As the bright light seemed to press in on his skull, Brendan screwed his eyes shut and threw his arms across his face. "GAH! My eyes!"
There was a loud clunk and the pressure on Brendan's eyes lessened. Opening them up again, Brendan saw the young man from outside standing next to a lever, a guilty grin on his face. He moved away from the wall and patted Brendan on the shoulder. "Sorry about that, man. I forgot how powerful these display lights are."
As the stars cleared from Brendan's eyes, he saw the interior of the Gym. It seemed to be split in half, one part being a museum, while the other was a large mass of rock that seemed to have a maze cut out of it. Rising above it all, he could see a massive fossil embedded in the stone wall, which was some sort of winged Pokemon. Looking up, Brendan saw several large flood lights hanging over the museum portion, which must have been what blinded him so badly upon entering the building.
Shaking his head and clearing the rest of his vision, Brendan stepped forward to look in some of the display cases. After getting his fill of the various fossils and rocks stored within, he turned back to the waiting Trainer. "So, uh, what exactly are the rules of doing this? Dad always told me each Gym had their own way of doing things."
"Our rules are pretty simple, you just have to make it to Roxanne. There will be Trainers in the maze, and you can fight them or sneak around, your choice. You can use all the items you want to heal or whatever, but if you leave the Gym, you can't come back until tomorrow, to give everyone time to rest up. Oh, and Roxanne will have her own rules for her fight. Any other questions?"
Before Brendan could answer, a girl's voice echoed across the building. "Larry! Is the challenger ready?"
Larry rolled his eyes before shouting back. "He's on his way now, boss!" He looked back at Brendan. "Yeah, I would hurry up if I were you. Roxanne is smart as hell, but she gets kinda twitchy if she doesn't have anything to do for a while. Good luck!" Larry grabbed a clipboard off of a desk and walked out of the Gym, likely to wait for other challengers. Brendan walked through the museum towards the entrance of the maze, his fingers running over his Pokeballs as he moved.
Before he could actually reach the entrance of the maze, however, a young boy jumped out from behind one of the display cases. "Hah! I caught you, so now we have to battle!"
Brendan flinched back, before his head shot back and forth between the fragile and very expensive looking fossils. "Right here? It looks like we'd break a lot of stuff…"
The boy's face fell. "Ohhhhh, that's why she told me to hide in the maze. I thought I just had to wait for you somewhere and fight you. I guess you should just move on then…"
Brendan shook his head and walked by the boy, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around as he passed. "Just walk with me and we'll fight in the maze. If Roxanne brought you out here to fight me, I might as well give you that fight." Brendan led the boy to the entrance of the maze, trying to size up who he should send out first. He noticed another boy further up the maze, who was ignoring the two of them and fiddling with his phone.
Brendan's opponent made the decision of who to use a little easier by throwing his Pokeball first. With a flash of light, a Geodude appeared, shocking Brendan a little. "You guys have those in Hoenn too? Weird. Let's start with you, Rex!" The Poochyena burst from his ball with a bark, facing down the Geodude and his Trainer.
Brendan's opponent made the first move, pointing dramatically and shouting. "Use Tackle, Geodude!" The Rock type began floating towards Rex, picking up speed as it braced itself with its arms.
"Use the walls, Rex! Try to get behind him! Then use Ice Fang!" Rex barked a response, before charging directly at the oncoming Rock Pokemon. Brendan clenched his eyes and groaned at his Pokemon ignoring orders, but when he opened them up again he could see Rex veering off to the wall on the right. The Geodude tried to speed up and hit him, but Rex leaped at the wall, pushing off of it and soaring over the Geodude as it zoomed past. Rex came down and spun on his paws, jumping after the Geodude as it tried to slow itself down by jamming its rocky hands into the dirt.
