Author's Note: I had some time at work last night so you all get another short chapter for my Jumpchain story.

[System Text]

"Spoken Word"

(Pokémon Talk)

Summary: This is the first gym through the lead up to the second gym skipping over training montages.

Chapter Three: From Zephyr through the Well

After my night of rest I went to Route 32 to train up for Falkner where I discovered that Rocky would no longer listen to me. With that in mind I knew he would be useless for my journey here so I put him away in the storage system. While training I caught a level 9 Mareep that I named Dolly. I leveled her up to level 11 along with Liberty while the rest of my squad were brought up to level 13 before I even thought about entering the Flying Gym.

With my team all set and Dolly in the lead after dealing with another swarm of Zubat before resting for the night in the Violet City Pokémon Center I went to challenge the Flying Gym and obtain my first badge. The first challenge I had to face after ascending the elevator inside the gym was Abe the lowest of Falkner's understudies. He only had one Pokémon a level 12 Spearow that I had Dolly face down. Abe's Spearow started off using leer which I had Dolly retaliate with a thundershock. After that Spearow growled at Dolly saving it from being knocked out by Dolly's first tackle. Spearow the used peck but that did not save it from Dolly once again using tackle to knock the bird out and gain a level in experience.

After trouncing Abe I had to face off against Rob the highest rated of Falkner's understudies with his two Pokémon. He led off with a level 13 Pidgey who used a quick attack only to be hit by Dolly's thundershock. The Pidgey then decided to kick sand into Dolly's eyes before she could take it out with another thundershock. Rob responded by sending out what may have been Pidgey's big brother in a level 14 Pidgeotto who launched a tackle at Dolly. Dolly tried to respond with a thundershock but due to the sand in her eyes she missed. Feeling the pressure I switched Dolly out of the battle for Roxie who easily tanked a tackle from the Pidgeotto. The bird launched another quick attack before Roxie responded with a Rock Throw. Pidgeotto responded with a gust of wind to which Roxie knocked it out with a second rock throw giving Dolly enough experience to become level 13.

I was informed that now that I have beaten the understudies I could challenge Falkner at any time I desired. I choose to wait until the next day when my team would be fresh and left the gym only to see the sun setting and a flock of Zubat coming my way. Dolly quickly took care of them with a wave of thunder before we went to the Pokémon Center for rest. In the morning I returned to the gym and challenged Falkner for the Zephyr Badge. He lead off with a level 15 Murkrow against Dolly. The Murkrow used pursuit to which Dolly replied with a thundershock knocking the darkness Pokémon and leveling up to 14 learning thunder wave. Falkner then sent out a Wingull who started out with a supersonic confusing Dolly causing her to hurt herself. I quickly gave her a potion to make sure she could stay in the fight as Wingull started to growl. As Wingull continued to growl Dolly knocked it out with a thundershock her only super effective attack. Falkner sneered at my continued use of an electric type Pokémon as he sent out his final Pokémon for a first gym badge, a level seventeen Pidgeotto. The large bird started to tackle Dolly only to be hit with a thundershock. It was clear that the bird did not learn from the experience as he tackled Dolly again only this time the static that had built up on her coat had discharged into Pidgeotto slowing the bird down as Dolly once again used thundershock. As Falkner boasted about showing off the power of his birds Dolly finished off the paralyzed Pidgeotto with one final thundershock ending the battle.

After the fight Dolly evolved into a Flaaffy as she became level 15. Falkner reluctantly gave me the Zephyr Badge and the gift TM of Roost. With those in hand I went and got Dolly a check up before I picked my Motorcycle out of the garage and left to head south down Route 32 towards Union cave but made a stop off at the Ruins of Alph. There I finished the Kabuto puzzle before I used an escape rope to head into the secret room beyond it and collect the items there. Even as the sun set I returned to Route 32 to continue my travels toward the union cave. A stranger stopped me and gave me a miracle seed in congratulations for beating Falkner. A little farther down the path I saw a girl all alone who screamed at me when I went to talk with her.

The girl challenged me to a battle for startling her and sent out a level 16 Nidorina. The first thing I did was recall Blaze and send out Liberty who tanked a doubled kick that hit twice. The Nidorina then used a tail whip to throw Liberty off but the gear like Pokémon put her to sleep with hypnosis. While the Nidorina slept Liberty used a double dose of confusion on her. Once the Nidorina woke up in once again whipped her tail at Liberty only to receive another confusion as a result. Nidorina scratched at the metallic Pokémon before Liberty used Confusion once again. That clearly brought out a bit of anger from the poison type Pokémon as she used double kick to hit twice once again before Liberty put her to sleep with hypnosis and finished the battle with another double dose of confusion. After the battle the girl apologized for yelling at me and introduced herself as Liz and gave me her phone number.

