Episode 50: Static shock!
The following morning went by like usual—Niko woke up first, got ready for the day, and walked out with JJ to the Pokémon Center lobby to talk and wait for Brittany and Lauren. With some exceptions, Niko was usually the first up and ready to go. Sometimes he would wake up with Brittany, but most times it was JJ. He would allow his pokémon to sit around in their room for a bit while he got ready, and then returned them to their pokéballs.
This morning was no different, but the girls were up and ready relatively quickly since it was a special day. That day, Niko and Lauren would compete for their final Sinnoh gym badge. As soon as the whole group was ready, they ate, fed their pokémon, and proceeded towards the gym, which was in the northwestern part of the city, near the water.
The Sunyshore City Gym looked like any ordinary gym on the outside—just a cylindrical building with a massive pokéball emblazoned on the front. As Niko and his friends entered, however, they saw a completely different inside.
The gym looked like the inside of some machine, with gears turning clockwise and counterclockwise all along the walls. In the center of the main room was a yellow-colored battlefield with white lines to demarcate the borders. At the opposite end of the field stood Flint and a tall blonde-haired man of roughly the same height—and taller than Niko. Upon seeing the group, Flint waved the group over.
"Hey, guys! Welcome to the Sunyshore Gym!" Flint shouted. "This is the guy I was telling ya about—Volkner! He isn't really a fan of lame battles, and so I put in a good word for you two—told him about our double battle yesterday, and he seemed excited! Just give him all you've got and it'll be a fun day!"
Niko smiled as he shook Flint's hand, and then Volkner's. The gym leader was tall, blonde, and had blue eyes like Niko's. But his expression seemed aloof and uninterested in the world around him.
"Pleasure to meet the two of you. I'm Volkner, the Sunyshore City Gym Leader. My battles are generally four-versus-four, if that's alright. Now, who'll go first?" He asked, pointing to Niko and Lauren. The blue-haired woman stepped forward, since Niko had gone first the previous time. Volkner nodded, seemingly cold before he turned and walked to his end of the battlefield. A referee was at the ready to explain the rules. At the start, Volkner and Lauren both summoned their pokémon. "Jolteon, I choose you!"
"Roselia, you're up!" Lauren shouted. "Use toxic spikes!"
"Quick attack!" Volkner commanded. "You'll soon find out that my pokémon aren't going to go down easily. There's a reason why trainers often come to me for their final gym badge. Jolteon, follow up with iron tail!"
"Petal dance, roselia!" Lauren commanded. The thorn pokémon spun around, sending a vortex of petal into the air, catching jolteon within them. The lightning pokémon spun around in midair, damaged by the vicious pink petals. Roselia then spun around again and summoned magical leaf, which made a direct hit and launched jolteon further into the air. The electric type crashed onto the ground, albeit not yet defeated.
"Jolteon, charge beam!" Volkner called out. Jolteon opened its maw and out came a straight jet of electric power, directly hitting roselia and knocking her off of her balance. "Now, quick attack into iron tail!"
"Roselia, can you keep going?" The grass type nodded. "Great! Use grasswhistle!" Roselia blew into her thin, green arm and played a soothing melody and caused jolteon to crash into the ground, quickly falling asleep. "Now, magical leaf!"
Volkner grit his teeth. He was already struggling with Lauren. Just then, his opponent commanded roselia to use one more petal dance, which tossed jolteon into the air. As it was about to crash onto the floor, roselia launched out another magical leaf, which ended the lightning pokémon.
"Jolteon is unable to battle, roselia wins!" The referee said. "Leader Volkner will now send out his second pokémon!"
"Luxray, I choose you!" Volkner shouted. Upon being send out, a nasty purple circle appeared underneath the gleam eyes pokémon, automatically poisoning it from the toxic spikes. "Fire fang!"
