Rating: G
Disclaimer: I would come up with something fancy to say here, but it's still very late at night. Let's just say... I don't own Pokémon. Works for me. ^_^
Chapter Ten - Doubt
"H... hello? Is anyone here? Anybody?"
James' hesitant questions seemed to echo in the apparently empty Pokémon Center, but surely it was just his imagination making it sound that way. This Center certainly couldn't be empty, anyway.
He was in the Saffron City Pokémon Center, to be exact. All he wanted was to hand his Pokémon over to the nurse so they could rest up before... "Gotta stop thinking about that," he grunted softly to himself. At least thinking about visiting his next gym was only making him feel dizzy now instead of sick to his stomach. If that could be thought of as an improvement.
He looked around again, but he still couldn't see or hear anyone. Myrea and Jon were waiting outside, and he had told them this would only take a few seconds. "Hey! Is anyone in here?" he called out louder, wincing at the volume of his own voice. It didn't seem right, yelling in a Pokémon Center. But the door behind the desk finally opened.
"Chansey!"
"Oh, a Chansey. Is Nurse Joy back there?"
"Chaaaansey, chan chan!"
"...I'm not sure what you just said... but if she's back there, can you bring her here?"
"Chansey!" The door swung shut as the pink Pokémon disappeared. And mere moments later, Nurse Joy appeared.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. Chansey told me someone was waiting... but I was so wrapped up with my work back there that I didn't listen to it. How can I help you?"
"Well, I just need to get my Pokémon rested up so..." James trailed off as Joy shook her head gently.
"I'm sorry again... but we don't have room for any more Pokéballs just now. I'm afraid you're going to have to come back later."
"No room? But--"
"There are just too many trainers lately who have come to battle our gym leader... and we've been so busy here at the Center that there's about a three hour wait for an opening. I truly am sorry..."
"Oh... that's fine. I'll just come back later." He couldn't have exactly said he was disappointed... relieved that it would take him that much longer to get to the gym was more like it. Feeling guilty about that, he walked a little more quickly out the door.
"Hey, you've still got your Pokéballs. Are they really that fast here?" Jon asked him first, craning his neck up to look at him.
"Not exactly..."
"Well, what's the matter? What took you so long?" Myrea asked next, her expression very curious.
"See... they're full. They don't have room for my Pokémon because there's a lot of trainers here to battle Sabrina... We'll just have to come back in three hours and hope there's room then."
"Oh," was Myrea's only comment.
"Well, I guess we got lotsa free time now!" Jon exclaimed happily. "I'm gonna go sightseeing!"
"I don't know," James began dubiously, "I'm still trying to forget the last time you went sightseeing." But the boy had already dashed off and was lost to view.
"Oh, let him be, he can't get into too much trouble. What do you say we walk around for awhile ourselves?" James just grinned and nodded.
With the sun hanging high overhead, it wasn't cool enough for it to be a comfortable walk, but the pair still enjoyed themselves immensely, talking and laughing over all kinds of subjects. After about an hour, in a moment of silence, James could feel Myrea's sly sideways glance.
"Shame on you."
"Huh? What was that?" he asked, startled, looking over and down at her. She just continued walking beside him, the look on her face not giving much away. Finally, she repeated herself.
"I said, shame on you. If we had been waiting to get your Pokémon back from the Center now, you would have clammed up and spaced out long ago. You should have been a lot more upset that they didn't have any room... but you're acting relieved. Like you don't even want to get your next badge. I thought you wanted to get them as soon as you could, right?"
"Well, I..."
"Of course you do. I just would have thought you'd get over this little routine by now. There's really no need for you to get so worried in the first place. How many times have you lost so far?"
"Well..."
"That's right, none. And think how much better you would do if you didn't get so worried over nothing. So, are you understanding me?"
"Yes, I'm understanding pretty well. Thanks for the pep talk, coach," he added with a smirk.
"Don't get smart with me," she scolded back. But she was giggling as she said it. "Come on now, let's get going and actually find some stores to do a little shopping. I really need a new pair of shoes come to think of it, and I'm nearly out of Slowpoke food, so--"
"Psst! Hey! You two! Are you Pokémon trainers, by any chance?"
Myrea and James stopped dead in their tracks and blinked at each other.
"That's right, you two! Are you here to challenge Sabrina?"
