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Ralph the Pichu - 14 - Training By Thunder III
Training By Thunder III
Ralph glared down at the magnet stone in his paws like he was staring down a powerful foe. The stone, as big and round as a Pecha Berry, wasn’t staring back, but it was drawing in his electricity. To counter it, Ralph focused on pulling the electricity from the rock back into his own body. For the past few days, this had been his main training since he finally managed to gain some control over his electricity. He started out with a magnet stone no bigger than his paws and quickly managed to overpower it. After that, he managed to overcome two or three magnet stones a day, each one bigger than the last.
Now, with this current one, he found it quite a lot more difficult. The first couple of stones took him only minutes to overcome. The few after that took a bit more effort, but he got the hang of them fairly quickly. Then the stones began to become a challenge, forcing Ralph to remained focused for an hour as he could only barely draw in more electricity than it drained from him. By the time he emptied them, he was getting stiff from being so still for so long and his cheeks felt numb from the constant stinging of the electricity. This one he was dealing with proved even more difficult. He couldn’t draw in more electricity than it could take back. It actually could have overpowered him very easily if took his focus off it for a moment.
“Ugh, come on,” groaned Ralph going impatient after attempting to beat the magnet stone just once after trying for nearly two hours. He gritted his teeth and made all kinds of faces as he tried to focus even harder than he already was. “Why are you being so difficult?”
“Still at it?” asked Zera quite impressed as she approached him. “I gotta hand it to ya. You get up early to do your morning cardio and stretches and then go right back to practicing with the magnet stones. When I first learned to use my electricity I was more eager to try it out and zapped a few things I shouldn’t have, but you’re more focused on just trying to get better at it.”
“Can’t talk,” responded Ralph not letting his eye contact break away from the magnet stone. “Concentrating.”
“I can see that,” she replied as she snatched the magnet stone and held it away from him. “But using Scary Face won’t help. It’s a rock and it has no speed to begin with.”
“That’s not what I was doing,” argued Ralph. “I was trying to concentrate harder. It’s the key to using electricity and the only way I can beat that magnet stone.”
“Well, you can make all the faces you want,” she commented. “Some of them were rather amusing to see, but you weren’t concentrating more. You were just getting yourself worked up and trying to brute force it. That might have worked on the smaller magnet stones, but this one is too big to be bullied. Just look, I’m holding it and it hasn’t even drained me of even one bit of my electricity. You are trying too hard and not making any progress with it, just tiring yourself out more than necessary.”
“Well, how do I do that? He do I not try as hard?” asked Ralph not sure how that made any sense.
“With another little bit of training that Turbine gave me,” she explained. “Just give me a second.” She hurried off, leaving Ralph alone on their training ground. Ten minutes later she returned with something in paw. “Luckily I was able to find Spinarak and Leavanny nearby so they were able to make this for me.”
“And what is it?” asked Ralph curiously. “Just looks like some cut leaves and spider silk.”
“It is, but it’s also a really good blindfold,” she told him pressing the leaves over his eyes and then wrapping the sticky silver around his head.
“Hey!” cried Ralph as he tugged on the mask as he attempted to remove it, but it held on tight. He couldn’t even tear the leaves off. Whether his eyes were opened or shut he couldn’t see anything but darkness. “What did you do this for?”
“To help you see,” she explained only making him more confused by all of this.
“I can’t see anything like this,” he told her taking a few clumsy steps forward.
“With your eyes, no, but you have electricity and that can help you see in ways you never thought possible,” she told him managing to get him intrigued by this.
“And how do I do that?”
“First, charge your electricity,” she told him. “You should have enough training to be able to do that at least, but the tricky thing will be to not discharge it. Think you can do that?”
“I think so,” he answered as he focused and began charging his cheeks with electricity. Without the magnet stone in his paws he didn’t have any trouble doing it, but as soon as he felt his cheeks tingle with the electricity he felt them give off sparks. “Ugh, hard to keep it restrained.”
“Just take a deep breath and relax,” she instructed in a calm voice to keep him calm too. “Do the best you can.”
Taking a deep breath, Ralph let his arms fall at his side and ease. “Piiii,” he spoke very soothingly. The sparks on his cheeks shrank down, but didn’t completely go away.
