Pokémon battle time this chapter, folks! We also get a cameo from one of the coolest characters in the animé. Well, two, I guess. But one's all in "uber sekritlike unclearlike" writing.
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The large cat focused harder on the concentration of thoughts. While many kilometres away, it was able to focus just as well as if it were only a few metres away. In any case, the level of tension had risen.
“No, I can’t interfere,” the cat thought to itself. “The others interfered in society and brought only pain to themselves. Not unless they succeed.”
It continued focusing on the collection of thoughts, not even stopping when it was forced to eat. It would be forced to act soon. It had considered acting before, when it had noticed almost a thousand minds being changed in a short time span, but had opted against it. This time, it would react.
To Sam, David being in a non-depressing mood for any protracted period of time was something to be regarded with fear.
“The finals,” he said. “I’m actually in the finals!”
“You are?” Sam said sarcastically, finding herself snapping. She felt bad ruining David’s mood. “You’ve only told me once or twice a minute the entire day!”
David’s face went back to its usual depressed demeanour. “Oh. Well, you know, I can, like, take a hint and stuff, you know.”
David started to walk away slowly. Sam caught up to him. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t really mean that.”
David didn’t stop walking. “No, you did,” he said, his voice surprisingly even.
Frustrated, Sam turned away and found herself fuming.
David stood outside the elevators to the duelling arenas for the next two or three hours until the finals, going over his last discussion with Sam in his head. He wasn’t a stranger to depression, usually, although this one felt a bit different. Normally he was able to push aside his depressed feelings when he needed to, and work them out later, but this time he was unable to.
The PA called for the two finalists to come to the arena, and David walked into and took the elevator with the same depressed detachment from anxiety and fear that he was used to.
“It’s on me now,” David said quietly to himself, even he not knowing quite what he meant.
Stepping into the arena, he looked at his opponent, trying to remember where he’d seen him before. Oh yes, that was it, his opponent was Gary Oak, the only famous trainer to come out of Pallet since his grandfather Samuel Oak had become a Professor.
Gary stood in the trainer’s box on the floor with a determined look on his face as he called out his first Pokémon. “Blastoise, go!”
David picked the first Pokémon on his registered list that came to mind. “Dusclops, go!”
“Blastoise, Hydro Pump it!”
Blastoise’s face betrayed the extra effort it had to make to simply move in Dusclops’ presence, but it shot two high-pressure streams at the ghost despite the mental pressure it was facing.
David tentatively reached out to Gary psychically, hoping to pick up some glimmer of his opponent’s strategy, but retreated as Sam’s words came to mind again. No, he’d only snap again. “Dusclops,” he called, “use Will-of-the-Wisp!”
Dusclops’ hands engulfed themselves in flames as the ghost moves its hands about in a strangely hypnotic fashion. Flames trailed out of its hands and hit Blastoise, burn marks appearing on the turtle’s shell. Blastoise grunted from the additional effort it had to make to move, let alone attack.
“Hydro Pump again!” Gary shouted, a hint of franticness in his voice.
The turtle complied and Dusclops slumped into the ground, wispy.
David swore, he mentally kicked himself as he realised how accidentally loudly he’d swore, and switched to Nidoking. “Nidoking, Earthquake!”
Gary and David both stumbled and lost their balance, but Blastoise took much more from the impact and fell. Gary nodded grimly at David as he sent out Alakazam to replace Blastoise.
Alakazam’s eyes flickered with surprise as it shifted its mental gaze at David, but it focused on Nidoking almost instantly, wary of the beast despite the natural advantage it had.
“Nidoking, quickly Horn Drill it!” David called, knowing Nidoking’s poison element gave it a severe disadvantage. Perhaps this was the only attack Nidoking would get, David didn’t know and thus had to take a gamble.
Nidoking’s horn began to swirl with a reddish aura as it ran towards Alakazam. The psychic was frozen in place with surprise as it brought its spoons up in front of its face protectively. Nidoking jumped at Alakazam, its spinning horn barely missing Alakazam’s thin frame.
Gary smiled. “Psychic attack!”
Nidoking had fallen from overbalancing due to the Horn Drill, and was hit before it could stand up again. It didn’t stand up again.
