View Single Post
Old April 5th, 2009, 11:49 AM
Grovyle42(Griff8416)'s Avatar
Grovyle42(Griff8416) Grovyle42(Griff8416) is offline
No. 1 Grovyle Fan
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: The Great Green North
Gender: Male
Nature: Calm
Posts: 1,104

The gang walked along the wide sidewalk of Mauville City, feeling diminutive in comparison to the hotels and skyscrapers looming above them. The beating sun was especially bad on that day because the rainfall in the night resulted in an irritating amount of humidity. Luckily for them, they were in the shade of the tall buildings. Ace, who was in Kevin’s hands, hid in his shell where it was quite cool. However, no one else had shells that could be seconded as a house. Daedalus insisted on being returned to his pokeball and the only remaining pokemon out were Treecko and Corphish, who was bushed due to the heat.

Corphish panted and was sweating quite a lot. “<Are… we there… yet?>”

Jeff looked down behind him and raised an eyebrow. “Just two more blocks. You know you can go in your pokeball if you want.”

Corphish shook his head and slowly plodded his numerous legs upon the warm tarmac. “<Like I’m gonna miss this next gym battle!>” he retorted, walking on for a few steps before collapsing to his stomach. He reached out his pincer and clasped the creases in Jeff’s right sock. “<Drag me, please…>” he said, submitting into his own exhaustion. Jeff grinned and walked, dragging the water type with his foot.

“Corphish has a point… It is really hot today,” Kevin said while rapidly pulling and pushing below his shirt collar to make a makeshift fan. While doing this, he lightly handed Ace to Rachel, who seemed reluctant to have to carry any more weight than she already possessed.

“You guys live in Hoenn, so aren’t you used to this kind of weather?” asked an especially hot and impatient Blane.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t still complain about it,” responded Kevin, smirking before turning the corner. The smirk disappeared as, upon turning the corner, he slammed into a warm wall of flesh. The teen stumbled back and clutched his nose. “Son of a-” he sputtered.

Kevin opened his eyes and found himself staring at a white torso which spanned his entire field of vision. He looked to the sides of the body and saw two large legs and arms branching out of the creature’s bulky blue figure. A massive shadow cast down upon Kevin as he stared up in trepidation at the sneering cobalt face beneath two sizable fins that spanned to the back of the creature’s skull. The large orange whisker-like gills at the corner of the wide mouth tensed as the pokemon sneered down at him.

“S-s-sorry, buddy,” stammered Kevin, backing up and into Jeff.

He heard a mechanized ‘ding’ from behind him along with a monotone, electronic male voice. “Swampert: The Mud fish pokemon. It can swim while towing a large ship. It bashes down foes with a swing of its thick arms.”

The Swampert seemed almost to smirk at the last sentence and he stepped towards Kevin, raising his mighty arms.

“Cool!” Blane enthusiastically stated, closing his pokedex.

“Not cool!” Kevin worriedly responded, forcefully walking backwards and ploughing Jeff with him.

The Swampert reached out, grasped and held Kevin up by the shoulders. A malicious sneer creeped onto the water type’s face, but after a moment, it was replaced by a beaming smile. Within seconds, Kevin felt himself being crushed against the Swampert’s underbelly in a massive bear hug.

A gaunt twenty year old walked up to the pokemon’s left and kneaded his brown eyebrows- matching his hair- with his fingertips in embarrassment. “Don, quit it!” he playfully scolded the large pokemon. “Don’t mind him, he’s just happy that he won against Wattson.”

“It’d be hard not to win with this guy!” a strained Kevin managed to state from under the high-pressured friendly gesture. “OW OW! You’re crushing the bruise I got from Prometheus!” Kevin yelled, shifting in response to the sharp pain in his back.

“Actually, it was a tough battle,” the trainer said, folding his arms over his yellow t-shirt. “That Magnezone was skilled.”

“Magnezone?” Jeff inquired, curiously.

“Yup… I take it you guys don’t know that gym leaders have pokemon of vastly different strengths at their disposal. They can’t expect everyone to go to gyms in the same order, now can they? It makes it so that neither the gym leader nor the trainer is at a mark disadvantage. Roxanne in Mauville will be my 6th gym leader to go to… it wouldn’t be fair if I challenged her lowest levelled Geodude with Don here, but it wouldn’t be fair if she used a Rampardos against some new trainer’s Torchic either. Catch my drift?”

They all nodded, with the exception of Kevin, whose legs were starting to fall asleep. Treecko grew tired of waiting and walked between the Swampert and trainer to make his way to the gym, which was now in plain sight. Jeff noticed and quickly followed. “Gotta go! Nice meeting you!” he hastily said, knowing Treecko wouldn’t wait for the others.

“Help me!” Kevin pleaded from behind them, but the two kept walking and expected the others to take care of it and be behind them soon enough.

“<I bet I could take that Magnezone…>” Treecko said, ambling along the sidewalk.

Jeff smirked and placed his hands behind his head as he went along side him. “I don’t doubt that you could… but let’s just stick to whatever Wattson throws at us.”

Upon reaching the recently cleaned, glass front doors of the gym, Treecko stood up onto his hind legs and folded his arms across his red chest.

