Camilla: Here to disclaim.
Jordan: And off we go.
14. Union Cave
I woke up earlier than I usually did, light had just started to filter through the blinds, so I knew it wasn't terribly early. Just earlier than usual.
Today we would be tackling Union Cave, I didn't know why it was called that, but I guess it really didn't matter, it was just a cave that connected where I was to where I was headed.
Oh, right Union, like united, it united where I was to where I was going.
I was however speculating about the Pokémon that were in there if there were any Pokémon that I had not seen, some that had been seen primarily in the Johto region.
I got dressed rather quickly, even though my friends were still asleep that did not mean that I'd stay in bed, I'd just wait in the Pokémon centre lobby until they woke up.
I made my way into the lobby and realised I was the only one up, with the exemption of Nurse Joy.
She smiled at me as I exited my room.
I went to sit at a table and waited until people started to enter the lobby. I didn't have to wait long, as soon as I sat down a young trainer came into the lobby, stretching and yawning.
I just kept my eyes on the door as minutes flew by with more and more people emerging, the first of my friends to exit the room was Camilla.
She came and sat next to me immediately.
'Morning.' She greeted me. 'Looking forward to the cave?' She asked.
'I just hope there are some rare Pokémon.' I replied.
It was said that Azalea was on the other side of the cave, and that is where I would tackle my second gym challenge, I wondered if Liam had already beaten them and was now on to number three, he was always ahead of me, but that didn't matter, I was glad to travel at whatever pace my friends wanted to travel at, and we did get side-tracked a bit, we encountered a few problems.
'Yeah, that route was pretty uneventful yesterday.'
'Plus, I'd like to get some training in with Dunsparce.' She told me.
'You do need to train with Chikorita.' I told her.
She nodded, but I knew she and Chikorita didn't get along.
'But what if it runs away in the cave again?' She asked. 'I don't trust it to stay with me.'
'If you never let it out, how will it ever trust you?' I asked. 'At least try and talk to it.' I suggested.
Camilla got up and walked back toward the rooms, I was worried I had angered her, but as soon as she had gone through the door Brock and Jasmine came out.
Jasmine asked her where she was going and they conversed for a few seconds before Camilla continued toward our rooms and Brock began to sit down, Jasmine followed sitting next to him.
'Where was she going?' I asked.
'She's going to see if she can reason with Chikorita.' Jasmine replied.
I was glad she wasn't annoyed with me; it was nice she was taking my advice.
'Let's hope that this cave is less full of events like the ones we experienced yesterday.' Jasmine said changing the subject.
I was sure it would be full of events, not like the ones we experienced in the Ruins of Alph.
Although we had an experience in the ruins of Alph, it would be one I would prefer to avoid, if that was possible.
Hopefully, Union cave would provide us with better experiences.
'It would be nice to have a few trainer battles along the way to my next gym badge, just so I will be fully prepared when I get there.' I said.
'You sure seem eager.' Jasmine observed.
'He's always like this, just wait till we get to Azalea Town,' Brock started, 'his attitude drastically changes a lot.' He continued.
'It didn't with his first Gym badge here.' Jasmine replied.
'Well, I wouldn't be able to talk for him as I didn't know how he felt before he battled me.' Brock said. 'Even Camilla wouldn't be able to tell us how he was before his first battle, the only person that would, would be one of the five Chatelaines in Kanto.' Brock replied.
They were both talking as if I wasn't here, as if I couldn't speak for myself.
'There's five?' Jasmine asked. 'I was told by my grandfather that there were four.' Jasmine continued.
'There was four, but one of our friends won the Chateau challenge and was offered a job to become the fifth chatelaine sister.' Brock told her.
Jasmine had her mouth open.
'You have a friend that is one of the Chatelaine sisters?' Jasmine asked me.
'She was our friend before that.' I replied.
'Almost seven years before then.' Brock added.
Seriously? Was I just here to answer questions? Both Brock and Jasmine almost acted as if I wasn't here.
Camilla came out from where the rooms were, she didn't look too happy.
'Hey, that bad?' I asked as she sat down next to me.
'It tried to escape the room, using moves on the door head-butting it, ramming into it.' Camilla told me.
'I think you and Chikorita will bond over something soon, and this time will be in the past, you'll be such good friends that it will seem like you never had this dispute.' I said trying to reassure her.
