On their way to Celadon City, our heroes, Brayden and Trace, arrive in Saffron City. The largest city in the region, it is the home of Silph Co., as well as the Saffron City Gym.
"Okay, quick break here, then we keep going!" Trace said cheerfully.
Charmeleon waved his arms with excitement. He was eager to get some rest at the Pokémon Center following a recent battle with another Trainer's Meowth.
Brayden and Wartortle, however, had something else in mind. They stepped in front of their friends.
"Hold on, Trace. There's a Gym here. Let's challenge it before we leave! I could use a good official battle!" Brayden said, brimming with determination.
"Uhhhhh…" Trace said nervously. "I don't think that's a good idea, Brayden. I MEAN, we should get a lot stronger first, don't you think? Besides, we need to hurry and find Cubone so we can get Pikachu out of Pokémon Tower!"
"What, are you scared of losing?" Brayden asked impatiently. "You made pretty quick work of that other Trainer's Meowth earlier. I would think you'd be more confident after that."
Trace groaned.
"It's not like that…"
Sighing, Brayden turned around, and they resumed walking.
"I know you want to get Pikachu back. I do to, remember? That's why I challenged Marowak in the first place."
Trace nodded, but continued to sulk.
As they reached the entrance to the Pokémon Center, Brayden made up his mind.
"You don't have to fight the Gym Leader if you don't want to. My Pokémon and I will fight them, and then we can get going after another rest here. Sound good?"
Trace nodded again. He knew there wasn't any hope of stopping Brayden from challenging the Gym Leader. And yet, as they stepped back out of the Pokémon Center later, he was still worried. Did Brayden not know who the Gym Leader was?
As the two boys drew closer to the Gym, another Trainer came running out with a fainted Eevee in his arms.
"Lousy Psychic-type user! Who thought it was a good idea for someone who uses Pokémon that strong to be a Gym Leader?! I don't believe for a second that two boys from Pallet Town beat her last year!" the Trainer shouted furiously to himself as he dashed past Brayden.
Brayden paused. A Psychic-type user in Saffron City? That sounded familiar…
"Brayden? Is something wrong?" Trace asked his friend.
"Nah, I'm good. Let's find out just how strong this Gym Leader is!" Brayden shouted with conviction.
As they opened the door and stepped inside, Trace began feeling more at ease. Still, he knew that as strong as Brayden was, even he would be hard pressed to win.
Route 6, Saffron City South Entrance…
With another Mega Kick to the face, the wild Golduck was sent flying back into the lake. It broke the surface of the water and stared back at its furry opponent, who stamped his foot and blew steam out of his nose.
Finally accepting defeat, the Golduck climbed out of the water on the opposite side and ran off.
Primeape breathed a sigh of relief. That Golduck had been tailing him for days after its initial loss, unable to accept that it was simply weaker than the beleaguered Fighting-type.
As annoyed as Primeape was, however, a small part of him had hoped that the Golduck would become more of a challenge with each successive fight. However, this did not occur, and Primeape became sick of the constant attacks. He hadn't had to deal with such simpletons when he was with Brayden.
Brayden…
Once more, Primeape remembered the shame he felt for attacking and abandoning his master. He wished he could do it all over again, that he could've somehow fought off the rage that blinded him before it went too far, but it could never be so.
"APE! APE! APE!" he shouted, repeatedly hitting the sides of his head.
Since that day he had been wandering aimlessly, living off whatever Berries he could find, and occasionally challenging strong-looking wild Pokémon to battles. But now that he had been trained, he was simply too powerful for the wild Pokémon here.
He decided that he needed to find other trained Pokémon, so he resolved to enter the first town he could find.
Seeing the tall buildings ahead, Primeape walked through the gate. Surely this large city would be his best bet at finding Pokémon Trainers to challenge.
Saffron City Gym…
"Pidgeotto, Twister!"
The Bird Pokémon kicked up harsh winds that tore up its opponent, an Abra.
The Psychic Trainer recalled his Abra to its levitating Poké Ball and sighed.
"Miss Sabrina, forgive me for losing," he said regretfully.
