-PEWTER GYM, 8:00 A.M.-
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THE PEWTER GYM'S MONTHLY LEAGUE BATTLES ARE ABOUT TO BEGIN!"
The stadium had room for just about 100 people. This being because the arena took most of the space: A very thick, rectangular platform illustrating a POKéBALL was held aloft by chains, one in each corner. The space around the platform was hexagonal in shape, a pillar holding a diamond stood each corner. Inside each diamond was a camera, plus the one on the center of the ceiling, filming for TVs everywhere. Whether the area below the platform was just terribly lit or a bottomless pit, was unknown.
However, the challengers weren't there to begin with.
They were in a locker room behind the gym. It was of below-average quality, to say the least. The walls were cracked and had humidity stains, some of the locker doors were off their hinges, and the undone bed at the corner of the room was torn, springs coming out. Above the bed, on the upper corner was a bad quality, small TV, stuck forever on the League Channel.
In the middle of the room, sat four Bug Catchers, one Youngster, one Camper, and two PKMN Trainers on two opposite benches.
"So I get it you're first?"
BLUE looked over to his rival, RED. He didn't look any different from three days ago, although he did have an additional POKéBALL on his belt.
"I said I was going to beat every gym before you can, even if by a few minutes, which is how long my battle should take. What about you?" he replied.
The trainer looked to the side in boredom. "Last, I was busy training to actually sign up 'till an hour ago."
"Classical RED."
He changed the subject. "So what, you plan on shooting his POKéMON? I don't think that's how a Gym Challenge goes." He joked, signaling to the gun poking out of his pocket.
"Please, if I tried shooting this thing, it'd probably crumble to pieces." BLUE took out the revolver, which was covered in rust. The handle was twisted and melted, the cannon half torn off and the hammer gone. Strangely, the trigger remained pristine as crystal.
"Gramps sent me this over Pidgey mail as a 'goodbye gift' since he was too busy yelling at people about tall grass or something to see me off. Says he has it since his first catch." He flipped it a few times, then handed it to RED for him to look at it.
"Hm. So what's the two new guys you got there?" he questioned, just as a man in a blue jumpsuit walked through the door.
"PKMN TRAINER BLUE, please accompany me to your match." He beaconed.
He stood up. "How about you watch and see?" RED handed him the gun, he flipped it and pocketed it in one move.
"Alright, let's see some blue magic happen, got it?"
"Perfectly."
"FIRST, LET'S WELCOME OUR LOCAL GYM LEADER!"
A catwalk extended from one side of the stadium, over the dark chasm, and connected to the platform. A door lifted up, and in came the Gym Leader.
He was the same man handing out fliers for the challenge.
The only difference being that instead of the kind, relaxed look he had that day, today he walked in all seriousness. He walked on the catwalk as if there was no danger of falling at all. Spot lights from the walls all focused on him, same with the cameras. He finally stood proud on the edge, the catwalk retracting.
"HIS ROCK-HARD WILLPOWER IS EVIDENT EVEN IN HIS POKéMON! HIS POKéMON ARE ALL ROCK HARD, AND HAVE TRUE-GRIT DETERMINATION! THAT'S RIGHT – HIS POKéMON ARE ALL THE ROCK-TYPE! GYM LEADER BROCK IS READY TO ROCK!"
Outside of the wall, behind the opposite door stood BLUE and the man. He could hear the muffled cheers from the relatively small crowd inside. Or was it outside? They just were behind protected, one way glass, and that's all. He didn't care.
The announcer's muffled voice came on again.
"AND NOW, OUR FIRST CHALLENGER! COMING FROM PALLET TOWN, LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR PKMN TRAINER BLUE!"
A few seconds of mild cheering later, the man nodded to himself and opened the door with a button, and gave a thumbs up to BLUE.
He put on his starshades and a determined grin. "Let's get this show on the road."
He made his way across the catwalk, the pit being only an itch on the back of his mind to him. He stood opposite of BROCK.
"THE RULES ARE SIMPLE! IT'S A THREE ON THREE FREE BATTLE! IF EITHER TRAINER IS UNABLE TO BATTLE, THE MATCH ENDS!"
-TEAM ROLLCALL-
Sherise
Squirtle F, the Tiny Turtle POKéMON
Lv. 13
Torrent
Careful
No Item.
TACKLE TAIL WHIP WATER GUN WITHDRAW
Met in PALLET TOWN, in CHAPTER 1-1: READY, AIM, FIRERED! at Lv. 5
Circe
Pidgey F, the Tiny Bird POKéMON
Lv. 15
Keen Eye
Brave
No Item.
TACKLE SAND-ATTACK QUICK ATTACK GUST
Met in ROUTE 1, in CHAPTER 2-1: ON THE SPEAROW SIDE OF VIRIDIAN! at Lv. 2
Hero
Rattata F, the Mouse POKéMON
Lv. 14
Run Away
Naive
No Item.
TACKLE TAIL WHIP QUICK ATTACK HYPER FANG
Met in ROUTE 22(OFFSCREEN), in CHAPTER 2-1: ON THE SPEAROW SIDE OF VIRIDIAN! at Lv. 2
Catalin
Beedrill M, the Poison Bee POKéMON
Lv. 13
Swarm
Bold
No Item.
FURY ATTACK HARDEN
STRING SHOT POISON STING
Met in ROUTE 2, in CHAPTER 2-3: MAKING LIKE A TREE AND LEAFGREEN! at Lv. 4
Kallikrates
Butterfree M, the Butterfly POKéMON
Lv. 13
Compoundeyes
Relaxed
No Item.