'Thanks, Jordan, but I guess it will just be Dunsparce and me at the moment.' She said.
I knew it was hard and although I had no idea what she was going through I couldn't imagine having a Pokémon that didn't like me, I would still like it no matter what. If anyone could get this Chikorita to like them, it was Camilla. If she didn't have us, I guess she would have given up by now.
'Maybe we should head to union cave, it will take your mind off of the incident and you might even get some training with Dunsparce in.' Brock suggested.
That was a good idea, I would also need to get some training in with Cyndaquil and Heracross before I got to the next gym, especially considering how hard the first one is and none of my friends knew what type the next gym was, I had to be prepared for another disadvantage battle, or at least one that I didn't have an advantage against.
We all stood up and shouldered our bags before we headed out of the Pokémon centre.
Once we exited, we could see an opening to a cave, that must have been union cave.
I hoped there were battles in there, I had no training since I asked Jasmine to help me after we saved Mareep, but I needed to get in some more battles if I was to be good enough to win my second badge.
We went inside union cave and found out it was almost as dark as dark cave, I could see a few things, but it would be better with light.
'Cyndaquil, give us some light.' I said sending out Cyndaquil.
Cyndaquil came out and set its back ablaze.
Now we could see more the only thing we couldn't see was the ceiling.
I heard a faint dripping sound close by, so I knew there was running water in here somewhere, maybe this place was dark and damp.
We walked for a minute or so before we came to a fork in the road, there was a place that headed right or straight on, right seemed like it was coming back the way we just came from, like we would be heading north. Brock had told us that Azalea town was south, so the most logical way to go would be straight ahead. After a few seconds the road headed left which was south around a large boulder and a few stalagmites that jutted out from the ground. I saw there was a lake to my left, I didn't know how big it was as Cyndaquil's light wasn't that great at showing long distances.
We walked around the boulder and dodged the stalagmites before we met up with someone.
He was big and burly; he was wearing a brown waistcoat and dark green trousers. He had a massive duffel bag on his back, it was so large I wouldn't be surprised if I would be able to fit in it.
'Hello travellers.' He greeted us. 'Would one of you care for a battle?' He asked.
This was quite weird, a man was waiting in a dark cave like this one just to ask travellers if they would care for a battle against him, that seemed weird, but I had anticipated that I would have to battle trainers, or I at least hoped for it.
'Can you tell us who you are?' Jasmine asked, she sounded surprised that we had met someone in here.
Brock took out his torch so we would have more light, I took mine out and handed it to Camilla.
She knew I wanted to battle this trainer.
'My name is, Hiker Daniel.' This man told us.
'I would like to battle, please.' I told him.
'Lovely.' He replied happy that he had someone accept his challenge. 'Are you going to use this little fire mouse?' He asked, I knew he meant Cyndaquil, I wouldn't know until he sent his Pokémon out.
If my friends didn't mind and there were more trainers I would battle them too, but if they each wanted a battle I would let them, they may also need to train, especially if they were working toward something like I was.
'We'll see.' I replied.
'Let's start.' Hiker Daniel announced. 'Onix.' He called.
Out came the large rock serpent that I remembered Brock having.
This was not a fantastic Pokémon for me to battle, but I had a sort of advantage and disadvantage for this Pokémon.
Heracross was my choice, it was a fighting type which was strong against Onix's rock type, but it was also bug which was weak against Onix's rock type.
'Heracross, I choose you.'
As soon as Heracross came out he got in his battle stance, the size of Onix didn't shake his confidence, he seemed happy that he was battling a larger opponent. No matter how big your opponent was it didn't mean anything.
'Onix use slam.'
'Heracross, dodge and use arm thrust.' I retorted.
Onix rushed toward Heracross, but I knew Heracross was fast. Heracross dodged easily and thrust his arm toward Onix. Onix bellowed in pain, once, twice, three times. Onix didn't look happy that he had been caught off-guard, but I knew how to counter types that I was weak against.
'Are you okay, Onix?' Hiker Daniel asked.
Onix grunted, probably in approval.
I knew his Onix was fine, Onix had a fantastic defence, I learned this when I first battled Brock, I was glad that Squirtle was able to beat the Onix. I had to attack more than once to do some proper damage to this Onix.
