Post by DaveTheFishandChipsGuy on May 1, 2008 10:30:31 GMT 12
Hey guys. I've finally found time around my Uni work to finish the first couple of chapters for my 'proper story' that was preceded by 'The Story of Another'.
This is Speculum Aura. I will be posting on ff.net, which can be found in my profile, or if you're too lazy, here: www.fanfiction.net/~davethefishguy
I'm not sure whether I should continue posting here, as it only distracts people from reviewing on ff.net, according to review results for TSoA. I got 12 reviews, all but 4 being from Matt (cheers man). But if you guys want me to, I'll continue posting here. Thought that will NOT be frequent. Exams are coming up soon {hides from exams}
So here's Chapter 2, as I still think of TSoA being a very large Chapter 1. This marks the start of 'Year 10' of my Timeline.
Most of this chapter comes from the DP015 and DP016 episodes. Please tell me if you think I need to improve 'writing' certain characters.
And again, lots of thanks to Xaotl for helping me plan this. Cheers man!
Enjoy!
Dave
“Golem! Use Rollout!” commanded the trainer across from me, as his rock behemoth withdrew its limbs into its shell, and started to move. I knew that Rollout started off slowly, but would pick up speed as time went on. I had to nip it in the bud.
“Aerial Ace!” I ordered. My Pokémon, a dark blue feline with red feathers adorning parts of its body, took off down the battlefield, occasionally disappearing from view. I saw my opponent shake his head at this. He had a similar appearance to myself, shoulder length hair, his slightly redder than my own, he wore glasses like mine, but he wore a grey, mine foreman’s uniform, topped with a red hard-hat.
“Honestly Dave, I’d thought you’d improved.” He called. “You should know that flying-type attacks won’t do much against my rock-types! Golem! Increase speed!” His Pokémon started rolling faster at this instruction.
“Who said anything about doing damage Roark?” I shouted back. His eyes widened at this, he would now be wondering what I was up to. “Now Weavile! Put that momentum into Brick Break!”
The blur that was my Weavile stuck one paw out to its side, straightening its claws out. The paw glowed white, and Weavile jumped over Golem. “Weavile! Wea…VILE!” it screeched, as it’s attack connected, chopping down right on top of Golem. This was enough to halt the rocky giant in its tracks. But Roark had an ace up his sleeve.
“Now use Gyro Ball, Golem!” Golem, still in its shell, started spinning on its axis, glowing silver. Since Weavile was stood next to it, it took the full brunt of the steel attack, made more powerful by Weavile’s own speed.
“Weavile!” I shouted, concerned for my Pokémon, but my Sharp-Claw stood up, despite the damage it had just sustained. “You okay pal?” I asked.
“Wea!” it replied, nodding, getting into an attack stance at the same time.
“Alright then, use Ice Punch!” I ordered. Weavile made a fist, which glowed with a blue-white energy, before it socked Golem at close range. A crust of ice started to form over Golem, its weakness to ice-type attacks showing.
“Okay Dave, shall we take a break there?” asked Roark, recalling his Golem. I was surprised at this, but then remembered that this was just training, not an actual battle.
“Yeah, I guess. Come on Weavile.” I said. My dark-type walked over to me, and then we both walked over to Roark at the stands.
“I gotta say Dave, I’m impressed with your Weavile.” Roark said. “It’s not often I face Pokémon with type disadvantages and end up with a smarting loss.”
I chuckled at that, “Yeah, but it was mainly because Golem’s also a ground-type, meaning we were on equal ground really.” I said, trying to cushion his loss a bit. I fed Weavile some Pokémon food while we talked. It had earned it.
“So, are you happy with how your training’s going?” he asked me. I had started my circuit of visiting all of the gyms in Sinnoh, to train to counter their individual types. I was in Oreburgh Gym because it specialised in the rock-type, so I was training my new Rampardos and Aerodactyl, who were rock-types themselves, as well as Yanmega, Houndoom, Dragonite and Weavile, who were all weak to rock attacks.
“I think it’s going really well. I mean, training in isolation’s good and all, but I can’t really order my Pokémon to fight each other at full-force, can I? That would just be barbaric.” Roark nodded in agreement with my sentiment.
“Yeah, you’re right there. Well, you’re helping me learn new things as well. I would never have thought someone would teach a Houndoom SolarBeam, or a Yanmega Giga Drain.” he said, commenting on the steps I had taken with my Pokémon to counter their weaknesses in my personal training. “I’m also impressed with your own rock-types. I don’t usually see them alive.” Now he was talking about my fossil Pokémon, Rampardos and Aerodactyl. It was rare to see those species living in the modern age.
