In this chapter, Sarah's going to catch another Pokemon! I figured she could use a fire type since she already has two water types. Of course, she'll finish her battle with Jake first.
Chapter 25: The Legendary Dogs
Since the Olivine Gym Leader was currently looking after a sick Ampharos, Lucy decided that she would challenge the Gym Leader in Ecruteak City instead. Hopefully he was currently at the gym. Otherwise she wasn't sure which Gym Leader she would face next.
It seemed like a good idea.
Immediately, she set foot inside the gym.
She quickly noticed how foggy it was inside the gym. Did somebody forget to turn on the fan?
However, she could still make the Gym Leader out even with all the fog. It seemed that he didn't want to make it too difficult for them to get through his gym.
"Another challenger? Alright then...since I'm feeling rather generous, I'll go first." stated Morty.
Lucy noted that seemed fair since he had likely been a Pokemon Trainer for longer than she had.
Morty sent out Gastly.
"Gas gas!" exclaimed Gastly.
"Gastly's a poison type, right? I might know how to deal with him..." noted Lucy.
Lucy sent out her Dugtrio. Professor Oak had been complaining about him building too many trenches so she decided to take him out of his hands for the time being.
"Try using Magnitude!" exclaimed Lucy.
"That won't work." answered Morty.
"Huh?" asked the girl.
Curious, she noticed that Gastly seemed to be levitating. Basically, he was a flying type.
"Oh." said the girl.
So much for exploiting Gastly's ground type weakness.
And to make matters worse, Dugtrio couldn't simply slash Gastly with his claws. They would simply go right through him.
"What should we do?" asked Lucy.
"Dugtrio Dugtrio!" exclaimed Dugtrio.
But as it turned out, there was still hope.
"Wait, you learned a dark move recently?" asked Lucy.
Dugtrio nodded. Since Digletts typically lived in caverns, he figured, why not?
"Alright then...why don't you try it out?" inquired the girl.
Dugtrio used Night Slash.
"Gastly!" exclaimed the ghost Pokemon. That really hurt.
Gastly responded by attempting to wrap Dugtrio with his tongue.
However, the three Digletts quickly separated in order to avoid it.
"I guess being able to move a mile per minute has its perks." noted Lucy. If she could move that fast, she'd be able to get a lot of errands done pretty quickly.
Dugtrio nodded. They could flee from the first sign of trouble. However, most of the Pokemon living inside the cavern were other Digletts and Dugtrios, so they hardly ever ran into trouble.
They then hit Gastly with Night Slash again.
Gastly fainted.
"Gastly..." said the fainted ghost Pokemon, who had fallen to the ground.
Morty withdrew Gastly and sent out Haunter.
"This is going to be a bigger challenge." noted Lucy.
Dugtrio found that to be acceptable.
Haunter launched a Shadow Ball at Dugtrio.
Dugtrio ducked underneath it and night slashed Haunter.
"Haunter!" exclaimed Morty's Haunter.
In retaliation, he attempted to hypnotize Dugtrio.
However, he only succeeded in hypnotizing one of the Digletts.
The other two Digletts quickly woke him up.
"Trio?" inquired the Diglett.
They then used Night Slash on Haunter again.
"Haunt..." said the fainted ghost Pokemon.
"It looks like we have the upper hand...wait, do you even have hands?" asked Lucy.
"Dugtrio..." said the trio Pokemon.
However, Dugtrio was starting to feel tired after taking down two Pokemon in a row.
"Trio..." said Dugtrio. If he weren't in the middle of a fight, he probably would have gone underground to take a nap by now.
Morty sent out Gengar.
Dugtrio tried using Night Slash, but Gengar was fast enough to avoid it.
Gengar then hit Dugtrio with Shadow Ball.
"Trio!" exclaimed Dugtrio. It seemed that Gengar was actually fast enough to keep up with him.
On the lighter side of things, Dugtrio successfully slashed him with Night Slash.
However, Gengar then struck Dugtrio with Sucker Punch.
Dugtrio fainted.
"Who should I send next?" asked Lucy.
"Clefairy." said Lucy's Clefairy.
"Hmm? You're familiar with ghost types?" questioned the girl.
Clefairy nodded. There were ghost Pokemon living in space.
"Huh. I guess they don't need oxygen..." noted Lucy.
Clefairy shook her head.
Lucy decided to have Clefairy step up to the plate.
Clefairy smiled.
Clefairy used Metronome.
She came up with Psychic.
Gengar took a beating.