“That’s much better,” she praised. “Now tell me if you can feel my electricity. I’m going to build up my power to make it easier.” Zera built up her own electricity, but compared to Ralph there was no sign of any of that power being release. Ralph’s ears started to twitch and turned his head to the side and Zera smiled. “Looks like you do. You’re looking right at me.”
“I- I am?” he wondered. “Well, I can hear you so I can tell where you are that way.”
“Then let’s try something else,” she suggested. “Just stay where you are and keep focusing and remaining calm.”
Ralph did as he was told while Zera began to walk around him. In response, Ralph kept turning to where she was even while she was so silent even her footsteps were were inaudible. Even as she moved further and further away, he was still facing her. Even when she got so far she couldn’t even be seen behind the trees in the forest, Ralph faced her like a compass pointing north.
“Is it working?” asked Ralph, but got no response. “Hello? Zera?” He kept calling for her, but she wasn’t there to respond to him. When he was certain that she wasn’t with him anymore, Ralph attempted to tug off the blindfold again, but found it was stuck over his eyes as strongly as ever. “Did she have to make it so I can’t take it off?”
Scurrying out of the forest, came a Rattata going straight towards Ralph. “Hey, are you that Ralphchu?” he asked.
“Huh?” asked Ralph. “Zera?”
“No, I’m not Zerasu,” he explained. “I’m a Rattata. She told me to give you a message in exchange for some berries.”
“Uh, ok,” replied Ralph. “What is the message?”
“Find me,” the Rattata answered.
“And…?” wondered Ralph.
“That’s it,” he said.
“That’s it,” the purple rat nodded. “Only gave me two berries, one per word. I told her that I could remember message longer than that, but she told me that was plenty of instruction.”
“A bit more instruction would have been nice,” admitted Ralph. “But I think I get it. I just go to find her.”
“With your eyes covered up like that?” questioned the Rattata.
“Yup,” answered Ralph. “This is supposed to help me see better.”
“Uh, if you say so,” he sounded unsure. “Mind if I watch?”
“Sure, but no helping,” Ralph instructed. “This is important training and I have to do this on my own.”
“Heh, sure,” he snickered silently expecting to get a few cheap laughs from this.
“I’m supposed to use my electricity to find Zera,” thought Ralph as he took some steps forward. “I’m still pretty sure I’m facing her, but she feels very far away now. I’d run into a lot of stuff just trying to find her. Too bad my electricity can’t help me see anything else… can it?” Ralph stopped walking and tried focusing again. He started to grit and teeth and make faces, but quickly stopped himself. “No… that’s not focusing. Don’t try so hard… Just… relax…” Taking a few deep breaths, Ralph started feeling so relaxed he almost thought he’d fall asleep. The sparks coming from his cheeks kept getting smaller till they were gone entirely, but Ralph was still feel all that energy building in his body. It was then, he could feel it like very faint electricity being pulled into him like he was a magnet stone. It was so tiny it wasn’t even enough to be considered a tickle, but Ralph could tell where it was coming from. It was the grass around him. Just feeling this tiny electricity they were giving off he could feel how far each blade of grass was from him and in what direction. He could also feel another, slightly stronger bit of electricity near him that was coming from the Rattata though from what he was able to sense he appeared more like a ball with a tail.
“This is what Zera was trying to show me?” asked Ralph curiously. “I can still feel Zera giving off a lot of electricity from far away, but I can’t feel much of anything else that isn’t a few feet away from me.” Taking a step forward, Ralph could feel as his “field of vision” moved with him, unable to detect what he had moved further away from, but now sensing what he moved closer too, including the magnet stones. “This is actually kind of neat. I can see stuff even without my sight. I might actually be able to find Zera like this.”
“What are you mumbling about?” wondered the Rattata growing impatient to see Ralph trip and stumble about. “Get going already.”
“Ok,” breathed Ralph trying to remain calm, but growing very eager to give this a try. “Here I go!” Taking a few steps forward, Ralph leapt over the magnet stones, avoiding them as he did and feeling his “field of vision” adjust around him as he did and allowed him to properly land on his feet. Making his way towards Zera, he moved steadily without stumbling once. He was practically running towards her.
