The Dave
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Chapter 21, part 2
🕑 Added 2025-01-12 10:08:25 +0000 UTCRushing into the tunnel, Ran is caught off guard by just how dark it is on the inside for a moment. Hurriedly, he fishes out his flashlight to illuminate the way.
The passage is wide enough for two people to walk side by side, but no wider. The floor is decently level from left to right, though it noticeably slopes downwards, which is a frustrating thing to realize after the effort he had to put into getting this high up in the mountains in the first place. The path itself is straight as an arrow, leaving Ran confident that it’s manmade. Which isn’t particularly important, if it weren’t for the logical consequence that comes with the tunnel not having any bends.
That being his clear view of the tunnel’s exit and the backlit shape of a distinctly human form standing in it.
As he continues to jog onwards, his flashlight’s beam gradually creeps closer to the waiting figure, until details start to become apparent.
It’s very clearly one of Chuck’s Gym trainers, the gi the other guy is wearing making that readily apparent. He looks to be a few years older than Ran and, upon closer inspection, clearly has three pokéballs hanging off of his belt. As Ran gets closer, the trainer speaks up when he’s still a comfortable distance away, his words reason enough for Ran to draw to a temporary halt.
“That’s far enough!” The Gym trainer calls out as one of his hands drifts to his belt, “The Tunnel exit’s closed to you lot!”
“What lot?” Ran asks in feigned surprise, even as he slowly continues to walk forwards, his hands raised apologetically as he does so, as if genuinely unsure of what he’s wandered into.
He doesn’t consider himself the most gifted actor by any means, but he appears to have more of a gift for it than he thought, as the Gym trainer seems genuinely puzzled by Ran’s response.
“Are you not one of the trainers that’s doing Gym leader Chuck’s challenge?” He asks in evident surprise, hand moving off of his pokéball as his stance relaxes.
“What challenge?” Ran wonders curiously, moving into a light jog once more as he closes the final distance between them, “My boat only came in yesterday and I’m just exploring the area!”
“Oh alright, my bad,” The Gym trainer replies apologetically as he steps to the side, leaving enough room for Ran to jog right on by him, “There’s supposed to be two trainers racing through here for a Gym challenge. You might want to look out for that, as there’s a few of us around and I don’t know if the others will ask questions first, like I did!”
The final part of the Gym trainer’s message is shouted, as Ran by that point is already past him and running down the path once more.
“Thanks for the warning!” He yells back innocently, hardly daring to believe his own luck, as he pours on the speed for a moment, to make sure that he’s definitely long gone by the time Doro arrives. She didn’t seem the type to ask questions, so with some luck she’ll just get into a battle with the guy immediately, winning Ran an even bigger lead.
He hurries on for a few minutes more, before his chest starts to ache from the exertion, at which point he slows down to a walk once more. Continuing along the slowly descending, meandering main path slowly, even as he brings up his pokégear for another look.
He immediately pauses in surprise, because according to his map, he’s supposed to be very close to the second flag indeed. Hurriedly looking around to see if he’s overlooked anything obvious, Ran winces in displeasure when he finds the next pair of flags.
They’re almost directly upwards of his current position, hanging from the same mountainside which the path he’s following runs alongside. The rock surface isn’t completely sheer at least, with ridges and protrusions offering handholds aplenty.
Still, it’s an imposing climb to say the least, one he genuinely doesn’t want to undertake. Fortunately, he doesn’t have to. With just a quick tap of Aria’s ball, she’s back by his side once more.
“Hey girl, can you get me one of those flags?” He asks, to Aria’s evident delight. Which, given that he isn’t asking to ride along with her, he can understand.
However, just as Aria starts her climb, the sudden appearance of another Gym Trainer throws a wrench in his plans. Because he’s on top of the rock face Aria is ascending and unlike the one that preceded him, this one catches Ran in the act, voiding any chances of avoiding a confrontation.
“Not so fast, kid!” The Gym Trainer shouts in what has to be his best movie villain voice, rather than his actual normal one, “You may want to get out of the way of this one! Machoke, use Rock Slide!”
Ran’s eyes widen in sudden fear, realization setting in as an imposing Machoke leans over the edge for a moment, clearly getting a look at its targets.
