"Wow guys, I didn't even notice you evolved. Guess I was caught up with being sad about Voltaire and worrying about Maxie's knife. Oh yeah, thanks for the assist there, Flapper. Now, everyone pay attention."
I was sitting in my room in the Pokemon Center, with everyone who was still alive surrounding me. The eruption had died down, making the air breathable without masks. "So, first of all, I'd like everyone to welcome Swablu, who joined us back in Fallarbor, and Spoink, who I ran into coming down the mountain a few days ago. Hopefully they'll be with us the rest of the way."
"Secondly, you guys probably know that Electrike is no longer with us." There were a few groans from the group, and they kinda reflected the way I felt as well. I miss him, of course, but he was also kind of a dick, so...yeah. "Yeah, I miss him too. Right now, though, we need to address the reason why we died." I paused. This was something I had to say, and something they had to hear. "We weren't ready for that fight. And I don't think we're ready for this one either."
Silence.
"We were too small, too slow, and not together as a team. By all rights, we should have lost more then just Voltaire."
Heads down. A few tears from Ashe and King, who knew Voltaire best.
"That's why we're going to train. We're going to get faster and stronger before we take on Flannery. I used to know her, and I can guarantee she'll be just as tough on us as Maxie was. So...with that in mind, get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow we start working."
...
"So, Spoink...Do you really have to keep bouncing all the time? It's really annoying!"
Yes, I do, Master. The others always said that if we stopped, our hearts would stop too!
"Wait, you can talk?"
No, I can just...make people understand. I don't know exactly what it's called, but it's second nature to me.
"Have you ever done anything with it...more then that?"
Well.....yes, Master. I can sometimes make other Pokemon do things.
"That's great! Does it work on humans too?"
No, Master. Humans think differently then pokemon, and I haven't quite gotten used to them.
"Okay...Here, try this." Ashe appeared a few feet away from Spoink. "Can you make Ashe jump up and down?"
Is Ashe male or female?
"She's female, but does it really matter?"
Yes, it does, Master. Males and females think and act differently, and what will persuade one- Ashe began jumping up and down -may not persuade the other. The species of the pokemon matters too, but I can generally tell what I'm dealing with.
...
"King, give it a try. Don't just spray water everywhere." He gave a feeble squirt. "You have to direct it to do anything. Otherwise, Flannery will just ignore it." Another weak spray, and then thrashing tentacles.
"It's alright. You just have to focus and practice." Spoink's poke ball began vibrating in my belt. "Give me a second, I'll be right back."
I can point King in the right direction, Master.
"You can?"
He just needs a little tighter lips, that's all.
"Okay, you can if you want. Let me talk to him first though, he has to think he's doing it himself." I walked back over to King. "Okay, try again. Knock down those cans." A powerful jet of water knocked over the entire pyramid.
"Much better!"
...
"Soda, Flapper...you guys fought great up high against Golbat, but we're not always going to be outdoors, especially when we fight Flannery. She knows our team, and you can bet she will try to keep us cramped. So...today we train in this conference room. And there's incentive." I set a Pepsi on the table. "Whoever wins gets this."
They both took one glance at it. Then they leaped on each other.
...
"Swablu, what can you do?" He twittered and shook his cottony wings out, something he seemed to do a lot. "Well, if there's anything interesting...or special...or nice you can do, I'd like to know." He began to hum a tune...one that I recognized. And he broke into song.
"You would not believe your eyes, if ten million Illumise, lit up the world as I fell asleep. For they fill the open air, and leave hatchlings everywhere, you'd think I'm rude but I would just stand and....stare."
"You've got a great voice, but I'm not sure if that will help."
"I'd like to make myself believe...that planet Earth...turns...slowly." I began to fall asleep.
"Do you usually...make people...slzzzzzzzzzzZ"
"It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep."
...
"That was a good week, and I think we got a lot done. But whether we're ready for Flannery yet...I don't know. I'll decide when I see the film. In the meantime, that's it for tonight....I'll see you tomorrow. Get some sleep, and then we'll be good to go tomorrow."
Later that night, after the other pokemon went to bed, I tapped Ashe on the shoulder. She sprang off the ground and had the blades on her arms at my throat before she noticed it was me.
"Ashe...nothing's up. I just want to talk to you for a second. Come outside with me." We took the stairs to the lobby, and then I stepped into the locker room. Ashe gave me an inquisitive look. "Just go around and wait for me. I'll be right there." I came out the other side after I changed and hopped into the hot water in the grotto behind the Pokemon Center. "Come on in here, it's nice and warm."
