Heyllo folks! I wanted to get this one out last night, but the damned site kept bugging out on me and wouldn't let me load up various pages. Nevermind, I still made it to over 100k words in under one month. Woohoo!
I'd really like to thank everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed this story since you guys help me stay motivated. Let's hope I can keep this up for February too! At the moment of my writing this we're at 232 reviews, 417 favorites, 566 followers, and 25 883 views. Gonna put this here just for my sake so I can compare numbers in the future.
In this chapter, I'm including something new for Gym challenges and I hope you'll like the way I set things up.
Now for admin. Some people can't seem to respond to my PMs even when they start a new PM and I respond to them. The site has been bugging out for the entire week and I don't know how to help you guys except for directing you towards the admins to complain about it. I also think there might be a glitch when some people can't review at random times, but only I experienced this one in my own reading adventures so I'm not sure if you guys had the same problem recently.
What I want for you to take away from this is that I've never nor will I ever block someone's PMs or reviews. The only people I've ever blocked in my life were those annoying gold sellers in MMORPGs. So, what I'm really trying to say is that I'll block you if you try to sell me in-game gold.
Anyway, enjoy!
Pewter City Gym
'It really does look like the home of Rock-type Pokemon,' Mark thought as he studied Pewter City from the ridge he climbed up once he left Viridian Forest. Almost all of the buildings used slabs of stone in their design even though the valley it lay in didn't have much of them near it, unlike its mountainous surroundings.
"Your Butterfree and Scyther are going to have a hard time taking on Brock," a gravelly voice to the side said.
Mark held in a sigh and looked at Brock's disguised father, Flint, who sat next to the main road into the city with a bunch of souvenir rocks for sale. He'd tried to ignore the deadbeat, but the moron had to go and insult his Pokemon.
Not reading the dangerous slowing of Kraven's wingbeats or Ed's narrowed eyes, Flint continued, "Bug-types and Bug Catchers like you come to challenge the Pewter Gym often, only to fail and leave in disgrace. However, I can help you out and make your Pokemon fit to fight Rock-types, for a fee of course."
Mark sent a quick cutting signal meant to stop whatever crazy idea the Pokemon had to Kraven with his left hand, which he hid from Flint's eyes but knew that the Butterfree's enhanced field of vision could catch. His right hand landed on Ed's shoulder and he interrupted the Scyther's sharpening of his bladed arms with a whispered, "Leave this one to me," before he took up his Pokeball and added, "You did great today, go and rest up."
Even without the agitation Flint caused, Mark would have to return the Scyther to his ball because he didn't want to get fined by an overzealous police officer for having more than one Pokemon with him inside of a city. Added to that rule, the Pokemon couldn't have the height or width much larger than a human or it too would cause a fine.
After he returned Ed's Pokeball to his belt, Mark focused his gaze on the scruffy older man and asked, "How successful is that scam, really? I mean, who would be stupid enough to give their hard-earned money to some bum on the side of the road for lessons in training Pokemon?"
He moved his scornful gaze from the man's perpetually shadowed eyes to a rickety shelf that held rocks with various price-tags on them and added, "You do realize I can just pick up a rock from the side of the road, right? I mean, can you even feed yourself or your family…" Mark's eyes froze on one particular rock for a second, before he rallied his mental faculties and continued, "…with how much you earn from scamming naïve young trainers?"
'That's a freaking Hard Stone, it has to be. The shape and coloration are right. The former pewter Gym Leader would naturally have Pokemon powerful enough to make some, even if he technically wouldn't be allowed to sell them right now,' he thought as his eyes jumped to scan the conspicuous-looking dark-grey Stone cut in sharp lines without a price tag sitting among the ordinary rocks.
"Suit yourself, kid, but don't come crying to me when you lose. I won't help you even if you pay," Flint growled and turned back to staring towards Pewter City.
Mark considered pushing for the Hard Stone right away but gave up on the idea once he remembered his current cash state and doubted that Flint would take his card. He didn't even consider trying to fake not knowing what the Hard Stone really represented since it would only make an even worse first impression on the desperate older man.
Instead, he only grunted and said, "Whatever, let's go Kraven. We need to have you guys checked out before the Gym challenge," as he started walking down the path towards Pewter City's Pokemon Center.
'Wow, this sure fits in with the local décor,' Mark thought with a snort while he stared at the giant glass and steel building with a large P on it in the middle of the city.
