Oh my god… I just realized that the color Orange is made from Red and Yellow. *Grabs new plotbunny* I could have them have a daughter named Orange…
Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
Chapter 4
As it turns out fighting Misty is not as hard as he thought it would be. She’s holding back, and he does not know why, but it does not matter, because if she is, then it’s easier for him to win.
So he parries and ducks, and he uses power strong enough to break… and Rattata evolves into Raticate as sharp teeth sink into Starmie’s core and leave it shattered.
And now there are two badges, and his new one is a bright teardrop of blue.
Misty cries, but only for a few moments, for Starmie heals quickly, but it was still impressive. And she waves goodbye to him as he waltzes out of the gym, confident.
Because now he is two badges down.
Surge is actually difficult – Beedrill and Butterfree get fried by traps before he even makes it into the second level of the gym, and he almost plans to use Aeroy against the Leader, but he promised father he wouldn’t so he doesn’t. All he does is use a few Earthquake attacks to take out the remainder of the wires, wondering what kind of paranoid man this gym leader is.
Lieutenant Surge watches all of this from his security cameras, and frowns.
The boy seems to specialize in flying-type pokémon, and with his Electabuzz defeating him will be easy, but it will take a while to reset all those traps.
Perhaps he’ll make the boy repair them if he loses.
That thought comforts him, as he watches his Voltorb and Electrode, and Magneton and Magnemite army floats around the room. He is not afraid of them, because all his clothing is made of rubber.
He takes a drink of hot coffee form his canteen, and scratches an itch on his leg while the boy dismantles another trap.
No, that did not look good. It is lucky that none of his shocks are lethal, but certainly, the boy will be in grievous pain for about half an hour.
He should not continue on.
Red clutches his arm in pain, wishing that he had thought to wear rubber gloves. He searches in his backpack, digs out a bottle of painkillers, and swallows two, remembering not to overdose.
Father would be angry if he did.
Even so, both pokémon and trainer are a team, and ought to compete in life in optimum condition. He thinks of the two pokémon that are almost fainted in his poke balls, and he scowls.
He will not be this careless again, but if his arm is numb, he cannot disarm traps one-handed.
So he picks his way back outside through the gutted maze, and vows to try again tomorrow. For tonight, he’ll take a long, hot bath and work the soreness out of his muscles, and see if he can capture any new pokémon around for help.
He sleeps well in the Center, makes himself French toast for breakfast, and heads out into the wild grass to hunt.
It does not take long before he scares out a few pokémon. Meowth may be useful, so he captures one, and Bellsprout, and hey, there’s a cave over there!
Into the cave he goes, but it’s too dark to see anything for more than a few steps, so he thinks, but he has no fire-types or electric-types he can use yet.
He sighs.
However, he will find a way to defeat the Lieutenant, so he will not give up, and instead of venturing inside and falling down a chasm or an equally unpleasant fate, he baits two traps with food and rope snares at the entrance and heads off.
The next day, there is a Sandshrew struggling in one of them. The other has been broken, the food stolen.
He does not mourn the loss excessively. Sandshrew is a ground-type and will resist all electric attacks, and if he trains it enough it will become a Sandslash, but for now, he cuddles the cute pokémon and feeds it a good meal of berries and grains before they head out into the grass to train.
It does not take too long before he notices the sleek shine of coat and eyes, and decides that even unevolved, it is now healthy enough. So they head inside, and he leaves his flying types and his bug types and his water types in the Pokemon Center computer.
He takes Aeroy of course, because he always feels Father is keeping an eye on him that way.
He takes Sandshrew, without a doubt.
He brings Bellsprout, just in case he needs to induce a stat change on Surge’s pokemon.
The others wait for him to return, even Mantine, who does not protest.
They are intelligent pokémon, or at least conditioned enough to obey their Master’s commands without question.
Which is better? He is in no frame of mind to perpend odd things like that.
He has a badge to win after all!
Quietly, almost huddled behind a bank of security cameras, Lt. Surge watches. In the four-day space, he has managed to fix his gym up again, but this time, Red knows where all the traps are, and he is wearing yellow rubber gloves.
They are hideous things used for dishwashing, but they serve their purpose well.
Red smiles and his Sandshrew breaks down the last wire lying in wait. Surge yawns as the boy walks into the stadium. The ground is slick sandstone, almost compressed into shale by all the heat released in gym battles.
Red grins, and Surge releases a Voltorb to announce that their battle has begun.
The Sandshrew is quite a quick little critter, and both his Voltorb and Magnemite fall before it’s swift little claws, and stars, and sprays of sand, but he is quite sure that it cannot defeat his Electabuzz.
Red sucks in a breath as he looks at the pokémon. There are chains around its wrists and ankles, and he shivers. Surge is right, of course. Even with type advantage, the power level between the two is too great, so he must not use Sandshrew!
But he cannot use Aeroy, and unless Bellsprout can save him, he is doomed.
He thinks of Father, and throws Bellsprout’s poke ball forwards. Surge laughs, and so does Electabuzz, but that is good, because when Bellsprout leaps up and sprays what seems like a gallon of Poisonpowder down Electabuzz’s throat, the laughs turn into choking sounds.
And then Sleep Powder rains down and the pokémon falls asleep.
And he wins by forfeit.
How lucky.
His newest badge glitters like spun gold.
End Chapter
Completed 7/10/06
Yes, I do use weird vocabulary. Think of it this way! If you bother to look the words up, you will also expand your pool of words! Okay, I’m babbling, but that’s because I’m lacking sleep. Heh.
It is also odd how some words that are perfectly reasonable to use do not exist in Microsoft’s Dictionary though they do in Oxford and Merriam-Webster. Hmm…