“You sure you want to keep that twig in your mouth during the battle?” Jeff asked, glancing at his pokemon partner.

Treecko gave an affirmative nod. Jeff grinned and placed his hands of the metal handle but stalled opening it upon hearing numerous footsteps behind him. He turned and saw Rachel, Blane, Corphish, and a rather pissed off Kevin.

“Thanks for the help, you two!” Kevin sarcastically said, giving them each a glare.

Treecko merely glared back with a look that said ‘Don’t try me…’ Jeff, however, replied, “You had it under control.”

“I’m so cheering for Wattson now… Actually… No, then I’d never get lunch,” Kevin said, grinning and playfully shoving Jeff into the handle so that the door would open. Jeff pushed him back and the group walked up to the front desk of the gym.

“Can we go in?” Jeff asked, glancing over at the metal door to their right.

The guard, who was in the middle of a drink from his morning coffee, gave a slight nod and eyed the door. Jeff quickly complied and trudged over to it. He was apprehensive about going back in after his humiliating ‘defeat’ yesterday. However, it wasn’t technically a defeat in everyone’s eyes. Jeff glanced at Treecko, took a deep breath, and opened the steel door.

Jeff and Treecko walked forwards onto the simple, obstacle-lacking gym arena. The others went around it and climbed onto the bleachers on the left side.

While departing, Corphish made a point to ask something of Treecko. “<Treeck! At some point during the battle, can you say ‘It’s tail time’?!>”

Treecko gave his friend an utterly perplexed look before continuing to the edge of the field. Much to Jeff’s mixture of relief and embarrassment, Wattson was already standing on the other side of the field.

“OH HOH! I expected you two back earlier,” the gym leader said, is voice echoing about the walls of the empty gym, as he grinned and placed his hands on his yellow and brown aloha t-shirt which sat above a pair of brown shorts. “I guess you two took my advice after all. Are you ready to see how much it has paid off?”

Both pokemon and trainer nodded. Jeff did so with awkward shame. They traipsed across the flat dirt floor to meet Wattson in the middle. The jolly gym leader confidently marched forwards and walked up to the two with a large grin on his face. Wattson stopped in front of them and placed his broad hands on his hips.

“Okay, lads… The rules for rematches are a little different in this gym. People in your case get a handicap,” Wattson said, slinging around his grey backpack and shuffling through it.

“A handicap?” Jeff asked sceptically. “Uhhh… okay; that sounds fine.” Jeff wasn’t sure about the idea of being given an advantage over Wattson. It didn’t seem right to him, but he wasn’t going to argue and it seemed like a good idea.

“<Jeff… I don’t need a handicap to beat this guy,>” Treecko fractiously whispered to the human situated next to him.

“I know that… but we should take any advantage we can get,” Jeff whispered back.

The wood gecko folded his arms and sneered. Jeff honestly couldn’t tell if he was agreeing or disagreeing. Wattson took something out of his backpack- a long white cloth, carrying the aroma of one of those airline ‘moist towelletes’, that he tossed down to Treecko, who caught it and looked at it curiously.

Jeff stared at it blankly. “Is this a joke? Is that for surrendering or something?” he questioned with a hint of irritation hanging on his words.

Wattson chuckled. “Hahah! No no… That’s your handicap!”

Jeff and Treecko looked uncomprehendingly at each other. “Uhhh… I don’t follow you, Sir.”

“Don’t call me ‘sir’… And it’s a blindfold for the Treecko,” he explained.

Jeff’s eyes darted from the blindfold and Treecko to Wattson. “Wait! I thought you said we were getting a handicap!”

Wattson nodded and crossed his arms. “Aye… he has to wear that blindfold for the battle. What did you think a ‘handicap’ meant?”

Jeff recoiled in terror from the statement. He quickly looked down at Treecko, who seemed somewhat peeved, but he felt that a small part of the gecko was inviting the challenge. Wattson looked at Jeff and let out a merry chuckle.

“Hah hah! Well, Jeff, you seem shocked… No pun intended…” Needless to say that, a moment after, Wattson burst into thunderous bellows of laughter, threatening to rival the roar of an Onix.

Jeff impatiently held his objections until Wattson was good and done. “…How do you expect Treecko to battle if he can’t see his hands in front of him?!” Jeff quickly demurred.

“Well, that’s your job, trainer. To prove to me that you two trust and can work together, you have to guide his actions and call out positions and whatnot. It shows your job as a trainer and the trust that should exist between you two.” Wattson gave them a brief moment to take in what he said before continuing. “You could hypothetically keep losing and retrying at this gym. You could lose eight times and get lucky on the ninth time, but that doesn’t show that you’ve learned anything as a trainer, it just shows that you’ve gotten lucky. Like I’ve said before, gyms are here for a reason… They’re to gauge your abilities and bond with your pokemon. It would be unfair to give you a badge for a lucky blow that won you the battle after the 9th rematch. No one gets the Dynamo Badge unless I’ve seen they deserve it, and I know that most of my fellow gym leaders feel the same way.