Hurriedly, Ran rushes back down the path a way, even as he taps Aria’s ball to recall her in the nick of time, as a series of large boulders come crashing down the vertical rock wall. She disappears only moments before the first boulder goes slamming right through the space she was occupying moments before, leaving Ran to breathe out a relieved sigh even as he takes in the situation.
The flags are roughly sixty feet up the rock wall, with a Machoke standing a few feet above them with the clear goal of protecting the flags. Any attempt to head directly for the flag is going to run into the major issue that is a Machoke with plenty of ammunition.
So either he needs to take care of the Machoke entirely, at which point Doro might have an easier time catching up, or he needs to distract it for long enough to enable a capture of the flag. If the flag weren’t so high up, he could just have Aria snag it down with a strand of webbing, but considering the directly vertical trajectory of her shot and the winds at those heights, she’d need to make it at least halfway up there before standing any chance at success.
A distraction, then.
For the first time that day, he actually takes a pokéball off of his belt, throwing it upwards and outwards with a shout, “Get up there and knock that Machoke out, Golbat!”
His only team member capable of contesting Machoke on equal footing, given the advantage its position gives it, materializes with a powerful screech. He can easily see both the Gym Trainer and his Machoke immediately locking their attention on Golbat, Ran himself temporarily forgotten as they focus on the rapidly ascending threat.
“Get up there and use Air Cutter! Knock them back!” He shouts at Golbat, before his own attention shifts temporarily to the fallout of the Rock Slide the Gym trainer so callously sent screaming down the cliff.
The main hiking path, which neither he nor Doro were allowed to mess with, has been damaged, its width reduced by a few feet where the Rock Slide impacted and dragged part of the path along with it. What remains is covered in rubble both large and small, effectively forcing anyone who wants to pass into a risky climb.
Above him, the sound of battle breaks out as Golbat engages Machoke in a fight Ran is fully confident can only end one way. Any other rock-type attacks from Machoke might cause some trouble, but Air Cutter is faster and more accurate besides, not to mention Golbat’s own innate agility. Instead, his own attention remains on the problem facing him.
Aria, only so briefly recalled into her ball, gets sent out yet again, appearing directly in front of him on the path. When she spots the landslide they only barely escaped, her agitation is obvious, her attention immediately shifting to the top of the cliff with narrowed pupils that promise vengeance. There’s nobody for her to see there, however, as Golbat has decisively pushed both Machoke and its trainer back out of view.
Not wanting to waste any time or risk the Gym trainer sending out another pokémon, Ran’s instructions are swift.
“Aria, get up there and get the flag. While you’re up there, attach a strand of webbing and drop it to me so I’ve got something to help me climb across this rubble, alright?” He orders swiftly, waiting only for her assenting chirp before he turns his attention back the way he came when the distant sounds of Golbat battling Machoke are joined by the unmistakable sounds of another pokémon battle.
There’s an instinctive worry that Golbat has stumbled into a two-on-one, but then he realizes that the second fight isn’t above, but behind him. Worried, Ran glances back, just barely able to see the mouth of the tunnel he exited some minutes ago, only to see two battling pairs of figures exiting it in quick succession.
First to come out of the tunnel are two Hitmonchan in what can only be described as a pure boxing match, with neither using any named moves or receiving instruction from their trainers. The one retreating out of the tunnel is clearly on the losing end, taking far more hits than the aggressor who continues to push him back. Yet, as they exit the relatively narrow tunnel and gain a bit more room to maneuver, the fight seems to equalize to a degree.
Second to come out, only a few seconds behind the first pair, are the Gym trainer Ran had tricked and Doro, engaged in a spar of their own in what seems to be an odd meeting of styles, as Chuck’s employee seems to rely on karate only to get forced back by Doro. She’s using some odd style he doesn’t know the name of, involving a lot of short open palm thrusts and forearm blocks, but he can at least speak to its apparent effectiveness.
Both Doro and what he assumes to be her Hitmonchan are winning their fights and somehow they’ve closed the gap to be only a few minutes behind. Considering how much faster Doro was running before than Ran himself, she might be able to close the gap even faster than that.
Worried, he looks up, only for his worries to be assuaged to a degree, as Aria reaches the flags, shooting him a line of webbing which she attaches against the rock wall before snagging a flag between her mandibles and moving to skitter down the rock wall on the other side of the large obstruction caused by Machoke’s earlier actions.
