Jerito League: Gym Leader Challenge

By Arizima

            AN:  Right, well.  This time I have nothing to say.

            By the end of the week, Brooke was quite frankly tired of the S. S. Mariner, so she was quite glad to feel land beneath her feet again.  There was a good thing about the long term of confined space, though; she, Levina, and Terran had become as thick as thieves.  They had landed in Newstone Town, a tiny town with an equally tiny pier, and were currently heading for the Pokémon Center.

            " So what do you think we have to do to get the spot?  Have a battle?"  Levina asked, arms crossed behind her head.  Brooke shrugged.

            " I just hope we can get a map of Jerito."  Terran nodded as they stepped through the sliding glass doors.  Inside were a few specialists who had been on the boat, a Nurse Joy, and a guy hardly older than them in an official-looking uniform.

            " Hey, you three!" he called.  " You're invited specialists, right?"  Brooke looked over to the boy and nodded as they walked over.

            " You want to know what you have to do be further considered, of course."

            " Duh," Levina said.

            " Well, it's quite simple.  The Gym Leaders have to prove themselves just as capable of the Trainers who will be challenging them, so there will be a lot of travel involved, alright?  You're to travel to each of the eight cities which will house Gyms, where there will be a League Official waiting at the Pokémon Center to give you a receipt showing that you've been there.  Once you get the receipt from the Deepshadow City Pokémon Center—"

            " Deepshadow City?" Terran asked.  The boy nodded.

            " It's the city that will house the Level 8 Gym.  Once you get your receipt from there, you'll receive further instructions.  Right now, you will be given a map of Jerito and a book that will tell you everything you need to know about the different cities and regions."  He handed each of them a folded-up map that had two sides, and a small red and gold book.  " That's basically all there is to it.  Simple, huh?"

            " Exceedingly simple.  Thank you, we need to talk to Nurse Joy now."  Brooke lead the way to the front desk, where Nurse Joy was doing something on the computer.

            " Hi, can you heal our Pokémon?  They've had plenty of rest since their last battle but we want to play it safe,"  Nurse Joy looked up from the computer.

            " Of course!  Just put them on this tray," Nurse Joy pulled up a couple of trays with six indentions on them, " and leave the rest to me, okay?" Brooke, Terran, and Levina each dumped three Pokéballs each into the trays, and Nurse Joy took them into the back room.  A few minutes passed, and she walked out again, smiling.

            " Your Pokémon are now fully healed, we hope to see you again!" she said cheerfully as she put the trays down.  Brooke nodded and picked up her Pokéballs, which she had marked with blue teardrop stickers.  For stickers, they were actually very hardy.  Levina had had her initials carved into the top of hers, while Terran hadn't done anything to his Pokéballs. 

            " Hey guys, I promised to call my parents as soon as I could, so I'm gonna go do it, okay?" Brooke said, stashing her Pokéballs away.  Terran nodded as Brooke headed over to the dark blue videophones.  She dialed her number and waited as the words ' Please wait, the phone is ringing' rolled across the screen.  Suddenly, her mother's face appeared on the screen.

            " Hello, Cascade residence.  Oh!  Brooke!  Hi, how are you?"  Brooke smiled.

            " I'm fine, mom.  How're you and Dad?"

            " We're just peachy, but we were worried sick about you.  Are you doing okay, are you eating well?"  Brooke nodded.

            " Yeah, I even made a couple of friends here."

            " Oh?"

            " Yeah, they're Terran and Levina.  They're specialists too.  Terran's a Ground-type Specialist, and Levina specializes in Electric."

            " Oh, that's good!  Together, you three should be able to handle any wild Pokémon or trainer that comes your way, except…."

            " Except what, Mom?"

            " You're all very weak against Grass types.  What will you do if you encounter one?"

            " That's easy.  My Dewgong, Terran's Gligar, or Levina's Magneton should be able to handle them, see?"  Mrs. Cascade nodded.

            " Yes, I see.  Well, I'm glad to see you're doing well."

            " Yeah, so'm I.  Listen, I gotta go, okay?  Tell Dad I said hi."

            " I'll do that.  Call again soon!"

            " Don't worry, I will. Bye!"

            " Bye."  With that, Brooke hung up and turned around to see Terran and Levina waiting.

            " You done?"  Levina asked.  Brooke nodded, and the three left the Pokémon Center. 

            " So it's off to… Plainview, is it?" Levina shook her head.

            " No way, I've got to stop at the Mart first.  These maps are fine, but I want to get one for my Pokégear.  Y'know, the kind that lets you know where you are on the map."

            " I didn't know you had a Pokégear, where is it?"  Brooke asked.  Levina grinned and brought a golden yellow Pokégear with a pale yellow screen out from under her shirt. 

            " That could come in handy,"  Terran laughed.  Levina grinned and set out for the Pokémart.

*  *  *  *  *

Brooke waited patiently in line, her arms laden with Pokémon food, as the boy in front of Levina counted out change to give to the cashier.  Finally, he left and Levina slapped down a small cartridge onto the counter and presented her debit card.  Soon she was done and Brooke pushed her purchase onto the counter and passed her debit card over the bags.  As soon as she was done, Terran did the same and they left the Pokémart as Levina ripped the packaging off the Jerito Map card and slid it into her Pokégear.  Suddenly, a 3-d hologram of Jerito popped up, with a tiny golden dot blinking near the coast line of the Pac-man mouth.

" Oh, man, check out the mountains near Snowpass City." Levina shuddered as Brooke and Terran looked at the insubstantial tall peaks on the thinnest part of the island.  Those were obviously the island's highest point, and it steadily got closer to sea level the further away from the mountains on either side you got.  On the other side of the triangular bay, there was a hologram of many tall trees stretching almost to the other shore, with a small clearing.  If you looked closely you could see the tallest skyscrapers.

" And that's Deepshadow City."  Levina said, pointing.  " Now then, Plainview, we should start heading southwest for that.  Everybody got sleeping bags?  It's gonna be a looong walk."

" I have a sleeping bag, don't worry,"  Brooke said as Terran nodded.

" Let's go then," Terran said as they began to exit Newstone Town on a beaten path to the southwest.

AN:  The gym levels were borrowed from Mr. Ono's manga.  The phrase "as thick as thieves" means as "close-knit as thieves", so the phrase it basically means "close friends".  Sorry if this chapter was kind of sucky, it's a transitional chapter, and actually shorter than half of the others.  Next chapter will be up soon.

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.

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