Kraven gave him a look along with a "Free?" but the boy just waved it away and moved to enter the Pokemon Center. He didn't want to waste time explaining the intricacies of human power plays to someone who relied on the strength of his own wings for securing dominance.
When they went through the sliding doors, they saw a large sparsely filled waiting room/lounge with an entire wall filled with videophones on the right, while the other side had advertisements for the Indigo League and various tasks the locals and the League asked the trainers to do.
Right in front of them, a large reception area blocked anyone from moving into the healing part of the center, while on its sides a staircase and an elevator led up towards rooms trainers could rent and the restaurant on the top floor.
Mark took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and walked straight towards the pink-haired woman manning the reception desk while thinking, 'You're just a kid on his trainer journey. There's nothing suspicious about you. It's not like the clones showed any Psychic powers in the show. You'll be fine.'
"Welcome to the Pewter City Pokemon Center, how can I help you?" the local Joy asked with a practiced caring smile pasted on her face.
Mark returned the smile and extended his Trainer Card as he said, "Hello, this is my first time in a Pokemon Center so I have a few things to take care of. But first, can you give my Pokemon a checkup?"
With that, he removed the first two Pokeballs from his belt and placed them in the tray provided next to the desk while he motioned Kraven to land on it too. The deadly Pokemon had a lot of experience with Pokemon Centers so Mark did not doubt that he'd keep an eye on the other two if they became too rowdy without him even though he informed them about it that morning.
In the meantime, the Joy dragged his Trainer Card through a card-reader next to her computer and started typing away at it. A few seconds later, a small frown appeared on her face as she stated, "I can't see a Butterfree registered among your captured Pokemon. Can you explain that?"
'Didn't it say that I can bring any Pokemon for a checkup for free under the perks for the Young Trainer program?' Mark thought while he matched Joy's expression and asked in return, "I thought it didn't matter as long as it's not for anything expensive? Kraven here is my brother's Pokemon who I'm bringing with me to a place where I can free him since my brother can't have too many Pokemon anymore."
It took the Joy a few more seconds to show an understanding expression and say, "It's not a problem; we just don't see many people bring Pokemon that they don't own with them. I can see him registered with your brother here so you don't have to worry."
Her eyes finally moved from the screen to the tray in front of her before she glanced at the rest of the Pokeballs on his belt and she asked, "Only two of your own Pokemon? It won't cost you anything even if you put up your entire team and the Butterfree."
Mark gave her an unconcerned wave of the hand as he answered, "No need, I'll send them back to Professor Oak in Pallet Town to be with the rest of their group soon."
He hoped that throwing out Oak's name would stop her from prying too much, but she only nodded her head with the same understanding smile he saw from grownups all the time before she grabbed the tray and said, "Please wait here for a moment."
When Mark confirmed his compliance with a nod, she turned around and walked through the sliding doors into the healing part of the building. He saw other people in much more traditional medical gear inside accompanied by several Chansey, but the doors closed too fast for him to see anything more.
After a couple of minutes of twiddling his thumbs, the nurse returned and informed him that, "It won't take too long. In the meantime, we can take care of your other needs."
Mark nodded his head in return and said, "First, I want to register for the Indigo League."
Joy didn't seem surprised as it only took her a few seconds to get the registration sorted.
Once she did, Mark continued, "Next, I want to withdraw 40 000P from my account."
Like in his previous world, this one had accounts that had limits on how much cash they could withdraw in a day. In his case, he could only get 2 000P from the local versions of ATMs which would serve for a kid's daily spending at places that didn't take cards in normal cases. However, his meeting with Flint made him change his plans immediately.
Of course, he could go to the local League bank and withdraw from there, but Pokemon Centers provided the service for trainers too so he didn't have to waste time.
The nurse's smile stiffened once she heard his request before she turned to her computer and started typing.
This time, she typed and clicked for a whole minute and, when Mark planned to ask if something went wrong, turned to him with a serious face to say, "You know, your brother worked really hard for this money. It wouldn't be right to spend so much of it at the beginning of your journey."
'God fucking damn the PIA! What's next?! Are you going to seize my assets if I don't listen to you?!' Mark raged on the inside, but he held firm and didn't allow any of his frustration to show on the outside as he replied, "I know how much work went into gathering every single P of that money. Now, please do as I asked."
The Joy froze for a moment before she gave him a disapproving look and started the process of transferring money from his account to the Pokemon Center's and counting out the physical currency notes.
