Awakening 6 (Pokemon)

Awakening

Chapter 6: What's an Adventure Without a High-Speed Chase?

Ashimi was lowered onto the floor of the Saffron gym more gently this time. Jonathan and Dorme were released and at her side in seconds. Exhausted and dizzy, Ashimi couldn't stay on her feet, but two pairs of arms on either side of her prevented her from face planting onto the floor. "Johnny?" She looked to her right and smiled, then looked to her left in surprise. "Dorme?"

"I still don't like you, but I have to admit, you did really well training your Pichu... Even if you're still a brat!" That was as close as Dorme could get to a compliment.

Ashimi laughed tiredly and liked into the fading mist of the arena. She saw Pichu a few feet away. The little yellow pokemon gently floated in Sabrina's telekinesis. Ashimi steadied herself just enough to extend her arms and hold her pokemon. "You're amazing, Pichu! I'll take you to the pokemon center now and you'll be all better soon. Then you can have lots of yummy poke-treats!"

"You did not sacrifice your allies regardless of who they are and you remained alert to possible last minute retaliations; all of that will be useful in the future. You have passed the test..." Sabrina floated in front of Ashimi and her companions, then without a warning she disappeared and in her place there floated a marsh badge.

Ashimi cradled Pichu with one arm and caught the marsh badge in the palm of her other hand. "We did it, Pichu! Thanks Sabrina, this is a battle I'll never forget!" Though the psychic was no longer visible, Ashimi was pretty sure she was still heard. The aspiring pokemon master, her friend and her self-proclaimed rival exited the Saffron City gym, with the redhead dragging her feet heavily. Between big breaths, only a few steps out of the gym, she confessed, I have such a big headache..." She was also sore all over, though at least humans didn't have tails, so that was one less pained appendage to worry about. "I think I'm going to..." She began to lose her balance, "fall over."

"Sheesh, so much for a dignified victory," Dorme snorted. "Hey, Johnny, give her a piggyback ride, I'll carry Pichu."

"Okay," Jonathan agreed. By the time Ashimi was on his back, she was already out like a light, lightly snoring into his ear. "She sleeping," he stated.

"She's snoring," Dorme observed, "I don't snore," she added with a little pride.

"How would you know if you're sleeping when it happens?" Johnny teased.

Dorme pouted, "I just know!"

He laughed while she tossed her hair in annoyance. "Thanks for helping. It's nice that you two are getting along... sort of."

Dorme smile despite trying to sound indifferent, "this is as close as it gets," she assured. 'Of course, I only asked you to give her a piggyback ride because I really don't want to carry her and it's better than seeing you carry her bridal style, but you don't need to know that, dear Johnny,' she thought.

xoxox xox xoxox

While resting at Saffron City, Laiki, the Rocket pokemon doctor stationed at the Viridian headquarters, arrived. She claimed that she was doing a routine inspection to make sure all the Rocket pokemon were kept in good enough conditions that they wouldn't be an embarrassment in a battle, but she didn't actually perform the inspection at all. She knew Jessie and James took better care of the pokemon than most Rockets anyway, thus she took the official visit as a holiday to shop and chat. "Ashimi, I'm glad I ran into you," the blond pokemon doctor dug around her bag and retrieved a pokeball. "Gary saved you one and I told him which one to pick. You should probably give him some exercise, I haven't been walking him or anything." For all her careless disregard, Laiki was ironically a very effective healer in all aspects of pokemon health... except anesthesia, which she was notorious for performing without, claiming that the rush of adrenaline and other chemicals helped keep critical patients alive.

"Another pokemon, this is awesome!"  Ashimi released the creature and found a little Squirtle. She squealed with delight at the sight of the creature. "Squirtle! This is so totally the one I would have picked, I needed the water element on my team. Thank you so much for bringing him! I should email a thank you to Gary too. I just couldn't wait to start my journey that day and didn't stick around for him to get up."

Jessie and James had found the tale pretty funny, as they had heard about Ash's lateness in getting his starter pokemon, which resulted in his first encounter with Pikachu. Laiki shrugged as if the situation had nothing to do with her. "Who knows, maybe Gary found his bed to be particularly comfortable that morning, though I'm sure I can't imagine why..." Laiki's absolutely innocent tone caused Jessie to take notice and make a mental note to get the full story out of her later.

Feeling refreshed, Jonathan and Ashimi headed to Vermilion City. Dorme claimed she had important Team Rocket duties to tend to and did not accompany them, though she did hang around while they were at Saffron. Jessie never liked Dorme because she was the daughter of Domino, though James was a lot more lenient towards her, trying to convince Jessie that it didn't matter who the girl's parents were. Jessie's mother had been a Rocket, as was she, but James was nothing like his parents. He knew from experience that though parents are a big influence in their children's lives, no one is a copy of their parents. Dorme wasn't fond of Jessie for the simple fact that Jessie made it clear she wasn't fond of her.  At least the tension was now gone. The road between Saffron and Vermilion was calm and the day was sunny and nice. Ashimi leaned back in the passenger seat and relaxed, while Jonathan grinned at his reflection in the rear view mirror, his eyes filled with adoration for the car.