Jeff stalled, feeling quite insulted and misunderstood, although part of him found truth in Wattson’s words. “…We’ve been through a lo-”

“Whatever turmoil has happened between the two of you lads, if any, it’s your own faults and it’s irrelevant to the task you face right now. So you both should suck it up and save it for off of the battleground,” Wattson harshly scolded.

Jeff was taken aback; Treecko was not. While being frustrated that he needed Jeff’s directions, he smirked and stared up at a somewhat pouty Jeff, who felt like all the gym leaders were ganging up on him. “<You heard him… Let’s show this guy.>”

Jeff managed to crack a grin as a result of Treecko’s confidence despite the situation. “Got it… Can we have a few minutes, Wattson? ...Y’know, for war room discussion.”

Wattson chuckled. “Aye, tell me when you’re ready.”

Jeff turned on his heel and began to walk back towards his side of the battleground, Treecko walked beside him, looking down at the blindfold in his hands.

“Okay… How are we going to make it so that you know where you’re going?” Jeff asked with rising apprehension in his voice. Treecko put his hand to his hip and glanced off in thought. “Hmm… Hey, Treecko! You seem pretty survival savvy, with all that first aid stuff you’ve given me and the like…”

Treecko folded his arms, wondering what he could be getting at.

“Well… can you read a clock?”

The wood gecko raised an eyebrow, having been clearly lost by Jeff’s question.

“Like, 12:00 is forwards, 6:00 is behind, and so on…”

Treecko nodded in comprehension, but shook his head. “<We don’t use clocks in the forest…>” Jeff folded his arms and pursed his lips. “<Do you know azimuths?>” Treecko asked, not entirely expecting him to. Jeff scratched the back of his head in confusion. “<…Angles in degrees,>” he reiterated.

“Uhhh… Only 0, 45, 90, 180, 270, and 360 degrees,” he said with an uncomfortable smile.

Treecko sighed. “<…That’s not good enough. Hmm… tell me you at least know compass bearings. Like north, north-north-east, and so on…>”

Jeff nodded, while thinking whether he knew them or not. “Sure.”

“<Do you? I don’t want to slam into a wall because you don’t want to admit you don’t know them,>” he plainly said, folding his arms across his chest.

Jeff adamantly nodded. “Yes. I know them... and range in metres?”

Treecko paused. “<How long is that?>”

Jeff spread out his arms and created a gap between his hands of roughly a metre.

Treecko nodded. “<Oh. We called those ‘leaves’.>”

Jeff tilted his head, curiously, but nodded. “Sounds good, then.”

“<…Okay. Let’s start this.>”

“Hold on, we don’t have a battle plan, yet!” Jeff protested.

“<We don’t need a plan; battles are best fought based on instinct and reflex,>” Treecko insisted.

“We do so need a plan! Last time we winged it we were shot clean out of the sky!” Jeff retorted.

Treecko shook his head. “<I’m not against tactics, but this isn’t the right battle for them. In a fast-paced, spontaneous battle against an electric type… especially where I have to wear this damned blindfold… the last thing I need are unnecessary goals to try to reach. We should just adjust to the sway of the battle during the fight.>”

Jeff folded his arms too, but indignantly. “I think having a tactic would be our best tactic,” he replied in irritation.

“<You’re wrong.>”

“No, you’re wrong!”







Kevin, Rachel, Blane, Corphish, and Ace watched in amusement and bemusement as the two argued.

“They are off to a terrific start,” Kevin said.

“<This is nothing,>” Corphish assured.

Wattson watched from the other side, mildly annoyed. “AHEM!” He loudly cleared his throat, catching their attention. “…Everything okay? Are you sure you two don’t want to come back in a week?”

Jeff’s face turned a light shade of red in embarrassment. He remembered his and Treecko’s conversation- one of the points being that Jeff was still a rookie to training. He turned to Treecko. “We’ll do it your way; I trust you know what you’re talking about… but you’re going to have to trust me too. That’s the only way we’re going to win.”

Treecko nodded, somewhat reluctantly. “<And let’s hope we’ll never have to do this again.>”

Jeff grinned and looked up to Wattson. “Thanks, we’re ready!”

The gym leader smirked, as well, as the two stepped forwards on the battlefield. Jeff knelt down and put the blindfold on Treecko as instructed. “Okay, let’s try this… North about four metres.”

Treecko nodded and carefully stepped in a straight line and stopped a few centimetres short of the desired length.

“Nice. Right on the mark.”

“<Remember, you’re going to have to take my position on the field into account when calling out bearings- your south may be my west, if I’m positioned sideways. Got it?>”

“Got it. I’ll put myself in your scales,” Jeff replied, slightly nervous of the upcoming battle. “Wow, this idea of Wattson’s really covers all aspects of training,” Jeff thought to himself, watching as the gym leader released the green hound onto the arena floor.

The referee took a seat on the sidelines. “The match between Wattson’s Electrike and… uhh… Jeff’s Treecko may begin,” he stated after glancing quickly at his chart.

Jeff let out a shaky, nervous sigh while glancing at his blindfolded pokemon. Treecko put his twig in the corner of his mouth and folded his arms. “<Keep calm, Jeff. I’ll be fine. Remember, you just have to call out my directions- I’ll take care of the rest.>”

Jeff took a deep breath and nodded. “We can do this, Treecko,” Jeff said, more to himself than to Treecko.

