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A Viper in the Hole, Chapter 3, part 2
🕑 Added 2024-09-15 11:26:30 +0000 UTCThe monk breaks eye contact for a moment to glance around the room, before speaking softly, “You examined our arts quite thoroughly. You’ve had a chance to see the beauty in cooperation. When next you are faced with conflict, will you act to seek reconciliation?”
Ran’s instinctive answer would be ‘no’, while he assumes the answer the monks are likely looking for is ‘yes’. His moment’s hesitation is enough for him to actually consider the question properly, rather than answer instinctively, which is when he realizes that a straight yes or no answer won’t do the question justice. Remaining quiet a moment longer as he thinks on how to formulate the conclusion he comes to, Ran doesn’t let the monk’s smile, whether it’s encouraging or mocking, throw him off.
“It depends on the situation,” Ran answers, his own expression falling sourly at just how much of a non-answer he’s giving, but as the monk doesn’t speak up or interrupt him, he continues, “Ideally, yes. But it’s like in the artwork over on the wall. The Bellsprout alone couldn’t solve the conflict, it took finding one human it could help and then that human helping it in turn to solve that conflict.”
“And are you yourself capable of being that human?” The monk asks, measuring Ran with his gaze, “If someone does you an injury, or when someone has done you an injury in the past, have you taken the initiative to reach out to try and bridge the divide?”
Ran’s thoughts flash to the brief look he got at Bugsy’s disappointed expression almost two weeks ago, before rushing out of Azalea Town’s Gym. But just moving on, without ever getting even for how Bugsy’s success had cost him three years of his life stuck in Azalea Town? Absolutely not.
“I haven’t. I won’t. Not without getting even first.” Ran replies curtly, squaring his shoulders as he gets ready to be refused passage.
“Interesting. You understand our message and yet refuse its lesson. But where there is understanding, there might yet follow supplication. Please, ascend the stairs. You have shown us soil, we will see if it proves fertile or desolate.” The monk replies before, with smiles, he and his companion step aside, allowing Ran to ascend.
Caught off-guard by his apparent success, it takes Ran a moment to move, but when he does, he advances past the monks with a straight back even as he quietly seethes. As if it’s up to some monks whose only purpose in life is learning from Bellsprout to claim superiority. They’ve surely got some knowledge and experience Ran is eager to learn from, but the presumption that with more exposure, he’ll come around to their subservient ways rankles.
Arriving on the second floor, the differences to the ground floor are immediately apparent. Where below is a single large hall filled with all kinds of art, even the large shifting pillar around which the tower is built not immune to the seeming need to decorate, here, the aesthetic is far more austere. There are still Bellsprout-motifs hidden in patterns and minor details on the walls, but for the most part the room Ran finds himself in is bare of decoration. Likewise of note is that the second floor isn’t a large hall at all, but instead is clearly divided up into multiple rooms, the stairs leading to a hallway which holds multiple sliding doors on both sides, before widening around the pillar.
Unsure of where to go, Ran is grateful to see a door slide open, another monk stepping out and approaching him.
“Another so soon? Interesting. Come, I will need to see what you offer to work with. Prepare yourself, we shall battle.”
Grinning eagerly, Ran follows the monk and, when instructed to, brings out all three of his pokémon at once.
What follows is a surprisingly testing gauntlet of battles. Though all the monks he faces over the course of a few hours have at least one Bellsprout, there’s also more than a few Hoothoot, a smattering of Rattata and exactly two Gastly, which present a whole new challenge, the Ghost-types’ ability to become intangible and sheer mobility providing challenges Ran hasn’t been faced with before today.
Yet his team pulls through with flying colors. Though the monks and their pokémon are clearly in sync, they’re no match for the eagerness and dedication Ran’s pokémon show. The benefits to years of being forced to focus purely on training rather than battling are apparent, as although Ran’s team still lacks strength and experience, they’ve truly mastered the moves they know and grown accustomed to Ran’s style of battling. Likewise, he’s familiar with Ekans’ surprising mobility, shockingly effective Glare and well-developed core strength. He’s spent eight months honing Zubat’s speed and agility and working on Spinarak’s ability to delay and slow an opponent until it becomes nearly defenseless. These monks probably thought they’d be dealing with unprepared newbies who hadn’t put any proper thought or preparation into things. Well, Ran was happy to prove them wrong in that regard.
