Kylie could feel the other trainers at the Pokémon Centre looking at her. Judging her. Most of them knew where she had come from; in fact, some of the faces looked familiar from the line for the Pewter Gym that morning. Brock may have only been the first Gym Leader, but it still seemed like nine out of ten trainers had lost against him.
The thought made Kylie feel a little better. Her little freak out after losing to Brock had just been embarrassing. It was just that she'd never lost before. She knew that she was still a rookie, and she wasn't Champion material yet, but she thought she'd been better than this. Professor Oak had given her special permission to start her journey early, and somehow that had convinced her that she was special and couldn't lose. Now she just felt stupid.
That was okay though. Nurse Joy would finish healing Charmander soon, and then they could leave the city for some evening training, and maybe challenge Brock again in a couple days…
"Oh hey, loser! How'd the big loss go?"
Kylie gritted her teeth as the annoying bug catcher from that morning walked in. He was now wearing a different set of pants, and eyeing her belt to make sure that her Charmander wasn't with her.
"Since you're back here, I'm guessing things didn't go too well? What's the matter, did basic type matchup advantages get the best of you? Could your tiny little brain not handle the pressure?"
"You're one to talk!" Kylie replied. "That Weedle in your arms looks unconscious. Any guesses as to what did THAT?"
The bug catcher folded his arms, accidentally dropping his Weedle onto the floor. "Well I would've beat Brock if my winning mindset hadn't been thrown off by your unprovoked attack on me. You abused your authority as a trainer, and I have half a mind to call the cops right now and-"
Kylie took his phone from him, and threw it directly out the window. It hit the pavement outside with a soft crack.
The bug catcher ran out in panic after his phone. The whole "graceful loser" thing had never really appealed to Kylie. She had been trying to look at her loss from a positive approach, but now she just wanted to get back out to Route 2 with her Charmander, and train and train until she could crush Brock and prove she was better than that bug catcher and these losers in the Pokémon Centre. She would have given the losers in the Pokémon a very rude hand gesture to show how awesome she was, but they were all a lot bigger than her.
"Kylie Sunderland?" Nurse Joy called out. "Your Charmander is ready!"
Kylie raced over and grabbed Charmander's Pokéball. It was already getting dark outside, but that was alright. She was going to have an all-night training session, and with a little luck, Charmander would evolve before the night was over.
Charmander didn't evolve that night, or the five nights after that. After nearly a week of training in Viridian Forest, Charmander was coated in mud and covered with ticks, but not any closer to evolving.
At the end of the sixth day, Kylie sighed. "Feel like evolving yet, Charmander?"
"I'm hungry," Charmander replied.
"You were hungry yesterday! This is going to be a whole thing with you, isn't it?"
"Well we don't know how to hunt," Charmander replied. "And those berries you picked yesterday just made us sick. I think they were less of the 'cure status conditions' types of berries and more of the 'extremely toxic and poisonous' types of berries."
"To be fair, they did keep us from sleeping," Kylie replied.
"I threw up for half the night! Why can't we just go back to Pewter City and find a grocery store?" Charmander complained. "I miss sleeping in the Pokémon Centre. Weedles never try to crawl into your ear in the Pokémon Centre."
"That Weedle was just being friendly," Kylie replied. "And if you hadn't screamed so loudly and scared him away, we might've been able to capture him. Besides, I'm not going back to Pewter City until I can crush Brock with a freshly evolved Charmeleon! I want to show that stupid bug catcher, and that crowd in the Pokémon Centre, and that Nurse Joy who got all judgmental when I lost!"
"She offered you a Lava Cookie," Charmander pointed out.
"A very JUDGMENTAL Lava Cookie," Kylie replied. "Look, I don't want to stay out here any longer than you do, but we don't have any other choice. You're sure you don't feel like evolving soon?"
Charmander shook his head. "Nope."
"Well that's it then," Kylie sighed. "None of the bugs out here are strong enough to beat Brock without some serious training, and your attacks won't do much damage until after you evolve. We're stuck."
"Maybe there's another way," Charmander replied. "Some Pokémon learn moves that you'd never expect them to, that let them stand up against types that they'd normally be weak to. Did you know an Aggron can use Thunder to take out a water type?"
"What are you saying?" Kylie asked.
"I think I have a plan!" Charmander smiled.
"Welcome to the Pewter City Gym, challenger… oh hey, it's you again."
"You bet it is!" Kylie grinned. All her confidence had returned. "This time I have a foolproof plan for beating you! My Charmander came up with it!"
Brock looked dubiously at Kylie. "You're using a plan that a tiny red lizard came up with?" Charmander growled at him, and raced to the front of the Gym.
"That's a tiny red lizard who's going to kick your butt!" Kylie cheered. "And then I'll show you, and those judgmental strangers back at the Pokémon centre, and Nurse Joy, and her Chansey, and that bug catcher, and my Grandma! Who's too ugly to be a Pokémon trainer NOW, Grandma!?"
Brock blinked. "Uh… okay. Go, Onix!"
The giant rock snake appeared in a flash of light. It looked down at Charmander and roared. Charmander took a couple steps backwards.
"Don't be scared Charmander, your plan's going to work!" Kylie cheered. "Use Smokescreen!"
Charmander blew a giant burst of smoke in Onix's face. The giant rock type roared in pain as thick black smoke stung its eyes.
"We've done this before!" Brock grinned. "Onix, Rollout!"
Onix extended itself once again, stretching itself horizontally until its tail touched one end of the gym and its horn touched the other end. Then it began to roll towards Charmander.
"Don't worry Charmander, we got this!" Kylie cheered. "Just wait until it gets a little closer!"
Charmander watched the massive rock Pokémon barrel closer. "What if this doesn't work? We never practiced on this large a target!"
"You can do this!" Kylie cried. The Onix grew closer, picking up speed.
"I don't trust my plan anymore!" Charmander wailed.
"NOW!" Kylie shouted. "Metal Claw!"
Charmander shut his eyes, and raced at the oncoming creature. His claws extended, and began to glow a bright silver. He swung wildly, and slammed right into the Onix with his extended claw.
The Onix crumpled. It stopped rolling and its tail flipped over, knocking Charmander aside. Then its neck tangled in its lower body, and it tumbled off to the side of the grim, crashing into the far wall. Large cracks appeared in the concrete where it had landed.
"We've almost got it!" Kylie cried. "Hit it with another Metal Claw!"
Charmander raced towards the dazed Onix. Onix seemed to have tied itself into a knot – Kylie couldn't tell where the massive Pokémon began and ended. Charmander leapt at the creature with a determined glare.
"Onix, Rage!" Brock shouted.
Onix's head shot up from the ground and connected with Charmander. Charmander went flying backwards with a surprised cry. He fell back against the ground with a loud crash. The little Pokémon had fainted.
"OH COME ON!" Kylie cried. "Again!? Are you kidding me!?"
"And that's the match!" Brock clapped his hands together. "Great try kid, I really thought you had me for a second."
Kylie looked at the victorious Onix, giving her a gigantic smirk. She looked over at Brock standing on his podium. And all of a sudden, she had an idea for how she could defeat him. She'd have to heal up Charmander first, and get a few things ready. But after that…
"I have to go do some more… er… training," Kylie said. "But I'll be back to fight you again really soon. REALLY soon." She tried to give Brock a reassuring smile, but it came across looking like she had indigestion.
"Uh… are you okay, kid?" Brock asked. "You're not going to freak out again, are you?"
"No!" Kylie said, much too quickly. "Of course not! I'm just going to go train some more, and I'll see you again soon. Really, really soon."
As she turned away and walked out of the gym, Kylie Sunderland began to smile.