“What the?” gasped the Rattata seeing Ralph move so fast despite not being able to see and chased after him even more eager to see this unfold. He grew even more impressed as Ralph came to the first trees leading into the forest and moved around them like his eyes weren’t covered.
“Th-this is kinda neat,” thought Ralph as he maneuvered around the forest. “I’m doing really well. At least I haven’t hit anything yet.”
“What’s going on with that Pichu?” wondered some Pokemon as they saw him running around with his eyes covered. “What is he doing?”
“Is he playing a game or something?” suggested another Pokemon as he and several others gathered to watch Ralph run while he couldn’t see.
“Hey guys,” the Rattata called to them. “You gotta check this guy out. He’s trying to find his friend while his eyes are closed. I don’t know how he’s doing it, but it’s sure fun to watch.”
Quickly, the group of Pokemon joined the Rattata and chased after Ralph as he continued to work his way around, but quickly Ralph was starting to slow down and scratch his head as he tried to think.
“Where do I go now?” he wondered looking all around and could sense something in his way in all directions. “I can tell something is in front of me, but not what it is.” Carefully, he extended his arms to feel something. “Ok. That’s a tree.” He felt for something else. “And that’s a bush so I can go through it.” Pushing his way through the bush, he didn’t get very far before bumping his head on a tree that had been on the other side of it and fell onto his back.
“Ow, that had to hurt,” commented the Pokemon who had been watching.
“Ugh,” groaned Ralph as he got back up and rubbed his forehead. “Gotta be more careful.”
Walking into the bush once more, Ralph carefully made his way around the tree and too his delight he could sense a more open space area ahead. “Much better,” he sighed with relief and walked forward.
“Uh, is he gonna-” one of the following Pokemon began to ask.
“Shh,” hushed the Rattata.
“But he’s gonna-”
“He said he doesn’t want any help so we gotta do what he says,” snickered the Rattata. “Besides, this might be worth a chuckle or two.”
“Something else is in front of me,” the vision-impaired Pichu said sensing something huge in his way. “Is it a boulder?” Reaching forward to feel it, he became confused upon feeling something soft and doughy. “Wh-what is this?”
“Zzzzz,” snoozed something very large and immediately Ralph’s curiosity was answered. His paws were rubbing against the side of a slumbering Snorlax. Suddenly sensing something above him, he looked up to detect the Snorlax’s arm reaching to scratch an itch at his side. Quickly, Ralph back-stepped out of the way to avoid the arm. Then he sensed as the huge Pokemon was moving around a lot.
“Is he waking up?” wondered Ralph trying to make sense of what his electricity was telling him. From what he could make out it almost seemed like a tidal wave was forming and about to crash down on him. Ralph’s jaw dropped in shock and he couldn’t move as he realized the Snorlax was rolling over right onto him!
BOOM!
“He got crushed!” the Pokemon freaked. “He’s flatter than a Stunfisk!”
“N-no,” stuttered one of the Pokemon still watching the Snorlax. “L-look over there.”
Everyone turned their gaze back to the Snorlax and to their amazement, Ralph wiggled and squirmed his way free from the blob of a Pokemon. “Definitely miss my vision,” Ralph gasped for air and carefully walked around the Snorlax. “But maybe it was a good thing I didn’t see myself getting sat on by a Snorlax.”
Focusing once more, Ralph managed to detect Zera’s location once more and felt relieved to know she was just a short distance further. Still, Ralph remained wary and took each step forward with even greater caution than before. His heart beat hard in his chest as he attempted to remain calm, but he couldn’t deny how much getting smothered by a Snorlax had shaken him up. Every few seconds everything went hazy leaving him in total darkness before it flickered back to normal. However, not once did Ralph stop moving forward with the intent of completing his task.
“You made it here pretty quickly,” admitted Zera when Ralph finally came into view. “You are picking up on how to use your electricity a lot better now.”
“Z-Zera,”Ralph shouted out to her. “Can you get this blindfold off of me?”
“You have to make it over to me first,” she instructed and you’ve still got a few meters distancing us. You made it this far so I expect just this bit won’t be too difficult.”
“Why don’t I believe you?” wondered Ralph as he took a few steps forward. To Ralph’s relief, it did feel like there really wasn’t anything else between the two of them and he started to move forward a bit quicker. He then took another step and then another and another. Then beneath his foot, beneath the ground he could sense something. It was like a tiny spark of energy that was quickly building up to intense amounts in an instant. He looked down on reflex just in time to feel the ground explode beneath him and send him flying back.
