Chapter 5: Ring of Fire

"You're lucky to be alive, Mr. Pugh," the doctor told him the next morning, "You and your friend."

Daniel just nodded. It had been a crazy night following the weavile attack. He was treated for hypothermia, the gashes on his arm and back were stitched up, and the electrical burns on his extremities were cared for. He wasn't sure what all Cal went through, but he knew surgery was involved. He glanced down at his left arm. It looked like it was attacked by a cheese grater and then a toddler colored all over it with a black marker.

"Your back looks much the same. Weavile attacks freeze over immediately. No loss of blood, which is probably what saved both your lives, but causes frostbite around the wound. It wasn't severe, so the pain and discoloration will fade, but you'll probably be dealing with a loss of feeling in that arm for the rest of your life," the doctor said, "The stitches will fall out in three weeks, by which time the cuts should be sealed."

Daniel finally looked up at the man, taking note of his name that was pinned to his chest: Dr. Barry Hooker. "How's Cal?"

"Mr. Sullivan went through surgery to repair his leg last night. He has yet to wake up, but that is normal. He'll have trouble walking for a bit, but he'll be just fine."

"What about my pokemon?" Due to the fact that neither of his pokemon were in critical condition, Daniel was required to sign multiple waivers releasing the hospital to check them into the pokemon center in his stead the night before.

The doctor clicked through some things on his tablet before responding, "We don't have an update yet. They were transferred to the center, but they are experiencing a higher volume with the number of gym challenges this late in the season. I wouldn't worry though, neither had any life threatening injuries."

"So when can I get out of here?"

Dr. Hooker swiped through a few more tabs, "Everything looks good here, so just as soon as you pay at the check out desk, you are cleared to go. That said, there's a pair of rangers here to talk with you about what happened. They need to document all pokemon attacks, so I don't think you're in any trouble."

Daniel thanked the doctor and he left, letting the rangers into the room. "Ranger Smith! It's nice to see you," he said, recognizing one of the two rangers.

"Howdy, Pugh," the man greeted with a wave, "This is Ranger Trainee Johnson, he's shadowin' me for the next couple weeks to get an idea of all the roles and responsibilities. That alrigh' with yeh?" When Daniel nodded, the ranger continued, "Alrigh' then. Let's get to it. As the doc said, yeh ain't in any trouble. Just gotta get a report done since humans were hospitalized in an attack. So, where were y'all at when it happened?"

"We were like a two or three day hike north of Snowpoint. Cal, my friend, found a clearing in the woods at the foot of the mountains."

"Alrigh', so tell me how it all happened. Any details yeh can think of," the ranger said.

Daniel related the story as best he could while the trainee ranger took notes on the story. "And then I passed out. When I came to again, it was the next day. I packed up, and Cal had his staraptor fly me here before returning for himself."

"Helluva story, kid," Ranger Smith shook his head, "Why didn't ya call the rangers?"

"It happened so fast," he responded, "There was no time to send an alert out after we found out about the weavile. And afterwards, I don't know. Cal told me, but I don't really remember what he said. The nurses told me that confusion and short term memory loss was a common side effect of hypothermia."

The ranger nodded, wishing him well before departing. Daniel followed soon after, making his way to the check out desk to pay the bill before leaving.

There were certain benefits to being a trainer. Pokemon centers provided free treatment to pokemon. Ranger outposts along routes would provide lodging to travelling trainers. And the League covered half of all trainer hospital expenses. The world of pokemon was dangerous. As much as civilians and trainers alike made sport of it, trainers were necessary to keep mankind safe from wild pokemon. As such, the life of a trainer was dangerous. The League, in order to not scare away prospective trainers, stepped in to cover half of any trainer's hospital expenses. Daniel was incredibly thankful, as it meant he would be able to cover the bill without telling his parents.

After settling the bill, Daniel made his way over to the pokemon center. As he walked, he sent Cal a quick text checking in on his friend and asking to be kept updated on his status. He also sent a message to his parents, letting them know he would be home later that day. Once he got to the center, he made sure to check in before going to the food court. He made himself a large salad for an early lunch. He wasn't a vegetarian or activist. But after a month of living off of game with a few berries mixed in, he wanted a vegetable.