Once he recounted the 40 000P for himself, Mark stored it in his wallet and turned to ask the nurse his next question, "Thank you, now can you tell me how fast I will be able to take up tasks once I win my first badge?
The practiced smile returned to the Joy's face as she answered, "That depends on how fast the Gym Leader sends his or her report to the League. In general, it doesn't take longer than two days."
'Brock better not make me wait longer than tomorrow morning,' he thought, but on the outside, he requested a room in the Center for two nights. His status gave him ten nights for free per month, but he only planned to stay for two in Pewter City.
When she registered a room to his name and gave him his key, he remembered his conversation with Leaf, so he questioned, "Can you tell me if a girl named Amy Wood is still here? We come from the same town, and she told me she might still be here when I came."
The nurse didn't even need to look at her computer as she answered, "We're usually not allowed to give you information about people who stay here, but since you and her have Professor Oak as your sponsor to the Young Trainer program, I can tell you that her party left Pewter City yesterday afternoon."
Mark wanted to curse the nosy clone out, but he instead thanked her for the last time and moved away from the reception and towards the videophones. He didn't really need or plan to meet up with Leaf this early so he didn't worry about it too much. If she needed his help, she'd call him.
The Pokemon Center videophones could serve as both transfer devices and computers so Mark didn't need to use any other tool for when he called Oak's lab and sent the remaining four Scyther over to them. In addition to that, he received Daisy's account number and transferred her pay over while he waited. He decided not to call his home since he doubted anyone would answer due to the time of the day.
When he checked his account after the withdrawals and transfers of money, he saw he still had 103 588P left in it. Since he had 138 588P saved up after all expenses, it meant that the monthly 10 000P that the League sent him had also arrived sometime during his trip to Pewter.
Finally, he checked his e-mail and found a few messages from people he corresponded with during his stay in Oak's lab, but nothing looked too urgent so he closed it down for after the Gym challenge when the nurse called him up to come to take his Pokemon.
As he expected, they had nothing wrong with them so he thanked the Joy for her help and left the Pokemon Center with Kraven following behind him.
When Mark retraced his path back to the outskirts of the city, Flint still sat on the side of the road with his rocks for sale.
If he felt any surprise at the boy's return, he didn't show it when he said, "It's too late to ask me for help now. I told you not to take Brock lightly, but you wouldn't listen. You had your chance."
Mark dismissed the older man's statement with a wave of the hand as he replied, "Nah, I've not returned for that. I'll go and beat Brock after I'm done here. What I want from you is that Hard Stone you have for sale."
For the first time, Flint looked like he had nothing to say. He stared at Mark for a long time before he asked, "How do you know about that?"
'Does he think I'm someone from the League?' Mark thought before he answered, "I studied under Professor Oak in Pallet Town, I know all about items that can boost a Pokemon's power. Now, how much do you want for it?"
After another long pause, Flint declared, "Twenty thousand," but only got a laugh back in response.
Mark took control of himself after that short outburst and said, "I can get it through legal means for that much. I'll give you twenty thousand if you have another one, though."
The League had quite stringent regulations for rare items that could boost a Pokemon's strength permanently. A person could either get it from a certified Gym that specialized in a type of Pokemon and produced them on their own as Pewter did with Rock or by joining the League as a trainer under them directly and having access through their resources. In general, items like that went for around 20 000P when bought from Gyms or 15 000P when bought from the League and they both knew that.
Flint dismissed the counteroffer with a shake of the head as he proclaimed, "I do have another one, but that's too low. I couldn't sell them for anything less than thirty-five."
Mark considered the ragged man for a moment before he took out his wallet and counted out 25 000P and said, "Here's twenty-five grand. Take it or leave it."
Everyone informed understood that the Gyms had to sell their items at a much higher rate because they got taxed a lot on them, so what Mark offered was quite fair for a back alley deal with no taxation whatsoever.
Even then, it took Flint over a dozen seconds before he sighed and grumbled, "Follow me; I have the other one back at my place." He grabbed the first Hard Stone from the shelf and led Mark to a shack not far from where they negotiated their deal.
Once the boy handed over the money, the older man gave him the two Stones which Mark promptly stored in his Bag, and turned to leave.
He considered asking if the former Gym Leader had any Soft Sand for sale too, but knew that even if Flint did have some he wouldn't sell it to anyone since it would be an outright crime instead of this grey zone deal they found themselves in.