"So...tomorrow, we have the gym battle. And that's the same day my trial is." Ashe sighed as she slid into the warm, bubbly water. "I probably won't be able to stay for the entire battle, the way the gym hours are."
A growl.
"I want you to take control of the battle and run the team after I leave. Since it's 3 on 3, we won't have any problems. You can use anyone on the team you want. Except yourself, because you won't make a difference against her tough fire types."
Ashe nodded in agreement, and then began climbing out. I put a hand on her shoulder and she sat back down in the warm water. "Stay here with me, Ashe. I fell like you've kind of gotten lost in the shuffle now that there's so many of us. Besides, the water and the view are nice, and we've got a lot ahead of us over the next few days. Just sit here with me and enjoy the moment."
And we enjoyed the moment.
...
"Alright guys, this battle is going to be tough. I'm not going to lie. But with all the work we've put in this week, we should be able to win. Now, from the videos, she's been using a pair of Slugma and a Torkoal, and the format is best out of three. Spoink, stop bouncing around me and pay attention!"
Sorry Master, but this room is really hot, and the floor hurts my spring.
"Alright...Well, here's the plan. She usually saves Torkoal for last, so I'd like King to take the Slugma. That should be an easy win. After that, I want to focus all our attention on Torkoal. He usually starts with some massive blast of fire that will usually roast something, but after that he can't do much. So I'd like Golbat to die...again...so that nobody else has to. Are we good with that?"
Everyone muttered a brief growl or note of assent.
"Good. Get warmed up and ready to go. We're up in about twenty minutes."
My phone buzzed in my pocket. Annoyed, I pulled it out of my pocket.
"Skarm here. I'm about to fight a gym battle, does it really have to be now?"
"Hey, this is your favorite gym leader here."
"Winona, I--"
"Is there a TV around?" I glanced around the room and found one on the wall that was showing the current battle.
"Yeah, why?"
"Turn it on, channel 277."
"Okay...Hey, this is the Indigo League channel, isn't it?"
"That's the point, silly!"
I stopped arguing and turned it on.
"Welcome to Inside the League-Hoenn edition. I'm Drayden Marks, former Gym leader, and I'm with Gary Oak here on location in Lavaridge Town. We're here because in a few minutes, Norman's son and upstart challanger Skarm will take on his FOURTH gym since he began training six weeks ago. It's a truly amazing feat that's baffled many training experts. How do you think Skarm has been able to clear the gyms circuit at record SHATTERING speeds?"
"Well, it's no mystery to me, Dray. He doesn't seem to have any particular talent at training-quite the opposite in fact, he doesn't even give orders most of the time! He has the highest pokemon death rate of any trainer outside the top 100 ranked trainers. I think that the only legitimate explanation for how he could have pulled this off is his father. Now, in the case of a Gym Leader, I wouldn't normally say this, but it seems to be the only way to explain Skarm's rise. Norman must have given Skarm some kind of information that normal challangers didn't have access to."
"THAT'S BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!"
"Well, Gary, after studying his victories"-a montage of clips from my gym battles began playing-"I agree with you that he's not a very strong trainer, and that he doesn't do a great job of coming out unharmed from his battles. But I disagree that he's recieved any extra assistance. What I see is that he has, somehow, with no prior training experience, put together a team of EXTREMELY talented pokemon that aren't all alike. They have variety, none of them really think or fight the same, and I think THAT has been the largest factor in his victory. In all of the fights we have film of, he has never used the same strategy twice."
"That's true, but it doesn't make a difference to me. The gym leaders are meant to test a trainer's ingenuity, and they aren't meant to be beaten on a trainer's first try! Yet Skarm has defeated 4 gyms, and he's undefeated in League matches, AND he's lost 4 pokemon along the way. I'm sorry, but I'm failing to see how he is any more then a mediocre trainer who got some illegal advice."
"We're about to see here. Flannery is one of the newer Gym leaders, but she is renowned for her 92% win rate, the highest of all the Hoenn gym leaders, and her seemingly unstoppable Torkoal that has literally charmed the pokemon of hundreds of challangers. The battle is coming up, right after we take a break." The show cut to commercials, but it had already made me angry enough that I couldn't see straight.
"Hey everyone, BRING IT UP!" The pokemon quickly formed a circle around me.
"I was just watching TV, and you know what they think of us?" I paused for dramatic effect. "They think I'm a cheater. They think I have no talent and that I've gotten lucky this time. But I don't care if they insult me. I'm the one who's not doing any work here. I'm angry because they insulted YOU. Because they don't think that you're worth anything. You've done the work, you've earned EVERY SINGLE WIN that we've racked up. They're a bunch of has beens, and we'll show them right here, right now."