Rex's icy fangs clamped down on one of the Geodude's outstretched arms, producing a crunch that left both trainers wincing. Geodude wrenched its newly iced arm out of Rex's mouth and used that momentum to bring its other fist around, slamming it into Rex's side. Rex flew away and bounced off of the wall, Brendan yelling out his next order.
"Use Sand Attack, Rex! Blind him!" Rex skidded to a halt and got back to his feet, before kicking at the floor of the maze, sending a cloud of dust into the Geodude's eyes. The Rock type flinched back, scrubbing at its eyes. Rex then jumped out of the way as Geodude tried to follow its trainer's order for "another Tackle!" the Rock type flying past and trying to skid to a halt once again.
"Use Ice Fang again, Rex!" Rex charged after the Geodude once again, the Rock type too busy trying to clear its eyes to notice the incoming attack, even with its Trainer yelling at it to dodge. Rex's fangs came crashing down on the Geodude's central body, and it flailed its arms as icy "veins" began forming around its core. Several blows slammed into Rex, and he was eventually knocked off, rolling to a halt in front of Brendan.
Rex picked himself up and stared down his opponent, Brendan following his gaze. The Geodude was breathing heavily, the lines of ice around its body seeming to creak in time with each breath. The young boy across from Brendan was looking at his Pokemon with concern, before pulling out a Pokeball. "Sorry, Geodude, you're done for now. This counts as him going down, alright? I don't want him fighting any longer."
"It's fine. I don't want to hurt your guys any more than you want them hurt, kid."
The boy returned Geodude to its ball with a flash of light, before pulling out a second ball. "This fight isn't over, though. Go, Geodude!" A second Geodude slammed into the floor, before floating up and baring its arms.
Brendan jumped at the second Pokemon he had to face. "Oh crap, you have two? Rex, you're done for now, too." The Poochyena tried to protest, but he was pulled back into his ball before he could let out more than a bark. Clipping that ball onto his belt, Brendan pulled out Celeste's. "Your time to shine, Celeste. Let's go!"
The Ralts landed on the ground with a little flourish, before looking back at Brendan. (He assumed she looked at him, he still couldn't see her eyes under the hair). Her voice invaded his head once again. "Plan...Master?"
"Can you do short range Teleports? Use that to stay away from him, and just keep hitting him with Confusion, I guess."
"Yes." With that short answer, Celeste vanished with a loud pop and a bright flash, blinding Brendan momentarily. Another pop sounded further up the corridor, and as his vision cleared he saw Celeste standing on the opposite side of the Geodude, her psychic aura already forming.
Geodude spun around and began charging in an attempt to Tackle her, but Confusion's pink aura suddenly flared around his head, sending him curving off to the side as he tried to regain his senses. Celeste flashed back in front of Brendan, the light only dazzling him slightly this time, and waited for another order.
Brendan pursed his lips as he tried to think of any other order he could give. "Do you
know anything other than Teleport and Confusion?"
Celeste thought for a moment, paying attention to Geodude, who had shaken off the Confusion and was looking at her with an annoyed expression. "Double Team… illusion." She waved her hands in a mystical fashion, in an attempt to explain her point.
Brendan grunted. "So clones, teleportation and one attack? I guess we can work with that. We just need to LOOK OUT!" Both Brendan and Celeste had taken their eyes off of Geodude during her explanation, and the Rock type had taken advantage of their lack of attention to charge. Celeste whirled around just in time for a very solid Tackle to ram into her, sending her flying back.
Celeste skidded along the ground, bouncing a few times before she vanished once more. Three of her appeared in a triangle around Geodude, all of them with the initial light of Confusion appearing in front of them. Geodude spun around, trying to pick out the real Ralts, before charging at the one his trainer had pointed at.
He passed right through her, the two illusions fading away as he did, and his momentum was so great he wound up slamming into the maze wall. Bouncing off, Geodude turned around and began racing toward the real Celeste, just in time for the pink aura to descend around his core once more, rattling his brain. Geodude wound up rushing forward in a daze, slamming into the opposite wall and falling to the floor.