After he took a few steps, the idea that giving Flint that money might invigorate him enough to reveal himself to his family came to Mark's mind, so he turned around and said, "A boy from Pallet will come here in about a week or so. He'll have a Pikachu and an annoying girl with him. I don't need your help, but he certainly will."
With that, he turned around and left with the hope that he didn't screw things up too much.
Mark stopped his advance towards the edge of the city where the Pewter City Gym lay and took a moment to admire its simplistic design.
Even though it looked like a warehouse from the side, the front had huge slabs of stone attached to it making it look natural.
'I wonder how they got such a gigantic piece of flat rock and placed it up there,' he thought in wonder as chills went down his spine from the excitement he felt for this moment.
With a deep inhale and exhale, he got control of himself and declared, "Let's do this," before he continued to the large bronze main gate of the Gym, with Kraven adding a "Free!" and keeping up with his trainer while assumed a stern visage.
Mark couldn't stop himself from pushing both of the doors open and standing in the doorway while a deep shadow covered the interior of the building.
'Are things so bad that they can't keep the lights on at all times?' he wondered as he stepped in and shouted, "Anyone here?!"
A light on the far side of the entrance turned on, revealing a teenage-looking boy sitting under it while he questioned, "Who goes there?"
Mark didn't fall for the jump-scare since he half expected it, instead, he faced Brock and asked, "Do you just sit there the whole day or do you get an alert when someone comes close to the Gym so you prepare this little welcome party? Anyway, I'm Mark from Pallet Town here for my Boulder badge."
The spiky-brown-haired teen's head tilted a little as he chose to ignore the question and instead continued with his prepared lines by saying, "Is this your first Gym match?"
'Ha! I knew it was a practiced speech; let's see how he reacts to this,' Mark thought and before Brock could continue with his spiel, he interrupted with, "Yeah, but I know the rules. In fact, I'm here to issue a Gauntlet challenge to your Gym."
"A Gym match is different… Wait, what?" Brock still tried to go on but stopped once he realized what his challenger said. He rose to his feet in a rush and asked, "Do you know what you're saying?"
Mark gave him a confident nod as he replied, "Of course, I have to defeat both your Gym trainers and you in a continuous battle where I can only switch between battles and can't heal my Pokemon. In the end, I get the badge in addition to a TM and my reward money is doubled. The number of Pokemon I can use during the whole thing is whatever my opponent uses, but the Gym Leader can't use fewer Pokemon than his Gym trainers," he paused for a second to think before continuing, "Oh yeah, the challenge scales with the number of badges I have."
Brock's perpetually narrowed eyes stared at him in slack-jawed amazement for a moment. Then he got a hold of himself and scowled at the blond boy as he said, "And if you lose you cannot challenge a Gym for a whole week after which you will have to use the same Pokemon you used in your previous attempt."
Mark snapped his fingers and pointed at Brock before he exclaimed, "That's right! I always forget that one since I don't plan on losing."
Brock stared at his opponent for a moment longer, then he turned his head over his shoulder and shouted, "Forrest, get over here!"
A younger boy stuck his head out of a room to the side of the Gym and asked, "Should I turn the lights on and set the field too or not?"
Brock rubbed his forehead as he growled out, "Yes, do that then come here."
Mark never went too deep into the massive room so he only had to take a few steps back to let the rocky field form in the middle as the lights turned on. It all looked quite impressive, but the empty stands and their echoing noises took something away from the experience.
A younger copy of Brock ran up to his big brother and asked, "So what should I do? I've never heard of a Gauntlet Challenge."
From the other side of the field, Mark called out, "It's no surprise. They don't even teach it in school anymore since hardly anyone dares to do them. The tradition comes from ancient times when wandering trainers roamed the lands and would challenge a whole local ruling body to a continuous battle for various rewards or to prove their strength. The League just made it more civilized and regulated."
He'd left out a lot of bloodshed and dark deeds from that simple retelling, but he doubted that Brock would have appreciated teaching his brother about what conquering warlords did to the locals.
When the boy gave his brother a look to confirm the story, the Gym Leader nodded his head and said, "That's right. Now, you'll battle against the challenger while I act as the battle judge and then we'll switch if he manages to defeat you," he turned his gaze to Mark and added, "You are permitted to use one Pokemon in this battle."
In response, the blond shot him a thumbs-up and a smile while taking the first Pokeball off from his belt.
