Jerito League: Gym Leader Challenge

By Arizima

            AN:  Well, this battle is ridiculously long, but I suppose that's okay, it flows well.

            Brooke was only all too aware of the people waiting for her and Terran to battle.  Terran rolled up the long sleeves of his pale blue shirt and grinned across the field; how could he perform like this under this kind of pressure!?

            " There will be no time limit! You may begin!" Levina nervously finished. 

Terran reached a calloused, rough hand into one of the large pockets of his light brown vest and pulled out a Pokéball.

" Onix, go!" A beam of red energy shot out of the open ball and became a huge rock snake. Brooke reached into one of the tiny six pockets at the bottom of her backpack and pulled out her own ball.

" Azumarill, time to battle!"  The blue-and-white Water rabbit emerged with a happy "Azu-marill!"

" Onix, Rock Throw!"

" Azumarill, Attract!" Brooke spat out.  Before Onix could move, Azumarill struck flirtatious poses and blew a kiss to Onix.  Onix stopped dead in his tracks and looked down at Azumarill, a blush slowly creeping across his face, hearts for eyes.  Terran groaned.

" It's just an Azumarill! You're different types, she's a whole lot smaller, it'd never work out!" he yelled.  His reasoning fell to deaf ears as Onix swooned over Azumarill.  A few people in the audience laughed at the love-struck Onix.  Brooke grinned as Azumarill motioned for Onix to bend his head down.  As Onix did, Brooke suddenly yelled,

" Now, Azumarill! Water Gun!"  Azumarill was only too happy to send a strong burst of water from her mouth straight into Onix's jaw.  Onix roared with fury as his head was forced upward and knocked into the ceiling, then fell silent as he slumped to the floor.  Miraculously, the ceiling was still perfectly intact.  Terran clicked his fingers in frustration.

" Onix is unable to battle! Azumarill is the winner!" Levina called, holding up a hand in Brooke's direction.

" Darn it!  Onix, return!"  Terran sucked the Onix back into its ball and stowed it safely in his pocket, then called across the field. " You took a chance there!  My Onix could have been female!"

" It's my experience that trained Onix are usually male!" Brooke called back. " Call your next Pokemon!"

" Alright then!  Gligar, go!"  As the purple Flyscorpio Pokémon appeared, people murmured among themselves, forgetting that Gligar was technically a Ground type.  Back when it had been discovered, it would have been declared Poison/Flying, but Pokémon researchers had noticed that Electricity had no effect on it, so it was Ground/Flying.

" Unexpected, but we can still deal with it! Azumarill, use your Attract again!"  Azumarill looked at Brooke as though she were crazy and protested.

" Azuma zuma rill!" it called back to her.  Terran laughed and called across the field again.

" Nice try, Brooke, but my Gligar's a girl!  I thought that you might depend on Attract to win against males, so I used her instead of trusty ol' Sandslash!"  Brooke made a mental note of Terran's third Pokémon, smiling inwardly.  He shouldn't have told her that.  " Gligar, Mud Slap!" Brooke was startled out of her thoughts at Azumarill's pained cries.  She looked toward the field and saw Azumarill trying to rub mud out of her eyes.

" Azumarill, Bubblebeam into the air, you should be able to hit it!"  Azumarill nodded, and fired bubbles randomly into the air, which Gligar easily dodged.

" Now, Gligar, swoop in with Wing Attack!"  Gligar swiftly glided down at Azumarill, and Brooke shouted,

" It's behind you, dodge it!"  Azumarill quickly sidestepped, but Terran fired off a new order like lightning.

" Poison Sting instead, Gligar!"  Gligar stopped in mid air and shot white needles from her mouth into the back of Azumarill's head.  Azumarill cried and fell down, trying to pull herself up.  A fact suddenly raced through Brooke's head like lightning; there was no way she could win.

" Azumarill, return!"  She called, holding out her Pokéball.  Azumarill became a beam of red energy and was sucked inside.

" Azumarill has been recalled! Gligar is the winner!" Levina called.  Terran stared at Brooke; why had she recalled Azumarill?

" It was pretty obvious I wasn't going to win, so I showed mercy on Azumarill.  Dewgong, go!" A large white, horned seal appeared, flipping its tail.

" That was a mistake, Brooke!  Gligar's got a major advantage, such as being able to move quickly!" Terran called, grinning.

" Dewgong doesn't need to move at all!  Aurora Beam!" Brooke ordered; a rainbow-colored ray of light shot out of Dewgong's horn and into Gligar.  Gligar yelled, starting to fall toward the floor.