Treecko unfolded his arms and stepped forwards another step. “<Yeah.>”

Jeff clenched his fists in anticipation and put weight on his left foot to take pressure off of his still stiff and sprained right one. Wattson beamed and clapped his hands together. “Oh hoh hoh! Let’s start this off! Electrike, go ahead and start with Discharge!” he commanded with a shade of jollity donning his voice.

Blue sparks were conducted by the green bristles of the Electrike’s on-end fur. The static accumulated and was discharged straight towards Treecko’s position on the other side of the field.

“Jump! To the left!” Jeff called out reflexively, watching as the electricity quickly neared Treecko.

Treecko side jumped, but upon landing he sternly reminded Jeff, “<Compass bearings, got it?>”

Jeff shuffled in his place. “Yeah- got it- sorry. ‘West’, then…”

Wattson clapped and chuckled. “HAHAH! Interesting tactic! Kudos to you both! …However… I’m afraid it will take more than that… Electrike! Spark ’em!”

Electrike preserved some of the electricity from his previous attack in his conductive fur. The dog began to start charging Treecko at top speed.

“He’s comin’ in! North north east! About twelve leaves from you!” Jeff called out. Treecko turned to face Electrike exactly. He heard the rapid pattering of his foe’s paws becoming louder and louder, indicating his distance. “Treecko! He’s about two leaves from you! Do something!”

Treecko ignored his comments and stood his ground, waiting like a crocodile for the perfect time to rise out of the water and grab its prey. He waited until he heard the pattering of the feet cease to strike. It was at this point that he knew that Electrike was lunging at him. Treecko waited a fraction of a second before pivoting around on his heel, swinging his large tails at full force. “Cko tree CKO!” He felt his tail smack into fur and flesh and heard a sharp yelp. His target flew off to the side of the court.

Treecko stood firmly on the ground and asked Jeff. “<Where am I now?>”

“Electrike is north to you… you got him pretty good. Uhhh… and… the direction of the field is east northeast. Don’t forget about Electrike’s static! We have to try to use Bullet Seed or else there’s a good chance you’ll get paralyzed!”

“<’We’? I thought you said you’ve never used Bullet Seed before,>” Treecko said, slightly sarcastically, trying to cover the fact that he didn’t want to use it.

“I’m serious! You’ve gotta try to use it!”

“<So am I. There’s no point. Why would I have suddenly be able to use it from over the span of this morning?>” Treecko retorted.

“Just try it! You’re not scared, are you?” Jeff goaded.

Treecko turned his head back towards the trainer. Jeff recoiled; even under the blindfold he knew that Treecko’s eyes were digging into him. The wood gecko turned back around and opened his mouth.

“Treeeeeee CK-”

As he expected, no seeds escaped his throat. Treecko sneered and clenched his fists.

“Gesundheit!” Wattson merrily called from the other side of the field. “Oh, and hook and Thunder Fang!” he directed his pokemon.

Jeff blushed and scratched the back of his neck. He wasn’t looking forward to after this battle at all; he knew Treecko would get him for making him do that. Meanwhile, the Electrike had risen and began circling around Treecko to flank his right.

“He’s going around you, Treecko!” Jeff warned.

“<Where is he right now?!>” Treecko quickly asked, hoping this would prompt a hasty answer.

Jeff mentally went over the various bearings in his mind as quick as possible while trying to keep an eye on both Treecko and Electrike at the same time. “Uhh…” He waited for the right moment. “Due east!”

Without a response, Treecko turned around and ran at a forty-five degrees angle. He headed for exactly where Electrike was about to be. Before Electrike could readjust his plan, Treecko went into a very speedy run- a Quick Attack. Electrike tried desperately to halt himself, but that wasn’t possible at the speed and orientation he was going. Treecko pivoted the twig to the other side of his mouth, making sure that it wouldn’t break on impact.

Treecko rammed his shoulder into the hound’s neck and used one of his tails to buckle the Electrike’s hind legs. The electric pokemon winced and felt the rear of his body give and succumb to the moving ground beneath. The force from the blow and the fall caused the dog to topple head over heels in the dirt until he rolled to a stop. Treecko skidded to a halt, sending up a small wave of displaced dirt.

“<Status report?>” he asked Jeff.

“The other end is west to you, and Electrike is north north west to you and about three metres- err, leaves- away. He’s hurt but not out… Good job by the-”

Before Jeff could finish his compliment or warn Treecko, Electrike jumped upwards and lunged at Treecko, with sparks jumping about in his glossy fangs. Treecko attempted to react, but was slightly late to the draw. Electrike dug his fangs into Treecko’s left shoulder and collar. Treecko let out an agonized, grating snarl as the teeth broke skin and entered his flesh.

“TREECKO!” Jeff yelled, actually walking onto the field to get the Electrike to stop.

“Hey! Behind the white line, buddy!” the referee shouted, outstretching his arm pointing his index finger accusingly at Jeff.

Jeff stopped and sneered, but nodded, walking backwards as quickly as he could. Wattson clapped his hands together and chuckled. “Hah hah! Jeff! You remind me of me when I first started training! Such heart in you! … However, rules are rules… leave the fight to the pokemon,” he replied, his tone becoming dead serious.

