.:A FanFiction By CreatorOfDisastor:.
[Chapter One]
[Hitting The Road]
“We’re nearly there people!” announced the hostess, twirling a strand of blonde hair around her forefinger, “Just five more contestants. And the Judges will be ready to sort out the Preliminary Round results.”
The crowd applauded.
“But before that can happen, it is my honour to introduce Hoenn’s most respected street trainer’s son. We are lucky enough to have, in our presence people, Brendan Norton!!”
He couldn’t do it.
He had been waiting for this all of his life.
But he couldn’t do it.
Ever since he first saw that graceful Dragonaire on TV win, he had wanted to train pure types and enter contests ever since. But here he was now. He was being introduced as Norman’s son. Most would consider that an honour. Yet this only made Brendan all the more embarrassed and nervous. What if he messed up? And in front of all of those cameras. Cameras!? He hadn’t thought about that before. What if his dad was actually watching right now?
“Get out there” Hunter hissed, pushing him forward roughly.
“I can’t!” Brendan said through gritted teeth.
He couldn’t risk it. His Trainer’s Licence would be snatched from his hands, and he would be forced to train as the next Petalburg Gym Leader for the rest of his years. That is if his dad was actually watching this all right now.
“Yes you can” another push, “If I can do it. Then you can too!”
“Tree!” came the reply of agreement from Forest on his shoulder.
Brendan shook his head vigorously. He wasn’t going to do it. Never. They couldn’t make him. They wouldn’t.
“GO!”
The third and final push was enough. Brendan stumbled on stage causing the audience to burst into confused murmurs and giggles of amusement. He looked back at Hunter helplessly.
“Do something!” came the harsh reply.
“Well what took you so long?” asked the hostess, tilting her head cockily to the side like a plastic doll and placing a hand on her hip, “Got a little stage fright?”
The audience laughed alongside her.
Brendan was starting to find the hostess’ preppy attitude irritating, the way everything she did was exaggerated from something as simple as saying ‘hi’ and opening a stupid envelope. But now her false amusement and happiness was just as intoxicating as Wally’s big-headedness. Him? Stage fright? She was living a permanent daydream if that was what she believed. Brendan could feel himself heating up in anger; he clenched his hands into fists unintentionally and he narrowed his eyes.
“Tree?” asked Forest quietly, as if almost whispering in his ear.
It had neither occurred to Brendan at the time that Forest was still there on his shoulder, let alone had the fact that the audience and cameras too were watching his every move. He exhaled heavily, he didn’t have to contain all of his anger like his dad and let it go on somebody else. He couldn’t lose him temper over one silly hostess’ opinion. Who cared about the hostess anyway!?
“You ready Forest?” Brendan asked loudly at long last opening one eye.
“Ko”
A sigh was heard from backstage. Hunter?
Brendan’s thin lips curved into a small smile.
“Forest Quick Attack!”
~
The time was about 3:55pm at a guess, although Brendan wasn’t so sure since the time on his watch hadn’t changed for some time now. Maybe the batteries had gone dead. Or he just wasn’t giving time a chance to change? Maybe. Despite his successful performance with Forest earlier, he didn’t feel any less anxious. It was near impossible of Norman to appear, especially since his dad preferred not to have anything to do with Pokemon Contests. Yet he couldn’t be completely sure. What if Brianna was watching TV right now? And his dad would happen to walk by and catch a glimpse of him and Forest on TV? Forget time-out and staying stuck in your room for short periods of time. His dad would do the triple flip over the moon.
“You alright there Brendan?” asked Hunter, “You look a little more than worried.”
Brendan groaned absent-mindedly, staring into space.
What if his dad did find him? He’d be doomed to a life of being the next Petalburg Gym Leader. There was no way he was going to battle cocky, immature kids with an ego the size of Mt. Chimney with wimpy and worthless pokemon that couldn’t fight to save their lives. No way. And just to hand out dainty little badges made out of metal? That were carved into neat little shapes like a boxing glove and a pair of scales? What were they meant to prove anyway? That they had beaten an adult?
“Brendan!”
Hunter snapped his fingers suddenly in Brendan’s face.
Brendan jumped back, blinking rapidly as if in shock.
“Oh sorry, you looked kinda ‘outta there’ just a moment ago. Look Brendan, if you’re worried about the results, don’t. Because we all are.”
The Preliminary Round results were the last thing right now on Brendan’s mind, but he looked about the other three people beside him regardless.
And Hunter was right.
Minette was asleep on Courtney’s lap, but the seven year old didn’t seem to notice much since she was toying with her food, gaze fixed on the plate, using her fork to arrange her mashed potato into steep walls before crushing them and rebuilding it all over again. Lisa, whom both Brendan and Hunter had just met since there were no more tables left, was fidgeting – a lot. Drumming her fingers on the desk in impatience one minute, biting her fingernails the next and then playing with her hair in a way like the hostess did. She couldn’t stay still. It was a wonder she was still seated, yet they had all had strict instructions not to leave the cafeteria hall until the bell sounded, signalling that the Preliminary Round results had been decided. Hunter himself had hardly touched his pizza. Only nibbled a side of the pepperoni and all the cheese off one slice. Now he was rocking back and forth on his chair and Brendan could only hope that Hunter wouldn’t lose his grip and fall backwards.
They all looked like nervous wrecks to him.
He was one too, but for a completely different reason at least. He had a good score, that being a 22.7, yet all he could think about was his dad.