Brayden noticed a tall woman with long black hair sitting in a chair in the back of the room. She said nothing. Suddenly, the Psychic Trainer flinched and ran out of the room, seemingly afraid.
"It appears my vision came true once again," Sabrina said as she stood up. "Welcome to Saffron Gym, Brayden Marchant."
"You…know my name?" Brayden asked, intrigued.
"Of course she does, Brayden! She's Sabrina! She's not just a master of Psychic Pokémon, she's a psychic in her own right!" Trace said plainly.
Sabrina nodded slowly, then stepped forward, her eyes narrowed.
"One year ago, after losing to a powerful Trainer, I had a vision of your arrival. Though, I do not understand why. I do not feel the same overwhelming aura of power within you."
Brayden didn't like how that sounded. Was she insulting him? He reached for Electrode's Great Ball.
"So I'm not as strong as someone else. Am I supposed to turn tail and run?"
"It is entirely your choice to fight or flee. I couldn't care less," Sabrina said. "I don't care much for battles. But, if you do wish to challenge me, I will show you the full extent of my psychic power!"
Her hands glowed with a strange energy, and an Ultra Ball hovered in front of her.
With a wave of her arms, her Ultra Ball soared across the room and opened.
"Slowbro," said the pink Pokémon that emerged. It had a vacant expression and a spiked shell with eyes was biting down on its tail.
"Slowbro, huh? It's a very slow Water- and Psychic-type. So the best choice is… Electrode, I choose you!"
The Ball Pokémon burst onto the battlefield, grinning with anticipation for his first proper battle as one of Brayden's Pokémon.
"Electrode!"
"We're ready! Let's do this!" Brayden shouted.
Trace looked around for the official, but there was nobody else in the room with them.
"Uh, guys? Who's going to do the ruling?"
"I don't need one. I already know the winner will be me," Sabrina said calmly, to Brayden's annoyance. "Now, let's begin!"
"Electrode, Thunderbolt!" Brayden shouted.
Wasting no time, Electrode let loose a large electric blast that struck Slowbro, dealing heavy damage to the Water- and Psychic-type.
Sabrina was unfazed by the attack.
"Use Disable," she said to Slowbro.
Slowbro's eyes shone brightly, and Electrode flinched, but nothing else seemed to happen.
Brayden was confused, but resolved to keep attacking.
"Use Thunderbolt again!"
Electrode tried to release electricity once more, but nothing happened.
"Trode?" it said in bewilderment.
"What the—?! Why didn't Thunderbolt work?!" Brayden shouted.
"Disable has locked Electrode out of that move. For a few minutes, it'll be as if it never knew it," Sabrina said.
"Well, there goes our one super-effective move. But it doesn't matter anyway, because Electrode is way faster!" Brayden said confidently.
"Trode Electrode!" Electrode said proudly, grinning widely.
For the first time, Brayden saw Sabrina smile. But this wasn't a pleasant smile. Brayden could tell she was up to something.
"For a true psychic, speed is like a pendulum. It can be made to swing another way at will. Let me show you what I mean! Slowbro, Trick Room!"
Slowbro's eyes glowed a bright blue, and it raised its arms into the air. All of a sudden, a faintly glowing barrier surrounded the entire battlefield. Nothing else seemed to happen, but Brayden felt wary.
"This forcefield must have some sort of effect, but what?!" he wondered. "Electrode, use Rollout!"
The Ball Pokémon rolled forwards, but it wasn't moving at its usual blistering speed.
In fact, it didn't have any speed at all.
"Trode?" Electrode said with confusion.
"No… it can't be!"
"It can. Slowbro, Zen Headbutt!" Sabrina said.
Like a rocket, Hermit Crab Pokémon shot at Electrode and crashed into it head-first, sending it reeling into the wall of the Trick Room.
"Oh no! Electrode's speed got swapped with Slowbro's! Now Rollout can't pick up any sort of momentum, and without Thunderbolt, they can't fight back! This is awful!" Trace cried from the back of the room.
"Great. We're backed into a serious corner here," Brayden thought. "I could switch to another Pokémon, but that wouldn't do anything about the major speed difference! None of my Pokémon are as slow as Slowbro. Guess there's only one option, then…"
"Enough of this. Slowbro, finish it with Iron Tail!" Sabrina ordered.