Jeff ignored him and watched down as Treecko struggled with the Electrike latching onto him and sending voltage into his wound and, subsequently, body. Bent over and on his knees, Treecko was trying hard to shake off both the electricity and Electrike. In a strained action, the reptile managed to move his right arm and gradually grab Electrike’s lower snout. He slowly and painfully pushed the lower jaw towards the ground, causing the teeth to slide out of his flesh.

Ignoring the burning of his wounds and the upper set of teeth still embedded in the back of his left shoulder, Treecko used his right hand to reach into Electrike’s mouth and close his fist on Electrike’s tongue. The hounds’ eyes widened as he felt his tongue being grabbed.

Sweat now dampened the blindfold and Treecko was grimacing from the pain, but managed to speak. “<…Let go… or you’ll never lick your own ass again…>”

Electrike slowly nodded and removed his upper fangs from Treecko’s shoulder. The wood gecko let go of his tongue and stood up, stepping back a pace. The Electrike spit out blood, closed his mouth and stepped back a pace as well. Treecko wiped his spit-covered hand in the dirt before resuming his fighting stance, despite the pain and the feeling of warm blood leaking out of his wounds. He heard the crackle of electricity and gave a motion with his finger to Jeff, behind him.

“Oh! North! One leaf away!” Jeff said, previously distracted by the amount of blood dripping down Treecko’s back from the bite. “He’s charging a Thunder attack! Dodge! Ten metres towards my voice!” Jeff yelled, much too desperate to try to think of the compass bearings at that point.

Treecko sensed the urgency in his voice, meaning that Electrike was just about finished charging and preparing to strike. Treecko turned towards Jeff and began running. He felt the warm, prickly pulse of the electricity hitting the ground behind him on his back, but he continued to sprint.

“<Say when to stop, Jeff…>” he calmly said with a hint of frustration in his voice.

“Stop!” Jeff quickly shouted, the grass pokemon stopping right in front of him.

“Hit ‘em with another Thunder, Trikey!” Wattson shouted to his pokemon, who seemed reluctantly accepting to the spur-of-the-moment nickname.

“TRIIIIKE!” the lightning-spouting hound howled. He sent a massive blue bolt the size of a human towards Treecko.

Jeff’s eyes widened and he quickly focused solely on Treecko. “Treecko! East as fast and as far as you can. NOW!”

Treecko vaulted to his right at remarkable speed as the electricity neared him. He ran and felt a few outlying sparks latch onto his tail, but he made it out of the powerful attack pretty much unscathed.

Jeff was another matter.

Treecko had been standing directly in front of Jeff when the attack was launched at him and, unfortunately, electricity is indiscriminate. The spear of static slammed into Jeff and danced about his body.

Jeff let out a strained, gravelly roar as he collapsed to his knees and then his hands and then giving in and writhing in pain on the dirt floor of the arena. The Electrike’s eyes widened and he immediately halted his attack. Treecko swiftly turned around towards the direction of the bellow and the referee stepped out onto the field, quickly looking to Wattson.

“Crap! Should we call for a break and some medical aid, sir?!” he asked, glancing over at Jeff.

Wattson let out a hearty laugh. “Hah hah hah! … No no. It’s good for the boy…” he explained with a crooked smile.

“…Really?” the ref asked, glancing over to Jeff, who’s leg was twitching slightly.

Treecko folded his arms, still chewing habitually on his twig. “<Get up, Jeff… or are you too weak to handle a meagre shock?>” Treecko asked in a similar goading manner that got him to try his Bullet Seed.

Jeff sneered through his pain and slowly began to move his arms. Still lying down, he propped himself up on his elbow and let out a pained snarl. “Re… sume… battle!”

“Gee, those two are stubborn,” Rachel said to Kevin, Blane, and Corphish.

Kevin, who was drumming his fingers on Ace’s shell, shrugged. “That and they’re idiots,” he said with a grin. “You still in on our bet, Blane? The odds are now ten-to-one of Jeff winning. I get forty bucks if he loses!”

Blane nodded. “I think they can pull this off with that kind of determination. Besides, I think Wattson’s morale is down since he ran out of electricity-related puns.”

“Your funeral…” Kevin chuckled.

Rachel shot Kevin a look. “You’re, like, the worst best friend someone could have.”

The teen winked. “I do what I can.”

Meanwhile, Jeff had managed to bring himself to an incredibly wobbly kneel. “It’s just a bit of electricity, boy-o.” Wattson snapped his fingers and looked to the referee. “Jerry? I think we can resume now.”

“Yessir! The match will resume.”

“Electrike! Light up that lizard with a Thunderbolt!” the gym leader commanded while placing his hands on his hips.

The Electrike nodded and fired a smaller, more precise bolt at Treecko.

“Treecko… dodge-” Jeff attempted to gurgle out directions, but was too slow and still recovering from being electrocuted.

Treecko let out a cry as the electricity went through him and he collapsed to one knee.

“Tree-eck-ck-ck!” Jeff inaudibly stammered while hoping to say something coherent.

Treecko grimaced and slowly stood up. Sparks leapt about his skin and Jeff could see some of his muscles trembling involuntary, especially around his still-bleeding bite wound.