Other kids when thinking of their dad would say overall nice things about him. But Brendan had only really seen his dad’s bad side. That is even if there was a good side to him.
“Hey you kids!” called a voice.
All four of them turned to see a slightly overweight man wearing a pinstripe suit in his forties rushing towards them, a huge pile of papers tucked under his arm.
“Get ready, the Secondary Round is up soon. So here take these,” and he shoved a small collection of papers into Lisa’s outstretched hand. She flicked through them and Brendan caught a glimpse of numbers on the front in large, black font. “A Hunter kid is number two, Lisa is number four, Brendan is number fourteen and Courtney is a number fifteen. When the bell sounds organise yourselves into order starting with one to fifteen. Oh yeah, and good luck!”
He left just as soon as he arrived, rushing over to another table and shoving a handful of papers to another contestant.
“What are these for?” Lisa asked when she was out of his earshot, picking out number four and pinning it to her front with the clip included with them.
“These look like what they give to those Olympic contestants, when they enter a race. The winner’s always identified by his number since they’re easier to remember than their names and titles” Hunter explained, doing the same to his number two sheet.
“But we’re not racing are we?” Courtney asked, her interest piqued as she finally took a bite out of one of her chicken nuggets.
Brendan looked around the hall and soon noticed that in fact, not everybody had gotten one of these numbered sheets. Then again, hadn’t that strange man said that they would have to, later on that is, organise themselves from one to fifteen? So that would mean that obviously, there would be only fifteen numbered sheets. Rick had one with a huge number ‘1’ on the front in bold, he was grinning madly and feeding more berries to his Butterfree, Caesar. A girl with darkish-blonde hair with a fringe was dancing out of happiness, doing the pirouette with her Electrike, Brendan remembered her as the girl in front of him in the line during the Preliminary Round. What was the Electrike called again? Blitzen was it? She herself had number nine and looked overjoyed by this. Then there was Mark, the greenhorn with his Scyther who was staring at his number three sheet in puzzlement. Brendan was too. He hadn’t watched Mark’s display; the snack cart had provided enough of a distraction. There were the other contestants out of the twenty-eight that had entered, some looking around at others in envy, wondering why they weren't given a numbered sheet too. Then Brendan realised something that made him forget about his dad completely.
“We’re through” Brendan whispered to himself, his face radiating joy, he had said it loud enough that his three new friends looked at him with confused glances.
“We’re through” he said louder to them, and a grin immediately formed on Brendan’s face.
“We’re through guys! This is what the numbered sheets are for!!” he cried excitedly, tapping his number fourteen which lay on the table still. “The numbers represent our position from the Preliminaries. They’ve decided the results, probably just organising the battle chart, who’s battling who”
Lisa’s eyes widened and she leant closer, hissing quietly, “So I’m fourth place?”
Brendan nodded, leaning back and taking a sip from his glass of Fanta.
“And I’m second” Hunter asked, a look of utter disbelief on his face. And then louder and happier than before, he shouted, “I’m second place!”
Courtney laughed in happiness, taking the sleeping Minette into her arms as she cradled the Minun in the crook of her arm as if it were a newborn baby.
Suddenly there was a loud BRRRRRRING!!
“The Secondary Round!” all four friends yelled simultaneously, the excitement of knowing that they had been accepted through still strong.
They all grabbed their individual possessions, abandoning their half-eaten dinners behind, racing to the double doors at the end of the cafeteria hall.
He was through.
What more could he ask for?
~
“So we’ve finally gotten through the Preliminaries” the hostess said, faking a dramatic sigh, “And now the Secondary Round is up next. As you can see,” and she motioned for the camera’s to film the line of contestants, “We have less than before. And that’s because we’ve only allowed fifteen special people out of our amazing twenty-eight to go on through. So give a hand for our current Top Co-Ordinater at first place, Rick of Lavender Town, Kanto!”
The audience erupted in applause and Rick took a confident stride forward before bowing and holding Caesar’s pokeball high in the air for all to see.
Brendan could hear a girl beside him sigh and tap her foot demandingly, he felt like doing the exact same thing too. Despite Rick’s skill, he was finding it difficult to put up with the guy’s huge ego issues.
“Well it’s time to see who’s battling who!” she announced, clasping her hands together in a melodramatic way, “It’s a knock-out battle, with a time limit. Five minutes to defeat your opponent or cause enough damage to stop it from having enough energy to win! Use your pokemon’s marvellous moves and captivating combinations to win your way to the top! But there’s a fallback; our lower-ranking contestants will have to battle their way to the top. Meaning that our current contender will have to guard his position and stay at the very top. You have to win against every opponent you are paired up with to get the Verdanturf ribbon. Please keep in mind contestants that it is needed that you have at least one ribbon from any ranked Contest to participate in this year's Fifth Annual Hoenn Grand Festival. So if you win this Contest, you can basically compete in the Grand Festival in a few months time.”
Brendan clutched Forest’s pokeball tighter.
He knew the basic rules of a Pokemon Contest, but he hadn’t known that you would have to be faced against every winner. And be the constant winner too. This sounded a lot harder than what he had bargained for.
“Well I’ve done enough talking for today” the hostess continued, “So without any further ado, it would be my pleasure to present. The Battle Chart!!”
As she called out the two words ‘Battle’ and ‘Chart’, a wide screen was revealed from the wall behind the line of contestants. It blinked to life and surely enough, the battle chart came to screen:
Brendan frowned.