“You’re right, I know you see them all the time in the mines. I imagine they’re a bit skinnier than mine.” I joked, referring to the fossils that littered the coal seams around Oreburgh.
“So where’d you find them?” he queried, obviously extremely interested as to where living fossil Pokémon reside.
“Well,” I began, “You know Mount Coronet? I was training around the northern part of the range, and found this cave-”
“Excuse me, Roark?” a voice interrupted. I turned to see a guy stood behind me, around the same height and build as Roark and myself. He had long, dark green hair and wore a khaki shirt and trousers, with a darker green undershirt. I knew him as Ian, Roark’s assistant and gym battle judge.
“What’s up Ian?” asked Roark, clearly wanting to get back to where I found my rare Pokémon.
“You have a couple of new challengers for a Coal Badge,” said Ian. “I asked them to wait in the lobby while I went and got you.”
“Okay, I’ll be right out.” replied Roark. As Ian headed back toward the door, Roark turned to me. “Dave, is it alright if we leave the training for a while? As a Gym Leader, I have to take challenges from other trainers.” he stated.
I was a bit disappointed with this. After all, I was here to train and get stronger, along with my Pokémon. But part of me didn’t really mind. “Yeah, I suppose. I wouldn’t really mind seeing some new talent in action.” I responded.
I could tell Roark was happy with my selflessness, even if I wasn’t. “Alright then, you take a seat in the stands, I’m gonna go and meet my challengers!” he said enthusiastically. As he walked off I turned to my Weavile, which had finished its food.
“You were great Weavile, that Brick Break’s sure coming on well.” I praised it. My ice-type smiled at my compliment, and I pulled out its Pokéball. “You take a good rest now buddy.” I told it, as it was recalled into the device. I then went to take a seat in the stands, pulling a flask of water from my bag as I did so.
I took a swig of the refreshing liquid, and then looked up, hearing voices. Roark and Ian were leading a group of four people into the gym. First was a guy who looked to be in his early teens. He had dark purple hair, and wore grey trousers with a black and blue top, and similar colour shoes. He headed for the near end of the battlefield, obviously he was the first challenger.
The other three stood together, possible supporters of the first guy. There was a tall, tan boy with spiky hair who looked around 17-ish, a couple of years younger than myself. He was wearing pale grey khakis, a green shirt with an orange and black vest over it, and blue and white shoes. I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d met him somewhere before …
The person next to him was a girl, who looked about 10-11, definitely pre-teen. She was obviously shorter than the other three. She had pale skin, which was complimented by her long, dark blue hair. Her clothing was mainly made up of a black and pink mini-dress, along with a pink scarf, pink boots, and a white beanie on her head.
My eyes then wandered to the final member of the group, who reminded me a lot of my old ‘friend’ Alan. He seemed about the same age as the first guy, around early-mid teens. He wore jeans, red trainers and a white shirt with a black and yellow jacket over it. He also wore a red and black cap over his messy, black hair. However, his most noticeable feature was the Pikachu that was sat on his shoulder. There was something… different about him. I couldn’t place my finger on it, but it felt familiar, whatever it was.
I was sat in the middle of the stands, opposite the podium where Ian would stand to judge the battle. The group of three spotted me, and started walking my way. No doubt looking for someone to talk to while the match was getting ready to start. I didn’t mind, though I hadn’t really spoken to a lot of people since I re-started my training.
“Hey there.” I called, as they came closer. They all looked up at me as I said that, before replying.
“Hi,” said the taller guy, “is it alright if we come up and sit with you?”
“Sure.” I replied. They proceeded to walk up the steps and sit together in the row in front of me. After I while, I decided I would try to be polite by engaging them in conversation. “So, what brings you guys here?”
“Well, I’m here to challenge Roark, and win my first Sinnoh League Badge!” answered the younger boy, enthusiastically. He was obviously not a Sinnoh native, otherwise he’d have just referred to it as a ‘Gym Badge’.
“Good for you!” I replied, “I remember the first time I challenged this gym. Boy, was that ever a tough match. But where are my manners? The name’s Dave.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Ash, and this is my Pikachu.” he responded, indicating the electric-type in his lap. “These are my friends, Dawn and Brock.” The other two smiled as he introduced them.
I processed this new information. Ash… where had I heard that name before? While I was thinking about it, I turned to the guy he had introduced as Brock, now remembering where I had seen him before. “You’re Flint’s son, aren’t you?” I asked.
“Yeah, how did you know that?” He replied.
