Pedestal: Chapter 51

"Wh-Why not?" My voice was much shakier than I would have liked otherwise. Why couldn't he show me the Rhyhorn?

"I don't have it anymore."

"Why not?! What happened to the Rhyhorn?" I was too aware that I had asked Froslass that very question before.

Nick looked taken aback by the force. "Because he evolved. He's a Rhydon now. Um, is something wrong?" he asked cautiously, looking a little scared to approach me right then.

I blinked at him. The Rhyhorn had evolved. Into a Rhydon. Which meant it wasn't dead and was still alive. Slowly, I exhaled, then chuckled. The chuckled turned into a full laugh when I realized what a heart attack I'd nearly had there. I had thought Nick had been the dark-haired trainer of all people. Seriously. I should have known better; I knew Nick too well. Plus, I knew most of his Pokemon now, and he had a live Rhyhorn that had evolved and didn't have a Froslass at any point that I knew of. My paranoia seemed so silly now.

Though I still hadn't found Froslass' trainer.

My laughter abruptly stopped when I realized that. I wasn't any further to finding him. "Hey, Nick… Do you know anyone with a Froslass?"

"Yeah, a couple. Why, you want one? Make up your mind--a Rhyhorn or a Froslass?" he said, clearly relieved by my calming down. He grinned and resumed packing his things. "Maybe I'll get you one for your training day."

"Huh?"

"Training day. It's like a birthday, but only the day you started training. It's coming up, isn't it?"

"…Oh. Oh yeah, I guess it is--I have been training for a year?!" Cue freak out.

-.-.-

Byron was exceedingly easy to take down. I only had to call out Carlita because she'd wanted to fight, not because Des had tired out. I had let Ike out at the beginning of the match with the Steelix, and he looked like he'd gotten a bit stronger while dodging the steely tail when it tried to squish him. Or at least I'd hoped so. He looked a little shaken when I finally recalled him and let Des at it.

What wasn't easy about that Gym, though, was getting to Byron. If Nick hadn't coached me through it--though several of the Gym trainers gave him dirty looks for it--I probably would have never gotten to him. Or I would have fallen off the platforms. Several times. (In fact, I nearly did a couple times. Nick had to pull me back up each time. I was almost used to dangling by the time we got to the leader.)

I ended up winning astonishingly easily. It was true that I had a type advantage and Des had just evolved, but I hadn't had such an easy win since Konstantin completely blocked all those fighting types. And that wasn't even me. At least in Byron's defeat I had a hand in.

Nick whistled while the steel leader handed over the badge. "Flawless victory," he commented.

"You don't have to rub it in," Byron snapped, leaning on his shovel. "And I wouldn't be talking if I were you. I remember your battle, kid."

Nick looked away with a, "Do you actually…?"

"You were twice as cocky as this one here. And it took you twice as many tries, too, ain't that right?" Byron grinned, especially when Nick flushed and scowled. I ignored them both, focusing instead on my shiny new badge. That made five. I was over half done, and just under a year into my journey. Was that good? Was it bad? Only three left… Crasher Wake, Candice, and Volkner.

None of them seemed like a very promising prospect for the next one. I'd already gone out of order, sure, but I didn't want to take on the last Gym leader as the sixth. It seemed like I was asking for it. But I didn't want to take on Candice, either, even if I had the type advantage (again) with my fire and fighting types. I wasn't terribly keen on returning to Snowpoint, especially since the Abomasnow was still roaming the area, last I'd heard.

And, of course, Crasher Wake was out of the question. Completely. I had no problem with either waiting for Ike to become an electric monster or until I got something insanely powerful and good against water types on my team.

I was snapped out of my deciding the lesser of the evils when a cell phone went off loudly. I checked my pocket, but since it wasn't buzzing, it wasn't mine. Nick flipped his open, held up a finger to Byron and I, and answered, "Hi mom."

"…Does he always do this at Gyms?" Byron asked, gesturing with his shovel at Nick. I shook my head. "I think he's doing it on purpose. He did this the last two times he came here, too. He even interrupted his second battle with me to take a call," he grumbled.

"Really?" I didn't know that was allowed. Or, if it was, it sounded pretty rude.

"Eh, it happens from time to time. He's the only guy to have done it multiple times, though."

"Do you really have something against Nick?"

"Nah. It's just amusing how far he kid has come." It was sort of funny to hear Nick, several years my elder, referred to as 'kid'. Usually that term applied to me. Byron hefted his shovel and set it on his shoulder, placing his free hand on his hip. "You too."

"Huh?"

"Roark told me about you. And I saw that news thing about you and that Abomasnow. All the leaders saw it; that son of mine and Gardenia wouldn't stop fawning over the little trainer who'd gotten beat up. But you're doing alright, aren't ya kid?" Byron laughed and clapped me on the shoulder, nearly sending me to the ground. "Character building, right? Trainers these days could use a bit of toughening up."

I could sense there was something else to his words, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. And before I could ask--Byron seemed a little gruff, but at least he was approachable, unlike other Gym leaders--Nick hung up his phone and said, "Okay, time to leave the fossil behind!"