CONFUSION STRING SHOT
HARDEN POISONPOWDER
Met in VIRIDIAN FOREST(OFFSCREEN), in CHAPTERS 2-3: MAKING LIKE A TREE AND LEAFGREEN! at Lv. 4
"THE TIME HAS COME! BEGIN MATCH!"
PKMN TRAINER BLUE VS GYM LEADER BROCK
"ALRIGHT! CATALIN! KALLIKRATES!" shouted BLUE, releasing the two bug types.
"KABUTO! OMANYTE! BATTLE!" shouted BROCK, releasing the two water types.
Catalin Lv. 13 & Kallikrates Lv. 13 vs. OMANYTE Lv. 13 & KABUTO Lv. 13
"POISONPOWDER on both! Fury Attack on OMANYTE!" commanded the trainer, his POKéMON speeding off to their jobs.
"Not yet! KABUTO! Back down!" the leader recalled his POKéMON, and meanwhile ordered his other one. "CONSTRICT on BEEDRILL!"
The remaining POKéMON waited for Catalin to come close, and as he did, used its tentacles to hold onto and tighten his abdomen.
"FUCK OFF!" He didn't feel that much damage, and had enough space to start nailing on OMANYTE. Meanwhile, Kallikrates flew by and scattered a purple cloud of POSIONPOWDER on the two other battlers. Catalin didn't care, the only disturbance being it getting on his view, while the OMANYTE was having trouble taking both Catalin's hits and Kallikrates's poison.
Once the flying type stopped its attack, BROCK sent out his next POKéMON. "VULPIX! BATTLE!"
Catalin Lv. 13 & Kallikrates Lv. 13 vs. OMANYTE Lv. 13 & VULPIX Lv. 13
"Go! EMBER on BEEDRILL!" the fox got to work instantly, shooting small fireballs towards Catalin.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" both trainers shouted to their respective POKéMON.
"FUCK!" he flew off as soon as the rock type let him go, both avoiding the flames.
Defending one with the other, but don't think I'll switch just yet, BROCK. BLUE thought, rapidly coming up with a game plan. He knew why BROCK had chosen these three POKéMON and not the powerful ONIX he had seen, and he was going to use that against him.
"Kallikrates! Keep that fox away with CONFUSION! Catalin, keep the FURY ATTACK on!"
His eyes sparked, and soon VULPIX was pushed near the edge of the platform.
"OMANYTE! WITHDRAW! VULPIX! Respond with EMBER!" the now dizzy OMANYTE hid into its shell, Catalin still spearing at the POKéMON, while the fire type started shooting its fire again at Kallikrates.
"Dodge it and use STRING SHOT! Plant it down!" the BUTTERFREE danced around the flames, carefully shooting strings at VULPIX.
"GET, THE, FUCK, OUT, COWARD!" Catalin kept on, and a crack was starting to appear on the shell of the foe. Unfortunately, the same was happening to his stingers.
The current battle continued. OMANYTE kept itself stationary inside its weakening defense, Catalin piercing a little bit further with every blow, getting a little bit angrier as well. The other pair kept shooting at each other, although only Kallikrates was landing attacks, each time more easily. The VULPIX was now almost incapable of movement, its face poking out of a mess of string.
"Kallikrates, POISONPOWDER then go help Catalin with CONFUSION!" He obeyed, scattering poison on the trapped fire type, then flew over to the other duo. The VULPIX tried to follow, but simply was stuck there, breathing poison and slowly losing consciousness.
Not good. Not good. If only I could get him to… even then, that would only leave us at 2-0. Think, Leader, think! BROCK was getting irritated. First match and he was already getting completely beat.
CRACK
It finally broke off.
It was nothing but a soft lump now.
The weakened, scared OMANYTE looked upon its enemies. It had no offense unless they approached. It had no defense since its shell was now useless. It was weakening even further quickly.
"HARDEN, the two of you." BLUE said, his POKéMON astounded at him deliberately leaving the foe alone.
Then they understood.
They simply landed and tensed up.
One.
Two.
Three.
Both of their foes fell over, defeated by the poison.
VULPIX fainted!
OMANYTE fainted!
"And that's two out of three." BLUE mock-dusted his hands off, as the Leader withdrew his POKéMON. "How will KABUTO fare?"
"…"
"…"
"…I forfeit."
BLUE WIN "Good! Thanks for coming to lose to me!"
As expected, BLUE thought to himself. He recalled his POKéMON. "Good going, you two. You deserve your rest."
"UNBELIEVABLE! IN HIS ENTIRE CAREER AS A GYM LEADER, BROCK HAS NEVER TURNED DOWN A BATTLE BEFORE IT'S OVER! WAS THE TRAINER TOO MUCH FOR HIM?"
He heard the catwalk extend behind him while a man came in and swapped BROCK's fainted POKéMON for new ones.
He turned around and walked to the door, spotlight following him and people cheering him on. He waved with a smug smirk.
Upon exit, he saw the next bug catcher escorted to the door by the man in a jumpsuit. The kid gave BLUE a toothy grin and thumbs up. BLUE practically read his mind; he knew he gave confidence to the Bug Catchers, since he won with only a BEEDRILL and a BUTTERFREE.
Naïve.
He entered the locker rooms. He was instantly showered with compliments from the Bug Catchers, and glares from the Camper. He heard something about light years but decided to ignore it. Only one man's opinion mattered here.
"And that's why you're my rival." He fist bumped RED, as he talked. "although it is sad that BROCCOLI there will have no morale to fight me."
"He'll probably get it back by stomping the Bug Catchers and the two other kids" BLUE replied, sitting down.
"Yeah, it's like we're the only competent trainers around."
"But of course we are. We came from PALLET TOWN."
"I-"
"We BECAME trainers on PALLET."
"There we go. You stayin' for my match?"
"Hell yeah. Who the hell do you think I am?"
"That's my line!"
