Shocking Showdown
A new day in Vermilion City, and Red was already up early. The sun was barely rising in the horizon and not even the spearows were up crowing. Red was eager to get his third badge that he could barely sleep. So he got up at the first sign of morning and headed towards the gym.
The gym was a huge building close to ocean. Unlike all the other gyms that Red has been to, this particular gym had lightning bolts painted on the walls. The Kanto flag fluttered in the morning breeze as it hung on a flag pole next to the gym.
Taking a deep breathe, Red pushed the doors open. He was greeted by darkness and silence.
"Is there anybody here?" Red called out, but the only respond he got was his own echo. "I thought gyms open up at six in the morning." Thinking that no one was here, Red proceeded to return to the exit.
"We do open up at six!" shouted a male voice. The lights immediately turned on to reveal a classic battle field set up. In trainer box far away, stood a tall, muscular man who looked like his late twenties, in green muscle shirt with camouflage pants. His dark shades glinted in the light and so did his dog tags that hung around his neck. He slowly made his way to Red, his combat boot making crunching sounds after each step he took on the dirt field. As he got closer, Red then realized the man was much taller than he expected.
Now this is how I imagined my gym leaders Red smirked as the man stopped in front of him.
The gym leader towered over Red as he began to speak. "You're here early for a gym battle," the gym leader said, crossing his well-built arms. "Well, I like that and seeing that you're a kid makes me rethink about youths these days." He then placed a hand on Red's hat and began to mess with it.
"Hey, quit it," Red snapped at the gym leader. "I am not a kid and I will tolerate of being treated as one."
"I like your guts and I, Lieutenant Surge, accept your challenge kid," Lt. Surge grinned. "People call me the lightning American since I used my electric pokemon to paralyze my enemies during the war."
"Lightning American?"Red raised an eyebrow. "Then why do you have a Kanto flag instead of the American flag outside?"
"Well," Lt. Surge began, combing his yellow hair with his hand. "People started to complain about the flag so I had to change it." The gym leader sheepishly smiled, but then replaced it with a serious look. "Now, lets get this three-on-three battle on its way."
Red complied and took his position in the challengers box while Lt. Surge return to his spot. Both trainers released their pokemon at the same time.
"Magnemite, front and center!" Lt. Surge boomed in a demanding that voice that can only be heard at boot camp.
"Gible, standby for battle!"
A metallic ball with two magnets on its side floated in front of Gible. Gible let out cry while Magnemite made beeping sounds as it rotated its magnets.
"Magnemite, Thunder Shock," Lt. Surge said it like a drill surgeon. Magnemite pointed its magnet at Gible and fired off a weak electric current.
"Dodge, Gible," Red called out but was too late. The Thunder Shock strike Gible but the dragon type didn't show any signs of pain. Red couldn't comprehend this.
"Looks like this pokemon is part ground," the gym leader thought out loud. "Let's not make the same mistake again, Magnemite. Supersonic!"
Of course Red realized. Gible is dragon and ground type. Now, Lt Surge's electric attacks won't affect him. Red smirked at his lucky break.
"Gible, dodge by using Dig." Bending his knees, Gible launched himself into the air. Going a few feet into the, giving Magnemite a hard time to take aim. As gravity stopped Gible from going any higher, he twisted his body so the front side of his body was angled towards the ground. Magnemite fired off its Super Sonic from the tips of its magnets, but it was far too late. Gible head first plunge into the ground and the Super Sonic hit cold floor.
"Don't let up, soldier. Time to change strategy," Lt. Surge said, and Magnemite let out a cry in response. "Drive them out with Metal Sound." Magnemite began to rotate its magnets and it created a horrible screeching noise that sounded like metal scraping together. Red covered his ears to try to block out the screeching, while the gym leader seem to be unaffected by his pokemon's move.
"How is that suppose to make my pokemon come out of the ground?" Red shouted to get his voice loud enough for Lt. Surge to hear.
The electric gym leader smirk, uncrossing his arms before answering. "If you didn't know, sound travels better in solids than in through air. The move is increase and your little pokemon will soon be unable to handle the noise. It's a technique that I used in the war when my enemies were underground and it always works," the veteran smirked then changed his facial expression to a frown. "Unless they had pokemon that are immune to sounds."
Gible jump out of the ground below the floating magnemite and bite into the cold, hard metal. With the sudden added weight, Magnemite dropped like a sack of oranges.
