I don't own Pokemon!

Chapter 6: Rock Solid

Friday, June 15th

After the whole ordeal with Ghastly, we had gotten safely to Pewter City, which, surprisingly, even though it was larger than Viridian, was much quieter and more peaceful. The city was surrounded by mountain ranges and looked as if it could've been carved out of one too. The people were kind enough but seemed sort of... awkward. Like they only really knew how to talk to each other, and outsiders were more than welcome, but they weren't sure how to communicate with them. It sort of reminded me of Lavender Town, but there, you were to be suspicious of outsiders, and sometimes even just plain rude to them.

It had ended up being a little late when we got to Pewter, so Jackson ended up talking me into staying the night at the Pokemon Center, then challenging the Gym the next day. After I defeated the Leader, I planned to explore the city and leave maybe in a day or two.

We ate omelettes for breakfast, where I talked with Charmander and Ghastly, getting all three of us super pumped for our battle.

"I really do think that you should train another day Violet, and check out the city before you challenge Brock." Jackson, always putting in his two cents.

"No way dude! I've been waiting for this for ten whole years! Today, I'm going to win my first Gym Badge!"

"Chaar!"

"Ghaa!" I grinned at my Pokemon, who smiled back. After finishing up with breakfast I returned my Pokemon to their capsules and Jackson began to lead us to the Gym. Pewter City was a bit of a maze with the Gym in a hidden little area in the northwest area. But, as soon as I saw it, resting on a small plateau of rock, I couldn't contain myself.

"Is it?" I asked Jackson, staring up at the large brown colored building.

"Violet, welcome to the Pewter City Pokemon Gym!" My face lit up, and I bolted around the corner and up the steps to the entrance of the Gym. The doors were heavy and made of metal, and I nearly ran right into them. It took a moment for me to gather the strength to push the both of them open, and at that point I could hear Jackson rushing up the stairs to meet me. Then, I stepped inside.

"Wow," I began, looking around the intimidating interior. It wasn't like a normal building by any means. And it looked so much bigger from inside here. The first thing that caught my attention was the mountain. Or, at least it looked like a mountain. A long staircase led to the top of the man made mountain, and atop it I guessed was a battlefield riddled with boulders and the awaiting Gym Leader. At the base of the mountain however, was a single trainer and a small area, a dirt covered battlefield which was mostly clear of and rocks. The trainer, a boy maybe a little older than I, looked up when we came in.

"Challengers!" He grinned and got up from the one rock on the battlefield, which looked like it had been moved from the sidelines specifically for the purpose of sitting on. "Hey guys, welcome to the Pewter City Gym! Home of the rock solid Pokemon Trainer, Brock! Are you both challenging the Gym today?" Jackson answered for me, shaking his head.

"No, just her." I smiled determinedly.

"My name is Violet, and I'm here to win the Boulder Badge!" The boy grinned back.

"Alright, now that's what I like to hear! Of course, before you get to take on Brock, you have to defeat me!"

"Piece of cake," I replied. The other boy, who I later found out was named Liam, accepted my challenge, and we started our battle, which would be one on one. Jackson offered to be the ref.

"Alright, Sandshrew, I choose you!"

"Sandshrew? I thought this was a rock type Gym?"
"It is," Jackson told me as I retrieved my Pokedex.

"But ground and rock type's kind of go hand and hand, so it's allowed." Liam crossed his arms arrogantly, but also playfully, waiting for me to choose a Pokemon. I nodded, thinking about which Pokemon to use and what kind of strategies I could come up with.

"Sandshrew, the mouse Pokemon. It burrows and lives underground. If threatened, Sandshrew curls itself up into a ball for protection." I concluded that we'd have to hit hard, and that this Pokemon would have high defensive stats, then decided which of my Pokemon that I would use.

"Ghastly, get out there!" The ghost and poison type appeared in a flash of blue energy, flying around in lazy circles.

"Rule number four, challenger always get's to move first!" Liam shouted from across the field. I nodded and commanded Ghastly's first attack.

"Start out with Scary Face!" Ghastly vanished then materialized in front of Sandshrew, scaring the daylight out of the ground type and fiercely lowering it's speed.

"Sand Attack!"

"Watch out!" A large cloud of sand was kicked up by my opponent's Pokemon, temporarily blinding Ghastly.

"Rapid Spin Sandshrew!" Sandshrew did exactly what the name of the move says it would do, spin rapidly into the opponent Pokemon, Ghastly. Only lucky for us, Sandshrew spun straight through the ghost Pokemon. "What?!"

"Shadow Ball!" Ghastly spun around with lightning quick speed and spit a dark ball at the ground type. A black smoke cloud appeared after it hit, and Sandshrew fell to the ground.

