Chapter 10: Rematch for the Boulder Badge
Jason rushed up to the doors and threw them open with both hands. "I'm back!" he exclaimed. "Now where is Brock? Me and my Pokemon have a score to settle with him!" Brock stepped out from the shadows. "Funny, I thought I sent you packing," "You can't keep me from my goals! I want a rematch!" "I hope you learned some new techniques, otherwise I already know the outcome of this fight! Go Geodude!" He shouted throwing a poke ball. A rock with a face and arms appeared in front of him, levitating.
Ashley stepped off the battlefield to the bleachers in the gym to safely watch the action and cheer Jason on, however she grew a sense of doubt when he learned of the Pokemon Jason was sending out. "Go Metapod!" Jason cried as he threw its ball. Metapod materialized in front of him. "Use Harden!" Metapod stiffened itself, and then began to grow a harder coat. "Geodude, use tackle!" Geodude quickly levitated itself over to Metapod, and slammed into it as hard as it could. Metapod was not fazed. "Harden again!" Jason ordered. "Geodude, use rock throw!" Geodude picked up some small stones and hurled them at Metapod. Each of the rocks shattered as they hit.
"I see!" Ashley thought to herself! "Jason is using harden to avoid being knocked out and to tire Geodude at the same time!" "Metapod, string shot now!" From a small hole in the front of the cocoon, a stream of a thread-like, sticky, white substance spouted out and landed all over Geodude. It began to use its arms to pull off the string. "Enough playing around. Use rock tomb!" Brock ordered Geodude. After cleaning itself of the string, Geodude smashed the floor with immense power. It created two smaller boulders. It picked up one in each hand and lobed them towards Metapod. Metapod was crushed underneath.
After the rocks rolled off, Jason discovered Metapod beneath them lying on the ground sideways, its cocoon body cracked down the back. Jason began to think the worst but the crack in the Pokemon's body began to glow. The crack split open and after a few seconds of sustained glowing, a beautiful, big, butterfly emerged from the cocoon.
"Butterfree: the butterfly Pokemon. The wings are protected by a rain-repellent dust. As a result, this Pokemon can fly about even in rain," "Yeah! You go Jason!" Ashley said from the bleachers. "OK buddy, use confusion!" Jason ordered. Butterfree began to glow a faint purple shade and somehow, Geodude took a heavy hit and became disoriented. "Oh no! Geodude use rock tomb!" Geodude repeated the attack from before, but when it threw the rocks, they went straight up and landed on top of Geodude. It fainted from the blow. Brock grunted and withdrew his exhausted Pokemon. "Go, Onix!" he shouted throwing the ball containing the beast. "Butterfree, you did great now get back!" Jason said withdrawing Butterfree. He sent out Charmander in its place
"Do you learn from your defeats?" Brock asked. "Use metal claw!" Jason shouted. "Use rage!" Brock said at the same time. Charmander was quicker to take action. It lunged forward with its sharp claws barred and slashed at the Onix's body. Several pieces of the snake's hard body chipped and it roared in pain. To retaliate against the smaller opponent, it charged at Charmander. Charmander leaped out of the way and landed on the head of the behemoth. Before it realized what happened, Charmander dug its claws into the head of the Onix and slashed with all its might. Onix slowly stopped moving. Jason and Ashley held their breath. Could Jason have finally won? Brock rushed to check his fallen Pokemon.
"It's over," he said and withdrew Onix. "Really!? I won? YES!" Jason screamed, jumping for joy. Ashley ran up to him from the bleachers to congratulate him and Jason scooped her up in a wild hug. Then, he put her down after he realized that it was little embarrassing. Jason sat down and picked up Charmander. Being carful of its tail flame, he gave it a hug and a few pats on the head. Then, Charmander began to glow in the most amazing light. Slowly, it changed shape and when the glow wore of, the creature left standing was bigger, meaner and red in color.
"Charmeleon: the flame Pokemon. It lashes about with its tail to knock down its foe. It then tears up the fallen opponent with sharp claws," Jason withdrew his newly evolved Pokemon "I think you made a great decision in choosing your first Pokemon," Brock said. "I took you for a foolish child and so, I lost. I must confer the Boulder Badge to you," Brock fished a small badge from his pockets. It was gray and looked like a tiny octagonal stone.
Jason stuck it inside his badge case that he took with him from home. "You fight with strategy, determination, passion, and honor," Brock said to him. "I know that you will make it far in your journey because of those qualities," "Thank you sir," said Jason bowing before Brock. "Before you leave, take this," he said handing Jason a brown disc. "It may look like a disc, but it is called a TM or technical machine. You use them to teach Pokemon powerful and elusive techniques. The one I just gave you contains rock tomb. It is intended for use on rock Pokemon. TMs can be used ONLY ONCE. I do not give these out often, but you fought brilliantly so I believe you deserve it. I think the other gym leaders are like this too. Put up an interesting or good fight, and they might decide to let you have their favorite TM. Well, we are done here. Maybe we can fight again… Someday," He watched them leave through the gym doors and waved just as they were fading out of sight.