Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Boundless Sky ❯ Effective! Suspicious Team in the Tunnel! ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5
Effective! Suspicious Team in the Tunnel!

"No! Slakit!" Elyssa shouted. His Slakoth rolled over onto its back, looking more contented than pained. "All right, you win."

"Yay!" Chiori gave a leap of joy. "Isis, you were great!"

Her first pokémon pounced her, nearly knocking Chiori off her feet. Isis's back, legs, and tail were now covered in lustrous black fur, and her head came up to Chiori's chest: she had recently evolved into a Mightyena.

Chiori giggled as Isis licked her face, but looked up when Elyssa sighed. "He only follows orders half the time," he said. "Maybe because I traded for him? And he doesn't know me that well?"

Chiori smiled sympathetically. "Could be. I have a pokémon from a trade, too, and she's pretty nervous around me."

"What should I do?"

"Just treat him well and be patient, I suppose. He'll learn to trust you."

Elyssa beamed. "Okay!"

Chiori grinned at her young neighbor and scratched the fur behind Isis's ears.

As she returned home for lunch, her mom called her into the den. Mrs. Rougan was seated at the video phone, and Chiori gasped with delight as she noticed her brother's face on the screen. "Hi, Midori!" she greeted him eagerly, leaning into view.

"A fine afternoon to you, little sister," he said floridly, flashing his white teeth. "I was calling for you, actually."

"Really?" Mrs. Rougan handed her the phone and left the room.

"Did you get your graduation present?"

"Yes!" Chiori squealed. She pulled the gift from the front pocket of her pants: a pokédex. At her graduation, she'd informed her parents she wanted to go on a trainer's journey. They happily bought her potions and pokéballs, but must have suggested the pokédex to Midori. "Thank you so much!" she gushed to him.

"You're quite welcome. Are you all set?"

"Just about! Isis evolved, and Malik's wound is mostly healed now. He'll be ready for some serious battling."

"Who's Malik?"

Sadly, Chiori realized that she hadn't talked to her brother since he'd helped her catch Isis. "He's my Mawile. Roxanne and I went to Granite Cave, and I saved him. Oh! And I met someone at the trainers' academy who practically gave me a Ralts! I just caught a random Wurmple, which he set free." She paused to catch her breath.

"Wow, you've done a lot," Midori said.

Chiori was quiet, thinking about that adventurous day with Roxanne, the last time she'd had fun with her. "Yeah," she said softly. She tossed her hair and gave Midori a smile.

"So when do you think you're leaving?"

"Any day now, I suppose. There's just one more thing I want to do..."

Chiori was pleased to see that Kouta had replied to her email, agreeing to meet up with her for a battle. He even offered to accompany her as far as Mauville, should she be starting on her journey. Since reading his proposal, Chiori had been rushing around the house, packing and unpacking as she changed her mind about what to take every hour. One blanket felt too light, but summer was fast approaching. Should she take two or three changes of clothes? She could only fit so much into her backpack. Pokémon centers would provide meals, but should she pack dried fruit for snacks?

On the morning of her departure, her mother fixed a big breakfast of oatmeal, toast, and sliced oranges. Chiori sucked on an orange wedge and stirred her oats, too excited to eat.

"Who are you meeting again?" Dr. Rougan asked, setting down his cup of coffee.

"Are you wearing a brand new shirt on this journey?" Mrs. Rougan spoke up at the same moment.

"Um. The pants are kind of old, so it balances out." Chiori looked down at her clothes: her favorite, most comfortable pants, soft and black with parallel pink racing stripes, and her new Hoenn League Outfitters t-shirt from the center, rich red with a black half-circle around the collar.

She glanced at her father, who was waiting for an answer. "I'm meeting a new friend. The one who traded Ma-- my Ralts to me." She'd started to say the nickname she couldn't give.

"Is your friend going to be with you on your whole journey?" Mrs. Rougan asked. "I don't like the idea of you traveling around Hoenn all by yourself."

"No, he's not going on a journey. Just to Mauville City."

Dr. Rougan looked at her skeptically. "I think I like that better. Who is he?"