“What in the?” cried the Rattata, he and the other Pokemon were shocked just as much as Ralph was by this. “The ground! It just exploded!”
The Pokemon stared at the spot of the explosion and in the crater that formed from the explosion was a Voltorb. “What was one of them doing in the ground?”
“Oh, I guess I should have warned you,” Zera told Ralph. “I asked a few Voltorb to help me out with your training. They are going to Self Destruct if you walk on them so you better be quick. It’ll be hard to detect where they are until after they are about to go off.”
“Don’t you think this is a bit extreme?” he asked. “I mean this is rather dangerous.”
“I prefer to think of it as motivating,” she replied. “Just get through this little trap and you pass. Simple as that.”
“Simple, right,” groaned Ralph trudging off his aches as he made his way to Zera once more. He walked around the crater of his previous mistake and kept moving beyond it. Then he felt that same sensation beneath his foot again and quickly he leapt away to avoid the blast.
“He dodged that one,” the group of Pokemon gasped as they watched on intently.
As Ralph landed, his sense of danger returned again. “Another one?!?”
KA-BOOM!!!
Ralph was blasted away once more all the way back again. The Pokemon hurried to check on him. “H-hey, Ralphchu,” the Rattata said. “Maybe you should call it quits. First you ran into a tree, then you got smooshed and just now you blew up twice. Isn’t that enough for one day?”
“N-not till I finish,” coughed Ralph struggling back to his feet and returned to moving forward. Unaware of just how many Voltorbs remained, he stepped forward ready for every step he took to set one off.
KA-BOOM!!!
Another one went off, but Ralph managed to avoid it. He landed in a safe spot and managed to take a few more steps forward. His fur stood on end when he detected yet another and dodged it only to land on another. He moved quick to avoid only for another to be just a couple of steps away. Dirt and grass got blasted into the air as Ralph hurried around the blast zone trying to make his way to Zera, but every time he got a little closer he had to dodge out of the way best he could to avoid the blast or at least the full force of one.
“C-can anyone see anything?” asked the Rattata nervously as the air was too full of smoke and debris to make out much of anything.
“You think he’s still alive?”
“Maybe he got blown to bits?”
“D-Don’t say that,” snapped the Rattata. “I thought this would be funny to see him stumble about, not be blown up. Just what kind of crazy game are they playing?”
“It isn’t a game,” Zera told them as the smoke around her started to clear up. “It’s training. And looks like he managed to succeed.” As more of the smoke cleared, Ralph was slumped over onto her tail totally exhausted, but his objective had been met.
“He did it!” cheered the Pokemon getting excited at Ralph’s success.
“That was incredible.”
“Pretty crazy too.”
“We should probably take him to get taken care of after all that too,” one of them suggested. Hurrying over to Ralph, the group didn’t get very far before the ground beneath their feet exploded too by one of the remaining Voltorb that was still hidden there. It blasted the group of Pokemon all around, every last one of them KO’ed.
“Looks like you all need to get taken care of,” sighed Zera who then looked at Ralph rather admiringly. “You’re getting to be a lot stronger even faster than I expected.”
“How’s it coming?” a Pokemon trainer asked a construction worker. “Is the tunnel almost done?”
“Getting there,” he answered watching a group of Machoke enter into the tunnel with some shovels and pick axes while some Machop were pushing some carts of dirt out to dump it on the huge pile they had been making for the last few days. “We’ll break through in a few more days and after that we just need to finish putting in supports and anyone will be able to travel to the tops of these plateaus whenever they want.”
“That’s great,” the trainer answered excitedly. “I hear there are tons of Pokemon up there and I wanna check it out.”
“You and tons of other trainers,” the construction worker replied. “We got a ton camping out in the area waiting for the tunnel to be complete.
“Ralph… Aipom… Nuzleaf… everyone,” said Ace the Treecko sadly as he sat at the campsite his trainer and his friends had set up, not too far from the plateau where the construction was being done. He had a bowl of Pokemon food by his side to have along with all his new friends, but he wasn’t feeling very hungry. “It looks like my leaving was only the start of the changes to come.”
