Episode 105:
The White Gym

Last time, Icy and Sara were at the pokecenter when Trinity totally told them both off. Of course, both Icy and Sara kept their cool and even went out to see Trinity’s battle at the stadium. But now, the real Spectral season has begun, and the first challenge is, The White Gym…

{ Play opener showing the virtual plane, shadows of the villains, and dramatic shots of the gym leaders. }

Icy was busy packing his bags, which somehow manage to follow him regardless of whether I write it in or not. Yea yea, it’s one of those special perks of being a main character or something. Back to the show. Sara was of course packing as well while Nicky and Kelly were nowhere to be seen.

“Um, Icy? Hey. Icy, have you seen Kelly. Huh? Hey, are you listening to me???” Sara said forcefully.

Icy snapped out of his trance. “Huh, oh, they went out for ice cream. I told them we were gonna leave soon don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry? They, as in just the two of them, as in Nicky with Kelly, went for ice cream and you tell me not to be worried. Meh, I’m not worried, hahahahha. But… what’s up? You don’t look so good.”

“I know. Remember the other day, on the TV. When that power surge hit, I felt something. Something, familiar. I felt it back in Viridian Forest as well, when I followed those Oddish into the woods. I think we better stay alert. Just because that Janus fellow is wiping out Team Rocket doesn’t mean you and me are still safe.”

Suddenly, both of them felt a chill. “AGHHHH, I thought I was gonna die in there,” sighed a slightly damp Caterpie-like pokémon.

“FROSTERPIE!!!???!!!” Icy and Sara shouted.

“Yea, jeez, it took long enough for you both to notice.” Frosterpie looked away. “It was so cramped in there, no to mention really stuffy and hot.” He turned back to face Icy. “But, since I’m here, can I help in battle?”

“Alright, alright, but… Keep it down ok. Most pokémon usually don’t speak human-talk. We don’t wanna draw more attention to ourselves, especially that Trinity girl. Come to think of it, no, you can’t battle. People are gonna notice you immediately.”

Frosterpie sulked and looked up at Sara hoping for a different answer. “Hey, hey, don’t give me those eyes. Icy’s your trainer, not me.” Frosterpie was crushed, thus, his hopes for a fun battle squashed, he returned into a crystal pokéball and Icy placed him back in the bag.

“Jeez, I wonder what brought that on…” He heard two voices getting nearer as he finished his sentence.

“Hey!!! We’re back.” It was Nicky and Kelly. They had even bought extra ice cream for Icy, Sara, and their pokémon as well.

“Thanks guys,” they said and everyone had ice cream before finally getting ready to leave.

“Nurse Joy, we need directions to the White Gym,” Icy requested politely.

“Ah yes. The Spectral Islands are of course a small island chain. Each island also has its own gym. The islands are named by color, thus the name of the island chain.” Sara was having fun imagining a long steel-linked chain with a colorful spiked ball on the end like they give to prisoners. Icy, being able to psychically detect she was busy daydreaming gave her a loving clonk on the head to bring her back to the real world.

“Ouww…” Sara gave a little pouting moan and pretended her head was really hurt making Kelly laugh a little. “I’ll get you back you understand. Umm, Nurse Joy, how do we get to, umm, White Island?”

“Ah, there’s a ferry leaving in a few minutes headed there. If you hurry you might still catch it.”

“WHAAA!!!” the four trainers darted out and ran as fast as they could to the docks.

“All aboard!!!” shouted the porter.

“WAIT!!!” yelled Icy. He and the others made it just in time and attempted to catch their breath as the ferry departed.

“Humph… Tardiness seems to be your specialty.”

“You again,” Icy snapped. “So what, I suppose you where here 30 minutes early?”

“As a matter of fact…” Trinity looked away. “You might as well have missed the ferry and gone home. This league isn’t for babies like you. I’ll bet you can’t even get past Aaron. You know, he trains Ghost-type pokémon. I heard you’re not too good with them.” Trinity didn’t wait for his response and she walked away.

“Grrr… I’ll show her.”

“Don’t’ worry about it Icy. I’ll be there cheering you on. Who cares what she thinks.”

“You’re right.” Icy sighed and he and his friends wandered around the ferry as they made their way towards White Island.

Finally, the ferry docked and everyone was let off. “Welcome to White Island. For those of you who are pokémon trainers, the gym is straight down this road. Also, please be sure to stop by the pokecenter which is at the end of the pier. Have a nice day.”

“Ok everyone. Let’s head to the pokecenter first then to the gym. I’m gonna win this badge.”

“Confident, aren’t we? How are you gonna deal with the ghost types?”

