The young trainers pushed open the doors to the large gym ahead of them. As they stepped through the entrance they took in an unexpected sight. Within the gym was a forest. Trees were spread out within the building, leaving only a small path towards the center. The group walked along the narrow path until they emerged into a small clearing.
"Hello down there!" A voice called out. The boys looked around, but saw nobody.
"Hello?" Chance replied quizzically.
"Are you challengers?" The voice called again.
"We are." Adrian responded this time. The boys continued to scan the room, to no avail. Suddenly a form emerged from the treetops and landed smoothly on the grass before the group. Before them stood a young, lavender-haired boy, wearing green shorts and a green jacket.
"Well then, you are here to see me!" The boy said cheerfully. "I'm Bugsy, the gym leader here." The boys introduced themselves to the gym leader before he continued. "Alright, if you're ready, we will begin the match. It will be a 3-on-3 battle. Which of you will be first?" As he spoke his eyes showed nothing but confidence.
"Mind if I go first? You did get to take on Falkner first." Chance said the the blonde beside him.
"Well, I guess it's only fair." Adrian smiled in response. "But you better not lose!"
"Don't worry. I don't plan on it." Snivy stood on her trainer's shoulder and nodded with determination.
"Alright then, let's get started!" Bugsy announced excitedly. The two took their spots across from each other on the battlefield. Adrian took a seat on a bench off to the side behind the gym assistant who was going to be acting as the judge for the match. "Let's get this started! Spinarak, I choose you!" The lavender-haired boy shouted as he tossed out a pokeball. From the burst of red light emerged a small, green spider pokemon.
"Snivy, you wanna take the lead here?" Chance asked his starter.
Snivy jumped off his shoulder and darted onto the field. "Sni snivy!" She cried as she took a battle stance.
"Alright! Spinarak, start this off! Use poison sting!" The gym leader ordered. The string spit pokemon shot small purple needles from its mouth at the grass-type across from it. Snivy quickly jumped to the left to avoid the attack.
"Good job, Snivy! Now hit it with a vine whip!" The grass snake pokemon charged her opponent and shot two vines from her collar.
"Not so fast! Grab the vines with string shot!" Spinarak shot two threads from its mouth, each one connecting with a vine and sticking it to the ground. "Nice! Now use bug bite!" Bugsy ordered. Spinarak charged towards snivy, who was struggling to free its vines from the web. Spinarak's mouth began to glow as it charged the grass-type. Snivy struggled to dodge, but ultimately failed as the bug-type landed a hard hit. Snivy was launched backwards, rolling across the battlefield. She slowly got back up to her feet and stared down her opponent.
"You still okay, Snivy?" Her trainer asked. She nodded in response and let out a determined squeak. "Alright! Let's hit it with a slam!" The small pokemon charged at its opponent.
"Guess again! Spinarak, stop it with your string shot!" The bug-type shot another rope from its mouth at its foe.
"Snivy, stop and use leaf tornado to blow it away!" Snivy began to spin in the air while small leaves swirled around it. The string shot was blown back and then the tornado slammed into the spider pokemon. "Now go in for a slam!"
"Bug bite, Spinarak!" Bugsy yelled out. The two pokemon charged at each other. Snivy swung her tail at her foe, who fought back by biting at the tail. Both attacks landed causing each pokemon to get blown back from each other, rolling across the field towards their respective trainers.
"Both Snivy and Spinarak are unable to battle!" The judge called out. "The challenger and the gym leader may now select their second pokemon!"
Bugsy recalled his unconscious pokemon. "Alright, then I choose you, Kakuna!"
"Then I choose you, Hoothoot!" Both trainers threw out pokeballs, releasing their respective pokemon.
"Not a bad choice, but don't you underestimate my Kakuna." Bugsy let a confident smile spread across his face. "Kakuna, poison sting!" The cocoon pokemon shot a large spray of purple needles from its mouth.
"Hoothoot, dodge it and charge in for a peck attack!" Hoothoot dodged to the side and began to fly towards its foe, however, once it got close kakuna quickly rotated and launched another volley of poison stings. The attack hit Hoothoot head on, sending it backwards.
Adrian sat up straighter when he saw the rapid movement of the pokemon. Normally they were basically immobile, but this kakuna was able to change its direction in the blink of an eye.
Chance gritted his teeth as he watched the cocoon pokemon continually repel his pokemon's attacks by blocking with its poison sting attacks. As he watched the bug-type defending itself he noticed a gap in its movement. "Hoothoot, quick, attack from above!" Hoothoot darted into the air above its foe and quickly dove down towards it, preparing a peck attack.