His attention was pulled to a television in the corner shortly after he finished the salad. The news reporter sat in front of a map of Sinnoh that was colored blue with numbers at various cities. "Meteorologists and researchers alike are still baffled by the extreme cold front that has swept the nation. Models show the temperature drop originated somewhere north of Snowpoint and has spread across Sinnoh. Some theorists have suggested that an undiscovered ice type pokemon on par with the legendary Articuno was either born or awoken to cause the front. The temperature drop has even been reported in Hoenn and Kalos. What has confused scientists even more is that the temperatures seemed to return to normal hours later."

"Trainer Pugh!" a female voice came over the intercom system, "Trainer Pugh, your pokemon are ready."

Daniel went to retrieve his two pokemon before making his way home.

"Daniel! You're home earlier than we thought!" His mother exclaimed, greeting him with a large hug after he surprised her in the kitchen.

He shrugged as he pulled away from his mother, "Well, my pokemon got released from the center a little earlier than I expected, so I'm here early. Is that roast starly you're making? Mm mashed potatoes too!"

"Hands off, mister!"

His hand smarted from the wooden spoon that his mother used to defend the food. Wringing out his hand, he asked, "So is Dad at the school?" When his mother nodded, he said, "I'm gonna take my team out in the back to check in on them. Let me know when dad gets back, yeah? That way I only have to make introductions and tell the story once."

"That's fine. He should be home shortly, dinner will be ready at five," his mother responded as she stuck the pot of mashed potatoes in a warming drawer.

He released Drift first once he was outside. The sandshrew excited accepted a belly rub before allowing Daniel to inspect the rest of him. There was a faint line on his stomach where a sneasel had cut him. Like he had seen the day before, there were small chips and scratches on his icy exterior. "Did you even feel these?" he asked as he traced one of the scratches along his starter's back. The ice type shook his head with a proud chirp. "Of course you didn't. Why would I even think such a thing?" Drift headbutted him firmly, though not strong enough to be painful.

After a few more moments alone with his starter, he released Sasha, his meditite. The small, blue pokemon bore no evidence of the battle from the previous night, she also did not lash out as if the battle was still happening. "How are you feeling, Sasha?"

"I have been rejuvenated. I am indebted to you for preserving my life force," the pokemon spoke mentally, her feminie voice soft and composed as always.

Daniel shook his head, "You do not owe me, Sasha. We're a team and a family, remember?"

The meditite nodded and asked, "How did you fare? And the ice shrew?"

"Drift is fine, only a couple of scratches. I had to have some work done on my arm and my back from the attack," Daniel responded. He pulled off his jacket and rolled his sleeve up to show his left arm to his pokemon. Drift sniffed at one of the stitched cuts and gave it a gentle lick. "My back supposedly looks the same, but I am fine apart from the numbness."

"For one so unsuited to battle such creatures, your skill and bravery are commendable."

"Thanks Sasha," he responded with an exaggerated eye roll as he pulled his jacket back on. "So, this is where we'll be staying for a while. It's where I grew up. Sasha, you'll meet my parents later. I want to get some strength back in my arm before challenging the gym. Until then, we'll probably be training here, though it'll be different than our time with Cal." Both his pokemon nodded.

"Daniel! I am happy to see you, son!" he turned to find his dad walking out of the house, his mom not far behind. Daniel greeted his father with a one-armed hug before introducing his parents to Sasha. After checking to make sure both of his pokemon were happy to remain outside - Drift was not allowed inside and Sasha was happy to train in the cold - Daniel and his parents returned to the kitchen.

"So, I'm sure you have plenty of stories after being gone for a month." It was a question, but Daniel could hear a hint of anticipation in his father's voice. Daniel spent the next hour relaying the events of his past month in the wild. He spent a lot of time talking about catching and training Sasha as well as the skills Cal taught him. He purposely said nothing about Regigigas' prison or the weavile attack; the former because it scared him and the latter because it would scare his parents. Unfortunately, he wouldn't get away unscathed.

"So what happened to your arm?" his mother asked once he stopped talking.

"You saw?"

"His arm?"

Daniel and his father both spoke out at the same time. Daniel hurriedly began forming up a story that would appease his parents.

