Part 12: Tidal Rise
I was standing above my last battle in the Dewford Gym. We had given Steven his letter and escorted him back to town, where he gave us a TM as thanks. After that, we healed and headed over to the Gym, where we had been battling for the past hour or so.
"Use Gust, Heather!" I said, watching my beautiful butterfly blow away the Machop in front of her. The girl recalled the small, human-like fighter.
"Heather, take a little break." I said, recalling her. "Go, Daniel!"
"Come on out, Meditite!" She said, sending out the small meditating Pokemon.
"Daniel, Ember!" I said. He breathed small flames at the short Pokemon and knocked it out.
"Great work!" I said.
Daniel turned back to me and smiled. Then, he started to glow a hot white. He grew at least a whole foot taller, grew long arms and a beak and even longer claws.
I smiled. "Looking good." I said. Daniel looked down at his new evolved form.
"Thanks." he said. His voice was deeper, like a kid going through puberty.
"How does it feel?" I asked.
Daniel stared at his newly formed arms. "Really weird." he muttered, fixated on them.
I smirked. "Come on, let's go."
Our team walked into the arena. Like in Rustboro, it was a large room rimmed by seats with a rocky battlefield covered in stalagmites. Unlike Rustboro's gym, though, the field was ringed by a quickly running river, and the seats were filled with jocks and martial artists.
The daimyo, Brawly, was sitting on a rough-hewn rocky throne, looking down on me with contempt. He wore an orange kimono, blue and white waves flowing on the bottom of it.
He stepped down off the throne and onto a small platform in front of it. The crowd exploded into bellows and chanting. After about five minutes, I was annoyed and ready to fight.
Brawly lowered his arms and everyone quieted down. Then he looked up at me and smirked.
"Welcome to the Dewford Gym." he boomed. "I am Brawly, and I will be your opponent. Defeat me and you win. Are you ready?"
"I was ready before I even got here." I huffed.
Brawly laughed and threw his kimono open. He was shirtless, with a pair of navy blue hakama held up by a belt that also held his Poke Balls. He grabbed one and sent out the Pokemon inside.
A Machop popped out onto the battlefield and flexed his muscles. The crowd went insane once more.
"Heather, let's do this!" I said, sending out my Beautifly.
The crowd erupted into laughter at the sight of her. Heather looked down and blushed. I gritted my teeth as I felt my blood boiling.
"Heather, Gust that runt out of here." I snarled. Heather looked back at me, questioning. The audience was still guffawing.
"I said, Gust!" I yelled. Heather turned back to the Machop and beat its wings at it. The wind whipped Brawly and mine's jackets and knocked the Machop to the floor.
The crowd went silent.
Brawly looked at me and smiled. "Machop, use Seismic Toss."
"Use Gust again!"
Heather beat up another gale while the Machop struggled to get close to her. Eventually, the wind lifted him off his feet and he landed, fainted, at Brawly's feet.
"Alright, then." Brawly sneered. "Makuhita, go!"
"Daniel, show them what you're worth!" I said as I returned Heather and sent him out.
He stood, staring down the small bag-ish Pokemon, and shook his legs, emitting small sparks. Makuhita punched his open hand and stepped into a fighting stance.
"Daniel, Peck!"
"Makuhita, dodge."
Daniel shot forward, beak first and jabbed at the Makuhita. It jumped out of the way and Daniel went in for another jab. The Makuhita continued to slide out of the way. The two of them danced two full circles around the ring. The crowd was starting the snicker again.
I screamed. "Daniel, use Peck!"
"Knock Off."
Makuhita jumped above Daniel's attack and slammed its fist into his beak. Daniel fell with his beak sandwiched between Makuhita's fist and the ground.
Crack!
I couldn't breathe. My vision blurred with tears, and I felt a pain in my side. My hand found its way to Daniel's ball and clicked the button. Daniel disappeared into red light and was replaced by Heather, which I guess my other hand found.
I briefly felt the wind that blew Makuhita away and the thud that followed as it landed in the center of the battlefield. I ran as soon as the buzzer signaling my victory rang, ran through the maze of the gym and into the bright sandy beaches to the center.
"Wake up." I heard someone say in the recesses of my mind. I woke up slowly to see Brawly standing over me, wearing an orange t-shirt and shorts.
I glared at him. "Why are you here?"
"You forgot this." he said, handing me the Knuckle Badge. I took it reluctantly from him and placed it in my pocket.
I stood up, stretching out the kinks I'd attained from dozing in a chair. Brawly grabbed my shoulders and pulled me in close.
"You need to get your emotions in check if you want to go further." he whispered. "My goal is to try and get you riled up and off focus. Your Combusken is going to be fine, but I guarantee if you try that with another leader, they will die."
He pulled away from me and smiled, regaining a public facade. He bowed to me and I bowed back. Then, he left me to my worrying.
"Sir?" The nurse said, waking me. "Your Pokemon are healed now, sir."
I sprang up and ran down the hall, past nurses and Chanseys imported from Kanto, and over to the operating room.
Two lines of beds sat along the walls, filled with various sick or injured Pokemon. I walked slowly over to the second bed down on the right and knelt down next to it.
Daniel was doing a lot better than before. He was sitting up, awake and breathing. He looked at me with no small amount of hurt in his eyes. His beak was wrapped in white gauze bandages.
"Daniel," I started, my eyes blurring from tears. I threw my head onto his lap and flung my arms around his neck.
"I'm sorry." I sobbed into him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Daniel wrapped his small, new-ish arms around me and rubbed my back.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Daniel whispered through the bandages.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
I stayed like that for a long time before I finally thought Daniel was being serious.
Pokémon: 7 Badges: 1 Deaths: 2 Current Location: Dewford Town
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