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Ralph glared down at the magnet stone in his paws like he was staring down a powerful foe. The stone, as big and round as a Pecha Berry, wasn’t staring back, but it was drawing in his electricity. To counter it, Ralph focused on pulling the electricity from the rock back into his own body. For the past few days, this had been his main training since he finally managed to gain some control over his electricity. He started out with a magnet stone no bigger than his paws and quickly managed to overpower it. After that, he managed to overcome two or three magnet stones a day, each one bigger than the last.
Now, with this current one, he found it quite a lot more difficult. The first couple of stones took him only minutes to overcome. The few after that took a bit more effort, but he got the hang of them fairly quickly. Then the stones began to become a challenge, forcing Ralph to remained focused for an hour as he could only barely draw in more electricity than it drained from him. By the time he emptied them, he was getting stiff from being so still for so long and his cheeks felt numb from the constant stinging of the electricity. This one he was dealing with proved even more difficult. He couldn’t draw in more electricity than it could take back. It actually could have overpowered him very easily if took his focus off it for a moment.
“Ugh, come on,” groaned Ralph going impatient after attempting to beat the magnet stone just once after trying for nearly two hours. He gritted his teeth and made all kinds of faces as he tried to focus even harder than he already was. “Why are you being so difficult?”
“Still at it?” asked Zera quite impressed as she approached him. “I gotta hand it to ya. You get up early to do your morning cardio and stretches and then go right back to practicing with the magnet stones. When I first learned to use my electricity I was more eager to try it out and zapped a few things I shouldn’t have, but you’re more focused on just trying to get better at it.”
“Can’t talk,” responded Ralph not letting his eye contact break away from the magnet stone. “Concentrating.”
“I can see that,” she replied as she snatched the magnet stone and held it away from him. “But using Scary Face won’t help. It’s a rock and it has no speed to begin with.”
“That’s not what I was doing,” argued Ralph. “I was trying to concentrate harder. It’s the key to using electricity and the only way I can beat that magnet stone.”
“Well, you can make all the faces you want,” she commented. “Some of them were rather amusing to see, but you weren’t concentrating more. You were just getting yourself worked up and trying to brute force it. That might have worked on the smaller magnet stones, but this one is too big to be bullied. Just look, I’m holding it and it hasn’t even drained me of even one bit of my electricity. You are trying too hard and not making any progress with it, just tiring yourself out more than necessary.”
“Well, how do I do that? He do I not try as hard?” asked Ralph not sure how that made any sense.
“With another little bit of training that Turbine gave me,” she explained. “Just give me a second.” She hurried off, leaving Ralph alone on their training ground. Ten minutes later she returned with something in paw. “Luckily I was able to find Spinarak and Leavanny nearby so they were able to make this for me.”
“And what is it?” asked Ralph curiously. “Just looks like some cut leaves and spider silk.”
“It is, but it’s also a really good blindfold,” she told him pressing the leaves over his eyes and then wrapping the sticky silver around his head.
“Hey!” cried Ralph as he tugged on the mask as he attempted to remove it, but it held on tight. He couldn’t even tear the leaves off. Whether his eyes were opened or shut he couldn’t see anything but darkness. “What did you do this for?”
“To help you see,” she explained only making him more confused by all of this.
“I can’t see anything like this,” he told her taking a few clumsy steps forward.
“With your eyes, no, but you have electricity and that can help you see in ways you never thought possible,” she told him managing to get him intrigued by this.
“And how do I do that?”
“First, charge your electricity,” she told him. “You should have enough training to be able to do that at least, but the tricky thing will be to not discharge it. Think you can do that?”
“I think so,” he answered as he focused and began charging his cheeks with electricity. Without the magnet stone in his paws he didn’t have any trouble doing it, but as soon as he felt his cheeks tingle with the electricity he felt them give off sparks. “Ugh, hard to keep it restrained.”
“Just take a deep breath and relax,” she instructed in a calm voice to keep him calm too. “Do the best you can.”
Taking a deep breath, Ralph let his arms fall at his side and ease. “Piiii,” he spoke very soothingly. The sparks on his cheeks shrank down, but didn’t completely go away.
