Leaves fell from the trees of Celadon City as Danny took a short walk outside. The summer had now officially ended and autumn had started. Most trees started to show other colors than green: yellow, red and orange where taking over the landscape.
Danny looked up in the sky, the sun was still there, but he knew rain would become more and more common.
"This journey is going to be even harder from now on." He whispered to himself, but he wasn't just referring the weather.
With the Celadon takeover, the NTR showed the entire Kanto region how strong they had become. They are a force to be reckoned with, instead of the group of thugs everyone thought they were.
Danny looked around him, there hadn't been much destruction. The Celadon Game Corner had been damaged during the fight, so there where construction workers restoring it. Other than that the city was pretty much intact.
The Pokémon Centre reappeared within Danny's sight and the latter walked towards it. On a small bench before the building was Janine, petting her Venonat.
"Isn't it too cold to be outside?" He asked. He had changed his shorts and t-shirt to a more practical set of blue jeans and a black sweater. He had also wore a blue coat, which he had bought in Vermillion City. Janine on the other hand, was still in her purple skirt and light-purple shirt.
"I'm used to the cold." She said with a smile. Her purple eyes shined again, which he realized hadn't happened since the NTR take-over.
It's been two days since the takeover: Giovanni or Gregg, like Danny still referred to him, had left the same evening as the NTR takeover had ended. He said he had other businesses to attend. Agatha and Gregor had left the day after.
Danny walked inside and saw Richard talking to nurse Joy.
"Hey man, how're you doing?"
Richard turned around. His face had recovered completely and he smiled. "I'm doing fine. Nurse Joy just did a check-up and it turns out I'm good to go."
Danny smiled as well.
"That doesn't mean you shouldn't take it easy" Joy reacted.
"I won't." Richard reacted.
Richard stood up, said thanks to Joy and walked towards Danny.
"How's the town?" He asked.
"The town is good, there are some building that have been destroyed, it'll take a while before the Game Corner can be used again and there's still smoke coming from the Department Store, but other than that it's looking good."
"I'm glad to hear that."
Danny saw a cellphone and stopped in his tracks. "I need to make a quick phone call."
He rang the phone and was happy to see Oak answering.
"Hey Danny. I heard you stopped the Team Rocket takeover, good job!" The older professor replied.
"Thanks!" Danny said. "How's Beedrill?"
"I figured you didn't call to check up on me." Oak said quasi-sad. "Well, I can report to you that Beedrill is getting better. You can't have it back on your team just yet but it is recovering."
"I'm glad to hear that. But I do have a problem when Beedrill gets better, because it also feels strange to send Grimer back to you." Danny scratched his chin.
"I understand, well your father only used 6 Pokémon throughout his journey, the other ones he captured he send to me and never used, simply because he didn't feel a connection. You could do the same."
"But Grimer seems like such a fun Pokémon and I don't like the feeling of it sitting at your lab all alone."
"Well, it wasn't alone here, but it's your choice. You could also have Beedrill stay at my lab for a while." Oak thought out loud.
"He's not going to like that."
"You never know, overall most Pokémon like it at my lab you know." Oak inhaled. "But let's not worry about a problem that doesn't exist yet. Once Beedrill is fully recovered there's time enough to figure it out."
" You're right. Thanks professor, say hi to Beedrill and my parents for me!" Danny responded and ended the call.
Danny found Richard and Janine sitting in front of the Pokémon Center.
"I guess you want to challenge the gym now?" Janine wondered.
"Yeah. Between you and me, I'm kinda done with Celadon City."
"Me too." Richard replied. "Let's go find that gym."
They stood up and followed the path. Danny had become quite familiar with Celadon City during the NTR breakout, but he hadn't seen the gym yet.
Logically, with Danny leading they got lost.
"I swear we get lost every time you touch a map." Richard claimed.
"That's not true." Danny stuttered. "We didn't got lost in Vermillion City, did we?"
"That's because you weren't leading us." Richard said. "Now give me the damn map."
Danny handed the map over to Richard.