"Gible, lets show them that military strategies won't work on us. Sand Tomb," Red eagerly ordered. Gible released Magnemite from his grasp but spat out sand. The sand encircled Magnemite and did massive damage due to its crippling weakness to ground attacks.
Magnemite floated higher as if it could escape the raging sand, but it was useless since the attack followed the magnet pokemon. The single eye of Magnemite's began to droop as it began to lose conscious. When the eyelid fell, so did Magnemite's body.
Lt. Surge gritted his teeth, but then accepted defeat. "Good work, Magnemite." Lt. Surge replaced the pokeball on his belt and took out another pokeball. Expanding the contraption, Lt. Surge threw the pokeball to release a pokemon. His next pokemon resembled a pokeball with glaring eyes.
"A voltorb," Red muttered, knowing that this pokemon will explode to the slightest touch.
"Voltorb give them a Sonic Boom," Lt. Surge shouted. The pokeball pokemon quickly spun around and fired a blade of air. The attack knocked Gible on his back but quickly got on his feet.
Seeing that Gible was starting to look tired, Red knew he needed to finish this fast. "Gible, Dragon Rage." Gible took one hop in front of him and opened up his mouth to fired blue flames.
"Dodge it, Voltorb." Voltorb easily dodged the Dragon Rage since its body structure allowed it to swiftly evade the attack by simply rolling to the side.
"That Voltorb sure is speedy," Red remarked, taking off his cap to only put it back on.
"Voltorb show them real speed. Roll Out," Lt. Surge smirked, held his clenched fist in front of him. Voltorb complied by beginning to roll towards the pudgy dragon pokemon.
"Keep on firing your Dragon Rage, Gible," Red ordered, feeling adrenaline in his blood as the battle progressed. Gible fired a Dragon Rage at the rolling Voltorb. The pokemon started to gain speed and easily dodged the dragon attack. It dodged the next wave of Dragon Rages by simply rolling to the side.
It was Red's turn to clench his but then got an idea. "Gible stop Voltorb by using your mouth," Red ordered, making the gym leader raise an eyebrow.
-"Come to me giant poffin,"- Gible shouted as he opened up his mouth. Voltorb went straight into Gible's jaws and instantly stopped rolling. Luckily for Voltorb its confused face was facing outside instead into Gible's smelly mouth.
"Now blow it away with a Dragon Rage."
"Not so fast. Voltorb, Sonic Boom."
Gible began to charge up its attack. Before he had the chance to launch his attack, Voltorb fired its Sonic Boom straight into Gible's mouth. An explosion engulfed the two battling pokemon. Voltorb blasted into the sky and began to descend as gravity took over. The pokemon roughly landed on the ground making a loud thud sound. There was no sign of Red's Gible in the dense smoke that was created by the explosion. It took a few seconds for the smoke to clear and to reveal a knock out gible on the field.
"You did well, Gible," Red said to his pokemon as he recalled it. He grabbed another pokeball from the collection on his belt. He threw it in the air to release his pokemon.
Charmeleon let out a battle cry when he fully materialized on the battlefield. He tried his best to look imitating and succeeded in making Voltorb flinch a little.
Lt. Surge lowered his shades to get a better look at the fire pokemon. "Haven't seen a charmeleon in battle in a long time," the electric gym leader remarked, putting his shades back on.
"Then you know that they are powerful pokemon," Red retorted. "Ember, Charmeleon!" Charmeleon straighten up and fired small balls of fires. The attack scorched the voltorb, leaving behind a nasty burn. Voltorb clenched its eyes as it felt the burn zapping away the little energy it had left.
I wonder when Charmeleon will learn a more powerful fire attack like Flamethrower Red wondered.
Lt. Surge gritted his teeth when he caught a glimpse of the burn mark. "Let's get in a few good hits, Voltorb. Roll out!" Voltorb gave charmeleon one last piercing glare before it began to roll.
"Try to intercept with a Mega Punch," Red commanded. Charmeleon clenched his hand into a fist that soon became engulfed in white light. Charmeleon has really improved in handling the Mega Punch Red thought. A mischievous glint appeared in Charmeleon's eye as the pokeball looking pokemon began to get closer. While Red's Charmeleon was winding up, Voltorb began to slow down and it stopped directly in front of the fire lizard. Instead of its usual glaring, Voltorb had swirls in its eyes.