As Slowbro lunged for Electrode, Brayden quickly shouted to Electrode.
"Use Screech!"
Electrode emitted a horrible noise from its mouth, causing Slowbro to come to a halt directly in front of the Ball Pokémon. Though Slowbro itself didn't seem too bothered by the sound, the Shellder on its tail was wincing in pain from it, and refused to be swung.
"Now's your chance, Electrode! Use Explosion!"
Grinning happily, Electrode began to glow dark red.
"Slow?" Slowbro said, slight panic in its vacant eyes.
KA-BOOM!
Smoke filled the room, and when it cleared, both Electrode and Slowbro lay on the floor, knocked out. Electrode was still smiling with satisfaction from using the attack.
"They're both unable to battle…" Sabrina said quietly, with a slight tone of annoyance as she recalled Slowbro.
"Hey, don't be mad at us. There wasn't anything else we could do," Brayden said to the Gym Leader.
Trace sighed with relief.
"That was close. Screech didn't just leave Slowbro vulnerable, it also dropped its Defense stat, making Explosion deal more damage. Pretty smart. I'd expect nothing less from Brayden. Still, that wasn't Sabrina's strongest Pokémon. This isn't over yet."
The Trick Room fizzled out as Sabrina readied her next Ultra Ball.
"If that was the best you could do, then I suppose I should end this right now, with my strongest Pokémon…"
She threw the ball with her psychic energy, and out of it came a somewhat skeletal humanoid Pokémon with a large bushy mustache.
"Alakazam!"
Brayden flinched. This was Alakazam, a Psychic-type Pokémon widely regarded as one of the strongest, much like how Machamp is for Fighting-types! Our hero's resolve faltered, but he refused to give up.
"We can beat you! Butterfree, go!"
Butterfree burst out of his ball, looking quite determined.
"Let's build up our defenses! Use Double Team!"
Rapidly flapping his wings, Butterfree sharply raised his evasion.
Sabrina and Alakazam both closed their eyes and relaxed.
"Hit it hard with Gust!" Brayden shouted.
Butterfree sent blades of wind at Alakazam, but the Psychic-type was unfazed.
Sabrina shook her head and snapped her fingers. Alakazam unleashed an electric shock wave that struck Butterfree, causing him to fall limply to the floor.
"What? No! Butterfree!" Brayden shouted in dismay.
"Freee…." Butterfree whimpered.
"Your Butterfree cannot continue. Now send out your final Pokémon," Sabrina said.
"Alakazam attacked Butterfree without being told to. How did you do that?!" Brayden asked angrily.
"I am a psychic. Naturally, I can communicate telepathically with my Pokémon if I so choose. First we used Calm Mind to clear our thoughts and raise Alakazam's Special Attack and Special Defense. And then Butterfree was struck by Shock Wave, a move that never misses. It was quite an effective strategy."
"Well, DON'T use telepathy! That's like cheating!" Brayden shouted as he stomped his foot down.
As he recalled Butterfree, Brayden knew he only had one other option.
"It's up to you, Wartortle!"
"War TORTLE!" the Water-type cried as he jumped onto the field. His eyes burned intensely with the desire to win.
"Wartortle, use Water Pulse!"
The Turtle Pokémon shot a water ball at his opponent, but Alakazam dodged it easily with his super speed.
"If we're going to win, we need to go faster. Rapid Spin!" Brayden instructed.
Ducking into his shell, Wartortle spun into the air and made a beeline for Alakazam.
Minutes later, outside the Gym…
Primeape saw the familiar-looking building and knew exactly what it was. He ran to the window, excited to see powerful Pokémon duking it out.
"PRIMEAPE?!"
To the furry Pokémon's shock, he saw his Trainer inside. Brayden and Wartortle were locked in combat with a yellow Pokémon that looked like a difficult opponent.
Though anxious, Primeape kept watching. Could Brayden win without him?
Wartortle fell to the floor once again after being struck by Alakazam's Shock Wave. He was rapidly nearing his limits.
"You might as well surrender at this point," Sabrina said.