Whirling around, the two friends saw a short girl with two huge yellow ribbons in her hair peeking out from around the side of a building at them. She beckoned them closer, and they obliged her out of curiosity.
"Yes... I'm here to challenge her. What do you want?" James asked her.
"I just thought I'd warn you..." the girl began slowly, looking back around the corner of the building furtively as if afraid of being seen, "...that beating Sabrina is impossible! I've tried it three times already, and a lot of my friends have tried and failed as well! There's just something about Sabrina... those freaky psychic Pokémon of hers practically scare other trainers' Pokémon into losing!"
James stared in rapt attention at the girl, his mouth hanging slightly open. He didn't notice the way Myrea was glaring at her instead.
"So what's your point, kid?"
"Oh... I just wanted to let you know that going to the gym is a mistake! I've taken it upon myself to let everyone know, isn't that great?"
"She's really... really that hard to beat?" James questioned almost to himself, his eyes widening in dismay.
"Impossible! Why, she--"
"That's it, we're leaving!" Myrea announced vehemently, grabbing James' hand firmly in her own. "Thanks a lot for nothing, kid." With that, she turned and stalked away angrily, towing James behind her in a way that made him feel like a troublesome kid being dragged off by his mother. He wondered how mad she was at him for listening to that girl. Of course, it wasn't a question of whether or not he'd find out.
Myrea didn't stop until she was a decent distance away from where the girl had been, and even then she made sure they were behind a building and out of sight before she started in on him.
"James! You didn't really believe that girl, did you?"
"Not... not really..."
"Don't lie to me! I saw it written all over your face! You believed her. She's just a little girl who's probably a poor Pokémon trainer to begin with, and she wants to scare other people away from winning a badge just because of that!"
"But how do you know that--"
"James, have you totally forgotten everything I told you only minutes ago? You can do this. Think about your friends. How would you feel about yourself if you didn't even try to win? ...Besides that, I believe in you. Even if it's true, I think you have what it takes to win."
James nodded slowly. Not all the doubt was gone from his mind... but it was lessened considerably. His friends... he had to try for them.
"Alright," Myrea sighed, suddenly looking very tired. James frowned, thinking that maybe he had caused her to become that way, but before he could offer an apology, she bounced right back to her normal self. "How about we kill two Pidgey with one stone here. I'll go find some new shoes for myself, and you go find the Slowpoke food so we can save some time. We'll meet back here when we're done. How does that sound?"
"Good... but..."
"Here," she smiled, handing him some money. "And James... try to keep out of trouble."
He lifted an eyebrow. "Me, get in trouble? You weren't so worried about Jon."
"James... please, I happen to know for a fact that you are capable of getting into far more trouble than even that little kid."
"Gee... thanks."
She laughed. "You know I didn't mean it that way... well, see ya soon!" She hugged him quickly, then ran off. James just stared after her for awhile before shaking his head slightly and heading in the opposite direction.
It depressed him when he found himself hoping he would be able to stay out of trouble as well.
"Slowpoke food, Slowpoke food... Where in the heck do they sell Slowpoke food?" James muttered to himself.
He was still looking for a shop that actually carried Slowpoke food; it turned out that not every Pokémon food store sold every kind of food. Fortunately, the next one advertised it plain as day in the window. He was about to go in, when...
"Excuse me, sir, but would you have a look at this?"
Warily, he turned around to see what he thought to be a teenaged girl, her thick black hair tied into a multitude of tiny braids. Her clothes were disheveled and rather dirty, leaving one with the impression that perhaps this girl didn't have much money. She also carried an armload of Pokéballs. Even though she didn't appear too threatening, James wasn't about to take any chances after what had happened earlier that day.
"I'm kind of busy right now, so..."
"But sir, you have to look at this. It would be especially important to you if you plan on challenging Sabrina for the Marsh Badge."
Despite his better judgement, James gave in out of curiosity. "I guess... go on."
The girl smiled softly. "Thank you, sir. I'm sure you already know that a lot of trainers are having trouble with Sabrina's psychic Pokémon. But the Pokémon that I'm selling all have a good advantage that would be an extremely valuable asset against them. A lot of people don't listen to me because of the way I look... but I can assure you that those who have listened, won out against Sabrina. Of course, they were all excellent trainers to begin with... something tells me you are as well."
James just stared at her, measuring her words. It really must be that hard to defeat Sabrina... what the other girl said must have been true. And if the Pokémon this girl was selling were indeed invaluable against Sabrina's Pokémon, well... what could it hurt to buy one?