Celeste flashed back to Brendan's side once more, waiting for Geodude to pick himself up. When the Rock type failed to move, Brendan spoke up. "I think he's down for the count, kid. You have anyone else?"
The boy sighed as he returned Geodude. "No, he was my last. I guess you won this one. Good luck with the rest of the Gym!" He walked past Brendan, pressing a small bundle of bills into his hand as he passed, before exiting the maze, likely heading for the Pokemon Center.
Brendan released Rex and Spitfire and began digging through his bag, pulling out some Potions while Rex barked at him, annoyed about being pulled out of the fight. "Relax Rex-hold still, buddy, I need to patch you up- you'll get to fight more. Do you guys want to go against the other Trainers, or do we just want to go straight to Roxanne?"
His three Pokemon talked as Brendan finished spraying down Rex and moved onto Celeste. After he finished washing down the bruise that was forming where she had been hit, Celeste spoke in his mind. "Fight...Roxanne."
Brendan clapped his hands, having put the empty Potion bottles back into his bag. "Right, now I just need to find my way through this maze." He returned Rex and Spitfire, leaving Celeste out for a moment. "Hey Celeste, can you read my mind with your telepathy? Seems like it would be useful in battles if I don't have to give you an order out loud all the time."
Celeste tilted her head, intrigued by the idea, before straightening back up and searching around for her Trainer's thoughts. Her mind was filled with silence for a moment, before she focused harder, directing more of her attention to Brendan.
"...hear me? Can you hear me, Celeste?"
The Ralts jumped, before clapping her hands. "Yes! Hear...Master!"
Brendan scratched his chin. "Huh, neat. Probably going to forget all about that until it's past the point of usefulness or something, but it's nice to know you can do it. Alan, did you know Ralts could read minds?"
The Pokedex powered up. "Most Psychic types can, but it's always nice to have confirmation of what species can do it. I'll make sure to add it to her entry."
Brendan crouched down and rubbed the excited Pokemon's head. "Alright, I have another question for you. Can you Teleport us up to Roxanne's platform? Or do you need-"
A pop and a bright light in front of Brendan's face cut off his train of thought, along with a strange pressure suddenly covering his whole body. The pressure vanished almost as quickly as it appeared, however, and Brendan found himself standing on the platform at the far end of the Gym, a girl staring at him wide eyed.
Brendan's vision blurred and his head swam, and he sat down heavily, Celeste gasping next to him. He reached out to touch the Ralts, trying to confirm she was alright. "You okay, Celeste? Ugh…"
She looked at him with a strained smile. "Okay… tired."
Brendan let out a relieved sigh and laid back, his head beginning to clear from whatever the Teleport had done to him. He heard shoes clopping across the stone floor, and looking to his left he saw a pair of pink clad legs standing next to him. Following those up, he saw a girl looking down at him with concern.
"Are you feeling well, sir? Do you require me to call Nurse Joy in here?"
Brendan groaned and pulled himself to his feet, head still spinning slightly. "No, I'm alright. I think it's just nausea from teleporting, or something. You're Roxanne, right?
The girl straightened back up, her face becoming more serious as she realized who Brendan was. "Yes, I am. And would I be correct in assuming you're my challenger for this afternoon? I usually greet the challenger at the entrance, but you were a bit of a surprise."
Brendan nodded, wincing as his head twinged a little bit. "Yeah. My name's Brendan. Nice to meet you." He extended a hand, which Roxanne shook. Looking down at Celeste, who seemed to have recovered, he continued speaking. "So Larry said you would have your own set of rules for the fight. What are they?"
"We both use the full extent of our teams- My team consists of two Pokemon, I am not aware of how many you possess- and we can switch out at any time, as long as the Pokemon is still capable of combat. I do permit item use in my battle, so feel free to utilize those if you have them. Whoever has Pokemon still conscious at the end of the battle will be declared the winner. The stakes of this battle are a cash prize and the Stone Badge." She pulled out what appeared to be two brown arrows, with one reversed and sat on top of the other, and displayed it to Brendan.