'Use rock tomb.'
Onix roared and five boulders appeared around it, it was like it was going to encase Heracross, I had to make sure that didn't happen.
'Heracross, use Brick break on the rocks as they come towards you.'
The boulders flew toward Heracross, Heracross was able to break the first two, but the last three came so quick Heracross wasn't able to counter, and he got caught between them.
'Onix, use slam.'
'Watch out Heracross.' I said.
I knew that Heracross was busy breaking the rock tomb and hiker Daniel would have used this as a distraction.
Heracross would either get hit by the Rock tomb that was falling around him or he would get hit by the slam and I had nothing for him to counter back with. I couldn't lose against an Onix, sure this rock snake was good against bug because of its rock type, but it was also weak to my fighting type, I only hoped Onix's weakness was worse than my weakness.
Onix slammed into Heracross coming from above, not only crushing the rock tomb boulders he had produced, but probably crushing Heracross too.
'Heracross?' I called in alarm, the dust around Onix and Heracross obscured what had happened, but I was almost sure that I had lost, it looked like Hiker Daniel knew that too.
The dust cleared and I was surprised that I saw Heracross was holding up Onix and Onix looked like it was struggling to get free from Heracross.
Heracross threw Onix against a large wall. My Heracross had learnt a new move.
It had learned vital throw.
Onix was in really bad shape after that throw.
I knew now that I was at an advantage, I hoped I could win now and not gain a disadvantage after getting so close to winning.
'Heracross, use arm thrust.' I said.
Using the time that Onix was stunned and trying to get free of the wall to wrap this battle up nicely.
Heracross got to Onix just as it had got itself free from the wall. Hiker Daniel couldn't call a counter or issue a dodge quick enough for Onix to dodge, the expression of knowing that he may have won that he had a minute ago had been replaced with shock of disbelief, he didn't understand how the tides could have turned so quickly.
Heracross thrust his arm toward Onix, once, twice, thrice, four times.
Even if Heracross hit Onix with a fifth arm thrust it wouldn't have mattered, Onix's snake like body fell to the ground in defeat.
'Onix return.' Hiker Daniel said and returned Onix.
Did he have another Pokémon?
He walked towards us, so maybe he didn't have more Pokémon.
'Well done, Heracross.' I congratulated him before I returned him to his Pokéball.
'Well, travellers, I congratulate you on beating my prized Onix, it has proved a tough Pokémon against most opponents.' Hiker Daniel said. Yeah, but I had battled an Onix before, I knew how to play around its size, although I did feel in trouble a few times with Heracross, when I was travelling through Kanto, I did not have a fighting or bug type Pokémon in my team, so it was very different using one. I didn't tell Hiker Daniel that I had battled one before.
'Thank you for the battle.' I said.
'My pleasure…' The Hiker said. I realised he paused as we had never given our names.
'My name is Jordan.' I told him
'Well, I thank you for an entertaining battle, Jordan.' The Hiker said.
We continued to walk through Union cave, I hoped there were more battles, but if my friends wanted to take them then I wouldn't say no.
There was still the drip of water leaking into the cave, but I couldn't see the source, I'm glad that Cyndaquil was giving us some light, else I would be pitch black in here.
We passed by a few stalagmites jutting out from the floor and a few more large boulders. After a few more minutes we saw another Hiker.
He was looking around, I wondered if he was looking for trainers to battle also.
He caught sight of us and made our way towards us.
'Hey there, travellers.' He greeted us. 'I have been in this cave for hours with no battles, and now seeing you fires me up with a burning passion, will one of you care to battle me?' He asked.
This hiker didn't tell us his name, but we knew he was a hiker.
I was about to jump in, but Brock beat me to it.
'I would like to battle you.' Brock said surprising all of us. Brock wasn't exactly the battling type, since his dream occupation was Pokémon breeder.
'Great!' The hiker exclaimed he took out three Pokéballs and twirled them in his left hand.
So, he had three Pokémon.
Brock only had two Pokémon, he only had Totodile and Vulpix.
He wasn't given Vulpix to take care of, Suzy had actually given him Vulpix to keep now.
'My name is, Russel.' The hiker said.
'My name is Brock.' Brock said introducing himself.