Forrest felt a faint surprise at the motion since he presumed that the hovering and strangely quiet Butterfree would take the first battle, but he soon put the thought aside when his brother shouted out, "This will be a 1v1 Pokemon battle. A Pokemon loses if it faints or the trainer forfeits the match. Release your Pokemon!"
When Brock gave the signal from the side of the field, both trainers primed their Pokeballs and released their Pokemon.
Ivy took one look at the large rocks surrounding her and realized where she was, and a second later a Rhyhorn whose stone skin still looked light grey joined her on the opposite side.
"Bulbasaur!" she challenged, but by this time she knew not to start a battle before her trainer gave the signal so she waited for his commands. The Rhyhorn too roared, "Rhy!" and stomped its front foot without advancing towards her.
Only when Brock asked, "Are both trainers ready?" and received nods from the two of them, did he lower his hand and yell, "Begin!
Following his brother's signal, Forrest shouted, "Tackle attack, Rhyhorn!" and his Pokemon listened by charging straight at its opponent.
Mark studied the oncoming rock-armored rhino for a second, and when he didn't see any special tricks, ordered, "Ground and pound, Ivy."
Immediately, two green vines shot out of the bulb on the Bulbasaur's back and slammed the lowering right leg of the Rhyhorn towards his left leg.
The resulting steps made the charging Pokemon flip ass over teakettle and come to a sliding halt in the middle of the field.
It didn't stay like that for long as Ivy's vines started beating it like a drum while it whined in a gravelly voice and failed to get up to its feet.
She had learned the weak points of different Pokemon during her morning duels and knew where and how to hit one to make it lose its balance. The fact that Grass-type energy allowed her hits to cause much more damage to her current enemies helped too.
Forrest still hadn't finished shouting, "Get up, Rhyhorn!" when Brock declared, "Rhyhorn is unable to battle. Bulbasaur is the winner."
Mark added a, "Stop," just in case Ivy got too zealous, but he shouldn't have since she halted her assault once she had her victory confirmed.
The younger boy looked crestfallen when he withdrew his fainted Pokemon, but still gave Mark a nod and said, "Good battle," before he went to switch places with his older brother.
Brock ruffled Forrest's hair in passing before he put on his Gym Leader persona back on as he crossed his arms and proclaimed, "You might have beaten that young Rhyhorn, but my Pokemon can't be fooled with such simple tricks. Take the chance now and change your Pokemon while you still can. Our battle will be two on two."
Mark almost burst out laughing when Ivy looked back at him in concern. Instead, he shook his head and said, "No need. My Bulbasaur will be enough for your entire Gym."
Ivy confirmed his statement when she added a confident, "Saur-Bulbasaur!" to the mix.
Brock scoffed and waited for his brother to declare, "This will be a 2v2 Pokemon battle. No switching is allowed. A Pokemon loses if it faints, the trainer forfeits the match, or it gets switched out. Release your Pokemon!"
Mark rolled his eyes and gestured at Brock to get on with it as the teen took his time in retrieving his first Pokeball, only to have to suppress the desire to sigh when he threw out the device to release his Geodude.
'Even Gym Leaders are doing it now,' he griped as he nodded to Forrest that he indeed felt ready for the match, completely forgetting that Misty threw her ball too since he didn't consider her a proper Gym Leader yet.
At the boy's, "Begin," Brock yelled, "Go high and use Tackle, Geodude!" making the Rock-Ground-type throw itself a couple of meters into the air with a rumbling, "Dude!" and levitate through the air towards Ivy.
Mark knew that Geodude had limited levitation capabilities due to the magnetic properties their bodies possessed and the relatively low weight they had during their first evolution stage so he didn't get surprised by it floating over to his side of the field.
What did surprise him is that a supposed Gym Leader left their Pokemon open in the air without the ability to dodge. 'Does he think Ivy won't be able to pound it into the ground now? Whatever, not like it matters,' he wondered, before he said, "You know what to do," and settled in to watch the show.
The Bulbasaur indeed had prior instructions on what to do to Brock's Pokemon, so she shot out her vines to grab the stony wrists of the oncoming Geodude and reeled him in to float above her.
When she positioned it just right, she targeted the tip of her bulb on it and launched a Leech Seed into its lower body while Brock shouted, "Break out, Geodude!"
As the thin vines of the Leech Seed enveloped its body, the Rock Pokemon tried to struggle out of the splayed position Ivy held it in, however, the best it could do is flex its arms around a little before they returned to their spread-eagled state.