He could remember Caesar’s performance well enough to know that Grovyle simply wouldn’t last long once inflicted by the Butterfree’s Silverwind tornado display. But then again, those were just tennis balls; and Grovyle was certainly larger, with more weight to him. Maybe he’d last longer than the tennis balls did. But Mark was going to have it hard by Hunter. That was one thing Brendan himself was certain about. He looked further down the Battle Chart to see his name matched up with the least expected.
Brendan’s eyes widened in disbelief. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. He would be a Gym Leader if it came right down to it. But he wouldn’t fight her.
The name of course, attached to Brendan’s by a mere thin line was of no doubt Hunter’s baby sister. The pale pink box had ‘COURTNEY’ in huge caps, and underneath was ‘Blackthorn City, Johto’ in tiny italics.
Brendan shook his head. He wouldn’t do it. Not only was Courtney only a little kid, the most important thing above all was that she was Hunter’s little sister. He wouldn’t risk his newfound friendship over a ribbon. Yet he said he wouldn’t risk performing on stage with Forest earlier, and he had a reasonable enough score good enough to accept him into the Secondary Round – even though there was a slight chance that his dad may have been watching.
Could he bear to risk more?
To risk his and Hunter’s friendship? He leaned forward out of line to glance at Hunter. But he was standing up straight, pushing his glasses further up his nose with an unfathomable expression on his face. Brendan couldn’t tell if he was surprised, shocked, upset or worried like he himself was all at once. If anything, Hunter looked blank. He glanced at Courtney who was smiling with Minette in her arms, whispering words that Brendan could understand only by lip-reading. She was talking mostly about battling and the contest and first place. Brendan could only guess she had no qualms about this battle and had her heart set on only beating him so she could earn the ribbon.
“Well our first battle begins at the very bottom of the Battle Chart. The loser will be eliminated and the battles can only last five minutes maximum!”
Five minutes!?
It was a question of survival. Serious survival. It would mean pushing everything to the limits. Could Forest handle this? Considering he was new to this life of being the starter of a Pokemon Trainer.
“And it looks like it’s going to be Brendan of Petalburg City, Hoenn versus Courtney of Blackthorn City, Johto!” announced the hostess cheerier than ever.
He just hoped Hunter would forgive him.
~
“The time limit is exactly five minutes, when you hear the alarm sound, the match has officially begun. If one pokemon has not been defeated then Verdanturf’s Nurse Joy will identify which is the pokemon worthiest of being called the winner. Use only your Contest pokemon and no other. Once again, when the alarm sounds, the fight will begin. When the alarm sounds for the second time, the fight is over.”
Both Brendan and Courtney nodded; pokeballs at the ready.
The referee nodded back to the contestants, and then to the Judges. Nurse Joy was also seated on the end of the table near a small digital alarm. She raised her hand and then,
BRRRRRRRING!!
“Forest Slam Attack!” Brendan ordered, stepping forward with a grin on his face.
“Minette! Dodge and use Spark!” Courtney cried, pointing at the Treecko with a look of pure commitment and determination.
Forest sped forward, and then, exactly like how Grovyle did before, swung it’s tail round. At the last possible second before the Treecko’s powerful tail slammed down, Minette zipped to the side to dodge the attack. She let off a shower of sparks before charging on at Forest in an electrified tackle. The Treecko flinched in pain as he was hit. Forest stumbled. He tried to get back up, but found that alone difficult as weak jolts of electricity zapped him, the static taken control of his body and causing him to fall under his own weight.
“First successful fit goes to Courtney and her Minette. A strong Spark attack to really make sure that Forest’s speed will be lowered, and his energy too," announced the hostess.
Brendan gritted his teeth and winced.
Courtney was stronger than he had expected. She obviously knew what she was doing for a seven year old.
“Forest Aerial Ace”
He would have to rely on the Treecko’s strengths, even if it meant fighting speed against speed.
“Again Spark!”
Forest knew what he had to do. He sped forward, tackling the Minun just as it was charging up electricity for the attack. Both pokemon took the damage.
“Oh no! Looks like Forest AND Minette have both taken the damage for the attacks. Oh my!”
“Charge Minette then Spark”
“Detect!”
Forest crouched down, looking straight ahead at the Minun, which was already charging up power and showering stinging sparks at him. And then, Minun growled as if it wanted more before charging forward again, it’s fur now ragged with waste electricity. Before Minette was anywhere near him, Forest leapt up into the air to evade the attack.
“Aerial Ace!” called Brendan, the moment the grass starter left ground.
Minette was knocked aside in a heap of white and blue fur. Forest landed, panting heavily. He might have taken only a little damage from Spark, but it was already tiring him within the first two minutes.
Brendan knew he would have to be careful now.
Speed gave you the advantage in battle, sure it did, but it was obvious that the Treecko didn’t have enough stamina to keep this up for long. But that would mean that eventually Minette would run out of speed too right? Glancing at the Minun, he saw that it wasn’t panting at all like Forest was. It seemed perfectly fine other than the fact it has just been tackled aside and took a decently powerful hit. It must be Charge that keeps it electrical power and stamina up.
“Minette Quick Attack!” Courtney ordered, smirking.
The Minun in an instant was on it’s feet, rushing towards the Treecko who stood waiting for his next order.
“Bullet Seed” Brendan yelled.
Forest took a deep breath in before firing a series of seeds out of it’s mouth as if they were bullets from a gun. Minette skilfully dodged each missile, swerving left, right and still keeping perfect momentum.