Brendan took in the appearance of the badge, before looking back to Roxanne. "D'you always sound so formal when you talk to people? Sorry if that's how you do it normally, but it's really throwing me off compared to everybody else I've met in town."
Roxanne flushed slightly at his observation, an embarrassed look on her face "I-I apologize. I am still… I'm still adapting to getting out of Trainer School and the Leader examinations. I was a little… serious when I took them, and that's hung around, according to most of my staff. Anyway, are you ready for the final battle of your Gym challenge?"
Brendan nodded once more, but Roxanne was already walking across to her half of the battleground. The young boy Brendan had seen in the maze came jogging up the steps, shooting an annoyed glance at Brendan before running to the side of the field and pulling out a flag. He held it above his head and shouted. "The battle between Roxanne, the Gym Leader, and Brendan, the challenger, will now begin. The contest is full party, free switching. Does either contestant have anything to say?" Brendan and Roxanne both shook their heads, and the boy swung the flag down. "Begin!"
Roxanne lobbed her first Pokeball onto the field, yet another Geodude popping out and crashing to the ground. Brendan glanced down at Celeste, who was once again standing tall. "You ready, Celeste? You want to give the mind reading a try for this fight?"
Celeste nodded and walked out to Brendan's side of the field. "Ready, Master!"
Brendan observed Roxanne's Geodude, who was simply floating there, awaiting either an order or an attack from its opponent. "Do the same as you did in the maze. Teleport, then use Double Team as soon as you appear, then attack with Confusion. Try going to the left first."
Celeste nodded again, popping out of sight with another eye splitting burst of light at the same time as Roxanne yelled an order.
"Use Rock Tomb, Geodude!"
Large chunks of rock were torn out of the ground around the Geodude, before flying towards where Celeste had been standing. The rocks slammed into the ground in a pile, a few chunks breaking off and rolling to a stop near Brendan.
Brendan stepped away from the rocks, watching as Celeste appeared, along with some illusions, before shouting across the field. "So what happens if there isn't any rock around to use for that move?"
Roxanne shrugged. "Rocks just appear, no one has ever really worked out how."
"Huh, weird. Celeste, use Confusion and then Teleport back to me!"
Celeste generated a pink aura, but was forced to abandon the attack when Geodude correctly guessed which of the three Ralts in front of her was the real one, and sent another Rock Tomb screaming towards Celeste. Celeste vanished and reappeared in front of Brendan, a second rock pile decorating her previous position.
Brendan narrowed his eyes as he observed Geodude, who was waiting for an order from Roxanne. "Celeste, do you think you can teleport above Geodude and then hit her with Confusion? Would probably make it easier to avoid Rock Tomb, too."
Celeste nodded. "Will-"
Whatever else she was going to say, Brendan didn't hear, as she flashed out of existence once again, yet another Rock Tomb slamming down where she was moments before. A flash of light about twenty feet above Geodude signaled Celeste's return, the Ralts once again charging her Confusion. Her concentration broke when Roxanne shouted her next order, the Psychic energy spiraling away from her.
"Geodude, use Rock Throw!"
Brendan paled as Geodude ripped a chunk of rock out of the ground. "Oh yeah, you would have more than one move…" Brendan decided to abandon the telepathy experiment, in favour of getting his point across now. "Celeste, Teleport down!"
Celeste flailed as she tried to focus her power for the Teleport, but the stress of falling and an imminent attack kept her from succeeding. Geodude's rock flew through the air and slammed into the falling Psychic, sending her flying back. Celeste crashed down behind one of the rock piles near Brendan, the boy worriedly examining her as best he could without running onto the field.
"Are you okay, Celeste? Do you need to switch out?" Brendan wasn't entirely sure when he had pulled out the Potion, but one was sitting in his hand, ready to be sprayed.