“I remember you, hanging around the Pewter Gym while my friends and I had our battles.” I answered. We were at the gym in Pewter City for almost a week, as Laura had to train her Charmander to get stronger before she could defeat Flint. I had noticed Brock helping out around the gym, taking care of the Pokémon. Of course, this was almost 10 years ago, so he was around 7 years old then, and extremely jealous of us being able to travel with Pokémon.
“Oh yeah, I recognise you now.” said Brock, “You managed to beat my father in about two minutes flat, didn’t you?” The other two looked at me, astounded.
“Well, it was only because I was using a grass-type and a water-type in the match.” I said, trying to downplay my first ever gym battle. It wasn’t my fault that it was two-on-two, and the only Pokémon I had were Bulbasaur and Poliwag. I now turned my attention to the girl, Dawn. “You… are… a co-ordinator, yes?” I asked, getting that vibe from her.
She nodded, “Yeah, I’m gonna be the best co-ordinator in the world!” she exclaimed, as enthusiastically as her friend. “How did you know?” she asked, obviously a bit confused.
“Let’s just say that most co-ordinators dress with a certain… flair about them.” I replied, commenting on her fashionable clothing. “So, how many ribbons have you won?” I asked, interested in how good she was.
“Well… I’m still a rookie… so none.” she explained, looking a bit downcast at that.
“Don’t worry Dawn, you’ll win one eventually!” Ash encouraged her. Dawn seemed to perk up at that.
“So what are you up to Dave?” Brock asked, “It seems a bit odd that you’d just be here at a gym without battling in it.”
“Well, before you guys turned up, I was doing some training with Roark.” I replied, slight annoyance in my voice, as I was still feeling a little sour from having it interrupted. “I’m planning to re-enter the Sinnoh League this year, so thought I’d hit the gyms, and get some training done.”
The group were a bit taken aback by my brashness. I attributed that to my isolated training, which had let my people skills go slack somewhat.
“So, you’ve entered it before?” asked Ash, clearly interested.
“Yeah, a few years ago. Got to the final as well, but just couldn’t win the whole thing.” I answered, not disappointed about that anymore. “But anyway, looks like your friend’s ready to start.” I indicated the centre of the gym, where Roark and the other trainer had moved to their respective ends of the battlefield. However, I was soon met with a scowl from Dawn.
“He’s not our friend,” she snapped, “we just know him from travelling.”
“Hey, come on.” put in Ash, “Paul’s not that bad. He just treats his Pokémon a little differently than us.” They obviously had a not-too-great history with this guy. “Anyway, let’s just sit back, I want to see how his match turns out.” he finished.
I looked toward the field, where Ian was outlining the rules of the battle. The usual, three-on-three, no subs from Roark. I sat back to watch, as Roark sent out his Geodude, and the trainer called Paul countered with his Azumarill…
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“Cranidos is unable to battle, Elekid wins! The victor is Paul!” declared Ian. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This guy was good. I was impressed with how he managed to win by teaching his Pokémon moves to counter their disadvantages, a bit like myself.
Yet at the same time, I felt disgusted with the way he treated his Pokémon. He showed no concern when his Pokémon were knocked out, he sent out a Chimchar despite Stealth Rock being in play, he even threatened his Elekid to ‘stay strong or else’. I heard from Ash, who was a lot more vocal about how Paul acted during the match than I was, that Paul regularly treated his Pokémon like this, and even released new captures if they didn’t know good attacks. This was the kind of trainer I swore I would never be.
Roark presented the purple-haired trainer with a Coal Badge, which I suppose he had earned. Paul then walked toward the door. I thought he would speak to the people he supposedly knew, but he didn’t. Instead, he walked over to me.
“You’re Dave, right?” he asked. I wondered how he knew me.
“Yeah, what of it?” I retorted. He didn’t even flinch at the purposefully rude way I phrased my response.
“Hey Paul, how do you know this guy?” asked Ash, who had walked over to us with the others. Paul gave him an incredulous look.
“You’re kidding right?” he queried, “I thought you were from Kanto. How stupid can you get?” The last part was said under his breath, but it was just loud enough.
“What do you mean ‘How stupid can you get’? And so what if I’m from Kanto?” enquired Ash, getting a bit angry now.
“You mean you don’t recognise him?” replied Paul, gesturing to me. “This guy is an Indigo League Champion!”
I saw Ash’s and Dawn’s eyes widen at this. I couldn’t tell so much with Brock, as his eyes seemed closed all the time anyway. “Well, I guess that explains a few things.” Ash muttered.
“So, as I was saying,” continued Paul, turning back to me, “would you battle me?”
I couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy. He’d just been through a gym battle! He hadn’t even gotten his Pokémon healed yet!
“Sorry Paul, but I’m going to have to decline your challenge.” I replied, coolly.
I saw his face begin to contort with anger at this. “What! Why on earth not? Give me one good reason…”
“I’ll do better than that,” I cut him off, “I’ll give you three reasons.” I started counting along on my fingers in the air. “1. My Pokémon are worn out from training. 2. Your Pokémon are worn out from your gym match. And 3. Even if both our Pokémon were at full strength, I saw the way you treated yours in the battle. There’s no way you could beat me. Besides,” I added, “I wouldn’t battle anyone who treats their Pokémon like that if I could possibly avoid it.”
Paul’s look of anger had grown, yet then subsided. He started walking away, muttering a “Yeah, whatever.” under his breath. As he reached the door, however, he was stopped by another voice.
“Paul! Where are you going?” shouted Ash. Paul turned to look at him impatience in his eyes. “Aren’t you going to stay and watch my battle?” Ash asked him. Paul smirked at this. “What’s so funny?” enquired Ash.
“That you want me to watch you lose.” stated Paul.
“WHAT?” shouted Ash, obviously hurt at this insult.
Dawn and Ash’s Pikachu jumped in between them at this. “Alright, time-out!” shouted Dawn, Pikachu copying her outstretched arm motions to keep the two apart. She then turned to Paul. “You’ve already battled Ash once, why not stay and watch?” she said, trying to appeal to his nice side. But I’d met this kind of trainer before, one who believed their Pokémon were nothing more than tools, things, for them to use, and I knew that if he even had a nice side, then it was very well hidden.
Paul gave Dawn a strange look. “What- what’s wrong?” she asked him, noticeably confused.
“‘What’s wrong?’ Who are you?” Paul replied, acting as if he’d never seen her before. Or, at least, never noticed her before…
“Excuse me Your Rudeness, but we met once before! The name’s Dawn!” she yelled at him. After my years in isolation, I was beginning to remember why you never pissed off a girl. Laura could act very similar sometimes…
“Don’t remember.” stated Paul, clearly not caring. He was pushing all the right buttons, and just like my former companion, that soon resulted in an exploding control panel…
“You think you’re funny, don’t ‘cha!” shouted Dawn, preparing to leap at him in a fury. Fortunately, Brock rushed forward to hold her back by the shoulders. She eventually calmed down, panting with rage.
I was almost cracking up at this, I hadn’t seen a good argument in a while. This was scarily similar to my old travelling days, Alan would say something to wind Laura up, and she would explode at him, causing me to have to hold her back. The only difference was that Paul wasn’t grinning insanely, whereas Alan would.
As I was fighting back the laughs, Roark walked up to the group, and turned to Paul. “You’re welcome to stay, if you want.”
Paul turned toward the door, “Nah, not worth my time.” he answered. And without another word, but another glare at me, he walked out of the gym. The others, as well as myself, relaxed at this.
Ash turned to the Gym Leader. “Well, whenever you’re ready Roark, I am!” he declared, confidently.
“Well…” began Roark, “Ash, would you mind terribly if we had our battle tomorrow? You know, my Pokémon and I just went thought some serious battling, and to tell you the truth, we’re exhausted!”
“I hear ya,” replied Ash, obviously a little put out, “but tomorrow’s just fine with me.” he finished, perking up a little.
“Great! Thank you Ash, I’ll look forward to it!” said Roark. “You go and get some more training in, and a good nights sleep, and I’ll see you then!”
“Okay! We’ll see you later Roark! And you too Dave!” Ash responded, he and his friends bid us farewell as they left the gym.
“Yeah, see you tomorrow guys.” I called back. As soon as Ash left, everything felt different, like a light was no longer on, or a loud sound system had been turned off. I didn’t want to dwell on it though, so I turned back to Roark. “So, back to training?”
He sighed. “Dave, come on! You saw how harsh that battle was! And all my other Pokémon are knackered from our training earlier! Plus, it’s getting late. We’d better call it a day.”
I was a bit disappointed with this, but realised he had a good point. Even in the mountains, I gave my Pokémon rests when they got worn out. “Fair enough, I’m gonna go set up my camp. See you tomorrow Roark.” I said, as I turned to leave the gym.
“Sure see you then Dave.” He replied. I smiled, before heading for the door. I was gonna get an early night, I didn’t want to sleep in and miss what promised to be an interesting match tomorrow…
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So Dave and Ash finally meet, even though Dave can't remember where he's heard of him. I cut the battle out, otherwise it would have dragged on, and turned into a FP version of the episode. Hope you all enjoyed it!