"Narcissist much?" Ashimi teased.

"I was admiring the car, not me, though I do look cool driving it," Jonathan defended. Another glance at the mirror showed someone approaching from behind on a motorcycle.

Ashimi was about to formulate a comeback when she saw his look of concentration and glanced at the mirror herself. She blinked and turned her head to look behind them at the rapidly approaching motorcycle.

"Is it a cop?" Johnny looked through the plethora of symbols on the touch screen digital display next to the steering wheel. "The scanner didn't pick up anything, so I didn't think it mattered that I was going a bit over the speed limit." More than just a bit, he noticed upon closer inspection, but the ride was very smooth so he could hardly feel it. The rooftop was up to shield them from the sun and without the wind as a velocity indicator, he had forgotten to look at the display and drove faster than he intended. Although that still didn't explain why the officer wasn't detected by the police GPS radar.

"I don't think that's a Jenny, or any other cop," Ashimi replied. As the person approached, Ashimi noticed that it was a girl around Jonathan's age.

The girl had dark skin, mid-back black curly hair in low pigtails with two chin-length blond bleached curls framing her face. She wore dark colored clothing, shorts, a tank-top, boots and gloves. Riding behind her on the motorcycle there was a Houndour, which placed his paws on the girl's shoulders and glared at the car ahead. "Houndour, use flamethrower!" The girl on the motorcycle suddenly exclaimed. The pokemon riding with her breathed fire towards the indigo car in front of them, right on target.

Jonathan made a sharp turn off the road at the last second, narrowly avoiding the attack. The car bounced on the rocks and bushes, having had no time for any adaptations with the suddenness of the attack. "Switching to all terrain mode." The car's suspension stretched and the ride became smoother as the shock of the uneven terrain was absorbed.

"She's still coming!" Ashimi noted. The girl on the motorcycle had followed them out of the road into their improvised path. "We need to counter-attack!"

"With missiles?" Jonathan inquired. The car was equipped with hidden artillery, but it might be a bit much.

Ashimi thought about it and concluded, "that would definitely be overkill." The car violently swerved to the side as Jonathan dodged another fireball. "Johnny, open the rooftop!"

"Okay, but that just means we have a lot less armor between us and the fire." Despite his warning, Jonathan put the convertible's roof down, trusting in that Ashimi had a plan.

"Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, that's what I've heard people say!" Ashimi released Squirtle from his pokeball. "Squirtle, I choose you, water gun!" Ashimi stood on her seat and pointed at the target, but Squirtle only squeaked in fright and ducked into his shell, shaking in fear. Left hanging,  Ashimi looked at the water pokemon, his head, limbs and tail were all hidden inside his shell. "Squirtle?"

"Get down!" "Pi chu!" Jonathan and Pichu shouted at the same time. Ashimi dropped into her seat as a fireball flew above her where her head had been a split second before.

"She's really out to get us!" Ashimi peeked out from behind the backrest. The girl and her Houndour were relentless. "Squirtle, come out of your shell and fight! You're a water pokemon, you have the type advantage, why are you so afraid?" The little turtle gave no response, remaining inside his trembling shell. "Ugh, how did I end up with such a cowardly pokemon?"

"I don't know, but that girl is still on the attack." Jonathan dodged another fireball that passed by dangerously close. "The fires are spreading," the cries of fleeing pokemon could be heard. "If this keeps going, the fires might even reach the nearby cities."

"Hey!" Ashimi shouted at the girl chasing them. "Don't you care about collateral damage? Why are you attacking us anyway?"

"Team Rocket is the enemy and Giovanni's family is the head of team Rocket! If you want to kill a beast you have to cut off its head!" The girl angrily replied.

'It's not odd for the gym leaders and long time pokemon trainers to know me, but a regular civilian shouldn't recognize me...' Ashimi thought. "Who are you?"

"My name is Daala, but what matters is that I will be the one to end Giovanni's lineage! Houndour, show no mercy, flamethrower!"

"It's not like you've been showing any mercy so far," Ashimi grumbled as she nearly fell over, Jonathan had made another sharp turn to avoid an incoming attack. "Pichu, use thunderbolt!" The yellow pokemon did so, but Daala was a skilled driver and kept dodging his attacks while Houndour countered.

"Ashy, we have a problem!" Jonathan announced.

"No kidding!" Ashimi sarcastically replied before realizing he meant a problem other than a self-justified assassin hot on their trail. "What is it? Don't tell me we're running out of gas!"

