Chapter 4
Red had finally made it out of Viridian Forest, after being attacked by the swarm of Beedrill. He was relieved to finally make it out of that horrible place. He could now see a straightforward Route north to Pewter City, and his first badge. The Route only took about a quarter of an hour to navigate. When he got to Pewter City however, he was very under whelmed by what he saw. A bleak, grey town full of boring and unexciting buildings.
At the top of a hill to the north, he could see a large, old-fashioned structure with pillars and steps. The museum. Red walked up towards the building, taking in the slightly gloomy and depressing view as he went. On his left, the Pokemon Centre and Pewter City Gym, on his right, the mart. He entered the museum and paid the fee. Inside, he saw many exhibits on prehistoric Pokemon. In one stall, pictures of fossils and rocks laid neatly in a line. In another much larger part of the museum, a replica of an Aerodactyl fossil.
Red began to find this boring. So boring in fact, that he left. He headed out of the door, and to the Centre. He rested there for a while, letting Bud and Chuu rest. When he and his two companions were ready, they left and headed over to the Pewter City Gym.
Outside, there was a fairly large crowd that had come to see the day's gym battles. There were many new trainers who were just starting at this, the second gym of eight, since the Viridian Gym was closed. Amongst the crowd, Red could see a few of these trainers tending to the injuries of their Pokemon. One Rattata had an injured leg, a Pidgey an injured wing, and a Butterfree had been knocked out cold. No one so far was able to beat the leader, but Red was determined to be the first.
He approached the crowd and asked one of the people there what had happened so far. The stranger told him that today, Brock, the gym leader, had defeated every challenger with only his Geodude. At hearing this, Red was taken back with surprise.
"He beat EVERY challenger with one Pokemon?" Red asked, astounded. "Wow. He must be good…. maybe too good…but, I have to try anyway. How do I sign up to face him?"
"Um, there's a sign up sheet over there" the man said, pointing towards a small oak table by the entrance to the gym. "Put your name down. Every five minutes they take the clipboard in and choose three random names from the list. If your name isn't called, you try again. Eventually, everyone is let in. They try not to keep you waiting."
"Um…ok. Thanks a lot" Red replied politely.
Red walked over to the table, signed his name, then went over to sit on a bench with some other trainers who were all waiting to be let in. Red spoke to some of them, and the responses were all very similar. "I've been trying for two days, every time I DO get in, I lose. You don't stand a chance." This made Red slightly anxious, but he remained confident that he could win.
After hearing an abnormally loud bang, then a scream, a trainer fumbled out of the Gym and ran towards the Pokemon Centre. ""Next!" the voice of someone inside, presumably the leader, shouted. A man in a black suit walked through the door, holding the clipboard Red had signed his name on. "Ok, next up I think we will have…Ryan, Dan and… Red. Ok, hurry up people, inside now!"
Red was amazed that he had only had to wait for twenty-five minutes. He knew this was his first chance to prove himself. He entered the gym with the two other trainers chosen at the same time as him. All three of them were amazed by the inside, rocks and boulders and cliffs stretching to the ceiling. They looked around, astounded by these great formations, when a voice came from nearby, telling them he was the Gym Leader.
"I am Brock," the voice announced. "and I am the Pewter City Gym leader. I specialise in training rock types, and fight to the extreme defensive. You are here today to try and take from me the Boulder badge, an official Pokemon League badge, which will grant you access to areas of the Elite 4's Indigo Plateau. To take this badge from me, you must defeat me in battle, thus proving your worth. We will fight with two Pokemon each. If you use any more than two, you will not receive the badge. First up, is Dan."
Dan, one of the other trainers, stepped up to the battlefield. Red and Ryan went over to the sidelines and watched intently, to see weaknesses in Brocks battling style. Red knew paying attention now would be vital to victory. Dan sent out his Pidgey, Brock his Geodude. The Geodude tackled Pidgey, instantly knocking it out. Next, Dan sent out his Butterfree. Geodude grabbed one of the rocks on the arena floor and hurled it towards the butterfly. Another instant KO.
"Pfft. You are pathetic. Get the hell out of my gym and don't bother coming back until you improve." Brock said coldly to the young trainer, as Dan ran out of the Gym.
"Who is the next pathetic weakling to challenge me? Ryan?" Brock asked with a smirk on his face.
"Um…" replied Ryan. "Ya see…the thing is…um…what had happened was…..you…um…I don't…ARGH!" Ryan fumbled out, turning and sprinting out of the door, fearing for his life.
