Chapter 9 - Trainer test

I sat on the tough chair, thinking of how the treecko I had captured was doing.

It was at that moment the nurse reappeared, holding the premier ball and a smile on her face.

“I cleaned the cut and stitched it back together... it will scar though, but he'll be fine.  You can even pit him in battles again,” she said, handing the ball back to me.

“Thanks, Nurse Cole,” I said as I nodded to her.

“It's just my job.  But you're welcome,” she replied with a wink.

I quickly left the pokemon center and made my way back to Axel's house.  But as I turned onto his street, a young kid in shorts stopped me.

“You're a pokemon trainer!  I can tell.  Come on, you can't refuse a battle!” he cried, holding an ordinary pokeball in his hands.  The red half shone in the light.

He was about four feet tall and his legs were covered in band aids, and his hair was hidden under a cheap hat.

I sighed.  “Fine”

Amber clung onto my shoulder.  'He's so full of himself.'  She said distastefully.

I agreed, but, still I stepped back.

“Go!  Marill!” the boy cried.

As the ball burst open, a small blue mouse with round ears and a zig-zag tail appeared.  A small ball was on the tip of it's tail and it cried.

“MARILL!”

I tossed my premier ball into the air.

“Let's do this, Bushbasher!”

The light faded and the little treecko stood there.  Its green scales and darker green tail reflected some of the sunlight as it stared the marill down.

“Still want to battle?”  I asked.

“Use rollout, Marill!” he cried.

“Dodge it and use pound when it tries to turn around!” I ordered.

Bushbasher leaped aside then chased the rolling blue mouse before slamming his tail into it.  There was a cry of pain and shock as the marill uncurled and tried to flee from Bushbasher.

“Absorb!” I cried.

It was all over for the marill.  It's body went limp as Bushbasher drew strength from it.

“Ugh... return Marill...” he muttered disappointedly.

“You did good, you just need to work on that strategy and probably tone down the cockiness.” I said.

'Oh, how wise you are.' Amber said smugly.

'Oh, shut up you.' I said playfully.

The small water mouse disappeared back into it's ball as the young trainer stomped off.  I picked up Bushbasher and grinned.

“You were fantastic, buddy!”

“Treecko tree!” he cried, quite pleased with himself.

'I was just thinking... why won't you let me battle?  It looks fun.' Amber thought.

'I don't want you getting hurt, and you're still little, if you were older I couldn't stop you but for as long as you are young, I will not let you put yourself into a situation where you may not come out unscathed.'

I put Bushbasher's pokeball in a pocket and put him on my free shoulder.  He looked over at the other shoulder and started to speak.

Amber giggled.

'Bushbasher is a comedian, dark, but a comedian all the same.' she finally said.

'Ahh...'

I wasn't concentrating on their conversation, I was more worried that I would walk into the wrong house.


I finally stopped at the front door of the house I hoped Axel was brought up in. I knocked, my hands shook slightly, a sign of how nervous I was.

Axel opened the door and grinned with Quilava at his side.

“Heya, nice of ya to drop by,” he said, in his cheeky manner.

I grinned back. “Ahh, just paying a visit to a friend.”

He broke out into a fit of laughter as I stepped inside and Quilava pushed the door shut with his snout.

Bushbasher eyed Quilava, not nervously, but he wasn't too happy to be around the fire ferret.

As I started to laugh, the man that was Axel's father stepped into the room.

“Ahh, back already, James?” he asked.

“Yeah, Bushbasher got a few stitches and is gonna have a scar that'll make him look tough!” I said in between gasps for air.

Amber suddenly appeared, her down no longer hiding her.  The man jumped in surprise but then calmed.  Axel had gone over the situation with Amber.

“Ho-hum, you're hair's all ruffled... did you get into some trouble and run?” he asked as we sat down on the couch.  Quilava curled up on Axel's lap as he was petted.  Amber curled up in my lap and Bushbasher fell asleep in the window.

“Oh, some young kid challenged me to a battle, so I did because I knew he'd only cause trouble if I said no.  Bushbasher was amazing, he responded so fast and totally thrashed the marill with ease.”

He nodded.  “Type advantage, and I'm sure you were quick to react yourself.”

I grinned, “Still, he's an amazing treecko.”

“T'is.”

Axel turned the LCD TV on, it was already set to a news channel.

"So... are you going to take on the pokemon league challenge with my boy?" the man asked suddenly as the reporter informed us of the low stocks of Technical Machines.

"Well, I don't know to be honest.  The whole league thing doesn't really appeal to me." Which was the truth.  Even when I had played the video games I had only liked exploring the caves, forests and oceans.  Atla was vast, there was a lot of terrain to explore.

He was about to respond when Axel raised a hand and shushed us.

We turned our attention to the screen as a female reporter stepped up.

"Recently, a group of top notch Pokemon rangers discovered a mysterious cave.  The contents of the cave are unknown and it's off limits to anyone without three gym badges or some form of authority.  What's exciting the Rangers and the few scientists is this symbol that was spotted on a wall of the cave."  She motioned to a small box that appeared on the screen.  There, burned into the rock was the very same triangle burned into my hand, and on Amber's chest.

My heart started to pump blood faster.  Hundreds of explanations passed through my head and I tried to swallow the mouthful of saliva that had built up in my mouth.

Axel looked over at me and then lowered his gaze to my hand.  He mouthed something I couldn't quite understand before returning his attention to the television screen.

'James?'

'I know... we need to investigate it... but something isn't quite right about it... it seems too much of a coincidence.'


Axel and I sat on a bench in the street, I rubbed my wrists uncomfortably, trying to rid myself of an itch that was driving me off the bend.