“Same thing I did before. And these.” Icy held out some TM cards.

“What’s that?”

“Well, remember how Trinity used these in her battle, it appears trainers may add in a special attack for their pokémon if they have these cards. I heard dark attacks are effective so I got a TM for Pursuit. It might come in handy in battle.”

“Icy, your so smart!” Sara said hugging him. ^_^

Trinity meanwhile headed straight to the gym. “No sense hanging around here… I already healed you all, we are ready for Aaron.”

Trinity entered the ancient, creepy styled gym building. Even the doors creaked as they opened. “Oh please… grow up already.” She stopped dead as a chill traveled up her spine. She was about to shriek but took the hand touching her shoulder and swung its owner around. “Aghh, who… who are you…,” she demanded breathing quickly.

“Sorry sorry, I meant no harm. Ahhahaha, I’m Aaron, the White Gym Leader. Pardon the weak attempts at humor with the get-up here, but, I always thought it sorta added to the mood. You know this building was at one time thought to be truly haunted.”

“No I didn’t, nor did I care.” She removed his arm from her shoulder. “I’ve come here for a gym battle.”

“As you wish.” Aaron snapped his fingers and the lights illuminated the battle ground. A few kids and fans were sitting in bleachers eager to see a cool fight. “How’s 3 on 3 sound?”

“Fine by me.”

“Alright then. Let’s get this started.”

Aaron and Trinity took their places and a referee came to the center of the field. “This is an official Spectral League Gym Match. The challenger, Trinity, versus the gym leader, Aaron, for the White Pearl Badge. The gym leader may use one pokémon at a time while the challenger may swap any non-defeated pokémon as she wishes. This will be a three on three match with no time limits. Trainers, BEGIN!”

Trinity reached for her first pokéball and threw it. “Go, Cyndaquil!” Her cyndaquil appeared on the field as Aaron sent out his first pokémon.

“Go Haunter. Lick attack now.”

“I won’t be able to land a psychical blow without foresight. However. Cyndaquil, use detect.” Cyndaquil nodded and used its ability. At just the right moment, he managed to dodge Haunter and land a counter-attack headbutt. The flames on his back burst open as Trinity grinned.

“Agh, Haunter, get up now, you’ve got to move!”

“Too late for that. Cyndaquil, fire blast attack!” Cyndaquil sent out his strongest fire attack causing Haunter to faint.

“This round goes to Trinity!”

At this time, Icy and his friends were walking into the gym and took their seats in the bleachers. “Look Icy, it’s Trinity. Looks like she’s taken the lead.”

“Yeah.”

“Haunter, return. Go, Gengar!” Aaron’s second pokémon was a Gengar. “Hypnosis attack.” Gengar hit Cyndaquil with its hypnosis beam and put cyndaquil to sleep easily.

“Drats, Cyndaquil return. Go Jumpluff. Cotton spore now!” Jumpluff jumped into the air and began floating, releasing spores everywhere.

“Humph, nice trick, but it won’t work,” Aaron said as Gengar vanished.

“Oh,” Trinity gasped. She looked around quickly for Gengar but he wasn’t anywhere. “Jumpluff, stay alert. Keep dropping spores everywhere to find him.” Trinity’s plan worked as Gengar accidently breathed in a spore and sneezed. “Found ya. Do it Jumpluff, solar beam attack.” Jumpluff turned angry and unleashed its solar beam on gengar and won the second round. Trinity recalled Jumpluff and sent out Cyndaquil who had just woken up from a nice nap.

“You’re more cunning than I thought. Ah well, let’s see how you handle this.” Aaron snapped his fingers and the gym lights went out.

“Hey, what gives?”

“Calm down. A true trainer can sense everything in a battle. Prove your ability to me and the badge is yours.”

Trinity sighed and focused. Cyndaquil’s flames gave her a little light, but she quickly realized how much of a mistake it was. Aaron had sent out a Gastly. Gastly was having an easy time landing normal tackle attacks on Cyndaquil from his flames. “Cyndaquil, return.” Cyndaquil managed to get in front of the beam and returned to the pokéball. “Time for my own stealth.” Trinity smirked, though no one could actually see it. Finding the pokéball she needed was no trouble at all, for this pokémon was closer to her than anything. “Go, Sneasel.” The cat silently landed on the field and immediately moved a safe distance as Gastly foolishly attacked the entry point. “Too slow.” Sneasel did not need audible commands from Trinity. She knew exactly what was needed. With graceful accuracy, she flew across the field to where she knew gastly would be. Her claws swiped fast and the referee signaled for the lights to be restored. Gastly had lost.

“The winner is Trinity.” The small crowd cheered and Aaron recalled Gastly.

“Excellent work Trinity. You can adapt well in battle. Hone that skill well as it will be necessary for the battles to come. I hope to see you in the championships alright. Here.” Aaron extended his hand and in it, the White Pearl Badge. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” Trinity bowed and accepted her reward. She bowed again and went to pick up Sneasel who purred happily. “Good job Sneasel, you’ve become better.” Sneasel purred in content. Trinity, having completed her business at the gym, headed off back to the pokecenter.

“Well then, if there aren’t any other challengers?”

“Just a moment. I wish to have a battle for a badge as well. My name is Icy. I am the Viridian Forest Bug Gym Leader and I wish to challenge you for a White Pearl Badge.”

“A gym leader? You refer to the Indigo League. Ah, I’ve heard about you. This ought to be interesting. I of course accept your challenge. But first, I must allow my pokémon to take a rest. We will start the match in about thirty minutes if it’s alright with you.”

“Of course.”

“Great. Well then, while we wait, how about I take you for a look around. I’m eager to hear about your escapades as well Icy.”

“Oh… sure.” Icy and his friends went with Aaron for a short tour while his pokémon healed.

“Ah. So you’re not an ‘official’ gym yet huh?” Aaron asked as he and Icy talked.

“No, but I’m going to be submitting the gym for official enrolment just as soon as I get back.”

“That’s great Icy. For what I’ve heard about you, you’ve got quite some talent. In fact, I must say, I find you curious.” Icy stopped and stared back at Aaron.

“Curious? What do you mean?”

“Well… You are like a ghost. You vanish for years, and then, here you are again. But… you don’t seem to ever age… Hah, I’m not really making much sense am I. Forget about it. So, Icy, you train only bugs, or do you still work with psychic types?”

Icy replied to Aaron’s questions, but in the back of his mind, he began to wonder. No one had ever told him, when he vanished, he truly did vanish. Icy had always thought the times he was in the Void, the timeflow had stopped, that the Void represented a noncontiguous state of time. He wondered now, if perhaps, that wasn’t true… or worse… something wasn’t right…

“Ah, I believe my pokémon should be healed by now. What say you Icy? Shall we have our match now?”

Icy nodded and everyone returned to the main gym room. The referee stepped out onto the field again to officially start the match. “This is an official Spectral League Gym Match. The challenger, the Bug Gym Leader from Viridian Forest, Icy. He will be challenging the White Gym Leader, Aaron, for the White Pearl Badge. This will be a three on three match with no time limit. Trainers, you may begin.”

“All right, here we go. Gengar, I choose you!” Aaron led off this match with his Gengar instead of Haunter. Icy could still remember the horrible defeat dealt to him by Agatha… and then… the even more horrible defeat… against Lance… of Buttercup… Icy snapped out of it, coming to his senses and readying a pokéball.

“Ready to fight, come in sight. Icy calls!!!” He threw his pokéball into the center of the field. “STATIC!!!” Icy’s pikachu landed on the field, sparks erupting from its cheeks and electrifying the ground.

“Gengar, let’s go!” Gengar vanished but Icy didn’t worry. Telepathically, he spoke to Static.

“Static, you can hear my voice. Let me be your eyes alright. He’s in front of you, waiting.” Static stayed put, waiting for Icy to tell him where and when to make his move. One false step, and it might be his last.

“Gengar, go for it.” Gengar, still invisible made its move.

“He’s coming from the right Static. Dodge with your tail and jump about 3 feet to go over him. Follow up with your swift attack ok,” Icy spoke telepathically. Static got ready. He could feel Gengar getting close as Icy told him to go. Static immediately bounced off his tail as his invisible attacker lunged at thin air. Static landed behind Gengar and fired his swift attack.

Gengar took the hit, but it wasn’t enough to stop him, only make him visible again. “Interesting. You saw my Gengar coming.”

“Static, thunderbolt.” Static reacted almost immediately and fried Gengar as it tried to evade. Aaron had no choice but to recall Gengar.

“Icy wins the round.”

“YEAAAAHHHHHH!!!” shouted Sara from the stands. Icy blushed as she continued cheering for him. “GO ICY!!!!”

“Th…Thanks Sara… ehhheh”

“Haunter, go!”

“Static, swift attack.” Static’s attack connected, this time dealing heavy damage to Haunter.

“What, no way. What a strong pikachu. I’ve never seen a swift attack that powerful before.” Aaron tried to encourage Haunter to move but Static gave him no chance as he finished the ghost off in the same way he finished Gengar. “Haunter, return.”

