PokeWild

Koga didn’t wait long before starting his training. This time, the door made no noise when it slid open. The gym leader made it halfway across the arena, avoiding all three Pokemon, before David spotted the stalking figure.

David’s startled curse alerted Jenny, who was less friendly with her surprise.

“Air Slash!”

Carine’s wings blurred, and blue cords burned across the arena and David’s eyes. He blinked furiously to try to remove the afterimage, horrified and expecting to see blood.

The air hissed its displeasure. The scent of burnt wire and public swimming pools at opening hour filled the air. The full powered Move touched down and a cloud of sand, dirt and water exploded into the air.

When the dust cleared, there was just enough time to see Koga’s smile and two angry glowing red eyes above his shoulders before he was gone.

Cloudburst was a lot more respectful of Carine after that.

Koga’s next move was in David’s opinion, more traumatizing. It was Carine that discovered him next, whether by accident or through triggering a revenge trap, David couldn’t say. The powerful Venomoth sent Cloudburst tumbling away with a burst of wind then turned in pursuit of Venonat, when their body froze in the air.

Carine hung for a second, one wing beating, the other frozen. The next her own wingbeats unbalanced her. She spun around, coiling up on herself and getting wrapped up in an invisible string. No, not a string. A web. A web that extended above the arena, all the way above Jenny and... above David. With his head tilted back, he could feel every muscle in his throat as he gulped.

Hanging at the center of the ceiling, Koga gave them a shake of the head before disappearing out the window he had entered through.

David remembered to look up from then on. He wouldn’t forget that lesson any time soon.

When Jenny finished extracting the upset Carine from the web with a practiced hand, neither of them were motivated to continue. They called it a night and David hurried home scrutinizing every shadow.

The next morning there was no sign of the gym leader. With each hour, he and Jenny grew calmer and more focused on their training. This respite lasted until lunch. David was happily chewing away at a slice of bread, when something snagged in his teeth. Pulling the slice away, he was horrified to see a sliver of paper hanging out. A single word was written in a horrific imitation of a fortune cookie.

Koga.

Blood draining from his face, he held it up for Jenny.

Her face contorted in fury, and she began to dig through her curry bowl. Another slip of paper was buried at the bottom.

“The server?” David asked weakly.

Jenny slapped her curried paper onto the table with enough force to rattle the whole thing. She spoke with gritted teeth. “Yes.”

“How did he disguise himself as a lunch lady?”

“I don’t know.” The amount of anger in those three words was enough to ruin anyone’s day.

There was no escape. To his dismay, his evening off training was not free from Koga’s jump scares. In the first hour there were five new slips of paper in his pockets, collar and bag. Each was accompanied by an insistent poke to get his attention. David didn’t see who had poked him four times out of those five. In the next hour there were ten. He didn’t get any better at detection. Whatever feeling usually helped him spot the man was gone.

Koga was the jogger. He was pushing the pram. He was serving ice cream. He was delivering parcels. The monster was everywhere.

During training that evening Jenny and he agreed to work together. There were limited entrances to the arena, and by assigning angles, they could cover each one. Koga still surprised them too often. It would have been impressive if he wasn’t sick of it.

-.-

The next morning Jenny had tired bags under her eyes. Her bandana was tied askew, revealing darker hair underneath.

“Are you alright?”

She yawned. “Didn’t sleep.”

David’s eyes widened. “Koga got to you last night?” Nothing had disturbed him. There had been no paper in his things this morning either.

Jenny’s eyes fell. Her expression sank, devoid of hope. She mumbled something, only the end of which was clear. “...cape. All night.”

He shivered. “Let’s take it easy then.”

Jenny nodded through another yawn.

It took them two hours to figure out that the easier their training was, the more frequently Koga would appear.

That night David stumbled back to the campsite exhausted. It had been a productive, but mind draining day. As Jenny and he had improved at spotting Koga the difficulty increased. They each had their strengths. Jenny had less issue spotting him through his disguises, and David was best at spotting him when the gym leader worked with a Pokemon, using some Energy magic to hide his presence. Jenny was able to tell him about the process, but not explain any of it. Neither of them were very good at the other’s specialty, but they were sharing tips and improving. Hopefully it was enough, as the forty-eight hours were up.

As usual the manager had his head in a book, his flaming orange hair the only feature popping up above it.

“Hey,” David murmured as he stumbled through the lobby.

“You look like a Growlithe’s chew toy! What happened to you?”

David yawned. Tiredness pulled at him and his tent called. Even if he could explain why he was so tired, who would believe he had a gym leader hounding his steps. “Training.”

The campsite manager tutted. “It doesn’t look like that. You know training until you pass out doesn’t make it better? And that doesn’t include the effects it has on your Pokemon.”

David nodded and mumbled his way through some platitudes. He reached for the door to the campsite.

“Oh, and David?” The manager lowered his book. Black eyes stared into David’s soul.

David flinched and jerked back. Impossible. He sounded the same. The exact accent. The perfect tone. No. Not here.

“Koga!”