Mark gave the dumbfounded Gym Leader a slight smirk as he recalled how much training Ivy went through for raising the strength of her vines during their trip. Each day he'd increase the weight of the things he had her lift or hold in the air as long as possible so he felt confident that Brock's poorly trained Geodude had no chance.
After all, it had a four-time type disadvantage against Ivy's Grass-type imbued vines which restricted its main power to a ridiculous degree.
Even then, it would eventually struggle out of the hold if the bulb on the Bulbasaur's back didn't start spewing out a shiny green powder which made its struggles slow down, and eventually stop completely as soft snoring came out of the sleeping Geodude.
Mark could see the struggle happen on Brock's face for a second before he ran out into the field and grabbed his Pokemon's ball to recall it.
He had to give a pointed glance to the side for the 'referee' to declare, "Geodude is unable to battle. Bulbasaur wins."
'Should have done that when your brother entered the field,' Mark complained but didn't feel a lot of heat from it due to the delighted face Ivy turned to him. In return, he told her, "You did great, girl. One more to go; eat that Seed to top yourself off."
She did as instructed and consumed the Leech Seed that fell off the Geodude when Brock returned it.
By that time, Brock found his way back to his position before he declared, "You might have beaten two of our Pokemon using tricks, but they won't work on this next one." and this time released his Onix the traditional way.
The Rock Snake released an unintelligible growl that resounded in the largely hollow space enough to give everyone inside slight shivers. Even Ivy looked over her shoulder at her trainer and let out a questioning, "Saur?"
In response, Mark gave her a soft smile and said, "Don't worry, you can do this. The bigger they are the harder they fall."
He had to keep it simple to not confuse his Pokemon, but he knew the truth about the Onix species and didn't have any doubt in Ivy's ability to beat it.
For all of their apparent strength, Onix had horrible attack power. In fact, if not for its weight he believed that Ivy would beat it in a pure contest of strength. And even then, that weight was an illusion when compared to its size. An average of 200 kilos for a 9 meter long Rock Snake didn't make sense when anyone thought about it logically. He knew of people that weighed more in his old life and they didn't have rocks for parts of their body.
Upon further research, Mark found out that although the Pokemon had a quite hard outer shell, their innards consisted out of a Rock-Ground-type slush of organs and muscles which barely had the strength to move its huge body without the help of its energies. It pretty much relied on its hard shell, size, and noise to scare off enemies. That might work on simple Pokemon, but it would fail on any right-thinking human.
Mark shook off his reverie to nod at Forrest, but he had to raise his brow at Brock's slight grimace when he signaled his readiness.
It soon became apparent why when after the shouted, "Begin!" Brock ordered, "Use Dig, Onix!" and, with a loud crash of grinding stones, the Rock Snake burrowed its way straight underground using its Ground-type energies.
'I'd be grimacing too if I had to pay to repair a couple of Onix-sized holes in my Gym, but the League covers for any damages done during an official challenge so he should probably come on top if he's smart about it,' Mark thought in a detached way as he said, "Grab a rock and prepare the field for salting. Move as soon as you feel vibrations under your feet, don't wait for my order."
Ivy obeyed by wrapping her vines around a distant rock on the field and then started releasing her Sleep Powder all around her position.
Mark could see the realization come over Brock's face a second later, but he had no way to instruct his underground Pokemon so the Gym Leader had to settle for gritting his teeth and hoping for the best.
A couple of seconds later, Mark felt a slight vibration reach him a moment before Ivy half sprinted and half flew out of her previous position, only for the huge body of the Onix to come bursting out of the earth in an eruption of stone and dirt detritus.
Even though a few randomly scattered rocks hit her, Ivy ignored them to get to safety and immediately listened to her trainer's, "Kite it," by sending her vines to another jutting out rock and turning to Growl at the confused-looking Onix inside the cloud of brown dust and green sparkling powder.
Brock's shouted order of, "Onix, dodge it and use Bind, quickly," came at the same moment that the Bulbasaur's Growl hit the large target. It turned in the direction of the attack and moved towards it, but the nimble quadruped easily rushed to the other side of the field when the drowsy Rock Snake came after her.
During her last couple of days of training, Ivy found out that more intelligent and speedy opponents will dodge her relatively slow-moving Growls when Ed took her down in their sparring matches repeatedly so she felt quite pleased with the large and slowing down target the Onix now presented.
