VS Onix
The night of Lass and Leaf's arrival at the Pewter City Pokemon Center...
"Trash... waste of space... Geez, Leaf, have you ever gotten out of the city before?"
A shake of the aforementioned's head served as an answer, and Lass sighed. After learning that Leaf was new to traveling, the other girl had decided to show her some traveling tips, which included what to pack in bags.
"See, you're supposed to organize things, so they're easy to find. Take this Potion, for example. It should probably go in an outside pocket, like..." She found a moderately large pocket. "This one! The Antidotes and Awakenings and other stuff like that go there too. Big things should go in the middle, and Pokeballs in another outside pocket." After this organization, there was much more room in Leaf's bag, and Lass moved on to another topic (or four), which soon segued to...
"So, why are you traveling, anyway?" The question had come out of nowhere, and Leaf paused a bit before answering.
"I'm collecting the Gym Badges." A pause from the other side was followed by laughter.
"You think you can get all the Badges? Some people have trained for years and have been unable to get the whole set! The Leaders aren't your average trainers- they may specialize in one type, but the Pokemon they have are usually super-strong. However..." She grinned, and motioned for Leaf to come closer. "Much as he's loathe to admit it, the Leader here, Brock, is probably the weakest of the lot," she said, whispering. "He uses Rock-types, so if you have the right Pokemon, beating him'll be a cinch! For example, your Bulbasaur is a Grass-type, right?" Leaf nodded in reply. "So, it probably knows Vine Whip and maybe Razor Leaf, both of which are great against Rock Pokemon."
"All right... but, why are you whispering?"
"See that kid?" Lass motioned toward a little boy with a Sandshrew sitting at the table next to them dramatically, yet subtly. "Look at his sleeve."
Leaf gasped. "That's the Grey Badge!"
"Mm-hm. That kid is Brock's Gym Trainer. If he hears us saying that Brock's weak, he'll really get ticked off... or, that could be a different Gym Trainer than the one I'm thinking of. Anyway..." She yawned. "I'm going to bed. You should too, with that Gym Battle coming up tomorrow!" With that, the two trainers decided to get some sleep...
---
The next morning, Leaf and her Pokemon were in front of the intimidating stone building that was Pewter City Gym, being subjected to Lass's long, long pep talk. As their mistress listened, slightly nervous, Clefairy bounced around, excited, while Bulbasaur decided to introduce itself to Caterpie. The Worm Pokemon was looking around in awe, having never seen a city before. Bulbasaur tapped it on the head, and it looked at the Seed Pokemon in shock for a few seconds before curling up and passing out on the ground. The Grass-type gasped. If Leaf saw Caterpie...
It was a beautiful day at the large building. Bulbasaur's master was happily working on the odd machine that he'd always had for as long as she could remember, and Bulbasaur's usual playmates were elsewhere, being taken care of by the girl with brown hair. Having nothing to do, Bulbasaur was playing tag with a Rattata that usually snuck in and a Caterpie that was kept around the lab. A Weedle was sitting on a table, sleeping. Rattata raced toward her, and she ran off as fast as she could, not even noticing the table until she crashed into it.
"Bulbasaur! What are you doing?" Her master had set the machine down, and was now looking angrily at her. Rattata had scampered off once the table had collapsed, and Caterpie was looking at Weedle with wide eyes. The master picked Weedle up, and Bulbasaur noticed that it was curled up. He winced. "It's dead..."
The brown-haired girl came in with her Jigglypuff then, and Bulbasaur had been sent with her to clean after a severe scolding. She never forgot that day...
"So, anyway, that's all there is to it!" Lass finally finished. Leaf smiled at her blankly (half of it had gone completely over her head) and turned to her Pokemon. Bulbasaur had a huge, goofy grin on its face that screamed something wrong had happened, and it was patting Caterpie on the back with a vine, who was suspiciously curled up, balancing on the feeler on the top of its head and the tip of its tail. It suddenly woke up and looked happily at Bulbasaur, and the Seed Pokemon stared at it in disbelief. Clefairy had ignored the drama taking place to its left entirely, and soon bounced onto Leaf's head, hugging her hat to stay on.