"Kakuna, use string shot on the tree. Pull yourself away!" Kakuna did as its trainer ordered, but the flying-type used the speed from its dive to follow it, slamming into it from behind and then began assaulting it with a string of peck attacks. The cocoon pokemon quickly succumbed to the damage.
"Kakuna is unable to battle! Leader Bugsy may now choose his final pokemon!" The judge shouted.
"I guess it's time for me to stop holding back then." The leader said with a smile as he returned his kakuna. "Let's do this, Scyther!" Bugsy threw a pokeball high into the air, releasing a large, green mantis pokemon.
"No problem." Chance smiled. "Let's end this quick, Hoothoot! Use peck!" The owl pokemon charged its foe, who stood firm, staring at the flying-type.
"Now, slash!" Bugsy commanded when hoothoot approached. The mantis' arm swung so quickly that Chance wasn't even sure he saw it. Hoothoot was suddenly on the ground and in rough shape. "Finish it with fury cutter!" The large scythes on its arms began to glow white and it leapt towards the grounded owl with amazing speed, slashing at it three times before the judge called it.
"Hoothoot is unable to battle! Scyther wins the battle! The challenger may now choose his final pokemon!"
"Damn, that was fast…" Adrian muttered in awe.
"You did great, Hoothoot." Chance muttered as he recalled his pokemon. "Ready for this, Onix? Let's show them what we're made of!" Chance threw the pokeball as high as he could. Onix emerged from the ball with a powerful roar that shook the building, causing Bugsy to recoil for a moment.
"An onix, huh?" The gym leader said after regaining his composure. "We can handle that. Fury cutter!" Scyther's scythes began to glow once more as it charged.
"Use rock throw, Onix!" Onix slammed its large tail into the ground and launched several large boulders at the charging bug-type. Scyther easily dodged the rocks, jumping from one to the next as it continued to charge, eventually making contact with its glowing scythes. It took several swings at the rock snake pokemon, who took minimal damage from the assault.
"Keep it up, Scyther!" Bugsy ordered.
"I don't think so! Onix, screech!" Onix did as its trainer ordered and let out a deafening roar, stopping scyther's movements. Onix immediately followed this with another rock throw, which smashed into the bug-type. "Now bind it!"
Before Scyther could regain its composure, Onix wrapped its large tail around the pokemon and began to squeeze. Onix had its foe completely immobilized, as its arms were pinned to its body.
"Finish this up, Onix! Throw it and use slam!" The redhead shouted. Onix tossed the mantis pokemon, who bounced several times off the grass before rolling to a stop before its trainer. It started to stand but was hit hard by Onix's tail.
"Come on, Scyther! You can do it!" The gym leader cheered on his pokemon as it slowly tried to stand. Scyther got to its feet and glared at its foe once more. However, before either pokemon could make another move, Scyther collapsed to the ground once more.
"Scyther is unable to battle!" The judge called out. "Onix wins! The challenger, Chance, wins the match!"
Chance cheered happily as he ran up and embraced his pokemon, who gave a celebratory roar before lowering its head down to its awaiting trainer. Adrian walked over to congratulate his friend, while Bugsy walked over to a small machine and began to heal his pokemon.
The gym leader soon returned to his side of the battleground. "Well, is my next opponent ready? I don't plan to lose twice in one day." He grinned over at Adrian.
Adrian took his place on the battlefield as well after giving his confirmation that he was ready to go.
"Alright, let's start this off, Metapod!" Bugsy called out as he tossed out a pokeball. A green cocoon pokemon emerged this time.
"Alright, let's go, Tentacool!" The blonde trainer shouted as he tossed out his pokemon.
"Start this off with a tackle, Metapod!"
"Counter it with a bubblebeam!" The cocoon was shockingly agile as it jumped at its foe to tackle it, however, while in the air it got slammed hard by a stream of bubbles that exploded on contact. The water attack knocked the bug-type back across the field. "Now hit it with an acid attack!" The young trainer commanded. Tentacool sprayed a purple ooze from its mouth, which landed on Metapod, doing a large amount of damage. Before either trainer could react, Tentacool shot out another bubblebeam attack, finishing its opponent off.
The leader recalled his defeated pokemon. "Alright, it's time for Spinarak then!" He said as he tossed out his second pokemon.
"Tentacool, hit it fast with a bubblebeam!" The jellyfish pokemon launched another stream of bubbles, but they were countered with a poison sting attack. The two attacks met in the air and caused small explosions with every collision, nullifying both attacks.