There’s a break for lunch, which Ran spends hurriedly eating his own food before praising and looking over his team, the heavy demands placed on their bodies over the course of multiple hours clearly taking their toll. Afterwards, the real surprise comes, as rather than continue to face a gauntlet of monks, he’s led to a slightly larger room, where the Ponyta-trainer from before turns around in surprise at his entrance.
“Oh hey, you’re no monk!” She greets him loudly after a moment, “You made it past the stairmen too, huh?”
“I did,” Ran agrees with a slight smile, “I was right behind you actually. You approached them just as I was about to.”
“Cool, so you’ve been here all morning as well then. Have you been battling all day too?” She asks next, looking him over as if trying to assess his ability as a trainer.
“I have.” Ran answers readily enough again, taking the excuse her own examination gives him to properly look the girl over once more.
Compared to yesterday, she’s dressed significantly warmer today, a red zipped up jacket guaranteed to attract less attention than yesterday’s outfit which flaunted a fair bit more skin. The boots and jeans are the same however, combining with her practical low blonde ponytail to give off a look that screams ‘ready to ride’ to anyone that’s seen her Ponyta.
“Sweet,” She smiles, before offering a hand to shake, “The name’s Josie, the job’s training and the goal is kicking Blaine in the taint and grabbing the title as the greatest Fire-type specialist in all of Kanto out of his fossilized hands. What about you?”
Ran grins as he accepts the offered handshake, amused by the girl's straightforward attitude, “Ran, the job’s also training and I don’t have a real concrete end goal just yet, other than becoming strong and making enough to keep training my job.”
“Ohhh,” The girl lets out an understanding hum, before trampling her way right into Ran’s bad graces, “Unsponsored huh? Were you not good enough to earn one or are you out of the boonies or something?”
Gritting his teeth, Ran merely glares at the girl, though she’s utterly unrepentant as his annoyed look merely gets her to continue, “What? If I’m wrong, say so! If I’m not, get your head out of your ass and just be proud that you’ve made it this far anyways!”
“I’m from Azalea Town,” Ran explains, annoyance still leaking through in his less-than-jovial tone, “There’s one sponsorship a year and Bugsy and I are the same age.”
Josie pauses for a moment, index finger tapping away at her chin as she hums in thought, before her expression lights up in realization, “Bugsy… Oh right, the guy that made it to the Final Four this year! Well there’s no big shame in losing out to a guy like that. What, that Scizor of his was his starter, wasn’t it? Must’ve sucked when you missed out on that one, huh?”
“That’s not how our Gym’s sponsorship works, or used to work at least, the Gym’s under new management so I don’t know how it’ll be handled from now on.” Ran starts to explain aggravatedly, only to cut himself off when the sliding door on the opposite side of the room opens before two monks enter.
“You have shown us your ability to cooperate with your pokémon. Now, show us your ability to cooperate with others used to leading,” One of the monks speaks, before the other continues speaking in his stead, “We will have double battles from here on. Good luck to you both.”
Still somewhat frustrated with Josie over her insults, Ran is disappointed to see two Bellsprout appear on the other side of the battlefield. He’d like nothing better than to show her that he’s a good trainer, but the look on Josie’s face makes it very clear that she feels quite capable of handling the two Grass-types by herself, which makes impressing her an uphill battle.
Before sending out her pokémon however, her eyes slide to Ran, after which her hand shifts from one pokéball to another.
“Let’s see what you’ve got then Ran,” She challenges him, before tossing out her pokémon, “Come on out, Soot!”
The appearance of a Houndour is surprising, but doesn’t change the fact that as long as there’s a Fire-type on the field, it only makes sense to let it take point and focus on supporting it where possible, which is why Ran doesn’t send out Ekans, but opts for Zubat instead.