'Rock?' The hiker asked? Maybe he misheard Brock, or he really like rocks.
'No, no,' Brock politely dismissed, 'my name is Brock.' He said enunciating the "B".
'Oh, that's a shame, I like rocks.' The hiker replied.
So, it was the latter, he did like rocks.
'Geodude, let's roll this trainer out flat.' The Hiker said.
That was a call I had never heard anyone use that phrase to send out their Pokémon before. Then again, so was Camilla's when I battled her the first time, I was a novice trainer then, and now I was more experienced even if I didn't seem like it.
'Totodile, let's go.' Brock called sending out his Pokémon that was strong against the hikers first one.
As soon as Totodile was out it danced from one foot to the other and back again, maybe it was just really excited for this battle, or maybe it liked to dance.
'Geodude, use rollout.' The Hiker called.
'Push it back with water gun.'
Geodude tucked its arms in, but instead of heading straight toward Totodile it went around.
It was something I wouldn't have expected.
Totodile was taken aback, so was Brock.
Totodile shook it off before Brock could and started shooting out jets of water towards the rolling Geodude, this Geodude was quite quick, so Totodile had no luck in hitting it, but the rollout wouldn't be able to hit if Totodile kept shooting water guns. As soon as Geodude would head toward Totodile it would get hit with a water gun.
'Geodude, use rock polish.' The hiker called,
Geodude brushed its hands all over its body, I didn't know what it was doing, but Brock did because he called out an attack before Geodude finished brushing itself.
'Use water gun.'
'The hiker was too slow to react and Geodude got blasted with a jet of water, I think him using a move that raised one of his stats was a bad idea, the Geodude was probably going to lose against a type disadvantage anyway.
Russel called his Geodude back.
'Roll them out flat, Geodude.'
This guy had another Geodude, it looked like Brock may win this if the hiker did exactly the same as last time. Maybe he had a second Geodude because of the first Geodude, so he could learn from the first and do better with the second, it was a smart idea, but it wasn't good if he was going up against a Pokémon team that a wide array of types.
'Use rock polish.'
Wasn't this the move that made him lose the first Geodude? If I had two Geodude's I would not use the same move that made me lose the first time, unless I had time, and that would only happen if I had slowed down my opponents Pokémon or it was immobile for whatever reason.
'Totodile, water gun.' Brock called.
Brock wasted no time in issuing out another knock-out move, maybe this Geodude was studier and could take more than one water gun, I doubted it though since Geodude was a rock and ground type, both types were weak to water, so this Pokémon was twice as weak to water.
This Geodude got hit and this one also fainted.
He either needed a high level Geodude, or a faster Geodude and I didn't know if this hiker would just raise one Geodude higher than the other one, that wouldn't be good training, it would show favouritism too. Or he would need another Pokémon entirely, maybe his last Pokémon, maybe it wouldn't even be a rock type, maybe it would be a type that was had a type advantage against Brocks, like grass, or electric. But this was a hiker so I seriously doubted he would have another Pokémon apart from a rock type.
He called back his second Geodude.
'Geodude, let's roll this trainer flat.' He said sending out his final Pokémon, another Geodude, I hoped he had a better plan than the two previous ones because otherwise Brock would have a pretty easy, boring battle, if battles weren't challenging then they were boring, and no-one liked boring battles.
Brock had a saddened expression, I knew he wouldn't enjoy this battle, maybe this Geodude would be better, or the hiker would have a better battle strategy.
'Geodude, use mud-slap.' The hiker called.
Geodude didn't hesitate and before Brock could issue an attack or tell Totodile to dodge Geodude had hurled a glob of mud toward Totodile, this Geodude was quick.
The glob landed on Totodile's face and covered its eyes.
'Totodile.' Brock called in alarm.
Totodile started wiping its eyes trying to get the mud off, but it was no use, if it couldn't see, it couldn't attack and now because of that Brock was at a disadvantage. This hiker had learned from the past two battle, brock had another Pokémon, but Vulpix was weak to the mud-slap, not only was it good at stopping your opponent from being able to see, it was also a ground type attack.
'Geodude, use rock polish.'
Just like the first Geodude, this Geodude started brushing itself with its hands, I had no idea what rock polish did, but it looked like it was stat raising move, it wouldn't be move that was useless would it? Why would any Pokémon use a useless move? Why would any Pokémon have a useless move.