“That’s much better,” she praised. “Now tell me if you can feel my electricity. I’m going to build up my power to make it easier.” Zera built up her own electricity, but compared to Ralph there was no sign of any of that power being release. Ralph’s ears started to twitch and turned his head to the side and Zera smiled. “Looks like you do. You’re looking right at me.”
“I- I am?” he wondered. “Well, I can hear you so I can tell where you are that way.”
“Then let’s try something else,” she suggested. “Just stay where you are and keep focusing and remaining calm.”
Ralph did as he was told while Zera began to walk around him. In response, Ralph kept turning to where she was even while she was so silent even her footsteps were were inaudible. Even as she moved further and further away, he was still facing her. Even when she got so far she couldn’t even be seen behind the trees in the forest, Ralph faced her like a compass pointing north.
“Is it working?” asked Ralph, but got no response. “Hello? Zera?” He kept calling for her, but she wasn’t there to respond to him. When he was certain that she wasn’t with him anymore, Ralph attempted to tug off the blindfold again, but found it was stuck over his eyes as strongly as ever. “Did she have to make it so I can’t take it off?”
Scurrying out of the forest, came a Rattata going straight towards Ralph. “Hey, are you that Ralphchu?” he asked.
“Huh?” asked Ralph. “Zera?”
“No, I’m not Zerasu,” he explained. “I’m a Rattata. She told me to give you a message in exchange for some berries.”
“Uh, ok,” replied Ralph. “What is the message?”
“Find me,” the Rattata answered.
“And…?” wondered Ralph.
“That’s it,” he said.
“That’s it,” the purple rat nodded. “Only gave me two berries, one per word. I told her that I could remember message longer than that, but she told me that was plenty of instruction.”
“A bit more instruction would have been nice,” admitted Ralph. “But I think I get it. I just go to find her.”
“With your eyes covered up like that?” questioned the Rattata.
“Yup,” answered Ralph. “This is supposed to help me see better.”
“Uh, if you say so,” he sounded unsure. “Mind if I watch?”
“Sure, but no helping,” Ralph instructed. “This is important training and I have to do this on my own.”
“Heh, sure,” he snickered silently expecting to get a few cheap laughs from this.
“I’m supposed to use my electricity to find Zera,” thought Ralph as he took some steps forward. “I’m still pretty sure I’m facing her, but she feels very far away now. I’d run into a lot of stuff just trying to find her. Too bad my electricity can’t help me see anything else… can it?” Ralph stopped walking and tried focusing again. He started to grit and teeth and make faces, but quickly stopped himself. “No… that’s not focusing. Don’t try so hard… Just… relax…” Taking a few deep breaths, Ralph started feeling so relaxed he almost thought he’d fall asleep. The sparks coming from his cheeks kept getting smaller till they were gone entirely, but Ralph was still feel all that energy building in his body. It was then, he could feel it like very faint electricity being pulled into him like he was a magnet stone. It was so tiny it wasn’t even enough to be considered a tickle, but Ralph could tell where it was coming from. It was the grass around him. Just feeling this tiny electricity they were giving off he could feel how far each blade of grass was from him and in what direction. He could also feel another, slightly stronger bit of electricity near him that was coming from the Rattata though from what he was able to sense he appeared more like a ball with a tail.
“This is what Zera was trying to show me?” asked Ralph curiously. “I can still feel Zera giving off a lot of electricity from far away, but I can’t feel much of anything else that isn’t a few feet away from me.” Taking a step forward, Ralph could feel as his “field of vision” moved with him, unable to detect what he had moved further away from, but now sensing what he moved closer too, including the magnet stones. “This is actually kind of neat. I can see stuff even without my sight. I might actually be able to find Zera like this.”
“What are you mumbling about?” wondered the Rattata growing impatient to see Ralph trip and stumble about. “Get going already.”
“Ok,” breathed Ralph trying to remain calm, but growing very eager to give this a try. “Here I go!” Taking a few steps forward, Ralph leapt over the magnet stones, avoiding them as he did and feeling his “field of vision” adjust around him as he did and allowed him to properly land on his feet. Making his way towards Zera, he moved steadily without stumbling once. He was practically running towards her.
“What the?” gasped the Rattata seeing Ralph move so fast despite not being able to see and chased after him even more eager to see this unfold. He grew even more impressed as Ralph came to the first trees leading into the forest and moved around them like his eyes weren’t covered.