“Crap, Are y-you para…lyzed, Treeck?” Jeff asked.

Treecko panted, sneering as he did so. Ignoring the beads of sweat dripping down his face, he simply and forcefully asked, “<Tell me… where he is…>”

Jeff stalled, worried that his rage and tenacity were taking him over. “Treecko…” he said dismissively.

Treecko looked over to him. Again, even with the blindfold, Jeff immediately felt the look he was given. “<I’ve trusted you all of this time, so trust me… got it? I may be stubborn sometimes, but I’m not an idiot- I won’t let my rage take over my common sense.>”

Jeff nodded and felt a wave of guilt. “… North north east, about sixteen leaves away,” he directed, humbly.

Wattson called out first. “Volt Tackle, Electrike!”

The dog pokemon began charging towards Treecko, electricity surrounding him as he ran. The wood gecko quickly turned his head to Jeff. “<When I’m about to hit him, count down from three. Don’t mess up the timing or else.>”

Before Jeff could nervously nod in reply, Treecko was off. However, he noticed that the Treecko was much more sluggish than usual, but that couldn’t be helped- he was just shocked with countless watts of electricity, after all. Treecko raced towards the static-enveloped pokemon on all fours.


Treecko sprinted faster, hoping that he was given the right instructions. Electrike was at maximum energy potential as he closed towards Treecko.


Treecko’s aching and warbling muscles burned, but he continued running. Jeff was fixed on the reptile, tensely wondering his seemingly insane plan.


Treecko fell. In Jeff’s wide eyes he had tripped and was about to roll, prey to the oncoming, Volt Tackle.

However, this wasn’t the case.

Treecko slid and manoeuvred on the ground, pivoting on his side while sliding along the light layering of dirt. He swung his large tails around in front of him. Electrike was taken off guard by Treecko’s unpredictable tactic, but he couldn’t stop, he could only hope that he gave more damage than he received.

Treecko swung his tail with all of his might. He took out Electrike’s statically charged front legs and received a nasty shock as he did. The dog pokemon yelped and fell over Treecko crashing into the ground behind the gecko, face first- the electricity around him died. The electrical energy surged through Treecko’s tail and he slowly slid to a stop.

Neither moved. Everyone looked on anxiously, especially the referee. There was a deathly silence.

Then… Electrike’s leg twitched. The referee raised his arm.

“NO!” Jeff called out, his heart sinking down to his feet.

But then, Treecko pushed his arms against the ground, attempting to get to his knees. The ref lowered his arm and watched. The fight wasn’t over yet.

Both Electrike and Treecko moved very sluggishly in an attempt to get to their feet. Treecko was also bipedal, so he managed to slowly stand first. Electrike saw this and frantically attempted to get his legs to allow him to stand. While he did this he began to build up electricity as a defence.

“<… Jeff?>”

Getting down to the bare essentials, he replied, “East south east. Two metres.”

Treecko scowled and began to slowly walk towards Electrike, like an unstoppable killer in a slasher film. Electrike’s eyes widened and he built up a greater amount of electricity. Treecko would have none of that.

Jeff called over and with a serious tone, declared, “You’re there…”

The wood gecko loomed over his opponent for a second, before winding up his tail. Without so much as a ‘cko’, he swung is tail around and slammed it into Electrike. Sparks erupted in a small firework upon impact. The electric pokemon flew to the side, skidded, and tumbled in the dirt at the center of the field until coming to a stop, with a few rogue sparks still jumping off of his fur.

The referee carefully inspected the unconscious Electrike from the side before nodding. “Electrike is unable to battle. Treecko and Jeff are the winners!”

There was silence.

Jeff looked across the field to Wattson, who was silently staring at him. Still no words were said; Jeff was starting to worry that Wattson was going to take out a pair of pistols and start firing at him. He looked like he was burning a hole through Jeff’s head.

However, a wide, beaming smile came onto Wattson’s face and he started feverishly clapping his hands together in a joyous fashion while laughing. “HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH! WELL DONE, BOYO!” Wattson bellowed, chortling with amusement.

Jeff still remained silent. He had won. He really didn’t know what to say- certainly not in response to Wattson’s behaviour.

Treecko winced and slowly walked towards the middle of the field. Jeff also lumbered to the center to meet Wattson, who was grinning madly. He could hear Kevin swearing about losing his bet. The middle aged gym leader took something out of his pocket and folded his arms.

“Impressive, lads! I didn’t think you two could pull it off!” Wattson exclaimed. He outstretched his hand and revealed in it a golden badge shaped like a shaped like a coiled wire with a pole going through it diagonally. “There is one more condition before I give you this though…”

Jeff froze- he was tired of Wattson’s outside-the-box techniques.

“You have to promise that you two’ll fight each next gym battle like the one you just fought,” he explained.

“…You mean… W-with a blindfold?” Jeff asked nervously.

Wattson chuckled. “No no! With you and your pokemon… specifically that Treecko… working as a team and cooperating… It’s never too late to bond with your pokemon.”