“Slam”
If Brendan were to have said that simply a second later, then Forest would have not had much of a chance to swing his tail round and bat Minette away as if she were just a Caterpie. The timing was perfect and the Minun took the full blow of the attack.
“What a hit!! Forest has just carried out a perfect Slam attack which has caused critical damage to Minette. My, my, the Judges must be impressed!”
Brendan couldn’t help but grin. Let’s see Minette get out of that, he thought.
Minette eventually got to her feet after Courtney’s desperate shouts of encouragement, growling at Forest threateningly and showering a brief burst of sparks from it’s cheeks.
“Forest go in for a Bullet Seed!”
“You can take ‘im Minette! Quick Attack!”
Brendan smiled knowingly.
Courtney was strong, he’d hand her that, but the kid kept repeating herself. As expected, Bullet Seed kept missing, Minette dodged every missile once again with ease, the Treecko trying to land a direct hit.
“Slam!!”
“Treeeee” Forest swung his tail round,
“Ko!” and slammed it down onto Minette’s back.
BRRRRING!!
“KO!” cheered the hostess rushing over to Brendan, “Another perfect attack and the first KO! Right before the buzzer!!”
Brendan grinned uncontrollably. He spared a glance at the Minun. Her left ear and tail twitched, a soft growl coming from her.
Nurse Joy stood up from the Judges’ desk and walked over to Minette. She nudged the Minun gently and then announced in a clear voice:
“Minette is unable to battle! Brendan is the winner!”
“What!?” Courtney asked, dumbfound.
Nurse Joy smiled weakly to Courtney in encouragement.
“There’s always next Thursday, when the next Verdanturf Contest will be held for the third time. It’ll eventually move onto Slateport but you have at least two weeks until that happens dear” Nurse Joy said, rubbing Courtney on the back quickly before turning to take her seat back at the Judge’s desk.
Tears began to fall from Courtney’s eyes. She hung her head and cradled the fainted Minun in her arms, walking off stage. It tore Brendan up to see her so down. Did he go too far? Or was she just a sore-loser? Then he saw a single figure, Hunter, Brendan felt a lump form in his throat. Would Hunter be mad at him?
“Congratulations Brendan of Hoenn” cheered the hostess, “And now for our next battle, Elizabeth of Florida, U.S.A versus Hugo of Paris, France”
~
Brendan sipped his can of coke slowly.
Should he apologize and find reason? Or should he wait for Courtney to get over it? Which one? Courtney was a cocky kid, and he fought fairly. Or did he? Nah, that was nonsense. If he was fighting unfairly then Nurse Joy or the ref would have pointed it out and disqualified him earlier.
“Hey Brendan, can we talk?”
Brendan looked up to see Hunter standing in front of him, the same unfathomable expression as before still on his face. Brendan nodded.
“What is it?” he asked, curiously. He could already guess what his friend was going to say.
Hunter scratched his arm nervously, as if he were trying to find the suitable words to use. Brendan stared down at the ground instead, coke still in hand.
“I know it must have been kinda hard for you to fight Courtney, since we’re friends and she’s my little sister and all, and well, your expression screamed it out loud and clear Brendan. I mean, I forgive you. And I want to thank you too”
Brendan looked up in surprise.
Hunter was thanking him?
“You see,” Hunter continued, “Courtney’s a little braggy. It was about time she lost. If she goes around thinking she’ll win all the time, then it’ll be more painful for her when she’s older. Crush her dreams while she’s young and she’ll be over it in a day”
Brendan hadn’t thought about it like that at the time.
He had just taken one look at Courtney and felt that he had done the ultimate wrong.
“The thing is though Brendan; I just want you to talk to her. She did good out there for the most parts, and she’s been training for months. Just talk to her, make her smile even and everything will be alright. She’s in the Locker Room with Minette.”
He didn’t need to be told, Brendan could clearly see the mild hints Hunter was dropping and was on his way through to the Locker Room already. Pushing the door open gently, the door creaking fro on it’s ageing hinges. Brendan stuck his head through the gap. Was she still inside? Despite the amount of noise Brendan had caused upon just opening the door, Courtney hadn’t taken note of his arrival and was a huddled silhouette in the poor lighting. She was on the benches, her blonde hair drooping down as if to hide her face. Because of that, he didn’t know if she was still crying. On her lap was the unconscious Minun, it’s fur ragged with sweat and signs of defeat.
“How’s Minette?”
The seven year old looked up abruptly, her face tear stained. She looked back down again at Minette, not bothering to say or do anything else.
Brendan wasn’t too sure on what to say now. It would be difficult starting conversation, pointless too. He extended his hand into his bag, and pulled out an item instinctively. He had guessed by the slender curves, smooth surface and size that it was a Potion, a Hyper Potion. It was yet to be used, Brendan guessed by it’s mildly heavy weight. The bottom half was a tinted pink and translucent; when he swished it side to side he could hear the substance inside hitting the plastic walls in the enclosed space. The top half was pearl white and was shaped to fit into any hand for perfect grip. He gave the Minun one last glance before setting the Hyper Potion down next to Courtney on the bench and turning to leave.
Brendan wasn’t the sort to go chasing things he’d never get, and a word from Courtney was something he was definitely not going to get. At least not now anyways. When he got to the door, he spared one last glimpse to see Courtney reach out for the Hyper Potion smiling.
His job was done.
~
It was the next battle, time unknown. All that was known was that Lisa was on a winning streak and now up against Hunter. Friend against friend. It was easier for them, they were mature and knew that when there’s one winner, there’s obviously one loser. Right now, it looked as if Lisa would be the winner. Again.