Chiori flushed. "One of Roxanne's students. He's really nice, don't worry." She squirmed, thinking about what was being implied.

"I'll be more worried if you start out without finishing breakfast." Mrs. Rougan sat down with her own cup of coffee, and pushed Chiori's bowl closer to her.

At the front door, Chiori tied her tennis shoes tight, then buckled her loose-fitting belt around her hips. Her pants didn't have loops, but she liked her belt too much not to use it: wide and black with silver-ringed holes, it reminded her of what some of the characters wore in her favorite anime. Her three pokéballs were clipped to it, in the front where she could always see them. Last, she pulled on her black and white gloves, her favorite new accessory, and examined herself.

"Call often," Mrs. Rougan said, handing over her backpack. "I'm not asking for once a night, but, you know..."

"I will." Chiori slid her bag over her shoulders.

Her mother kissed her forehead. "Just be careful. And good luck!"

Dr. Rougan patted Chiori's back as she followed him to his car. "If your fellow trainers aren't using Devon brand equipment, you set them straight," he said jokingly, climbing in. "Sure you don't want a ride?"

"No thanks. I'm only going to the trainers' academy." She waved at her parents and started down the sidewalk, breathing in the morning air. She wanted to run, but didn't think it would look very nice to meet Kouta while out of breath.

As promised, he was waiting outside the school, also equipped with a backpack. "Hi, Chiori," he greeted. "All ready?"

"Sure am! Are we going to have a battle first?"

Kouta laughed. "Are you that eager? I thought we'd wait until we got out of town, at least."

"Oh... right." She giggled. "I guess I am eager. Malik's bandage is off, and his chest is all healed."

"That's great. How's Ralts? And your Poochyena?"

"I don't know about Ralts. She doesn't like to be out her ball for very long. The pokémon center said she was fine, but I'm still worried." They began walking north. "But Isis evolved! She's the most beautiful Mightyena in the world!"

"Is that so?" Kouta asked, amused. "Maybe you should enter her in a pokémon contest."

"Contest? For what?"

"There are different kinds, but one is a beauty contest," Kouta explained. "It's just like it sounds, and winners are recognized all over the country. It's pretty competitive and popular."

"Well, that might be fun." Chiori noticed that they were coming up on tall grass and flowering shrubs, and looked over her shoulder at Rustboro City. "Wow, I'm really leaving," she remarked, staring at her hometown for a few seconds more. She took in a breath and faced forward again, meeting Kouta's brown eyes.

He grinned. "I like your hair tie," he said, off-topic.

Chiori touched the top of her ponytail. It was her other favorite accessory, next to her new gloves: an elastic band looped through a plastic charm of red cherries. She'd had it for a long time, and thought it would be nice to have a childhood memento with her. "Thanks," she said, smiling wide for reasons she couldn't determine.

"Say," she noted as they continued on their way. "Where's your friend? Laurel?"

Kouta sighed. "She's off doing training on her own. She wanted to come with me, but I told her my boss at the breeding center would just turn her away."

"It's nice that she wanted to go with you, though," Chiori said. At his raised eyebrow, she added, "I'd be flattered if someone wanted to follow me around, anyway."

"You shouldn't be. It really gets irritating."

"Well, I wouldn't know. I've only had... one close friend." Her voice faded as she trailed off. She never even got to say farewell to Roxanne, without whom she wouldn't have been interested in journeying to begin with.

"See that?" Kouta asked, diverting her attention from another depressing matter. He pointed to an opening in a rocky wall. "That's Rusturf Tunnel. It's kind of long, but it's a direct way to Verdanturf Town through these mountains. Then Mauville is the next town over."

"You sure know your way around," Chiori remarked.

"Yeah, you could say that." He grinned, waiting for her to smile back.

"After being in Granite Cave, this seems like a walk in the park," she said as they entered the tunnel. "What kind of pokémon live in here?"

"Oddly enough, it seems to be just Whismur," Kouta answered. "Although... I don't see any. This place is usually crawling with them."

Chiori looked around for signs of any pokémon. "Hey... do you hear that?"

They both paused, and Kouta craned his head up, listening. "Someone else is going through."