Dave
This is Speculum Aura. I will be posting on ff.net, which can be found in my profile, or if you're too lazy, here: www.fanfiction.net/~davethefishguy
I'm not sure whether I should continue posting here, as it only distracts people from reviewing on ff.net, according to review results for TSoA. I got 12 reviews, all but 4 being from Matt (cheers man). But if you guys want me to, I'll continue posting here. Thought that will NOT be frequent. Exams are coming up soon {hides from exams}
So here's Chapter 2, as I still think of TSoA being a very large Chapter 1. This marks the start of 'Year 10' of my Timeline.
Most of this chapter comes from the DP015 and DP016 episodes. Please tell me if you think I need to improve 'writing' certain characters.
And again, lots of thanks to Xaotl for helping me plan this. Cheers man!
Enjoy!
Dave
A Mirror of Yourself
“Golem! Use Rollout!” commanded the trainer across from me, as his rock behemoth withdrew its limbs into its shell, and started to move. I knew that Rollout started off slowly, but would pick up speed as time went on. I had to nip it in the bud.
“Aerial Ace!” I ordered. My Pokémon, a dark blue feline with red feathers adorning parts of its body, took off down the battlefield, occasionally disappearing from view. I saw my opponent shake his head at this. He had a similar appearance to myself, shoulder length hair, his slightly redder than my own, he wore glasses like mine, but he wore a grey, mine foreman’s uniform, topped with a red hard-hat.
“Honestly Dave, I’d thought you’d improved.” He called. “You should know that flying-type attacks won’t do much against my rock-types! Golem! Increase speed!” His Pokémon started rolling faster at this instruction.
“Who said anything about doing damage Roark?” I shouted back. His eyes widened at this, he would now be wondering what I was up to. “Now Weavile! Put that momentum into Brick Break!”
The blur that was my Weavile stuck one paw out to its side, straightening its claws out. The paw glowed white, and Weavile jumped over Golem. “Weavile! Wea…VILE!” it screeched, as it’s attack connected, chopping down right on top of Golem. This was enough to halt the rocky giant in its tracks. But Roark had an ace up his sleeve.
“Now use Gyro Ball, Golem!” Golem, still in its shell, started spinning on its axis, glowing silver. Since Weavile was stood next to it, it took the full brunt of the steel attack, made more powerful by Weavile’s own speed.
“Weavile!” I shouted, concerned for my Pokémon, but my Sharp-Claw stood up, despite the damage it had just sustained. “You okay pal?” I asked.
“Wea!” it replied, nodding, getting into an attack stance at the same time.
“Alright then, use Ice Punch!” I ordered. Weavile made a fist, which glowed with a blue-white energy, before it socked Golem at close range. A crust of ice started to form over Golem, its weakness to ice-type attacks showing.
“Okay Dave, shall we take a break there?” asked Roark, recalling his Golem. I was surprised at this, but then remembered that this was just training, not an actual battle.
“Yeah, I guess. Come on Weavile.” I said. My dark-type walked over to me, and then we both walked over to Roark at the stands.
“I gotta say Dave, I’m impressed with your Weavile.” Roark said. “It’s not often I face Pokémon with type disadvantages and end up with a smarting loss.”
I chuckled at that, “Yeah, but it was mainly because Golem’s also a ground-type, meaning we were on equal ground really.” I said, trying to cushion his loss a bit. I fed Weavile some Pokémon food while we talked. It had earned it.
“So, are you happy with how your training’s going?” he asked me. I had started my circuit of visiting all of the gyms in Sinnoh, to train to counter their individual types. I was in Oreburgh Gym because it specialised in the rock-type, so I was training my new Rampardos and Aerodactyl, who were rock-types themselves, as well as Yanmega, Houndoom, Dragonite and Weavile, who were all weak to rock attacks.
“I think it’s going really well. I mean, training in isolation’s good and all, but I can’t really order my Pokémon to fight each other at full-force, can I? That would just be barbaric.” Roark nodded in agreement with my sentiment.
“Yeah, you’re right there. Well, you’re helping me learn new things as well. I would never have thought someone would teach a Houndoom SolarBeam, or a Yanmega Giga Drain.” he said, commenting on the steps I had taken with my Pokémon to counter their weaknesses in my personal training. “I’m also impressed with your own rock-types. I don’t usually see them alive.” Now he was talking about my fossil Pokémon, Rampardos and Aerodactyl. It was rare to see those species living in the modern age.