"Gengar!" exclaimed Morty's Gengar. Apparently, when you were as smart as Pokemon As Clefairy was, you were good at using psychic attacks.
"There's no hitting Clefairy with Shadow Ball...try using Sucker Punch!" exclaimed Morty.
Morty nodded.
However, Clefairy's small frame made her difficult to hit.
Morty sighed.
It looked like he might lose this matchup. Lucy DID have one more Pokemon after this, after all.
Well, it was best to go down fighting if you had to go down.
Morty had Gengar use Sucker Punch again.
Clefairy was punched in the face.
"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.
"Hang in there!" nodded Lucy.
Lucy's Clefairy nodded.
Clefairy used Metronome again, and hit Gengar with Psybeam.
Gengar fainted.
"Good job. Here is your Fog Badge." said Morty.
Lucy nodded.
Now it was time to look for Jake.
He was still fighting Sarah.
Unfortunately for Sarah, Ekans could not simply wrap herself around Cyndaquil...there were flames on his back that would most likely burn her if she tried.
Granted, she could probably shed her skin if she wanted to heal some burns, but it was better safe than sorry.
She was going to have to try something else.
"Maybe you can try stinging him?" asked Sarah. It would be helpful if she managed to poison her opponent.
Ekans nodded and fired several poison needles from her mouth. That didn't seem like a bad idea since it meant keeping her distance from Cyndaquil's flames.
However, Cyndaquil reacted quickly and rolled into a ball.
As he did so, he was surrounded by flames.
This gave Jake an idea.
"Have you ever thought of igniting yourself then rolling into your opponent? You and Sandshrew are a lot alike now that I think of it..." noted Jake.
Cyndaquil noted that WAS true.
He used Flame Wheel to attack Ekans.
Unfortunately for Ekans, she was caught by surprise.
Cyndaquil scored a critical hit.
"Ekans!" exclaimed Ekans in astonishment.
After being hit by Cyndaquil's Flame Wheel attack, Ekans was feeling rather woozy.
"You alright, Ekans?" asked Sarah.
Ekans wasn't sure.
Ekans tried using Bite, but she fell over before she could reach Cyndaquil.
Cyndaquil then used Quick Attack.
Ekans fainted.
"Ekans..." stated the fainted snake Pokemon.
"Maybe I should use Totodile." thought Sarah.
He seemed like he would be a good counter to Cyndaquil.
However, when she turned around, she noticed that Totodile was gone.
As it turned out, he was trying to prevent Togepi from entering the Kimono Girls' dressing room.
Apparently she thought that wearing one of those would be fun. She DID enjoy dancing.
Sarah then remembered the Pokemon she had caught on the way to Ecruteak.
"Oh, right...I caught that Pokemon recently..." noted Sarah.
Sarah decided that she was going to send out Sudowoodo.
"Sudowoodo, I choose you!" exclaimed Sarah.
"Sudowoodo!" shouted Sudowoodo.
Jake raised an eyebrow.
"You're using a grass type against my fire type? I was under the impression that you would use Totodile next..." noted Jake.
Currently, Totodile was trying to prevent Togepi from putting on makeup.
Sarah noted that apparently Jake did not realize the truth about Sudowoodo.
Well, he would find out...eventually.
Jake instructed Cyndaquil to use Flame Wheel again.
However, when he did so, Sudowoodo hardly seemed to feel it.
"Sudowoodo?" asked Sudowoodo. He felt like a Pidgey had pecked him. Sometimes they did that. He hardly noticed though.
"What?!" exclaimed Jake. Sudowoodo had hardly been hurt at all. Surely a grass type would have felt that, right?
That was more than they can be said for Cyndaquil. It seemed like he had bumped his head and was feeling woozy.
"Use Rock Throw!" exclaimed Sarah.
"Rock Throw?!" shouted Jake.
Sudowoodo nodded and hurled pointy rocks at Cyndaquil.
Cyndaquil fainted.
Jake wondered what was going on.
He decided to send out Golbat. Maybe a flying type could make this tree Pokemon fall.
Sudowoodo smiled. Once again he had the advantage. He knew how to shoot a flying Pokemon down...though of course, they hardly disturbed him back when he was in the wild. He was happy to carry a bird nest every now and then. It made him feel special.
"Golbat, use Air Cutter!" exclaimed Jake.
Golbat nodded and launched some wind currents at Sudowoodo.
However, Sudowoodo was hardly phased.
"No way!" exclaimed Jake.