Brendan winced.
Grovyle didn’t look like it was going to hold out any longer. Vaporeon might be a water type, but Lisa had taught it some good battle techniques and didn’t look like she going to settle down for a loss anytime soon.
“Grovyle Fury Cutter!” “Aurora Bubble!”
As Grovyle leaped skywards, preparing for a Fury Cutter, it was forced to pull away as the bubbles took form, popping in a stinging way in it’s face and forcing him to stay back. The hundred dozen tiny reflections of the Vaporeon were seen in the thousands of bubbles. Darting left, right as if to confuse it’s foe behind it’s watery shield of bubbles.
“Oh my!!” exclaimed the hostess in a way that made Brendan sweat drop in irritation, “It looks like Aurora’s Bubble attack has stopped Grovyle’s Fury Cutter!! How amazing! Now Aurora is working with her attack to confuse Grovyle of her location. It seems like Lisa’s tactical thinking might win her yet another battle!”
Probably Ice Beam next, Brendan guessed in the privacy of his own mind, rolling his eyes at the hostess, it’s the combination she used in the Preliminaries after all and that worked well.
“Leaf Blade” called Hunter.
“Ice Beam and Barrier!” Lisa ordered.
Brendan was right.
The Bubble attack was frozen into thousands of ice crystal-like baubles that rained down on the ground like hailstones in a terrible blizzard gale. Aurora was protected by the harsh attack as it had already set up it’s own defences, the psychic barrier shielding her in a dome shape as the frozen bubbles came crashing down around it and on Grovyle.
Brendan turned away. It was obvious Grovyle had lost. He didn’t need to see anymore.
“A KO-”
He didn’t need to hear anymore either.
~
As the day progressed into evening, Brendan was already learning a lot about the other contestant’s battle styles. Some would attack straight out whilst their pokemon would tire from using so much power. Others preferred to evade attacks and heal themselves during battle. Others attacked when most vulnerable and so on. Despite his knowledge on this, the battles only got harder and he soon discovered he was only winning because Forest too observed his foe’s behaviour and battled accordingly. Forest was a pokemon, so he knew when his opponent would attack and would dodge by instinct. That made Brendan happy to know that he didn’t have to yell ‘dodge!!’ every time a lumbering giant would come galumphing at the little Treecko.
He was winning and that was all that mattered to him at this point in time. He soon forgot about the risk of his dad appearing out of the blue and concentrated fully on the competition ahead. He was moving up ranks swiftly from second-to-last fourteen to near-the-top sixth. All he had to now was defeat his next opponent. Holly Evergreen.
He knew her from TV, and the one who did the little ballet recital with her Electrike earlier in the cafeteria hall. The girl who competed in the Johto League. She had celebrity connections and a decent team from what he had seen. And here she was now. She produced her chosen pokeball, throwing it forward as did Brendan.
Forest appeared first, and then the Electrike, the light pouring out of the pokeball and taking the form of the small electric dog.
Neither took any notice of the referee’s usual rant about the rules. They’d heard it all before. Their ears were only for the sound of the alarm. And then it came. The ear-splitting-
BRRRRRRING!!
“Blitzen Tackle!”
“Bullet Seed Forest!”
Both attacks were called out simultaneously.
Both pokemon attacked in unison.
The Treecko’s Bullet Seed wasn’t enough to slow down Blitzen’s great advantage in speed. Brendan didn’t expect it to. He was doing this the way he had handled Courtney’s Minette.
“Slam!”
One swing of it’s tail told Blitzen enough and it darted safely to the side before Forest’s tail came slamming down.
“Bullet Seed!”
“Great work Blitzen! Light Screen!”
The Electrike howled defiantly at the Treecko before charging forward with a barely visible, luminous, wall-like barrier in front of it. The speeding seed bullets were deflected by the Light Screen, and as it realised that with Blitzen’s defences up, offence was pointless, it darted to the side like Blitzen had before, narrowly dodging the deflected attack.
Brendan could see out of the corner of his eye, the hostess commentating about the battle, but he was deafened by the crowd’s cheers and the noise of the battle in front of him to hear her usual rant.
“Blitzen Thunder Wave!”
“Detect!”
The Electrike howled again, letting off vicious sparks of electricity. And then, suddenly, multiple jolts of electricity were sent to Forest. Detect was useless, Forest was caught in mid-air. It let out a cry as it was hit, it’s paralysed body hit the floor, quivering with the static electricity.
Brendan was in shock.
He wasn’t psychic, but he knew that by now, winning wasn’t in his grasp. He was tempted to return Forest and just forfeit like a smart guy would, but he desperately wanted to win. But how could anybody fight when their body is rendered useless by paralysis? He had heard of pokemon that were strong enough in both mind and body to break through paralysis on the odd occasion, but he doubted this from his starter. Considering it hadn’t even been a week for him of being a Pokemon Trainer.
Blitzen howled again, it’s body alive with static electricity that let off ‘zzzt zzt’ sounds constantly.
“Thunder Blitzen!!”
Blitzen’s electrical power was strengthened and it howled louder than ever as the electrical attack was sent to strike at the paralysed Treecko. The static intensified until Blitzen was surrounded by a sphere of electricity, and then a single lightning bolt was shot out in the blink of an eye lid.
The battle was finished.
“Forest return” Brendan whispered silently as he watched the Treecko turn into a glowing red form that was sucked back inside the pokeball. “You did good buddy.”