'Um, Jasmine?' I started sliding up next to her. 'What does rock polish do?'
She looked at the Geodude that had used rock polish twice now.
'I don't know, but if I had a guess, I'd say it wouldn't be good for Brock.' She told me.
I thought she might have known, she did say that she had travelled quite far, maybe she would have known in her travels, but she did say she ran away, so maybe she didn't have time to stop and have a battle with anyone, maybe she would tell us what she ran away from at a later date, it seemed like it was bad, but we would support her, no matter what it was.
'Use rock polish.' Russel called a third time.
If this move raised a stat Brock was in really big trouble.
If it didn't, I wasn't sure what it did.
Once Geodude had finished brushing itself for the third time it looked a little different like it was somehow smoother, an almost perfect sphere with arms.
'Use rollout.' Russel called.
Now I knew why he had used rock polish and what it did. Geodude was almost a blur it sped toward Totodile like a rocket and hit it even before brock could get a word out.
When Russel was using rock polish Brock just stood there unable to do anything about the mud that was in Totodiles eyes.
The rollout hit and Totodile flew backwards quite far because of how fast the rollout was, that move was only going to get stronger now, I knew Totodile wouldn't last that much longer, I would be surprised if it lasted the next rollout. Brock had to think of something quickly else his Totodile would go down.
I was racking my brain thinking "what would I do if I was in Brocks position?" but I came up with nothing. I had no idea how Brock would come out of this, but to be fair, he didn't have to win this, he just wanted the battle to gain experience and he had done that, none of us would think any less of him if he lost, he was at a remarkable disadvantage now, but he did have one Pokémon left, if Totodile did fall. Even though Vulpix was weak to Geodude, I'm sure Brock would still be able to pull off a win.
Totodile got up and I saw that some of the mud had been scraped off, it probably still couldn't see very well, but at least now it could see.
'Rollout.' Russel called.
'Water gun.' Brock called out at the same time.
Totodile reacted quicker slowing the Geodude down and dousing it with water, but the rollout still hit, but Totodile didn't move that far, he had cushioned the blow as well as dealing damage to the Geodude.
The Geodude hadn't fainted, maybe its speed had cushioned the water guns blow so it wasn't as effective.
I didn't know that Totodile would still be quicker than Geodude, even when Geodude had raised its speed, using rock polish while Totodile was immobilised. I thought for sure that Geodude would be quicker. Maybe Geodude had a slow speed stat and even after raising it, it was still slower than Totodile. I knew that they were both first based evolutions, and if the starters I had in Kanto were anything to go by the Totodile would also have three stages in its evolution line.
Now that Totodile could see, it would be harder for Hiker Russel's Geodude hit in the process, I guess that was a downside to speeding your Pokémon up, it wasn't exactly agile. So, if Totodile shot a water gun, then Geodude wouldn't be able to dodge it.
'Geodude, use mud slap.' Russel called.
'Totodile, dodge it.' Brock said.
Geodude shot a mud slap toward Totodile, but Totodile just danced out of the way as if he was taunting Geodude. I could now see that almost all the mud from the previous mud slap had gone, Totodiles eyes were now back to normal.
'Geodude, use rollout.' Russel called.
I could tell he was getting desperate, he was on the verge of winning, but now he was at a disadvantage.
'Totodile, dodge and use water gun.'
Totodile dodged the quick rollout that would be almost impossible for any other Pokémon to dodge, but Totodile was dancing around so it would be easy for him to step away from the oncoming attack, no matter its speed.
Once Geodude had sped past Totodile it unleased a water gun to the Geodude's back.
I didn't think that Geodude would be able to survive that, not since Brock knew exactly how to counter it, but we had only seen one of Totodiles moves this battle, but if it was easier to use a move that was super effective against your opponents, then why would you use a move that would be weak or not as effective?
Geodude had fainted.
Russel called it back and looked unhappy.
'You knocked out all my Pokémon easily.' He told Brock.
Brock called back Totodile, he then went up to Russel.
'That was an interesting battle,' he told Russel, 'If you train your Pokémon up a bit more, I'm sure you'd be able to defeat some water type novice trainers.' Brock said.