Sudowoodo retaliated by tossing a big heavy rock at Golbat.
Golbat took a nasty hit.
"Oh no..." thought Jake.
He instructed Golbat to use Swift.
However, the stars bounced off of Sudowoodo.
"This is one tough Pokemon..." noted Jake.
Sudowoodo tossed more rocks at Golbat.
Golbat fainted.
"We have a winner!" exclaimed the referee.
Sarah and Sudowoodo cheered.
Jake sighed.
Totodile and Togepi came back. However, Totodile was now covered with makeup.
"You Ok?" asked Sarah.
Totodile nodded. He had really gotten in touch with his feminine side.
Togepi handed Totodile a handkerchief. Perhaps she wanted to apologize for the trouble she caused.
Happy that her trainer won, Togepi gave Sarah a hug.
"Togepi!" exclaimed Sarah's Togepi.
Personally, Sarah wondered what Pokemon Togepi evolved into. Right now, she was only a baby.
"I don't get it...how did your Pokemon shrug off my attacks?" asked Jake.
"Well, to be honest. It isn't a grass type. It's a rock type." answered Sarah.
"Really?" inquired the boy.
Sudowoodo nodded. He had come to terms with his identity as a rock type Pokemon.
"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you." answered Sarah.
Sarah left along with Totodile and Togepi.
She noticed that several Team Shadow Grunts were gathered outside the Burned Tower.
"What are you all doing here?" asked Sarah.
"The admin wanted us to go inside the tower while she went to the other one..." explained one of the Grunts.
"I see..." nodded the girl.
She wondered what she was up to.
As it turned out, the admin had disguised herself as a monk.
She was planning to steal the Rainbow Wing. Her employer would be very happy to have something so precious.
After his battle with Sarah, Jake went to see the Gym Leader.
However, he had a problem on his hands.
"I'm afraid I'm not accepting Gym Battle requests right now. There's trouble at the Burned Tower..." said Morty.
"Is it Team Shadow? I remember them from the Slowpoke Well..." spoke Jake.
Morty nodded.
However, he wondered why the Team Shadow Grunts were going for the Burned Tower when they could be going for the Tin Tower.
It seemed like the Tin Tower was a lot more ideal for looting. Perhaps they didn't feel like stealing from old men?
"I guess I should help..." noted Jake.
Jake went to fetch Lucy.
"Is something the matter?" asked Lucy.
"It's Team Shadow..." stated Jake. It seemed that they were causing trouble again.
"You mean the crooks from the Slowpoke Well?" inquired the girl.
"Clefairy..." said Lucy's Clefairy. Those guys were bad news. They made her reconsider being a kleptomaniac.
"I guess we should do something." answered Jake. Officer Jenny could only do so much against a large criminal organization like Team Shadow.
Lucy nodded.
Together, the two of them went to the Burned Tower.
Meanwhile, Sarah was looking at the large hole in the floor.
"Hey! Be careful not to-"
Sarah lost her balance and fell in.
"-fall in." warned the Team Shadow Grunt.
Luckily, Sarah didn't hurt herself.
"How do I get back up here?" asked Sarah.
At that very moment, a wild Slugma approached her.
"A Slugma?" asked Sarah.
The Slugma nodded.
Sarah scanned the Slugma with her Pokédex.
"Slugma, the Lava Pokemon. It must keep moving, or else it will cool down and solidify!" said Sarah's Pokédex.
Sure enough, it seemed that Slugma had hardened.
"You Ok?" asked Sarah.
Slugma nodded. Sometimes that happened.
The slug Pokemon started moving again and heated up once more.
According to the Pokédex, Slugma could be any gender they wanted to be. They were a peculiar Pokemon that way. However, they typically chose to be male or female sooner or later.
"So...what gender do you want to be?" asked Sarah.
Since this was the first time Slugma met a human, the lava Pokemon chose to be female like her.
"So, what brings you to a place like this?" questioned the girl.
"Slugma." said the slug Pokemon. She heard that Entei was in the area and decided to pay a visit. After all, Entei was the reason why Pokemon like Slugma existed.
Curious, Sarah decided to approach the trio.
However, when they saw Sarah, the three Legendary Dogs bolted.
"Where are they going?" asked Sarah.
Slugma sighed. It seemed that the trio scared easily.
Although to be fair, if she got too close to Suicune, chances are she would begin to cool down. Each of the Legendary dogs radiated their element on account of being so powerful.
"I'm sorry..." apologized Sarah.