“You’re right, I know you see them all the time in the mines. I imagine they’re a bit skinnier than mine.” I joked, referring to the fossils that littered the coal seams around Oreburgh.
“So where’d you find them?” he queried, obviously extremely interested as to where living fossil Pokémon reside.
“Well,” I began, “You know Mount Coronet? I was training around the northern part of the range, and found this cave-”
“Excuse me, Roark?” a voice interrupted. I turned to see a guy stood behind me, around the same height and build as Roark and myself. He had long, dark green hair and wore a khaki shirt and trousers, with a darker green undershirt. I knew him as Ian, Roark’s assistant and gym battle judge.
“What’s up Ian?” asked Roark, clearly wanting to get back to where I found my rare Pokémon.
“You have a couple of new challengers for a Coal Badge,” said Ian. “I asked them to wait in the lobby while I went and got you.”
“Okay, I’ll be right out.” replied Roark. As Ian headed back toward the door, Roark turned to me. “Dave, is it alright if we leave the training for a while? As a Gym Leader, I have to take challenges from other trainers.” he stated.
I was a bit disappointed with this. After all, I was here to train and get stronger, along with my Pokémon. But part of me didn’t really mind. “Yeah, I suppose. I wouldn’t really mind seeing some new talent in action.” I responded.
I could tell Roark was happy with my selflessness, even if I wasn’t. “Alright then, you take a seat in the stands, I’m gonna go and meet my challengers!” he said enthusiastically. As he walked off I turned to my Weavile, which had finished its food.
“You were great Weavile, that Brick Break’s sure coming on well.” I praised it. My ice-type smiled at my compliment, and I pulled out its Pokéball. “You take a good rest now buddy.” I told it, as it was recalled into the device. I then went to take a seat in the stands, pulling a flask of water from my bag as I did so.
I took a swig of the refreshing liquid, and then looked up, hearing voices. Roark and Ian were leading a group of four people into the gym. First was a guy who looked to be in his early teens. He had dark purple hair, and wore grey trousers with a black and blue top, and similar colour shoes. He headed for the near end of the battlefield, obviously he was the first challenger.
The other three stood together, possible supporters of the first guy. There was a tall, tan boy with spiky hair who looked around 17-ish, a couple of years younger than myself. He was wearing pale grey khakis, a green shirt with an orange and black vest over it, and blue and white shoes. I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d met him somewhere before …
The person next to him was a girl, who looked about 10-11, definitely pre-teen. She was obviously shorter than the other three. She had pale skin, which was complimented by her long, dark blue hair. Her clothing was mainly made up of a black and pink mini-dress, along with a pink scarf, pink boots, and a white beanie on her head.
My eyes then wandered to the final member of the group, who reminded me a lot of my old ‘friend’ Alan. He seemed about the same age as the first guy, around early-mid teens. He wore jeans, red trainers and a white shirt with a black and yellow jacket over it. He also wore a red and black cap over his messy, black hair. However, his most noticeable feature was the Pikachu that was sat on his shoulder. There was something… different about him. I couldn’t place my finger on it, but it felt familiar, whatever it was.
I was sat in the middle of the stands, opposite the podium where Ian would stand to judge the battle. The group of three spotted me, and started walking my way. No doubt looking for someone to talk to while the match was getting ready to start. I didn’t mind, though I hadn’t really spoken to a lot of people since I re-started my training.
“Hey there.” I called, as they came closer. They all looked up at me as I said that, before replying.
“Hi,” said the taller guy, “is it alright if we come up and sit with you?”
“Sure.” I replied. They proceeded to walk up the steps and sit together in the row in front of me. After I while, I decided I would try to be polite by engaging them in conversation. “So, what brings you guys here?”
“Well, I’m here to challenge Roark, and win my first Sinnoh League Badge!” answered the younger boy, enthusiastically. He was obviously not a Sinnoh native, otherwise he’d have just referred to it as a ‘Gym Badge’.
“Good for you!” I replied, “I remember the first time I challenged this gym. Boy, was that ever a tough match. But where are my manners? The name’s Dave.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Ash, and this is my Pikachu.” he responded, indicating the electric-type in his lap. “These are my friends, Dawn and Brock.” The other two smiled as he introduced them.
I processed this new information. Ash… where had I heard that name before? While I was thinking about it, I turned to the guy he had introduced as Brock, now remembering where I had seen him before. “You’re Flint’s son, aren’t you?” I asked.
“Yeah, how did you know that?” He replied.
