm fall on you so I have one last question before I go through with this. Are you both committed to working with me and helping me achieve this victory no matter how long it takes or whatever pain you may endure?"
"Always and forever." Terra replied and Raven nodded, both of them still worried that they would lose but they did feel better that Ark had thought of how they would feel too.
The gym doors slid open silently, greeting the party with a blast of hot humid air with a delicate grassy smell. Flowers dotted the ground away from a path that had been worn into the dirt floor by the droves of other trainers seeking to challenge the leader and earn the right to display her badge. Vines adorned the walls, twisting about in an intricate pattern of a flower with four petals. Ark took a deep breath as he felt the gaze of a crowd gathering to watch the morning matches.
"Welcome to the Eterna gym, may I take your trainer card for a brief second?" A receptionist asked in a booth covered in vines and a few rocks, fitting into the natural theme.
Ark placed his trainer card into the receptionist's hands after quickly finding it in his bag.
"All right. I see here that this is your first gym battle, correct?" The receptionist asked.
"Yes."
"Well, just so you know, there are some restrictions on this specific gym challenge. First of all, the Pokémon you will be against will be tailored to your Pokémon's levels. I see here that you currently have two Pokémon, levels 36 and 14. Your opponents will in general have one to four Pokémon of which one will be at least level 25 and no higher than 40. You will have two opponents before the gym leader. You are allowed breaks between battles to go and heal your Pokémon. Finally, your team is set after you start your first battle. You may not change the Pokémon you're using unless you wish to restart the entire challenge. Oh, and before I forget, you have two days to finish the challenge. However, there are penalties in effect if you take longer then 24 hours." The clerk cheerfully explained. He loved his job and all the front row seat to the battles. The money could have been better but it wasn't as if he worked extremely hard.
"Sounds fair enough." Ark thought aloud.
"I believe so. Well, here's your trainer card back and I do hope that you prevail."
Ark thanked the receptionist and proceeded towards the center of the gym. Sweat poured out from every pore of his body as the humidity held an iron grip against his skin, his clothes already felt wet and sticky. Ark sighed as he finally reached the middle of the arena. Flowers of all shapes and sizes grew along the edges of the dirt brawling arena and beyond the flowers, thick vines coated the ground.
"We welcome our first challenger of the day who goes by the name of Ark!" The speakers overhead blared as the announcer nearly screamed into his microphone. What little audience there was applauded politely. "His first match is against David! This will be a two-on-two battle with no restrictions. Let the match begin as soon as the challenger selects his Pokémon." The announcer could feel the anticipation mounting as the audience waited for Ark to choose.
"All right, ready to go, Terra?" Ark asked.
"Always." Terra smiled and dashed out into the middle of the challenger's side of the specified battle area. She immediately stood in her standard evasion stance. Regardless of what would come at her in the first few seconds, she would dodge it.
A quick flash later, an Oddish was around 30 feet away. Terra almost laughed -- Oddish were a nuisance even by a kit's standards. The mere idea of her losing against one was laughable. Nevertheless, she would keep her evasion as her primary focus and attack only when an opportunity presented itself.
"Lopunny against Oddish. Begin!" The sirens blared.
The Oddish began immediately by letting loose a barrage of razor thin leaves aimed directly at Terra by its trainers command. Terra expertly dodged a majority of them and the few that did hit her left only pencil thin scratches that stopped stinging moments later.
It reoriented on Terra and let another barrage loose, but it had much of the same result except more scratches appeared on her legs from the foliage. The Oddish was adapting more quickly than either Terra or Ark had anticipated and soon their strategy would be null as the Oddish and its trainer adapted to it.
"Terra, come back here." Ark called. Terra obeyed and quickly got sprayed with a potion.
"All right, avoidance is key but that 'razor leaf' isn't easy to dodge." Terra complained
Terra tore into a dead run, zig-zagging her way towards the Oddish, falsely luring it into believing that she was going to attack. Surprisingly, it actually worked and the Oddish leapt to the right trying to avoid an attack that never came. Its stubbly little legs wobbled as it tried to regain its balance. Terra smirked and quickly turned and attacked with a swift but powerful kick as soon as she was within range. The Oddish barely had a chance to tense up as the first kick landed square on the top of its head. Terra could almost see the stars floating around the plant. She was sure that it had done a decent amount of damage to the Oddish.
The Oddish slowly got back up using almost all of what was left of its strength. It looked back at its trainer who nodded and picked it up. The trainer grasped another Pokéball and unleashed a Cherrim in the center of the field.
Terra almost laughed but kept her focus on the battle. She had indeed let her guard down for the first round of combat but now she was getting serious -- she hardly cared for another flurry of leaves slicing her flesh.