~
When Brendan reached backstage, where all three of his friends stood waiting for him, the black-haired teen didn’t feel so down about his loss anymore. Sure he lost, but Courtney was smiling again, Hunter looked impressed and Lisa was pleased with his performance.
“It’s only natural you didn’t win Brendan” she explained, “Holly is said to train with Gary Oak, Professor Oak’s grandson, so she’s obviously really strong from experience. She’s also got more pokemon than you; you only have your starter right now. She’s even entered and competed in the League. She’s a high-ranking trainer you know, with high respect from the League and from pokemon.”
Brendan appreciated the encouragement he received from his friends. He was only too pleased with Forest’s battles that one loss didn’t affect him much after a while. Now that he wasn’t battling anymore, he could concentrate on observing the other contestants’ battle styles and strategies. Preparation if anything for the next time he would battle any one of them in the next contest where ever it might be.
But right now, there was only one trainer Brendan was focusing completely on. Rick.
He won every battle, sometimes without even a scratch. Caesar would tire after using Silver Wind and Confusion which usually reduced it to total exhaustion. That Brendan knew. Rick’s opponents eventually noticed that too, but by then it would by too late. Rick would finish the battle by ordering a Sleep Powder. He could have it used at the start of his battles since it seemed powerful enough to put the most energetic of pokemon to sleep. But obviously, Rick liked to mess with his prey. Brendan could see that clearly from his recent battle with Holly. Blitzen’s Thunder caused a little damage, but Confusion deflected the remainder back to the Electrike. Not forgetting his battle against Mark about half an hour ago. Rick had let Swipe the Scyther use up all of it’s energy trying to use Slash and Fury Swipes on Caesar whilst the Butterfree simply swooped out of the way and scattered a little Sleep Powder to end the battle when evasion became tiresome.
And now he was using the same tactic again; this time with Lisa’s Aurora.
“Ice Beam!”
“Confusion!”
“Dodge Aurora dodge!”
The Vaporeon shot a beam of ice at the Butterfree which simply summoned it’s psychic powers to deflect the Ice Beam. Aurora narrowly evaded the attack, leaping into the air and landing perfectly poised, ready for more.
“A perfect Ice Beam, and a perfect dodge!” announced the hostess, “What an outstanding performance from both Lisa and Rick’s pokemon! I honestly can’t tell who the winner’s going to be!”
“Confusion again Caesar”
“Barrier”
Good move. Now keep using it and eventually Caesar will exhaust too.
It was Caesar's turn to have his attack deflected. Confusion was useless. Brendan smiled; Lisa might win if she kept her defences up like this.
“Hydro Pump!”
Brendan felt like screaming no. Using Hydro Pump would mean letting Barrier down. And Caesar was fast enough to avoid anything, it would be a miss. A great big miss. Hunter beside him was shaking his head; he knew it was a bad choice too. There was even an angry whisper of ‘WHAT!?’ from somebody behind him. Lisa was making one big mistake.
“Dodge and use Tackle!” ordered Rick as he smiled smugly.
Aurora obeyed, releasing a powerful blast of water at it’s foe. Caesar seemed stunned as he saw the attack approach him, but by his master’s command, all he had to was flap his wings and circle around the Hydro Pump and he was safe. With a few more wing beats, Caesar was swooping down at Vaporeon, still circling the Hydro Pump in an attempt to confuse it’s opponent in the process.
Brendan looked away, like he had when Hunter lost. He didn’t need to see anymore.
A Vaporeon beaten by a Butterfree.
The final cry of Vaporeon as it was hit by Caesar’s Tackle attack made Brendan glance back only to see his friend fall to her knees in defeat. Her mouth was left open as if she were about to say something, but was too late. She hung her head in disappointment her blonde hair tumbling down from her shoulders. She didn’t bother to brush it out of her face.
“Return” she mumbled as the Vaporeon slipped into unconsciousness.
“Well our winner is obvious” the hostess cried into her mic, breaking the silence of defeat. “I’m only too happy to introduce, Verdanturf’s new Normal Ranking contender! Rick and Caesar of Lavender Town, Kanto!”
Rick returned the Butterfree back inside it’s pokeball and gave Lisa a comforting grin and pat on the back. She smiled weakly back before staring back down at Aurora’s pokeball.
“Thanks for a great battle Lisa” he said to her, holding out a hand for her to shake.
Lisa did so, this time a genuine smile spreading across her face.
“I’ll beat you next time” she replied teasingly.
The crowd cheered both of them on, Brendan included. He turned behind him to see Holly at the back, clapping aswell with Blitzen beside her. He wasn’t the only one who was going to improve.
~
“You sure you don’t want to stay here in Verdanturf with us Brendan?” Lisa asked, giving Brendan a hug goodbye. “It won’t be much fun if you’re not here too”
Brendan didn’t want to leave his new friends either. But he couldn’t abandon Wally any longer than he had to.
“We’re all going to re-enter the Verdanturf Contest,” Hunter said as he stepped forward and clapped Brendan on the back, “There are four Normal Ranking contests left to be hosted here and there are four of us too. One of us will at least be qualified to go through to the Grand Festival if one of us wins. And with Rick out of the competition, it’ll be a little bit easier”
“Yeah” chirped Courtney, “I’ve got a battle to win. I’m gonna beat you Brendan next time! This time me and Minette will win!”
“Mina!” squealed Minette, sparking electricity.
He badly wanted to stay, but he couldn’t. Wally needed him with help for Pokemon battles and Brendan in return needed Wally to be a Pokemon Trainer.