It took two more Growls and vine-assisted sprints for the Sleep Powder to take full effect on the trainer-inspired Pokemon. With a last low grumble of grinding rocks, it splayed out its full length across the field and started letting out deep rumbling snores.
Mark saw first-hand what a little cheerleading could do for a Pokemon's desire to fight from Brock's Onix, but he just couldn't force himself to act like that so he dismissed it and decided to stick to his own style.
With that decision made, he ordered, "Salt the ground, and then get on top," while ignoring the cries of his opponent for his Pokemon to wake up.
Ivy jumped to the command with gusto when she saw she brought the huge Rock Snake down so she ran to the front of its body and took a moment to spray its head and neck with her Toxic. After that, she grabbed hold of the rocky spine at the top of its head and launched herself on it with the help of a Tackle.
"Get ready for execution," Mark ordered when the Bulbasaur's legs touched down on the Onix's head before he locked his calm gaze with Brock's angrily squinting one and said, "She will use Razor Leaf at the joints of its neck if you don't give up."
Of course, he bluffed like a bastard with that threat. Ivy still had problems with launching anything past a few weak leafs that barely made a scratch in trees, but he knew that with time, and some tips on how to slice things up properly from Ed, she'd add another powerful weapon to her diverse arsenal.
She couldn't even Leech Seed the Onix at the moment since, unlike the games, it took a couple of minutes for her to regenerate it within her bulb right now. The time for that would lessen the more she used it, but at the moment it limited her if she had to fight continuous battles.
The sleep too was another bluff since as soon as the Toxic really started going, Onix would wake up and continue to fight for as long as it could. That's the reason Kraven often used Stun Spore in combination with Poison Powder since the pain from the Poison would keep his prey awake and he would just end up wasting some good Sleep Powder.
Even with all of this, Ivy could now win a head-to-head clash with the Rock Snake without taking too much damage. However, Mark didn't see a point in prolonging the inevitable and hurting both brave Pokemon even more if he didn't have to.
It took Brock a long moment of clashing gazes to finally let out a sigh and recall his Pokemon while saying, "You did great, Onix," to its Pokeball.
This, unfortunately, removed Ivy's mount and made her crash to the ground with a loud, "Bulba!" But, as soon as she heard, "Onix is unable to battle, Bulbasaur wins!" she shook it off and started running towards the equally nearing Mark in pure joy.
They met in the middle of their side of the field, making the boy catch his leaping Pokemon in his hands and twirl her around while suffering under her smelly licks.
He allowed it due to the happiness of their first Gym victory, but soon a serious look appeared on his face when he saw the Bulbasaur's bulb start to glow faintly.
Mark placed her down and crouched to be closer to her before he said, "I'm glad you reached this point, Ivy, but you know what we agreed upon. Push it back for now and I'll tell you when you can let it happen later."
The Bulbasaur had a hint of sadness in her red eyes, but she gave her trainer an understanding nod and concentrated on stopping the energies that tried to change her.
"It's not healthy to stop your Pokemon from evolving if they want to. You shouldn't force her to stay like that because of your own personal desires," Brock's voice interrupted the duo and made Ivy look up at the blond boy in concern.
Mark fought hard to keep the fury that wanted to take him over from his voice as he said, "It's fine, girl. Trust me on this one."
When her face relaxed and she kept concentrating on stopping the change, Mark straightened out and stomped over to Brock to growl out, "I don't go to your place of work and slap the dick out of your mouth, so I'd appreciate it if you kept your nose out of my business."
The Gym Leader and his nearby brother looked shocked at the statement, giving Mark enough time to calm himself and add, "Look, I've factored all the downsides and upsides into my decision. She's my Pokemon and I'll raise her as I see fit. Do we understand each other?"
Once Brock nodded, Mark let out all of his frustration in a sigh before he started pulling out Berries from his Pouch and explained, "Here are some Sitrus and a Pecha Berry, they will help your Pokemon recover faster. I hope there are no hard feelings."
The spiky-haired teen looked at the offered Berries for a moment, before his common sense won over his desire to protest the treatment of another trainer's Pokemon and he accepted them with an, "Of course. I apologize for my behavior; it's unbefitting of a Gym Leader. Thank you."
He turned towards his brother and handed the Berries over to him as he said, "Take these to the office and bring out the TM for Rock Tomb."
