Chapter 8
The Pewter City Gym! Vs Onix!
It seemed so routine, but at the same time, so new. Ron waited in line at the Pokemon Center, waiting for his turn to hand his Pokemon's Pokeballs to the young lady in the nurse uniform on the other side of the counter. He had only been a trainer for a few days, but because of the simplicity that was the Pokemon Center, he sometimes felt like a veteran.
"Thank you for coming to our Pokemon Center. We wish you good luck in your future endeavors."
The kind Nurse Joy behind the counter smiled at Ron as she handed back his Pokeballs. Ron gave a wave to the little Chansey behind the counter who aided the nurse, and the kind Pokemon waved back.
Ron made his way to the cafeteria, which wasn't hard to find because the Pokemon Center in Pewter City looked the same as the one in Viridian City. To his surprise though, this one offered healthier food in the form of vegetarian food, exactly what Ron was hoping for.
It wasn't that he thought killing other creatures for food was wrong, it was just the basis on how the food was prepared that bothered him. He wanted to be healthy and able to travel around as much as possible in his life, and to do that he watched what he ate at all times.
"I'll take a veggie burger, a bag of those whole wheat chips, and a bottle of water," said Ron to the smiling young man behind the counter of the cafeteria.
"Coming right up," he said, writing the order on a piece of paper that he gave to the chef in the back.
Within a few minutes, the cashier handed Ron his food on a plastic red tray, which Ron took to a table to enjoy after paying for his meal.
As he was walking to a table over in the corner, he couldn't help but listen in on a conversation being had by three young boys at another table.
"I hear Brock is one of the best gym leaders in the Pokemon League," said a boy with short blonde hair.
"Yeah, but that Seth kid really showed him up," said another one of the boys, this one with long black hair in a ponytail.
The third boy chimed in, "Well, I don't think any other trainers are gonna beat him for some time now. This was Brock's first loss in awhile."
"So this city really respects their gym leader…not a surprise to me," thought Ron, this time to himself. "This is just like in Saffron City, where everyone praised my father's battle skills. And just how did Seth beat me here to Pewter City?"
Not wanting to eavesdrop on their conversation any longer, Ron went to sit down at the table and eat his food, which in his opinion wasn't the best food he's ever had, but it was better than that "just add water" stuff he would live off of when he wasn't near civilization.
As he got up after eating, the boy with the ponytail walked over to him, having noticed the Pokeballs at his belt.
"You're a Pokemon trainer right?"
Ron nodded, "Yeah I am, why?"
The blonde haired boy joined the conversation. "Well, if you're planning on challenging Brock to a gym battle, we just wanted to let you know that you have no chance."
Ron shrugged his shoulders, "Well you know that kid Seth who beat Brock in a gym battle?"
The third boy, who was a little bit shorter than the others, walked over. "Heh, that must mean you're an even better trainer. Maybe he does have a chance big bro."
The blonde haired boy turned to the smaller boy, "Shut up Tony, we're trying to talk right now…you know, big kid stuff."
Ron didn't have time for this. Before the trio of boys could utter another sentence, he turned around and left for the exit of the Pokemon Center. He didn't need anyone telling him he had a chance or not, he would let his own battling skills decide if he was ready or not for this gym battle.
As he searched around the city for the Pokemon gym, he noticed many buildings, including a few restaurants and a Pokemart. Ron made a mental note to visit the Pokemart here sometime before he left the city.
It wasn't long before he found a large building made of stone with a sign reading "Pokemon Gym" above its doors. Ron approached the large wooden door and pushed it open; it was surprisingly heavy, but he was able to push the door open with a little bit of force.
The inside of the gym looked almost like a cave of some sort, except Ron could see lights set up to shine down upon the battlefield about 20 feet from Ron. There was a door off to the side that must have led to offices or something, but besides that the walls were all stone like the exterior of the gym.
Staring ahead at the battlefield, Ron noticed that it was covered in dirt, with large rocks populating the ground of the field. It looked like what he heard was true; Brock did train Rock-type Pokemon.
From the white door to the side, a young man walked toward Ron. This could be none other than the gym leader of Pewter City…Brock.