"Roselia, magical leaf!" Lauren commanded. However, she underestimated luxray's speed. The electric type took the hit without complaint and was quickly upon her pokémon. Its teeth on fire, luxray chomped down on roselia, picking her up and tossing her around. "Use magical leaf again!" Lauren said, taking advantage of the poison coursing through luxray at the moment. While still falling to the ground, roselia unleashed another barrage of purple leaves, all of which hit luxray and knocked it back a little. "Now, petal dance!"
"Dodge and use fire fang!" Volkner directed. The gleam eyes pokémon sidestepped the vortex of petals and charged at roselia, who was about midway across the field, and severely injured from the first fire fang. Just as luxray opened its mouth to attack, roselia tossed out one final magical leaf, dealing a critical amount of damage to the already injured luxray.
"Roselia is unable to battle, luxray wins!" The ref declared. "Challenger Lauren will now send out her second pokémon!"
"Infernape, I choose you!" Lauren commanded. "Use mach punch!"
"Luxray, thunder fang!" Volkner shouted. Before luxray could react, infernape was on it, slamming its fist into luxray's right side, slamming it to the ground. Lauren then commanded infernape to use close combat. Before luxray could get back up, the flame pokémon was already beating on it, throwing kicks and punches with incredible speed. Eventually, infernape paused and allowed luxray to get back up. The gleam eyes pokémon stared it down, watching its movements.
"Infernape, flare blitz!"
"Thunderfang!" Volkner shouted. The fire monkey lit her entire body on fire before bursting forward towards her opponent. Luxray then charged forward as well, its teeth surging with electricity. Both pokémon collided long enough for their respective attacks to deal damage. It was luxray, however, that was unable to keep up.
"Luxray is unable to battle, infernape wins! Leader Volkner will send out his third pokémon!" The ref declared.
"Raichu, let's go!" The gym leader shouted. "Buddy, let's show them that we mean business. Use quick attack!" Before attacking, raichu felt the toxic spikes take effect, automatically poisoning it.
"Infernape, flame wheel!" Lauren directed. The fire monkey leapt into a wheel of fire, revolving quickly towards the electric mouse, who in turn charged forward. Upon colliding, infernape fell forward, past raichu, temporarily paralyzed. "What?"
"Raichu's ability—static. Often, whenever raichu gets hit physically, electricity will rub off of him and onto his opponent. If you want to go anywhere in the Pokémon League, it's important to understand the abilities of your opponent. Now, raichu, use focus blast!"
"Infernape, return!" Lauren directed, returning the flame pokémon. "You've done well so far, buddy. Let's keep it up. Glaceon, I choose you!"
"Raichu, remain using focus blast!" Volkner commanded. However, the attack was quickly lost in glaceon's icy wind, which kept raichu down momentarily. Lauren then thought more about her choice—glaceon primarily knows physical moves. Gritting her teeth, she continued to command glaceon to use icy wind, which only halted their opponent in his tracks. Volkner smirked. "Realizing now how difficult static is to deal with?" Lauren nodded. "Fair enough. Some trainers have difficulty with it. Just know that it isn't a guarantee. Raichu, use quick attack!"
Lauren hesitated, but decided to continue. "Glaceon, use quick attack as well!" The ice type rushed forward, a white streak lighting up behind her. She collided with raichu, trying to not let the static take hold of her. "Ice fang!"
As glaceon was edging away from raichu, she lurched her head backwards and bit down on raichu's back. The electric mouse yelped in pain. Just before he wanted to use another attack, the poison took effect, causing raichu to glow a bright purple color for a brief moment. Then Volkner called out for raichu to use focus blast.
"Let go!" Lauren shouted. Jolteon unlatched her teeth, but found herself unable to move any further. Just as the focused sphere of energy was about to be launched, glaceon summoned a cold gale of wind directly at her opponent, just as the poison took effect once more.
"Raichu and glaceon are both unable to battle! Volkner and Lauren will now send out their next pokémon!" The referee declared.
