Blue Mountain League: Prologue
Disclaimer: I wish I did own pokémon
Chapter 3: Stone-Cold Defense
All right, you'd better get used to recaps being done, because they're going to appear a lot over the story. Well, last time, John used two of his five pokéballs. Now he's broke, but Charmander is level 13 (he started at level 5). As we left the pair, they were leaving the Viridian Forest after a dangerous battle that involved four very different pokémon. They found a path next to a patch of grass, and where the path led them to is a place of hopes, dreams, and fossils in a museum: Pewter City.
John and Charmander walked towards the Pokémon Center, which has a P.C., along with the free restoring service, used to revive and fully heal pokémon, instead of waiting for a long time or using an item. John looked towards the escalator that led up to the Union Room and Trading Center. Taking Charmander up to the counter, John was concerned, because a lot of people were staring at John strangely.
"Hello, Nurse Joy. Could you heal my Charmander please?" John asked. As Nurse Joy took John's Charmander, she asked, "Are you here to challenge Brock with only a Charmander?" John was startled; he realized that since Bulbasaur and Squirtle have advantages against Brock's pokémon, most people expected anyone from Pallet Town to either have one of those two, or have a Butterfree to help. John, remembering the powerful Geodude from the forest, told them about how metal claw saved them, and would work wonders against Brock's Onix. One guy just turned and grunted, "Yeah, right!" Looking at the far end of the counter, he saw a kid with a Jigglypuff. As Nurse Joy gave him Charmander back, he started walking towards the kid. As he started talking to the kid, the people around the lobby started to shout, "No! Don't do that! Are you crazy!" Then, he poked the Jigglypuff.
Now, John knew why they were shouting. Few people wouldn't have known. But he did it just so he could torture them. After poking Jigglypuff, John and Charmander rushed out the door as fast as they could. They ran north, towards the Museum, to get away from the noise. Calling Charmander back into his pokéball, John tried to tour the Museum. However, it costs money to get into the Museum, so he couldn't get in. Going east, he found a way out of town. As they tried to leave, a kid jumped out from behind a bush. "Hey, you can't leave without facing Brock!" said the kid.
Obviously annoyed, John asked, "Why not, kid?"
The kid, also becoming annoyed at the situation, said, "Because the trainers east of here are incredibly strong. Level 20 for each pokémon, and some of them have four pokémon."
John gave in at this thought. He definitely couldn't go through them without having to come back to heal often, which he couldn't do because of the disturbance he caused earlier. "Lead the way, kid," he said exasperatedly. Smirking, the small kid led the way to Brock's gym. As they went past the Museum, the kid said, "Hey, did you hear what happened at the Pokémon Center?"
It was John's turn to smirk. He was following the kid, so he didn't worry about him seeing the smirk. John thought how funny it was that the kid should ask him that. "No," he replied with a grin, "I didn't hear a thing." For those of you who don't know, Jigglypuff like to sing. Now, when Jigglypuff sing, they cause major disturbances. The sound is the only problem to people. What makes it funny, though, is that some Jigglypuff take after a really strong one from about 15 years ago, who used a marker on all her unconscious victims to draw goofy faces on them. As he finished thinking about this, he realized that he was in front of the gym.
John walked into the gym to find Brock. The building was filled with boulders all over the place. Looking ahead, he could see a path through the quarry-like building. Going forward, he quickly realized that there was a side path. Due to some hearsay from Pallet Town a long time ago, there was a trainer waiting on the main path. John looked, and, sure enough, there was a trainer looking straight in front of him. Thinking quickly, John ducked behind some boulders to the side. Sneaking around to the back of the building, John was pleased with his quick thinking, until he thought of something very important: he didn't know where Brock was. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), he didn't have to wonder for long. As it turns out, by sneaking around, he had ended up right in front of the leader.
"Are you here to challenge me, kid?" asked Brock. Now, for those of you who don't know, the gyms in pokémon aren't places where you work out or participate in sports. In the world of pokémon, gyms are places where aspiring trainers go to win gym challenges against the leader, who specializes in a particular type of pokémon, such as fire-type, water-type, or rock-type gyms. Upon beating each gym leader in a pokémon battle, the challenger receives a badge, which is proof of their victory. Certain types are stronger against others, such as water against rock, which can greatly affect strategy. However, a higher-level pokémon often knows better moves, almost always has better stats.
