Gaff packed up his bag and gathered up the rubbish from his lunch. The sun was high, and warm, at least for the moment, peeking through some cloud cover, but there were three trees casting some dappled shade near the edge of this sandy cliff. They'd probably work if it finally started to rain, too. It wasn't a mountaintop view from the cliff or anything, but it was very pleasant. It had been so quiet this morning, though, that Gaff wondered at his luck. No wild pokemon had accosted him, and he hadn't seen anyone else, though he had heard some faint voices in the distance at once point, telltale sounds of a battle between trainers.
He stood up and stretched, and yawned. "This is relaxing," he muttered. "I don't think relaxing is what I had in mind." He looked up at the clouds, out at the path that led back to Pallet Town, scanned the waving grasses that the breeze was stirring up. Maybe a Dragonite would appear out of nowhere! Or a Rhydon! He laughed at himself, and pulled his backpack on, and headed onward down the path.
It wasn't much farther onward that he came across someone else at last, right at the same moment that he felt the first drops of rain. He jogged up to join the girl under her tree as the scattered drops turned into a full-on rainfall. She was a young kid, with yellow pigtails and blue overalls. She had a large net in hand, and was looking around pensively.
"Mind sharing?" Gaff asked as he came near. When she saw him, though her eyes lit up, and she shoved her hand into her bag and yanked out three pokeballs.
"You're a trainer!" she crowed, pointing at the pokeball at his waist. "We gotta battle now!"
"But," Gaff protested, "It's... raining." That was a pretty weak reply, he realized instantly, and dumb to boot, since Paladin wouldn't care two hoothoots about the rain anyway.
"That's no excuse!" the girl said, giving him a look of reprimand. "Trainers fight when they meet, that's what we're supposed to do! You think you can challenge the Elite Four if you're scared of the rain?!"
"Ah... well, no," Gaff admitted, now feeling mostly sheepish, and a little stung at being shown up by a kid that Gaff would swear did not look older than Hanley. Maybe five years at the Museum had dulled his competitive spirit? Well, he had better fix that! It was time to battle.
"I'm Nellie," the girl introduced herself. "I like bugs, but there don't seem to be any around here."
"I'm Gaff," Gaff said. "I'm a fossil hunter! Or I will be, soon." She nodded to him, and they stepped apart from each other. And, Gaff noticed, she didn't get all the way out from under the tree's cover either. They laughed at each other, and then started.
"Go, Paladin!" he said, feeling a little silly, but unable not to use the traditional battle-opening command. In five years of waiting to start his journey, he'd never called Paladin out for a trainer battle before, and he felt the excitement and nervousness all at once. That girl had three pokeballs! And who knew how strong they were? Gaff didn't want to lose his first ever battle, but you had to fight whatever came your way.
Paladin materialized with his head and limbs withdrawn fully into his shell, but emerged abruptly, looking around in surprise. He soon realized it was raining, and stared upward, opening his mouth for a few seconds in a wide rain-catching grin.
"Go, Shorty!" Nellie threw her pokeball with great enthusiasm, and a Caterpie appeared. Gaff nodded to himself--he'd seen those now and then, not to mention the one he'd caught for Hanley. They weren't so tough.
"Tail whip!" Gaff said, and Paladin rushed forward.
"Watch it shorty, he's pretty fast!" Nellie called out, "String shot him, slow him down!"
Paladin was indeed pretty fast, and the Caterpie didn't seem to like the rain much, but even though Paladin connected firmly, his tail macking a wet thump against the Caterpie's side, he couldn't dodge at the same time. The Caterpie's thread got him straight on, clinging to his arms and legs in a sticky, stringy mess. Paladin didn't like it at all, and swatted at himself, trying to be rid of the interfering stuff.
"String shot again!" Nellie called, and Gaff felt himself frown.
"Ignore it! It'll wash off. Tackle that bug!"
"Squirrrrrrr," Paladin complained, glowering at the Caterpie. He wasn't letting his frustration distract him, that was good. He charged headlong this time, and let the next string shot hit him, even though it slowed him a little, to tackled the Caterpie strongly, sending them both rolling over and over. He pried himself off and backed away, eyes still on the Caterpie as he brushed a couple of times at the thread that was hampering his movements.
"Tackle!"