"Glaceon, return. You did great, girl. I'm proud of you. Infernape, let's go!" She shouted, realizing that the fire monkey was still paralyzed, but nevertheless able to move slowly this time.
Volkner picked out a fourth pokéball, and eyed it carefully. "You've been a worthy challenger so far, Lauren. I hope you can keep that up. Electivire, I choose you!"
Out of Volkner's pokéball came out a yellow and black striped behemoth with wires stemming from its back and twisting and turning in a wild-like fashion. In the stands, Niko, JJ, and Brittany looked shocked by it.
"Electivire, the thunderbolt pokémon. Electric type. Heedless of enemy attacks, it closes in, shoves its tails onto the foe, then looses high voltage."
Volkner smirked. Electivire, giga impact!"
"Infernape, flare blitz!" Lauren commanded, hoping that the flame pokémon could handle the powerful attack. As it turned out, the flare blitz seemed to minimize some of the damage, as infernape attempting to use the attack to roll around Electivire before slamming into the electric type's side. Nonetheless, the stun from raichu earlier had exhausted infernape, giving Electivire the edge. "Now, close combat!"
"Electivire, thunderpunch!" Volkner shouted. The massive yellow and black pokémon turned towards infernape and, with an electrified fist, slammed down on its opponent. Infernape attempted to dodge, instead feeling the electricity surge through the side of her face. The two then engaged in a brief fight, exchanging punches and kicks with one another until electivire slammed down its thunderpunch onto infernape's head, forcing the fire monkey into the floor of the battlefield. Just then, the poison from earlier surged through electivire, bringing it to one knee.
"Infernape is unable to battle! Electivire wins! Lauren will now send out her final pokémon!" The referee declared.
"Infernape, return. You did great, buddy. But now, we're down to one more. Lopunny, I choose you!"
"Ah, interesting choice. Electivire, giga impact!"
"Lopunny, dodge with bounce!" Lauren commanded. As the thunderbolt pokémon charged forward, engulfed in a powerful coat of orange and white energy, lopunny took to the air, using its powerful legs to leap directly upwards before slamming back down on electivire. "Use hi jump kick!"
Lopunny kicked her opponent behind its head, knocking it forward in Lauren's direction. However, just as lopunny was about to leap backwards, one of electivire's wires caught hold of lopunny. The wire twitched and twisted, eventually slamming lopunny into the ground as well.
"Swing lopunny around!" Volkner commanded. Electivire spun around, quickly gathering momentum and it swung the rabbit around the field, eventually letting go after a few revolutions. Lopunny was tossed into the stands opposite the group, crashing in one of the seats.
"Lopunny, agility!" Lauren called out. "Then, use bounce!"
"Electivire, be prepared!" Volkner shouted. "Use thunderpunch!"
"Hi jump kick!" Lauren commanded.
As soon as lopunny was about to land, electivire's fist was ready to attack, as it was surging with an incredible amount of electricity. However, the poison took effect once more, forcing electivire to cringe. Lopunny then slammed her foot on top of electivire's head, knocking it to the ground. Lopunny jumped back, waiting for electivire to get back up. It wasn't able to.
"Electivire is unable to battle, lopunny wins! The victory goes to Lauren from Canalave City!" The referee declared.
Lauren breathed a fresh sigh of relief. She did it. She qualified for the Pokémon League. She held out her arms wide as lopunny ran forward to embrace her. "I'm so proud of you, lopunny. We're going to the Pokémon League now!" Lopunny cheered happily as well, not seeming as tired as Lauren thought she would be. They both then turned to Niko, who briefly hugged his girlfriend and congratulated lopunny. "You're up, kid."
Niko smirked. "Kid? Really?"
Lauren nodded her head happily. "Don't lose, alright?" She said with a wink before walking into the stands to join Brittany and JJ. Niko smiled before turning to Volkner's end of the field, which was vacant due to the gym leader healing his team. Minutes later, he returned to the field, ready to continue.