"Never! We never give up, and we always find a way, don't we, Wartortle?!" Brayden shouted courageously.
"War… WARTORTLE!" the Turtle Pokémon cried, as a blue aura surrounded him.
Wartortle's Torrent had activated!
"Use Surf!"
The tidal wave was so large it was as wide as the entire room. Alakazam flinched with pain as the water slammed into him.
"Now! Rapid Spin!" Brayden shouted.
With incredible speed, Wartortle shot towards the Psychic-type.
"Stop them with Psychic!" Sabrina ordered.
Alakazam brought both of the spoons in his hands together and blocked Wartortle's advance while simultaneously bombarding him with psychic energy. However, Wartortle refused to falter and continued spinning.
"You can do it, Wartortle! Push through!" Brayden encouraged feverishly.
"WAAAAAAARTORTLE!"
"KAZAM?!"
Alakazam lost his grip on the spoons, and Wartortle smacked him upside the head before returning to the floor near Brayden and standing up.
Brayden watched Wartortle and Alakazam intensely, waiting for one of them to fall while hopeful it would be Alakazam. Sabrina, however, turned away.
"Hey, where are you going? It's not over yet!"
Brayden called out.
"This match is over. As expected, I won," Sabrina said nonchalantly.
Brayden's blood ran cold as he watched Wartortle collapse.
"No…not again…" Brayden whispered sadly.
Hearing this, Wartortle tried desperately to get up. He definitely didn't want it to end this way.
"War… tortle..!" he gasped, reaching out to Alakazam, who was retrieving his spoons.
However, the Psi Pokémon turned away and retreated back into his Ultra Ball. Wartortle growled with frustration, then passed out.
Brayden slowly sank to the floor.
"I can't believe we lost again… AGAIN! OW!"
He had tensed up so much, his fractured arm began hurting again.
Trace couldn't do much of anything but pick up Wartortle for his friend. He would never say, "I told you so" to Brayden, especially after seeing how angry he had gotten before in their last encounter with Team Rocket.
Outside, Primeape was burning with intense hatred for Alakazam. How DARE he defeat his good friends! If he was in there he'd give that cocky Psychic-type a good thrashing. But he wouldn't dare go inside while Brayden was there.
"Looking for a fight, are you?"
Primeape looked behind him and saw a man with long black hair. He was wearing karate pants and spiked cuffs on his wrists and ankles. The Pig Monkey could feel an aura of great power emanating from him.
"Primeape Prime!" Primeape said ferociously, showing off his kicks and punches.
"Ha Ha Ha Ha! I see you have quite a lot of spirit! You aren't just a wild Pokémon, are you? I was about to visit the Fighting Dojo. Why don't you come with me? It's the perfect place for Fighting-types to train!" the man said.
Full of eagerness, Primeape followed him to the next building over.
Brayden has once again been dealt a difficult defeat. Meanwhile, Primeape heads to the Fighting Dojo to continue his training. What does the future hold for our heroes? Stay tuned!
Brayden's Current Team:
Wartortle
Hardy Nature. Hates Losing.
Ability: Torrent
Moves: Water Pulse, Rapid Spin, Bite, Surf
Pidgeotto
Docile Nature. Good Perseverance.
Ability: Keen Eye
Moves: Twister, Aerial Ace, Quick Attack, Agility
Butterfree
Quiet Nature. Highly Curious.
Ability: Compound Eyes
Moves: Confusion, Gust, Flash, Double Team
Oddish
Modest Nature. Alert to Sounds.
Ability: Chlorophyll
Moves: Mega Drain, Stun Spore, Acid, Razor Leaf
Electrode
Naughty Nature. Somewhat of a Clown.
Ability: Static
Moves: Thunderbolt, Screech, Rollout, Explosion
Trace's Current Team:
Charmeleon
Bashful Nature. Quick to Flee.
Ability: Blaze
Moves: Flamethrower, Brick Break, Metal Claw, Swords Dance
Poliwhirl
Gentle Nature. Nods off a lot.
Ability: Damp
Moves: Surf, Substitute, Double Slap, Mud Shot
(I sincerely apologize for the long wait on this one. Hopefully future chapters won't take a month to finish)