We took the elevator up to the arena, which had surprisingly packed stands. In the highest part of the left side, I could see Drayden and Gary returning to their seats in the booth. The arena itself was about the size of my high school gym, and filled with grated holes where plumes of fire would occasionally blast out, in a seemingly random pattern.
I took my place on the platform, set at the bottom of one of the stands. Flannery walked out of a tunnel in the corner to cheers from the crowd. She waved back to the crowd, then fell short. And the crowd fell silent, as if they weren't even there.
"Skarm?"
"It's me, Flannery. Been a long time."
"Too long, Skarm. I've missed you for so long."
"You haven't missed me at all. You would have called. Texted. Left a note."
"Skarm, I don't know why you're so hostile. I don't know what's changed in you. We used to be such great friends."
"We could still be friends right now. But you just up and left Littleroot one day, out of the blue. If we were friends...you would have told me."
"If I told anyone, my parents would have had some way to track me down. This was what I wanted for myself, so I went out and got it. That's what pokemon training is all about."
"And let me guess, you dropped your phone in the water, so you couldn't tell anyone or talk to anyone after you left. You don't even regret it."
"Yes, I do, Skarm. It's just that I have other responsibilities now, and they take up a lot of time. I don't have as much time for a social life as before."
"TAUROS SHIT! You could have sent ONE TEXT, just so everyone would know what was going on. You could have told ONE PERSON. We all thought you ran away, or you committed suicide! But no, you reappear 3 years later as a gym leader. I'm not even sure, did you ever even fight any gyms yourself? Or did you just show up here and get taken on as the gym leader because of your grandpa!"
"I've earned everything in my life, Skarm. I left home, made a name for myself. I worked my ass off to earn the right to be Leader. Do you know how incredibly disrespectful it is for you to say that my late grandpa made sure that I was leader?"
"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT RESPECT ANY MORE! Why is everything in my life always a fucking double standard! Why is it that when I beat 3 gyms in 4 weeks, I'm a cheater, but when someone else gets to become a gym leader because of their famous grandpa, it's just the way things are?"
"IF YOU WANT A FIGHT, I'LL GIVE YOU ONE! I thought you'd be happy for me, that we could be friends. But you've chosen your place." She turned to the booth. "Let the battle begin! Read the damn rules!"
I released my three choices for the match on the platform: Flapper, King, and Spoink. "Alright guys, here's the deal. It's best out of three. King is leading off the match, then Flapper will start against Torkoal, and then after that Spoink will clean up. And remember, nobody here respects us. They don't believe we're worth anything. It's time to show them the first three badges weren't luck. Let's go!"
We both sent out our first pokemon-King for me, a Slugma for Flannery. King balanced on one of his tentacles, a move which he'd been working on for a while.
"Slugma, use Flamethrower, make us some Calamari."
"Look out!" King dropped off of his tentacles, falling below the flames. "Give that thing a little water, cool it down!" When it hit, the water instantly flashed to steam on contact with Slugma's skin, but it also left rocky blisters where it had hit.
"Keep spraying him until he can't fight you anymore!" Every time the water hit his skin, Slugma became more and more covered in solid rock, until his exterior finally solidified.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING SKARM? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL MY POKEMON?"
"The difference between me and you is...I don't leave my friends...and I don't think Tentacool taste good."
"You missed one. I don't have gym battles on the same day as a trial. And it's time for you to go. Better luck next time." Two police officers descended from the stands towards my seat.
"Actually, I found a loophole." I pulled the league rulebook from my pocket. "The rules state that so long as I put someone else in control of my pokemon, I may continue a gym battle in the event that I must suddenly leave."
"Who are you going to put in control, your dad? You can't beat me yourself?"
"No, Dad left for Petalburg, he has his own gym to take care of. No, what I want to do..." I dropped the rulebook and pulled out Ashe's pokeball "...is give the power to the POKEMON."
58th District Court, Courtroom 7
Ten Minutes Later
"Skarm, I know you're innocent, but this is a problem. This is going to come with some serious jail time."
"Dad, we know I didn't do anything. Why don't we just plead not guilty, tell the truth, and be back hitting the league circuit next week?"
"It's not that simple." The lawyer Dad hired finally spoke up. "I assume the reason we're even having this conversation is because of your League challange. The charges against you are extremely complex, so if you plead not guilty, the trial will drag on for months, maybe years. That leaves pleading no contest or guilty, which I assume you don't want to do."