Ran grabs hold of the webbing, hands sticking to it unpleasantly, before starting to lever himself up against the side of the canyon directly. Rather than risk the unstable rubble, he uses the rope to lever himself upwards until he’s at a height with the top of the obstruction. Then, he simply shuffles horizontally along the wall until he’s past the rubble, before hurriedly descending once more. Overhead, he hears a cry of triumph, as Golbat uses that moment to return to his view, clearly having beaten Machoke.
The Machoke’s trainer’s head reappears over the ledge overhead, only for him to swear when he realizes that Ran has made it past him.
“Cheat!” He cries out angrily, glaring at Ran in evident frustration.
“What? You lost fair and square!” Ran calls back in disbelief, even as he recalls both of his partners once more and starts to rush back down the path once more.
“You used two pokémon at once!” The trainer shouts in outrage, clearly forgetting that they weren’t in an official battle, something Ran is more than happy to remind him of.
“And you threw a Rock Slide at us without any warning! That wasn’t an official match, so everything went!” He yells back, having to raise his voice as much as possible as he rushes out of the other trainer’s hearing range.
Now he just has to hope that the guy isn’t a sore loser, because if he decides not to put up as much of a delay against Doro, he might be in some real danger of getting caught from behind. At that moment, however, his prayers are answered, as he turns the next corner in the path only to find a slow, looping descent in front of him. The path winds left for a few hundred feet on a slow incline, then makes a sharp hairpin turn to the right and goes the other way for the same distance, the loop repeating at least four times, as far as he can see.
He feels genuinely apologetic when he has to send out Aria once more.
Something only reinforced when she turns to face him in evident disbelief at being brought out of her ball yet again, and so shortly after the last time at that. He can only shrug apologetically, before gesturing towards the challenge in front of him.
“Sorry Aria. Can you carry me down a ledge, or would you rather give me a climbing line?” He asks apologetically, drawing an affronted hiss from his companion.
When she turns and waggles her abdomen in clear invitation, he realizes that the affront is over him doubting her ability to carry him, so he hurriedly gets on once more. The position is no more comfortable now than on the previous rides, but Aria at least has clearly become more confident in her ability to handle the extra weight, as she races towards the ledge before sharply tilting down, as they start their descent down the first cliff wall.
It is an extremely disconcerting experience, as Ran can feel gravity’s call far more strongly than he did when they were climbing. The way he clings on to Aria’s back could almost be called scared, if there were anyone present to watch them in action.
Upon reaching the next part of the path, Aria doesn’t even hesitate to race directly across it, almost attacking the second ledge in her eagerness to descend. The third ledge is attacked just as enthusiastically, though part way down that climb, she noticeably starts to lose control, speed picking up dangerously as she skids downwards part of the way, a sign that the exertion is clearly starting to get to her.
“Let’s stop on the next ledge, Aria,” Ran tells her with some faint worry, as his ride starts to tremble from exhaustion even as she descends the final few feet down the third ledge, “You’ve earned a proper break.”
She doesn’t even fight him on it, merely getting them onto the next part of the path, before sagging in place, her long legs falling out from under her as she lays down to catch her breath. Hurriedly, Ran gets off of her, taking just a moment to offer some words of comfort and gratitude before recalling Aria.
Looking down, there’s two more ledges to beat. Looking down at the corner he himself crossed only a minute ago, there’s no Doro in sight just yet and the distance he’s efficiently crossed is significant. Suddenly, his odds of winning look great once more.
Not wanting to burn out Golbat like he’s done to Aria, he breaks into a jog once more, his own stamina sufficiently recovered to keep him going for a while. As he runs, he thinks ahead. Because there’s not just a third flag to retrieve, there’s also a return journey to Chuck’s Gym to make. Which might well be the hardest part of all, as all the tricks he’s used to cut off sections and to gain distance on Doro won’t work once they’re out of the mountainous terrain surrounding Cianwood City.