“I remember you, hanging around the Pewter Gym while my friends and I had our battles.” I answered. We were at the gym in Pewter City for almost a week, as Laura had to train her Charmander to get stronger before she could defeat Flint. I had noticed Brock helping out around the gym, taking care of the Pokémon. Of course, this was almost 10 years ago, so he was around 7 years old then, and extremely jealous of us being able to travel with Pokémon.
“Oh yeah, I recognise you now.” said Brock, “You managed to beat my father in about two minutes flat, didn’t you?” The other two looked at me, astounded.
“Well, it was only because I was using a grass-type and a water-type in the match.” I said, trying to downplay my first ever gym battle. It wasn’t my fault that it was two-on-two, and the only Pokémon I had were Bulbasaur and Poliwag. I now turned my attention to the girl, Dawn. “You… are… a co-ordinator, yes?” I asked, getting that vibe from her.
She nodded, “Yeah, I’m gonna be the best co-ordinator in the world!” she exclaimed, as enthusiastically as her friend. “How did you know?” she asked, obviously a bit confused.
“Let’s just say that most co-ordinators dress with a certain… flair about them.” I replied, commenting on her fashionable clothing. “So, how many ribbons have you won?” I asked, interested in how good she was.
“Well… I’m still a rookie… so none.” she explained, looking a bit downcast at that.
“Don’t worry Dawn, you’ll win one eventually!” Ash encouraged her. Dawn seemed to perk up at that.
“So what are you up to Dave?” Brock asked, “It seems a bit odd that you’d just be here at a gym without battling in it.”
“Well, before you guys turned up, I was doing some training with Roark.” I replied, slight annoyance in my voice, as I was still feeling a little sour from having it interrupted. “I’m planning to re-enter the Sinnoh League this year, so thought I’d hit the gyms, and get some training done.”
The group were a bit taken aback by my brashness. I attributed that to my isolated training, which had let my people skills go slack somewhat.
“So, you’ve entered it before?” asked Ash, clearly interested.
“Yeah, a few years ago. Got to the final as well, but just couldn’t win the whole thing.” I answered, not disappointed about that anymore. “But anyway, looks like your friend’s ready to start.” I indicated the centre of the gym, where Roark and the other trainer had moved to their respective ends of the battlefield. However, I was soon met with a scowl from Dawn.
“He’s not our friend,” she snapped, “we just know him from travelling.”
“Hey, come on.” put in Ash, “Paul’s not that bad. He just treats his Pokémon a little differently than us.” They obviously had a not-too-great history with this guy. “Anyway, let’s just sit back, I want to see how his match turns out.” he finished.
I looked toward the field, where Ian was outlining the rules of the battle. The usual, three-on-three, no subs from Roark. I sat back to watch, as Roark sent out his Geodude, and the trainer called Paul countered with his Azumarill…
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“Cranidos is unable to battle, Elekid wins! The victor is Paul!” declared Ian. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This guy was good. I was impressed with how he managed to win by teaching his Pokémon moves to counter their disadvantages, a bit like myself.
Yet at the same time, I felt disgusted with the way he treated his Pokémon. He showed no concern when his Pokémon were knocked out, he sent out a Chimchar despite Stealth Rock being in play, he even threatened his Elekid to ‘stay strong or else’. I heard from Ash, who was a lot more vocal about how Paul acted during the match than I was, that Paul regularly treated his Pokémon like this, and even released new captures if they didn’t know good attacks. This was the kind of trainer I swore I would never be.
Roark presented the purple-haired trainer with a Coal Badge, which I suppose he had earned. Paul then walked toward the door. I thought he would speak to the people he supposedly knew, but he didn’t. Instead, he walked over to me.
“You’re Dave, right?” he asked. I wondered how he knew me.
“Yeah, what of it?” I retorted. He didn’t even flinch at the purposefully rude way I phrased my response.
“Hey Paul, how do you know this guy?” asked Ash, who had walked over to us with the others. Paul gave him an incredulous look.
“You’re kidding right?” he queried, “I thought you were from Kanto. How stupid can you get?” The last part was said under his breath, but it was just loud enough.
“What do you mean ‘How stupid can you get’? And so what if I’m from Kanto?” enquired Ash, getting a bit angry now.
“You mean you don’t recognise him?” replied Paul, gesturing to me. “This guy is an Indigo League Champion!”
I saw Ash’s and Dawn’s eyes widen at this. I couldn’t tell so much with Brock, as his eyes seemed closed all the time anyway. “Well, I guess that explains a few things.” Ash muttered.
“So, as I was saying,” continued Paul, turning back to me, “would you battle me?”
I couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy. He’d just been through a gym battle! He hadn’t even gotten his Pokémon healed yet!
