Austin had captured the Pokemon he needed, Oddish was nice, but he liked the Bellsprout, so he sent Professor Oak Raticate, and Beedrill. True they were both strong and had fought well for him, but Austin could only carry 6 Pokemon, and didn't know what he might find next. The professor sent Austin Bellsprout, Austin looked at his roster; Charmander, Pidgeotto, Butterfree, Pikachu and now Bellsprout. It was most likely Pikachu and Bellsprout would do the battling for him, so he set to train a bit before his match. Austin was happy, he had gotten many types of Pokemon already, and he himself had grown stronger, his hair a bit messy, his glasses dirty, his blue jacket already had a small rip, fortunately his jeans were holding up, and his hair was covered by his Pokemon League hat anyways.
During the training he was able to learn Bellsprout's attacks and get a good feel for how to use it. He also worked on Pikachu, trying to strengthen its electric attacks, but during training Pikachu got hurt, an Ekans had bitten it, and Ekans' bite is quite venomous, so he rushed to the Pokemon center. The nurse said Pikachu would be alright, but it wouldn't be able to battle for the gym match, Austin's ace was gone now, Bellsprout was his only fighter, so he knew he'd have to take his chances.
He stepped in the gym, and there was a pretty girl inside, a bit older than Austin, red hair in a side pony tail, 'She's cute,' Austin thought and blushed a bit, "Um, miss, where would I go to have my gym match?" She looked at him and smiled, "Right this way," she said with a smile. She took him to a large room and when she flipped the lights on it was a large pool, with a few floating platforms to stand on. "Just get on the Blue platform over there please," the girl said with a smile, "Oh, and you're only aloud to use two Pokemon, if you're hear you must have beaten Brock, so we make it a more level playing field this way." This was terrible, if Bellsprout was out Austin didn't know who to turn to, he only had three choices, and now he could only use two of his four active Pokemon. He had to overcome this though, if he was going to be a Pokemon Master he had to be prepared for a real challenge, so he got on the platform and waited.
"Alright then!" The girl shouted and jumped on the opposite platform, "My name is Misty, I'm the gym leader here, as I said we'll each use two Pokemon, I'll even start us off, Staryu, and you're up!" She shouted and from her Pokeball came a star shaped Pokemon, gold in color, with a round, red gem in the center of its body. Austin knew what plan he would start with, "Bellsprout, come on out!" Austin shouted, and Bellsprout landed on one of the platforms, ready to battle.
"Staryu, use water gun!" Misty shouted, and Staryu complied shooting water in a fine stream from the top point of its body, Bellsprout had a thin body though so it dodged the shots, "Okay the, use tackle, Staryu!" Bellsprout couldn't dodge this one and it was hit hard, but stayed on the platform, Austin though quick, "Bellsprout, use wrap," Bellsprout shot a vine from its side and wrapped it around Staryu, "Now, squeeze!" The vine tightened, but Staryu stood strong, "Staryu, use watergun!" Misty shouted, Bellsprout gave Staryu an easy target this time and let go from the force of the water. "Try a Vine whip, Bellsprout!" Austin yelled, Bellsprout shot the Vine at Staryu, but Staryu dodged, "Now, Bubblebeam, Staryu!" Staryu shot a blast of bubbles straight at Bellsprout, who almost hit the water from impact, Austin needed a new attack. "Try Sleep powder, now Bellsprout!" Austin called, "BELL!!" Exclaimed Bellsprout and short a mist of blue powder at Staryu. Staryu began to fall asleep, it had passed out standing, "He, now wrap it, Bellsprout!" Bellsprout shot the vine around Staryu, "Now finish it with Vine whip!" Bellsprout jumped in the air, taking Staryu with it, and proceeded to slam Staryu to the platform below. The jewel on Staryu began to flash, this signified it had passed out, round one went to Austin.
If Austin could get through her next Pokemon he would have his second badge, and wouldn't have to worry about substitution. "Alright kid, you're pretty strong," Misty admitted, "but you can't beat, Starmie, go!" This was another star shaped Pokemon, but it was purple, had ten points, and was much larger. "You okay to go Bellsprout?" Austin asked, Bellsprout nodded, and the fight was one. "Vine whip, Bellsprout" Austin yelled, it hit Starmie on the mark, it went off balance, but quickly came back. "I don't think you know how strong this one is," Misty laughed, "Tackle, Starmie!" Starmie launched itself at Bellsprout, knocking it into the water. "Bellsprout, use Sleep powder!" Bellsprout shot the powder, but it couldn't swim, so it had no aim, the powder went everywhere. "Now Starmie, Bubblebeam!" Misty shouted, Starmie leaped into the air and shot a hard stream of bubbles at Bellsprout, a huge splash from the water then appeared, when mist cleared, Bellsprout was floating, it had been knocked out.
This is bad, Austin thought to himself, I only have one choice left, no way Pidgeotto can take that thing, and Butterfree didn't have the raw power, this left him with only one option, but it would be a risky one. "Charmander, go!" Austin shouted, a surprised Misty on the other side of the arena. "Ahahahaha! Are you serious?!" She laughed, "You're going to use a Charmander here in a water gym, against something like Starmie?!" This was his chance, she wasn't paying attention, "Charmander, scratch, hurry!" Charmander jumped at Starmie, and hit it with a hard swipe of its claws, knocking Starmie on the ground, "Now use Flamethrower!" Charmander shot flames at the downed Sea Star Pokemon, but it had only done minor damage. "Fire attacks are worthless on Starmie," She boasted, "Starmie, use Bubblebeam!" The hard shot of Bubbles knocked Charmander back, almost into the water, but it wouldn't go down so easily. "I have to think of something…he wait a minute!" Austin had an idea, "Charmander, hit Starmie with flamethrower again!" Charmander was wary, but shot the fire. "What?" Misty said, "It won't work you idiot, I told you that!" The flames hit dead on, but did something different this time, part of Starmie was steaming from the shot. "Oh no… you…. You burned it!" Misty shouted, a burn is a status in Pokemon that can slowly drain health from the pain of combat. "Oh yes, now Charmander, use…" Misty cut him off, "Starmie, jump in the water, cure the burn, quick!" Starmie jumped in the water, and a loud his was heard, a moment later, Starmie jumped out of the water, no longer effected by the burn, ready to fight. "Ha! I told you," Misty yelled, tauntingly, wait… what the…" Starmie was wobbling back and forth, and then fell over.
"Just as I planned it!" Austin yelled, "You see earlier when Bellsprout was in the water it shot a whole bunch of Sleep powder in the air, and most of it had to be in the water by now, so I figured, force Starmie into the water, and it would hit the sleep power!" The match was over now, Starmie was helpless, "Charmander, use flamethrower!" Charmander did, and the sleeping star was charred and defeated, Austin had won his second gym badge!
"Wow, I gotta admit," Misty started, "That was a brilliant strategy to use on me, you even beat my powerful Starmie with a fire Pokemon, you really deserve this, here you go!" It was a badge shaped like a tear drop, the Cascade badge, Austin jumped for joy, he had won his second badge, and he did it by two on two rules.