Garchomps threat display was aggressive which was expected. Roaring and releasing Dragon Breath around it showing off its power.
It was strong for sure. This was the Queen of this mountain, without a doubt.
Which is why I stepped off Arcanine.
"Mimikyu, keep an eye out behind me okay? I’m going to be a little distracted, if any of the Gible or Gabite try to attack me, hit them with... Do you know Play Rough?" I asked and Mimikyu was silent for a moment before sliding down out of my hat, taking a second to untangle himself. He looked up at me, as he fell into my arms and nodded.
"Perfect, Play Rough will hit them pretty hard. Just don’t hurt any of them too bad. If it gets too much, call out, and I’ll release some backup, but I’ll be trusting my back to you." I told him, and that was all he needed.
"Kukkkukuku!" He cried out and leapt landing behind me. I nodded and focused on the Garchomp that was already preparing to strike.
"Arcanine. Go."
That was all that needed to be said as she crashed head first into the Garchomp an instant later the echoing noise of a gong blasted out across the mountains.
I could hear how the noise startled the Gible and Gabite. But I didn’t care.
Because it was time to battle!
A second later Garchomp rose out from a cracked boulder she had been slammed into and Arcanine howled her strength.
But I frowned because on her head, despite Iron Head being in effect, there was definitely a bit of blood.
The Garchomp had Rough Skin.
"Be careful! The Garchomp will scratch you back with every attack!" I called, and Arcanine nodded taking in the information.
And then as the Garchomp snarled out a roar and charged again, its axe fins glowing with Dragon type energy. Arcanine charged back in with a Flame Wheel. The fire burst into life around her as she ran and made her seem so much bigger.
Arcanine hit first, but Garchomp despite being overwhelmed, roared and slammed its fins into Arcanine and they both fell into the ground in a scuffle, of fire teeth and scales.
I winced as Arcanine used a Fire Fang to bite down on Garchomp and in turn ended up getting those sharp scales tearing into her mouth and tongue.
She yelped which gave the Dragon enough room to do something I didn’t expect. The ground rumbled, and as Arcanine was on her hind legs from flinching away sand ripped up from the earth and suddenly her footing was gone as she sank a few inches into the earth, as the sand also rolled up her limbs grabbing her.
"That’s... Sand Tomb." I remembered. And tsked. That was a hold move.
Garchomp had a few moments as she rose back to her feet and roared.
The Gible and Garbite roared in time with her, but despite the damage Arcanine was taking fighting against the grabbing earth....
Roaring in her face was a quick way to really piss her off.
"AAAARC!" She Roared back and fire burned around her. I smiled, because someday, there would be a time when the sand holding her back wouldn’t just be blasted at by flame, giving her all the movement she needs.
It would be turned to glass. But that day wasn’t today. Despite our strength, we still had a long way to go yet.
But Garchomp? She wasn’t equal to Blaines Magmar. Or even Koga’s team.
She was strong, true, but wild power didn’t match trained strength.
Arcanine prepared an attack, but I cut her off.
"Stop playing! And instead Play Rough!" I called, and that was it. Garchomp moved to run into Arcanine again, but it was too slow.
Arcanine shifted, and instead of a brutal attack, the energy around her shifted into a fog as the noise of multiple blows reached out from within the hidden area.
It was over in an instant.
The fog cleared, and Garchomp was down.
A moment later I jerked and looked behind me because the same noise echoed out, and I looked to see Mimikyu appear standing on top of the Gabite that had made a move on me while I was distracted.
Many of the Gible were looking on as well. Their eyes sort of blank, but I had a feeling that depending on my actions I might just get swarmed.
I smirked.
"Come on out!" I threw a pokeball even as Gabite slowly tried to return to its feet looking beaten, the pokemon obviously intending on fighting, but then a cheerful call echoed out.
"Chansey! Chanse!" The descended goddess cheered and looked around nodding. Then she motioned as if she was rolling up her sleeves.
And despite the dragon types’ hesitation none of them could keep up with her as she simply bulldozed through them on her quest for healing.
A Gible leapt at her, as she hovered over Gabite, and instead of getting a bite it was slapped straight into the sky.
