Author's Note: Finally, a gym battle… It's about time, huh? Anyway, I like writing Roark as kind of awkward, and you could kind of get that out of some of his Battleground dialogue… I have no idea how he's characterized in the anime, so sorry to any fans of the anime if he's wildly different there (as the anime has a tendency to do that).
Chapter Six: Vs Cranidos!
Percy stretched as she sat down in one of the many comfortable chairs in the Pokémon Center's lobby. Fortunately, it hadn't taken her too long to find, and she'd just handed all of her Pokémon over to the nurse. She propped her foot up on the stool on front of her as she shuffled through a few magazines on the table next to her.
There were a good deal of magazines featuring interviews with Johto Gym Leaders, coupons for the Goldenrod Department Store, and ads for Johto's most interesting landmarks. Percy frowned; for whatever reason, Sinnoh imported a lot of Johto-relevant materials, to the point where most people in Sinnoh could tell you almost as much about Johto as they could about their home country. Pokémon Centers, necessary as they were, tended to be the prime offenders of this quirk.
As Percy idly flipped through a magazine featuring a report on Gym Leader Jasmine's recent interest in Super Contests, the Pokémon Center's door swung open again. Several workers in hardhats and other protective gear had just entered, and they wiped the dark dust off their hands and faces as they handed their Pokéballs to one of the center's workers. Then, they proceeded to walk a few feet away from the counter, still sticking in their group.
"So, when's the next time we're going to get an inspection from Roark?" one of the men asked, stifling a yawn.
"He's down in the mine right now, you genius. Didn't you see him on the way out?" the one woman replied dryly.
"Huh? Are you serious?"
"You would have noticed had you not decided to try to catch that Zubat—"
"Come on, Miriam," another worker interjected. "I thought he was supposed to be in the gym all day, too. Though I at least saw him…"
Percy grinned as she tossed the magazine back onto the table. The mine would definitely have to be her next stop after she got her Pokémon back, provided it didn't take too long to find for her to find the mine in the first place.
Whether or not they would actually let her in was another question altogether, but Percy decided to ignore that issue as she continued to listen to the miners chattering away about the inspection schedule.
As large as Oreburgh City was, it wasn't all that difficult to find the mines. Percy spent a few minutes wandering around aimlessly until she noticed the group of workers she'd seen in the Pokémon Center. She then trailed after them, figuring they were going back to work; she grinned when she realized she was right.
A trail not far from the Pokémon Center wound between a few high hills. Conveyor belts carrying coal scraps lined both sides of the path, emptying into a large building. Percy had to cover her mouth and nose as she continued following the miners; she coal dust in the air got heavier and heavier the further they went.
There was a small rest house in front on a huge tunnel entrance, and the miners stopped in there to get some gear before heading inside. They left the door wide open after they left, and Percy poked her head inside. A larger worker was going through boxes of ventilation masks, hard hats, and other gear, and he didn't seem to be paying Percy any attention.
"Hey, is it okay if I go down in the mine?" she called.
"What are you talking about? 'Course it is! Get in gear and get down there!"
He still hadn't looked up yet, Percy noticed with a bit of confusion. Maybe he assumed she was a worker? Nevertheless, she took that as permission, and quickly grabbed a hard hat and a mask before the man had a chance to actually look at her.
She stepped back outside as she strapped on the equipment, and then looked at the mine entrance. It was surprisingly unmanned; that seemed like something that would have to change at the next safety inspection, unless visitors really were allowed… Shrugging, Percy stepped through the wide tunnel entrance anyway.
Dodging a few stalagmites, Percy carefully walked down the sloped path. She didn't need any more injuries, nor did she want to cause any problems for the workers… Still, Percy couldn't help looking around with a bit of interest.
The conveyor belts branched off in several directions, and workers were loading piles of coal onto the belts. Many of the workers had released their Pokémon — mainly Machop, though Percy noticed a pair of Riolu as well — to help with the loading, while other miners were drilling into the cave walls or floors. Large piles of exposed coal dotted the mine's floor as well.
Few of the miners paid much attention to Percy. While it was understandable, given how they were in the middle of working, it made her wonder anyway if it really all right after all for trainers to come in for visits. Before she could think much more about it, however, one of the miners in particular caught her attention.