"Huh, that's a surprise." Richard said quasi-shocked.
"What is?" Danny asked.
"The map isn't upside down for once." Richard grinned which resulted in him getting a fist bumped into his arm.
Suddenly, a creature flew over them. They all duck and looked up.
"Is that….?" Danny wondered.
"That can't be. Gordon's Golbat!?" Richard responded.
The blue bat seemed to hear them speak and looked down, recognizing the kids that spoiled his boss' plans. Golbat didn't hesitated but directly attacked.
"Charmeleon, Flamethrower!" Danny threw a Pokéball away and Charmeleon came out. The Fire Lizard looked up towards the opponent and released a strong stream of fire out of its beak. Golbat became ingulfed in the flames and cried in pain.
"Finish it off with Tackle!"
Charmeleon jumped in the air and smashed into Golbat. The latter fell down in defeat while Charmeleon softly landed on its feet.
"So Gordon left his Golbat behind, that's strange." Richard scratched his chin.
"What do we do with it?" Danny asked.
"Do you think we can capture it?" Janine asked. "I could send it to my dad for training."
"Please tell us, WHO IS YOUR DAD?" Danny practically screamed.
"I told you guys, he's the Pokémart owner of Fuchsia City." Janine responded quickly.
"And he trains Golbat?" Richard asked.
"He trains all kinds of Poison types." Janine felt she was on the edge.
"Why?" Danny responded.
"I don't know okay! Can we please just drop it?" Janine asked frustrated. She took an empty Pokéball and threw it at the Golbat. After a few turns it clicked.
"So Gordon released it, that's strange."
"I'm going to send this to my dad. I'll catch you guys at the gym, okay?" Janine ran back towards the Pokécenter.
"Man, she really doesn't want us to know anything about her dad." Danny said.
"I know, do you believe he's a Pokémart owner that trains Poison type Pokémon?" Richard reacted.
"Not in the slightest. What if he is part of the NTR?"
"Sure he is." Richard laughed.
They suddenly saw Erika walk towards them.
"Danny! Richard!" The gym leader screamed as she came closer. "I've got an issue at the gym and I need your help."
"Sure, what is it?" Danny asked.
"Well, there's a hostile Machoke that has taken shelter in the gym and we can't get it out, I had to close the gym. Two trainers came by to challenge me and ended up fighting the Machoke, but neither one could beat it." Erika explained.
"We'll see what we can do I guess." Richard said and both boys followed Erika.
"If my Victreebel hadn't been wounded during the battle against the NTR it would have been able to help, but Nurse Joy says it's still not ready to battle." Erika explained while they followed the tarmac road towards the gym.
Once they arrived at the gym they saw an unfamiliar face.
"Hi miss Erika, my name is Lester and I am here to earn my fifth gym badge." The guy said. He seemed to be a year or two older than Danny and Richard.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but currently the gym is closed due to a Machoke on the loose." Erika explained.
"Really? I think I can handle it. Wartortle, Pidgeotto, come on out." Lester threw two Pokéballs and the two Pokémon emerged.
"Let's find ourselves a good battle inside." He ran towards the gym, followed by his two Pokémon.
"Well, I'm afraid you two have to wait in line." Erika said while scratching the back of her head.
"Maybe he can fix it." Richard suggested.
A loud shatter and the Wartortle flew through on the ground, he had been thrown right through one of the four windows of the building. The Turtle Pokémon had trouble getting up but managed anyway. He quickly ran back inside.
"Pidgeotto!" They heard a scream coming from the inside.
"That doesn't sound good. Charmeleon, Bellsprout, with me!" Danny let out two of his Pokémon. Because Charmeleon had grown to be quite bigger Danny had decided it would be best if he would stay in his Pokéball while they were in the bigger cities.
"Are you going to be okay?" Erika asked.
"I'm not gonna fight that Machoke, I'm getting Lester out." Danny explained before running into the building. When he opened the door a defeated Nidorino flew out.
"Lester!" Danny screamed when he went inside. The entire place was trashed: dead flowers where spread over the floor, part of the lighting was gone and chairs and tables where broken in halve.