"Yes, I saw you show your pokemon from the kitchen window. And yes, something has happened to his arm and I want to know." Daniel flinched slightly at the no nonsense tone in his mother's voice. He slowly rolled up his left sleeve to show his arm as a stall attempt.

After both his parents fretted over him for a minute, he said, "We were already on the way back. It took us a little longer than we thought. But the city was so close, so we decided to risk traveling at night to make it back without camping again. A sneasel got the jump on us in the dark. He knocked Drift over and I stepped in to save him. It turned on me and got a couple slashes in before we could knock it out."

It was a lie. But he hoped that it was close enough to the truth to be believable. He pressed on, saying, "I spent the night at the hospital last night just to make sure everything was okay. Sneasel cuts cause minor frostbite, so it looks worse than it is. The color will fade and the stitches will fall out in a couple weeks. I'm fine, really. I didn't say anything because I know how bad it looks."

Neither of his parents looked happy, but they didn't say anything immediately. After a few minutes, his father finally let out a heaving sigh and said, "We worry about you Daniel. It's our job. Just be careful please."

"I will, I learned my lesson," he nodded and hugged them both, grateful that they bought his lie. The rest of the night was spent enjoying his parents' company and catching up with them.

The next few days passed in much the same way that the previous month had: with lots of training. Being at home and not needing to hunt for meals, Daniel split their normal morning session into two. One earlier in the morning for mobility and speed drills and one around noon for strength building. He left the nightly move training session alone, wanting to continue developing those skills with his pokemon. Sasha, in particular, loved the new routine as it left her significantly larger portions of time to meditate and practice yoga.

Also during this time, Daniel took a trip to the trainer outpost to sell the items they had foraged in the wild. He had all of the weavile and sneasel feathers and claws as well as a large number of other items. Daniel sold the weavile and sneasel parts separately so it was easier to give Cal his share of that money. He bought a new winter jacket after his first was ripped apart by the weavile. He also took the time to order a custom blend of food for Drift that was high in both magnesium and vitamin C. It was expensive, but if Leader Berg was to be believed, worth it. With the decent chunk of money he pulled in from hunting, Daniel still had plenty to pay for a gym challenge and travel south when the time came.

After being home for four days, he finally got a substantial message from Cal. Earlier in the week, Cal had sent Daniel a short message confirming he was okay and out of the hospital, but Cal had been silent since. This message, however, read:

'Danny, sorry about ghosting you, had to get something in order after the surgery. I've got my prelim battle coming up shortly. Wanna get us a private training room at the pokemon center for afterwards? See ya later man!'

Daniel arrived at the center before his friend and reserved a room for them both. He let his two pokemon out and worked them through a few low intensity drills while they waited for Cal. They didn't have to wait long before their friend showed up, looking quite pleased with himself despite the fact he was limping heavily. His right leg had a bulky, restricting brace spanning the appendage, but he apparently didn't need crutches.

"Danny, my man," his friend cheered once he closed the door behind him, "Gonna apologize in advance, but we're gonna have to keep this short. Rook evolved and I want to work with him sooner rather than later, preferably not in the vicinity of any building." That explained his good mood if his rhyhorn had evolved.

"Congrats Cal! So I take it you won your battle?"

His friend nodded, "Yeah. April and Snapper are getting looked at now. Official challenge is next Wednesday, so I have four days to work with Rook in case I need him."

"I'm sure you'll be fine. Hey, I do have your portion of the weavile sale," Daniel said, only to be waved off by Cal. Still, Daniel persisted, "Cal, you were the one who took me training and you were the one who beat most of those weasels. If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead."

"I have plenty of money, and you're just starting out. Keep it. Plus, you saved my neck, pun intended, so we're almost even. That's actually why I wanted to meet up. You saved my life, and that means something. So I gave my fam a quick call and got them to send this over. I want you to have this and I'm not taking no for an answer," Daniel's heart pounded in his chest when his friend pulled a simple red pokeball from his belt.

"Cal, I can't. I already owe you for just teaching me how to be a trainer, not to mention you and your team saved my life too."