He was dressed much more lightly than the others, with his hard hat and a pair of boots being the only things that could have been classified as protective. A Geodude was floating nearby him, grabbing various-sized lumps of coal and handing them to him. After a few minutes, he smiled and nodded, recalled his Pokémon, and turned away from the conveyor belt he'd been loading with the coal. Then, he seemed to realize that Percy had been watching him, and he scratched the back of his neck as he looked up with a confused expression.
"Are you a trainer? I guess, ah, I guess you'd be looking for me, then…"
"If you're the gym leader, then yeah, I'm looking for you," Percy replied, quirking an eyebrow.
"Oh. Sorry." His face turned a shade of red that matched his hair quite well. "I'm the gym leader… I'm Roark; nice to meet you."
"Perseph — no, you can call me Percy."
Roark nervously extended his hand, his white gloves made the coal dust all the more noticeable, and Percy reluctantly shook it. She grimaced slightly; she'd almost mentioned her full name, but at least she'd stopped herself. Roark gave her a somewhat awkward smile as he shifted his weight between his feet for a few seconds.
"Ah, well, you can train in here… if you want to, that is… I guess I'll be seeing you at the gym later?"
Percy raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, of course, but you don't have to sound like you're apologizing so much."
"Sorry—" Roark cut himself off when he realized what he'd said, and then shook his head and grinned. "See you later."
With that, he walked away, dodging the coal mounds, conveyor belts, and stalagmites without even having to look at them. Percy sighed as she watched Roark leave; for some reason, it was a bit odd to think of him as a Gym Leader…
Pushing that out of her mind, however, Percy grinned as she saw a few of the miners pause at their conveyor belts. After they'd put down their tools and gathered in a small group, nodding to a few other workers who took their places, Percy darted up to them.
"Hey! You guys want to battle?"
Percy sighed in relief as she walked out of the Pokémon Center later. She'd ended up battling almost every one of the miners between their rotating break times, and Mint Chip, Noel, and Max had gotten nearly equal amounts of practice; naturally, however, Mint Chip had insisted on getting in slightly more battles. Now, she was quite eager to get started with her first gym match.
Unfortunately, however, Percy's sense of direction wasn't the best ever; being used to Twinleaf Town, coupled with Oreburgh being massive by comparison, led to quite a bit of frustration. She finally found herself in front of a large, important-looking, whitewashed building; a sign in front of it labeled it as the Oreburgh Mining Museum. She'd seen quite enough coal while being in the mine herself, but given that Roark worked in the mines, perhaps someone in the museum could give her directions…
She pushed open the glass doors, revealing a surprisingly crowded lobby. Fortunately, though, Percy didn't have to think too hard about whom to ask for directions. A few feet away from the entrance, a short brown-haired girl bad sat down on one of the benches was showing off a badge to a few of her friends. The girl's Buizel had curled up in her lap as she started talking.
"Yeah, I got it yesterday, actually! It was a bit harder than I expected, but Momo came through for me. He was great!"
"Hey, uh…" Percy cut in, and the small group collectively looked over at her. "Where is the gym, anyway?"
"Oh, it's about, uh…" the girl paused for a moment. "If you take a left from the Pokémon Center and then go straight, it'll take you just about ten minutes to get there. Now, as I was saying…"
She promptly turned back to her friends, but the directions had been good enough. As Percy pushed the museum's doors back open, her grin returned to her face. Maybe she'd come back and look around later, but for now, the gym was definitely her top priority…
Upon passing the Pokémon Center again, Percy took the instructed left turn and sped up her pace. A large building quickly dominated her line of vision; while normally it would have seemed hard to miss, it was the same plain concrete as the rest of Oreburgh's buildings. Getting closer, Percy realized there was indeed a (rather small) sign near the door marking it was the gym.
"Now if I can just pay more attention, finding my next gym should be easy," Percy grumbled, a hint of her usual sarcasm returning to her voice. "As long as the next one doesn't look like every other building in the city."
She had to lean into the heavy stone door in order to push it open. It scraped against the floor inside, echoing as Percy stepped in. Fortunately, it was somewhat easier to close, and Percy took a good look around as she closed the door. The interior was almost entirely stone as well, though there were staircases leading up to a platform in the back that were all made of wood for some reason. Shrugging, Percy walked forward, listening to the echoing of her footsteps.