That was the gym leader in Brock always happy to help a challenger grow stronger, he gave me advice when I lost against him the first time.
We all thanked Russel and continued through union cave.
Once we rounded the corner it was quiet again, I could still hear running water, but I had no idea where it was coming from, maybe there were a few pools in this cave, but I had only seen one near hiker Russel. The only light that we had access to was the flame that was ablaze on Cyndaquil's back.
We saw a small light up ahead dancing against a wall. We slowly made our way toward it and saw a guy with two sticks that were lit on each end, he was also wearing a flame patterned one-piece, he also had red mask on.
As soon as he saw us, he smiled as if he was waiting for someone like us to come along.
'My name is Bill, and the fire in my heart tells me I am destined to beat you in a roaring battle of intense infernos and falling balls of magma.' The guy said.
This guy was insistent on fire, I wouldn't mistake him for an arsonist.
'Guess I'm up.' Camilla said walking past us in front of me. 'Dunsparce, light the stage.'
Camilla sent out Dunsparce, of course.
'Koffing, lets show these guys a heated battle.'
Bill sent out a Koffing, Koffing was pretty easy when you had a fire type or even a type that was strong against poison like psychic or ground, unfortunately ground wouldn't work as Koffing floated above ground with its ability levitate.
We could also defeat it with a fire type attack if it used smokescreen or if we had a Pokémon that knew smokescreen, but that wasn't true for Camilla, she didn't have a type that was strong against poison, at least not that would be able to hit. Chikorita was even weak to poison, not that Camilla would use Chikorita anyway.
'Koffing use tackle.' Bill called.
This was a basic move, but I didn't think Koffing had anything that was super effective against Dunsparce.
Camilla didn't make a move, I guess she wasn't all that worried about an attack hitting her especially if her Pokémon was the same type. Since Dunsparce trusted Camilla I'm sure it was fine with enduring a few attacks.
'Dunsparce, use rollout.' She called when Koffing was few feet from it attack connecting with Dunsparce.
Dunsparce grabbed onto its tail and rolled its way toward Koffing getting faster meeting it with its tackle head on.
I knew rock wasn't strong against poison, but Koffing didn't look very well, it looked like that Rollout did lot more damage that I thought it would.
'Dunsparce, lets end this act with another rollout.'
'Koffing poison gas.' Bill called in urgency.
The gas made its way out of Koffing's mouth, the purple air particles heading for Dunsparce.
Dunsparce was covered by the poison gas, but it still hit the Koffing with its rollout, that one was stronger, and I knew that it would faint Koffing, especially seeing how bad the Koffing looked after the first rollout.
Koffing fell to the floor and Bill called it back.
'Koffing, set my heart ablaze.' Bill called elongating the last word.
He sent out a second Koffing.
As soon as Koffing came out Dunsparce cringed, the poison had taken effect and I didn't know how long Dunsparce would last, it had been attacked with a tackle and although it didn't look like it had done a lot of damage, there was no telling until Dunsparce looked weak.
'Koffing use tackle.'
I guess that was the only move that would be good against Dunsparce, at least with the moves that Koffing had at its disposal.
Koffing hit the Dunsparce and almost immediately after, the poison took effect again.
'Dunsparce, use rollout.'
Dunsparce curled up into a ball for the third time and rolled straight toward Koffing.
It hit, but Koffing didn't faint like I expected it too, I thought-since this rollout would be the most powerful-that it would faint this Koffing, but I had thought about these battles a lot and the outcome had not been what I thought. Maybe I should just not suspect anything then I wouldn't be surprised at any of the outcomes.
Before anyone could issue another attack, Dunsparce was once again inflicted by the poison, it looked really weak now, it looked like it wouldn't even be able to survive another attack, even if it managed to dodge it, I'm sure the poisoning would faint it eventually.
'Koffing, use tackle.'
'Counter with rage, Dunsparce.' Camilla responded.
Dunsparce raced toward Koffing as it shook.
Koffing headed toward Dunsparce.
They both connected and created a dust cloud.
Once the dust settled, we saw both Pokémon had fainted.
'That was such a heated battle, but I believe this match ends in a draw.' Bill said.
'Actually,' Camilla started unclipping Chikorita's Pokéball from her belt, 'I have another Pokémon.'
