HARSH REALITY

CHAPTER 4

"Silk! Poison Sting!" I shouted, and the newly evolved Silk thrust the bottom of her body towards the opposing green caterpillar, releasing a sharp, poisonous barb at it. Bug's didn't deal too well with poison. I can't imagine many things would. Silk doesn't mind it though. In fact she shakes off enemy Poison Stings like a wet dog shakes off water. Ok maybe not with that much effort but you get the idea. Poison doesn't hurt her.

"Go Metapod!" the bug catcher cried out as he hurled another pokeball onto the battlefield. What came out looked like a smoother, greener Silk. It immediately began to focus and harden its shell. I would have Silk do the same thing but she was too busy poisoning the enemy and winning to bother. I'm so proud of her!

When the Metapod fainted due to the poison, the bug catcher returned it to his pokeball. He didn't look too happy about it either. That's alright. Silk was happy enough for all of us! Then all of a sudden she was glowing again…

Another evolution? Didn't she just evolve?

"That's the beautiful thing about bug pokemon. They evolve faster than any other type of pokemon! So they become stronger that much faster!" The bug catcher said in response to my obvious speechlessness. Evolve faster? Gotta get my pokedex out to see what she's turning into!

I pulled out the Pokedex and let it scan Silk so I could see what she was changing into. She emerged from the bright white glow taller and thinner than she was before. Her skin kept its yellow colour, but she now had large red eyes and two big sharp stingers for hands, similar to what was on her head as a Weedle, but bigger. She also had two pairs of wings! She was now a 3 ft tall bee! Awesome! She looked a little puzzled at first, then the next thing I know she was flying around, buzzing about. She seemed so happy she could fly now. I don't blame her.

I made it out of the forest not long after that. Silk had become so strong that the creatures of the forest were no match for her. I kinda feel sorry for Torch. Little bastard isn't getting anything to fight. According to my Pokedex, Silk was still a little weaker than Torch so I figured I'd let her catch up in her new awesome form.

Pewter City. Home to the first Gym Leader. I've heard stories of these guys. Apparently each gym leader focuses on a specific type of pokemon, and that they usually have a few trainers in the gym to wear you down before the big gym battle. Like I care! Silk and Torch can take on anyone! To the gym!

The gym was huge! I've never seen a pokemon gym in person before and neither have my two pokemon. The three of us just looked up at it, taking in the sights before we got down to business.

"You guys ready?" I half asked, half shouted. Torch pumped his little fist in the air like he always does. He's always ready for a challenge! Silk was hovering in the air next to me. She nodded enthusiastically in response. She decided that flying was a lot more fun than walking and hasn't really touched the floor since she got wings.

We entered the gym ready to take down anyone and everyone.

The gym was painted with a variety of browns… and more browns. Very 'earthy'. There was a kid about halfway down the walkway wearing very dusty looking shorts and a hat. Straight ahead though, standing at the far end of the somewhat empty gym, was who I assumed was the gym leader. The way he held himself suggested he had some kind of authority.

"Hey! Champ in the making!" shouted a man standing near the entrance with glasses and clean clothes. Obviously he didn't belong here.

I just ignored him.

Next thing I know the dusty kid comes running in my direction. I thought he might have wanted to go out and wash his clothes. I could roll around in the mud and look cleaner than this kid. Well not literally but you get the idea.

"Stop there kid!" Kid? Coming from him?

"Get out of my way. I'm after the gym leader."

He looked at me as if I had said the dumbest thing in the world. With a smug grin he said "You're light-years away from facing Brock!"

"Light-years? What the fuck do you know about me?" He didn't really respond with words, he just threw out a pokeball to release a small grey rock with arms. I didn't really care what it was called. All I knew was that this little punk just challenged me to a battle. Fine!

"Silk! Let's beat this kid and get on with the gym challenge!" She nodded and flew over in front of me to stand (figuratively) up opposing the rock pokemon. I wanted this battle to end quickly so I could hurry up and get this whole gym experience over with. "Poison Sting!" Silk flew a little higher in the air before readying the yellow stinger on her lower body and charging at the rock.

"Defence Curl!" the boy shouted. I'm not sure that his tactic was going to work out too well. After the first few Poison Stings I noticed the rock pokemon getting weak really quickly. I knew that Silk's attacks were just bouncing off it, so I figured that it had been poisoned.

"Silk! Harden!" I thought that I should increase Silk's defences and let the poison take its course. After a few Hardens, the rock had finally fainted from the poison. The boy smiled before releasing another pokemon. The new pokemon looked like a small, sandy mouse/mole thing. Didn't matter, Silk was strong enough to take it out.

I naturally started off with a Poison Sting. The poisoning tactic seemed to work rather well. After the first attack, the sandy mole thing was poisoned. Silk's got a gift what can I say? And with her increased defences from all the Hardens, she could take any of the Scratch attacks it could dish out. I decided to use Silk's new attack to finish it off.

"Fury Attack!" Silk flew towards the mole and quickly started jabbing it with its hand-stingers. The attacks were weak but fast and frequent. After a few of those, combined with the lingering poison effect, Silk was victorious yet again. She did a little flip in the air to celebrate.

"Light years doesn't measure time, it measures distance." The punk said as he lost. Well someone obviously needs to go back to school.

I looked up at Brock (the only other guy in the gym had to be Brock) and thought for a moment. I won, sure. But I assume Brock is better at using rock pokemon than this little punk. I'm not sure Silk or even Torch could take an actually rock attack. Fire and Bug types don't do so well against Rock types. I knew that I'd have to train a little more in order to fight Brock. I needed to be stronger than him! I can't fail!

I spent the rest of the day on the outskirts of Pewter City fighting any and all wild pokemon that we could find. Both Silk and Torch were being put through constant battling in preparation for the upcoming battle. They didn't seem to mind either. My two pokemon seem to like training. Works for me!

I rested at the pokemon centre that night. Silk and Torch both worked really hard that afternoon, and both of them had learned a new attack! Can't wait to test them out on Brock! I slept on the couch near the front desk. Torch curled up on the floor to sleep. Before that he had tried to sleep on the couch with me and almost burnt me with his tail. Now the poor little bastard has to sleep on the floor for safety reasons. Silk on the other hand had used her String Shot to make a little silk sling to rest in. She's clever! We slept rather peacefully that night.

The next morning we made a quick stop off at the Pokemart to pick up some potions. I thought I had more money on me but I could only afford two potions, which sucked. It'll have to do. I headed to the gym, ready to face the gym leader and be one step closer to saving Bel!