Maybe he could wrap his arms around Caesar’s thick neck, just under his hood, and try and let the large Cobra Pokémon serve as a mount for a while? There’s no doubt that between the two of them, Caesar is comfortably faster, not to mention his greater endurance. But it’ll be an uncomfortable and uncertain ride he might not be able to hold on to for all that long. The reactions when he comes riding into town on the back of an Arbok would be a sight to see though…
It’s an option, but not one he wants to rely on for the entire ride, because he doubts whether he’ll be able to maintain his seat for that long. Hopefully he won’t need to either, as surely Doro must be flagging after the sheer exertion she’s put herself through thus far, considering how much distance she managed to make up before, not to mention her energetic spar against the Gym trainer. Still, he does his best to keep up his own pace as he’s not inclined to risk his chances by betting on her being unable to keep up the level of effort she’s been putting in.
Really, considering how much she managed to catch up on the parts where he wasn’t using his team to take shortcuts, he has to wonder just how much of a lead he’s really got…
So is there anything else he can do to pull ahead?
Yes there is. Golbat’s already proven that he can carry Ran’s weight for a distance at least. So what if, rather than taking the actual path down to the city, he just cuts the straightest line possible from the third flag to Cianwood, until the point where the mountain range ends? Golbat can parachute him down and, with the sheer amount of distance they’ll cut off compared to the normal route any sane - looking at you, Chuck - human has to take without assistance, surely there’s no way Doro can catch up to him at that point.
As he rounds the final bend of his current descent, from the corner of his eye, up above, he watches as Doro appears at the bottom of the climb already, Hitmonlee once more having taken Hitmonchan’s place and loping alongside her. She really is a lot faster than him.
Then, in an extremely worrying development, he watches as she jumps onto Hitmonlee’s back, only for the fighting-type with the terrifyingly powerful legs to leap down the first ledge in a single bound, landing heavily on both feet. Hitmonlee’s legs bend majorly upon landing, but after just a moment’s hesitance, it easily straightens and advances towards the next ledge down.
Ran can only do his best to ignore the spectacle and focus on his own race. Whether Doro has only been relying on her pokémon after watching his example, or whether she’s been pulling stuff like this all along, he doesn’t know, but with the sheer speed with which she cuts off the same parts of the track that Ran himself did, he can almost feel his lead evaporating.
Hurriedly, he rushes onwards and properly around the foot of the cliff he’s been working himself down towards for the past ten minutes, causing Doro to disappear from his view once more.
He easily forgets about Doro’s looming threat the next second, when he ends up on a small plateau halfway between the top of the nearby mountains and the valleys that run between them. There, smack dab in the middle of it, sit two flags. Unfortunately, actively training right in front of those flags, are an old Gym trainer, who is sitting with his legs crossed, and his Heracross and Poliwrath who are sparring in front of him.
Instinctively, Ran glances around for anything that might hide him before he’s spotted, but they’re standing on top of a rocky plateau, guaranteeing that no such recourse might be found. Thus, before he can figure out some way to stealthily acquire the flag, with the first plan that comes to mind being Golbat circling way around and snagging a flag on the way back, the Gym trainer catches sight of him.
Ran suppresses a curse when the man immediately raises his hand, his two sparring fighting-types immediately pausing their spar and padding over to stand on either side of their trainer, where they assume resting stances. As for the Gym trainer, a guy that looks to be older than Chuck himself thanks to his long silvery-gray hair which is kept in a topknot, his long Fu Manchu mustache and the equally long goatee that originates from his chin, he looks at Ran in a clear assessment for a moment, before speaking.
“You are the poison-type specialist.” He declares with a confident, yet reedy voice.
“I am,” Ran accepts, even as he starts to approach once more, the elder trainer not appearing to object to his choice to do so, “I’ve collected the two other flags, so I just need one of the pair behind you and then I’ll get out of your way, so you can go back to your training.”
“Oh?” The trainer asks, one hand combing through his long goatee as he seems to consider Ran’s words, “That’s mighty generous of you.”
Ran doesn’t immediately respond, merely continuing to walk closer, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Which it of course does after a few more steps.
“Unfortunately, I cannot accept your kindness. My son was very clear. I am supposed to make things difficult for you.” The man speaks up, both of his pokémon taking an ominously synchronized step forward as he does so.
It’s enough for Ran to draw to a halt once more, as he considers the situation in front of him. Just sending out his full team and attempting to rush the man and his pokémon is a tempting proposition, but something tells him that the man has more than just the pair of pokémon in front of him. So he hesitates.