“A Zubat, really? Damn. Sorry, Soot, looks like you’re gonna have to put the work in buddy!” Josie complains, head falling into her hands for a moment before she steels herself once more and directs her attention to her houndour, who barks eagerly in affirmation.
“Don’t mind her, Zubat, I know you’ve got this.” Ran reassures his Pokémon confidently, before readying himself for the monks’ signal to start their battle.
“Sleep Powder.” “Razor Leaf.” The monks order in quick succession, one Bellsprout’s leaves glowing green before starting to send a barrage of grass blades towards their opponents’ whilst the other Bellsprout starts swaying in place as glowing powder accumulates on the top half of its body. By the time it starts swaying with enough force to send the powder wafting up and forwards, Josie is already responding.
“Ember, Soot! Burn it all away!” She commands confidently, her pokémon immediately obeying, sending out a barrage of low-power fireballs to counteract the incoming Razor Leaf. The attack lacks the strength to take care of both the Razor Leafs and burn the incoming Sleep Powder away at the same time however, which is when Ran finally intervenes.
“Stay close to Houndour, Zubat and use Supersonic!” He orders swiftly, trusting Zubat to understand that if he stays close to Houndour, the Ember attack can take care of defending them both for now.
Obeying easily, Zubat dips down slightly, coming to a hover just a foot or so above Soot the Houndour, before his mouth gapes open wide, invisible supersonic screams flying out towards the two stationary Bellsprout. With both still focused on their own attacks, neither is quick enough to respond to their trainers’ shouted instructions to dodge, achieving the worst possible outcome, as they give up on their own attacks but don’t manage to start moving before Zubat’s attack connects.
Before Supersonic’s effect can even become apparent, Ran and Josie are already capitalizing.
“Gust, Zubat! Open up a hole in the sleep Powder cloud and then support Soot with Air Cutter!” Ran instructs confidently, Josie right behind him in delivering her own orders.
“Wait for the gap, close in with Ember and then use Fire Fang!”
Despite his earlier frustration by her brash mouth, Ran smiles appreciatively at Josie’s willingness to work with his plan, the other trainer grinning back eagerly even as their pokémon move to execute their orders.
“Keep it back with Acid!” “Follow!” The monks call out, their Bellsprout undulating in place for long moments, hesitating under the effects of the confusion brought on by Supersonic.
By the time they shake it off, it’s too late. Zubat obediently creates a hole in the slowly advancing cloud of Sleep Powder, which a snarling Houndour dashes through whilst unleashing a significantly reduced but still damaging flurry of embers at both Bellsprout.
The dark-fire-type advances on the Bellsprout on the left with a maw glowing with fire, but upon biting down there’s a muffled bang, after which both pokémon are sent flying. Bellsprout doesn’t get up again, clearly unconscious, but Soot isn’t much better off, slow to get back on his feet and yipping in pain as he struggles to do so.
Which leaves the remaining Bellsprout, now free of its confusion, to turn its beady eyes on the prone Soot. Before it can exact its vengeance however, Zubat’s slowly formed and still unmastered Air Slash finally arrives, cutting into Bellsprout and knocking it down and unconscious before it can finally launch the Acid it’d been building up.
Both monks smile serenely, recalling their pokémon and leaving the room as Josie hurries towards her pokémon, “Shit shit shit, are you alright Soot?”
She slides onto her knees, cradling the whining Houndour like a puppy as she gently urges him to open his mouth. She clearly doesn’t like what she finds, blindly digging around in her backpack and grabbing a well-loved squirt bottle, which she starts spraying into the hurt pokémon’s mouth as Ran slowly approaches.
Waiting calmly for her movements to become less frantic, Ran eventually speaks up when she’s done spraying and Soot has stopped whining, the Houndour offering a grateful lick of his trainer’s chin, “Is he going to be alright or does he need a Pokécenter?”
