Immediately upon entering the gym, I noticed there was barely anyone there. The gym leader sat at the back, only guarded by a young boy in camping gear.

I came up to the boy and asked, "Is the gym leader available to battle?"

He looked up at me, a bored expression on his face, and nodded. "You might want to hurry, though. He has to leave soon."

I ran up to the gym leader and said, "Hello, I want to battle. I'm looking to earn my first gym badge."

The leader sighed. "Let's make this quick. I've got more important things to attend to."

He stood up and pulled out his pokeball. "I am Brock of Pewter Gym! My pokemon have rock hard determination and iron defense! Rock pokemon are tough! If you think you can beat- why are you staring at me?"

I blinked. "You remind me of someone. Oh! That Bruno guy I've seen on TV! You look a lot like him. Do you know him?"

"Talk of Bruno isn't welcome here." Brock said coldly. "Now are we going to battle?"

I sent out Rattata, quickly throwing it some food. "Yeah! Let's do this!"

He sent out his Geodude, immediately yelling, "Okay! Tackle attack!"

Geodude came barreling toward Rattata, who just barely jumped out of the way in time. Rattata then went in for a Fury Swipes, which wasn't doing much. Geodude picked up a rock and threw, which Rattata didn't quite dodge this time, and Rattata left wincing in pain. Still though, Rattata went in for a Bite. Big mistake.

"What's wrong Ratta- oh…" I said, then saw that Rattata's teeth had been chipped from Biting a rock pokemon like Geodude. Still, Rattata was trying to face Geodude head on.

"Rattata, stop! You can't keep going on like this! Get back!" I cried, scooping up Rattata and returning it to its pokeball. This was gonna be tough.

I sent out Charmander. "Charmander! Use Ember!"

But before Charmander could pull off its attack, Brock yelled out, "Geodude! Self Destruct!" Geodude burst out in a fiery explosion. Charmander was still standing, but only barely.

"I'm surprised your Charmander is still standing after that." Brock said confidently. "Don't get cocky, though. You've still got my Onix to deal with!"

My heart sank. He had another pokemon? I knew I was done for the moment he sent it out.

"Wait!" I yelled. "I give. Charmander can't take much more. I'll leave."

I turned and walked out, not even waiting to hear Brock's response.

At the pokemon center, I sat looking at the floor as Charmander and Rattata got their wounds tended to. If I was going to beat Brock, my pokemon would have to get stronger. I would have to train.

It took me a while to realize that there was a red-headed girl walking towards me.

"Hey," she said. "I saw you battling Brock. That was some battle you had."

I merely grunted. She laughed. "Look kid, if you want to beat Brock, I may be able to help. Brock and I have been friends for years. I know how he thinks and really, if you get to know that too, it might help. Plus, I know a bit about battling pokemon. So, what do you say?"

"What's the catch?" I said, irritably.

"The next gym leader is even harder than Brock. I think they'd want a worthy opponent." she explained.

"You know them?"

"You could say that. So c'mon, you gonna let ol' Misty help out?"

I thought a moment. "Okay. What's first?"

After getting my pokemon back, we headed out.

Misty had stopped us in front of one of the houses in town.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, confused. "Shouldn't we be going somewhere to train?"

Misty gave me a sly smile. "Know your opponent and you need not fear a hundred battles. Brock lives here. I told you it'd be best to get to know him, didn't I?"

"So, what," I started, "Are we just gonna walk in and talk to him? That wouldn't end well."

"No," Misty said, starting to get annoyed. "Look into the window."

I did, and what I found was Brock and a little girl that looked a lot like him sitting around a coffee table with a tea set.

"He's…having a tea party?"

Misty nodded. "Yup. He's playing with his little sister since his mother can't. She's deathly ill. If it weren't for the money from some mysterious stranger, she'd probably be dead. I know exactly who they're from too, but I have a feeling if Brock knew, he wouldn't accept them."

I was shocked. "Who?"

Misty sighed. "His deadbeat father. Only being a member of the Pokemon League gets you that much money. If only Bruno did more than send money to fix leaving his broken family."

"You mean Bruno is…?"