"A lot of someones. And they don't exactly sound like kids training."

Kouta frowned. "Let's investigate. Be careful." He put a finger to his lips and advanced slowly. Chiori followed him on tiptoe. They crouched behind a large rock, peering over it at the ones they'd found.

Planted in the middle of the tunnel were three adults in matching clothes: short, hooded cloaks of dark red, sleeveless, black jumpsuits, and red boots. They were seated in a circle, as if guarding something. "I told you we shouldn't have brought it all the way here," one of them said. "Now we've just got to take it back the way we came."

"It was a good idea to hide out in the sticks," grumbled another. "If we go back to Lilycove now, the police'll be on the lookout for it, and we'll get caught."

"Why the hell are we wearing our uniforms, anyway?" asked the third. "If we were in disguise, we wouldn't have to hide in the first place."

Chiori opened her mouth, wanting to ask Kouta if he knew what they were doing. She looked at him for any sign of what to do, but he was staring at the trio, gaping in shock. "What?" she whispered.

"They didn't..." he mumbled, slowly reaching into one of his pants' many pockets.

"Kouta...?" Chiori reached out a hand, but he leapt out from behind the rock.

"What do you think you're doing?" he shouted to the three men. He clutched a pokéball in his right hand.

"Mind your own business, kid," one of them grunted. None of them seemed too worried to stand.

"I'm making it my business. What are you doing with that orb?"

Chiori peaked over the rock again. Now that the men had shifted to get a look at Kouta, she could see a glass sphere of dark blue resting on a rumpled blanket. "Putting it away," one of the crooks answered, throwing the corners of the blanket over it and stuffing it into his duffel bag. "Now get lost."

"I don't think so." Kouta lobbed the pokéball. "Absol! Use razor wind!"

As soon as it materialized, his snow-white pokémon summoned little whirlwinds that grew rapidly as they gathered dust and small rocks. The uniformed men looked at one another. "Well, if that's how you want it," one said. They jumped to their feet in unison and tossed out pokéballs. "Attack him!"

Chiori rushed out to join Kouta in an instant, yanking Isis's pokéball from her belt, feeling like a professional trainer for a second. "Use bite on them!" she ordered.

The team members' pokémon consisted of two lazy-eyed, camel-like creatures with stumpy legs and one fierce little Poochyena. Isis snapped at the latter, which yelped, startled at seeing one of its kind attack it. The other two pokémon attempted to tackle Kouta's Absol, but it darted gracefully away, its glowing eyes never leaving the increasing whirlwinds.

Suddenly Absol swung its head to the side violently, and the whirlwinds launched at frightening speed. The other pokémon, including Isis, were knocked off their feet, showers of dirt flying as they slid along the ground. "Isis!" Chiori shrieked.

"Sorry!" Kouta called. Chiori raced to Isis's side, making sure she wasn't too hurt. She wasn't aware that the enemy Poochyena was advancing on her until she saw it out of the corner of her eye, leaping at her unprotected back.

In a split second before it would have been on her, a tiny form knocked it out of the air and grappled with it on the ground beside Chiori. She didn't have time to see what it was. "Can you stand up?" she asked Isis, helping her off the ground. The Mightyena cringed as one of her front legs touched the surface, and she brought it up, licking around an open scrape. "Isis..." Chiori whispered, her voice choked. "Just rest in here. I'll get you to a center soon." She recalled Isis back to her ball and clipped it to her belt. "Okay, we have to do something, Malik," she said, sending out her Mawile.

"Mmm?" Malik made an inquisitive sound in his throat, looking up at Chiori. He seemed unaware of the skirmish around him. "Go help Absol," she said to him. "Use bite, okay?" Malik took off, like a child joining friends at the playground. Chiori took the opportunity to view the one-on-one battle to her side. The Poochyena was walking in circles, staring at a little purple pokémon that had faceted, crystal-like eyes. Chiori recognized it as Sableye, another Granite Cave inhabitant.

"Numel! Use magnitude!" one of the thieves ordered. His yellow pokémon stood up on its hind legs, then thundered its front ones to the ground. The tunnel floor quaked, but Kouta's Absol jumped into the air, almost flying. Little Malik, running into battle, lost his balance instantly and tumbled over with a cry.

