Important! I do not own Pokemon nor am I associated with Nintendo or Game Freak.

Chapter 7A

Rival Challange

Jason had just received his Boulder Badge, a was now ready to see more of Pewter City. His first stop was the Pokemon Center, his Squirtle and Pidgey really took a beating. After he was handed back his Pokemon, he decided to check out the Pewter Museum, the most famous attraction.

He paid the small entry fee and started to look around. He looked at all of the old fossils, and learned a lot about ancient Pokemon. It wasn't as big as he thought it would be, but it held his interest for a good hour.

Afterward, he left and started to leave Pewter City when he heard, "Jason, Jason. Great battle out there!" He turned around to see who it was, and he felt his heart beat quicken. It was Janelle, his big crush.

"You really beat Brock good," she said. "I was watching through the window."

Jason just stood there and said, "Uh, huh." He didn't hear one word she said, he was too mesmerized by her beauty.

"Would you like to battle me?" she asked. "You know, since you are so strong and stuff." Jason just nodded his head, hearing only the words "battle" and "strong".

Janelle threw out her first Pokemon, a Tangela. Tangela looked like a bunch of blue vines with eyes and feet. Jason finally snapped out of his trance and released his Pidgey, knowing that bird Pokemon had an advantage over grass Pokemon.

"Use Constrict!" Janelle commanded. Some vines from Tangela's body shot out and wrapped around Pidgey, bringing it down to the ground. It then started to squeeze tight. Pidgey fought to get out, but Tangela's vines held fast.

"Use Quick Attack to try and get out," Jason said. Pidgey used all of it's force to break free, and it finally accomplished that. It ripped right through the vines and then made a U-turn and came flying back, straight at Tangela. Pidgey hit it straight on, knocking it back a couple of feet.

"Tangela, use Bind!" This time, three vines shot out and wrapped themselves around Pidgey, trapping it once again. However, this time Tangela was able to attack again. "Use Absorb!" Janelle shouted. Tangela and Pidgey turned green as energy was being transferred. Tangela looked good as new, and Pidgey looked slightly worse. "Now, use Absorb again!" Janelle said, excited. Tangela went to start to attack, when it sucked up into a Gust attack and slammed down into the ground.

Janelle looked surprised and shocked. Her mouth hung open, her eyes bulging out. "Surprised?" Jason asked. "It didn't take long for my Pidgey to break through those vines. Maybe you shouldn't let your guard down. Now use Quick Attack!" Tangela had just gotten up when Pidgey came at it at amazing speeds, knocking it down again. Tangela looked as if it could not take much more.

"Tangela, try using Absorb," Janelle said softly. Tangela absorbed the energy, but it didn't do much good. Tangela still looked really weak.

"Use that attack all you want, it won't work," Jason said laughed. However, it didn't take long before he was back in the trance of her beauty. She was putting on another coat of lipstick, trying to distract Jason so she would win. Before anybody knew it, Pidgey was once again back on the ground, wrapped in vines.

Pidgey cried out in panic, and this helped Jason come back down to earth. "Pidgey, try to get out!" he screamed. Tangela used Absorb again, it was now becoming healthy, and Pidgey was becoming weak.

It took Pidgey a long time to break free this time, Tangela was able to use Absorb two more times. It was now almost back to full strength. Pidgey was now really weak, it could barely fly. Jason thought quickly, and brought out a Potion from his bag that he had bought from the Poke Mart. Pidgey drank it quickly and was healed quickly. Now that both Pokemon were back at full strength, it was like starting the battle over again. Except this time, they knew each other's moves.

Tangela once again tried to use Constrict, but the vines couldn't reach Pidgey when it flew up high. "Use Gust," Jason said. Pidgey sent the tornado at Tangela, doing some major damage. Tangela got up, but it's vines were tangled worse than usual.

"Tangela use Absorb!" Janelle shouted.

"Pidgey, use Quick Attack," Jason commanded.

Pidgey flew at Tangela with amazing speeds, while Tangela tried to absorb some of Pidgey's energy. Pidgey started to glow green as the attack started to take place, but Pidgey slammed into Tangela before the energy transfer could take place. Tangela was thrown back, it had been knocked out. "NO!" Janelle screamed. "How could that happen so quickly?"

"I guess your Tangela didn't absorb as much energy as you thought," Jason said. "Look Pidgey, we won!" He jumped up and down happily, while Pidgey flew around his head.

"That's what you think," Janelle said angrily. "Go! Nidoran!" She threw out the blue, female version of Nidoran. It had large ears and had small horns on it's head. It looked ready for battle.

"Nidoran, use Poison Sting!" Janelle commanded. Nidoran opened it's mouth and shot little blue stingers at Pidgey. Pidgey came crashing down to the ground. "Now use Scratch!" Nidoran drew out it's nails and ran over to Pidgey and started to scratch it. Pidgey screamed as it tried to get back into the air.

"Pidgey, try and use Quick Attack!" Jason shouted. Pidgey tried to attack, but with Nidoran's attacks combined with the beating it took from Tangela, it just couldn't move that fast. Nidoran was able to use Scratch again before Pidgey was even ready to attack. Jason recalled his Pidgey when it fainted. "Good job," he said. "Now go, Squirtle!"

He released his strongest Pokemon to help him bring Janelle down. "Use Water Gun!" he said. Squirtle sprayed a stream of water at Nidoran, but it was easily dodged. Nidoran responded with a Poison Sting, which was harmlessly deflected by Squirtle's shell.

"Squirtle, use Bubble to slow her Nidoran down," Jason said. Squirtle responded and a whole barrage of bubbles hit Nidoran, which consequently lowered it's speed. "Squirtle, now use Water Gun!" Squirtle once again shot water at Nidoran, but this time it succeeded. Nidoran was pushed back, and you can tell quite a lot of damage had been done.

"Nidoran, try and use Scratch," Janelle said desperately. The battle had dramatically changed since Jason brought out his Squirtle. I know he beat Brock, she thought. But I had no clue he would be this good! We could really use him.

Nidoran ran forward and tried to scratch Squirtle, but it had already withdrew into it shell. "Now, finish it off with Water Gun!" Jason yelled. Squirtle shot another blast of water at Nidoran, and the battle was finally done.

"Wow, you're good," Janelle said as she recalled her Nidoran.

"Thanks," Jason said in his manliest voice as he recalled his Pokemon. He was really glad he was able to show off to Janelle.

"Well, I've got to go," Janelle said. "My grandpa's probably waiting for me! See you later!" She ran off back toward Viridian City. Jason decided to wait around for Lexi, he knew her gym battle would be ending shortly.

Next Up In Chapter 7B: It's finally time for Lexi to face off against Brock!

Author's Note: A couple of things to address here: First, I'm sorry this chapter took so long, I have not had a lot of time to write and I'll have even less now that school is starting soon. Second, if some of the attacks are different from the Pokemon game or anime from my story, I'm sorry, I just thought it would make it more interesting. Please Review!