Leaf sighed. "Well, here goes..." She pushed the doors open and walked inside. After her eyes had become adjusted to the dim lighting, she noticed that, like the outside of the building, it had a stone motif, with its rock walls and path. Sand surrounded the path, and at the end of it was a large slab of granite with one raised pillar at its right, which a person that had to be the Gym Leader stood atop. Wondering where Lass was, she nudged the door, which didn't budge. So, they only want one person at a time... Probably to prevent coaching. She took a few steps forward and...
"Hold it right there!" She'd been too busy looking at the decor to notice the eight-year-old with a Sandshrew standing at the left fork in the path. He rushed up to her and boasted, "You're lightyears from facing Brock! I'll be more than enough for you!" Leaf nudged Caterpie forward with her foot, despite its protests, while Sandshrew hopped in front of its trainer.
"Caterpie, Tackle!" The Worm Pokemon ran as fast as it could with its suction-cup feet and leapt a few centimeters forward, slamming into Sandshrew right between its eyes. The little mouse squealed angrily as its trainer watched in shock, completely forgetting that his Pokemon needed an order.
Leaf grinned. "Another Tackle!" Caterpie once again launched itself forward, hitting Sandshrew's soft belly. The Mouse Pokemon glared up at its master while it was down, and the boy suddenly realized that his Pokemon was getting clobbered by a weak little bug. The aforementioned bug slammed into Sandshrew again and it closed its eyes, either unable to battle or unwilling and faking it. The boy, obviously upset, recalled it.
"Oh, and by the way," Leaf said once the trainer had forked over the customary money, "don't lightyears measure distance?" The boy pouted, not wanting to admit that he was wrong, and shuffled back to his spot, leaving Leaf free to face the Gym Leader without any further delay...
Caterpie turned its head upward, and silk began to spew from its mouth as it began glowing. When both the silk and the glow had stopped, a Metapod stood in Caterpie's place- and suddenly toppled over, landing face first on the ground. Leaf was surprised at its fast evolution, but knew that it wasn't much good for battling Rock-types and recalled it. She walked up to the Leader, who looked down at her.
"I am Brock of the Pewter Gym! I battle with Pokemon who have rock-hard strength, defense, and determination!" He jumped down from his pillar, landing right in front of a slightly startled Leaf. "The best Pokemon in those categories are, of course, Rock-types!" He withdrew a Pokeball from his brown jacket and called out a Geodude. The small, rocky Pokemon was released in a burst of light, and it cracked its knuckles and growled.
Leaf ran to the other side of the granite battlefield. "Bulbasaur, you're up!" The Seed Pokemon hopped forward, ready for battle.
Brock made the first command. "Geodude, Rock Throw!" The Rock Pokemon separated into tiny pieces that slammed into Bulbasaur from all directions, and it wailed in pain as the rocks reformed into Geodude, completely unfazed by what it had just done.
Leaf gasped. "Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!" Her Pokemon shook any effects off and slammed both of its vines into Geodude at the same time. The attack slammed into Geodude, leaving huge dents in the Rock Pokemon- two from the actual attack, and one from slamming into the wall, where it fell down and didn't recover. Brock recalled it, seeming to be completely unsurprised at his Pokemon's defeat.
"Fine... but how will you do against this? Onix!" The Gym shook as the pillar unearthed itself, revealing it to be an enormous snake made entirely out of rocks. The horn on its head scraped the ceiling as it reared up and roared. "Onix, Bind!" The huge Pokemon plunged downward and curled itself around Bulbasaur, squeezing the tiny Pokemon hard as it struggled.
