Celadon City Gym (Part 3)

The morning air was cold and crisp. I checked my gear and headed towards the Celadon City Gym for my leader battle.

At the entrance, there was already a crowd that gathered to see the match. I want to say that it was me they were here for, but let's be serious. Everyone is here to see Erika.

"Please stand here," the gym staff led to a platform beneath the battle arena, and reminded me of the rules. General stuff, and then she said that Erika will use three Pokemon.

As the platform went up, I heard the crowd cheering, but that's because Erika's platform was also being raised from the other end of the arena. She was still wearing a kimono, but… it seemed slightly different. A more modern color and design than those she was wearing before.

"THIS IS AN OFFICIAL CELADON CITY GYM BATTLE BETWEEN GYM LEADER ERIKA AND THE CHALLENGER! TRAINERS READY? BATTLE!"

I saw Erika do a slight bow with her head, then send out her first Pokemon.

"Let's go, Victreebel!"

The battle arena was covered with grass and plants. There were also four large trees in the middle of each quadrant that battling Pokemon could use as cover. Erika's Victreebel immediately bound itself to two trees on Erika's side using its massive, lengthy vines. From there, and on this particular battlefield, it was clear that it had a home advantage.

I sent out my Wartortle. As we had previously strategized, he started to use Water Gun, aiming for Victreebel's open mouth at the top.

"Oh, it's the same strategy as before!" someone from the stands recognized my previous fight vs. Weepinbell.

But Erika was smarter than the coaches.

"Cover up!" she instructed.

Victreebel immediately put the large leaf over her head, which was an effective shield against Water Gun. Victreebel got plenty wet, but was otherwise unhurt.

"Counter with Razor Leaf!"

Victreebel kept her mouth covered, and her grasp on the two trees strong, while throwing out HUGE Razor Leaves from from her sides. Wartortle stopped attacking, extracted his head and limbs into the safety of his shell, and turned it towards the incoming projectiles. They connected with his shell, sending him flying towards me.

I caught him with his Pokeball beam, returning him into the safety of his Pokeball. I sent out Pikachu simultaneously, whose quick movement into the field was caught too late by Victreebel and Erika.

"Let go of the trees! Brush off the water!" Erika shouted urgently.

Although Victreebel probably wasn't sure why Erika gave those commands, she was absolutely obedient. Unfortunately, it was too late. The water may not have damaged Victreebel, but it was still an excellent conductor of electricity. It wouldn't even have taken a full power Thundershock to do the job, but I told Pikachu to go all out, just in case.

Victreebel, who was easily dozens of times bigger and taller than Pikachu, went limp and unconscious.

"VICTREEBEL IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!"

With the announcer's voice ringing out, Erika sent out her second Pokemon, Tangela.

"Defensive maneuvers and then use Vine Whip!" Erika gave her commands.

Tangela was not a fast Pokemon at all, so Pikachu was able to get in a lot of Thundershock in, causing damage. But because Tangela hadn't been soaked by water, it was able to stay conscious. After a bit, Tangela came up with a new strategy: it created a shield of sorts with her vines to tank the electric damage. With her amazing ability to almost instantly produce an interminable amount of vines around its body, it was able to do this with some success. It was time to switch it up.

I guess the audience expected me to use Fire Pokemon, so when they saw my Kadabra, they were surprised. Even Erika seemed to not know what to do at first, but then she gave her orders.

"Get close now! Wrap him up!" She yelled, and Tangela started running at Kadabra at full speed, launching her vines at Kadabra.

Feeling the psychic connection with Kadabra, I reached out with my left hand and Kadabra did the same. It was like using the Force through Kadabra. He had stopped not only the vines from reaching his body, but had lifted Tangela from the ground, making her little feet dangle in the air.

Try as she might, Tangela could never break from something so powerful as telekinesis. I turned my hand palm up, and started to bring my fingers inwards, instructing Kadabra to squeeze the space around Tangela using his psychic powers. Tangela started screeching in pain.

Easy, Kadabra, I told him in my mind. We just want a submission, not to kill her. Kadabra slowed down a little bit, and Erika asked the judge to stop the fight for Tangela.

"TANGELA IS UNABLE TO BATTLE! ERIKA NOW HAS ONE POKEMON LEFT!"

Vileplume came out of her Pokeball and everyone gasped at the sheer size of her Rafflesia-like flower. It was a rare treat for everyone to see Erika being challenged in the first place, and an even greater, rarer treat to get to see her use her most powerful Pokemon, Vileplume.

It was not arrogance that made me not to use Charmeleon or any of my other Fire types vs. Vileplume. It was more of an homage to Erika, in her own gym, on this Grass battle arena, that I used none other than my Ivysaur.

"Jump!" Erika shouted at Vileplume, and I was surprised.

Ivysaur had come out of his Pokeball and had immediately tried to swipe Vileplume with his vines from left to right. Vileplume was able to jump in time because of Erika's early warning.

The first surprise attack being unsuccessful, Ivysaur closed in the distance between his opponent. He feigned an attack with his whip, then tackled Vileplume when she evaded it.

"Poison Powder!" Erika shouted, and Vileplume did a spinning jump (like a ballerina), releasing poisonous pollen from her giant flower.

Ivysaur facetanked it. It was like drugs to him.

"Sleep Powder!" Erika shouted again, and as Vileplume was purging a different set of spores, I gave Ivysaur the next commands.

Ivysaur stood his ground and as the Sleep Powder fell on him, he closed his eyes.

"Petal Blizzard!" Erika gave her command, and Vileplume's petals began to glow with a bright light, then energy projectiles started to rain towards Ivysaur.

Hmm. Cool. Gotta figure out how to teach that to my Pokemon later.

Ivysaur tanked everything, and as the last of the petals hit him, he opened his eyes.

"Huh? Ivysaur wasn't asleep?!" one of the trainers said.

No, he was not. And as Vileplume had just spent all her energy channeling that big move, Ivysaur was ready to pay in kind.

His entire body seemed to harden as he charged, full-speed into the defenseless Vileplume. The little plant had some amazing special moves, but wasn't built for physical punishment.

"VILEPLUME IS UNABLE TO BATTLE! THE CHALLENGER WINS!"

Erika walked up to the unconscious Vileplume to see if she was okay. I walked up to her.

"Is she okay?" I asked.

"Yes," Erika said. "She will be fine."

An assistant came and took Vileplume to be treated, and Erika presented the Rainbow Badge to me in front of everyone.

She then thanked me in a lower voice.

"For what?"

"I've seen your battles with your Charmeleon," Erika said. "You could have easily defeated my Pokemon with him alone. Yet, you didn't. There could be many reasons why, but I'd like to think it is because you did not want to hurt my Pokemon."

Instead of giving an answer, I simply smiled, and extended a hand.

"It was a good match," I said.

Erika smiled and shook my hand.

With this business concluded, it was time to kick Rocket ass.