David sent out his last Pokémon, Charizard. “Charizard, Wing Attack it! Now!”
Charizard wasted no time flapping its powerful wings and flying at Alakazam.
“Quickly deflect it!” Gary shouted.
Alakazam’s eyes glowed as it raised its spoons and pointed them at Charizard. It violently threw down its arms and Charizard hit the ground hard.
Gary’s eyes widened as he realised the opening he’d just given Charizard.
David faltered with the sudden and unavoidable burst of emotion from Gary. He focused on it but retreated psychically again. He kicked himself for his error, but then he saw the amount of time he was taking.
“Charizard, Fire Bl—” David shouted, but he was too late. Alakazam had blasted Charizard out of the arena.
The ref raised his flag towards Gary. “The winner by ring out is Gary Oak!”
Sam couldn’t quite find the words to describe her feelings as she saw David lose on the screen. It was as if the crowded room was suddenly empty except for her. Somehow, she wasn’t sure how, she knew her harsh words were responsible for David’s complete indecisiveness and lack of confidence throughout the battle.
David stepped out of the elevator and into the main viewing room, looking past the large group of people and finding Sam instantly.
“David, I’m so sorry, I…” Sam started, but David held up his hand in a silencing manner.
“Don’t be,” David said. “It was my fault I lost.”
“No, it was mine, if I hadn’t…”
David sighed loudly, just to get Sam’s attention so she’d stop talking, and turned and left. One of these days he’d have to explain to her that his chief method of dealing with his seemingly constant depression was that he—selfishly, he knew—acknowledged that everything happening to him was somehow his responsibility, and that he was the one having to work around it. He knew that if he explained it, people who thought they meant well would get him “help”, but David saw that when he’d worked through any single cause of depression, the cause never did anything to him again, which was quite effective.
Now, if only the causes would stop multiplying, David mused sourly.
The sun blinded David temporarily as he stepped outside. Now what? he thought to himself. Battle Tower was done for a while, and no Leagues looked interesting. Not like Sam would run the Neo League with him anyhow. This wasn’t a depressing thought, just a matter-of-fact thought. Her brother, Alex, had asked her before going with that other guy, Tschel he thought his name was, and she’d turned him down citing lack of skill as her reason.
“Eckol, Eckol, Eckol,” Marril chanted quietly while on the train. Not used to speaking English, she’d repeated the name of the next closest city in the League at first experimentally because of its sound, keeping it up now only because it annoyed Tschel.
“Stop that,” Tschel complained, his hands over his face in exasperation.
Marril didn’t annoy Tschel out of any malicious feelings, and went out of her way not to whenever Tschel was with Alex and seriously not wanting to be annoyed, but by himself, he felt Marril’s full annoyingness. It was fun to annoy him, and even more fun when he rose to the bait.
Alex, for the most part, ignored this. He’d stop Marril whenever she got out of hand, but left the Orthan Pokémon to her annoying devices nine times out of ten, or so.
“How much longer?” Tschel whined.
Alex glanced at the clock. They weren’t on a bullet train and thus were quite slower than they’d have been on one. Eckol was, however, several hundred kilometres from the closest League city, so the fastest way to one was on one of the slower, older trains. That wasn’t exactly true, as the fastest way was to fly, but that wasn’t in Alex and Tschel’s budget.
“Still two hours,” Alex said evenly and boredly. “Same as it was a minute ago.”
Tschel gave Alex an exaggeratedly pathetic look that asked it all.
“Marril, I think he’s had enough,” Alex said.
“Oh fine,” Marril said lightly, getting up to go to the food cart.
The compartment they were in was empty except for them, although that was because they technically weren’t supposed to be in there. It wasn’t one of the main passenger compartments; it was a spare one because the train was under booked. Nobody had extricated them, though, so they stayed.
Tschel got up and moved beside Alex. “I’m completely serious,” he said, his voice cracking a little, and he wasn’t exaggerating anything, “she’s just too much. I can’t take her.”
Alex hugged Tschel comfortingly. “I can tell. I’ll talk to her, okay? She’s really gotten to you that badly, eh?”