One Gible tried to blast her with Dragon breath, only for her to pick up a boulder to block the attack without even really focusing on it and then slam the rock onto the Gible to quiet it. I could see the poor dragon twitching weakly under the rock.
Yep.
That’s Chansey alright.
Despite winning, Arcanine was humbling herself before Chansey, whining as she scooted over to her tail between her legs as she showed her slightly bleeding tongue.
Chansey glanced over from healing a Gible which was held in her fins and looked sort of shocked about it’s new position but Chansey nodded, and blasted Arcanine with a Healing Pulse, then simply stuffed a Soft Boiled egg into Arcanines mouth which she gently chewed already looking better.
Then Chansey turned her eyes onto Garchomp.
Without hesitation she walked over and started her work. Healing up the mighty Dragon. A moment later Garchomp jerked awake and rose instantly, locking eyes onto Chansey.
They stared into eachother eyes, even as Chansey continued to heal the dragon.
"Gar-"
That was as far as the Dragon got into what had looked like a rather nasty bite before it was grabbed by its horn protrusion and just tossed directly into the side of a mountain with one move.
The Gabite and Gible all jumped at the sudden noise of their leader smashing through rock, and I looked over to see Garchomp herself seemed startled at her new position.
Then Chansey as usual just hurried over and started healing again.
I could almost see the thought shoot through the Garchomps head, it probably didn’t know exactly what happened. So it just relied on instinct.
She made to attack Chansey again.
This time the dragon came to upside down, having been embedded into a boulder. And a much less happy Chansey looming over her.
"Chanse." She demanded simply, a single word.
And the Garchomp staring at the upside down pink blob must have realized something was up.
She nodded.
And Chansey’s frown turned into a smile.
"Chansey!" She cheered and then finished her job of healing.
"K-k-k-k-k-k!" Mimikyu seemed to stutter as I looked down and found him hiding behind my leg.
Dragonite.
Okay time to calm things.
Instead of pushing her away, I instead pulled her closer. Until we were eye to eye.
My blue eyes met her black ones.
And I held her gaze. I couldn’t allow fear to stop me. The pokemon would react to that, so despite the pain, and the surprise at being bitten, I just held that little dragon’s attention.
"Don’t you want something more?" I asked her, and that earned a widening of her eyes. As the feral instinct gave way to the intelligence behind it. "If you do. If you want to be more. I can help you get that." I grunted out as I felt blood flown down my fingers.
"Gwib."
"Do you want to come with me?" I asked directly, and that was when I felt it. The other Gibles moving in around me.
Ah that’s right. I was kneeling on the ground with my back turned to an entire army of shark dragons.
But the sound of whistling calmed me, and let me stay focused on the dragon in my hands.
Slowly her jaw unclamped making me wince at the feeling of teeth leaving my flesh.
Owie.
Dragonite was there behind me, looming and a single Gible under her foot. The one that had just leapt at my back teeth first.
Yeah I was safe.
Mimikyu also made his presence known as he growled out something that sounded particularly threatening from behind me. "KUKukuKuKUKUU!" He nearly howled and I could feel a coolness brush my back. Some kind of attack was being built up by him.
But I kept my eyes locked on Gible, and it finally stopped biting fully, letting me clutch my very ouchie hands to my sides to hide how bad it hurt.
"Gib? Gible?"
"Yeah I’m sure. I looked over all the Gible here, and you? You are the one that I know will become more powerful than them all." I said confidently, with a hissed breath I reached into my bag ignoring the mess of blood and held out a Premier ball. Putting it between us. Even as its white shell ran red. "Join me." I said confidently, and a moment later Gible looked at the ball to me, and then nodded, but didn’t do anything with the pokeball.
Ah, it was confused. It didn’t know what a pokeball was!
"It’s a pokeball, you rest inside it, and a trainer can take you all over the world. It means... It means you’re part of my family."
It tilted its head, which was actually its whole body, and I pressed the ball against Gible.
A moment later it disappeared inside, and the pokeball only rocked a few times almost like it was surprised, before it calmed and the pokeball locked.
