Battle for the Badge

By the time I'd reached Violet City's gates, it was pitch black and, having woken up so early, I was getting tired. Just as I entered through the doors, thinking how nice it was to be back to civilisation again, my Poke Gear rang. I answered to find out it was my parents.

"Hi Jack!" my mother shrilled. "Just wondering where you are."

"I've just reached Violet City." I replied.

" Violet City?" my dad cut in. "You should check out the Sprout Tower tomorrow. It's a good place for training."

"Right, I'll remember that. Oh by the way, I caught two more Pokemon on the way!" My mother squealed with joy.

"Oh Jack that's wonderful!" As I entered the city, I was sure people were trying hard not to stare in my direction. "What did you get?"

"I got a Cyndaquil for a starter, a Caterpie which evolved this afternoon and a Poliwag."

"A nice round team there son." dad was saying. "You hold on to that Metapod. When it evolves again, it'll be very useful."

"Uh huh."

"And look around for a Ghastly. Oh and maybe a Dunsparce and perhaps-" thankfully, mum cut him off. He gets a little excited about Pokemon. He spent my entire childhood trying to get me interested. From what he said though, it sounded like there were some good Pokemon around here, so I decided to stock up on Pokeballs. Luckily the Pokemart here had some; I bought ten just in case of failed captures.


First thing I wanted to do was get the team healed, so I headed to the Pokemon Center. The nurse took Cyndaquil and the others and left me to walk around the lobby aimlessly. Aimlessly. Strange word. I wonder who came up with that word. Maybe the person was describing William Tell's latest shot. 'Well Bill, you hit the apple fine, but your shot was a bit aimless, you need to work on that.' Hehehehe. Aimlessly….

All of a sudden, a small boy came rushing in through the doors, holding a small Natu. The Pokemon was unconscious with scratches all over its head….uh….body. The boy himself, his face was white as a sheet.

"I need help!" he yelled, turning every head in the lobby. "My Natu's hurt!" The nurse walked up calmly and took the small bird in her hands.

"Okay, just calm down and tell me what happened Mark." she said. Mark looked close to tears. Had he been attacked by someone? I doubted it, he looked pretty much normal to me.

"Well….I-I was f-f-fighting Falkner and-and…" he buried his face in his hands, unable to say anymore. At the name Falkner, most people in the lobby suddenly adopted knowing looks. Guess the guy must be popular around these parts. The nurse smiled sympathetically.

"Now Mark, I've told you before about fighting Falkner. He's an experienced trainer, you need to wait for a while before you try and take him on. You remember what happened to you Oddish last week, don't you?" Mark nodded.

"I know….I just thought that….since Oddish was a grass type, maybe that….was why I lost. But Natu doesn't have an elemental disadvantage and Mr Earl said that was one of the most important things and-" The nurse held her hand up to stop him rambling.

"It is important yes. But Earl will tell you, elements are only worth considering when your Pokemon are similar in level. Your Oddish was level 3 and this Natu is a level 2. This is why I keep telling you, you need to train more." The boy nodded and went to take a seat. I was intrigued by this Falkner. Sounded tough, but then again, this kid's Pokemon were lower levels than my own. I wondered if maybe I'd have a shot. So I went up to the boy.

"Excuse me." I said, trying to sound as polite and kind as possible. "I couldn't help overhearing you saying something about Falkner?" The boy looked at me warily. Maybe his mother had warned him about strangers. Smart woman.

"Yeah, so?"

"I'm new in town and I was wondering just who is he?" The boy gave me an incredulous look. Don'tcha just hate it when a kid knows more than you?

"Well he's….he's the Violet City Gymleader." The what now?

"The what now?" I asked. He looked at me as if I'd grown two extra arms. That'd be cool. Could make a lot of money. "Come see the amazing freak on nature!" Okay, so maybe that would further damage my already delicate ego…

"You don't know what a Gymleader is?" Of course I do, I just wanted to ask someone so they could make me feel stupid and inferior.

"No I don't." I thought he might be hurt if I answered the other way.

"You….you are a trainer, right?"

"Well yeah. I've only just started though."

"Okay….well see, in every region, there are eight Gyms, all in different towns. Each gym is run by a leader. If you defeat the leader in a Pokemon battle, you win his or her Gym Badge." Right……kind of like a Boy Scout thing. Oooh, what should I get first, the Camping Badge or the First Aid Badge?

"What are these badges for?"