"Sandshrew! What happened?!" Liam frantically asked. I smirked, and Ghastly laughed.

"If you haven't noticed, Ghastly is a ghost type, and Rapid Spin, well, that's a normal type move."

"So!?"

"Normal type moves have no effect on ghost Pokemon smart one!" Liam grit his teeth, but lucky for him Sandshrew managed to pull himself up.

"Rollout Sandshrew!"

"Counter with Energy Ball!" Sandshrew, rolling at Ghastly, was knocked backwards again after colliding with Energy Ball, which did super effective damage. These guys had never stood a chance!

"Sandshrew is unable to battle, so the winners are Ghastly and Violet!"

"Yes!"

"Goowah!"

"Great job Ghastly, now we can challenge the Gym Leader!" Liam, little had I noticed, had picked up his Sandshrew and cradled him in his arms before crossing the field to stand beside me.

"You guys are really amazing! People almost never beat me that quickly,"

"Well I am the trainer who's going to defeat Red!" The boy smiled doubtfully at that, but I couldn't have cared less at that point.

"Just remember, the Gym Leader is a heck of a lot stronger than I am, so good luck."

"We don't need luck!" I replied, returning a Ghastly just as happy as I was to his Pokeball, then dashed to the stairs, taking them two at a time. When I began to see the flattened top, my heart began to beat the speed of light. I jumped over the last step, stumbling onto the large, rock riddled battlefield. And there, standing on a pedestal of stone behind the chalked out sidelines, was the Leader.

He was definitely in his late thirties, with spiky brown hair and he stood smiling at me with arms crossed. It was easy to see that this guy was tough, and he knew it. He wore green pants with a truck load of pockets on them, and a brown and orange short sleeved jacket. His voice was loud, clear, and confident.

"So, you're that new trainer who's been kicking up dirt in my Gym."

"Oh yeah, and I'm about to kick your butt!" The man smiled knowingly.

"Confident are we?" I only smiled more determinedly. The Leader jumped down from his stone pedestal, and made his way across the field to me. "I am Brock, the Leader of this here Pewter City Gym. The most rock solid trainer around!" I pointed to myself, eager to get the battle started.

"I'm Violet Marzaroli!"

"Marzaroli eh?" I nodded. "I do believe I battled your brother a few years ago!"

"You did," I confirmed. "In fact, you defeated him the first time Mark challenged you! But I'm going to win your Badge on the first try!" Brock chuckled just as Jackson finally made his way up the stairs.

"Arceus girl, you really need to work on your patience,"

"Jackson! To what do I owe the pleasure!" Brock affectionately placed a hand on the other trainer's shoulder, obviously knowing him from somewhere.

"Nice to see you again Brock, I've been traveling with Violet to help her train and whatnot."

"I see!" Brock turned to speak to me. "Jackson here was one of the toughest trainers I've ever been lucky enough to have challenge my Gym! Of course, it did help him quite a bit that he challenged me with two grass types!" Images of Leaf and Rose, Jackson's Bulbasaur and Oddish arose in my mind. They were tough to beat.

"So how's life as a trainer been treating you son?" Jackson reached into his pocket and swiftly pulled out his Badge Case, clicking it open and revealing the contents to Brock.

"So you've defeated Misty huh..." Brock pondered. "Well, I suppose it'd be easy for you. The three Pokemon you have all have type advantages!"

"Indeed," Jackson replied. "But besides that Brock, Violet here's been looking forward to your battle for a few days now, and I think that if she waits too much longer she'll explode like an Electrode."

"Of course! Come on kiddo, get on your side and lets do this thing!" I grinned and ran to my side of the field, where Jackson, once again serving as the ref, explained the rules of our battle.

"This will be a two on two battle, and only the challenger may substitute their Pokemon. Good luck you two, now begin!"

"Geodude, rock this house!"

"Ghastly, get ready!" After the two Pokemon appeared on the field, I got the Pokedex entry on Geodude, then contemplated my first move. Like with Liam, I got to move first. "Alright, start off with an Energy Ball!"

"Defense Curl!" A blue light enveloped Geodude for merely a moment, then the rock and ground type braced itself for our attack. I smirked, knowing full well that there was absolutely no way that Geodude would be able to stay in the battle very long if it was just planning on taking all of our attacks head on.

"Geo," I shouted mentally to myself a big BOOM when our attack hit Geodude, excited beyond almost comprehension of our upcoming win. "Dude!" I gasped, loudly. Somehow, Geodude had managed to grab Energy Ball, and before my eyes, held it in his very hands, before it exploded in a cloud of white smoke. A strong breeze blew my hair back, and I even put my hands up in front of my face to keep the smoke from getting into my eyes. After it cleared, and I put down my hands, and was astonished to see Geodude still there, seemingly unscaved.