"Wha?" asked John, completely startled, as he heard Brock ask him. Realizing who was speaking, John swiftly replied, "Yeah! Of course I am!"
Brock grinned. "Good. You better give me a good battle, because I haven't had one in a long time." Thinking, he added, "How many badges do you have so far?"
Confused, John replied, "None. This is my first gym battle. Why, is there some problem?"
"No, I just wanted to know if you understood how the gyms work," answered Brock, though John felt that the leader was holding something back. "The leader always goes first, so I'll use Geodude!" shouted Brock. John tried to think about what to do against Brock when he realized what Brock had sent out.
"Go, Charmander!" John yelled. John smirked at the shocked and amused expression on Brock's face. No way had the leader expected this. John quickly yelled, "Remember the one from the forest!" to which Charmander swiftly responded by, once again, jumping on Geodude and hacking away at the rock. After Geodude faints, thought John, he's going to send out Onix, and then the battle really starts. As he thought this, Geodude finally fainted. Charmander was left startled by the sudden change from 1'4" boulder to 28'10" rock snake.
"The look on your face while be priceless when you see just how strong Onix is. No one can beat rock-types!" Brock gleefully shouted. This was before he saw Charmander running up Onix like a staircase. Upon reaching the head, Charmander started using metal claw to try to beat Onix, to almost no avail. John, upon seeing this, came up with a new strategy.
"Use ember for a moment!" yelled John, completely to the surprise of Brock. 'No one ever uses ember on rock-types and honestly expects to win,' thought Brock, ' What's he up to?'
Brock's shock was intensified when Charmander successfully burned Onix, and then resumed the barrage of metal claw. As Brock looked on, he noticed that, though Charmander's had to change to metal and back for each individual strike, the claws were partially staying metallic sometimes, making the damage increase. Before he knew it, Onix was fainted.
Exasperatedly, Brock admitted defeat. "Congratulations," the leader announced, "you beat me. And that means," he said as he reached into his pocket, "that you earned these." John walked forward, and saw that the leader held out the Boulder Badge and a Technique Machine, or TM, for rock tomb. "Use this TM to teach one of your pokémon rock tomb."
"I don't think Charmander wants that kind of move," replied John.
"Well, why not one of your other pokémon?"
John laughed at this. "Charmander is my only pokémon," he said.
At this, Brock just had to laugh, too, and said, "Go east of here, towards Cerulean City. There're only weak trainers east of here, and most of them have bug-types. They'll be easy for you!"
John started laughing, until he realized that the kid had lied to him, so John just left the gym. After getting outside, John noticed that Charmander was racing east, ready to battle a couple of weak trainers. Catching up, John saw the kid again. Calling him over, he told the kid, who was one of Brock's little brothers, that Brock himself had told him that the trainers to the east were all weak. "Why did you lie to me, kid?" asked John. However, he was greatly startled when the kid gave his response.
"Well, you see, all the trainers east of here were beaten by a really strong trainer, and some of them are my brothers and sisters. After taking their money, he told me to force all trainers to go face Brock first, or else he'd attack me with his pokémon. But, he said to make the guy with the Charmander go through. Sorry for lying, here are some running shoes to make up for it."
However, John was busy thinking. The really strong trainer hadn't said a guy with a Charmander; he said the guy with the Charmander. John could only think of one person who would want John to go east without facing anyone to gain experience from. Snapping out of it, John asked, "Which pokémon did this guy use?"
"He used a Squirtle, one that took every hit without a scratch. But the weird thing is, it had a scar, as though it had been attacked when it was really young. It moved so fast, as though it didn't want anything to touch that scar. Wonder how it got it?"
John, however, knew exactly how Squirtle got the scar. He merely said, "Jack," and headed east, towards Mt. Moon.
AN: Well, John has his first, badge, and the adventure will really begin soon, so get ready for the next chapter of the Blue Mountain League: Prologue!