Lester was standing against the angry Machoke with only a Vulpix in between them, both Pidgeotto and Wartortle laid defeated near his feet.
"Charmeleon, Flamethrower. Bellsprout, Razor Leaf!" Danny commanded. Charmeleon let lose a strong blast of fire while Bellsprout released a bunch of sharp leaves, targeted at the angry Fighting type.
The hits didn't seem to do much to Machoke at all, it only got angrier.
"Lester, we need to leave."
The trainer nodded and returned all three of his Pokémon to their Pokéballs. They both ran towards the exit while jumping over broken obstacles, closely followed by Charmeleon and Bellsprout, but Machoke wasn't done. He ran after them and wanted to grab them.
"Charmeleon, another Flamethrower." Danny said in panic.
This time the attack did a little more damage and the Machoke tripped and fell, giving the two trainers and their Pokémon the opportunity to get out of the building.
Once outside they ran into Erika, Richard and Janine.
"Are you guys okay?" Janine asked.
"Yeah, my Pokémon got a beating though. I'm taking them directly to the Pokémon Center." Lester proclaimed and he ran off after also getting Nidorino back in his ball.
"Now what?" Erika said in despair.
"I have an idea, a strategy that might work." Danny said as he scratched his chin, a habit he always did whenever he thought of something. "But I'm going to need help." He looked at his two friends.
"I've been inside and it is one mess, so it's easy to make a wrong step and fall." He explained. "Janine, can you and Weezing make sure Machoke won't see a thing in there?"
"Sure we can." She let out the Poison Gas Pokémon.
"Now Richard, we need to hit it hard with everything we got. I know Eevee doesn't like to battle but we do need the others. Combined with my team we might be able to beat it."
"We can give it a shot."
Both released their Pokémon.
"You better stay back here." Richard said to his Eevee after he kneeled next to her. Eevee nodded.
"Let's go guys!" Danny said as he ran into the building, directly followed by his Pokémon.
"Erika, can you watch Eevee for me?" Richard asked. He directly followed Danny after Erika nodded.
Danny kicked open the door and saw Machoke stand in the middle of the room. Due to Charmeleon's Flamethrower, some of the wooden chairs had started to burn.
Machoke growled and picked up a chair.
"Dodge!" Danny screamed. The Fighting type threw the chair towards the trainers but the latter could jump away just in time.
"Weezing, use Smokescreen!" Janine ordered.
Weezing let out a big plume of black smog that quickly filled the room.
"Where did it go?" Richard thought out loud.
Suddenly Sandshrew flew past Richard against the wall. The Mouse Pokémon got back up but was hurt.
Seconds later and Bellsprout shared Sandshrew's fate.
"We made a mistake." Danny grumbled. He tried to think. Out there, an angry fighting machine was beating them up.
"You think so?" Janine said semi-angry.
Machoke ran forward and was suddenly visible for Richard. The Fighting type was about to punch Richard in the face before Squirtle jumped in front of it. Machoke's fist hit Squirtle's shell but neither took damage.
"Squirtle, use Bubblebeam!" The Tiny Turtle Pokémon let out a large amount of bubbles that hit the Machoke. Nevertheless it barely did anything.
Machoke made itself ready for another attack, but Richard was faster. He jumped, caught Squirtle and landed a few feet further away, out of range of Machoke.
Machoke turned around to face the two once again but was hit by Charmeleon's Flamethrower in the back.
"Pidgey, use Gust to blow the smog away." Danny ordered.
What was supposed to be their advantage became their obstacle. Within seconds the smog had disappeared. They now all had eyes on the Machoke, but the Machoke could see all of them as well.
"Kadabra, use Psychic!"
Kadabra used it's spoon to create a stronger psychic power and it lifted Machoke in the air.
"That's it. Now smash Machoke into the wall." Kadabra nodded and the fighting type was smashed into the wall.
Before it could get up vines circled around it and strapped it down.