" Gligar, get out of it! Mud Slap Dewgong!" Gligar suddenly flapped her wings and raced toward Dewgong, tossing hidden stores of mud at Dewgong's eyes.

" Dewgong, put your head down and use Headbutt if it gets too close!"  Dewgong lowered his head, the lights reflecting off his horn. 

" Pull out, Gligar! Try and use Poison Sting from far away!"  Gligar quickly soared to the ceiling, letting loose more needles.  A few hit Dewgong, and an odd, purple blush suddenly appeared across his face.

" Dewgong's been poisoned, I gotta finish this quick!"  Brooke thought out loud. " Ice Beam, Dewgong!  Put your heart into it!"

Dewgong weakly nodded and let out a blue beam of light from his mouth.  The beam hit Gligar, and she was suddenly incased in an ice cube, and plummeted to the floor.  Dewgong lowered his head, eyes closed.  Levina looked at the two Pokémon.

" Gligar!  Dewgong!  Both are unable to battle!"  She said, raising both arms and crossing her hands.  As the two Pokémon were returned, Brooke called across the shallow pit to Terran.

" I've got to hand it to you, I didn't expect you to last this long!  But let's see how you fare against Golduck!"  With a flash of red light, Golduck appeared, the Mystic Water still around his neck.

" That's fine, Sandslash is my strongest Pokémon too!  Let's go, buddy!"  A large yellow rodent with a heavily armored back and long claws appeared.

" The final match! Golduck, equipped with Mystic Water, against Sandslash!  You may begin!" Levina yelled.

" Now that we've got the referee's permission," Brooke grinned, "let's go!  Golduck, use a Water Gun!"

" Sandslash, Fury Swipes!"  Sandslash fought his way forward as he was pelted by a strong stream of water.  When he got close, Brooke called another order to Golduck.

" Now that he's close, Fury Swipes!"  Golduck abruptly nodded, cutting off the Water Gun.  Sandslash fell forward as he was still fighting against it, and Golduck's claws scratched into his back.

" Sandslash, use your own Fury Swipes!" Sandslash lifted itself off its feet, knocking Golduck over, and slashed at his belly. 

" Let's finish this!  Confusion!"  Brooke called.  Golduck shoved Sandslash's claws back and jumped back to a safe distance as his eyes began to glow a pale blue.  Sandslash began to glow the same shade of blue, then was whisked off his feet and slammed into the ceiling.  A few members of the audience and Levina winced.  Then, the glow stopped and Sandslash hurtled toward the ground like a stone.

A bruised, scuffed Sandslash fought his way back into his feet, but fell again, eyes closed.  Levina stared at him for a moment, then raced to Brooke and raised her arm was well as her own.

" Sandslash is unable to battle!  Brooke is the winner of the round and the match!"  Terran stared at Brooke and Levina for a moment, then smiled and petted Sandslash on the head as he recalled him.

" I see that you didn't win the Whirl Cup on your first try for nothing," he said as Brooke took his rough hand into her softer one.

" You put up a great battle, though.  I honestly didn't expect you to last as long as you did."  Brooke said, releasing his hand and patting Golduck on the head.  " You did great, buddy.  Are you tired?"  Golduck nodded and put his fins to his head.  Brooke laughed, " Confusion gave you a headache?"

" Golduuuuuck…." He winced in pain.

" That's alright, buddy.  I'll give you some aspirin later, okay?"  Golduck nodded, and Brooke recalled him.

Suddenly, a man in an official-looking uniform forced his way through the small crowd and stared at the water, mud, and leftover Poison Sting needles on the floor.

" Look at the mess you made!  I said you could battle as long you didn't make a mess!" Terran winced.

" Sorry, sir." Terran hung his head.  "I'll clean it up."

" You'd better!  Now, who were you battling and who was the referee?  They can help you." Levina and Brooke weakly smiled at Terran.

AN:  And so the first battle is over.  As you can probably tell, Levina and Terran are going to be the other main characters. *grins*

Disclaimer:  I do not own Pokémon, have not owned Pokémon, and will never own Pokémon.  I am not making money off of this, have not made money off of this, and will never make money off of this.  I do not have Nintendo's permission, did not have Nintendo's permission, and will never have Nintendo's permission to write this.  But since there haven't been any lawsuits against Pokémon fanfiction before (that I know of) I'm not too worried.  That said, let's move on.

 ^_^  Remember, this story was brought to you by reviewers like you.  Thank you.  ^_^