God, James. You're probably going to get in a lot of trouble for this, but... heh, trouble. Yes, trouble always seems to find you.
He worried briefly about the price until the girl named an amount that was lower than what Myrea had given him. There wouldn't have been enough money left to buy Slowpoke food after all... so he just gave all of it to the girl, promising himself he would pay Myrea back every cent. This girl did look like she needed it.
Overjoyed, the girl praised him about a thousand times over, even waving to him until he was out of sight, holding his brand new Pokéball. He didn't know what kind of Poké was in it, or if there was anything in it at all. And despite that, he was almost sure that Myrea would completely understand once she had heard the whole story.
"You... did... what? How could you just... just... James!"
Myrea seemed incapable of speech, pacing back and forth in front of him while he just stood there, waiting for her to calm down. She hadn't let him explain much of anything, so she didn't know any details. And she also seemed too upset to listen to him explain anything at the moment.
"But you see, I--"
"No, I don't see. I can't imagine what in the world possessed you to do something like this. Are you really that low on confidence that you would listen to some freeloading brat?"
"But you don't understand, she--"
"Oh, I understand that you spent my money for something that's probably totally worthless."
"I told you I'd pay you back."
"How do you know that Pokémon you have there is going to be any good against Sabrina? Or that there's even anything in it!"
"Well, we can--"
"No James, I don't even want to look at it. You know what your problem is?" she asked tiredly, finally stopping for breath to look at him. He realized then that he had never seen her so angry - not at him, or at anyone else. He should have figured this would happen.
"You're just too naive," she continued finally. "You're too trusting. You believe just about everything anyone tells you... you need to work on separating fact from fiction."
He nodded in spite of himself. He knew it was true... it had happened too many times before.
"I'm going to buy Slowpoke food. James... just stay here." He watched Myrea leave, then simply sat on the ground to stare at nothing.
"Hey... what happened here?"
"Huh? Oh... Jon," James said, momentarily startled by the boy's sudden appearance. "Nothing much... she's just a little upset right now, that's all."
"Hmm. You two have a fight?"
"...Not really."
"Then what's wrong with ya, Jim? You look upset, too."
"I don't know... it's just that every girl I know seems to think I'm an idiot."
"Is that all? Well... I don't think you're an idiot. I'm not a girl, but it counts for somethin', right?"
James managed a weak smile, reaching over to tug the boy's hat down lower. "Of course it does." But Jon watched in concern as James just lapsed into silence, a horrible feeling of doubt hanging over him.
Poison was no good... but ground, water, and plant might stand a chance...
"Kadabra, go! Are you ready to begin, James?"
His thoughts were interrupted by Sabrina's voice; but then, it was really too late at this point to be thinking about strategy. He wished could tell Sabrina "no".
He had never met the Saffron City gym leader before, but she seemed like a nice enough person, not the scary one he'd envisioned after hearing how tough she was to defeat. And he still didn't know if he could possibly defeat her. He didn't even have some kind of strategy worked out.
Myrea wouldn't talk to him ever since the incident earlier in the day... not while his Pokémon were finally in the Center, and not when they were waiting to get into the gym. It had been rather uncomfortable, to say the least, with her acting that way... James still felt tense and apprehensive, which he really shouldn't have been at the moment. Still... Jessie and Meowth... he wasn't going down without a fight, for their sakes. At last he nodded, and tossed out the Pokéball he had decided on.
"Victreebel!" Victreebel had been getting a lot of experience lately, and hopefully it could pull through at least the first battle. The second... he would just have to wait and see. "Start off with your Razor Leaf!"
"Reflect it, Kadabra!" To James' dismay, the Kadabra's Reflect was easily able to send all of Victreebel's sharp leaves straight back at it; fortunately, it was able to dodge them all, screaming angrily as it did so.
"Get in closer and use your Slam a few times!" James suggested next, but Sabrina soon had a command to counter that as well.
"Why don't you Disable that move?" she called out to her psychic Pokémon. A steady glow built up around the Kadabra, but James had a much better idea as Victreebel continued heading toward it's opponent.
"Give it some Stun Spore while it's busy!" He couldn't be sure, but he thought his own Pokémon seemed almost ecstatic as it obeyed him, spraying it's sparkling spores out in a huge cloud that completely enveloped the unlucky Kadabra. It fell to the floor heavily, twitching and moaning in an odd way. It obviously couldn't get up to fight any more.