Jeff turned his eyes down at a very serious Treecko. It worried him, thinking that that bird had flown. “Cko.” The wood gecko threw his blindfold to the ground and let out a grunt. Jeff wasn’t sure if it was a grunt of pain or indignance, but either one was enough to make Jeff want to hurry this up.

“Yeah- yeah, okay. We’ll do it,” Jeff quickly said, taking the badge. “Thanks.”

Wattson gave him a stern stare. “… You’d better… HAH HAH! Good luck to you, boyos!” the gym leader said giving him a hard slap on the back which caused Jeff to stumble a bit.

“Ack! Uhh, th-thanks, Wattson,” he answered. Jeff looked down at the badge in his hand. His victory finally began to sink in as he realized the obstacles he had to come over to win this. A beaming smile crept onto his face and he looked down at Treecko. “… WE DID IT!” Jeff yelled with a victorious laugh. He bent down, picked up the Treecko and hugged him in merriment.

They both initially winced as they electrocuted each other on the impact of their flesh colliding, but Jeff ignored it. Treecko, however, struggled exasperatedly to get out of the hug.

“<Jeff! Quit it! I hate frigging hugs!>” he complained, squirming violently.

Jeff simply chuckled and let go, quite proud of their achievement. His smile disappeared when he saw blood staining his own shirt. He looked down and realized that Treecko’s wounds were still bleeding and he realized that they should leave now.

“Thanks again, Wattson.” Jeff had a reluctant Treecko to saddle up on his shoulder so that he wouldn’t waste any more energy. The teen ran to the bottom of the bleachers to meet his friends.

“Nice job, Jeff!” Rachel congratulated.

“Yeah, thanks for winning, Jeff!” Blane added, putting his wallet in his pocket.

“You owe me forty dollars, Jeff,” Kevin said crossly.

Corphish jumped from the stand onto Jeff’s back, causing him to wince from the hard and jagged exoskeleton hitting him. “<Way to get electrocuted, you two!>” Corphish then noticed Treecko’s blood dripping off his front and back- staining Jeff’s white shirt. “<…Eww… Oh, and Treeck? What’s with you and that Bullet Seed attack?>”

Treecko heard the comment and winced. The reptile pretended he didn’t hear and he continued gazing forwards, becoming lost in his thoughts.

“<Why is everyone ignoring me today?>” Corphish asked, downtrodden.

Jeff grinned and reached back to pat Corphish’s back. “I’m not ignorin’ ya. Everyone’s just tired from getting electrocuted… I’m feeling kinda tired right now.” He yawned.

Corphish held tightly to the scruff of the yawning Jeff’s shirt and looked forwards. “<Hmm… should I tell Jeff about the closed door he’s about to walk into?>” he thought to himself.

Moments later Corphish heard and felt a bump as his steed collided with the metal.


A big smile appeared on the water type’s face. “<I’m happy I didn’t.>”


Jeff huffily rubbed his nose as he sat in the waiting room of the Mauville pokemon center. Blane and Rachel sat on one white couch and Kevin, Jeff, Corphish and Treecko sat on the other. Of course, Kevin had made fun of him the entire way there about him walking into the door. Jeff could have beaten Arceus and Kevin would still be able to find something to undermine him with. Right now, the pokemon center was backed up in terms of patients, so there were about six other trainers and their pokemon idly waiting around the lobby.

Jeff inspected his friends: Rachel and Blane were eagerly talking with each other about some topic he couldn’t quite make out, Kevin and Corphish were exchanging their opinions on some of the many TV programs that they had gotten up relatively early to watch, and Treecko sat on top of the spine of the white leather couch- the reptile was staring off into nothing.

Jeff was frankly surprised- of course he didn’t expect any boasting or anything in the way of celebration from Treecko, but he expected at least a half-grin at the time he was announced the winner, especially given the circumstances of the match. He really wondered what was on his mind, but he knew he’d never find out.

The teen looked at the slip in his hand. It read: “Forty-two.” Jeff looked up at the ‘we are now serving…’ ticket counter above the front desk. To his dismay, it was only at thirty-eight. His eyes trailed over from the white desk across the room over to his left, where he saw two video phone stations next to another couch. “Maybe I’ll see how everyone at home is doing…” he thought to himself, as he felt kind of isolated from the others right then.

Jeff stood up and walked over the freshly cleaned white tiles and over to the machines. The video phones looked strikingly like ATM machines, except the screen was more inclined for easier sight access. His finger pushed on the green ‘On’ button and the screen lit up, awaiting the phone number. He quickly typed on the number pad and hit the blue call button right next to the ‘on’ button.

Jeff waited somewhat impatiently as the phone rang. Suddenly, the blue screen switched to a new screen and Jeff made out a familiar brown, humanoid body reluctantly holding up a sign which read: “Growell Residence- Please leave a message with the pokemon.”

The pokemon looked over the sign and into the screen and his eyes widened. “<JEFF!>” he immediately threw the sign to the side and stepped forwards,

Jeff smiled. “Tyr- err- Hitmonlee!” he replied, just as happily.

“<Ugh! I wish I could tackle people over the phone… How’ve you been?! You better have been doing a lot of fighting for me!>” Hitmonlee excitedly asked.

“Yup! I just got my third badge!” Jeff said happily, holding up the Dynamo Badge to the screen.