Damn! I was going to have Voltorb use Explosion but I guess the burn did its job Surge thought.
-"That was it?"- Charmeleon muttered. -"A little fire and it's are already down. I need a more formidable opponent."-
The gym leader quickly replaced Voltorb with an orange mouse pokemon with a long black tail that had a lightning bolt at the end. Sparks danced around its yellow cheeks as it growled.
"Is that a Raichu," Red exclaimed, stumbling to get his pokedex out. He then pointed the device at Raichu when he had it out.
"Raichu, the electric mouse pokemon. It can shock opponents with more than 100,000 volts. When it reaches the maximum of electricity it can accumulate, its ears will become pointed. "
"Wow, I can't wait for my pikachu to evolve," Red dreamily said. "I think he is close to evolving."
-"He looks like a good opponent,"- Charmeleon grin, getting in his battle stance again.
Does this kid know that pikachus only evolve with a thunder stone? Lt. Surge thought. He was about to mention this piece of information to Red but was interrupted.
"Charmeleon, get Raichu with a Dragon Rage," Red eagerly ordered.
"Blast it with a Thunder Bolt, Raichu!" Lt. Surge's voice boomed.
Both pokemon launch their attacks at the same time. Blue flames met a powerful electric attack creating an explosion. Smoke from the explosion blocked each pokemon's view of each other.
"Charmeleon, get Raichu with an Ember," Red shouted pointing into the smoke. Charmeleon squinted his eyes to get better focus and he could make out the outline of Raichu in the thick smoke. He took a deep breathe before firing small fire balls into dark cloud. The fire balls disappeared into the smoke and the sound of fire distinguishing could be heard.
The smoke was barely starting to clear away when Raichu shot out of the cloud. He didn't have a single scratch on him meaning that the attack missed.
"Immobilized the enemy with a Thunder Wave," Lt. Surge ordered.
-"Affirmative,"- Raichu confirmed his command like a trained soldier. Not slowing down, he fired a weak electric current from his fur that successfully zapped Charmeleon. Charmeleon instantly felt his muscles lock up, getting his movements slowed down.
"Now use your Slam." Raichu closed in on the slow charmeleon and then weakly jumped in the air. Spinning around, Raichu slammed his long tail into Charmeleon's stomach. Getting the air knocked out of him, Charmeleon fell onto his back.
"Charmeleon you got to get up," Red urgently ordered. Charmeleon grunted in answer and began to slowly get back up. Due to the paralysis and pain, getting back up was a challenge for him. Charmeleon looked like newborn pokemon as he shakily got back up.
"Raichu, Thunder Punch!" The electric rodent clenched his right small hand and began to charge it up with electricity. Sparks could be seen shouting out of his fist.
"Block with Metal Claw." When Charmeleon was fully standing up straight, he held up both of his claws up. A metallic sheen soon covered the sharp claws, gleaming in the gym's lights.
-"Thunder Punch!"- Raichu shouted as he swung his fist. He was aiming for Charmeleon's head but was blocked by a metallic claw. Charmeleon winced in pain as he felt so some electricity in charged fist shocked him.
Maybe blocking with a steel move wasn't a good idea Red thought he saw Charmeleon tormented facial expression. The fire lizard quickly swung his free claw and slashed his opponent's face. The blow made Raichu stumbled backwards, leaving him open for attack. Charmeleon would have began a slashing assault, but when he about to move, he felt the paralysis kick in.
The gym leader smirked when he saw Charmeleon unable to move. "Raichu, begin your assault now!" Despite of the vague command, Raichu knew exactly what to do.
"Charmeleon, try to counter with Dragon Rage. Time it right," Red ordered. Putting on a brave face, Charmeleon carefully observed his foe's movements. Raichu jumped a few feet to the side and then hopped in front of the fire type. Charmeleon was to slow to react and was attacked by a barrage of punches.
Raichu furiously punched Charmeleon and he mostly punched Charmeleon in the gut. After a few blows, Charmeleon was about to topple over but Raichu wasn't done yet. He quickly spun around to deliver a powerful kick to Charmeleon's jaw. This sent charmeleon flying backwards and roughly skidded across the dirt field.
"Charmeleon!" Red shouted in fear. His pokemon lay on floor motionless until it opened his left eye and moved an arm. Red sighed in relief.