"What!? No way!"

"Go in for a Tackle Geodude!"

"Dodge it!" Don't worry guys, I face planted immediately after I'd heard what I just said. Really? I was going to have my Ghastly avoid a Tackle attack? My GHOST TYPE Ghastly, avoid the NORMAL TYPE Tackle? Needless to say, Ghastly merely rolled his eyes and allowed the opposing Pokemon to pass right through him.

"I nearly forgot, normal type moves won't affect a ghost type!"

"Shadow Ball Ghastly!" My Pokemon whirled around, delivering a dark orb right into Geodude's face. Of course, it didn't do nearly as much damage as I would've liked, but there wasn't much we could do about it.

After attacking Geodude, naturally, we waited for Brock to make a move. Only he just stood there looking... constipated? Unsure? Well whatever it was, I didn't really feel like waiting around for it to pass.

"Energy Ball!"

"Defense Curl!" There was a repeat of earlier, then Brock once again stood silently.

"Come on already, attack us!" He grit his teeth but still did nothing. The realization was sudden and, well, hilarious. "Wait a sec, does your-, you mean it- Pft, hahahaha! Youre Geodude only knows those two moves? Hahahaha!"

"It's not funny kid!"

"Then why am I laughing?" Ghastly and I could've suffocated from all our laughter.

"I could've used my most powerful Pokemon, but according to League rules, when a trainer with no Badges challenges me, I'm required to use Pokemon which can be beaten by a trainer of such standards!"

"Ah, ha, fine, whatever," I recovered from my laughter still smiling. "But just because you're Geodude can't attack Ghastly doesn't mean we won't go any easier on you!"

"I wouldn't want you to." I nodded. Brock was obviously distraught knowing that Geodude was doomed, but at least he was still an honorable trainer.

"Alright, I'm sick of all the Defense Curls, use Hypnosis!" Ghastly's eyes grew red and put the rock and ground type right to sleep.

"Geodude, wake up!"

"Energy Ball!" Ghastly began to fire Energy Balls left and right at the sleeping Pokemon, until one threw him up and onto the ground, where Geodude became unconscious. Brock returned the Pokemon then said,

"You're pretty good Violet,"

"I know!" I interrupted, quite arrogantly I might add. Brock smirked as well, which I thought he was in no position to do. Both my Pokemon were still at full strength, whereas he only had one left.

"You didn't let me finish. You're pretty good, but can you defeat the star of my team? Onix, up and at em'!" That smirk was quickly wiped off of my face. An enormous creature appeared before Ghastly and I. And speaking of Ghastly, even that trickster cowered at the sight of this thing! After coming out of the Pokeball, it slowly unfurled itself from a curled up position to tower over us even more so than before. Gulping, and without even taking my eyes off of the beast, I reached for my Pokedex.

"Onix, the rock snake Pokemon. As it grows, the stone portions of its body harden to become similar to a diamond, but colored black." I gulped once more.

"So-so I suppose this Onix must have some pretty high defense then, huh Ghastly.."

"Gwaah..."

"Well?" I didn't answer the powerful Leader. "Fine then, we'll go. Onix, use Rock Tomb!" Onix bellowed the most ferocious roar I'd ever heard, and above it's heads several rocks appeared outlined in a white energy. Suddenly those rocks came flying at Ghastly, who, probably for the first time in his life, was frozen with fear.

"Quick, Energy Ball!" The green sphere collided with and destroyed one of the boulders in a puff of dust, but the others smashed into my Pokemon, sending him flying through the air.

"Ghastly!" I cried out in alarm. The Pokemon managed to right himself in the air, but only so a second barrage of rocks could come at him. Fumbling around, I desperately grabbed for the poison and ghost type's Pokeball, and with a click of the large white button, Ghastly was saved. Now though, I was going to have to send out Charmander, who I knew would fare far worse in this battle. Charmander would be terrified of this thing, and with his type disadvantage, one Rock Tomb could destroy our chances of winning. But we had to try.

"Charmander, I know you can do this! I choose you!" The fire type starter appeared, looking uncharacteristically smooth as he straightened out his red bandana, until of course he opened up his green eyes. At first Charmander appeared perplexed, he was looking at a line of stones, which his line of vision then followed up.

"Awwn," The Onix had barely even made a sound, it was merely observing it's opponent.

"Char?!" Charmander squealed with fear, then frantically ran towards me.

"What are you doing Charmander?"

"Char char!" The fire type hid behind my leg and clutched it like he often did.