"What…"
"As the Gym Leader I can't let you do all the fighting." Erika said. She had just walked into the gym with her Tangela, who used Vine Whip to tie Machoke down.
"What now?" Janine asked.
"I don't believe that a Pokémon can be bad. Its trainer might be, but the Pokémon itself isn't. They just follow orders." Erika explained.
"How do you know? If I commanded Charmeleon to burn down this entire city I don't think he would listen." Danny reacted.
"But your Charmeleon has known nothing else than love since it has been trained. You always took care of it and it knows you always will. Machoke here probably never had a decent trainer that loved it and took care of it. Now it's trainer has left it and it doesn't know what to do, so it just follows the path it has learned to follow." Erika continued.
"Deep within it, the Pokémon that it used to be still lies. Who knows, with a lot of love, care and help Machoke could become a strong and friendly Pokémon again."
Richard, visibly emotional due to Erika's explanation, took a Great Ball out of his Pokémon.
"I bought this thinking it would be for a special Pokémon. You are that special Pokémon." Richard said. He threw the Great Ball at Machoke.
"Richard…?" Danny asked.
"Erika's right, every Pokémon deserves a second chance." Richard said.
The Pokéball shook twice and clicked. Machoke was now officially part of Richard's team.
"I'm going to take Machoke to the Pokécentre." Richard said.
"Do you want us to come with you?" Danny asked as he put his hand onto Richard's shoulder.
"Nah, no need to. You guys help Erika repair the gym." The black-haired trainer said with a grin.
Danny nodded and turned to Erika.
"What can we do to help?" He asked.
"Well, we first need to get the burning things out of here. This is a Grass gym and thus highly sensitive to everything that's one fire."
"On it."
Together with Erika, Danny, Janine and their Pokémon helped cleaning the gym up.
Meanwhile, Richard entered the Pokémon Centre.
"Did you beat it?" Lester jumped up from his seat.
In response, Richard showed the young trainer the Great Ball.
"You….. you captured it?"
"Yeah.." Richard walked towards the desk and laid down the ball.
"This Machoke has had a really rough time and needs to be healed." Richard informed Nurse Joy.
"Right on it." The nurse said.
"Why did you capture it?" Lester asked.
"Because no Pokémon is bad."
"Lester, your Pokémon are all good to go." Joy said. His Nidorino, Wartortle, Vulpix and Pidgeotto hurried towards him.
He kneeled down next to him.
"I'm glad you guys are okay." He said with joy.
His Pokémon all cuddled with him.
Lester looked up at Richard with a smile. "I guess you are right. Too bad I couldn't help."
"You can help now. The gym needs to be restored before there can be gym battles again."
"Really? Let's go guys, we got ourselves a job!"
Lester and his Pokémon quickly ran out of the building.
"What an enthusiastic kid." Joy said. "I like what you said about no Pokémon being bad. Machoke is in the restroom, if you'd like you can go see him."
Richard softly nodded.
Machoke was attached to some machines but it seemed like he would be healthy quickly enough.
Insecure, Richard slowly stepped into the room.
"Hi Machoke…." He greeted.
The Fighting Pokémon looked up and started to growl softly.
"I understand we got off the wrong foot. I also realize you didn't have a good life with Gordon. I would like to change that, if you are up for it." The trainer explained.
Machoke didn't respond.
"I have a team of Pokémon that would love for you to join them. They are currently helping to restore the gym. No-one blames you for what you did. You just didn't knew any better. I don't know what Gordon made you do and I don't care. What matters is that you are safe with me and together we will do better things."
Machoke didn't seemed to be moved, but he also didn't seem aggressive.
Richard took the gamble and took a chair to sit next to his new Pokémon.
Machoke didn't move.
Joy stepped into the doorway.
"Give it time. Machoke needs to get used to this new form of attention. He'll warm up to you soon enough." She said. "In the meantime, can I get you anything?"
"A coffee would be nice."
"Coming right up. Give Machoke a few hours rest and he will be all better."
Richard nodded and followed the nurse out of the room.
When both where gone, Machoke softly smiled.