After that another group of Zubat attacked us and I let Blaze handle them after which he evolved into Quilava and I decided to set up camp in my yurt for the night. As I finally neared Union Cave after another full day of travel I saw a welcome sight in a Pokémon Center and decided to stop there for the night. After another swarm of Zubat attacked me I pulled my motorcycle into the garage before I went in got the nurse to treat my team. While entering the hostel section I bummed into a fisherman and we talked about his passion to the point he gave me one of his old fishing rods. After my night of rest and telling the head nurse that I would likely be spending a few days in the area I went about exploring Union Cave. After a few run ins with many swarms of Zubat I found myself down on a lower level and ended up catching a Nosepass that I named Ruby. After nearly a week of mapping out the Union Cave I found my way to the southern exit. Along the way I had lost count of how many Zubat that I had been attacked by although I did manage to make time to go fishing along the way and caught a Golden that in a childish fit I named Horney. After that I rode out into the rain of Route 33.

As I came into Azalea Town I saw an argument between a local and a grunt from Team Rocket. The Team Rocket grunt was claiming they were going to be coming back in force and shoved the local away before returning to guard the well he stood before. After another Zubat swarm attack followed by a night of rest I made my way to the ball guy's house and spoke to old man Kurt before he decided to run off and seek out Team Rocket. I felt honor bound to follow the old fool to the town well that I had since learned was called the Slowpoke Well. While down in the Slowpoke Well beating the Team Rocket grunts I got so fed up with the swarms of Zubat that I ended up catching one of them. Once I finished beating the grunts I saw a teal haired man in the Team Rocket uniform.

He introduced himself as Proton and challenged me to a battle. He led off with a level 12 Zubat to meet Ruby who was now level 14. Zubat started off with a supersonic burst that Ruby avoided before retaliating with a rock throw. Then Zubat caused Ruby to flinch twice by using some astonishing tactics. Feeling secure the bat then released another burst of supersonic sound that hit Ruby as she tackled it to knock it out of the fight. Proton did not pause as he sent out a level 16 Koffing. I quickly switched out Ruby for Liberty only for my steel Pokémon to be blinded by a smokescreen. Liberty eventually got a burst of confusion off followed by a confuse ray only to be tackled by the Koffing. Liberty retaliated by putting the Koffing to sleep with hypnosis and failing to hit the sleeping Pokémon with any attacks. After waking Koffing used assurance to which Liberty replied with a confusion blast. Liberty then missed with a second confusion before Koffing hurt itself in its confusion from earlier. Liberty finally knocked it out with a final confusion burst causing Ruby to level up. After the fight he ranted that Team Rocket will return and ran off with the grunts before Kurt led me back to his home.

At Kurt's house the old man explained to me the history of Team Rocket. He then told me how he made special pokeballs even giving me one before offering to make more for me out of apricons that I bring him. I gave him one that I had picked up on my travels so he could make it into a pokeball before heading to the Pokémon Center to sleep for the night. Before I got there another swarm of Zubat came and attacked me and were dispatched with ease. In the morning I planned on starting my training for Bugsy as I wanted my whole team around level 20 before I challenged his gym. With that in mind I prepared to make my way out the next morning back to either Slowpoke Well or Route 33. I had no plans to go into the forest ahead until after I have beaten Bugsy and obtained the Hive badge as my second badge before I start to worry about the hardest gym in Johto.

Current Team

Ruby: Level 15 – Nosepass

Moves: Tackle, Harden, Rock Throw

Dolly: Level 16 – Flaaffy

Moves: Tackle, Growl, Thundershock, Thunder Wave

Venus: Level 17 – Bellsprout

Moves: Vine Whip, Poison Powder, Wrap, Stun Powder

Blaze: Level 16 – Quilava

Moves: Quick Attack, Ember, Smokescreen, Leer

Liberty: Level 17 – Bronzor

Moves: Rock Tomb, Confusion, Hypnosis, Confuse Ray

Roxie: Level 16 – Geodude

Moves: Tackle, Defense Curl, Rock Throw, Magnitude