"Um…hey kid, come back…I wasn't going to hurt…AH WELL!" Red, that means you're up next. I hope you'll prove more of a challenge than these fools." Brock said, trying not to laugh about what had happened.
"Um…oh crap." Red replied, now knowing the odds were definitely against him.
Red approached the arena box where he stood nervously. This was it. This was his first badge battle. He only had two Pokemon, so it wasn't the hardest of choices to decide who would battle for him. Brock liked Rock and Ground Pokemon, which meant he had the advantage with bud, but if it ever came to Bud getting knocked out, Chuu wouldn't stand a chance.
Brock started off by sending out his trusty Geodude. Red decided to start strong and sent out Bud. Bud and Geodude eyed each other, staring in total concentration. Red ordered a tackle, as did Brock. Both Pokemon charged at each other head on.
Geodude's rock-hard body gave it an obvious advantage, and its sheer weight threw Bud straight across the arena. Bud got up again, startled by the power of Geodude. It was at this point red remembered they weren't at an advantage at all. The only Grass type attack Bud could perform so far was Leech Seed. So it basically had to stall Geodude out, or lose. "Oh crap." Red repeated.
"Use our leech Seed Bud! It's the best we've got for now." Red commanded.
Upon hearing this, Bud shot out three seeds from the bulb on it's back. They released a series of vines and entangled the foe. Since Geodude had no legs, it was still fully mobile. These seeds constantly sap energy from the foe, and thrive on Pokemon like Geodude, who are part ground type. Geodude, now becoming tired from the constant energy loss, began to slow down a bit. It was less responsive to its trainer, and couldn't battle as well as normal. This was a VERY good sign for Red.
"Bud, tackling it hurts you more than it, just let the seeds do their work and wait him out. Keep on the move, and keep away from him!" Red told Bud. Bud, seeing how effective this strategy would be, agreed that this was the best course of action.
Bud began to dodge and jump around the arena, making him a very difficult target to hit with rocks and tackles. Geodude, however, managed to get lucky while throwing a rock. It hit Bud dead on, knocking it over. Bud screamed in pain, but managed to scramble to its feet. At this point Geodude slammed into Bud with a powerful tackle. Red wondered where it was getting all this energy from after having all of its energy drained. Then he noticed, Geodude had gotten out of the Leech Seed. It must've some how escaped and was no longer having its energy drained.
"Ok, this is bad, but it's not the end of the world." Red thought. "The seeds did their job, and the damage had already been done. It was just a case now of finishing Geodude off."
Geodude, however, had different plans. It pulled a massive boulder from the ground, using its strength to keep it aloft. It hurled the boulder up in the air with a massive rock throw attack, and completely nailed Bud with it. This delivered massive damage to Bud. He was now possibly even weaker than Geodude. In an instant, the battle had totally turned around, and was now in Brock's favour.
Bud, lying in rubble and debris from the rock, which had smashed into pieces on impact, was totally out of it. He had no idea where he was or what was going on. Then, suddenly, he heard Red calling to it. "Bud, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Bud looked up and saw Geodude charging towards it at full speed in an almost kamikaze style tackle attack. Bud knew himself he couldn't dodge it, and so, he had to improvise. At the last second before the tackle hit, Bud let out a long vine from its back, and whipped Geodude on the side of the head with it. Geodude's momentum made it fly meters in the opposite direction, and thus, out of the arena.
"NO" Brock shouted. "It landed out of the arena! That counts as a KO. Damn you kid. You got lucky. You may have defeated Geodude, but you will NEVER defeat my strongest Pokemon. GO…ONIX!"
Brock threw a Poke Ball into the arena and from it emerged the shape of a massive serpent-like Golem. It was totally made of rock and was MASSIVE. It must have been at least thirty-five feet in length. It towered over Bud, staring at him menacingly with evil eyes. It let out a bellowing roar, and slammed its tail on the ground, as if waiting for them to make a move first.
"Oh…CRAP!" Red repeated for the third time. "Aw come on! Gimme a damn break! I just beat Geodude by the skin of my teeth, and now you want me to beat THAT thing? This is over already…darn it."
Bud, not overly impressed with his trainer's lack of confidence, gulped. This would be a VERY tough battle to win. The odds of them leaving victorious were impossible at best.
"Bulba, saur…" Bud said quietly.
