Chapter Three

the day is here, Nick will battle his childhood friend Chase. what secretes will be revealed? how will Nick grow? and what does the Professor have in store for the children today?

Chapter Three

 

Nick awoke the next day; Singe was sprawled out on the corner of his bed tired from a night of playing with Serena. Nick had a strange feeling of fear and excitement for what was to come in the next few hours. He remembered how confident Singe looked when he had explained to him what they were about to do. Nicks blue comforter was so soft he didn’t want to get out of bed, he knew if he did it would be the last time for a while he would be able to sleep in his room. With a deep inhalation of air and a fair amount of personal irritation he forced himself out of bed and stood on the cold wood floor.  Singe too awoke when Nick leapt out of bed; He was smiling as always, and seemed excited about the battle, Nick had only seen Singe this excited about battle once; back when he defeated the Caterpie.

Nick put on his only pair of dark blue acid washed jeans that had no holes in them, a black t-shirt that had red stitching, and his black Turos leather belt that matched his black boots of the same material. He walked downstairs with Singe following close behind him. Nick was surprised to find his mother sitting at the table; normally she slept in on weekends. As Nick poured the Pokémon food into Singe and Serena’s bowls he could feel his mother’s eyes drilling into the back of his head.

                “Something wrong mom?” he asked a little nervous, he still hadn’t told her about his plans for travel, but explained to her that today he was going to battle Chase and register for a battle at the local Gym. He felt now would be the moment he had to tell her about his plans.

                “Nick, you are wearing your father’s belt. The last time you wore it was when you were about to go on your adventure. I know you think you where slick not telling me about it last night, but I’m your mother, and we mothers know everything.”  A wave of guilt washed over Nick’s body as his mother spoke. But she didn’t seem mad about him leaving, more upset that he had not told her sooner. He stuttered as he replied,

                “I, I just didn’t want to upset you mom… I have to do this. Singe needs to experience his full potential.” He explained it exactly as the Professor did, his mother stood and walked over to him, embracing him in a tight hug.

                “You need to too. You say Singe needs to experience his full potential. But you left out that you need to as well. I learned more about myself on my journey than I did any other time in my life before it. And if not for the long road, I would never have met your father.” Small tears of joy had slowly formed in Betty’s eyes as Nick hugged her back, though they were close Nick always felt that showing affection to his mother would make him seem like a momma’s boy. After his father’s death, there was no one else there for either of them other than friends. So they had to be there for each other.

Serena rubbed her head against Nick’s leg and calmly purred as if to say “you go, I’ll take care of things here Neculai.” Nick scratched her behind her ears as his mother sat back down at the table. She scooted over to Singe and said,

                “I’m going to trust you to look after him Singe; you know he gets into trouble. And keep him away from the girls. Ok Singe? Understand?” As she asked, Sing lifted his tiny arm up to his purple dancing flame in a salute and made one of his humming sounds to confirm. His mother’s joke about keeping him away from the girls suddenly jogged Nick’s memory about Becca kissing him the day before. He almost forgot it really happened and wasn’t just some kind of dream. He wondered if he was going to see her at the Professors house during the battle. And even more on his mind, was who would she be rooting for?

                “Mom it’s time. Do you want to come?”          Nick asked hoping he would have just one person there rooting for him. She shook her head and said,

                “No dear, you Chase and Smith are the only people who need to be there. Anyone else there would just be a distraction.” She walked over to him and gave him a motherly kiss on the cheek, he hadn’t had one since he was a small child. Singe now floated toward him and they walked out the door quickly, Nick did not want to risk being late for his first true trainer battle.

The sun was shining brightly and Nick could see entire flocks of Spearow soaring through the air, in the trees Aipalm’s and Weedle’s hung daintily by feet and limps staring at Nick and Singe cautious of their presence.  Nick was so focused on the thought of battling his best friend he didn’t even pay close attention to Singe who was dancing around in the air growing dizzy, but having fun. Nick thought to himself,

                “Singe is a ghost Fire type Pokémon. Boron is a Metal Psychic type Pokémon…Element wise I have the advantage. But Boron has fought in a lot of battles, but not recently. Still Chase trained him allot….”

Nick’s confidence seemed to teeter on a fine line between complete control and complete fear. Soon he was passed the Viridian forest and walking to Chase’s house, Nick could see that Becca was gone; her red Moped was not parked in the driveway.  Chase had sold his a long time ago for money he used on training equipment. He preferred walking anyways. Nick knocked on the door, it was quickly answered by Charles Ringer, Chase and Becca’s father.

