Chapter 5- Pewter City at Last! 1st Gym Battle
"Um, excuse me? Excuse me? Are... you awake? Hello?"
Zac's eyes start twitching when the woman starts poking him, trying to wake him up. "Wha-what is it? Where am I?" He opens his eyes, looks around, and jumps to his feet. "Where is everyone? Are we the only ones in here?"
Zac, Chris, and their Pokémon fell asleep in the rest house at the end of the Viridian Forest. It is nighttime now, and they are the only ones in the rest house, except for this one lady waking them up.
"Yes," the lady says. "I think this place has been empty for some time now... It's past midnight!"
"Oh, JEEZ!" Zac exclaims. Chris and the Pokémon wake up. "What's going on?" Chris mumbles, rubbing his eyes. "It's past midnight, that's what's going on!" Zac replies rather loudly. "Okay, okay, no need to shout," Chris says exasperatedly. "Let's just pick up our stuff and-" He suddenly stops talking. His mouth is hanging open and his eyes are extremely wide in shock.
"What's wrong?" Zac and the lady ask at the same time.
"O-our stuff..." Chris whispers. "It's... it's... it's..."
"GONE!" Zac screams. "Someone must have taken it!"
"Well, someone did run past me while I was walking here..." the lady says slowly. "That wasn't very long ago. If you start running to Pewter City now-" She stops talking, for they are already out the door.
"I... can't... believe... this is... happening... to us!" Zac pants as he and the others run as fast as they can to Pewter City. Zac is holding Squirtle because the poor little turtle can't keep up with everyone else. "Yeah... This is... some day... we're having," Chris agrees sarcastically.
They run for a little while more. Chris quickly starts to fall behind. He stops and doubles over, trying to regain breath. "Zac... keep going... I'll be-" He suddenly realizes that Zac never stopped in the first place. Bulbasaur is still with him though. "Hey..." Chris says, patting his Pokémon fondly on the head. "Thanks... for staying... to keep me company..."
(If fatso can't keep up,) Zac thinks as he's running, (I'll just go back to pick him up later.) "Gah! This is insane!" he suddenly cries out, startling Squirtle. "We'll never catch up!" As he's running, he curses himself for not buying a Pokéball belt. His Pokémon are in his now-stolen bag. Suddenly, he hears a siren behind him. He looks over his shoulder without slowing down. It's a motorcycle. It catches up to him. He still doesn't stop running, so the driver just rides along beside him. It's an Officer Jenny.
"Hey," she yells over the siren. "Is it your bag that was stolen?" "Yes!" Zac yells back. "Who sent you?" "The woman who woke you up," she replies. "Hop on!" He does so, and they speed off into the night.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Zac yells. "Did you pass a fat kid?" "Hey, that's mean!" Officer Jenny yells back over her shoulder. "Isn't he your friend?" "Yeah, but it doesn't take away the fact he's fat." Officer Jenny thinks about that for a second. (...Well, I guess you can't argue with that logic.) "Anyway," Zac yells, "did you pass him?" "Yeah. I asked him if he wanted to come with me, and he told me to catch up to you and give you a ride. He'll be waiting." Zac nods. (Good. It's really dark out here... I hope he'll be okay.)
The police scanner suddenly kicks on. Its owner wakes up. He listens with a frown.
"We have a potential thief headed north on Route 2 from Viridian Forest to Pewter City. Two young Trainers are missing their belongings. A woman saw a mysterious man run past, wearing all black. I repeat, suspect is headed toward Pewter City and-" He turns the scanner off. "Interesting," he mumbles to himself. He picks up a Pokéball, throws on his brown trench coat, and leaves the building.
He walks to a back road very rarely used by the public. It runs through most of the city. He waits there for a while. Then, he suddenly hears someone running towards him. There is no light here, so it is way too dark to see who it is. The man sighs and gets up, walking calming to intercept the incoming person. (Gotta make sure it's who I'm looking for...) "Stop!" he bellows. "Who are you?"
"Get out of the way!" the running man says gruffly. He pulls out a knife. The trench coat man's eyes widen. "I see..." He jumps out of the way to avoid the knife. The mysterious man keeps on running. (Yep, that's the thief, alright...) "GO, ONIX!"
He throws the Pokéball hard so it lands in front of the running thief. His Onix comes out directly in front of the fleeing criminal. It works. The thief yells out in fear as Onix roars at him and blocks his way. He turns and starts to run the other way, but Onix's owner is blocking that way, too.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"That's the place!" Officer Jenny calls over her shoulder. "Directly ahead of us is Pewter City!"
Zac can see the lights of the city. There aren't many since it's so late, but it's still obvious.
"Good!" Zac responds. "Let's get that thief!"
The motorcycle roars into town, siren blaring. They keep going down the main road, a few passersby watching them and wondering what's going on.
After a little while, they reach a large group of people blocking the road. They are all standing in a circle and cheering at whatever is in the middle of the circle. Some people in the crowd notice Zac and Officer Jenny running towards them and make a path accordingly.
There are two men in the middle. One has black hair, dark skin, and really small eyes. He's wearing a brown trench coat and blue jeans. He's standing next to a man dressed in all black. His hands are tied up and he seems very dazed and confused. His face is bleeding in a few different spots, mostly from the nose. It looks like he got beat up- bad.
What's laying next to them is what catches Zac's interest. His eyes go very wide. There are three all-too-familiar bags there; two big backpacks and one really large carrying bag.
"Our stuff!" he exclaims. He runs over to the bags. He quickly goes through his and takes out three occupied Pokéballs. "Thank God..." he mutters.