Roark was sitting cross-legged on the platform, and he stood up nervously when he noticed her. His hand instinctively strayed towards the Pokéballs on his belt as he started speaking.
"You're, ah, Percy, right?" He waited for her to nod before he went on. "Have you ever had a gym battle before?"
"No. That doesn't mean you have to go easy on me, though," Percy replied, grinning as she folded her arms.
"I just meant that, well, I haven't been doing this too long, either… I guess we're both new to this."
"Let's just get started, then," Percy grinned.
Nodding, Roark quietly the Geodude Percy had seen him with earlier. Percy didn't even have to hesitate before releasing Mint Chip; the Piplup looked just as smug as she expected he would upon seeing the Rock-Type. Roark winced but straightened back up quickly enough.
"Rock Throw, Geodude," he called.
"Use Bubble!" Percy countered.
Geodude effortlessly formed a small boulder and hurled it at Mint Chip with surprising speed. While he attempted to dodge, he didn't do so in time. The rock collided with Mint Chip's side, and he chirped in surprised as he was thrown over. He got back up easily, and a glare formed on his face as he retaliated with the ordered Bubble.
Mint Chip had reacted quickly, and Geodude didn't have time to dodge the barrage of bubbles at all. He was hit dead-on, and fell to the stone floor of the gym with a clatter. While he managed to recover, Mint Chip immediately used another Bubble without waiting for an order.
Geodude was now panting heavily, and he levitated much more closely to the floor than he had before. Roark looked a bit nervous, but Mint Chip was looking more confident than ever.
"Try Rock Throw again!"
"One more Bubble should finish it," Percy replied with a grin.
As usual, Mint Chip required little prompting; he had started launching the attack just as Percy finished speaking. The attack very easily hit Geodude, and he crashed to the floor again, this time with his eyes closed. A frown formed on Roark's face as he withdrew Geodude, but he gave a small smile as he picked his next Pokémon.
"I'll go with Onix."
He released the rock snake, and Onix absolutely towered over Mint Chip, even with most of his lower half coiled on the floor. Still, Onix was just a bigger pile of rocks; how much harder could he be to take down? Percy smirked as she looked back down at Mint Chip.
"Let's pull a Leo here. Just keep using Bubble!"
"Set up a Stealth Rock, Onix!"
Mint Chip eagerly shot out another spray of bubbles. While Onix attempted to swing out of the way, most of the bubbles hit the side of his head, despite having dodged a couple of them. Onix winced, but shook the remaining few bubbles off of his face.
The giant Rock-Type then slammed his tail into the floor. A few sharp rocks flew up into the air, hurtling towards Mint Chip; however, they stopped just short of hitting him, and instead formed a circle around his feet. Mint Chip cocked his head to the side as he looked down at the stones, but then shrugged and proceeded to launch another Bubble at Onix.
As he prepared the attack, Mint Chip jumped forward to get closer to his opponent. The stones from Onix's Stealth Rock moved along with him, however, and jabbed into his feet. Squeaking, Mint Chip crashed back down to the floor, causing his Bubble attack to go flying off to the side. Giving the rocks a glare, Piplup tried again and managed to hit Onix dead-on, but not without a bit of effort.
Roark was looking a bit more confident now. "All right, let's go with Tackle!"
Onix slammed forward, trying to crash into Mint Chip. His length gave the Piplup ample time to dodge, though once again the Stealth Rock moved along with him. Although Mint Chip managed to avoid the Tackle, he got a few scrapes from the previous move. Fortunately, he managed to get in another Bubble in the time it took Onix to get back up, though Mint Chip was starting to look a bit worse for the wear.
Percy scowled, folding her arms as she watched Mint Chip fire off yet another Bubble that hit Onix quite squarely. The Rock-Type proceeded to try another Tackle, and Mint Chip insisted on trying to dodge again. He could either get hit by the Tackle or dodge and get hurt anyway… That had obviously been the point of Roark setting up the Stealth Rock; if Mint Chip didn't try to get out of the way, it would be easy for Onix to aim for him.