Mark could see a slight twinge of sorrow on the younger boy's face before he ran off to do his big brother's bidding and figured that after their parent's abandonment, the Pewter Gym didn't have a ready source of both Pokemon who could make TMs and the money they would get from the League from battling and winning against challengers with which they could purchase some.
He ignored all of that for the moment as the Gym Leader rummaged through his green sleeveless vest and produced an item that resembled a Hard Stone only with a flat surface. or as the masses knew it, the Boulder badge of Pewter City and presented it to the victor.
"Even if I don't agree with your training methods, you earned this badge with your skill and the power of your Pokemon. Congratulations," Brock said as Mark grabbed the badge and brought his Bag around to fish out his long-prepared badge case.
Brushing the underhanded compliment to the side, the blond boy placed the badge in the first empty slot in the case and walked over to his now more relaxed-seeming Pokemon to show it to her and say, "Look at it Ivy, it's our first badge! Only seven more to go before we're set for the championship."
The Bulbasaur gave the presented case a sniff and decided to just go with it since it seemed to make her trainer happy so she gave him a cheery nod with an accompanying, "Saur!"
Forrest soon returned and the duo rejoined the two brothers.
Brock looked down at the small grey disk his brother passed him for a moment before he squared his shoulders and presented it to Mark while saying, "This is the Technical Machine for Rock Tomb, with it and a TM Case you can teach a single Pokemon, who can learn it, the move Rock Tomb."
Mark thanked him while accepting the disk and stored it in his Bag. He had bought a TM Case a month prior so he only needed to decide to which Pokemon he would teach the move to.
When the two brothers obviously expected him to leave, Mark asked, "Can you get the confirmation of me winning the badge done by tomorrow morning?"
Forrest scowled at his apparent desire for the reward money, but Brock only asked, "What's the rush?" without showing any emotions even though the blond boy knew they would lose even more respect than what they usually did as soon as they reported this defeat to the League. Not to mention that they wouldn't get any compensation for not defeating a gauntlet challenger.
Mark didn't pretend like it didn't matter to him as he allowed the seriousness of the situation to show in his voice and face as he answered with, "I'm planning to do a task from the Pokemon Center tomorrow morning, and then leave Pewter City on the day after. It would seriously affect my schedule if you delayed the paperwork."
The two older boys locked eyes for a long moment while the younger one switched his gaze between them.
Finally, Brock gave a single nod and said, "I'll have you registered by tomorrow morning."
Mark let the serious look drop and gave him a smile along with thanks before he gave his last goodbyes to the brothers, returned Ivy, and left the Gym.
Once he did, the continuously quiet Kraven started fluttering around his partner while exclaiming, "Free-Free-Free!"
Mark laughed and allowed his excitement of the victory to return as he jumped around and celebrated with his first Pokemon.
After all, he did tell Kraven to hover over his shoulder quietly and look menacing during the Gym battle to unnerve the opposition and the Butterfree completed his task flawlessly like he usually did.
Soooo, what do you think?
I couldn't not include Flint in a Pewter City chapter, and then I decided to use him to introduce some items I have a cool idea on how to use in the future. What do you think their use will be?
The Joy conspiracies are wonderful to write and think about. Of course, Mark only thinks they're clones since he doesn't have any proof to the contrary. As for the PIA thing, so far every agent we've met from the agency has been a Nurse Joy, so it makes sense for him to think they're used in a quite dark way in the Pokemon world since they have unparalleled access to trainers and their Pokemon, and the community in general.
Now, for the battle. Brock was always going to be a stomping. I just couldn't see Ivy losing to his crap Pokemon even with the additional difficulty. In battles like these, I try to stay true to the anime character so that's pretty much why both Brock and his younger brother suck so much ass. Forrest improves when his father returns, but for now, he's also bad. The following challenges will prove more difficult since they're more competent trainers.
As for my 'improvement' to the Gym challenges in the form of a Gauntlet. I thought it would be a cool way to do a shoutout to the games while increasing the difficulty as the number of badges piles on. Let's be honest, if Mark battled the same opponents Ash does, he'd pretty much stomp all of them past Sabrina, Blaine, and Giovanni so I thought this would be a lot more entertaining. Plus, he gets more cash and TMs for his troubles so that's nice.
By the way, what do you think of my explanation of Onix and in general Mark's thoughts on Brock and the whole situation? Did I overdo it? I mean, they're probably pretty broke with both parents leaving and constant losses in the Gym without a source of revenue.
Once again, thanks for reading up till now and I hope we'll keep the train going for a long time.
Cya!