"Terra, come back and let Raven take this one." Ark called.
Terra nodded and fled back to her trainer, not that she minded having a break from the battle.
"I suggest you command me a lot more than you do Terra -- I'm not as attuned to fighting as she is. In fact I believe this is only my third time battling in my existence." Raven felt uneasy. She'd much rather flee than fight in the bright arena, however she agreed to help Ark out so she was dead set on doing just that. She floated up into the center and waited.
"Round two, Duskull versus Cherrim! Ready? Begin!" Cried the announcer. He was excited that the challenger had won the first round on his first attempt and was very eager to see what the second round held in store.
"Remember to dodge, Raven!" Terra cried out. She was in no mood for anyone to get hurt.
Raven giggled menacingly as her body faded in the bright light. She didn't need to dodge as fancifully as Terra had. She was a ghost, almost invisible in light. Raven quietly floated around waiting for a command, while watching to see if the Cherrim was following her movements. It wasn't, not by a long shot. It was still searching for any out of place shape hovering in the air.
"Okay Raven, use Astonish." Ark called out.
-Gladly.- Raven drifted in front of the Cherrim then floated just a few inches away from its face, focused her gaze on it, then with a bone chilling cry she took as much energy as she could and made herself visible for a moment. She giggled as the color almost drained from the poor Cherrim's face.
"Excellent, now follow up with Confuse Ray and Night Shade." Ark's adrenaline flooded his body. Raven was an intensely frightening pokemon when she wanted to be but he could tell this adrenaline rush wasn't all coming from her scare tactics. Some of it came from the excitement of the battle, being completely immersed in it while giving commands that could make or break the entire conflict.
Raven quickly sent a highly effective confuse ray on a direct course to the stunned Cherrim. She then followed up with a payload of pure unadulterated black energy in a nasty mass to crash into it.
The Cherrim staggered around trying to find the ghost, listening to garbled commands from its trainer. Suddenly it heard a somewhat coherent command. It dodged left straight into a boulder, almost knocking it out.
"I think this match is over unless the Cherrim can make a complete recovery." The announcer prayed that the Cherrim would be ok but in order for that to happen he needed a decision from its trainer. He waited for a signal to see if the defender was going to pull out. The required minute almost passed by, then at nearly 55 seconds the light lit up for the defender's resignation. "The other trainer has resigned. We have a winner, ladies and gentlemen. Ark the challenger has beaten his first opponent with a perfect second round!" The audience cheered like he expected.
Ark stood proud and triumphant. His first match had been easy enough and he was already eager for more as soon as he healed Terra's minor wounds. It had been thrilling to be a part of the battle and even more so to see how Raven would do. He bowed to the other trainer as a sign of respect. The other trainer had taken care not to let his Pokémon faint. The other trainer returned the favor and then left the arena.
"Congratulations, you made it past the first opponent. Now do you want to go ahead and rest up before the next battle or do you think you can tackle two in a row?" The receptionist asked after Ark had left the main arena.
"I think we'll go ahead and heal up and be back in about thirty minutes."
All right. I'll go ahead and arrange for the next battle to begin in a half hour. Please don't be late. I'd hate to have to penalize you for being tardy."
"Don't worry. I'm sure it wont take too long." Ark chuckled, left, and was greeted by at least a dozen people congratulating him on his victory. Well, not him entirely. They congratulated Terra and Raven on their victory and complimented him on his training.
Eventually the small gathering went their separate ways and Ark stopped by the center for a quick heal with plenty of time to spare. It left the group with at least some time to unwind and discuss the recent battle.
"You know, we didn't do too bad. It could have gone a lot worse." Ark commented.
"I don't think we could have done any better than what we did. We gave it our all and that's what we're capable of." Terra knew there really wasn't a way to dodge every single razor-thin leaf but she'd twisted and turned every way and made sure she'd taken as few as possible. "Raven... you were amazing. You didn't even give your opponent time to react."
"It was nothing." Raven said humbly.
"Nothing or not, I have to agree with Terra. You exceeded my expectations."
"Like I said before, it was nothing. I merely did what I had to do to win." Privately, Raven was very proud of herself for proving that she could indeed handle herself in combat to the other members of the group.
They kept chatting about their victory, pumping themselves up for the next battle in a few minutes. They were all pretty excited for the next match and what it would bring. After a few minutes they headed back to the gym eager to start their next battle.
"Welcome back. Since you've still got plenty of time before your next battle, why don't you browse around the champions hall? Maybe you could find something there to inspire you." The receptionist said, gesturing to a well traveled looking hallway. "I'll just have you called before the match is ready to start. Unless you feel like staying here." He added as an afterthought so he didn't seem so pushy.