"Niko, let's hope your battle is as good as Lauren's. I had an incredible time just now." He said, quickly eying Lauren and Flint before turning back to Niko. "Are you ready? Jolteon, I choose you!"
"Staraptor, let's go!" Niko shouted. "Use aerial ace!"
"Jolteon, charge beam!" Volkner commanded. Staraptor dove towards the lightning pokémon, dodging the pure beam of electricity, before crashing into his opponent.
"Close combat, now!" Niko shouted. Staraptor then struck at jolteon time after time with its talons, trying to do as much possible damage to jolteon before letting go. Unfortunately, staraptor didn't have to—jolteon launched an up-close charge beam that hit staraptor directly in the chest, knocking the bird backwards and onto the ground. "Double team!"
"Iron tail!" Volkner shouted. Jolteon's backside began to glow a bright gray as it leapt forward, somersaulting through the air and landing on one of staraptor's copies. Before long, the predator pokémon was slamming into jolteon from the side with aerial ace, knocking the lightning pokémon to the side. "Charge beam!"
"Dodge and use close combat!" Niko shouted. Staraptor spun to the right before opening his wings and gliding forward, slapping jolteon across the side with his wing and then moving on in with his talons. This kept up for another minute before jolteon repeated with a charge beam, once more striking staraptor in the chest and launching it backwards, only this time further, since the attack had more force behind it.
"Thunder wave!" Volkner shouted. Jolteon unleashed a field of electricity, launching sparks in every direction across the field, eventually hitting staraptor and temporarily stunning it. Smirking, Volkner commanded jolteon to use charge beam this time. It was a direct hit, and succeeded in keeping staraptor down.
"Staraptor is unable to battle, jolteon wins! Challenger Niko will send out his second pokémon!" The referee declared.
"Staraptor, return. You did great, buddy." Niko said, pocketing his pokéball. "Alright, then. Let's go, torterra!" Niko shouted, summoning his massive ground type. "Energy ball!"
"Jolteon, dodge and use quick attack!" Volkner commanded. "Wise choice, Niko, but not unique. I see torterra quite often in this gym."
"I'd expect you to. And I'm not trying to surprise you. Torterra, razor leaf!"
"Terr!" Torterra shouted as he summoned a flurry of razor sharp leaves from the tree on his back. They collided with jolteon, which while slowing the lightning pokémon down, didn't defeat it. It was only when jolteon got close enough that the fight was over.
"Crunch!" Niko shouted. Torterra opened its mouth as soon as jolteon got within striking distance. The massive land turtle briefly jumped forward, latching its jaws around jolteon and biting down, defeating the electric type.
"Jolteon is unable to battle, torterra wins! Leader Volkner will now send out his second pokémon!" The referee declared.
"Jolteon, return. Raichu, I choose you!" He shouted, summoning the electric mouse once more. "I prepare for every contingency, Niko. Be careful. Use signal beam!"
"Torterra, retaliated with energy ball!" Niko commanded. Raichu's tail began to glow a variety of shimmering colors before it whipped the tail forward, unleashing a beam of colors at torterra. However, the attack was halted by energy ball, which collided with signal beam midway across the battlefield.
"Use focus blast!" Volkner commanded. Niko watched at raichu made another attempt to attack. But he would wait for the right time. Instead, he asked torterra to use razor leaf once more, which succeeded in blocking the focus blast.
"Now, torterra! Earthquake!" Niko commanded, thrusting his hand forward. Fortunately, the earthquake only affected the battlefield. Raichu shook violently, eventually losing his balance and falling on the floor. Niko and Volkner both braced themselves as the battlefield rocked and shook in its entirety. Raichu tried to get back up, albeit moving slowly. He attempted another signal beam, but the attack proved to be far weaker due to exhaustion. Niko and torterra responded with an energy ball that blocked the attack, and then finished raichu off with razor leaf.