                “Neculai! Right on time! Chase and I where just going over battle strategy, come in, come in.” Nick walked in and immediately felt the cool air of the air conditioning. Chase’s father was a tall man like his son, and was muscular as well. He was a career Pokémon trainer until he quit, becoming an employee at the local bank. He was very well off has Nick’s mother would say.   Nick saw Chase and Boron sitting in the study; Chase stood stretching his arms and said,

                “Ready Nick? You know I’m not going not go easy on you. “He said with a smug and annoying smile. Nick smirked and replied, “I wouldn’t want you to.” Chase laughed and rapped his arm around Nick’s neck in a playful headlock saying,

                “That’s the spirit! Welcome your inevitable a*s kicking! Embrace it! Make it your own!” Nick was soon released from the headlock and saw Singe smiling in amusement. Nick wondered if Singe would be able to put his friendship with Boron aside for the battle to come.  Nick turned to Chase and said,

                “Well, I’m ready whenever you are.” Chase nodded and picked up his Poke` ball, it was the first time in a while Nick had seen him use it on Boron. The white glow of energy beamed out of the button like center of the red and white sphere, it popped open and the white beam of energy changed into a red light and Boron appeared to vanish, sucked into the Poke` ball. It was an efficient way to assure that the Pokémon lost absolutely no energy from walking. Nick never used one on Singe; he felt it scared Singe to be turned into pure energy. When inside a Poke` ball, the Pokémon is put into a stasis of sleep that almost puts the Pokémon on pause till it is released from the ball. But the limits on how long you should keep a Pokémon in the ball vary from Pokémon to Pokémon.

                “Hey pops, I’m out the door! Tell Becca Nick and I are heading to the Professors!” Chase shouted to his father who had disappeared into the kitchen. Nick and Chase walked up the road together, Singe floating close behind. Nick thought in his head about the upcoming battle, how would he do this? How could he face off against his best friend?  His mind had been kept so busy that the walk seemed like only seconds before they reached the entrance to the Professor’s house.

                Smith was in the field where he was conducting a group of Diglet’s to till the dirt and create a flat, clear arena for the battle.  The small brown creatures quickly clawed their way through dirt and grass, moving through it like they were in water almost. Their small black eyes and wet pink noses were all that could be seen. The rest of their bodies were hidden underground. Nick had always thought they were one of the strangest Pokémon out there. As they approached the Professor Chase said,

                “You sure you’re ready for this Nick? Once we begin, you will be my opponent.” Nick stared at his friend for a moment; Singe could feel their tension and also began to stare at Chase. Nick nodded and stuck his hand out to shake, as Chase took his hand he smiled and said,               

                “This is going to be one of the most important days of our lives. Let’s do this right.” He then released Boron from the Poke` ball, it was one of the older model Poke`balls, the more up to date ones where clear and you could see the Pokémon’s information on the ball displayed in digital writing. But Boron was captured in the old school Poke` ball. As Boron faded into reality and stretched its metal claws, Singe seemed to become pumped and ready for the battle.

                “Alright boys are you two ready for this?” asked Smith, they both simultaneously nodded and walked out to the arena. Singe was at Nick’s side and Boron at Chase’s side. Smith stood in the center of the ring and said,

                “We are about to commence in a single round battle between Chase Ringer, and Neculai Ferris. Each opponent will use one Pokémon; the winner is the last Pokémon able to fight at the end of the first round. There is no time limit. Only four base moves can be used, but as many times as you want. If you exceed the four move limit, you will be disqualified. Are you both ready?” Nick looked at Chase, he seemed calm and secure, while Nick was nervous and slightly shaking.  Before either could make a move Becca’s voice came shouting from down the driveway,

                “WAIT! WAIT! Don’t start till I get there!! I don’t want to miss it!!” Nick suddenly gained a burst of confidence with her being there. Her hair drifted behind her, she wore a denim skirt and a white sleeveless shirt with red lining. Her hair was held out of her face with a red bandana. Mila was sprinting behind her struggling to keep up. She ran to the sidelines where both Smith and Sinclair where standing. She took a second to catch her breath and then said,

                “Sorry… I was…late…I…just had…..to….think…” she panted heavily but had a smile on her face. She then looked directly at Nick and said,               “You better kick his a*s, or I’m taking back what I gave you yesterday!” Nick grew a look of joy on his face, while Chase was completely confused and oblivious to what she meant, but he didn’t care either. With a small amount of irritation he said,

                “Are we doing this or not Nick?” His words snapped Nick back into reality. Singe and Boron now took the field, and just as Smith shouted, “Begin!” Chase commanded,

                “Boron use Zen Head butt!” a psychic move! Boron began to glow a light purple color and flew at Singe with a great amount of speed, Singe floated into the air above the attack quickly. Nick realized he had not even given the command to dodge. But he knew winning would be a two part effort.