“Thanks guy, but I’ve got … other things to do. The Slateport Contest is coming up soon and I swear on my life, I’ll be there and when I see you guys again, we’ll catch up on each other” Brendan promised, hoisting his bag onto his back.
He wasn’t too sure on how he was going to pull this off. It would be so much easier if he could just bring Wally along with him, but Wally was interested in being in the Pokemon battles, not watching them. No doubt Wally would complain and tell his dad all about it aswell.
Hunter, Lisa and Courtney knew that by now, nothing they were going to say would persuade Brendan to stay, so each said their goodbyes. As Brendan made his way to the exit, he looked back at his friends.
“I promise I’ll see you guys again. And when I see you and Minette, Courtney, be that whenever, wherever from now to then, we will battle.”
Courtney nodded and grinned.
As Brendan exited the Verdanturf Contest Hall, he suddenly felt proud of himself. In just one afternoon he had accomplished so much. He had entered the Verdanturf Contest for starters, made himself three new friends, battled strong trainers and learnt so much about battle styles. He glanced down at Forest’s pokeball in his hand and then, without thinking let the Treecko free.
“Tree?” Forest asked confused of this new location.
Brendan was happy to see that the paralysis had worn off. He scratched the Treecko under it’s chin. Forest had done so well today, he deserved to be out of his pokeball. He started walking again. He felt nothing but happiness. He’d find a way to get to Fallabor Town on time. It might be hard but he’d find a way. He had found a way to get to Verdanturf today so he could do it again right?
Verdanturf Town was something a teenager in a rush wouldn’t pay much attention too, but as both Trainer and pokemon strolled down the paved street, lush, green grass on either side of them, Brendan admired the town around him. Quaint little cottage-like houses lined the sidewalk in organised lines. Flowers grew everywhere; sunflowers, pansies, roses, orchids, carnations, dahlias and even some Oran berry trees and Leppa berry stalks. They all grew in cute bunches or in dainty flower boxes that decorated the window sills and pathways of the cottages. It was something Brendan knew his mother would lo-
“Brendan!” barked a familiar voice.
Brendan froze on the spot. He didn’t dare turn. He could already guess who was there.
“No” he whispered.
“Treeee kooo” growled Forest, taking up it’s battle stance.
No.
It couldn’t be.
How?
“I turned to ask you what attacks my borrowed Geodude knew, but you weren’t there” whimpered another voice, also too familiar to Brendan.
Wally!
Brendan turned to see Wally standing, a look of guilt on his face. In his arms was Whiris. She was asleep, snoring softly. No doubt the recent Gym battle had taken a lot out of her. She looked battered about and he could only guess they hadn’t won.
And there he was.
Norman stood tall and defiant, his stone cold face gazing down at Brendan, his fine features barely visible in the dimming light of the sunset. He was wearing a creaseless, dark red shirt and pitch-black trousers. His icy gaze bore holes through Brendan’s body like lasers, searching his son’s expression for any sign of emotion.
Brendan tried not to show any, keeping his face still and avoiding looking at his own father. One look at his dad and his eyes would give him away. The emotion of fear and defeat in his eyes would betray him.
After a long, unearthly silence Norman said, his tone showing no emotion either, “So you disobeyed me?”
It was a rhetorical question.
Brendan’s bottom lip quivered.
“All you had to was one thing,” Norman continued, “One thing Brendan. Just look after Wally and that’s it”
Brendan nodded slightly, resting his hand on Forest’s head as it approached it’s Trainer.
“You couldn’t even do that,” then there was silence. After long minutes of quiet, a rough hand rested on Brendan’s shoulder. “You’re going home with me. From this day forward you’re no longer a Pokemon Trainer”
Brendan held his breath.
He couldn’t be serious!?
“And if I can’t trust you out here with your own friend, how can I trust you with a borrowed pokeball?” and Norman snatched Pidgeot’s pokeball off him, slipping it into his pocket.
Norman’s heavy hand steered Brendan forward and father and son walked on in silence.
There was nothing either could say. There was nothing either wanted to say. Only their footsteps down the pavement echoed along the streets, and all of the happiness Brendan had felt earlier, all of the happiness and pride, it materialised just like that. The feeling was long gone. And so was his chance of ever seeing his friends again.
*~*~*
A boy sits in the darkness of a huge truck. It is like a moving truck, but without all of the furniture and kitchen appliances one would take to a new home with them. It is filled with darkness, silence, depression. And two figures. One figure is the boy, he is hardly noticeable in the darkness because he sits so still. Huddled with his gaze locked at something distant, he is like a statue. Beside him is a Treecko, which would after short periods of time nudge it’s companion. But there is no point, his Human friend is lifeless.
The truck swerves left and both boy and pokemon slide across the floor, where their bodies are slammed into the wall like trash.
A few minutes later the truck is driving on uneven terrain. The Treecko dislikes this uncomfortable mode of travel, and growls, going on all fours for balance.
“Koooo” comes a deep, throaty growl.
For the first time in nearly two hours, the boy moves. Raising a hand to his pokemon, he hushes it, whispering encouragement to it under his breath. He doesn’t know what is wrong, but he knows that this has never happened before.
There is a sharp jolt and it feels like the entire vehicle has left the ground, if only for a split second.
The boy feels reassured, it is nothing too serious. It is only the truck’s sharp jolts and turns that are distressing his companion. He leans back and sighs, hugging his legs into his chest for warmth. It is getting colder and colder as night time advances. The boy rests his head on his knees, closing his eyes. It has been a long day for him. He is tired.