"Finish it with a body slam, Raichu," Lt. Surge ordered. Raichu nodded and used his strong hind legs to propel himself in the air.
"Charmeleon you got use Dragon Rage. Please you got to do it," Red pleaded. Charmeleon managed to catch his trainer's orders. With one eye to help him aim, Charmeleon opened his mouth to fire the powerful attack. Raichu couldn't dodge the attack so he took the attack head on. The force of the attack sent Raichu slamming into the ceiling of the gym.
When the attack died down, Raichu didn't have anything to hold him up in the air and so he began to fall. He crashed into the rough terrain creating a dust cloud around him. The dust soon settled and revealed a heavily damaged Raichu standing.
"We faced harder stuff when we were in the army," the veteran said. Raichu nodded as he stood up straight, but is was easy to tell that he was tired.
"Army or not. Your Raichu still has its limits," Red declared, staring to feel sweat form on his face.
"Well let's see whose pokemon will get tired first," Lt. Surge smirked, and took off his dark shades. He clipped the shades on his shirt and glared with cold blue eyes. He dramatically pointed at charmeleon and shouted, "Thunder Bolt, Raichu and don't let up."
Red got the idea of what Lt. Surge is trying to do and he wasn't going to let him win. "Charmeleon, Ember. Don't stop until I tell you so."
Both pokemon quickly charged up there attacks. Raichu's ears stood up straight as he reached his max capacity of electricity, while Charmeleon inside burned with energy as prepared to fire his attack. Raichu fired his electric attack, while Charmeleon fired his fire attack. The attacks collided in midair; the small balls of fire clashed with the electricity.
It was what the gym leader wanted. He wanted to test my pokemon's stamina Red thought. He observed his Charmeleon's Ember attack collide with his foe's Raichu Thunder Bolt, creating small, beautiful explosions.
Charmeleon tried his best to keep up with the raichu but was beginning to feel exhausted. He began to fire less fire balls allowing the Thunder Bolt to get closer to him.
Red did his best to encourage his Charmeleon to not give up. "Charmeleon, don't give up! Your opponent may have been in USA army but lets show them the power of Kanto!" Inspired by his trainer's words, Charmeleon tried its hardest to fight back against the Thunder Bolt. He tried his best to ignore the burning feeling in his body that told him that his body was getting tired.
Raichu wasn't doing any better, since he had his eyes clenched and his body was tensed up. He was getting weaker by the minute as he felt his energy disappearing from his body.
"It's time to see whose pokemon has better stamina," Lt. Surge grinned, eagerly awaiting the winner of this competition. As soon as the words left the gym leader's lips, a red glow surrounded Charmeleon. The Blaze ability increased the Ember's power. The small fire balls increased in size and began to overpower the thunder bolt. Raichu began to pant and his attack began to decrease. The Ember plowed its way through the electric attack and it soon managed to reach Raichu. Raichu stopped its attack when the first fire ball burnt his fur. The barrage of fire knocked Raichu into the ground. The fire stopped when Charmeleon close his mouth and Raichu lay on the ground. He struggled to get up but fatigue got to him and dropped back on to the ground unconscious.
He has been trained under harsh conditions and yet he loses to lizard that has been trained by a ten year-old kid. Am I losing my touch? Lt. Surge thought. He returned his fainted pokemon as so did Red. He stuck a hand into his pocket to pull out a badge as he walked up to Red. His dog tags clank when it hit his shades on his shirt. He steadily approached the young trainer with an emotionless look. He towered over Red and could see the scare look on the young boy. Lt. Surge's face broke into a grin and dropped the badge into Red's awaiting hands.
"Don't be afraid, kid," Lt. Surge said as he put his hand on Red's hat and began to mess with it again. He took out a yellow disc from his back pocket with his free hand and also handed it to Red.
"Thanks Lieutenant," Red thanked the gym leader, to occupy admiring his won items to get annoyed about the man messing with his hat. He pocketed the TM and placed the new badge in his badge case. The shiny metal sparkled in the velvet material of the case.
"I think your going to go far, Red," Lt. Surge patted Red's Head and left to go heal his pokemon.
Red thought it was time to leave. He exited the building and walked into the cool outside. It was still early since the sun has just adjusted itself in the sky. The ocean waves that crashed on the shore gave Red an idea.
"I think its time to let my pokemon have a bit fun," Red smiled at his idea. Beginning to make his way to the beach.