A moment later, Chansey was at my side. "Chansey." She whispered gently, and let go of the pokeball that I had been staring at to see... Yeah that was pretty bad.
"Chansey." She huffed at me and I looked away from the blood and instantly my resolve crumbled.
"Owie." I said, and then more and more it hit me, and my eyes clouded over. "C-chansey!" I cried and she looked at me as if trying to decide whether me doing something this stupid meant I deserved comforting...
Then she reached out and patted me on the head. "Chansey chanse." She assured me, and a pink light flowed out from her palms bluntening the pain instantly.
I was still trembling and crying a bit as she then scooped up the same potion bottle I had used on Gible, and sprayed my hands down, with a surety that she had done that before. Then she reached out. "Chansey." And poked my pokeballs.
"Miii!" Milotic cried out in an angry trill as he appeared and instantly wrapped me up in his coils, turning towards the Gible behind me, and in just a single hissed verbiage sent out a warning that would have caused my spine to tingle if it had been aimed at me.
"MILOTIC." He growled and Mimikyu eeaped behind me.
"Chanse." He was interrupted and Chansey’s order cut through his anger. A moment later some cool clean water was flowing over my palms and I flinched. But chansey gently soothed me, and was cleaning up my hands.
"Garchomp!"
"Dragon. Dragonite Dragon drag."
"Gar! Garchomp! Gaaa-Eck!"
There was a whistling noise behind me and then a massive crash.
I think Garchomp said something silly.
Then it was mostly over. I sniffled a bit as Chansey continued to take care of me, and Milotic trilled against my ear as he rubbed against me.
Owie.
I wiped my eyes with my sleeve and looked at my hands.
There were little bite marks of pale flesh now. The wound completely healed away with a bit of potion and Chansey’s work, but... They still hurt a bit. A dull ache, that I knew from previous healings would fade over the next hour or so.
Pokemon medicine really was crazy.
"Chansey chanse. Chan chan." I was assured and Chansey smiled and patted my head.
I guess I was okay.
"Lets... Let’s get out of here." I decided and rose up, walking over and picking up Gibles, blood covered Pokeball.
I stared at it for a moment. I would never be able to tell my parents I had done this. They would kill me.
Hell I should be calling myself a moron for it too. What kind of moron puts their hands anywhere near a Gibles mouth...
But, that was just it wasn’t it? Pokemon training was as safe, or as dangerous as a trainer wanted it to be.
If you wanted to be safe, there were plenty of Caterpie, or Pidgeys in Kanto that would grow strong with some training. Lot’s of easy to get along with pokemon that would love you without danger.
But... I wasn’t a safe trainer. The same urge that had sent me to Dragonite Island.
The same desire that sent me into a stream one late night to find a Magikarp.
I loved Pokemon. I loved them. Would I accept the pain of injury to make a new friend? No, that wasn’t the real question. Would I accept pain to help a friend? Of course. So of course if I saw a pokemon in need of help I would reach out a helping hand. Regardless of the pain I might receive in return.
Gible deserved to be happy too.
"Drag?"
"Milo? Miiiiilo?"
"I’m okay." I said confidently. As I wiped at my eyes a bit and turned to see my pokemon looking worried for me. Mimikyu was literally reaching out to me, his shadowclaw hidden in the shadow Dragonite and Milotic cast, too afraid to get in between me and my team, but looking worried.
I flashed him a happy smile and held out my arms. "Come on Mimikyu. Want a hug?" I offered and was instantly slammed into which had me twirling a bit as I giggled. "I never introduced you to everyone huh? We’ll do that when we get out of here. I think Garchomp is about done with us." I mentioned looking over and seeing her very much not happy as she was standing in front of another Garchomp shaped hole in the rock.
"Return everyone. Yes, that means you Arcanine." I called out as my girl had been basically running circles around the pit the entire time.
"Dragonite? Can you fly us back to the cave?" She nodded gently picking me up and even being nice enough to princess carry me as we fled into the sky.
I leaned into her, one arm cuddling Mimikyu to my chest.
The other holding Gibles bloody pokeball.