Celeste shook her head and got back to her feet, dusting herself off. She looked back at Brendan with a small grin. "Fine...keep fighting!" She disappeared in a flash of light once again, Brendan groaning as she popped back into existence behind Geodude.
"And here I was thinking she was the careful one of the group." Brendan muttered to himself. He then yelled across the field. "Celeste, get back here! Confusion takes too long to fire!" To punctuate Brendan's point, Celeste was forced to abandon yet another attack by the pile of rocks that slammed down less than a foot away from her.
Celeste flashed back behind one of the rock piles near Brendan, a sigh escaping her. Brendan crouched down to her level, wincing as a misplaced Rock Throw soared over his head and flew into the maze, getting a shout of fright from one of the Trainers in it. "Celeste, do you know any sort of attack besides Confusion? I think Geodude is always going to outpace you if that's your only move."
Celeste thought for a moment, flinching when a rock slammed into her cover. Her eyes lit up when a thought came to her (not that Brendan saw; her hair was still in the way). "Shout!"
Brendan gave her a confused look. "What do you mean, Celeste? How are you supposed to shout if you can't talk?"
Celeste waved off his observation and teleported out into the field once again. Reappearing alongside two illusions, all three of the Ralts opened their mouths. Brendan grimaced, unsure of what his Pokemon had planned.
A circle of hearts burst from Celeste's mouth, alongside a hauntingly beautiful, yet incredibly loud, shriek. The hearts rocketed across the field, even making a sharp turn as Geodude tried to dodge out of the way and slamming into her. The Rock type clutched at her core, her hands covering what Brendan could only assume were her ears.
Brendan stared for a moment, before pulling Alan out of his pouch. He noticed Celeste teleporting to a new position as he looked down at his Pokedex. "Alan, what was that move?"
Alan responded in a confused tone, one Brendan never thought he would hear coming from a computer. "I'm 99.9% sure that was something called Disarming Voice, but it's kinda been assumed that the Pokemon needs the ability to vocalize to use it. You're just all about collecting the anomalies, aren't you, Brendan?
Ignoring that last jab, Brendan looked back to the field, wincing as Celeste let off a second Disarming Voice and was blasted with another Rock Throw for her efforts. "Well, I'm certainly disarmed. Celeste, come back! You're taking a break for now!"
The Ralts flashed back across the field to Brendan's side, the boy already tossing out his next Pokemon. "Alright, Spitfire. Geodude's pretty worn down, you can take her! Use Sand Attack!"
The Torchic was already charging his opponent before he had even fully reformed from the ball, Brendan crouching down to heal Celeste behind him. Spitfire weaved around the various rock piles left from Geodude's earlier Rock Tomb rampage, several more rocks going flying past him as Geodude tried to knock him down. Hurdling one last pile, Spitfire dashed to the left of Geodude, his right foot dragging through the dirt to send a cloud of dust into Geodude's eyes.
Geodude flinched back, her next Rock Throw going wide and slamming into one of the Gym's walls. Spitfire looped back around and began bearing down on his target, Brendan yelling his next order across the field. "Use Ember, Spitfire! Just keep circling and take her down!"
Spitfire launched a small fireball into Geodude's back, the flames washing over her as she tried to locate the Torchic through all of the grit in her eyes. The Rock type didn't seem to be slowed down much by the fire, however, and began hurling rocks towards Spitfire's position. With the way her vision was obstructed, most of the rocks simply crashed into the dirt around the running bird. One rock did manage to clip him, though, sending Spitfire tumbling to the ground.
Spitfire rolled back to his feet and continued spitting fireballs, and Brendan could see Geodude beginning to slow down from the barrage. Roxanne apparently noticed as well, and pulled Geodude's Pokeball out just in time for one final Ember to slam into Geodude, knocking her to the ground.
After observing the downed Rock type for a few moments, the linesman raised his flag. "Geodude is unable to battle! Roxanne is down to one Pokemon against Brendan's three! Continue the fight!"