Then again, maybe he could understand why Victreebel seemed so happy... after all, it had just defeated a very powerful Pokémon.
"Wonderful," Sabrina commented as she called Kadabra back, a hint of a smile on her face. "Not many trainers have gotten this far lately... In any case, would you like to switch Pokémon before we begin the second round?"
"No... I don't think so." Victreebel hadn't been hurt, and it seemed eager to battle more. James was fairly sure he wouldn't have a problem with winning this badge after all.
That is, he was sure until Sabrina called out Alakazam.
It wasn't too long before Victreebel had been overwhelmed by the teleporting Pokémon; it was simply too fast. And with a finishing Psybeam attack, Alakazam was declared the winner.
This is it... there's no way I can win now. Weezing, Marril, Dugtrio, Seel... none of them can stand up to that. But what about...
James shook his head hard. There was no way he could possibly use the Pokémon he had bought from that girl... he hadn't even looked to see what was in it! He had been too embarrassed to look. If he used it now, he could end up looking twice as foolish as he already did. But still... if there was really no other option...
"More proof that I'm a complete imbecile," he muttered to himself, grabbing his new Pokéball quickly lest he lose what little courage he had left. "Pokéball, go!" he yelled out, tossing it almost angrily. Well, that felt stupid. He didn't even know what to call it.
It was almost like he could feel Myrea's eyes burning holes into the back of his head. She knew what he was doing. And of course she disapproved.
It seemed to be taking forever for the Pokémon to materialize, but that was probably only because of the tension. Yet when it did begin to take form, James knew instantly what it was.
"That's a... a... G... Ge..."
"Gengar!" the purple ghost Pokémon announced proudly. James realized he had been talking to himself and tried to stop looking so shocked. Luckily, everyone else was so busy staring at Gengar that they didn't notice.
"My, my," Sabrina remarked in faint surprise. "I haven't seen too many Gengar show up at this gym..." Then she smiled. "But Alakazam loves a challenge. Let's begin then. Alakazam, start with Confusion!"
That all too familiar glow grew up around the psychic Pokémon, but it soon faded when it noticed what Gengar was doing. Which was rolling on the floor, laughing.
Everyone in the gym stared silently at this for quite some time before Sabrina snapped out of it. "Uh... Alakazam, don't let it confuse you like that! It's just trying to catch you with your guard down! Teleport behind it and use Confusion, now!"
Alakazam disappeared. So did Gengar. A split second later, Alakazam reappeared exactly where it should, which would have been behind Gengar.
"Ala?" it wondered, completely baffled. Before it had time to do much of anything else, Gengar popped up right in front of it, it's long pink tongue shooting out to slurp it right up the middle of it's face.
"G-g-g-g-gengar!" it giggled hysterically.
"Oh, Alakazam!" Sabrina cried out as the ghost Pokémon's Lick attack began to take effect. It was then that James realized he should be giving Gengar orders instead of just staring like everyone else. At least Myrea making him memorize so many other Pokémon's attacks hadn't been a waste of time.
"Finish it with Nightshade!"
"Geng, gengar!" It complied quite happily, leaving poor Alakazam paralyzed and damaged enough that it was certain to not be able to battle further. "GENGAR!" the victorious Pokémon laughed. It turned around and it's eyes landed on James. If anything, it's smile seemed to grow twice as wide.
"Umm... oh, good job, Gengar! Now, return!" Fortunately, he was able to recall it without any problems. He was already beginning to realize that this Pokémon was going to be more than a handful.
"That was wonderful, James. Very nicely done," Sabrina was saying as she headed in his direction. James just wiped the perspiration from his forehead and tried to sound as grateful for her praise as he could. She seemed to sense and understand the stressful feeling he was still trying to overcome, and he was exceedingly thankful that she gave him his badge without much of a show.
Once she had walked away, he turned to look for Myrea and Jon. They weren't sitting where they had been. Sighing, he headed for the door, not so much as glancing at his new Marsh Badge before shoving it into his pocket. It didn't mean so much to him if...
The moment he stepped outside, his thoughts were interrupted again by someone flinging their arms around him so abruptly that he jumped in surprise.
"James, I'm so sorry! I was so mean to you... and you were right all along..." James looked down at the top of Myrea's head, then over at Jon, who just smiled and shrugged slightly.