                “Singe use Ember!” Nick shouted, as he did Singe’s purple flame turned into a bright red Inferno and with a whip of his head, Singe sent it flying at Boron who was still trying to hit him with the Zen Head butt. The Ember hit Boron directly! Boron crashed to the ground, but quickly levitated back into the air. Chase shouted,

                “Boron Zen Head butt again! Make it count!” but as Boron began to glow the purple color again Nick shouted,  

                “Singe use Astonish!!!” though it was a weaker attack, it was a powerful attack when used on a psychic type Pokémon. Singe vanished into thin air as Boron charged toward him, then Singe reappeared behind Boron and dealt a devastating blow of dark energy that manifested as a black and gray flame.

As Boron crashed to the ground Singe slowly drifted back to Nick’s side, Boron slowly floated up again, but its large red eye almost seemed to be glazed over, Nick could tell the Ghost attack had done its job and Boron was weakened severely.  Nick then shouted,

                “Singe! Finish him off! Use Ember!” as he commanded, Singe immediately sent the burst of fire at Boron, as it hit Boron attempted to dodge it. But it still hit dead on and Boron fell to the ground in defeat. Chase ran to Boron with a smile, and a bit of egg, on his face.

                “You did great; maybe we need to train better Boron.” He then held his Poke` ball up to Boron and returned him to it.  As Chase stood, Nick could hardly believe that he had just won, Singe was almost completely unharmed. And even seemed like he could have kept battling. Chase walked up to Nick and stook his hand out to shake, but before Nick could shake his hand Becca tackled Nick to the ground in a Victory hug,

                “YOU DID IT! Oh my god you should have seen Singe! He was amazing! Well I guess you did see it you were right there…. Still!! Wow I mean you kicked his a*s! But like literally!! I have never seen Boron be beaten so quickly!” She shouted and he breast pressed against Nick’s cheek in her tight hug. Nick hugged her back as Chase said,

                “Mind if I borrow my a*s kicker for a second sis?” She released Nick from the hug slightly blushing as Chase walked up to the two of them. He then stook his hand out to shake again, Nick clasped his hand and looked over at Singe who was already playing with Mila in celebration, possibly already forgetting about the major event that had just unfolded.

                “Nick, I didn’t think you had it in you. My strategy was to play on your fear of hurting a Pokémon and it backfired completely. You were ready to take Boron out from the beginning huh?” Nick didn’t know what to say. Chase then handed him the 100 dollars owed for winning, and then said,     

“I think you need to celebrate with the other victor.” They all three then looked over at Singe who stopped playing with Mila and looked back at them smiling. Smith then took Boron’s Poke` ball from Chase and asked everyone to follow him inside. When inside the house Smith handed the Poke` ball to Sinclair who then took it into the lab. Nick sat next to Becca, who seemed very nervous, and Chase sat in the chair next to the professor who looked at both Nick and Becca with a strange smile as if to say ‘I knew it’.  Smith looked at Chase now and said,

                “Boron is a very peculiar Pokémon, wouldn’t you say?” this question confused Chase, and Nick as well. Becca answered though saying,

                “Yeah, it’s a steel type Pokémon. And there are not many steel types Pokémon in the Kanto region, right?” Smith nodded in agreement but then said,

                “While this is true, it’s not what I am referring to.” He then walked over to his bookshelf and pulled out a small hardcover book. It was an encyclopedia on steel type Pokémon. On the front was a picture of a Skarmory and an Aaron.  He flipped through several pages before he found the page he was looking for and then handed the book to Chase; Chase’s eyes grew large with excitement.

                “Are you serious?!” he asked with a smile on his face. Smith nodded and then looked up as Sinclair floated back into the room holding the poke` ball.   Chase grabbed the Poke` ball and held it into the air, as he did the beam of light shot out and Boron appeared, but just as quickly as he appeared he was enveloped in a strange white light. It was so brilliantly whit that both Nick and Becca had to shield their eyes, Singe and Mila both glared into the light with awe and a level of calmness rarely seen in either of them. Chase’s eyes were still wide with excitement and pride. 