"Well, if you get all eight from one region, you're allowed to compete against that region's Elite 4, in the Pokemon league." Ah, well screw that, I was in this for the travelling, not going around trying to become 'The Best Pokemon Master EVA!' "Mr Earl also says certain badges have special effects on the Pokemon you own."

"Who's Earl?"

"He runs the Pokemon Academy, not far from this Center. Anyway, he told me Falkner gives out the Zephyr Badge to people who beat him. It's supposed to raise the Attack power of all your Pokemon and let you use Flash outside of battle." I had no idea what 'Flash' was, but I liked the idea of boosting my Pokemon's Attack power.

"Where can I find Falkner?"

"In the Violet City Gym."

"Okay, thanks kid." I decided. As soon as my team was healed, I was gonna go out and get me a badge! As I set out, I smelled the evening air. Adventure was not far off…


Until I found myself back outside the City back on Route 31 that is. They really need to put up some signposts….

Frustrated, I headed back to the gates, only to stop dead when I heard a rustling sound. In retrospect, I should have just ignored it and carried on. But I was worried. Maybe I worry too much. Great, something else to worry about. Anyway, as I looked around, a black shape leapt out of the grass. I could barely see, but I knew it was some kind of Pokemon.

"Poliwag, go!" I yelled. The small blue frog appeared in a flash of light and blocked the attack. That flash was enough to light the area up just long enough for me to see that the shape was a Hoothoot. A quick look on the Pokedex said she was female. Level 5. This one seemed worthy of capture.

"Okay Poliwag, Bubble!" He leapt up and fired three bubbles from his mouth. The Hoothoot managed to duck two of them but was hit by the third. I was kinda hoping for more damage though. I thought of switching Pokemon but I wasn't sure. I didn't want to raise Cyndaquil anymore until they were even and Metapod didn't really look like much of a fighter. So I was stuck with Poliwag.

"Waaaag!" My head snapped up to see Poliwag take a Tackle attack right to the spiral. Damn it, that's what I get for thinking too much!

"Poliwag, you okay?" I asked. Poliwag jumped to his feet ad nodded. Though it really looked more like an awkward bow. Two legs and no arms must be difficult to live with, no wonder they grow arms when they evolve.

"Poliiiii!" Damn it!

"Poliwag, try another Bubble, quick!" Poliwag scrambled to his feet quickly and fired again. This time, Hoothoot was hit by two Bubbles, enough to get her health into the red. Perfect. I took out one of the new Pokeballs I had bought earlier and threw it at the Hoothoot. The ball hit her and sucked her right out of the air. The ball fell to the ground and rattled slightly. It wasn't long before it came to rest. Four! That was four Pokemon in one day! I rock!

"Poli, poli, poli!" Poliwag did a victory dance, tap dancing on top of Hoothoot's Pokeball. I chuckled and called him back. I picked up Hoothoot's ball and clipped it to my belt. A less mature person would make a joke about a female Hoothoot having a ball………….but I'm not gonna do that.


Back at the Pokemon Center, I checked Hoothoot's stats while she and Poliwag were being healed. She had three attacks, more than any of the others. Tackle, Growl and something called 'Foresight'. Never heard of that before. Just as I was getting Hoothoot and Poliwag back, I caught Mark heading outside the door.

"Hey kid, wait!" I thought it'd be a little strange if I called him by name since he wouldn't know how I knew, and then I'd have to explain how I knew, and that'd be getting off the point………much like I am right now, I apologise. Anyway, mark stopped and looked at me.

"You again? What's up?"

"Just wondering. Where exactly is the gym?"

"Near the Pokemart."

"Ohhhh." Well I had been way off course. I said goodbye and headed for the gym. I wasn't sure if it'd be open at this time, but when I saw the lights on inside when I arrived, that proved me wrong. I was hesitant to knock on the door. It was weird. It was like 'hi, you mind if I come on to your property and then proceed to attack you with my team of varied creatures?' 'Oh not at all, please come in, watch that first step though, it's tricky!' Still, you gotta do what you gotta do. I knocked on the door and it swung open by itself.

"Welcome trainer." a disembodied voice said. Since then, I learned the gyms do this to make themselves look cool and there's nothing to it. But at the time? I'll admit it. I was intimidated. So I stepped inside and took a good look around. There was a large pitch in the middle of the room, shaped like a Pokeball. At the far end of the pitch, there was a man dressed in blue and white baggy cloths with a quite frankly very wacky hairstyle. I felt very self conscious in there. All the gym apprentices were staring at me. Could hear the buzz coming from the neon lights.