"Bug bite, Spinarak!" Spinarak quickly jumped through the smoke from the explosions and charged at the water pokemon.
"Push it back with a bubblebeam!" Spinarak was hit hard by the water attack and thrown away from its foe.
"Alright, let's try poison sting again!"
"You use poison sting as well, Tentacool!" The two attacks once again nullified each other when they collided. The two pokemon continued to trade blows for several minutes before both pokemon collapsed, too exhausted to continue.
"Not bad. But you won't get past my Scyther." Bugsy smiled as he returned his worn out bug-type and sent out his final pokemon.
"You did great, Tentacool. Let's go, Nidoran!" Adrian tossed out Nidoran's pokeball. The small pokemon emerged and stomped its foot several times, challenging the large mantis. "Nidoran, hit it with horn attack!"
"Scyther, slash attack!"
The two pokemon charged each other and engaged in a dance of sorts. They traded horn attacks and slashes, trying to overpower their foe. Both pokemon dodged and landed several blows, but Scyther's speed was much greater, giving it a large advantage in this battle.
"Scyther, finish this with a fury cutter!" Scyther's scythes began to glow white and the speed of its attacks increased. It slammed its scythes into Nidoran, knocking it up into the air. As Nidoran fell it was hit with a final fury cutter, knocking it out of the match.
"Nidoran is unable to battle! The challenger may now choose his final pokemon!"
"Come on, Cyndaquil! Let's win this!" Adrian yelled as he called out his final pokemon.
"Scyther, we have to end this one fast. Fury cutter!" The gym leader commanded his pokemon once again.
"Smokescreen, Cyndaquil!" The fire-type began to spew a thick smoke from its mouth that obscured the field. Bugsy and Scyther were left completely blind as the smoke spread across the battlefield, stopping Scyther's advance.
"Scyther, use swords dance to blow the smoke away!" Scyther began to spin, creating a small whirlwind that began to blow the smoke off the field and causing it to dissipate.
Scyther stopped spinning as the smoke was almost completely cleared, from one of the remaining clouds of smoke shot a flurry of small orbs of fire. The attack smacked into Scyther doing a decent amount of damage, but not enough to slow down the mantis pokemon, who charged in retaliation. As it neared its foe its scythes began to glow a bright white once again.
"Cyndaquil, you have to dodge! Use ember again!" Cyndaquil began a series of dodges, avoiding Scyther's dangerous attacks. As Scyther took a low swipe, Cyndaquil jumped up and released a point blank ember attack into Scyther's face.
The bug pokemon recoiled from the attack, but Cyndaquil kept up the assault. Scyther was continually pelted by the balls of fire as it slowly backed away.
"Scyther, quick attack!" Scyther struggled to break free of the ember attack, but was eventually able to dodge off to the side, disappearing in a flash of speed. Scyther slammed into its foe, tossing Cyndaquil across the battlefield.
"Cyndaquil, get up!" Its trainer called out to it. "Use your own quick attack combined with ember!"
Cyndaquil and Scyther both began to charge each other and repeatedly slam into each other before breaking off and charging again. The entire time Cyndaquil was firing off its ember attack before it made contact with its foe. After a few of the quick attacks colliding, Cyndaquil charged again while firing off its ember, but as it ran a red aura of fire began to surround its body. It continued to charge as the aura burst into flames. Cyndaquil slammed into Scyther, throwing it back towards its trainer.
"What was that?" Adrian quietly asked himself. "Cyndaquil, think you can do that one more time?" His starter nodded at him as it charged the Scyther that had just barely gotten back to its feet. Flames erupted around Cyndaquil's body once more as it charged, this time the fire on its back grew as well, engulfing the tiny pokemon in what seemed like an inferno. Cyndaquil slammed into its staggered foe, sending it sprawling once more across the field.
"Scyther is unable to battle! Cyndaquil, and the challenger, Adrian, win the match!" the judge shouted at after he assessed the situation.
Cyndaquil ran at its trainer, jumping up into Adrian's arms and squealing happily as the blonde hugged it. Chance congratulated his friend on his victory while Bugsy helped his scyther to its feet. Once he had checked on his pokemon he approached the two victorious trainers.
"You both did a great job today. You both earned the Hive Badge." Bugsy grinned cheerfully at the young trainers before him. In his outstretched hands the boys saw two little red badges with black dots. They each took one and thanked the gym leader. "You both battled well today. I hope you both keep training hard and do well at the Silver Conference."
"We will both do our best. Thank you." Chance shook the leader's hand one last time before the young trainers headed back towards the pokemon center to prepare for the next leg of their journey.
