Chapter 10

After a shower the next morning I head to the lobby of the Pokemon Center to find Drew eating breakfast. I go over to the table and sit with him.

"Morning Drew."

"Morning. Sleep well?" He takes a bite of his food.

"More or less."

"Ready for that match against Olivia?"

"More or less" I laugh.

"Should be easy for you. I mean, you did beat Connor."

"Hopefully."

Rachel comes out of her room and sits beside Drew.

"Morning boys" She pinches a piece of Drew's food and eats it.

"Did I say you could have some?"

"Oh shush. Justin you ready for your battle today?"

"Maybe. I think I need more work with Psyduck if I'm going to win." I stand up. "I'll see you guys at the Finals. I'm going to train a bit." I walk out of the Pokemon Center.

I find a wide-open area to train at. "Let's go Psyduck!" I send Psyduck out of it's Pokeball. "If we're going to win this, we need to learn a new move. Let's try out a Icy Wind." Psyduck begins to let out some air from it's mouth, but it's fairly

weak and not really cold. "Good try, one more Psyduck." Psyduck again tries to use Icy Wind, this time letting out a lot more air and it's slightly cooler. "Looks like you're getting it Psyduck. Try really hard this time!" Psyduck pushes itself to do Icy Wind and succeeds with a powerful icy blast this time. "There we go!"

"Justin!" Someone calls from behind.

"Huh?" I turn around and see Olivia.

"The match starts in a couple minutes! Let's go!"

"Oh okay. Return Psyduck" I put Psyduck back into it's Pokeball.

We walk back to the Tournament Area to see it's time to get started.

"And there they are! It's time to start the final match! Justin, Olivia, please approach the battlefield!"

Both of us go onto outside sides of the battlefield.

"Begin!"

"Good luck Justin. Go Ledian!" Olivia sends out her Ledian.

"Back at ya. Go Psyduck!" I send Psyduck out. "Start us off with a Water Gun!" Psyduck sprays water towards Ledian.

"Use Light Screen Ledian!" Ledian puts up a Light Screen that blocks the Water Gun. "Now Comet Punch!" Ledian goes in and punches Psyduck three times.

"Psyduck, Water Pulse!" Psyduck lets out a ball of water.

"Silver Wind!" Ledian shatters the Water Pulse and hitting Psyduck with Silver Wind as well. "Now Mach Punch!" Ledian punches Psyduck with a ton of speed.

"Let's use your new move, Icy Wind!" Psyduck hits Ledian with Icy Wind, leaving it covered in frost.

"Agility Ledian!" Ledian flies around with a lot of speed, getting rid of all the frost. "Comet Punch!" Ledian tries to punch Psyduck, but Psyduck avoids all of the punches. "Silver Wind!"

"Psyduck, Icy Wind!" Psyduck and Ledian's winds collide and is evened, canceling each other's attacks out. "Psyduck do a Water Pulse and follow with a Icy Wind!" Psyduck does a Water Pulse then freezes it with Icy Wind.

"Ledian send it back with a Silver Wind!" Ledian blows the ice ball back at Psyduck, hitting it with a direct hit and knocking it out.

"Psyduck is unable to battle. Ledian wins and Olivia is our tournament winner!"

"I... I won?" Olivia has a surprised look on her face.

"Return Psyduck. Congratulations Olivia. You did great!"

"Thanks Justin! I can't believe I won!"

"And as the winner, here's your reward!" The announcer walks up to Olivia with a case. "A complete set of evolutionary stones."

"Wow." Olivia opens the case up to see a Fire Stone, Water Stone, Thunderstone, Leaf Stone, Moon Stone, Sun Stone, Shiny Stone, Dusk Stone, Dawn Stone, and a Everstone.

After the tournament we walked back to the Pokemon Center to get our Pokemon all rested up. We all sit around at a table talking.

"So I decided what I want to do with these stones" Olivia opens up the case again.

"Decided? You didn't know what you were going to do with them in the first place?" I ask.

"Nope. I do now though. I've decided to share them with the people who have helped me get here in the first place."

"Rachel, I know you only use Fire types, so it would make sense for you to have the Fire Stone" Olivia hands the Fire Stone to Rachel.

"Justin, I know you love Electric types, so here's the Thunderstone" Olivia hands me the Thunderstone.

"Drew, I don't think I have a stone specifically for you, but I want you to have the Dawn Stone" Olivia hands Drew the Dawn Stone.

"Are you sure about this Olive?" I asked.

"Of course I am. And if you guys ever need another one of these stones, just let me know."

"I'm going to train a little, but thanks Olivia" Drew hugs Olivia and then walks off.

"Why?" Rachel says.

"Why what?" Olivia looks at Rachel confused.

"As much as I mess with you and bother you, you give me a Fire Stone. Why?"

"Because I know you're a nice person, even if you aren't always nice to me. I always hoped that eventually we could be friends."

"We'll see. I'll meet you guys at Sprout Tower." Rachel gets up and walks off with the Fire Stone.

"That was really nice of you Olive" I say.

"I wouldn't be here without you guys, especially you Justin."

"Heh. We should start heading to Sprout Tower for that tour."

We head outside of the Pokemon Center and see Drew training. I waved at him to let him know that we were heading to Sprout Tower and he came along. When we reached the entrance, we saw Rachel and entered inside to get a tour.