"Razor Leaf, Bulbasaur!" Onix relaxed its grip on Bulbasaur after getting hit with five or six sharp leaves, allowing the Seed Pokemon to jump free. However, the attacks were starting to take their toll- Bulbasaur was panting from exhaustion. Leaf doubted that it would be able to dodge another attack...
"Rock Throw!" The huge rocks that made up Onix separated and slammed into Bulbasaur one by one. By the end of the attack, the tiny Pokemon was unconcious. Leaf recalled it silently, upset about losing it before Onix became tired. If Clefairy wasn't able to weaken it enough, there wasn't much hope...
"Clefairy, you're up! Magical Leaf!" Shimmering leaves in fall colors appeared around Clefairy, and it pointed them toward Onix. They hit the Rock Snake Pokemon hard, eroding more of its energy.
Brock looked up at his Pokemon, assessing the damage done. Apparently deciding that it wasn't enough to worry about, he ordered, "Rock Throw!"
"Clefairy, dodge it!" Clefairy had always been a nimble Pokemon, and this talent was coming in handy as it bounded from spot to spot, dodging every rock flying at it. Brock growled.
"Rock Tomb!" Onix pulled up a huge chunk of granite with its tail and hurled it toward Clefairy. The Fairy Pokemon didn't leap out of the way fast enough, and its leg was caught underneath the rock. At its master's command, Onix went in for the final blow-
"Clefairy! Magical Leaf Onix in the face!" The leaves flew into Onix's eyes, and it roared in pain before charging- at air. The blinded Pokemon thrashed dangerously, completely out of Brock's control, before slamming into the wall with a loud crash that shook the Gym and knocked it out. Brock returned it to its Pokeball and sighed. He took something out of his pocket and gave it to Leaf. It was a shiny grey octagon made out of stone. The back was made of metal, and there were nearly invisible hooks to securely attach it to whatever its owner wanted.
"The Grey Badge. It lets you use Flash anytime. It's yours, along with the TM39, Rock Tomb." The TM was a tiny cube about the size of the Badge with the number 39 on it. This too was given to Leaf. "That was a great battle. I have no doubt that you'll do well in the Gyms ahead."
Leaf smiled. "Really? Thanks!" After saying goodbye to Brock, Leaf left the Gym, ready for some peace and quiet after the battle... and bumped right into Lass and her congratulations speech, even longer than the first one. However, this one allowed the white-and-red-hatted girl to get some 'passionate quotes from the Champion' in as they made their way to the Pokemon Center to heal Leaf's Pokemon before setting off in the direction of Mount Moon...
---
Happy late Halloween! This was going to come out on Halloween, but Stream 5 was up for downloading, so I ended up using all the time I had left that night watching it. Yesterday was busy... that and I couldn't think of what to do with the portion of Bulbasaur vs Onix that I had left. And today, the evaluator (person who comes around this time every year and sees if I've been learning anything) came, so I got the day off. Before she came, I finished everything up to Clefairy getting trapped under Rock Tomb, and afterwards I polished it off and looked it over. There are big things planned for Leaf and Lass in the upcoming (and better planned- no big delay!) chapters, so watch out for them!
If it wasn't clear, the longish italicized part (It was... to that day...) is Bulby's flashback. Name the places and humans and stuff and win a Horsea figure, and name the Rattata and get the entire evolutionary line... but if you're hungry and want a cookie, I'll understand.
As for the weird way I do Rock Throw, keep in mind that: (a) Rock Tomb would have looked exactly the same if I'd actually had Onix and Geodude rip up battlefield and throw it for Rock Throw (b) Geodude is portrayed as super-weak, it would have been odd to have something strong enough to rip up hard rock (or is granite softer rock? I forget) fall in one hit (c) in case you haven't noticed, this isn't the animeverse, I can pretty much do whatever here (d) the JP name of the attack (Rock Trap) has nothing to do with throwing. There you go. Yet another long author note- yay!