“Th-this is kinda neat,” thought Ralph as he maneuvered around the forest. “I’m doing really well. At least I haven’t hit anything yet.”
“What’s going on with that Pichu?” wondered some Pokemon as they saw him running around with his eyes covered. “What is he doing?”
“Is he playing a game or something?” suggested another Pokemon as he and several others gathered to watch Ralph run while he couldn’t see.
“Hey guys,” the Rattata called to them. “You gotta check this guy out. He’s trying to find his friend while his eyes are closed. I don’t know how he’s doing it, but it’s sure fun to watch.”
Quickly, the group of Pokemon joined the Rattata and chased after Ralph as he continued to work his way around, but quickly Ralph was starting to slow down and scratch his head as he tried to think.
“Where do I go now?” he wondered looking all around and could sense something in his way in all directions. “I can tell something is in front of me, but not what it is.” Carefully, he extended his arms to feel something. “Ok. That’s a tree.” He felt for something else. “And that’s a bush so I can go through it.” Pushing his way through the bush, he didn’t get very far before bumping his head on a tree that had been on the other side of it and fell onto his back.
“Ow, that had to hurt,” commented the Pokemon who had been watching.
“Ugh,” groaned Ralph as he got back up and rubbed his forehead. “Gotta be more careful.”
Walking into the bush once more, Ralph carefully made his way around the tree and too his delight he could sense a more open space area ahead. “Much better,” he sighed with relief and walked forward.
“Uh, is he gonna-” one of the following Pokemon began to ask.
“Shh,” hushed the Rattata.
“But he’s gonna-”
“He said he doesn’t want any help so we gotta do what he says,” snickered the Rattata. “Besides, this might be worth a chuckle or two.”
“Something else is in front of me,” the vision-impaired Pichu said sensing something huge in his way. “Is it a boulder?” Reaching forward to feel it, he became confused upon feeling something soft and doughy. “Wh-what is this?”
“Zzzzz,” snoozed something very large and immediately Ralph’s curiosity was answered. His paws were rubbing against the side of a slumbering Snorlax. Suddenly sensing something above him, he looked up to detect the Snorlax’s arm reaching to scratch an itch at his side. Quickly, Ralph back-stepped out of the way to avoid the arm. Then he sensed as the huge Pokemon was moving around a lot.
“Is he waking up?” wondered Ralph trying to make sense of what his electricity was telling him. From what he could make out it almost seemed like a tidal wave was forming and about to crash down on him. Ralph’s jaw dropped in shock and he couldn’t move as he realized the Snorlax was rolling over right onto him!
BOOM!
“He got crushed!” the Pokemon freaked. “He’s flatter than a Stunfisk!”
“N-no,” stuttered one of the Pokemon still watching the Snorlax. “L-look over there.”
Everyone turned their gaze back to the Snorlax and to their amazement, Ralph wiggled and squirmed his way free from the blob of a Pokemon. “Definitely miss my vision,” Ralph gasped for air and carefully walked around the Snorlax. “But maybe it was a good thing I didn’t see myself getting sat on by a Snorlax.”
Focusing once more, Ralph managed to detect Zera’s location once more and felt relieved to know she was just a short distance further. Still, Ralph remained wary and took each step forward with even greater caution than before. His heart beat hard in his chest as he attempted to remain calm, but he couldn’t deny how much getting smothered by a Snorlax had shaken him up. Every few seconds everything went hazy leaving him in total darkness before it flickered back to normal. However, not once did Ralph stop moving forward with the intent of completing his task.
“You made it here pretty quickly,” admitted Zera when Ralph finally came into view. “You are picking up on how to use your electricity a lot better now.”
“Z-Zera,”Ralph shouted out to her. “Can you get this blindfold off of me?”
“You have to make it over to me first,” she instructed and you’ve still got a few meters distancing us. You made it this far so I expect just this bit won’t be too difficult.”
“Why don’t I believe you?” wondered Ralph as he took a few steps forward. To Ralph’s relief, it did feel like there really wasn’t anything else between the two of them and he started to move forward a bit quicker. He then took another step and then another and another. Then beneath his foot, beneath the ground he could sense something. It was like a tiny spark of energy that was quickly building up to intense amounts in an instant. He looked down on reflex just in time to feel the ground explode beneath him and send him flying back.