'I lost?' Bill asked clearly shocked. 'I have not had a battle as heated as that and actually lost, thank you for reigniting my fire.' Bill said taking Camilla's hand and shaking it.
Both Bill and Camilla returned their fainted Pokémon.
'You're not that far from the exit, just a little ways to go.' Bill said and he pointed us in the direction of the exit.
We were close he said. Close to my second gym challenge, I couldn't wait.
We all walked in the direction that Bill had pointed us.
I resisted the urge to run, I was excited for my second gym badge.
Once the fire from Bill's stick had disappeared from our sight Cyndaquil was the only light source.
We took a few more turns, but the path didn't split up at all.
After a few minutes in silence from departing from Bill we saw the exit. Light shone through an archway.
I couldn't resist the urge any longer, I wanted the sun, I started to run.
'Stop.' A voice said from the darkness making me stop midstride.
A guy on my right came out from the darkness. I saw him faintly from the glow on Cyndaquil's back.
He was wearing a white t-shirt and khaki shorts and sandals.
It didn't look like cave wear, but what did someone actually wear in a cave, did it really matter?
What made him stand out was the green weirdly shaped thing that draped over his back.
Before he could issue me a battle, Jasmine stood in front of me.
'I guess it's my turn to battle.' She stated.
I was shocked, not only was this guy dressed weirdly and had a green thing over his back, but Jasmine actually wanted to battle this guy.
'My name is Pokémanic Larry.' The guy said.
'Slowpoke, let's go.' He said sending out a Slowpoke.
He said he was a Pokémanic, did that mean he loved Pokémon? If he did, I wondered how many Pokémon he had.
'Magnemite, let's shine a light.'
I had never heard Jasmine call her Pokémon out before, it was different, but not so complex, it was a little similar to Camilla's, maybe she borrowed an idea, or she had always used said that when her Pokémon came out.
Slowpoke was primarily pink. It was lying flat on its stomach, its arms were stretched out in front of it, they didn't go far past its snout, at each end was one single short white claw. Its two legs were laid out behind its bottom, they were the same length as its forelegs, the back legs also had a white claw on them, it had a long pink tail with a white pointy end. It had two large white eyes above its snout with a back pupil inside. It had two ears atop its head both were curled so it looked like a small swirl. Its snout was short and cream at the end of its snout it had two slits as nostrils and its upper jaw held host to two small pointed teeth, its mouth was open and it looked like it didn't know what was happening, like it was clueless to its surroundings.
Brock, Camilla and I took out our Pokédexes.
'Slowpoke, the dopey Pokémon. Slowpoke spends much of its time along the riverbank, where it uses its tail for fishing. Often its mind wanders, and it spends the whole day lazing about' Our Pokédexes informed us.
Jasmine was too focused on her battle to notice we had used our Pokédexes, I hadn't used mine since I had first seen Hoothoot in Bellsprout tower.
'Slowpoke, use confusion.'
Jasmine was ready for the attack, but Slowpoke just looked like it hadn't heard its trainer.
Jasmine looked as confused as we all were, did this Slowpoke not hear its trainer or did it just choose to disobey its trainer?
'Magnemite, use thundershock.' Jasmine called.
Magnemite shot out a small bolt of lightning and it hit Slowpoke, it looked like Slowpoke hadn't felt it.
Slowpoke opened its mouth and Magnemite flinched.
What was that?
'Why are you so slow at using attacks?' The pokémanic asked his Pokémon.
That was confusion? Why was it so late, maybe that was why Slowpoke looked so lost. It was just slow at using attacks.
Magnemite looked fine, like confusion wasn't a very good attack against it, maybe it wasn't very effective.
I was just as confused as the pokémanic was, but shouldn't he know about his Pokémon, how long had he actually had Slowpoke, if it wasn't long, it was understandable, and if he called himself a pokémanic shouldn't he be crazy-or for a better word, manic-about Pokémon, hence his title?
'Magnemite, use thundershock again.' Jasmine called.
Magnemite shot another thundershock out at Slowpoke just like before, the pokémanic didn't even ask Slowpoke to dodge, maybe it would be a slow reaction like its attacks.
I don't think I would have liked Slowpoke as a part of my team especially as it seemed very slow to react.
Slowpoke didn't move, but it looked like it had fainted.