"No, we have plenty of gas, but look ahead, those trees are packed together pretty tight. We can't get through in the car," Jonathan delivered the bad news. "We'll have to turn and she'll catch up to us. That's some motorcycle she has to have been keeping up this far."

"This has to end! Zubat, I choose you! Confuse those two with super sonic!" The Zubat flew towards Daala and her Houndour, flying circles around them and using his super sonic waves. Daala fought to stay focused while Houndour tried to knock the Zubat out of their way with his flames. "Go Furball! Rain dance!" The Meowth began to hop around on the car's trunk as if he was performing in a music video.

"Ashy, the roof is still down!" Jonathan grimaced at the clouds gathering above.

"Never mind, we'll send the car to the cleaners later!" Ashimi disregarded.

"I'm turning around!" Seeing as they couldn't go any further in a straight line because of the trees ahead, Jonathan turned the car around, sliding a little in the mud created by the effects of the rain dance. Fortunately, the state of the art traction of the indigo car was enough to allow them to turn and avoid a collision with the trees. Daala was not so lucky.

Dazed and confused by Zubat, Daala lost control of her motorcycle, sliding in the mud. The vehicle overturned, sending the driver and her pokemon flying. At least the mud around them created a soft enough landing so that no major injuries occurred. She thought her targets would take the opportunity to escape, but the indigo car was coming back around.

Before the Houndour could recover from the fall enough to go on the attack, Ashimi launched an attack of her own. "Furball, thunderbolt that Houndour, but just enough to knock him out! Pichu, thunderbolt the motorcycle, aim for the fuel tank!"

Houndour fell unconscious and the motorcycle blew up. Daala glared at Ashimi, she recalled Houndour and prepared to call out another pokemon, but it was too late, the indigo car was speeding away and her mission had failed. Several things puzzled her. 'Why didn't they finish me off? I heard their car had homing missiles, why didn't they use them? Why didn't they wait for me to get close to the motorcycle before blowing it up? With the way Giovanni's granddaughter battled, she should have been smart enough to come up with a plan like that!' Most of all she wondered, 'why did she go easy on Houndour?'

xoxox xox xoxox

"Ashy..." Jonathan and Ashimi were back on the road to Vermilion City. Things had somewhat calmed down, at least enough to actually be able to discuss the recent happenings without constantly worrying that something similar would suddenly happen at any given moment. The fire department had been notified and it looked like they had things under control.

The teen behind a wheel was giving his companion a very serious and disapproving look which caught her off guard. As a Rocket he was trained to handle dangerous situations, so she didn't think the chase would disturb him as much as his expression hinted. "Um... That was some amazing driving you did back there." Ashimi wouldn't be able to drive in public until she was sixteen, but she intended to apply for lessons at fourteen, and not only for cars.

The driving age for Rocket agents was fourteen, assuming that they actually passed the basic training to become agents. The training could be started at the age of twelve, but the youngest recruits they got, excluding those who came from Rocket parents, were usually already sixteen. Jonathan had a head-start since his parents were both Rockets and prepared him to be one. By the time his fifteenth birthday came around, he could already drive more than just a car.

Jonathan showed no reaction for the compliment and continued frowning. "The interiors are ruined..." He lamented the state of the car. "You just had to step all over the seat with your shoes on, then make it rain." His expression turned so sad that for a moment Ashimi thought he was going to cry.

"You scratched up the lower part of the bumper before you managed to switch to all terrain mode," Ashimi countered though she knew it wasn't true. It would take a lot more than a few small rocks and bushes to damage the car's tough armor. The color and gloss was integrated into the material itself so that scratches would have to be very deep to be clearly noticeable. The car's fine interiors were not quite as resistant, especially the plush ergonomic designer's seats. "Hey, it's okay, we'll  go to the cleaners and the car will be as good as new."

Jonathan sighed sadly in lamentation. He liked moving vehicles, a passion he developed while looking through the schematics of all the vehicles his parents had employed in their hunt for Ash's Pikachu in the past. "Okay," he finally voiced, like a child being promised a lollipop in consolation for a scratched knee.

To be Continued

Daala was in part inspired by Darius Scouter from the amazing Blessed Defiance, the second story in the main Giovanni Chronicles series. The Giovanni Chronicles has a very well written supporting cast, all the characters feel complete and distinct. I highly recommend you read the whole series, (or listen to it as I did), I guarantee you'll enjoy it!

We haven't seen the last of Daala and she's not the only danger lurking around. Next up is Chapter 7: Tower.

Daala: A 15 year old girl from Johto, who now roams the Kanto region, dishing out her own brand of justice as a sort of mask-less vigilante. She has dark skin, honey eyes and black curly hair in pigtails, with two blonde curls framing her face. She doesn't like Team Rocket and knows Ashimi is the granddaughter of its leader...