There’s the option of challenging the man to a battle, but that’ll take precious time no matter the outcome. Plus, both of his strong fighting-types seem just a bit too eager for Ran to be entirely comfortable about the idea. If the man really is Chuck’s father, then the odds of him being an easy opponent to defeat feel slim at best.
Yet the longer he hesitates, the more time Doro will be able to make up on him. So how to approach this? The man hasn’t immediately attacked, so maybe there’s a way here to avoid a confrontation? In fact, if it’s just about making things difficult for him, he has an idea or two the old man might just be willing to go for.
“Alright,” Ran starts slowly, opting to test the waters and the man’s patience, “Did he also mention how you’re supposed to do that? Because I’m not great at talking to strangers, so this is already plenty difficult for me.”
“I don’t believe he’d consider that sufficient,” The man responds with a chuckle, clearly amused by his attempt, “That hardly impacts your ability to race, after all.”
“Yeah, but so does forcing me to battle. That’ll just delay me, rather than actually make the race itself difficult.” Ran points out, receiving a thoughtful hum in turn.
“That is a good point.” Chuck’s father nods in agreement, head cocking slightly to the side as he ponders things.
Ran doesn’t have the time to waste however, which is why he makes the first offer that comes to mind, “Take my shoes!”
“What?” The old man responds in surprise, clearly doubting whether he’s heard him correctly.
“Take my shoes,” Ran offers again, “I’ll carry on barefoot. That’ll make things a lot more difficult for me, won’t it?”
The man grasps for the ends of his mustache and goatee, gathering them all in one fist as he pulls on them pensively for a few seconds, before his expression clears up.
“That is acceptable. You may even learn something. After all, those that study at the Cianwood City Gym never wear shoes. Take off both your shoes and your socks, hand them to Gloves, my Poliwrath, and you may retrieve a flag and carry on with your race.” The old man informs him, formally extending the deal.
Ran swiftly accepts, only throwing a single dubious glance at the rocky ground beneath him. As long as he watches his step and doesn’t accidentally plant himself on one of the few sharp edges remaining on the weathered stone, he should be fine. The Gym itself is on the beach, that too, he should be able to withstand.
He scampers over, hurriedly pushing his footwear into the waiting Poliwrath’s hands, before turning his attention to the flags. He grabs one and hurriedly stuffs it away inside his backpack, before turning his attention to his pokégear to figure out just how he’s going to get back to Chuck’s Gym.
Comments
TempestK
Very well done, and I'm glad to see that Chuck's father seemed to be inclined to listen to a good logical argument rather than dive headlong into a battle he probably wasn't going to win. I wonder what the old man meant about learning something about himself though? But yeah, it's looking like it might be neck and neck here at the end. The guy calling Ran a cheater is a massive case of sour grapes given that it wasn't an official battle and *he* was the one that started things off by tossing a Rock Slide at them while on a narrow mountain path in the first place! I think Chuck is gonna have that one clearing the obstruction by hand, without his mon's help as punishment. Ran lying to get past the conflict by pretending to not be the competitor was smooth AF, and once he was past her, she was more preoccupied with dealing with Dora so she couldn't really do anything about it.
Heraclitus
Lol. Poor Aria. The swiss army knife of spooders getting called on again and again. Very much enjoying this mini-arc. It's done a fantastic job at displaying Ran's personality and approach to problem solving. Edit: While I was initially against getting yet another gym pokemon, the efforts Ran has had to go through has definitely made me change my mind.
ted bridgman
I do like that he's working around the challenges, rather than brute forcing his way through them like Doro is. I think it'll speak more to Check than the extremely straightforward fighting specialist Ran is competing against. I'd imagine your average Croagunk is probably a pretty slippery fighter that prefers not to go at it's opponents straight forward, which might explain why Chuck is looking to let another trainer teach one to see which method is best for them. Also, Doro's ability to brute force past the tunnel guard makes me think either she's stronger than a typical rookie, or that she's actually one of Chuck's Gym Trainers who is just supposed to push Ran to see how hard he'll try to win. Also, screw the guy claiming he cheated. Quite frankly, you throwing a fkin Rock Slide at me on a mountain path means your should be glad Aria didn't leave you bound in a a cocoon on the side of the mountain.
The Dave
Fixed now, thanks!
cafenacet
FYI you've use 'Ramona' where I think you meant 'Doro'.