"Welcome all to Sprout Tower. Let us begin the tour."

We walk around the ground floor learning about the structure of the building. We were told about the swaying pillar in the middle. We learned that it's built that way to protect the building from earthquakes due to it's flexibility. There was also a legend that the swaying pillar used to be a 100-foot-tall Bellsprout and that's why it's called the Sprout Tower. It is also a fact that all the monks on the upper floors mainly train Bellsprout but some have Hoothoot as well. When I asked whether I could go up to the other floors to battle some of the monks, I was told the monks were busy and I couldn't.

After the tour we headed out of the Sprout Tower.

"Well that was very educational" Drew says.

"Yeah, only thing left is for us to challenge the Gym here Drew" I reply.

"Let's get to it then."

We head towards the Gym to see a young girl walking out of the Gym. She has long blonde hair, covering up her left eye. She stops and looks at us, then does a slight wave. Olivia, Rachel, and myself waves back at her. Drew then waves shortly after. She pushes her hair away from her face, smiles, and blushes. She then realized she was blushing so she covers up her face with her hands, then runs off.

"Wonder why she ran off" Drew says.

We walk into the Gym and see another girl with very long black hair and a scar on her cheek.

"Hello there. We are looking for the Gym Leader to challenge the Gym."

"Well you are looking at her" the Ref says. "That is Lilly, the Violet City Gym, Dark-type Gym Leader. There is no way she is going to lose twice in a row, so whoever is the challenger the is ready for defeat, stand on the other side of the battlefield and get ready for battle."

"Want to go first Drew? Doesn't matter to me."

"Sure." Drew stands on the other side of the battlefield and the rest of us go sit down to watch.

"The Violet City Gym battle pitting Drew, the challenger, and Lilly, the Gym Leader, will now begin! Two Pokemon for each side. The battle will be over when both of one side's Pokemon are unable to battle. Only the challenger is allowed substitutions. Let us begin!"

"Let's see... Dark-type gym so Gastly is at a disadvantage here... Go Scyther!"

"Scizor!"

"Scizor? Oh, so my Scyther finally evolved from that Metal Coat. Then let's do it Scizor!"

"Battle time Houndour." Lilly sends out a Houndour.

"Scizor lets start this with a Bullet Punch!" Scizor speeds toward Houndour and swings it's claw at it.

"Fire Fang." Houndour bites Scizor's claw, dealing a lot of damage from the fire in it's mouth. "Flamethrower." Houndour breaths fire on Scizor at a close range, dealing a lot of damage again and knocking Scizor out.

"Scizor is unable to battle, Houndour is the winner."

"Grrr... Return Scizor."

"Wow... Two hits" I say.

"Let's go Glaceon!" Drew sends out his Glaceon to battle next. "Use Blizzard!" Glaceon lets out a powerful Blizzard.

"Counter, Flamethrower." Houndour let's out a Flamethrower wiping out Blizzard and hitting Glaceon as well.

"Try a Bite Glaceon!" Glaceon runs in to Bite Houndour.

"Faint Attack." Houndour stands there letting Glaceon get close then lands a Faint Attack on it knocking it back. "Finish with Fire Fang." Houndour goes up and bites Glaceon, knocking it out.

"Glaceon is unable to battle, Houndour is the winner and the victory goes to Lilly!"

"Return." Drew walks over to us and sits beside me. "Beat her."

I nod at him and walk up to the battlefield.

"The second Violet City Gym battle pitting Justin, the challenger, and Lilly, the Gym Leader, will now begin! Again the rules are, two Pokemon for each side. The battle will be over when both of one side's Pokemon are unable to battle. Only the challenger is allowed substitutions. Let us begin!"

"Go Furret!" I send out my Furret.

"Umbreon, your turn." She sends out a Umbreon.

"Furret, Quick Attack!" Furret runs in toward Umbreon.

"Faint Attack." Umbreon hits Furret with a quick hit when it gets close, knocking it out in one hit.

"Furret is unable to battle, Umbreon is the winner."

"We're done." I return Furret to it's Pokeball then walk out of the Gym. Olivia, Drew, and Rachel chases after me.

"Justin, wait!"

"What?"

"Why didn't you use another Pokemon?" Drew asks.

"Why bother? Didn't stand a chance anyway."

"So instead of trying, you decide to forfeit and walk out? Weak."

"Weak? So it's weak of me trying to protect my Pokemon instead of putting them at risk of getting hurt?"

"No, it's weak of you to quit without even trying. There's no way you're going to beat a Gym if you just walk out like that."

"Whatever." I walk off to the Pokemon Center.

"Sore loser." Drew says to himself.

After getting to the Pokemon Center, I give Nurse Joy my Furret to take care of it. I decide to go to my room to recollect my thoughts by laying down a bit.

"So you give up?" Rachel walks into my room and sits on the bed.

"No. I just need time to think other a strategy to defeat her."

"I have an idea."

"Really? What's that?"

"Talking to the other guy who lost to her. Together you guys could figure it out."

"What? Talk to the guy who called me weak? No, I think I'm good."

"Get over it. You can't get upset at every little thing someone says to you."

"Also, I didn't mean what I said." Drew walks into the room. "But you can't just give up after one defeat. You have to keep pushing."

"Okay. Now let's figure out how to defeat Lilly."

"Right." Drew and I shake hands.