"Well, you just didn't know..." He then proceeded to tell her the whole story while she finally looked up at him and listened intently to every word. "...but I just don't see how that girl... could have so many ghost-type Pokémon like that..."
"We may never know. At least you helped her out... But the point really is, I've been acting so mean! I'm sorry... You're going to forgive me, aren't you?"
She looked so earnest, staring up at him, that he had to smile. "Of course I am." Even though he had said he had no idea how that girl had found him, he had a very good suspicion. But Myrea really didn't need to know any of that.
Mercifully silent up to that point, Jon chose that moment to remind them of his presence. "Are you two gonna hug all day? People are staring... Hey Jim, mind if I take a look at that badge? I bet it's cool!"
"Some things never change, do they?" James sighed to Myrea. Then they both laughed.
They spent most of the rest of the day just enjoying being together, Myrea and Jon both congratulating James on his win at least once every five minutes. Which made him feel better about it than before; after all, it wouldn't have meant much to him if it hadn't been for his friends... no matter where they happened to be right now.
"Okay... okay... OKAY! I'll see ya soon, then..."
Jon hung the phone back up in the booth, then turned to give Myrea and James an impertinent grin. "They'll be here to pick me up in about an hour." His smile faded a bit, and he sighed. "I knew this was coming... I guess I have to say I'll miss you guys..."
"Well, you don't have to say it if you don't mean it," Myrea began seriously.
"But I do! I mean it," the boy pouted.
"Oh, you're so cute," Myrea giggled, getting down on her knees to hug him. "It was so nice to travel with you, and you know we'll meet again someday, right?"
"Yeah... we will. And take care of Jim, will ya?"
"Of course I will," Myrea responded cheerfully, leaning back to straighten his hat. "And James, wipe that look off your face."
Jon grinned hugely as she stood up again. James scowled. It wasn't fair how he just knew things like that. "Now, I'll leave you two... boys... alone to say goodbye, okay?"
After she walked off, they just stared at each other for a time. "Are you sure you don't want us to wait with you until they get here?"
"Yeah... it's okay. You two got a long ways to go to get to Fuschia. I'll be fine 'til the car gets here."
"Alright then... I guess this is goodbye for now..."
"For now," Jon agreed. James finally bent down to hug him, somehow feeling sad despite his smile.
"Take care of yourself."
"You too. And make sure to keep your girlfriend happy."
"Can I tell you something? She's--"
"Not your girlfriend? I know that."
"You... you... know that? Then how come..."
"It's fun to get ya upset, Jim."
"Promise me one more thing," James sighed, standing up to look down at him. "That you'll work on your annoying attitude problem."
"As long as you work on your dependency problem."
"You know... I would get you for that, but Myrea would find out, and I wouldn't hear the end of it for the next five miles. But really, kid... we all need someone to be with, if only every now and then..." "I know. I learned a lot from ya, Jim... I won't forget any of it." They both smiled at each other again, this time a bit more fondly.
"Be seein' ya..."
"Yes... goodbye."
James finally turned to head after Myrea; when he was about twenty feet away, Jon yelled after him. "Oh yeah! And take care of Victreebel, too!"
"I will!"
"Take real good care of it, 'cause next time Riza's gonna beat it!"
"We'll just see about that!" With Jon now lost to view behind him, James continued walking and caught up with Myrea at last.
"So... how did it go?"
"Pretty good," James reflected, falling into step beside her. "And as much as I hate to admit it, I'll miss the kid."
"James..." she began warningly.
"I know, I was only kidding." They were silent for a long time before Myrea spoke again.
"You've really come a long way, haven't you?"
"I suppose so... I have great new friends... five badges... I've changed too... I hardly recognize myself sometimes. I couldn't have done it without you, if that's what you want to hear..."
"Don't give me all the credit," she smiled.
"And how could I forget my Pokémon... they helped a lot, too. I couldn't have gotten this far without them either. And now that I--"
"GENGAR!"
It might have been pure fright, but it was more likely just Gengar's friendly Lick attack that left James immobilized in the middle of the road, his new ghost Pokémon still clinging to his head and laughing out it's name.
"Uh... James? Are you okay? James?"
He wasn't quite able to respond to Myrea's questions. But he would be okay... eventually. He just had to remind himself that nothing in his life was ever going to be completely easy.
Win my eternal gratitude by commenting now upon this fic... pretty please? :p