“What in the?” cried the Rattata, he and the other Pokemon were shocked just as much as Ralph was by this. “The ground! It just exploded!”
The Pokemon stared at the spot of the explosion and in the crater that formed from the explosion was a Voltorb. “What was one of them doing in the ground?”
“Oh, I guess I should have warned you,” Zera told Ralph. “I asked a few Voltorb to help me out with your training. They are going to Self Destruct if you walk on them so you better be quick. It’ll be hard to detect where they are until after they are about to go off.”
“Don’t you think this is a bit extreme?” he asked. “I mean this is rather dangerous.”
“I prefer to think of it as motivating,” she replied. “Just get through this little trap and you pass. Simple as that.”
“Simple, right,” groaned Ralph trudging off his aches as he made his way to Zera once more. He walked around the crater of his previous mistake and kept moving beyond it. Then he felt that same sensation beneath his foot again and quickly he leapt away to avoid the blast.
“He dodged that one,” the group of Pokemon gasped as they watched on intently.
As Ralph landed, his sense of danger returned again. “Another one?!?”
KA-BOOM!!!
Ralph was blasted away once more all the way back again. The Pokemon hurried to check on him. “H-hey, Ralphchu,” the Rattata said. “Maybe you should call it quits. First you ran into a tree, then you got smooshed and just now you blew up twice. Isn’t that enough for one day?”
“N-not till I finish,” coughed Ralph struggling back to his feet and returned to moving forward. Unaware of just how many Voltorbs remained, he stepped forward ready for every step he took to set one off.
KA-BOOM!!!
Another one went off, but Ralph managed to avoid it. He landed in a safe spot and managed to take a few more steps forward. His fur stood on end when he detected yet another and dodged it only to land on another. He moved quick to avoid only for another to be just a couple of steps away. Dirt and grass got blasted into the air as Ralph hurried around the blast zone trying to make his way to Zera, but every time he got a little closer he had to dodge out of the way best he could to avoid the blast or at least the full force of one.
“C-can anyone see anything?” asked the Rattata nervously as the air was too full of smoke and debris to make out much of anything.
“You think he’s still alive?”
“Maybe he got blown to bits?”
“D-Don’t say that,” snapped the Rattata. “I thought this would be funny to see him stumble about, not be blown up. Just what kind of crazy game are they playing?”
“It isn’t a game,” Zera told them as the smoke around her started to clear up. “It’s training. And looks like he managed to succeed.” As more of the smoke cleared, Ralph was slumped over onto her tail totally exhausted, but his objective had been met.
“He did it!” cheered the Pokemon getting excited at Ralph’s success.
“That was incredible.”
“Pretty crazy too.”
“We should probably take him to get taken care of after all that too,” one of them suggested. Hurrying over to Ralph, the group didn’t get very far before the ground beneath their feet exploded too by one of the remaining Voltorb that was still hidden there. It blasted the group of Pokemon all around, every last one of them KO’ed.
“Looks like you all need to get taken care of,” sighed Zera who then looked at Ralph rather admiringly. “You’re getting to be a lot stronger even faster than I expected.”
“How’s it coming?” a Pokemon trainer asked a construction worker. “Is the tunnel almost done?”
“Getting there,” he answered watching a group of Machoke enter into the tunnel with some shovels and pick axes while some Machop were pushing some carts of dirt out to dump it on the huge pile they had been making for the last few days. “We’ll break through in a few more days and after that we just need to finish putting in supports and anyone will be able to travel to the tops of these plateaus whenever they want.”
“That’s great,” the trainer answered excitedly. “I hear there are tons of Pokemon up there and I wanna check it out.”
“You and tons of other trainers,” the construction worker replied. “We got a ton camping out in the area waiting for the tunnel to be complete.
“Ralph… Aipom… Nuzleaf… everyone,” said Ace the Treecko sadly as he sat at the campsite his trainer and his friends had set up, not too far from the plateau where the construction was being done. He had a bowl of Pokemon food by his side to have along with all his new friends, but he wasn’t feeling very hungry. “It looks like my leaving was only the start of the changes to come.”
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Category All / Pokemon
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