"So... are we going to check out that cave?" Axel asked, he seemed eager to break the awkward silence.

"No, you're not!"

We looked up and saw Axel's father approaching us with a determined look on his face.

"Uh-oh..." Axel whispered.

"You two can't go, you don't even have a badge yet!" he said as he stopped a few feet short of us.

"Look dad, you can stop me but not James, he's not your son." Axel explained.

"I'm not letting either of you go..."

"Fine!  Quilava, go!" Axel cried as he pointed at his father.

Quilava's flames burst and flared violently as he charged forward and stopped just in front of Axel.  His eyes tracked the mans every move and he exhaled slowly.
I stood up, Bushbasher was on my shoulder an instant later and Amber was clinging to the other one.

"...Axel, don't be stupid-"

"-I'm going to help my friends, don't stop me, dad, or you'll pay a price."

I watched the two for a moment.  Axel was hesitant... but not because it was his father, there was something I was missing.

He pulled a pokeball out from one of his pockets and ruffled his dark hair with the other hand.  The ball doubled in size and he tossed it into the air.

"... So be it, Axel. Tyranitar, we need to teach them a lesson in respect."

I watched as the massive rock titan formed in front of us.  The green hide was tough, it warded off physical attacks from other creatures.  It bellowed at us and stood its ground.

Neither of our Pokemon moved an inch, and we waited also.  Suddenly, he cried out, "Skull bash!"

The tyranitar tucked its head in to its chest and charged at Quilava.

"Quilava!  Double team!"  Axel cried, Quilava flashed and then illusionary copies of him appeared everywhere.

I watched the unnatural copies; they mimicked the real one, which was nowhere to be seen.  I looked left and right for it, but to no avail.

"Bushbasher, make sure to stay out of the way of Quilava, then when the time's right you need to use Absorb!" I cried out as Quilava continued to dance about and make a ruckus.

Tyranitar had to cut its charge short due to not knowing where its target was.  It kept swinging its head around wildly in a failing attempt to find Quilava in the midst of a sea of copies.

Bushbasher was darting around, using Quilava's scent to discern the general location of the ferret as it leaped about.

Axel stepped forward, raised his arm and grinned.

"NOW, QUILAVA!"

The copies all leaped towards the tyranitar and then intense flames engulfed the large pokemon.  It roared in pain as Quilava cried out from the effort put into the attack.

The flames scorched the dirt and I heard people crying out in surprise.

This isn't enough!  Fire isn't that good against rock!

I waited.  Sending Bushbasher in now would result in him being hurt, also.  I couldn't risk him injuring himself again, but I couldn't pass up the chance to attack unhindered.

Quilava's copies flashed, then dissappeared.  Quilava had been the first one to attack, all along he had been in plain sight and in close reach of the tyranitar.

The flames died down as Quilava leaped back, panting slightly to catch his breath.

Before I could issue an order, Bushbasher leapt into action.  He charged forward, darted between the lingering flames, and tackled the tyranitars chest.  An instant later he glowed green, but instead of small particles being sapped into his paws, large ones seemed to come from all over the pokemon he had grappled.

"Woah!  A Mega Drain!"

"No!  Tyranitar!"

I watched in awe, as Tyranitar lost strength, the tiny treecko gained it instead.  He kicked off and jumped back.  Bouncing back and forth on his feet, he seemed way too energetic for his own good.

I was about to tell Bushbasher to attack again when Axel's father recalled his tyranitar.

"Enough!  Okay... you two... I can't stop you, obviously.  Just be careful," he said.  He looked quite satisfied, though I felt like he'd taken it easy on us.

He walked back towards the house and we were left standing there in shock.  The crowd cheered and started to disperse soon after while we continued to stand there doing nothing but thinking.

"We... won?" I asked.

Axel looked at me and seemed just as bewildered.  We both knew that the tyranitar was far stronger than both of our pokemon, but his father had submitted to us...

"I guess... he was just testing us, then?" Axel whispered.

We turned and looked back at the house and continued to wonder.

"Just remember son... be careful, and don't take any chances out there.  If you screw up, most likely no one will be able to fix the shit you made for yourself."

I watched as Axel's father hugged him, and then looked at me.

"You take care, and watch each other's backs."

I nodded, Amber waved before adjusting her down to camoflauge herself, and then we set off down the path.  Our bags were stuffed full of supplies, and he'd given both of us money, which we'd transferred into our credit accounts.

"How long until we reach the cave?" I asked.

Axel rubbed scratched his shoulder and said, "A few days if we aren't held up to much."

"Oh, hey... urm...when we first met, you had this accent, and spoke a lot differently... why?" My curiosity was burning.

"Oh!" he chuckled, "I thought it made me sound tough, but I got tired of it."

I laughed along with him as Amber giggled.

"Ya know... I do envy you, James, to have someone like Amber with you, and to actually have such guts to do whatever it takes for her...it's kinda hard to find these days... I doubt I'd even go to the extents you do."

I nodded, remembering the whole fiasco in the park.  I shook myself and shrugged the memories away.  The itch on my wrists was back and I attacked it with renewed force.

'Why are you scratching?' Amber asked me out of plain curiosity.

"It's so darned annoying!" I said aloud.

I winced, realising I'd spoken aloud as Axel watched me with a funny look.

I smiled, feeling rather embarrassed.  It was an awkward moment I'd like to never experience again.

He turned away and kept his eyes on the path ahead while I admired the trees and other such foliage.

We were finally going to kill this stupid need to find out if the cave was important or not, and I felt much easier on the nerves.

'Finally...' I thought as Amber scoured my memories.