"Raichu is unable to battle, torterra wins!" The referee declared. "Leader Volkner will now send out his third pokémon!"
"Hmm…return, raichu. You did well. We just got bested by a ground type is all. Luxray, you're up!"
Niko expected this. He knew how luxray operated. And having watched Lauren's previous match, figured that he knew how to combat it. Luxray is fast, torterra is a tank. I think as long as we keep luxray far away, we can win. "Torterra, energy ball!"
"Luxray, dodge it and use ice fang!" Volkner commanded, thrusting his own hand out in front of him. The gleam eyes pokémon sprinted around the green ball of pure energy before leaping through the air halfway across the field. With incredible speed and strength, the luxray landed to torterra's side, and bit down hard on the continent pokémon's shell.
Torterra cried out, the ice cold fangs sensitive on his green shell. He then tried to turn to the side, but was too slow. Luxray then jumped on top of torterra to use ice fang on his spikes. Biting down on the sides of them proved to deal a critical amount of damage to torterra, who was now trying to shake luxray off.
"Torterra, earthquake again!" Niko shouted with a fiery passion. Torterra roared to the heavens as he aggressively shook the ground around him. Luxray held on, its icy fangs latched on to one of torterra's smaller shell spikes. Nevertheless, as soon as the earthquake ended, luxray let go, jumping off of the continent pokémon. Niko sighed a breath of relief. "Now, use razor leaf!"
"Luxray, dodge and use fire fang!" Volkner commanded. Once more, luxray leapt onto the shell and bit down on the same spike, this time with fiery teeth. Torterra roared out once again, the pain of the fire fang hurting it more due to the aftereffects of ice fang's cold touch. Torterra collapsed to the ground, struggling to get back up.
"Torterra, can you do it?" Niko asked. He couldn't see it, but the continent pokémon was trying to nod. "I think you can do it, buddy. I believe in you." Torterra then slowly stood back up, eying luxray, who was now standing directly in front of him. Torterra took a few heavy breaths of air, and then used earthquake once more with all of his remaining energy. In response, luxray leapt into the air before crashing down on torterra's head and using it as a stepping stone to his spikes, where he landed a final ice fang.
"Torterra is unable to battle, luxray wins! Niko will now send out his third pokémon!" The referee declared.
"Torterra, return. I'm so proud of you, buddy. You really made this gym battle easier." He then looked up at Volkner. Can I still win this? He has electivire still, and with torterra gone, this will be difficult. But we can do it. "Rampardos, I choose you!"
Volkner nodded. "Alright, this will get interesting, then. Luxray, thunderfang!"
"Rampardos, flamethrower!" Niko commanded, thrusting his hand out. Luxray managed to dodge the move, but didn't get by without accidentally burning itself on the edge of the fire. Luxray then launched at rampardos, who lowered his head in anticipation. To him, it was obvious was Niko wanted him to do. "Zen headbutt!"
Rampardos' head began to spark into a bright blue color as he surged forward, hitting luxray in the chest and launching it backwards across the field.
"Now, finish it off with ancientpower!" Niko shouted with passion. Rampardos obliged, conjuring a series of fossils from the ground and throwing them one by one at luxray, who collapsed after the first one and was finished by the last one.
"Luxray is unable to battle, rampardos wins! Leader Volkner will send out his final pokémon!" The referee declared.
"Electivire, you're up! Let's win this!" Volkner shouted. "Niko, you're really giving me a run for my money, here. Well done."
"Thanks, Volkner. I appreciate that. Rampardos, flamethrower!"
"Electivire, block it with giga impact!" Volkner shouted. The thunderbolt pokémon surrounded itself in a heavy shield of white and orange energy before bursting forward, through the jet of flame. However, instead of being afraid, Niko simply smirked.
"No one's head is stronger than rampardos', right buddy? Use zen headbutt!"