The Numel's trainer chuckled. "Use ember and burn it," he said. Numel spat a small fire around the fallen Mawile, who squealed in pain and confusion.

"Malik!" Chiori felt tears in her eyes. Metal appendages were not meant to be exposed to flame. She called Malik back to his ball, holding it against her lips. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I don't mean for you to get hurt all the time."

In the meantime, Kouta's attention was divided between Absol and Sableye. The latter had won its fight with the Poochyena, whose trainer recalled it dejectedly. "Use shadow ball!" Kouta told it. "Absol, behind you! Quick attack!"

Sableye threw a formless, black blob at one of the Numel while Absol rammed its body into the other. Squeezing Malik's pokéball, Chiori sent in her last hope, her vengeance for Isis's and Malik's injuries. "Come on, Mai! Confusion!" she commanded, caught up in the moment.

"Chiori, don't!" Kouta shouted. "I can handle this! Don't expose Ralts to this kind of danger!"

"I'm not going to stand by after what happened to my pokémon! Mai?" She noticed that no confusion was taking place. Her Ralts stood still, as if ignoring her.

"Chiori!" Kouta's tone sounded almost scolding.

"Three against two is a little unfair!" declared one of the men. "Numel, ember it and even things back out."

"Ralts!" Chiori cried, feeling awkward about not calling her by name. As Numel spit its fire attack, Ralts split into two -- or so it appeared. She moved so fast it seemed there were two of her, and Numel's attack missed completely.

"Shadow ball!" Kouta ordered. Another of Sableye's shadowy blobs engulfed Ralts's attacker. The Numel fainted on the spot. Cursing, its trainer recalled it.

"Now what's unfair?" Kouta grinned darkly at the two thieves.

"I'd say us buying some time with a battle while our friend got away with our treasure," one of them replied with a smirk. "Thanks, kids. Numel, return!" He recalled the remaining pokémon while the other tossed something to the ground. A wall of smoke blinded Chiori and Kouta, and, after several minutes when it faded, the uniformed men had completely vanished.

"Damn it," Kouta growled. "One of us could have grabbed the bag while they were all battling."

"I should have thought of that," Chiori mumbled. "I wasn't any help otherwise."

"Yes, you were. But those guys were good, creating such a chaotic battle so we wouldn't have time to think of anything else."

"They got away, and my pokémon got hurt," Chiori continued in a quiet voice. "I don't even know why we were fighting. I didn't think my journey would be like this."

"Hey." Kouta's voice softened, and he stepped up to Chiori and put his hands on her shoulders. "Nothing is your fault. Like I said, those guys knew how to create a diversion, and their pokémon were a lot stronger than yours. Almost as strong as mine." He shook her gently until she looked him in the eye. "You've had yours for a few weeks. I've had mine for a few years. Maybe they have, too. You're a novice, and you're allowed to make mistakes."

"But--" Chiori started to say, her voice catching. She didn't know how to refute.

"Now let's hurry to the Verdanturf pokémon center," Kouta said. "There's no point in worrying about those guys now."

Chiori nodded as Kouta smiled, his hands on her shoulders for a few seconds longer. Then he turned away to recall Absol and Sableye. Chiori did the same for her Ralts, who had been looking around the tunnel curiously.

They ran the rest of the way through the tunnel until they came out to the fresh, grassy town of Verdanturf. Chiori insisted they keep running to the center, where she handed over her pokéballs to the nurse, unable to request healing for lack of breath. The nurse smiled knowingly as she took Kouta's pokéballs as well, and bade them a good rest, too. Finally relieved, Chiori headed for a restroom to wash up.

"Feel better?" Kouta asked as she met him in front of the cafeteria.

She nodded. "I wanted to say... thank you for your help. I'm glad you were with me... otherwise I might have been in serious trouble with those three."

"We'll do lots of training together before you set out on your own," Kouta said. "I only wish I could go with you."

"Me too." Chiori's cheeks turned as pink as her hair. Kouta smiled wide.