He had dark skin and pointy brown hair. He wore olive green pants; a green shirt was visible underneath the dark brown and orange jacket he had on. The most distinguishing feature of Brock was his eyes, which were simply small slits on his face.
As he approached Ron, he began to talk to him. "Well hello there! My name is Brock; I'm the gym leader here in Pewter City. What can I help you with today?"
Ron's first impression of Brock was that he was a very polite young man, but Ron assumed that he would never get to know what a gym leader's true personality was because they were always nice to people who come to their gyms.
"My name is Ron, I'm from Saffron City. I've come here to challenge you to a gym battle!"
Brock smiled as if he was expecting this. "I'd be happy to accept your challenge."
Of course Ron expected this, all gym leaders are required to accept any gym challenges that come their way. He knew this because his father was always battling challengers as the gym leader of Saffron City.
Ron and Brock walked over to the battlefield, each taking their respective sides on the battlefield. Ron, the challenger, took the side closest to the entrance of the gym, while Brock, the gym leader, took the side near the wall furthest from the entrance. A small floating robot came over that Ron recognized as a Gymbot 3000.
The Gymbot 3000 was a recently introduced change to gym battles. It acted as the referee for official league gym challenges. It came equipped with a green and red flag that would be raised when either side has won a battle by KOing an opponent Pokemon.
The Gymbot 3000 announced the rules of the battle. "This will be a two-on-two battle with no time limits. Only the challenger may substitute Pokemon. The battle is over when one side is out of usable Pokemon. Let the match begin!"
Brock grabbed a Pokeball from his belt, enlarged it in his hand, and threw it into the battlefield. Out came a Pokemon that looked like a rock, but with eyes, a mouth, and arms.
Ron grabbed out his Pokedex to scan this new Pokemon.
"Geodude: the rock Pokemon. This Pokemon is commonly found on mountains and in caves where a person passing by may mistake it for a rock and not a living thing."
"Alright Elekid, let's show this Pokemon what we're made of!"
The electric Pokemon stood in a battle stance, glaring down its opponent as it prepared for Ron to give an order for battle. Sparks flew from Elekid, showing the Pokemon was ready for a fight.
"Geodude, let's start things off by tackling into Elekid to knock it off balance!"
Ron needed to think fast because with Geodude's size, there was no telling if Elekid could withstand a tackle from it or not. He noticed that Elekid had positioned itself right in front of a rock. That might come in handy.
"Elekid, dodge the attack and get ready to counter with a Low Kick attack!"
Elekid swept to the side, just avoiding Geodude's attack. Geodude had difficultly controlling itself in movement and slammed headfirst into the rock behind where Elekid was.
Elekid's left leg began to glow bright white. It slammed its left leg directly into the body of Geodude, releasing a huge burst of energy in the process. Geodude appeared stunned from the assault.
"Now's our chance Elekid, use your Low Kick again, but this time try to kick Geodude into another one of the rocks in the battlefield!"
Brock cried out to his Pokemon. "Quick Geodude, use your Bide technique to endure the blow!"
Geodude braced itself for the attack. When Elekid's attack struck the rock Pokemon, it only budged a little bit. Ron noticed that Geodude glowed white momentarily before turning back to normal.
"Alright, let's do it again Elekid! Keep attacking it until its KO'd!"
Time after time, Elekid kicked into Geodude at full force. And every time, Geodude momentarily glowed white again. Before Elekid could kick the Pokemon a third time, Brock yelled another command!
"Alright Geodude, release the energy now!"
As Elekid came at the Geodude, a strong white energy came from seemingly no where out of Geodude. The energy overcame Elekid as it came flying at Geodude, its leg glowing in the same light.
Elekid cried out in pain as the white energy overcame its body. For a few seconds, Ron could see nothing except for the strange energy that came out of Geodude in the place of where Elekid once was. When the light cleared, Elekid was knocked out and lying on the ground. Geodude stood opposite of it, looking triumphant but at the same time exhausted.
The Gymbot 3000 waved a red flag in the direction of the gym leader Brock, saying, "Elekid is unable to battle. Geodude is the winner."
Ron recalled Elekid to its Pokeball. Looking at the Pokeball he said, "Elekid, you did great out there for your first gym battle. I'm proud of you buddy."
He returned the Pokeball to his belt and got out another one, this one containing Bulbasaur.