There was suddenly an odd glint in Mint Chip's eyes, and, despite being even more scratched up now, the next Bubble attack he used seemed to be stronger than before. A much larger amount of bubbles shot out of his beak, and although Onix was already starting to lift himself out of the way, almost all of the bubbles hit him.
Roaring, Onix instinctively slammed down for another Tackle. Mint Chip didn't have time to attempt to dodge, and the side of Onix's head swept into him. He was sent flying, crashing into the floor near Percy's feet, and he rolled over with his eyes closed; Mint Chip had at least managed a slight smile before fainting, however, clearly pleased that Onix looked nearly unconscious as well.
Sighing, Percy recalled him; Mint Chip had done well, but she'd been hoping he could knock out Onix before going down… However, while she knew Noel would be pretty bad off against Onix, she did have one Pokémon left that would be at an advantage… She perked back up as she sent out Max. The Budew looked just as eager as Mint Chip had; Percy had noticed while fighting the miners that, quite contrarily to what she would have expected, Max really seemed to enjoy fighting.
"All right, Max! That thing's just about to faint, so finish him off with Absorb."
Max's stems were surrounded by the typical, pale green light, and the aura spread over to Onix. The already-tired Pokémon started to pant, and fully collapsed a few seconds later. Roark chewed his lower lip for a second as he recalled Onix, but he then pulled out another Pokéball.
"I can still do this; I still have one left," he muttered, seeming to be talking more to himself than to Percy. His confidence came back a second later as he added, "Come on, Cranidos!"
A small dinosaur-like Pokémon materialized next to Roark. The Cranidos had to lean forward slightly to balance himself, thanks to his typically over-sized head; while that caused him to look a bit comical, Percy decided not to underestimate this one.
"Give him a Stun Spore, Max!"
"Quick, use Zen Headbutt," Roark countered.
Cranidos lowered his head further as he darted towards Max. Just in time, however, the yellow spores floated out of Max's stems and spread over Cranidos. He shook slightly as the powder started to numb him, and he stopped abruptly as his legs tensed up; a few steps further, and he would have been able to hit Max.
"Now use Absorb again," Percy called, grinning.
Max nodded, once again causing his stems to glow. The draining move left Cranidos with even less energy; after Max finished that attack, Cranidos was practically drooping. He still had some energy left, indicated by the rather determined look on his face.
Surprisingly, Cranidos managed to stagger forward, hitting Max with the Zen Headbutt he'd intended to use earlier. Max tumbled over, and while he got back up, he was breathing heavily. Cranidos was still affected by Stun Spore, so hopefully Max had a chance…
"Use Growth and then Absorb!"
Nodding, Max panted as he forced his stems to swell up slightly. They began glowing again, a bit more brightly than earlier, and Cranidos's energy drained more quickly than before.
Max's bruises healed up quite quickly, and he grinned, bouncing around as he recovered. He eagerly used Absorb again, and Cranidos finally crashed to the floor after several seconds. Both Percy and Roark watched Cranidos for a few moments, and when he didn't get up, Percy cheered instinctively. She then abruptly put her hands in her pockets when she realized Roark was giving her an odd look.
"Never mind that, okay?" Percy mumbled as she got Max back in his Heal Ball.
"O-Okay?" Roark rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he withdrew his Pokémon as well. Sighing, he proceeded to reach into one of his numerous pants pockets. "Anyway… Here you go. Here's a Coal Badge."
Percy perked back up as Roark handed her the round, red-and-silver badge, admiring it for a moment before she put it into a pocket in her bag. Abruptly, she grabbed Roark's hand and shook it a bit too hard before she turned around to leave, causing him to blush again slightly.
"Thanks! I really enjoyed that. I guess it was a good first gym battle, huh?"
"Y-you're welcome! And yeah… I guess it was."
Percy waved before slowly shoving open the heavy door. As she stepped outside, her grin widened. Sure, she still had seven badges to go before she could really be considered impressive, but she was off to a good start…
Author's Note x2: Yes, I know Stealth Rock doesn't work like that in-game. I thought it would be a bit more interesting to change it up a bit; it's similar enough to how it really works, and I'm sure everyone wishes that Stealth Rock worked differently anyway… Oh, and Mint Chip activated Torrent there on his last Bubble attack, by the way.