"Slugma..." answered the slug Pokemon. It was alright.
Although...now that she thought of it, maybe traveling would be fun. The three dogs did it a lot. In fact, so did the Legendary Birds. They had been spotted flying all across the sky. Generally they preferred an environment that matched their tastes however.
Slugma looked at one of Sarah's Pokeballs.
"You're not going to melt the Pokeball, right? You seem kind of hot..." questioned Sarah. After all, Slugmas were made out of molten rock, though they weren't actually rock types.
"Slugma." said the wild Slugma. Pokeballs could handle fire starter Pokemon just fine...so theoretically it could withstand hot temperatures, even if Slugmas were basically made from molten rock.
"OK, I'll trust your judgment on that." answered Sarah. Slugma seemed like a smart Pokemon.
Sarah tossed the Pokeball at Slugma.
Slugma yawned. Though Slugmas and their evolution never slept, they were capable of yawning surprisingly well.
Within a few seconds, Slugma was caught.
"I guess I'll use her against an ice type..." noted Sarah. Or maybe a grass type. It depended on which one she was facing off against.
She decided to climb back up the ladder.
As it turned out, some police officers had entered the tower.
"Oh no..." thought Sarah.
It looked like her comrades were in danger of being arrested.
She quickly pulled out a Pokeball.
Meanwhile...
"Are you feeling better about facing the Gym Leader?" asked Chris.
Ned nodded.
"Good! I don't want you to give up on your Pokemon journey..." noted the girl. He had done so well back at Kanto.
"Yeah..." nodded Ned.
Chris sent out her Spinarak.
"You're sending out your Spinarak?" asked Ned.
"Just wanted to see your reaction." answered Chris.
Ned shrugged.
However, when they visit the gym, they found that it was closed.
Chris groaned.
"I'm sure he'll be back eventually." assured Ned.
"I hope." answered Chris.
Curious, Ned noticed that there was a cave nearby.
Perhaps they could train their Pokemon there?
As soon as they entered, they noticed a familiar face.
"Karate Master Kiyo? Is that you?" asked Ned.
Kiyo nodded.
"I seem to recall you being in Saffron City..." noted the boy.
"Sometimes I go here in order to train my Pokemon." explained the black belt.
"Oh." answered Ned. That made sense.
"Speaking of which, how about a Pokemon Battle?" asked the man.
Ned nodded. Why not?
Predictably, Kiyo sent out Hitmonchan.
Ned decided to send out Hoothoot.
"Hoothoot!" exclaimed Ned's Hoothoot.
"Using a flying type? Smart. But I have ways to work around that." answered Kiyo.
"Huh?" asked Ned.
"Hoothoot?" inquired Ned's Hoothoot.
Suddenly, Hitmonchan hit Hoothoot with Thunder Punch.
"Hoothoot!" exclaimed Hoothoot.
Hoothoot tried using Confusion, but Hitmonchan was too fast for her.
Before she could use the move, Hitmonchan hit Hoothoot with Ice Punch.
It was bad enough that she was zapped, but now she felt cold.
However, she would be quickly warmed up when Hitmonchan hit Hoothoot with Fire Punch.
"I'm starting to think that this is a mismatch." noted Ned.
However, Hoothoot wasn't inclined to give up so easily.
She did want to become stronger for the sake of her trainer. Maybe he could use her against Morty.
She was starting to feel something awaken inside of her.
Suddenly, Hoothoot began to evolve.
"Huh?" asked Ned.
Hoothoot became a Noctowl.
"Good job!" exclaimed the boy.
"Noctowl!" cheered Ned's Noctowl.
Ned scanned his new Noctowl with his Pokedex.
"Noctowl, the Owl Pokemon. Noctowl is an excellent hunter, mainly due to its ability to see in the dark and its skills at stealth." read Ned's Pokedex.
"Interesting..." said Ned.
I figured it would be fun to use Pokemon abilities such as Levitate. I feel like it would make the Pokemon Battles more interesting.
Of course, I don't think they had them in Generation II, now did they?
I decided to have Sarah use her Sudowoodo since there's no point in letting him go to waste.
As a side note, I think I'll make Jake's Golbat evolve into a Crobat. I figured that would be cool.
I also had Sarah catch a Slugma since lava is known to be destructive. For some strange reason they only seem to exist in Kanto even though they debuted in Generation II.
Since Ned used his Hoothoot in two Gym Battles, I figured why not have Hoothoot evolve into Noctowl?
I'll be seeing you.