Then there is a soft nudge.
The boy looks up and can see the silhouette of the Treecko in front of him
“Treeee tree ko tree”
It sounds worried. But he is just too tired.
“It’s just the motion of the truck Forest” he whispers back.
Then suddenly, there is a roar from the ground beneath them and suddenly everything is shaking.
A chill travels up his spine and suddenly everything is cold.
“Not again” the boy says aloud, forgetting to whisper.
Something kicks in. An instinct? Maybe. But what kicks in, is a somebody.
Brendan kicks in.
*~*~*
Brendan grabbed the Treecko by instinct, wrapping his arms around the squirming pokemon, he wasn’t going to have his pokemon crushed during an earthquake. He wasn’t going to risk it either.
The depressed boy was gone, Brendan was back.
Then came the feeling that he had done this one time before. In fact, he had, with Wally. The deafening roar of roots ripped out of the ground made Brendan turn heel. A tree was going to fall and nearly flatten them. Again. The truck turned sharply, Brendan lost his balance and was thrown onto the doors of the truck.
It was as if it was destined to happen.
The doors swung open for him and he landed on hard ground.
There was a groan from both pokemon and Trainer.
“Brendan! Get back in the truck!” called a desperate voice. Wally’s voice.
Brendan knew what he had to do.
This was his chance; sure he had had a ‘chance’ like this before. But if he ran now, they wouldn’t catch him. If he went back to the truck he’d just be driven home, regardless of if an earthquake had hit in the middle of a forest. Brendan looked around him. The terrain was uneven and long grass grew everywhere car tires hadn’t driven over. There were towering trees on both side, in front and back, beckoning for him to hide behind their trunks. Should he?
He glanced at his Treecko and saw that it was already a few paces ahead, standing, waiting for it’s Trainer to follow.
“Don’t you dare Brendan Norton, if you take one step further there’s going to be severe punishment when you and I get home” bellowed Norman.
Brendan looked back at the trees longingly. He couldn’t stand here waiting for a sign forever. There was another roar from the ground beneath him and everything was once again, shaking. It was as if the entire planet had been thrown in a jar and was being shaken madly. The rip and tear of roots being uplifted from soil. By instinct Brendan dodged to the side, the falling tree missing him completely with a huge crash.
“I’m so dead” muttered Brendan.
And he ran.
The falling tree would hold his dad back for only so long. There was his sign, there’s no point in waiting for another to be certain. Sometimes you just have to take a risk.
“Vigoroth go bring him back!”
Brendan swore under his breath.
He couldn’t run away from a Vigoroth. They specialised in speed and were ever energetic. To outrun one would be like to wake up one Sunday morning to find you have wings and you’re invincible. It just wasn’t possible.
“Forest Slam!”
He didn’t turn to see how the attack was carried out, or if it did any damage. But guessing by the thud of a huge body hitting the floor, it was a safe bet to declare that everything was going to be alright now. He smiled.
Brendan ran until he could hear no more except for his gasps for air. He stopped, and collapsed against a tree, his back resting against the trunk and his legs sprawled as if he were a rag doll carelessly thrown aside. He strained his ears, he could hear no more. The earthquake was over, Vigoroth was gone. And so was his father. He didn’t bother to get up. He took out a sandwich he had wrapped earlier from his bag pack and tore it into two, handing one piece to Forest.
“Just you and me now buddy,” Brendan said, grinning despite the recent events.
He could afford to rest for now.
They weren’t following yet. They’d come after him once Norman had gotten the Gym team together. And then a search party would be organised and then he would be looked for.
He pulled out his PokeNav, a gift from his sister before he had left to become a Trainer. Accessing the map mode he realised that everything was just about to get worse.
He was in Petalburg Woods.
If he though his father was bad news, he hadn’t seen anything yet.
He shoved the PokeNav back inside his bag and hurriedly got up.
“We have to keep moving Forest, eat it on the way”
*~*~*
Lying lifeless in a location unknown, a giant rests in eternal slumber.
Too humans he would appear dead. But to pokemon, they would know that the mighty Titan is merely resting. And He will rest forever more.
But only one pokemon knows that the Titan’s slumber is not ever-lasting.
One pokemon sees the twitch of a muscle under His huge body armour.
One pokemon senses His sudden rush of power that causes the Earth to split.
One pokemon tastes the air and knows by natural instinct that peace is not long-lasting.
This one pokemon has escaped from her imprisonment.
This one pokemon has fled to the trees and beyond. Not away from her imprisonment. She has fled to observe nature’s changes and seek help.
But she is held by debt, to one Human. One girl. She travels, seeking something unknown to her. But she is in debt to her, for her survival. Maybe she is the help she seeks?
Everything is changing.
If only they would open their eyes and see, that earthquakes are not just natural disasters. They are a sign.
The Titan stirs in his sleep;
The quiver of a muscle for an earth tremor,
The twitch of an eye lid for a falling tree,
But then, as unexpected as it had happened, it is all over. Suddenly, calm.
And just like that, the night air is still again. The earthquake is over. All can rest knowing the Titan is too.
The one pokemon runs with the wind.
She is free again, racing the plains in search of her. That girl, she is near. The scent reeks of her and her companions.
She will find the girl.
The girl with a heart of sincerity and love, she will be found. And then, only then will she help the Titan. The Titan will return to His slumber.
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Author’s Notes: