A Wolf Lost

Chapter 4: The Quest for the Dragon Pulse TM!

(Heheh, I'm, uh, real late, aren't I? I heavily apologize for this long hiatus, but I got really busy with school and had some things I needed to work out with friends, but I'm back! And, don't bash me too hard on this chapter, I'm writing this at 1:30 in the morning.)

After finding dorm to stay in for the night (along with trying to stay unrecognizable) Marshall finally found some peace. They had done a long amount of training the previous day, so he wasn't exactly what you'd call energized the next morning. Lycanroc tugged at his blanket, trying to get him out of bed. Marshall just wouldn't budge, no matter what Lycanroc tried. Instead, Lycanroc turned to Noivern for assistance, nicknamed Nei. Nei used Supersonic on Marshall, and that definitely did the job, as it immediately woke him up from his deep slumber with a load groan. "Nei, what the heck..that hurts!" He whined, covering his ears. Nei quickly stopped the Supersonic and rubbed affectionately against Marshall as a sort of apology. Marshall chuckled. "Apology gladly accepted, Nei." He got out of bed, and looked at the two of them. "Why do you want me up? Do you still want to train or something?" He asked tiredly. They nodded. "Of course you do.." He said. "Alright, let me get out of my pajamas, and then we can start another day of training. I think it's about time we take on the gym anyway." He said. Marshall took off his pajamas, and tossed on a T-shirt a size too big for him and a pair of shorts, and slipped on some sneakers. "Well? Does it look alright?" He asked his two Pokemon. Lycanroc growled positively, giving a positive answer. Marshall smiled. "Thanks bud!" He rubbed Lycanroc's head before walking over to the coffee machine that was in most hotel rooms. "Coffee.." There may have been a slight caffeine addiction in this boy, but it's nothing a little rehabilitation later couldn't take care of. He made himself a strong coffee and then nodded for the last time. "Now we can go. Don't worry, I have this room booked for another day, just in case we need to come back if we don't beat the gym." Marshall said. He left the room, and walked right into some girl. Stumbling backwards, he looked at her a little concerned. "Oh, I'm sorry. Are you alright?" He asked. "Oh." She looked at Marshall confused, as if nobody had ever bothered to ask that question before. "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." She said. She was a little shorter than him, brown hair, sky blue eyes shined in the light, and she wore dark colors in contrast to her eyes, which was a navy blue dress. "I..uh, couldn't help but 'overhear' you talking, and, I, uh, was curious if I could come with you for your gym challenge? I'm training to become, well, a trainer, and was hoping that a trainer like yourself could teach me something, perhaps?" She asked. Marshall thought for a moment. It would be nice to have a friend coming along, or at least another human to talk and communicate with. Marshall flashed a slight smile. "Sure thing." He wasn't exactly sure, but he decided to ignore the pressures of introverted-ness for now and have another human accompany him. "I'm Marshall." He said. "Oh! I'm Kylie." The girl said. "You definitely don't look like a Kylie.." Marshall said. "Not that I meant that in a bad way!" Marshall quickly said. "I just have bad experiences with most people who have that name, that's all." He said. Kylie smiled anyway. "Then hopefully we can be friends Marshall! Can you introduce me to your Pokemon?" She asked. He nodded. "Of course. This here is Lycanroc, he may look intimidating, but on the inside, he's a real softie." Marshall said, and Lycanroc nuzzled Marshall's head. "And this is Nei, the Noibat. He's fierce, but that's typical of a Dragon type, isn't it?" Marshall asked, rhetorically of course, with a hearty chuckle. Kylie looked at the two Pokemon fondly. "They look very friendly, and very happy with you! You must be a kind and skilled trainer, hmm?" She asked. "Not exactly..I haven't been a Trainer for very long, haha." He said. "Well, you certainly give me that vibe." She said. "Well, we should be on our way, shouldn't we?" Marshall said. "Oh dear, we should, hmm?" Marshall stopped abruptly. "Wait, you never showed me your Pokemon." He said. "Oh! Here.." She pulled out a Pokeball. "Come on out, Scorbunny!" She said. A small red and white bunny popped out of the Pokeball. "Woah, I've never seen that Pokemon before.." He said, looking at it confused yet curious. "Ah, that's because it's recently discovered from Galar. My papa took a trip there, and brought back this Pokemon for me to start my journey with." Kylie said. "Well that's really cool!" Marshall said. The Pokemon seemed to be getting along well, and that's what Marshall was happy for. They finally started moving, and the Pokemon followed close behind. Kylie looked at Marshall. "I feel like I've seen you before...Maybe we went to the same school?" She asked. Marshall shrugged. "Not sure to be honest." Though it was an outright lie. He knew she probably saw him on the news. Hopefully she doesn't remember. Marshall smiled and said, "Well, tell me about yourself." He waited for a response as Kylie was clearly thinking. "Well..I'm Kylie, I'm 15 years old, and I go to school in the next town over. I started my journey a few days ago, and I want to befriend all Pokemon and meet lots of people!" She said. She paused for a moment. "Well? Now you." She said. "O-oh!" Marshall stuttered. "Well..I'm Marshall, 15 as well, I go to school in a small town called Embaria Town, I started my journey 2 days ago, and I'm trying to find someone important." He said. Kylie smiled. "See? We're becoming friends already." Kylie stopped, Marshall watched confused until she walked straight into the door to the gym. "Ouch.." He groaned. "You didn't say anything, why?" He asked. "I wanted to see if you were paying attention." He growled slightly. "Come on, let's go." He said, walking inside with Kylie following close behind. The gym was a small windy path full of stones and precious gems that lead to the gym leader. "Hello there, challenger. I am Tai, the leader of this gym!" He announced. Marshall nodded. "Nice to meet ya." He said in response. Tai smirked. "I want to get straight to the point, so let's do it." Quickly, Marshall was thrusted into battle. "Alright, let's go Nei!" He called in Noibat. The gym leader sent out a Geodude. "Nei, let's start with Supersonic!" He commanded. Nei nodded fiercely, and blasted a series of Supersonic waves. It missed, barely, because the Geodude moved slightly. Geodude quickly used Rock Throw, and Nei barely tanked the hit because he didn't have time to dodge. "Hang in there, Nei, use Wing Attack!" Nei followed the request, and it wasn't very effective, and did practically nothing. Long story short, Nei was KOed. Marshall sent out Lycanroc, though the effort was in vain, as the rock type moves did nothing, and was KOed too. Sighing, Marshall left the gym, looking down, but not out. He looked at Kylie. "Guess I just need to get stronger!" He said. "Not with those moves.." She said. "I know! We need to teach your Noibat a Dragon type move!" Marshall nodded. "That's perfect! Those are neutrally effective against Rock types." He said. "But, I don't know how, but I do know of a TM we can go get..It contains Dragon Pulse, but it's at the end of a treacherous mountain path, and Team Lunar's guarding the entrance." She said. "Then guess we'll just have to crash their party!" He said to Kylie. "What?! Are you insane? If you cross Team Lunar, you're as good as dead!" She said. "Well, I already have, I'm in too deep now." Marshall said. She scoffed. "Of course.." And so the pair made their way to the mountain path spoken of by Kylie. "Here's the entrance, there's the Lunar guards. "Ready?" He said, and he grabbed Kylie and dragged her with him. "Let us through." Marshall insisted. "Ah, we cannot.." Lunar said. "Kids aren't allowed." He said. Growling, Marshall called out Lycanroc, and challenged the grunts to  double battle with Kylie. "Bring it, punks, you think you can beat us?" They growled. Of course, because they were just grunts, they got whooped, and then the dynamic duo proceeded. They began to make their way up the Lunar grunt infested hill, where they would consistently challenge the grunts. Each one of them got beat, until the very last one, and admin, was left. "Heh, it's the two trouble makers I've heard all about. Let's set you in your place." she snarled, and challenged us with her two Umbreon. Noivern made quick work of them with the Supersonic-Wing attack combo. Before the battle started, Kylie landed the winning blow. The admin growled. "What do you want from us?" She groaned. "To know who your leader is, oh, and the Dragon Pulse Tm." They received the Dragon Pulse TM, but got nothing from the admin about the leader, and they dashed off. Looking at the TM, Marshall grinned. "Ready or not Gym Leader, here I come!"