"If I were anyone else, I'd take offense to that. No, wait--I still do." Byron slung his shovel off of his shoulder and hit Nick in the back of the head with the flat side. Eyes watery, the black-haired trainer rubbed the back of his head and glared at the leader. "Go on, you two. Get out of here. Get your last two badges and give that one a run for his money!"

"Three more, actually," I corrected primly, as Nick said, "What do you mean by that?"

"…Staying away from one of the Gyms, eh?" Byron deadpanned. He sounded used to it. "I know every trainer's got that one Gym, but still. Honestly. I'm guessing yours is Wake? Well that one's was Candice. Ask him about it some time."

"Shut up old man!" Nick shouted, hastily pushing me onto the platform heading back to the ground level. I looked back at Byron, who was laughing heartily and leaning on his shovel casually. I finally realized what that tone of his was: it was fatherly. I didn't know why, but it made me feel a little better, and it made me wonder just how the Gym leaders viewed all of the trainers who beat them and moved on with their lives.

Outside, Nick relaxed and rubbed the back of his head again. He glanced down at me surreptitiously, but I noticed the look. "What was that about?"

"The higher-up Gym leaders sort of… They sort of have a complex about trainers, especially younger ones like you."

"I'm almost twelve, you know," I sulked. My training day was close to my birthday, after all, and both of them were coming up rapidly.

Nick smiled in apology and ruffled my hair. "Well, when I was challenging Byron, I was fifteen. That's a difference of three years, and even back then, he was calling me young. Anyway! As I was saying, higher-ups have a thing for younger trainers. They know they're passing knowledge onto the younger generation or something along those lines, and they're proud of that, too. They act a lot like the parents of the training world. They look out for us, you know?"

"…Is that why you two acted like that?"

"Yeah. Well, that and I had to show up to his place twice. He sort of stomped me into the ground the first time I tried going up against him with Vasudeva…" Nick admitted sheepishly. I couldn't help but laugh at the mental image.

"Were you really afraid of going up against Candice? If you had Vasudeva--"

"Don't even go there. You're afraid of the fourth Gym. I was just a bit nervous about the seventh. Which is completely understandable--"

"You were scared of her!" I crowed, triumphant at last. Nick could never say anything about Crasher Wake ever again now. Not when he had had his own complex about a Gym leader.

"I was not!"

"Yeah, you were! Admit it!"

"If you're so not-scared of her, then you challenge her!"

"I will! And--" Too late, I realized what I'd done. I shut my mouth and ducked my head down. Mumbling, I backtracked, "I mean--no, I want to train more--"

"Are you scared of her?" Nick challenged with an evil grin.

"No, I'm not!"

"Then challenge her. She's technically next in the circuit, and you have advantages--unlike Chase--and--"

"Fine, I will! But you are coming with!" He reeled back, paling. It was my turn to grin evilly. "Gym leaders are like parents, right? So let's reunite you with Candice." If Nick had been anything like I was, then I definitely wanted to see his reaction to having to go back to Snowpoint. Even better if Candice remembered him.

Nick swapped out his team in Canalave before we left. He still kept Chase with him, but now he grabbed a stronger team, conspicuously including Vasudeva. I think Des was relieved he wasn't the only fire Pokemon going, even if he'd evolved and gotten a lot stronger since last time. We were all a little nervous going back there. Nick reassured us, though, and even stopped in Floaroma to get a second fire Pokemon, an Arcanine named Fargo. It did make me feel better.

Since Ser wouldn't Fly us any father than Eterna, we were stuck getting through Mount Coronet on our own. It was fairly easy since Chase kept most wild Pokemon at bay, but the climbing itself was hard. It was also a little jarring to see wild Bronzong floating around at random. Gyarados traded roars with Chase, and while I would have loved to catch one of the Dratini or Dragonair who watched these exchanges with avid interest, Nick wouldn't let me get close. Fighting dragons weren't fun to get in the middle of.

It took us nearly a full week to get through Mount Coronet. By then, I was so excited to see the sun again that I didn't mind the cold. Ike seemed fascinated by the snow, at least until he realized that it made his paws cold. He'd gotten his cast off just before we left on this trip, so he obviously didn't like getting all four cold and wet instead of just three.

Heading north again was nostalgic and slightly terrifying. Almost all wild Pokemon were dispatched in one or two moves by both Des and Carlita, or even Konstantin once when an Ursaring had snuck up on us at night. The Froslass was still following us, too, which unnerved the Duskull and I both. Especially more so because she was literally hiding in plain sight while she tailed us, blending in effortlessly with the snow.

Des, Carlita, and I were all jumpy, though. The three of us knew why, too. We were waiting for the Abomasnow. We knew it was still out there, and, according to us (or at least me), it knew we were here. It had to know we were back. It had to know the one that got away was back in its territory. And even a Camerupt, a Garchomp, a Magmar, and an Arcanine wouldn't make me feel safe from that.