"Come on, you have to get in there!" I lifted my leg and attempted to shake Charmander off, but he remained stuck like a Combee to honey.

"So I'll take this as a forfeit?"

"No way!" I shouted back, now reaching down and prying Charmander off of my leg. After he was up, I held him out in front of me, with the starter Pokemon facing Onix. "I know that thing is big and all, but you can't just hide from an important battle like this! Now get in there Charmander!" I tossed the nervous Pokemon out in front of me, to stand on the battlefield. "Use Ember!" Charmander gulped, then sent several blobs of fire flying at the opposing Pokemon. They hit Onix's rock body, and sputtered out, leaving only small black marks where they had hit. Onix didn't even move a muscle.

"Rock Tomb!" The ground and rock beast once again raised it's head to summon several large boulders. I couldn't let Charmander be hit, if he was even once, he'd be knocked out.

"Get behind those rocks!" I called out, and the small Pokemon happily obliged, running in that awkward way he did.

"Char!" He cried out as one rock smashed into the ground in front of him.

"Tackle Onix!"

"Jump on it!" My Pokemon looked back at me in disbelief, but I was dead serious. It was the only chance Charmander had of avoiding the move, whose power was probably quadrupled because of the humongous size of the Pokemon using it.

Charmander stood shaking, but still stood his ground, as the Onix reared up then attacked. The fire type jumped as high as he could, narrowly avoiding the beast's head, but unfortunately the crest atop the ground and rock type was sort of in the way, and Charmander had jumped right into it. It knocked him roughly to the side, but the little soldier hastily pulled himself up off of his butt.

"Now go in for a Bind!" Suddenly Onix's tail wrapped tightly around Charmander, and began to squeeze.

"Charmander!" I cried out. I could barely even see the small dot of red among the snaking rock body. I no longer knew what to do. If things kept going along like they were, Charmander was going to get hurt, and after the incident with Blue in Viridian City, I didn't know that I could let that happen again. But then another part of me refused to give up, no matter the cost.

"Give up yet kiddo?" Brock asked, smiling. I grit my teeth, and looked back to Charmander and Onix. Then an idea hit me like a Wailord using Body Slam.

"Charmander, look at me!" The starter Pokemon weakly turned his head towards me, while I hoped to Arceus he would understand my little charade. I pointed to my eye several times, then jabbed the same finger in the direction of Onix. Thankfully, my message got through. Charmander took a moment to gather up his last bits of strength, then spit a low power Ember right into the mighty Pokemon's eye.

"Awoooon!" It roared with pain, loosening its grip on Charmander just as I had planned.

"Calm down Onix, get ahold of yourself!"

"Use Smokescreen!" Opening up his mouth, enough smoke to fill the entire Gym escaped it, and in only a few moments, Charmander was right beside me. I had to finish up this little plan of mine, and fast, if I wanted to win.

"Energy Ball," I whispered. "As strong as you can." I was answered with a grin like no other and a laugh to match, before the shadowy orb known as Ghastly disappeared into the black. Moments later, Onix sweeped his head through the air, clearing some of the smoke, when suddenly, an enormous sphere of blue and green energy flew out of the smoke, followed by Ghastly. The orb hit Onix, hard, on the left side of his face. The impact was so strong that it pushed Onix's head back over his body, before exploding in yet another puff of smoke, this time grey. But the huge Pokemon wasn't done yet, it was off balance now, and fell completely backwards, and with a humongous boom, it landed on the ground, just feet from an astonished Brock.

"Onix is unable to battle, so the winner is Ghastly! And since the Leader is out of usable Pokemon, Violet, the challenger, is the victor!" Jackson shouted, quite professionally I might add.

"Yes! We did it, we won!" I pumped my fist up in the air, cheering joyfully while Ghastly cackled and floated around me in circles, smiling all the while. "You were awesome Ghastly, just awesome!" We grinned at each other, just before I remembered Charmander in his Pokeball. It was because of him that we'd managed to defeat Brock's Onix, so I supposed he deserved some congratulations as well. I took his Pokeball off of my belt and released the fire type.

"Char?" Charmander looked up at me curiously, and I got a little worried. He was pretty scraped up. I pretended not to notice, at least not for now, and picked the small Pokemon up in my arms.

"We won the battle Charmander, we've got our first Gym Badge!"

"Char!" That moment there, with Charmander, when he threw his little arms around me, was most definitely the best I'd had all day long. Nothing beats that feeling you get when your Pokemon and you accomplish something that you worked so hard for.

Friday, June 15th

Aww! That image of Charmander with his little arms trying to wrap around Violet is just so adorable! Reminds me of when in the original Pokemon anime opening, when Squirtle and Ash hug it out!