Josie lets her pokémon lavish her neck and chin with licks for a few seconds longer, before she stands up, with Soot returning to his own four legs as he tries out a few steps and opens his mouth wide, clearly testing for any remaining pain. She looks towards Ran with a soft smile, her relaxed expression making her answer clear before she even speaks the words, “Nah, he’ll be alright now. It’s what I get for pushing too hard and too fast on Fire Fang. One of the reasons I came here was to give him a shot at trying it out against pokémon he’s got an advantage against, but pulling it off in a rush is clearly still a bit premature. Thanks for the assist though, if he’d gotten hit by Acid on top of those self-inflicted burns, he might’ve been done for a few days.”
“Not a problem,” Ran waves off her gratitude, before his voice sharpens for a moment, “Still, not too bad for a Zubat when Soot is putting all the work in, right?”
Josie lifts her hands apologetically, taking the barb easily enough, “Fair enough, I was wrong about you. I apologize for assuming less of you. Are we good?”
“Yeah, we’re good.” Ran allows after a moment’s hesitation, accepting the apology at face value as, from what she’s shown him so far, she doesn’t seem the type to bother with lies or insincere niceties.
“Sweet. Now, are you ready to go kick some more ass?” She asks, calling Houndour to her heel with a soft whistle before gesturing invitingly towards the door the monks left open after their departure.
“Sure,” Ran agrees with a smile as Zubat flies over and hooks onto his backpack, clearly eager for a quick break from flying between battles, “Ladies first.”
“Ha, Mister Boonies has a chivalric side, what a day.” Josie jests, striding out towards their next challenge.
“Sure, laugh it up Miss Literal Ponyta Girl.” Ran is happy enough to banter right back, as he follows after his partner for the afternoon.
Josie’s laugh is loud and genuine, clearly more than willing to take what she dishes out.
They settle into a comfortable groove easily enough over the next hours, eventually switching out the pair of Houndour and Zubat for Chief the Growlithe and Spinarak. The little Bug-type isn’t too enthusiastic about her close proximity to an eager and overly-friendly Fire-type at first, but like her trainer before her, it doesn’t take Spinarak very long to get used to her partner for the afternoon, after which they continue their winning ways.
As evening approaches, Ran and Josie eventually reach the stairs to the next floor, where another monk bars their path. Ran’s assumption that they’ll be allowed to proceed to the next floor after a day’s worth of battles without a single defeat or even significant difficulty, however, ends up being a mistake.
“You have both shown a willingness and an ability to cooperate and you have both grown stronger during your time here. Unfortunately, your temperaments are ill-suited for our Elder’s wisdom. Thank you for your visit and your efforts here today, but I must ask that you please leave our Tower.” The monk speaks, catching Ran flat-footed.
He’s just about to object, to ask just what fools these people are to get handed one-sided loss after one-sided loss all day long and be left feeling as if they have anything to teach he’s incapable of learning, but Josie speaks first.
“Sure thing buddy, if that’s what you people need to tell yourselves to feel better, I’m not gonna stop you or honestly even bother with whatever ‘wisdom’ you think you’ve got. I did what I came here to do anyway. Come on Ran, you can buy me dinner.”
She turns on her heel and sharply marches off back the way they came, leaving Ran stuck for a moment. He still wants to argue the received slight at first, but then realization sets in. Like Josie said, considering all the fights his pokémon won today and the progress they all booked, he achieved what he came to Sprout tower for in the first place.
“Wait, what?” He asks in surprise, as his mind finally catches up to the final part of Josie’s statement, turning to follow after her while he does so, “I’m unsponsored, remember? You can buy me dinner!”
“As if! I remember that chivalry shit you pulled before, time to put your money where your mouth is!” Josie shouts back, not slowing down one bit, forcing Ran to jog a bit to close the distance.
“Should’ve thought of that before making fun of the chivalry,” He retorts good-naturedly, “I only buy dinner for girls who are nice to me.”
The back-and-forth continues all the way to a cheap little food stall. Ultimately though, they both pay for their own food.
Comments
Mrsean22
That was pretty funny. Both trainers honestly worked pretty well together with her going the Fire route while Ran the Poison route. Hmmm curious what the Elder was thinking?
