Sorry about the long ass delay! I decided to take a little break from the story... Again, really sorry for all those who've been waiting for the new chapters!
"Gengar, use Sucker Punch on Rudy!" Lindsay called out.
The purple Pokémon disappeared into thin air with an evil chuckle. Rudy looked around frantically, but before I had time to plan a strategy, Gengar appeared behind Rudy and knocked Rudy to the ground with a hard hit, then vanished once more. Rudy rose to his feet, but was hit with another punch shortly after Gengar came out of the air again. Rudy shook as he got up and panted once he was up.
Gengar's a ghost type, so normal-type moves won't work on it unless I use... of course! I thought. "Rudy, Odor Sleuth on Gengar!"
Rudy locked eyes on Gengar, and though it tried to fade away into the air, it couldn't. Gengar flailed its arms and legs violently as if to indicate struggle. I had to admit it looked kinda funny.
"Now, use Tackle!" I demanded.
Rudy darted like a bullet across the ground and drove into the purple Pokémon, making Gengar slide back a couple of feet. Gengar felt around the area where Rudy tackled him and frowned.
"That won't stop us! Gengar use Payback!" Lindsay commanded.
The Gas Pokémon appeared before Rudy with a menacing look and slapped him with such force that he flew back upon contact, hitting the ground in front of me out cold. I picked up Rudy in my arms and said to the worn out Pokémon, "You were great. Thank you, Rudy." I called him back to his pokéball and looked up to see Lindsay patting the head of her Gengar. I strided up to Lindsay and said, "Lindsay, you and Gengar were awesome!"
"Thanks, Aurora," she replied, withdrawing Gengar back to its ball and placing it in her bag. "You and Rudy weren't bad either. To see his determination on the field after leveling up only a couple of levels is interesting. Plus, Gengar needed a little boost after not having a battle in so long."
"Why don't you ever challenge the Pokémon League?" I asked, only to have her look at me confused. "Your Pokémon look in shape, and they're pretty strong."
"May wanna take another thought on that, then," she said with a sigh. "Just because Gengar took out Rudy doesn't mean that he, or even any of my Pokémon, could take out the Pokémon League's. You see, most of my Pokémon are under level forty. Braviary is the only Pokémon that I've had for a long while to get its levels higher than the others since he was the first Pokémon I had in my party before I traveled to Johto and the other regions. He's learned Sky Drop, a high level move for a Braviary. He's my strongest Pokémon so far. And besides, my job is to study Pokémon to the best of my ability; your job is to train your Pokémon and challenge the Pokémon League."
I guessed that was a pretty good answer to my question. Lindsay's always so thorough with her replies that I don't even need to ask anything else afterwards.
"Yes, but to get to the Pokémon League, you need to have all eight badges from all eight gyms here in Unova," a male voice came from beside Lindsay and I. Our heads turned to view a young man who looked around fifteen or sixteen. He had red hair that looked like the flickering flames of a fire, scarlet eyes, and he was dressed like a waiter.
"Your first task is to challenge the first gym that you come to," another male voiced, coming out from behind the man with the red hair. His hair looked like the ripples of a small stream and he had ocean blue eyes. He was outfitted in the same clothing as the man with the red hair.
"Obtaining your first badge is the first step to becoming a truly splendid Pokémon Trainer," one more male voice said, and came out from behind the fire-haired boy. His hair had the appearance of blades of grass sprouting from atop his head. He had green eyes, and was dressed in the same outfit as the others.
"Wh-who are you three?" I asked.
"Aurora, I'd like you to meet Cress, Chili, and Cilan: the three Leaders of the Striaton City Gym," Lindsay answered.
"Th-there are three of them?" I exclaimed and stepped back a few steps. "That means that I have to b-battle each one of them?"
Chili came up to me and put an arm around me as he said, "No, but you do have the honor of battling me! You see, you chose Snivy as your starter Pokémon and their type disadvantage is fire, so you'll be facing that type."
I tried my best to keep from looking at him because I knew that if ANYONE got as close as he is to me, my entire face would go red, no matter if I liked them or not, so I hid my face behind my white hair as much as I could. "That s-sounds fine with m-me." Suddenly, a hand on my face made me turn my head and look directly into his burning red eyes. I couldn't help it; our faces were so close to each other that my entire face probably went as red as his eyes.
I saw a wide grin on his face as he stated, "You know, I never noticed how pretty you were. What was your name again?"
"I never said my name in the first place," I replied, pushing at his chest to make him get off of me.
Suddenly, a loud, hurtful snap came from behind Chili, making him cry out in pain and let go of me to turn around. I saw Jasper standing there with a glare in his eyes and his vines retreating back to him. He walked over to me and hopped onto my shoulder, growling at Chili.
Chili slinked away back over to Cilan and Cress and said, "Follow us to the gym, and make sure that Snivy of yours keeps its vines to itself."
I heard Jasper snarl as we began to walk.
I was really starting to stress out as I looked down at the ground at my feet. With each step I took, I grew more and more nervous. I knew that Rudy was leveled up enough, as were Maylene and Jasper, but I had to plan a strategy right now and hope for the best that it worked out.
"What's wrong, Aurora?" Lindsay's voice whispered to me.
I looked over at her and replied, "I'm just... really nervous. I don't know if..." I sighed.
"Oh, uh-uh, don't you dare be nervous, Aurora," she stated, grabbing onto my shoulder with a firm grasp. "If you're nervous, then you'll feel unconfident. Unconfidence is the worst thing that a trainer could have. I know you're just starting out your journey, Aurora, but having a little faith can take you a long way. Believe in yourself the way that I believe in you, and I'm sure you're gonna do just fine."
I nervously smiled at her, but she could see through it that it wasn't a real one.
"Just a few more minutes, and we'll be at the gym," Cilan stated cheerfully, almost as if he was excited about the battle, even though I was going to battle Chili.
My heart pounded in my chest, and I could feel a tiny bit of sweat run down the side of my face. This was to be my first gym battle... Hope I don't mess up!
Gah, this chapter is SOOO lame...
I didn't really care at all for this one...
I just wanted to get it out of the way before the Gym battle came next(which will be the next chapter)!
The next chapter will be a lot better though~!
So sorry that N hasn't popped up lately, but he's just a couple short chapters away! ;)
Just be patient, dear ones~