Roxanne sighed as she returned her Pokemon. "Sorry, Geodude, I should have pulled you out sooner." She pointed across the field to Brendan. "I'll show you why I was top of my class, Brendan! Nosepass, time to ace this!"
A large blue shape slammed into the dirt after flashing out of the Pokeball, though Brendan wasn't really sure what it was. He couldn't see any sort of face, though there did seem to be some arms facing towards the back wall of the Gym. Brendan just stared at the new arrival, feeling confused. He pulled Alan out again, pointing him at the Pokemon.
"Alan, what's-"
"Nosepass has a magnetic nose, Brendan. It will always face north, though it does have impressive perception of its surroundings. I believe it's something to do with magnetic fields, but Professor Birch hasn't confirmed it yet." A frontal picture of Nosepass popped up on Alan's screen; the Pokemon looked similar to some island statues Brendan remembered reading about, with a bright red nose and eyes that gave off the appearance of being asleep.
Brendan shrugged at Alan's description. "Well, it can't always be paying attention, so we'll just have to try to make use of that. Spitfire, same thing as before! Circle it and keep using Ember! Weaken it for the other two!"
Spitfire took off running once again, fire flying from his mouth to splash over Nosepass. The new Rock type didn't react much to the attack, simply backing over the field towards Spitfire. Roxanne gave her order once Nosepass had gotten close enough to Spitfire.
"Use Rock Tomb, Nosepass! Trap him where he stands!"
Yet another bundle of rocks ripped out of the ground, swirling around Nosepass as Spitfire's Embers continued flying across the field. Nosepass hurled the rocks at Spitfire, smashing through the most recent Ember and continuing on to slam into Spitfire. Several of the rocks bounced off of the Torchic's head, and the poor bird wound up buried under rock, groaning.
Brendan winced as the linesman's flag shot up. "Torchic is unable to battle! Brendan is down to two Pokemon!"
Brendan returned Spitfire with a grimace. "Oh yeah, Rock beats Fire, doesn't it. Man, I had a lesson on this literally less than an hour ago, you'd think I would have remembered. Sorry about that Spitfire, you did really well. This is my fault."
Roxanne tilted her head, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Sounds like you were working with Mr. Jones, then. He was kind of bad at making a lesson stick the first time. Are you going to send out your next Pokemon?"
Brendan shook his head to clear it, popping Rex's Pokeball off of his belt. "On it. Rex, you're up!" He hurled the ball onto the field, the Poochyena popping out with a bark. "Alright Rex, keep moving and keep using Howl. If we can't have effective moves, we might as well have strong ones."
Rex immediately let out a piercing howl, the noise causing Brendan, Celeste, and Roxanne to cover their ears, though Nosepass didn't really seem to care. Rex was already moving as the resulting red aura burst into view, ducking behind a pile of rocks and howling again.
Roxanne shouted over the howls. "Nosepass, use Harden! Let's make use of that defense!"
Brendan's face gained an extremely annoyed expression, his eyes lidded, and he could see Rex looking at him from behind a rock pile with a similar one. "Yeah, I'd rather you don't shatter your teeth on that... New plan, Rex! Blind it with Sand Attack, and then Celeste can finish this!"
Rex dashed out from behind his cover, charging Nosepass as it started shining; Brendan could swear it actually looked a little more solid when the gleam calmed down. Rex looped around to the front of Nosepass, swiping his paws across the floor to kick up clouds of dust.
Brendan still couldn't see Nosepass' face, but the way the Pokemon's short arms waved at its face, he could assume that the dirt had landed on its face. A thought occurred to Brendan as he watched Rex rush back across the field, dodging rocks being flung by the blinded Nosepass. "Wait, Alan. You said Nosepass used magnetic fields or something, right? Is kicking sand in its face actually going to do anything?"