“<Took ya long enough!>” Hitmonlee joked. “<I bet I would have been able to get it the day after you left, if I was a human… Who’s with you anyways? Any new friends?>”

Jeff chuckled. “Right, dream on. As for new friends well there’s Rachel, a nice girl from Johto, and Blane… well… he’s some guy from Sinnoh who ended up travelling with us. OH! Kevin’s here too!”

“<Kevin? Really? Your blonde haired friend from our town who was always over?>” Hitmonlee asked.

“Yup. You forgot to mention ‘annoying’ and ‘evil’. Oh, and also I’m friends with a Beedrill named ‘Drezdek’.”

“<Yeah? I hope he’s not as sulky as you were,>” the fighting type continued to tease.

Jeff stalled, knowing that the Beedrill was, moreso- he did lose his best friend after all. “Uhh…”

“<Anyways, tell Kevin I said ‘Hi.’ Now this ‘Rachel’ girl… do you two have a thing?>” Hitmonlee slyly asked.

Jeff’s face flushed red. “No! No no! We don’t!” he insisted. “I barely know her!”

Jeff knew that Hitmonlee was grinning wildly, despite not having a mouth. He even heard a few suppressed chuckles. The fighting type folded his arms across his brown, toned chest and smiled. “<Whatever you say, Jeff.>”

The teen hoped that the blood would leave his face soon, so he decided to take the pressure off himself. “What about you and Bayleef? Ever get the guts to tell her how you feel about her?”

Hitmonlee’s stunned face turned a bright red colour as well. He quickly clenched his fist and imposingly shaked it at the video screen. “<WHY YOU- When I next see you, you’re dead meat, pal! You hear?!>”

Jeff chuckled and gave a dismissive wave. “Not so funny, is it?”

Hitmonlee grunted and averted his eyes. “<That wide smile on your face begs to differ… Anyways, you say you just beat a gym? What type?>”

“Electric,” Jeff answered.

The kicking pokemon nodded. “<So… that Corphish and Taillow would be toast against them… that means you used the Onix?>” he asked.

“Uhhh…” Jeff stalled, instantly remembering his promise to Hitmonlee when he last saw him. He promised that he wouldn’t go and find Treecko. While it was true that he didn’t look for Treecko, he came across him through inane circumstances, the end result was still the same. That would be enough to set Hitmonlee off, and he knew that he wouldn’t listen to Jeff’s explaination. He continued stalling. “…Not exactly?”

“<‘Druzdork’ or whatever the heck that Beedrill’s name was, then?>”

“…Nnnnnnnno…” Jeff answered, becoming very nervous.

Hitmonlee set his piercing brown eyes on his friend’s, knowing that something was up. “<…Then who? …Didn’t you say that you didn’t meet any new pokemon?>”

Jeff began getting very nervous. It was only a matter of time now before he found out. “…Uhh… Y-yeah…”

The fighting type stared into him and then his eyes widened. “<… YOU DIDN’T!!>” he roared in disbelief.

Jeff recoiled in fear. “N-NO! I… I mean… What are you talking about?” he asked, attempting to play dumb.

Just then, he heard Nurse Joy’s voice call out from behind him. “Excuse me, Jeff, is it? We’re ready to tend to your Treecko’s bite wounds…”

Jeff froze in his spot, watching helplessly as Hitmonlee’s rage grew exponentially. Just as it looked like the brown humanoid was about to unleash his wrath on him, a green sauropod pokemon shoved Hitmonlee out of the way of the screen and replaced him.

“<JEFF!>” Bayleef greeted happily.

An overwhelming wave of relief swept over him. “B-Bayleef! How are you?!”

“<I’m pretty good! Except Hitmonlee can’t cook food at all. Fighting types have no taste in anything!>” she joked.

Jeff laughed. “Very true…” He was suddenly very confused. “Wait… Why would Hitmonlee have to cook?”

Bayleef tilted her head slightly. “<Oh… Your parents still aren’t back yet from their trip in Sinnoh.>”

“Will you two be okay?” Jeff asked in great concern for them.

The grass type nodded. “<Yeah. We’ll survive… barely,>” she joked, giving a look to Hitmonlee off-screen.


Bayleef managed to push her way onto the screen as Hitmonlee continued on. “<Maybe you should call back later!>” she yelled over the shouting. “<Bye! Love ya!>” She waved her vine and then moved it to turn off the video phone. His screen then went blank.

In the pokemon center there was dead silence. Jeff felt a presence behind him. He didn’t need to move his eyes in the slightest to know that everyone in the pokemon center was staring at him. His face flushed redder than a Scizor’s metal hide as he turned around to face everybody.

Corphish was the one to try to break the excruciatingly awkward silence. “<…Those things should really come with headphones, eh?…>”
[B]Claimed: Treecko, Grovyle, Charmeleon.
Co-Owner of Treecko/Grovyle/Sceptile Club.
Paired withAnastasia R.

Click Below for The Awesome Treecko/Grovyle/Sceptile Club
Older Fic banner by Scenice.
Old Fic banner by Sammi-Chan.
New Fic banner by Scenice
Banner and avatar by Anastasia R.
Reply With Quote