"I am Falkner." said the an on the far side of the room. "I am the leader of the Violet city gym. Have you come to challenge me?" What, so I was meant to shout the word 'yes' in front of all these people? Maybe the badge wasn't worth it.

"I have." I said at last. He nodded.

"What is your name stranger?"

"Jack Silver."

"This battle will be a two on two fight. Select two of your Pokemon and place them on the pedestal before you. At opposite ends of the pitch, there was a metal pedestal with six grooves, obviously meant to hold the Pokemon one chooses. I saw him take out two Pokeballs and place them on his pedestal. I walked up to my own. Who to use, who to use. I still felt Metapod wouldn't be best suited to a full out battle. Cyndaquil and Poliwag were my highest level Pokemon, but I didn't want to over raise either of them. On the other hand, Hoothoot didn't have much experience. And Poliwag would be fairly tired from his battle earlier. In the end, I decided to go with Hoothoot because she was nocturnal, so she'd be alert and Cyndaquil, because she was the highest level. I placed their Pokeballs on the pedestal. Still no jokes about female Pokemon owning balls.

"Choose you first Pokemon." Falkner called. He picked up one of his own Pokeballs. I decided to save my strongest for last, so I led with Hoothoot.

"Go, Hoothoot!"

"Pidgey, attack!" So there I was, facing down a level 7 Pidgey. I had seen what this guy had down to mark's Natu. I admit I didn't think I'd be walking out of here victorious.

"Hoothoot, Tackle!"

"Pidgey, Gust!" Hoothoot flew straight towards Pidgey, but the other bird flapped its wings and created what looked like a very small tornado. It knocked Hoothoot back before she could use Tackle and slammed into the wall. I had to think fast.

"Hoothoot, Growl!"

"Pidgey, Gust!" This time, Hoothoot stayed where she was, growling at her attack. I remembered how Alyssa's Chikorita had done that to Cyndaquil. Pidgey's Gust hit square on, but the Growl had certainly helped, because she took less damage. Still, now she was just under quarter health, I was really nervous now. And desperate times, call for desperate measures.

"Hoothoot! Foresight!" It was a move I'd never seen before. This could be my salvation.

"Jack, you're a genius!" I thought. Hoothoot stared at Pidgey. Hey eyes flashed red. That was it. "Jack, you're an idiot!"

"This round's over! Gust attack!" Pidgey repeated the same move and that was it. Hoothoot fainted.

"Hoothoot is unable to battle!" the referee called. "Pidgey wins this round."

"Okay, okay, no need to beat me over the head with it!" This Pidgey hadn't taken any damage. On the up side, its attack power had been cut slightly. I had no idea how sweaty my hands were until I reached for Cyndaquil's Pokeball. That could really be a problem. Imagine that in a stadium. "And here we have Jack Silver from New Bark Town! He's reaching for his Pokeball, he's gonna throw it and oh! He seems to have dropped it!" Yeah….that would be embarrassing.

"Cyndaquil, go!" The old faithful little mouse appeared on the pitch, lighting the fire on her back to intimidate the Pidgey. I was feeling a little more confident. But that flew right out the window when I noticed Falkner's smirk.

"Cyndaquil, Ember!"

Pidgey, Mud-slap!" Mud-what now? Cyndaquil was faster than Pidgey; her ember attack hit dead on. It did some damage, but Pidgey's health was still in the green. It flapped its wings against the ground and mud appeared out of nowhere and hit Cyndaquil right in the face! I looked at the Pokedex; it said the move was super effective, taking her health down to orange, and cutting her accuracy.

"Oh bugger, bugger, bugger!" I saw her scrambling at her face with her paws, trying to get the mud off but it seemed stuck. I had to buy some time.

"Cyndaquil, Smokescreen!"

"Mud-slap again!" Cyndaquil opened her mouth and let a jet of smoke stream out. But with the mud in her face, she couldn't see where she was aiming and missed. The Pidgey's second Mud-slap hit head on and Cyndaquil went flying back. I looked at my Pokedex. She was unconscious. The battle was over.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Jack's Pokemon

(In team)

Cyndaquil

Gender: Female

Lvl: 12

Attacks:

Ember

Leer

Smokescreen

Tackle

Poliwag

Gender: Male

Lvl: 8

Attacks: Bubble

Metapod

Gender: Male

Lvl: 7

Attacks:

Tackle

Stringshot

Harden

Hoothoot

Gender: Female

Lvl: 5

Attacks:

Tackle

Growl

Foresight

(In storage)

N/A