'Oh-no, Slowpoke.' The pokémanic cried.
He rushed to its side and returned it.
Was that it?
Jasmine used two attacks with her Magnemite and Slowpoke fainted.
Either Slowpoke was at such a low level, or Slowpoke was a type that was weak to Magnemite. I guessed it was that latter as its Pokédex entry said that it liked to dip its tail in the water along the riverbank.
'Well thanks for that battle, it seems I need to learn a lot more about this Pokémon and other before I can truly call myself a pokémanic.' The pokémanic said.
Did he not have any more Pokémon? Wouldn't a pokémanic have more than one Pokémon? They were manic about Pokémon, right?
Jasmine returned her Magnemite and we thanked the manic for the battle before heading for the way out.
I felt a weight land on my head as soon as I exited Union cave.
I tried to look up but couldn't see what was on my hat.
It stayed on my hat when I looked up.
My friends looked at what was on my hat with curiosity.
'What is it?' I asked.
I saw a cream large inflated hand with three digits swing in front of my face, it was connected to a thin purple furry arm.
The weight left my head, but so did my hat.
'Hey!' I exclaimed turning around to look at whoever took my hat, but it wasn't a person, it looked like a Pokémon.
It was primarily purple and looked like a monkey.
The giant inflated had was not connected to a purple arm, instead it was the Pokémon's tail. It had two purple arms, but no hands. It had a round cream oval on its stomach, it also had two purple legs and its feet were cream and oval with two rounded digits. It had an oval shaped head but, on its side, it had a cream face with two large eyes with black pupils, it also had a cheeky grin plastered on its face, like what it was doing was funny. It also had two large ears with cream insides, it also had a small tuft of purple hair sticking up at the top of its head.
It had my hat at the end of its tail, it was inspecting it.
My friends and I took out our Pokédexes.
'Aipom, the long tail Pokémon. Aipom uses the appendage at the end of its tail just like a hand. Its actual hands have lost their dexterity because it relies so much on its tail.' Our Pokédexes informed us.
It put my hat on its head.
'You like it huh?' I asked.
Aipom chittered in happiness hopping from one foot to the other.
'Cool, can I have it back now?' I asked.
Aipom looked at me as if I had just spoken gibberish.
'The hat.' I said simply. 'Can you give it to me, please?' I asked.
I'm sure this Pokémon would co-operate right, it wouldn't just let me have no hat. I hadn't had this hat for that long, I started wearing it when we first entered Johto.
I slowly walked toward Aipom with my hand outstretched, we had never encountered this Pokémon before, so I didn't know how it acted around people, but it seemed pretty comfortable around people.
Aipom ran to a tree and climbed on top of it.
'Come on, Aipom. I want my hat back.' I moaned, this wasn't funny.
Aipom chittered happily in the tree before it jumped into another tree and kept jumping away, I'd never be able to follow it and it had stolen my hat.
'I'm sorry, Jordan.' Jasmine apologised.
'It's not your fault.' I told her.
I was quite sad, I had almost always worn a hat and now I was without one, it felt really weird that I had no hat, if I ever saw that Aipom again, I'd battle him to get my hat back.
For now, I would have no hat.
'We'll get you a new hat.' Camilla told me.
'You should be pumped for your gym battle, Jordan.' Brock told me.
Brock was right I had a gym battle to look forward to.
'How far is Azalea town?' I asked.
Brock looked at the brochure he had, it's like he had one for every route and town or city.
Brock looked at a row of trees.
'Just on the other side of those trees.' Brock said pointing to opening to the right side of the trees.
My friends and I walked in that direction.
Before we got round the trees, I saw a sign and a small round rock wall.
'What's that?' I asked.
'It says it's called "Slowpoke well".' Jasmine said reading the sign.
'Help!' We heard a voice call, it looked like it came from the well.
We walked up to the well, I saw a ladder descending down to the bottom, there was a small puddle of water at the bottom and in the middle of the puddle looked like there was a man.
'Hello!' I called.
The man looked up.
'Oh, thank goodness, can one of you come down and help me?' The man asked.
'You guys go find the Pokémon centre, I'll be there soon.' I told my friends.
Jordan: Just before I go and save this man...
Camilla: And we go to the Pokémon centre...
Jordan: I am here...
Camilla: We are here, to sign off.