"Skarm, let me do for you what I'd do for any other client in this situation. I will try to get a few charges dropped, try to get a plea bargain. But I advise you to plead guilty. If you plead no contest, then you'll just end up in jail for the longest time they can legally put you in for. Maybe if you plead guilty, you'll get out in time to challange the league. It's a long shot, but we'll see what we can do."
"All rise!"
The judge entered the room from a door on the right in the intricately carved courtroom. "This court is now in session, the honorable Judge Simmons presiding."
"Be seated. What case do we have up now?"
"The people versus Skarm Schultz, your honor."
"Very well. Skarm, you have been charged with 1 count of reckless endangerment, 6 counts of Pokemon abuse in the first degree, 257 counts of vandalism, and 380 counts of..."
"Your Honor, wait." The prosecuter, seated across the aisle spoke up. "We've decided to drop some of the charges based on a lack of evidence."
Lavaridge Gym
Present Time
Ashe
"The battle will now resume. Return to your platforms."
"Hahahahaha...Skarm left a GRASS type to take control of his team? Oh, this keeps getting better. You know what'll happen to you if I miss a SINGLE ATTACK? Torkoal, finish them off quick so we can get on with a real challanger."
"Hurry up and finish her off so we can get on with a real gym leader." We all laughed at that one.
"Alright guys, you know the plan. Flapper's leading off, and then King is cleaning up. Let's go!"
"Torkoal, ROAST that Golbat!" Just like I saw in the moving pictures Skarm showed me, a massive blast of heat knocked me down, followed by flames licking over my skin and leaves.
Shakily, I climbed back to my feet. "Is that all you've got?"
"Golbat has been defeated. Challanger, please send out your next pokemon."
"King, you're back up. Use your water, try to hit it below the shell like we discussed."
"YOU THINK WE'RE DONE? YOU THINK WE'RE SCARED OF YOUR DAMN JELLYFISH? Torkoal, hit them again!"
"Yes, mistress!" Torkoal inhaled deeply and released another blast similar to the first. I caught fire for a few seconds before Swablu put me out, smothering the flames with his gossamer wings. In the instant before Aron showed up to help me up, I saw something forming in Swablu's eye. A tear?
Not enough time to worry about it. Torkoal was preparing another blast.
"King, you have to hit him back! He's not getting tired, you're going to have to actually fight him! Hurry!"
"I'm trying!"
Another blast from Torkoal-this time, I ducked behind Aron, and he blocked the worst of it.
"King, get back here. If you won't fight him, let Soda do it."
"I CAN HANDLE HIM!"
Torkoal fired one last time, but it was nowhere near as strong as the previous ones-this one didn't even make it to me.
"Use your tentacles to flip him before he recovers!" Finally, King rolled under a rather ordinary stream of fire, propped himself back up on his tentacle, and wrapped his other tentacle around Torkoal's right foreleg.
"What are you waiting for? Flip him! FLIP HIM!"
"I know how to do it, Ashe. But you have to let me inside his mind. I won't do it without your permission." Spoink spoke up inside my mind.
"It's cheating, Spoink."
"I'm reading his mind. He's got one more of those blasts left in him. And believe me, he's saving the best for last."
"Okay, do it. DO IT!" King sprang off his tentacles and fired a jet of water at the ground, throwing him into the air and dragging Torkoal's forelegs behind him. Torkoal landed flat on his back while King was in the air.
"This is our only chance! Hit him where it hurts!"
King fired another water jet straight at Torkoal's unprotected armor belly. He went out without a word.
"Torkoal has been defeated. The challanger is victorious."
Courtroom 7
"Based on witness testimony, we have determined that the eruption was natural and thus not Skarm's fault. With that in mind, however, he was clearly warned not to go on the volcano, and still did. We now charge him with 1 count of reckless endangerment and 6 counts of Pokemon abuse in the third degree."
"Very well, Mr. Jacobs. Now, Skarm...the prosecution has agreed to limit your sentence to a 5,000,000 poke fine payable within 3 months and 300 hours of community service, so long as you plead guilty to all charges. How do you plead, defendant?"
I was stunned by the offer. I had never even dreamed of being able to keep doing the league, except for the one battle that my pokemon were fighting right now. And at that moment, I realised.
I remembered rubbing salves on Ashe's burnt leg, calming her.
I remembered carrying her out of the woods, praying that her heart would keep beating.
I remembered watching Bounty's neck break, crying over her limp body.
I remembered cheering on Emo, only to watch her vanish in a blast of fire.
I remembered Aron throwing himself at Camerupt for me until he physically could not continue.
I remembered Voltaire falling to a fiery death.
And I knew what I had to do.
"Guilty, Your Honor."