"Yeah, might as well." Ark replied, wondering if he'd find his uncle's name in there.
The room was stark white with gold trim all across the ceiling. In the center of the room stood a granite slab with metallic strips showing the date and name of what Ark assumed were the champions of the gym. Instantly Ark began his search trying to see if there was some sign of his uncle's victory at this gym, or even if he'd had an honorable mention. After several minutes of searching, an announcement called Ark to the stadium. He cursed since he wasn't able to find it in time -- maybe he would find it after the bout.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you're not done watching these thrilling battles. I present to you round two of Ark's gym challenge. It's him vs. Eterna's own Trace! For those who didn't know about his first match-" the announcer quickly recapped the first battle. "So without further ado, let's begin!"
Ark quickly sent out Raven and his opponent sent out a Roselia. This was obviously going to be a much more challenging battle than the first one.
Raven focused on her opponent, sizing it up as best she could. She figured there was a lot of power in it but it had evolved recently and wouldn't be able to use all of its power efficiently. It would easily wear itself out if she could figure out a way to make its attacks useless.
"Roselia, use Razor Leaf." Trace called lazily, knowing full well how to deal optimal damage to a ghost type, while still fitting with the gym's theme. He was an expert trainer, knowing instinctively what style of combat to use against any opponent. His opponent today was said to be exceptional despite not really having any background to speak of. Some rooting around could have revealed more than enough information for his own victory, but he'd learned the hard way that prying into someone's life could be very dangerous. It had also been a while since he'd had a challenging bout in this gym.
The attack missed as Raven lazily dodged it -- she'd seen this move before and observed the key detail. The attack was never focused in a specific pattern, it was as random as throwing leaves in the wind. She then countered with a confuse ray, which landed almost perfectly. The first piece of her victory was placed. All that remained was to make sure that confusion was kept in place throughout the match and that she kept herself out of harm's way.
The Roselia shook all over but managed to focus an attack at the ghost. This time it didn't miss and hit Raven with a solid blow. She felt her own ectoplasm being ripped easily by the leaves. Pain was a feeling she had long since felt and by no means did she like it. Her eye could hardly focus from the scorching pain, but she held on. It was going to take more than a pile of leaves to bring her down, but not too much more.
"Raven get back here, let Terra out there." Ark's voice quivered a bit after watching Raven sustain a blow like that.
Terra walked calmly into the field after Raven had left. She was completely ready for this. She sprang into action immediately and closed the distance between she and her opponent, then struck quickly with a deft kick to the chest followed up with a sweeping kick to trip the leafy monster, who fell with a dull thud. She topped it all with a powerfully glowing 'Return' assault that stuck true. Then without any warning the Roselia countered with a jabbing spike right into her chest; at first it felt like a glancing blow but then it seared like hellfire and the puncture dripped with purple ichor.
Ark immediately called her back and quickly applied an antidote-potion mix and within seconds the pain faded. Terra thanked him with a quick hug and turned back to her opponent. -No more miss nice Lopunny.- She thought.
Terra launched a powerful focus blast straight at her opponent -- it wasn't perfect but it still managed to knock the Roselia back a few feet. She came around again as her opponent was still trying to recover from the blow and swept it off its feet again. Terra fled back and was about to launch another focus blast when the other trainer stepped onto the field.
"I'm done." Trace said. "I'm done fighting. You've more than proven your mettle. I wish all three of you luck on your battle against the leader."
"Wait... what? I thought we were going to fight a lot longer, and don't you have at least another Pokémon to send out?" Ark asked a little confused, but more to assure himself this wasn't some sort of trick.
"Gardenia asked me to battle you, and 'standard rules' say that it should have been a full-fledged battle. However, this wasn't exactly a fair match. I've trained my Pokémon and myself to our limit and then some. It's become second nature to us to tell fairly how adept an opponent is. You are talented and have potential I haven't seen in years. However, you do lack discipline. Focus on your weaknesses; always do that and eventually you will prove to be a very powerful trainer." He smiled faintly. "I'm going to look forward to the day where we will get to do battle as equals."
"I think we all do." Ark replied as the smile infested his own face.
Trace left quietly, thinking to himself. -Ark will become greater than me in time. Much, much greater. All he will have to do is make sure he keeps the relationship he has with his partners and all will work out in his favor.- Trace climbed into the gym leader's booth and set up the seats for his Pokémon. He declined to answer any of Gardenia's questions about her opponent. He wanted nothing more than for her to experience the unbridled potential Ark contained.