As the light faded, a disk shaped metal creature, the same color ad Boron floated, it had four silver spikes on each side of its body and one spike conning off the front like a nose. Two eyes crimson red like Boron’s where looking at Chase as a large arm came out of each side of the creature’s body. The arms resemble the body of a Beldum. Nick recognized this creature as Boron’s evolved form, a Metang.

                “Chase, Nick, Rebecca, meet Boron’s new form. He is now a Metang, and might I say he evolved just as the books say they do.” Smith said placing his hand on Boron’s shiny body. Boron made the same beeping humming sound, showing the exact same personality as he did before he had evolved. Nick had never witnessed a Pokémon evolve before.        

                “Boron, buddy, I’m so proud of you!”Chase exclaimed as he knelt down to be at face level with Boron who was now triple in size, and based on the creaking of the house, quadruple in weight.

                “When Beldum are not near any other Beldum in the wild, they evolve out of stress when being beaten severely. Nick it is a good thing you showed no mercy in your battle, otherwise he would not have evolved.” Smith said with a smile. Singe was now playing on Boron’s back like it was a patch of ice and he was skating.  

Nick looked at his friends, Chase, Rebecca, the Pokémon and Smith; and he knew that it would be a while before he would see any of these faces again.  A part of him wished he had lost the battle against Chase and he could stay here in Viridian city with Becca, maybe even start a real relationship with her. But when the thought of Singe growing old and dying without knowing his full potential crossed Nick’s mind, he knew that even if he had lost the battle he would still be going on his adventure.

As Nick walked out to the field he saw Chase leaning on Boron’s new strong arms, his arms where folded over each other and there was a smirk on his face,

                “So… My little sister wanted you to win. Got to say that stung a little” he said sarcastically. Becca was playing with Mila and Singe; Nick looked at her running after Mila with Singe on her shoulder, her hair flowing with Singe’s purple flame illuminating it in the dusk light air. Time always escaped them when they were together.  They had been talking with Smith for hours about Boron’s new appearance and the boy’s plans for the Kanto challenge. Nick then looked at Chase and said,

                “Well maybe she just knew I needed a confidence booster.” Chase wasn’t buying into the obvious lie. Nick then walked over to Boron and leaned on the opposite arm from Chase looking up at the slowly appearing stars in the sky. Nick wondered if the stars in Fuchsia city or Celadon city where the same, or if they even could be seen.

                “So, are you ready for this Nick? There is no turning back once we start.” Chase said with a serious expression on his face, Chase began to remember the first time he won a gym battle, how intoxicating the victory was. Then he remembered how arrogance cost him the victory with the stranger, and almost cost Boron his life. He didn’t want Nick to experience the same terrifying moment he just barely endured a year ago. Chase walked in front of Boron and knelt down, Nick stayed where he was as he answered,

                “Yes, I think I am… I know I am. Singe needs this, and so do I. and, who knows I might find my true calling out there somewhere.” Nick then looked over at Chase who was looking into the deep red irises on Boron’s eyes.  Boron was no longer the cute little critter everyone in town saw him as. He was an intimidating powerful fighter. Nick was certain that his and Singe’s next battle would not be so quickly won.

Chase walked over to Becca; who was busy playing with Singe and Mila still, she was ready to do anything to keep her mind off of the fact that this may be the last night she gets to spend with her brother and best friend.  She wondered if they knew how much she wanted to beg them not to go. But she would never try to keep them from their dreams.

                “Becca, it’s time for us to head home. We are already late for dinner.” Chase said. He knew that she wanted to stay as long as possible so that she could spend more time with Nick before they left. But as her older brother he had a responsibility to get her home on time. Nick walked over to Smith as Rebecca stalled.

                “I’m going to walk home with them. Any last words of advice before I leave?” Nick asked Smith who was sitting on the porch with Sinclair. Smith stood up and looked at Becca as she and Chase walked toward the house from the field, Mila, Boron and Singe all followed them.

                “You feel something special for that girl; keep that feeling with you on your journey. It will keep you going knowing that there are smiling faces here waiting for you. But it will make you stronger than anything to know that the woman you love is waiting for you at home.” As he finished he smiled a smug smirk. Nick’s cheeks turned beat red as Smith said those words, ‘how did he know??’ he thought. But he nodded and then turned quickly to Chase and Becca, thankful it was dark and they could not see him blushing.