"Tackle!" They both gave the same command, but not for the same results. With the mud slick on the path where the two pokemon where fighting, the Caterpie's feet had to work harder to move, and Paladin dodged, barely, sliding to one side. He skidded to a stop, and charged again, at the last second pulling himself into his shell again to skid over the slippery mud and smack into the Caterpie straight on.
The Caterpie wobbled and teetered for a second. "Return, Shorty, good job!" Nellie recalled him, and gave Gaff a considering look as she tossed her next ball. "Get 'em, Spike!" A yellow cocoon stood still on the path, black eyes gleaming with what looked to Gaff like irritation. "Oops, oh yeah," Nellie said. "Well do your best! Poison Sting?" she ordered, though it came out more like a question.
Spike did do its best, though this was by far the least exciting battle that Gaff could ever have imagined. The Kakuna was able to move, after a fashion, and not as slowly as Gaff would have guessed, but it hardly had the leverage for a real attack, and the stings didn't seemed to bother Paladin too badly as he circled the armoured opponent and battered it from every direction possible, doing barely any damage at all.
The repeated calls of "Harden!" from Nellie were not at all amusing, even though she only responded to his annoyed look with a shrug and a little 'what can you do?' smile.
Paladin had made such a mess of the path, was nearly brown all over now with the mud, that Gaff almost missed the flinch after yet another poison sting. Poisoned, Gaff realized in dismay.
The follow-up tackle from Paladin KO'd the hardy bug, and then Nellie tossed her last pokeball.
"Go, Felix!"
"Raaaa!!" The bright purple fur of the Rattata was bright, even in the rain, though it darkened quickly as it got wet, and the Rattata shook itself, and then looked down at the mud in disgust. But only for a moment. It fixed its gaze on Paladin, ears pricked for a command.
Did Gaff have time to use one of his antidotes? He'd bought a couple for the way down, and hadn't needed them in Viridian Forest... but Paladin might lose too much time if he used one now... And he still looked alright...
"Tail whip him!" he called to Paladin, "then tackle him hard!"
"Quick attack! Quick attack!" Nellie ordered, jumping a little as she cheered on her last pokemon.
Paladin took a hard blow, but swung around, landing the tail whip solidly. He shook his head in discomfort at the poison, and was bowled over by the Rattata again. Paladin was pretty fast for a Squirtle, but that was nothing compared to a Rattata.
Paladin made a tight turn, seemed to pause just the briefest moment to judge the Rattata's twitchy movements, and threw himself at it. He caught it sideways, hard, and the Rattata stumbled back from the impact, but held firm. Paladin did too, for a few seconds, and then he shuddered, and slumped forward.
"Paladin!" Gaff shouted in dismay. The poison had done it. Not any of the three pokemon, but just the poison. Gaff recalled Paladin, and stared down at the pokeball in his hand. Now what? Was he closer to Pallet or Viridian City? He wasn't sure.
"Oh Felix, you did great! Come back!" Nellie recalled the Rattata. "A nice bath for you, later," she spoke to the pokeball, before returning it to her bag. Gaff shook himself, and then pulled out his wallet, counting out the forfeit money for Nellie. "Don't be sad, okay?" Nellie said to him, reaching up to touch his arm, "You fight good. It was three against one. And you beat two of mine first, remember?"
He looked at her, and sighed. "I was still beaten by a ten-year-old on my first battle," he said.
"I'm eleven," she corrected him, drawing herself up to her full not-very-high height. "And you hafta get used to it, there are lots of younger trainers who are really good, mister old guy."
"Young people today," he sighed in a huge, exaggerated way, deciding to push the disappointment aside in favour of humour instead, "no respect."
Nellie laughed, and started to gather up her things. The rain hadn't let up, but she seemed ready to forge ahead anyway, putting on a wide-brimmed rain hat, and checking the laces on her boots. "I wouldn't be respecting anyone if I didn't fight hard every time," she said. "Bye, old person!" She headed off into the rain, back towards Pallet, and waved once.
"Bye, little kid!" he called after her. Could've been worse--no matter what, Paladin had fought really well, Gaff thought. "You were great, buddy," he apologized to Paladin's pokeball. "And I'll do better next time."
He fished his poncho out of his backpack and put it on, and got back on the path to Viridian City. Even if he was a little closer to Pallet Town, still, moving forward felt better than going back.