Rampardos lowered his head before charging forward at electivire. The two met on Niko's end of the field, with electivire falling to the ground from the impact. Rampardos looked down at his opponent, pleased with the outcome of that crash. Niko then commanded him to use flamethrower, to which electivire retaliated with fire punch, which repelled the flamethrower. Electivire used it to help it stand back up before thrusting it at rampardos' face, the force of which was enough to KO any ordinary pokémon.
"Electivire, thunderpunch!" Volkner commanded. The thunderbolt pokémon then socked rampardos in the chest, forcing the dinosaur to double over. "And again!" Electivire then uppercut rampardos, launching him into the air briefly. "Now, quick attack into thunderpunch!"
Before rampardos was about to land, electivire burst forward once more, slamming its fist into the dinosaur's chest once more, bringing it to the ground. Electivire then backed off for a moment, waiting for its opponent to get back up. Rampardos eventually did, albeit slowly. As soon as he did so, he lowered his head.
"Zen headbutt!" Niko commanded. Rampardos charged forward without question, slamming into electivire and pushing back on the thunderbolt pokémon. "Keep it up, rampardos! You can do it! This is the moment we've been training for! GO!"
Rampardos roared out, digging its claws into the ground as he continued to drag electivire across the battlefield. He was eventually stopped when electivire brought down its electrified fist onto the dinosaur, forcing it to collapse to the ground.
"Get back up, rampardos! You can do this!" Niko shouted.
"Electivire, let's finish rampardos! Use thunderpunch!"
"Flamethrower!" Niko shouted. Rampardos lurched his head back up and released a jet of flame from his maw, engulfing the area around Electivire's fist. "Now, ancientpower!" Rampardos obliged, conjuring ancient rocks to surround electivire, all hitting the thunderbolt pokémon at the same time. "Now, finish it off with zen headbutt!"
Rampardos charged forward, slamming his glowing blue head into electivire. The thunderbolt pokémon stumbled backwards from the onslaught of moves, eventually falling on its back, this time in defeat.
"Electivire is unable to battle, rampardos wins! The victory goes to Niko from Pallet Town!" The referee declared, throwing up a white flag on Niko's side.
Niko smiled cheerfully, watching at rampardos turned and ran over to him, happier than can be. Niko ran forward and embraced his pokémon. "You've come so far, buddy…I'm proud of what you've shown me today."
Rampardos nodded, unable to control his own happiness. From his perspective, he felt like he proved his worth to Niko, and wanted that very moment to last as long as possible.
Eventually, the two had to let go of one another, as Volkner, the referee, electivire, Flint, and the rest of the group gathered around. Lauren stepped forward to be alongside Niko and rampardos as Volkner reached into his pocket and pulled out two yellow and silver badges, each in the shape of a beacon emitting a yellow light.
"I pride good battles, and strong trainers. They are the only thing keeping me grounded at this gym. Years ago, I almost quit, but Flint and a young trainer—also from Kanto—sparked the fire in me, and made me realize what fun being a gym leader can be. Today, both of you proved that to me once more, and I cannot thank you enough for it. So here, I present to each of you the Beacon Badge, as proof that you have defeated me and, as it looks like it's your eighth gym badge, your qualification for the Pokémon League in a week. I wish you both only the best, and hope that maybe one of you will end up challenging Flint in the Champion's League."
"Champion's League?" Niko asked, tilting his head to the side. Rampardos mimicked him.
"It's for the victor at the Pokémon League. Whoever wins gets offered the opportunity to challenge the Elite 4 and, if they win there, then the Champion, who is currently Cynthia, and has remained so for quite some time." Flint explained. "Trust me, I've tried to defeat her on numerous occasions, but every time I seem to clutch at the last minute."
Niko and Lauren nodded in understanding before turning back to Volkner. "Thank you for the opportunity to battle, and for the badge. Neither of us will let you down!" Lauren said excitedly. Niko wrapped his arm around her. They finally made it. They were both going to the Pokémon League.