“Sorry Paul, but I’m going to have to decline your challenge.” I replied, coolly.
I saw his face begin to contort with anger at this. “What! Why on earth not? Give me one good reason…”
“I’ll do better than that,” I cut him off, “I’ll give you three reasons.” I started counting along on my fingers in the air. “1. My Pokémon are worn out from training. 2. Your Pokémon are worn out from your gym match. And 3. Even if both our Pokémon were at full strength, I saw the way you treated yours in the battle. There’s no way you could beat me. Besides,” I added, “I wouldn’t battle anyone who treats their Pokémon like that if I could possibly avoid it.”
Paul’s look of anger had grown, yet then subsided. He started walking away, muttering a “Yeah, whatever.” under his breath. As he reached the door, however, he was stopped by another voice.
“Paul! Where are you going?” shouted Ash. Paul turned to look at him impatience in his eyes. “Aren’t you going to stay and watch my battle?” Ash asked him. Paul smirked at this. “What’s so funny?” enquired Ash.
“That you want me to watch you lose.” stated Paul.
“WHAT?” shouted Ash, obviously hurt at this insult.
Dawn and Ash’s Pikachu jumped in between them at this. “Alright, time-out!” shouted Dawn, Pikachu copying her outstretched arm motions to keep the two apart. She then turned to Paul. “You’ve already battled Ash once, why not stay and watch?” she said, trying to appeal to his nice side. But I’d met this kind of trainer before, one who believed their Pokémon were nothing more than tools, things, for them to use, and I knew that if he even had a nice side, then it was very well hidden.
Paul gave Dawn a strange look. “What- what’s wrong?” she asked him, noticeably confused.
“‘What’s wrong?’ Who are you?” Paul replied, acting as if he’d never seen her before. Or, at least, never noticed her before…
“Excuse me Your Rudeness, but we met once before! The name’s Dawn!” she yelled at him. After my years in isolation, I was beginning to remember why you never pissed off a girl. Laura could act very similar sometimes…
“Don’t remember.” stated Paul, clearly not caring. He was pushing all the right buttons, and just like my former companion, that soon resulted in an exploding control panel…
“You think you’re funny, don’t ‘cha!” shouted Dawn, preparing to leap at him in a fury. Fortunately, Brock rushed forward to hold her back by the shoulders. She eventually calmed down, panting with rage.
I was almost cracking up at this, I hadn’t seen a good argument in a while. This was scarily similar to my old travelling days, Alan would say something to wind Laura up, and she would explode at him, causing me to have to hold her back. The only difference was that Paul wasn’t grinning insanely, whereas Alan would.
As I was fighting back the laughs, Roark walked up to the group, and turned to Paul. “You’re welcome to stay, if you want.”
Paul turned toward the door, “Nah, not worth my time.” he answered. And without another word, but another glare at me, he walked out of the gym. The others, as well as myself, relaxed at this.
Ash turned to the Gym Leader. “Well, whenever you’re ready Roark, I am!” he declared, confidently.
“Well…” began Roark, “Ash, would you mind terribly if we had our battle tomorrow? You know, my Pokémon and I just went thought some serious battling, and to tell you the truth, we’re exhausted!”
“I hear ya,” replied Ash, obviously a little put out, “but tomorrow’s just fine with me.” he finished, perking up a little.
“Great! Thank you Ash, I’ll look forward to it!” said Roark. “You go and get some more training in, and a good nights sleep, and I’ll see you then!”
“Okay! We’ll see you later Roark! And you too Dave!” Ash responded, he and his friends bid us farewell as they left the gym.
“Yeah, see you tomorrow guys.” I called back. As soon as Ash left, everything felt different, like a light was no longer on, or a loud sound system had been turned off. I didn’t want to dwell on it though, so I turned back to Roark. “So, back to training?”
He sighed. “Dave, come on! You saw how harsh that battle was! And all my other Pokémon are knackered from our training earlier! Plus, it’s getting late. We’d better call it a day.”
I was a bit disappointed with this, but realised he had a good point. Even in the mountains, I gave my Pokémon rests when they got worn out. “Fair enough, I’m gonna go set up my camp. See you tomorrow Roark.” I said, as I turned to leave the gym.
“Sure see you then Dave.” He replied. I smiled, before heading for the door. I was gonna get an early night, I didn’t want to sleep in and miss what promised to be an interesting match tomorrow…
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So Dave and Ash finally meet, even though Dave can't remember where he's heard of him. I cut the battle out, otherwise it would have dragged on, and turned into a FP version of the episode. Hope you all enjoyed it!
Dave