Officer Jenny walks over to the man in the brown trench coat. She smiles warmly as she shakes his hand. "Thanks, Brock," she says gratefully. "You've done it again. Great job!" "No problem," Brock replies happily. "Now... WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?" Jenny ignores him.
Zac looks up at Brock. "Really? The Brock? Awesome! Thanks so much!" Jenny gets the thief off his feet and basically drags him out of the crowd. Zac glares at him. "Loser!" he shouts. Brock and the crowd laugh.
After a little while, the crowd disperses. Another Officer Jenny takes a motorcycle out to go retrieve Chris. Brock sighs as she rides away. "Isn't she beautiful?" he says to no one in particular. Zac laughs. Brock looks at him. "So, kid, what brings you here?"
"Well," Zac replies, "I'm actually here to challenge you." Brock smiles. "I thought so. Oh, and uh... your name?" "I'm Zac Merlo, nice to meet you." They start walking to Brock's Gym.
After they talk a little while, Zac looks at him. "Hey, do you know a place where me and my friend can sleep?" Now that the adrenaline rush has worn off, Zac realizes he is very tired.
"Well, you could crash at my place." "Really?" Zac says excitedly. "That is so cool!" Brock smiles. "So I guess you accept the invitation?" "Uh... well... YES!" Zac says with a big grin. "Good," Brock replies. He takes out a cell phone. "I'll call Officer Jenny to tell her where to drop your friend off."
When Zac wakes up, he sees that Chris is asleep in the bed across the room. Squirtle and Bulbasaur are still fast asleep. He gets up and stretches. He looks out the window. It's a beautiful day.
(Well, today is the big day! The day I finally have my first Gym battle!) He looks at Squirtle and Bulbasaur. (It should be easy for both me and Chris. Squirtle knows Bubble, and Bulbasaur knows Vine Whip. Those moves alone should be enough to finish off Brock's Pokémon.) He smells something very good. (Breakfast!)
He runs out of his room and goes upstairs to the kitchen. Brock is cooking and two of his sisters are helping. All his other siblings and his father are sitting at the table talking loudly and anticipating another great breakfast. French toast, pancakes, bacon, eggs, taylor ham, home-style potatos, omelets, various kinds of tofu... he has it all. Zac is in heaven.
By the time breakfast is done, Chris and the Pokémon are waiting along with Zac and Brock's family. After Brock officially introduces the guests to his family, they start eating.
"This is great!" Zac says through a very thick mouthful of a taylor ham, bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. He swallows. "Truly the best artery-clogging meal I've ever had! Thanks so much, Brock!" Chris agrees, although he doesn't say so while there is omelet is in his mouth.
"So, Brock," says Zac in a conversational tone. "I didn't know you were a crime fighter." "Crime fighter?" Brock chuckles. "I don't think so. I just help take out the trash sometimes, you know? It's my way of contributing to the community, I guess." Zac laughs with a very full mouth. Chris glares at him. "Wow," Zac says after choking down his food, "that's one hell of a way to do community service." "Yeah, I guess so," Brock agrees with a smile. He takes a bite out of his tofu. "So... tell us about yourselves. Where are you from?"
Zac and Chris exchange worried glances. (Should we tell them?) Zac ponders. Chris very subtly shakes his head. Zac looks at Brock. "We're from, uh, Pallet Town. Professor Oak gave us these two." He points to the two Pokémon eating PokéPellets on the floor. "Cool!" Brock says. Then he shakes his head. "Professor Oak's Pokémon seem to have a problem with being in Pokéballs, don't they? Ash's Pikachu was given to him by Oak, and he never goes in his Ball." Zac puts his arms behind his head and chuckles with a sheepish grin. "Yeah, I guess so. Oak's a really nice guy, though."
After they all finish eating and cleaning up, Zac and Chris go to their room to prepare for their first Gym battle. They don't have much to do to prepare. When they're done, they sit down and stay silent for a while. Zac heaves a big sigh. "Well, are you ready for this, Chris?"
"Y-yeah, I guess," is the nervous response.
Zac keeps himself from grinning. (He's scared out of his wits! Well, I'm pretty nervous, too, but thank God I'm not that nervous.)
They get up and leave without another word, Pokémon trailing along behind them. They go upstairs. They walk down the main hall...
And they enter the Gym's Pokémon arena.
The place is obviously Rock type-oriented. The field itself is made of rock, and boulders, big and small, are scattered all around it. Brock's entire family has come to watch the two matches. The first match will be Chris vs. Brock, and then Zac vs. Brock.
They wait for a few minutes. These few minutes feel like a few eternities. Then, Brock slowly walks onto the field, his trench coat on.
"Are you ready? Who's first?"
Chris gulps and steps forward. His hands are slightly trembling. (He was like this in his first battle, too,) Zac notes dryly. (I hope he won't be like this for every important battle he has.)
Brock grins. "Very good. I'll explain the rules. It's very simple. Since you two are beginners, you will each be allowed to use all your Pokémon against my two Pokémon. Okay? Now, to business." He grabs his trench coat and literally throws it off, revealing the same clothing Zac remembers from the anime. (A/N- I'm talking about his old outfit, not his outfit in Hoenn. Yeah.)
Apparently, this action marks the beginning of the battle, for the referee calls out, "Start the battle!" as soon as the trench coat hits the floor.
Zac's face splits into a wide grin. (Let's see how Chris does under pressure.)
I think my chapters have been too long, so I am going to stop here. I was going to have the battle in the same chapter, but I am going to put it in a separate chapter instead. Hope you like it so far!
Next Chapter: Fighting for the Boulderbadge! The Problem with Rock-types