Cal shook his head and forced the pokeball into his hands, "You can and you will. I'm not doing this just because you saved my life, though that's part of it. I'm giving you this because you're a good trainer. You have a lot of potential and you care about your pokemon. Now let him out and introduce yourself."

Daniel dumbly nodded and released the pokemon as Cal kept talking, "My family's branch of the Sullivans has traditionally bred and raised the magby line. It's why Sozin was my starter. Kai here is a little younger than we would typically sell, but I convinced my parents that he would be in good hands. He's actually the son of my dad's Magmortar, who helped him win his third elite battle before my dad retired."

The magby before him was about the same height as Drift, standing just above his knee. He was a burnt red with a bright yellow belly in the shape of a flame. The fire duck's beak matched his stomach and it had a black band around his neck. It squeaked at him in greeting.

"Cal, this is too much. He's the child of an elite pokemon."

Genetics, as much as some trainers argued against it, did play a role in the strength of a pokemon. A pokemon born from a higher level pokemon would always be stronger than a pokemon born from a weaker one. There was a chance that the child pokemon would have a rudimentary starting knowledge of stronger attacks, or special moves that the parent learned from another pokemon. Genes weren't everything though. Regardless of the parent, pokemon had generally the same ceiling in terms of strength and ability. The pokemon with stronger parents would just have a much easier time reaching that ceiling. The fact that this magby was sired by an elite pokemon meant he was worth a fortune.

"Regardless of how much it is, he's yours. This is a thanks from myself and my family. Take good care of him."

"Thank you. And tell your family I said the same to them," Daniel nodded as he stretched his hand out to the fire type who pushed his head close to the hand like a household skitty would. "So you're Kai? I like that name." The magby responded with a high pitched quack. The pokemon was hot to the touch, though not so hot that Daniel would burn himself.

"A few notes," Cal said, pulling his attention from his new pokemon, "The magby line doesn't really like snow. Their bodies are hot enough to melt it, which leads to them being in a puddle of water. Fire types don't like that. So, when you train him outside, try to clear as much of it away until he evolves. Magmar are better able to regulate their core temp and able to withstand the water a bit better. On that note, don't use water to punish him. Find a different way if he acts up."

"Anything I should focus on specifically for training?"

Cal shrugged, "When he evolves, you're going to want to put an emphasis on fire power. Magmar won't be able to evolve otherwise. Until then, just keep him in a similar training program to Drift and Sasha, and he'll be fine."

After a few more minutes, during which Daniel spoke to and played with his new magby while Cal watched with a smile, his friend said, "Listen Danny, I'm gonna run. Need to spend some time with Rook. This little guy just came in this morning though, so I wanted to get him to you sooner rather than later. My gym battle is Wednesday though, you should come watch and we'll go celebrate afterwards."

Daniel nodded and bid the older trainer goodbye with another heartfelt thanks. After Cal left, Daniel called his other two pokemon over and introduced them to Kai, his new magby. Drift curiously sniffed and batted at the duck, whereas Sasha was unsurprisingly indifferent to the new addition to the team. "Drift, want to lead him through the drills you're working on?" The sandshrew nodded with a proud grunt as if he was honored to be put in charge. Daniel chuckled as his pokemon went back to training. As they did, he took the time to look up the magby line in his 'dex.

Magby, the Live Coal Pokemon.

Magby are a pure fire type pokemon that baffles scientists. The pokemon and its evolved forms have various features that link it to bird-like pokemon such as the psyduck and ducklett lines, but also has features that are more reptilian in nature in line with pokemon like charmander and its evolutions. Furthermore, the magby line seems to be able to digest and live off of either diet types as well as from molten lava.

Magby are almost exclusively found around volcanoes with their evolution, magmar. A magby's health can be determined by the color of the fire it breathes. Bright yellow or orange flames mean that the pokemon is healthy, whereas redder fire or smoke means the pokemon is sick or nearing exhaustion.

Magby evolve into magmar around the age of one. It is currently unknown to the scientific community how magmar evolves into magmortar, however. The Sullivan family of Stark Island in the Sinnoh region originally discovered the process centuries ago and have closely guarded the secret. There have been instances of fire type trainers outside the family who have discovered the secret. Notable trainers being Leader Blaine of Cinnabar, Kanto in fifth year of Champion Lance's reign, and Gym Leader Pyro of Motostoke, Galar in the twelve year of Champion Jupiter's reign.