“The second round, goes to Icy!” called the referee. One more win and the badge would be Icy’s.

“Here we go Icy. You’ll have no trouble at this, but I wonder if your pokémon can manage.” The lights faded to nothing. Icy heard Aaron’s pokémon materialize on the field and recalled Static.

“You did a great job Static, but this fight isn’t your specialty.” Icy selected Hocus’ pokéball using telekinesis. “Ready to fight, come in sight!!! Icy calls, HOCUS!!!” Icy’s kadabra, Hocus, appeared and immediately sensed Gastly’s location. “If you found him, end it. Psychic attack.” Hocus focused and acquired Gastly. Gastly knew he was done for if Hocus found him, and he kept moving.

“Slippery vapor cloud, stay still,” Hocus muttered. Hocus determined where Gastly would be next and fired his psychic attack. His calculations were perfect, and the monitors showed Gastly’s HP drop quickly to zero.

“The winner of the round, and the match, is the challenger, Icy!”

Sara cheered, along with Nicky and Kelly, and her two eevees who took it upon themselves to personally congratulate Icy. “Agh, Mars, Venus, get back here!!!”

Aaron laughed as they all celebrated and he handed Icy the White Pearl Badge. “Excellent work Icy. I expect to see even more from you in the championships. Promise me that.”

“Absolutely Aaron. Thank you. I hope we meet again.”

“Definitely. Good luck on your journey Icy.” And with that, the group departed for the pokecenter.

Meanwhile,

“Water. The gentle sound of the water flowing, flowing peacefully, kindly, down the river, clean, untouched. Along the bend, green, as far as my eyes could see. The tops of endless trees, endless, and endless… And that’s when… the tears come back to my eyes. I don’t know why they do… I don’t know what this place is… Where it is… It is here? Have I been here before? Have I been here all this time? No… No, it wasn’t here yesterday, or the day before, but it is now… Did I move? The water… it’s moving… moving… peacefully…” Another tear rolled down its face. “I want to stay here. Please, let’s stay here now. I don’t want to move again… but you’ll make me… and I must… but not because you make me… because I want to…”

A blueish-redish pokémon hovered beside the mumbling creature. It beeped random pitches as a form of communication. And then…

“I like it here… why can’t it stay…” The creature looked around again. And then, it smiled. Its small wings carried it over the vast blue, crystal, clear water. “I love it here, I love this water, this feeling, this peacefulness… I… I feel, I feel like I’ve always loved it, always been in it, always had it… but… why…? Why do you go away…?” It looked at the water. In the clear waters, it could see its own reflection staring back. The reflection… it was… The Dark Lord staring back at the creature. “Nooo, noo, that’s not me… why, why, why??? Not me!!!” The creature drove its fist into the lake. “No no no no no, not me! NOT ME!!!” It began to cry again as the ripples of its anger and distress caused the once peaceful waters to react violently, shattering… like glass…

The other pokémon sighed and attempted to offer sympathy.

“That… that’s not me… is it? IS IT???”

The other pokémon didn’t know what to say. What could he tell the poor thing? And furthermore, what good would it do for them both. They were just pawns… Or so he thought. So instead, he placed a flipper on the creature’s back.

“I remember… this place… I want to go back to it… it looks like this… so how did I get here… I want to go back… but I want to go back as me… Am I really that? That’s not me is it? Is it??? Please, tell me…” Suddenly… the water began to act strange. “What… what is going on… why is the water falling… where is it going? Why? Why? No… don’t go, no don’t go again. Don’t leave me behind again, please, don’t go!” The creature’s terrified eyes watched as the water disappeared… being replaced with, with lines. “Wha… what is this… Where, where is the lake going? I liked that lake, come back, please come back lake.” Now the creature saw its real reflection in the waters, and it covered its eyes in tears. “Not real… never real… never again…” Its eyes started burning. “Not real, not real, nothing ever is real… nothing will ever be real… not until I am real again, and not that, that wasn’t me… not me, not real, not…” The last of its world vanished, leaving only the construct of the virtual plane behind. “I’m… back here again… its… empty… but… I’m…who’s there?”

Another figure entered the plane. “You truly hate this prison don’t you? So much that you’d bend it into whatever you wish?”

“What are you talking about… Where… where is he?”

The figure laughed quietly. “You humor me so when you say that. It’s because you both are almost one in the same. But… I owe you my life, and therefore, I shall do what you both desire.”

“I remember… we saved you… we saved you Janus…” Behind Janus… a little boy smiled, bringing a smile to the creature’s face. “You’re here!”

{ closing theme plays as we pan out from the virtual construct }