Tschel sat up straight suddenly. “I’m not the type to be gotten to that easily, but… well… er… okay, yes, she has.”
Alex laughed and put his arm around Tschel’s shoulders. “Hey, remember, I love you. I’m not about to let Marril send you to the nuthouse or anything.”
“Hey, yo, I’m ba…” Marril said, opening the door to the compartment with her back because her arms were full of snacks. She stopped in mid-stride and looked surprisingly at Alex and Tschel, who were a bit closer than when she’d left. “Eh, whatever.” (No they aren’t doing anything worse than I’d already written, get yer heads out of the gutter. –The Great And Powerful Author)
Marril walked to the opposite end of the compartment and started eating. She ate quickly and in great quantity, stopping occasionally to glance at Alex and Tschel and chuckle to herself before going back to eating. When she’d finished, she laid back in her seat and fell asleep.
Tschel growled. “She’s even annoying in her sleep. Hear that snoring? I swear she’s doing it just to annoy me.”
“Now you’re being an idiot,” Alex said.
“You say that now,” Tschel said in mock offence mixed with mock paranoia, “but when I’m in the corner gibbering to myself because of her, you’ll see.”
Alex blinked and replied with his own mock surprise, “You mean that gibbering madly in your sleep’s intentional?”
“My intelligence is lowered just by being around you two,” Tschel muttered jokingly.
“Actually, I think Marril’s a lot smarter than she lets on,” Alex said, serious. In truth, he’d noticed Marril’s annoyances were more out of boredom than any other likely cause. It was probably due to her heightened intelligence, no thanks to Team Rocket. Her intelligence seemed to surpass the average human’s, although Tschel would claim its non-use.
“Well then she should realise that me, greater-than-sign, her,” Tschel sighed.
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Yep, that's it for this week, folks. You gotta feel sorry for David, thinks he'll go crazy again if he psychics anything and to top it off he gets owned into next week. Hope it wasn't too painfully obvious who the cat I've been referring to off and on throughout SS is, but it's pretty obvious you only have two choices. Next chapter goes up when it goes up. Until then, remember that Orthan Pokémon when hyper get very annoying.
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The large cat focused harder on the concentration of thoughts. While many kilometres away, it was able to focus just as well as if it were only a few metres away. In any case, the level of tension had risen.
“No, I can’t interfere,” the cat thought to itself. “The others interfered in society and brought only pain to themselves. Not unless they succeed.”
It continued focusing on the collection of thoughts, not even stopping when it was forced to eat. It would be forced to act soon. It had considered acting before, when it had noticed almost a thousand minds being changed in a short time span, but had opted against it. This time, it would react.
To Sam, David being in a non-depressing mood for any protracted period of time was something to be regarded with fear.
“The finals,” he said. “I’m actually in the finals!”
“You are?” Sam said sarcastically, finding herself snapping. She felt bad ruining David’s mood. “You’ve only told me once or twice a minute the entire day!”
David’s face went back to its usual depressed demeanour. “Oh. Well, you know, I can, like, take a hint and stuff, you know.”
David started to walk away slowly. Sam caught up to him. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t really mean that.”
David didn’t stop walking. “No, you did,” he said, his voice surprisingly even.
Frustrated, Sam turned away and found herself fuming.
David stood outside the elevators to the duelling arenas for the next two or three hours until the finals, going over his last discussion with Sam in his head. He wasn’t a stranger to depression, usually, although this one felt a bit different. Normally he was able to push aside his depressed feelings when he needed to, and work them out later, but this time he was unable to.
The PA called for the two finalists to come to the arena, and David walked into and took the elevator with the same depressed detachment from anxiety and fear that he was used to.
“It’s on me now,” David said quietly to himself, even he not knowing quite what he meant.
Stepping into the arena, he looked at his opponent, trying to remember where he’d seen him before. Oh yes, that was it, his opponent was Gary Oak, the only famous trainer to come out of Pallet since his grandfather Samuel Oak had become a Professor.
Gary stood in the trainer’s box on the floor with a determined look on his face as he called out his first Pokémon. “Blastoise, go!”