"Even Rock types don't like sand getting in their eyes, Brendan. I have it on good authority that sand is 'coarse and rough and irritating', and apparently it gets everywhere." The Pokedex sounded like he was trying to resist laughing, another tone of voice Brendan didn't expect from the computer. "It's probably more of a distraction than actual visual disruption."
Brendan turned back to the match, just in time for Rex to skid to a halt in front of him. "Good job Rex. Now we just need Celeste to hit Nosepass with Confusion or Disarming Voice enough, and we should win this. Out you go, Celeste. Time to win this!"
Celeste flashed back into battle once again, another Disarming Voice echoing across the field as she did so. The hearts slammed into Nosepass' back, which was answered with a misaimed bundle of rocks, which slammed into the dirt next to Celeste.
Celeste's teleportation and the distraction of the Sand Attack kept Nosepass from landing any sort of attack, a fact that was irritating Roxanne and likely her Pokemon, though Brendan couldn't really tell from staring at its back.
Roxanne tried calling Nosepass into range a few times, waving a red Potion bottle around, but Celeste's constant attacks kept the Rock type from getting back to its Trainer. Eventually, Nosepass hit its limit, and one final Confusion knocked it down, though it had finally focused enough to hit Celeste with a final vindictive Rock Tomb, trapping her in place as Nosepass fell to ground.
The linesman, who had been staring off into space, bored with the proceedings, snapped his head back to the field and raised his flag. "Nosepass is unable to battle! Roxanne is out of usable Pokemon, and the winner of this match is the challenger, Brendan!"
Brendan jogged onto the field with Rex at his heels and began pulling the rocks off of Celeste, while Roxanne returned Nosepass with a shake of her head. She walked onto the field as well, waving the linesman over at the same time. The boy pulled a small case out from a box at his feet and rushed out to where Roxanne and Brendan had met.
Roxanne held out a hand after Brendan finished freeing Celeste. "Congratulations, Brendan. You have won your first Gym challenge. It seems that I still have some things to learn about being a Trainer. Like finding a way to stop teleportation…"
Brendan shook her hand. "Thanks a lot, Roxanne. That was an interesting battle. It felt like it lasted a lot longer than it actually did, though."
The Leader shrugged. "More important battles always feel like that. Anyway, I am proud to present you with your Stone badge." Roxanne popped open the case held by the linesman, and pulled out the brown badge. She handed it over to Brendan and continued speaking. "This badge, being your first, authorizes you to use the Cut HM. I would also like for you to take this TM, alongside your cash prize." She pulled a stack of bills and a disc out of the case as well.
Brendan pocketed the bills and examined the disc. It was mostly plain, similar to the Cut HM he had received out in the city, though this disc was brown and labeled with TM 39. "So what's this disc for, Roxanne?"
"Rock Tomb."
Brendan was sure he heard Rex hissing at those words, and the noise of sheer disgust Celeste sent through his head seemed to echo the Poochyena's opinion. He put the disc in his bag with a grin. "Love it. I'm sure my team will be so glad to use the move after seeing its virtues here. So many times."
Roxanne chuckled nervously. "Well, if it isn't broke, one shouldn't repair it, right?"
Brendan stared at her. "... Keep working on that whole informal thing, why don't you, Roxanne. And thanks again!" Brendan recalled his team and walked down the exit path, heading back to the front of the Gym. Passing through the museum, he left the building, almost bumping into Larry, who was once again lounging around in front of the door. The boy looked up in surprise.
"Oh, you're done already? How'd you do, man?"
Brendan flashed the badge from its new position on his jacket. Larry's face split into a grin and he offered a high five, which Brendan returned. "Nice job, man! So how was your first Gym!"
Brendan grinned. "It was actually pretty cool! I-"
"BRENDAN! HEY, BRENDAN!"
Brendan jolted as someone shouted his name, and turned around just in time to feel somebody slamming into him. His vision blacked out as he crashed to the ground.
I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is the product of Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures.