"Yup. Bruno is Brock's father, and Brock hates him. It's a shame, they'd be so much happier if they just made up. I guess it's a pride thing."

Suddenly, losing didn't seem so bad.

"You can imagine why Brock went full force on you. Mentioning his dad must have struck a nerve." Misty said, sadly.

"Anyway," she said, gesturing for me to follow. "Let's get on with that training, shall we?"

On the outskirts of town, Misty had begun evaluating my pokemon.

"Your Rattata seems to be able to hold its own already, so I think we should just train your Charmander." she said, then sent out her own pokemon, a Psyduck.

"It'd be helpful to train against pokemon with an advantage, like what Brock is using. Water is strong against fire, so my Psyduck will be a worthy challenge for your Charmander."

I wasn't sure how accurate that was, but I shrugged and sent out Charmander.

The rest of the day was filled with Charmander being repeatedly pelted with jets of water just trying to get a hit off. Eventually, Misty told me to sleep on it.

Back at the Pokemon Center inn, I wondered how we were ever going to get past Brock, but I also thought about what I had learned about him too.

Eventually, I worried myself into exhaustion and fell asleep.

The next day was more of the same, until…

Charmander's claws seemed to turn hard and metallic as it blocked the jets of water. It then slashed at Psyduck causing it to stumble backwards. Misty began to clap.

"Nice job, your Charmander learned Metal Claw! It's a steel type attack, so it should help against Brock's team. I'd say you're ready for a rematch."

So off I went.

Upon reentering the gym, Brock once again acknowledged me.

"I see you didn't learn your lesson last time. You can't hope to beat me with pokemon like that."

"Brock, I'm sorry I set you off. Misty trained me and explained everything." I said.

Brock huffed. "Misty doesn't know how to stay out of other people's business. Not that I blame her…"

He sent out Geodude saying, "I'd like to see how far she pushed you. C'mon, let's see how you've improved!"

I sent out Charmander, then yelled, "Metal Claw!"

"Geodude! Rock Throw!" Brock yelled back.

Geodude threw a boulder strait at Charmander, whose claws were becoming hard and sharp. As it came closer and closer, about to hit Charmander square in the face, the little lizard thrust its claws strait into the rock, breaking it in two. Charmander then went in and struck Geodude, heavily weakening it. In a last ditch effort, Geodude went in for a Body Slam, only to be hit with another direct hit from Charmander's Metal Claw. It was down.

All that was left was Onix. It towered over everything in the room, it was intimidating.

Onix went in for a Tackle, only for Charmander to dodge it swiftly. Onix was prepared though, it managed to catch Charmander in a Bind. It was squeezing Charmander and damaging it all the while. Charmander couldn't break free and struggled until-

A blinding white light filled the room. Charmander was glowing and its body seemed to be growing and shifting. Onix was knocked back into the wall, causing the lights to flicker. When they came back on, Charmander seemed bigger, bulkier, and had what looked like a horn on its head.

"You evolved!" I cried, unable to believe it.

Brock smiled. "It shows, how much your pokemon cares for you, that it evolved to help you win the battle. Don't get too comfortable though. You haven't won yet!"

Charmeleon started using Metal Claw all over every vulnerable part of Onix's body, chipping away at it, little by little. All Onix could do was try to flick it away with its tail. Finally, it slammed it's Charmeleon into the wall. They stood facing each other, until-

With a loud crash, Onix fell to the ground. It was over, we had won.

Brock began applauding saying, "Bravo! I haven't been this excited during a match in a long while! Congratulations kid! You've earned yourself a Boulder Badge!" He handed me a small, metallic badge shaped like a stone.

"Thank you." was all I said.

"Here's my advice," Brock began, "Head through Mt. Moon to Cerulean City. The next gym is there. Aim to collect all eight badges, then challenge the Pokemon League. That's the way to make it to the top."

"Oh, okay. That's east of here, right?"

"Yes. Oh and if you're heading to Cerulean, can you take this to Misty?" He handed me a candy bar. "Misty loves Rage Candy Bars. They're her favorite. And can you tell her I'll come see her soon? Thanks."

And with that, I headed out.