David picked the first Pokémon on his registered list that came to mind. “Dusclops, go!”
“Blastoise, Hydro Pump it!”
Blastoise’s face betrayed the extra effort it had to make to simply move in Dusclops’ presence, but it shot two high-pressure streams at the ghost despite the mental pressure it was facing.
David tentatively reached out to Gary psychically, hoping to pick up some glimmer of his opponent’s strategy, but retreated as Sam’s words came to mind again. No, he’d only snap again. “Dusclops,” he called, “use Will-of-the-Wisp!”
Dusclops’ hands engulfed themselves in flames as the ghost moves its hands about in a strangely hypnotic fashion. Flames trailed out of its hands and hit Blastoise, burn marks appearing on the turtle’s shell. Blastoise grunted from the additional effort it had to make to move, let alone attack.
“Hydro Pump again!” Gary shouted, a hint of franticness in his voice.
The turtle complied and Dusclops slumped into the ground, wispy.
David swore, he mentally kicked himself as he realised how accidentally loudly he’d swore, and switched to Nidoking. “Nidoking, Earthquake!”
Gary and David both stumbled and lost their balance, but Blastoise took much more from the impact and fell. Gary nodded grimly at David as he sent out Alakazam to replace Blastoise.
Alakazam’s eyes flickered with surprise as it shifted its mental gaze at David, but it focused on Nidoking almost instantly, wary of the beast despite the natural advantage it had.
“Nidoking, quickly Horn Drill it!” David called, knowing Nidoking’s poison element gave it a severe disadvantage. Perhaps this was the only attack Nidoking would get, David didn’t know and thus had to take a gamble.
Nidoking’s horn began to swirl with a reddish aura as it ran towards Alakazam. The psychic was frozen in place with surprise as it brought its spoons up in front of its face protectively. Nidoking jumped at Alakazam, its spinning horn barely missing Alakazam’s thin frame.
Gary smiled. “Psychic attack!”
Nidoking had fallen from overbalancing due to the Horn Drill, and was hit before it could stand up again. It didn’t stand up again.
David sent out his last Pokémon, Charizard. “Charizard, Wing Attack it! Now!”
Charizard wasted no time flapping its powerful wings and flying at Alakazam.
“Quickly deflect it!” Gary shouted.
Alakazam’s eyes glowed as it raised its spoons and pointed them at Charizard. It violently threw down its arms and Charizard hit the ground hard.
Gary’s eyes widened as he realised the opening he’d just given Charizard.
David faltered with the sudden and unavoidable burst of emotion from Gary. He focused on it but retreated psychically again. He kicked himself for his error, but then he saw the amount of time he was taking.
“Charizard, Fire Bl—” David shouted, but he was too late. Alakazam had blasted Charizard out of the arena.
The ref raised his flag towards Gary. “The winner by ring out is Gary Oak!”
Sam couldn’t quite find the words to describe her feelings as she saw David lose on the screen. It was as if the crowded room was suddenly empty except for her. Somehow, she wasn’t sure how, she knew her harsh words were responsible for David’s complete indecisiveness and lack of confidence throughout the battle.
David stepped out of the elevator and into the main viewing room, looking past the large group of people and finding Sam instantly.
“David, I’m so sorry, I…” Sam started, but David held up his hand in a silencing manner.
“Don’t be,” David said. “It was my fault I lost.”
“No, it was mine, if I hadn’t…”
David sighed loudly, just to get Sam’s attention so she’d stop talking, and turned and left. One of these days he’d have to explain to her that his chief method of dealing with his seemingly constant depression was that he—selfishly, he knew—acknowledged that everything happening to him was somehow his responsibility, and that he was the one having to work around it. He knew that if he explained it, people who thought they meant well would get him “help”, but David saw that when he’d worked through any single cause of depression, the cause never did anything to him again, which was quite effective.
Now, if only the causes would stop multiplying, David mused sourly.
The sun blinded David temporarily as he stepped outside. Now what? he thought to himself. Battle Tower was done for a while, and no Leagues looked interesting. Not like Sam would run the Neo League with him anyhow. This wasn’t a depressing thought, just a matter-of-fact thought. Her brother, Alex, had asked her before going with that other guy, Tschel he thought his name was, and she’d turned him down citing lack of skill as her reason.