Despite being a couple weeks after the end of summer, the gym was still packed with people wanting to watch Cal's gym battle. Daniel, like many others, paid the admissions fee to go watch his friend in his seventh badge challenge. It felt like a win-win to him. Getting to watch a high tiered gym challenge as well as getting to support and watch his friend. And despite spending so much time with the older trainer, Daniel had never seen Cal truly battle.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" A voice boomed over the loudspeakers. "Today, Trainer Cathal Sullivan is making his Tier Seven Gym Challenge against Gym Leader Andri Berg!" The crowd roared in response. "The challenger holds a spotless six and oh record in his previous challenges, so we have an exciting match ahead. I present to you the challenger: Trainer Sullivan!"

The crowd roared again as Cal stepped out onto the challenger's platform. Leader Berg was announced a moment later to the crowd's excitement. Once the rules were stated, the battle began. It was, in short, a one sided battle from the beginning.

Cal led with his magneton against the leader's lapras. The large sea creature only landed a single not very effective ice beam before succumbing to multiple thunderbolts. Berg then sent out a hulking crabominable. The large ice crab wasn't quick enough to land a physical move on the magneton before it used magnet rise to float towards the ceiling of the stadium. From there, Cal's pokemon took the crab down with ranged flash cannons while avoiding the easy to track focus blasts that the crab used.

Cal's magneton was finally defeated by Leader Berg's third pokemon: a mamoswine. The mammoth pokemon used a combination of smack down and earthquake to quickly dispose of the magnetic pokemon. Cal then sent out his machamp. The four-armed pokemon took some hits from the mamoswine, though it was the victor of the battle. Bruno went down to the gym leader's jynx. The psychic type leveraged its type advantage before the machamp could land a hit.

The battle was four to three in Cal's favor, though from the grin on his friend's face would have people believe that he just won the Lily of the Valley. And while he hadn't won that tournament, once he released his starter, everyone in the stadium understood that he had won the battle. The magmortar won decisively against the gym leader's remaining pokemon, only weathering two earthquakes from the avalugg and abomasnow that Berg used last.

"The challenger is victorious! Trainer Sullivan is now undefeated through seven challenge matches!" Again, the crowd roared. Cal encouraged the cheering with some waves before he gave Leader Berg a respectful nod.

An hour later, Daniel took Cal to a small, out of the way bar a short distance from the pokemon center. And though Cal argued, he insisted on paying for the meal. The place was relatively empty, with only a couple university students nursing drinks with open books on the table in front of them.

Once they ordered a couple beers and burgers, Daniel said, "Congratulations man! That looked like an easy match."

Cal shrugged off the compliment, "I had a gameplan and it worked. No known ice type pokemon resists both of Magneto's types, so he was the perfect lead choice. Plus, Berg likes to lead with a part water type when he knows the challenger has a fire type pokemon. It would have been harder if he had another water in the back. It was a gamble, and things would have been harder if he had a second water or if he saved it. The whole plan just fell into place though and it showed."

Daniel rolled his eyes at the modesty. Cal had worked hard formulating that plan and that spoke volumes to how skilled a trainer he was. "So what's next for you? Eterna is your last badge, right?"

"Yeah, but I think I'm going to go home for a bit. I'm struggling to walk still, so it'll be a good vacation and time to heal. Plus, I haven't taken a true break since starting."

He nodded, a little sad that Cal wouldn't be going to Eterna. He was hopeful that they could travel together to the city, though he understood his friend's choice. Their meal came out and they spent the rest of the night enjoying themselves. When it finally came time to leave, Daniel asked, "So when are you heading back to Stark?"

"I got a teleport scheduled for tomorrow morning. Gotta say, I won't miss the snow."

Daniel laughed at that, "So this is goodbye for now then, I guess."

"I guess so. Keep up your training, Danny. You can make it, I'm sure of it. And hey, let me know if you ever make it out to Stark. I can at least tell you about some places to visit if not come join you."

"For sure. See ya, Cal!" Daniel shook the older trainer's hand before they went their separate ways.