"Alright Bulbasaur, it's all up to you!"
The small grass Pokemon with the bulb on its back looked over at Geodude and could tell that it was exhausted. Ron figured that he would be able to take out Geodude without much trouble, but it was the next Pokemon after that he was worried about.
"Use your Vine Whip attack on Geodude! You can do it Bulbasaur!"
Geodude attempted to dodge the vines shooting in its direction, but it was just too tired to even move. The blow critically damaged Geodude, sending it flying backwards and into a rock, much like Ron had planned for Elekid's second Low Kick attack. Like Elekid before, Geodude was knocked unconscious by the blow.
The Gymbot announced in its robotic voice, "Geodude is unable to battle. Bulbasaur is the winner." This time though, it waved a green flag in the direction of Ron, signaling that the challenger was the winner of that battle.
Brock smiled at Ron, "You're pretty good, but let's see how you do against my Onix!"
He returned Geodude to its Pokeball before grabbing a second Pokeball from his belt. This one opened to reveal the largest Pokemon Ron had ever seen. It looked like a snake, but its body was made out of large boulders that gradually became smaller at it went from head to tail.
Bulbasaur seemed a little nervous, but so was its trainer. Ron was even too tense to get out his Pokedex. He knew he had to buckle down and fight this battle out one way or another.
Ron gave the first battle order. "Bulbasaur, use a Leech Seed attack! We need to drain Onix of its power as quickly as possible!"
Seeds shot out of Bulbasaur's bulb on its back, heading straight in the direction of Onix. The large rock snake batted the seeds away, sending them flying clear out of the battlefield. Obviously Ron needed to rework his strategy.
Brock yelled to his Pokemon, "Okay, now it's our turn! Onix, bind Bulbasaur and keep it from moving."
Bulbasaur tried to get out of the way, but Onix was just too large to be avoided. Once it had Bulbasaur in its grasp, Ron felt as though there was no way out of this fight except by losing.
And then it suddenly hit him…Bulbasaur knew the attack Sleep Powder. He wouldn't have known this if he hadn't looked up Bulbasaur's move list up on the Pokedex earlier that day. If he could pull of a Sleep Powder attack successfully, maybe he could win this fight.
"Onix, keep squeezing the energy out of Bulbasaur, I can tell its weakening!"
Ron cried out to his struggling Pokemon. "Bulbasaur, send Onix to dreamland with a bit of your Sleep Powder!"
Bulbasaur nodded and almost immediately a blue powder came from the inside of its bulb. The little particles made their way up to Onix's face. It breathed in the powder, causing it to fall asleep. This weakened it's grip on Bulbasaur, giving it a chance to strike back hard!
"We got this now Bulbasaur, use your Vine Whip attack! It seems to be effective against Rock-type Pokemon!"
Onix stayed asleep even through the whiplash of the vines from Bulbasaur. Brock began to get worried that he would lose the fight, as he continuously urged his sleeping giant to awaken before it was defeated. Eventually Onix began to stir around, obviously waking up.
"We have to end this fast Bulbasaur, and I have just the plan to do just that. Instead of hitting Bulbasaur with your vines, grab it with the vines and slam it hard into the ground with all your might!"
As the vines wrapped around Onix's neck area, the large Pokemon began to wake up a little more. However by the time it knew what was going on, the vines were already wrapped tightly around the Pokemon. Using all of its might, Bulbasaur slammed Onix onto the floor of the battlefield with a loud "THUD!"
The Gymbot 3000 examined the fallen Onix. Soon after it decided on the condition of the Pokemon, it raised its green flag in the direction of Ron. "Onix is unable to battle. Bulbasaur is the winner. This match goes to the challenger!"
Brock recalled his fallen Pokemon to its Pokeball and walked toward Ron. In one hand, he held the Pokeball of Onix. In the other hand, he held something shiny that he had just pulled out of his pocket.
"Ron, here is the Boulder Badge. This badge is proof of your victory over me in the Pewter City gym. Carry it with pride."
Ron thanked Brock, and then took the badge into his own hand. The badge was grey, much like a rock. It went well with the theme of the gym. He stared at this badge, this symbol of his first gym victory. His father would be so proud of him…