“Eckol, Eckol, Eckol,” Marril chanted quietly while on the train. Not used to speaking English, she’d repeated the name of the next closest city in the League at first experimentally because of its sound, keeping it up now only because it annoyed Tschel.
“Stop that,” Tschel complained, his hands over his face in exasperation.
Marril didn’t annoy Tschel out of any malicious feelings, and went out of her way not to whenever Tschel was with Alex and seriously not wanting to be annoyed, but by himself, he felt Marril’s full annoyingness. It was fun to annoy him, and even more fun when he rose to the bait.
Alex, for the most part, ignored this. He’d stop Marril whenever she got out of hand, but left the Orthan Pokémon to her annoying devices nine times out of ten, or so.
“How much longer?” Tschel whined.
Alex glanced at the clock. They weren’t on a bullet train and thus were quite slower than they’d have been on one. Eckol was, however, several hundred kilometres from the closest League city, so the fastest way to one was on one of the slower, older trains. That wasn’t exactly true, as the fastest way was to fly, but that wasn’t in Alex and Tschel’s budget.
“Still two hours,” Alex said evenly and boredly. “Same as it was a minute ago.”
Tschel gave Alex an exaggeratedly pathetic look that asked it all.
“Marril, I think he’s had enough,” Alex said.
“Oh fine,” Marril said lightly, getting up to go to the food cart.
The compartment they were in was empty except for them, although that was because they technically weren’t supposed to be in there. It wasn’t one of the main passenger compartments; it was a spare one because the train was under booked. Nobody had extricated them, though, so they stayed.
Tschel got up and moved beside Alex. “I’m completely serious,” he said, his voice cracking a little, and he wasn’t exaggerating anything, “she’s just too much. I can’t take her.”
Alex hugged Tschel comfortingly. “I can tell. I’ll talk to her, okay? She’s really gotten to you that badly, eh?”
Tschel sat up straight suddenly. “I’m not the type to be gotten to that easily, but… well… er… okay, yes, she has.”
Alex laughed and put his arm around Tschel’s shoulders. “Hey, remember, I love you. I’m not about to let Marril send you to the nuthouse or anything.”
“Hey, yo, I’m ba…” Marril said, opening the door to the compartment with her back because her arms were full of snacks. She stopped in mid-stride and looked surprisingly at Alex and Tschel, who were a bit closer than when she’d left. “Eh, whatever.” (No they aren’t doing anything worse than I’d already written, get yer heads out of the gutter. –The Great And Powerful Author)
Marril walked to the opposite end of the compartment and started eating. She ate quickly and in great quantity, stopping occasionally to glance at Alex and Tschel and chuckle to herself before going back to eating. When she’d finished, she laid back in her seat and fell asleep.
Tschel growled. “She’s even annoying in her sleep. Hear that snoring? I swear she’s doing it just to annoy me.”
“Now you’re being an idiot,” Alex said.
“You say that now,” Tschel said in mock offence mixed with mock paranoia, “but when I’m in the corner gibbering to myself because of her, you’ll see.”
Alex blinked and replied with his own mock surprise, “You mean that gibbering madly in your sleep’s intentional?”
“My intelligence is lowered just by being around you two,” Tschel muttered jokingly.
“Actually, I think Marril’s a lot smarter than she lets on,” Alex said, serious. In truth, he’d noticed Marril’s annoyances were more out of boredom than any other likely cause. It was probably due to her heightened intelligence, no thanks to Team Rocket. Her intelligence seemed to surpass the average human’s, although Tschel would claim its non-use.
“Well then she should realise that me, greater-than-sign, her,” Tschel sighed.
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Yep, that's it for this week, folks. You gotta feel sorry for David, thinks he'll go crazy again if he psychics anything and to top it off he gets owned into next week. Hope it wasn't too painfully obvious who the cat I've been referring to off and on throughout SS is, but it's pretty obvious you only have two choices. Next chapter goes up when it goes up. Until then, remember that Orthan Pokémon when hyper get very annoying.
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