After a simultaneous ‘goodbye professor’ the three of them began their walk home, Nick was walking in the middle, a part of him wanted to hold Becca’s hand, but he knew that it wouldn’t be a great idea. He looked at Chase, who was holding Boron’s Poke Ball; Boron was tucked inside resting from the day’s events. Nick had rarely seen Chase be so serious.  Singe floated behind Nick half asleep, his bright yellow eyes seemed to disappear when he would nod out. Nick then looked at Becca who also seemed lost in thought. They soon stood outside Chase and Becca’s home, Becca gave Nick a tight hug, burying her face in his neck saying

                “Please say goodbye before you go Ni...” Ni was what Becca called Nick when she was young and couldn’t pronounce his full name. She only called him Ni when she was depressed or hurt. Nick’s eyes filled with the memories of his life spent with Chase and Becca, how he hid his feelings for so long, and how she must have been doing the same thing. His heart felt heavy, and his stomach felt bottomless as he realized he was about to abandon her here alone in Viridian city. The hug ended and Nick looked into Becca’s dark blue eyes, the full moonlight illuminated them to an almost silver tone. Nick smiled to stop himself from kissing her in front of Chase, he then said,

                “You know I wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye,” she then nodded, and ran inside. Chase was leaning against the fence looking up at the moon. He then looked at Nick tilting his head,

                “You know they say some Pokémon, like Clafairy and Jiggleypuff are from the moon. And there was evidence found in a meteorite that there are Pokémon in deep space as well.” Nick knew this already, he could tell Chase was stalling. Nick looked at the moon and waved comically,

                “Hi you lucky b******s! “He shouted to the early night sky.  Chase laughed lightly then leaned off the fence and put his hand on Nick’s shoulder saying,

                “This is it Nick, our last night home. Tomorrow we begin our journeys. Boron and I, and you with Singe.” Nick didn’t understand why he was basically repeating himself from earlier, but could tell it was most likely from lack of anything else to talk about. Nick inhaled deeply and was about to say something before Chase grew a look of confusion and asked,

                “Hey wait a second! Before our match, Becca said that she was going to take back what she gave you last night if you lost. What did she give you?” Nick’s jaw almost dropped, ‘how does he remember these things??’ he thought. He then became very nervous, but decided to play dumb.

                “What? I don’t remember that. Are you sure that’s what she said? Cause it wouldn’t make sense, I didn’t see her last night.” Nick felt that this cover story was bullet proof. Chase squinted his eyes but then said,            

                “Eh. Maybe it’s a chick thing. I’m going to turn in for the night. Bright and early tomorrow Nick, agreed?” Nick nodded and Chase walked back into the house. Nick breathed a sigh of relief knowing that by now the ‘gift’ she gave him was well out of Chase’s mind.  As he looked at the beautiful white house, again catching himself thinking ‘this will be the last time for a while that I see this house or these people…’ he then looked at the second floor window to Becca’s room. Through her red curtains he could see her silhouette, her perfect curves and nimble arms where like paintings as she undressed and clothed herself in her night clothing. He caught himself wishing he could move the curtains to see her body, but Singe’s yawning snapped him back to reality. Nick looked down at Singe who was now practically asleep barely floating an inch off of the ground. Picking Singe up in his arms Nick began to walk home. Through the Viridian forest he could see many Hoothoot and Noctowl perched on tree branches, the pure silver moonlight illuminating their red eyes.  He could tell they had feasted on Rattatatta or Caterpie.

                Soon nick was out on the other side of the forest and could see the road illuminated by street lamps.  A few Dustoxs where fluttering around the lamps light. Nick couldn’t help but relate the quick erratic flapping of their wings to the feeling in his gut as he kissed Becca the night before. He walked toward his house, he could see Jojo proudly guarding the house from Mightyena or any other wild Pokémon, and he could see Petro grazing on grass near the front door.

                Nick reached his home and quickly made his way to his bed. His mother and Serena where already asleep so he didn’t have to talk, he was fine with that. The quicker he and Singe made it to bed, the quicker he would be able to fall asleep and be free from all of the thoughts buzzing around in his head.

                ‘No more games… it’s for real now.’ Was his last thought as he drifted to sleep.

Author's Note

Nick is growing more confident, and the story is about to take off into its fast pace and even stronger story. how did i do at describing the battle sequences? how did i do at describing the Evolution of Boron and how is the story doing? are you enjoying it? any advice? i'm open to suggestions! :) stay tuned! chap four soon!!!

Reviews

[Taylor H.]

Chase walked up to Nick and stook his hand out to shake, ----stuck

Its a shame you cant publish this. Its really good

[Coyote Poetry]

You are a very good writer. Bringing the characters, storyline and a lot of interesting situation in this chapter. I like the pace of the story and the open ending. Is there going to be more chapters? A excellent chapter.
Coyote